Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 282

The Typo Detective; or, Weasel, the Boy Tramp by Edward Willett is a detective mystery serial. The story opens as George Lumley, a young newspaper typesetter at the Evening Post in New York, leaves work to return home near Yonkers where he lives with his orphaned sister Clara. Upon arriving, he discovers Clara murdered in the woods—shot through the heart. Investigators find footprints from a well-shod man with a small foot and discover a handprint in the earth bearing the peculiar mark of a missing left pinky finger from the second joint. The inquest yields no suspects; Clara had no enemies and nothing was stolen. Suspicion falls briefly on George before being dismissed. The murderer remains unknown. Afterward, the grieving Lumley decides to abandon the cottage and liquidate his possessions. His sympathetic landlord, Mr. Frederick Lyster, offers to purchase the household goods at fair value.