From the exhibition
Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 476
· September 7, 1886

This pulp serial, "Deadwood Dick Jr's Dog Detective" by E. L. Wheeler, is set in Hangtown, Idaho, a remote mining settlement in the Coeur d'Alene Range. The narrative introduces the town's inhabitants and social divisions: wealthy retired Army Captain Chester and his daughter May (whose seventeenth birthday celebration is being held), his profligate son Charley ("Chump"), and the Blake family—prospector Jeff Blake, his wife, and children Maurice and Mildred. A feud between the two families complicates Maurice Blake's unreciprocated love for May Chester. The chapter concludes with action: Chump Chester, wagered ten dollars to knock Maurice Blake's hat off, does so; Blake retaliates with a punch, and the two engage in physical combat. The story promises adventure, romantic rivalry, and frontier conflict in this Western mining-camp setting.
Public domain (pre-1929), restored and presented by comicbooks.com public-domain