Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 622

Museum Catalog Note This issue of Beadle and Adams' dime novel series (No. 622, June 25, 1889) features "The Queer Air at Tombstone" by Lieutenant A. K. Sims, beginning a serial titled "Texas Tom-cat's Triad." The protagonist, known as the Texas Tom-cat—identifiable by his distinctive gray catskin cap—is summoned to Tombstone by lawyer Julian Pendergast to assist in an unspecified matter affecting an injured innocent party. En route, Tom-cat encounters a deformed Black man calling himself the Tarantula, who directs him to the mysterious Madame Dumar. This veiled fortune-teller, claiming powers of prophecy and supernatural vision, warns him against aiding Pendergast, showing him an apparent vision of his death in a pool's reflection. Dismissing her warnings in daylight, Tom-cat locates Pendergast's office, where he meets Miss Dell Devore, the lady requiring assistance. The narrative emphasizes Tom-cat's simultaneous bravery and bashfulness around women, setting up the mystery Pendergast needs solving.