Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 451

This Beadle and Adams weekly (Vol. XVII, No. 451, March 1886) features "The Mayor of Canyon City: A Tale of the Mines" by Philip S. Warne, author of the "Tiger Dick" and "Patent-Leather Jo" series. The narrative unfolds in Colorado's Rocky Mountains. Colorado Kate, a beautiful strawberry-blonde, rejects the advances of Dick Mosier, a crippled, wizen-faced miner known as "Limpy," who confesses his love with passionate intensity. Kate cruelly mocks his appearance and deformity. When her fiancé Little Jingo arrives, Mosier swears vengeance. Later, Jingo notices the mysterious "Undertaker"—a peculiarly dressed man in black cloak and sugar-loaf hat—hurrying from the road. As Jingo and Kate return to camp, dialogue hints at her previous encounter with someone, planting suspicion in Jingo's mind. The installment concludes as the embittered Mosier, hiding near a mountain path at night, overhears suspicious voices and footsteps—suggesting illicit activity he might exploit.