From the exhibition
Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 440
· December 29, 1885

This issue features the opening of "Old Wilde's Treasure" by Arthur C. Grissom, a Western adventure tale serialized across multiple chapters. The narrative follows a young ranchero known as Foxfoot (also called the Gold Bowie Kid), who pursues the theft of his prized gold-handled bowie knife, stolen from him in Gold Eagle City two days prior by the outlaw Ruby Ralph. When Foxfoot confronts Ruby at his cabin in Danger Valley, he encounters the rough messenger Fierce Frank instead, who warns him that retrieving the knife will prove dangerous—over fifty men in the region covet it. As Foxfoot pursues Ralph's trail across Arizona's mining country near the lawless settlement of Bowie Point, he is ambushed and lassoed from his horse. Meanwhile, Fierce Frank informs Ruby Ralph that Foxfoot is coming, and both men anticipate a confrontation over the contested knife.
Public domain (pre-1929), restored and presented by comicbooks.com public-domain