Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 693

Museum Catalog Note *The Racket at Red Hot* by William G. Patten appears in this issue of the Beadle and Adams pulp magazine (Vol. XXVII, No. 693, November 4, 1890). The serialized Western tale follows two dandified Boston gentlemen—the lisping dandies "Freddie" and "Cholly"—who arrive in the rough mining town of Red Hot, singing and displaying their fashionable black velvet suits, silk hats, and canes. They immediately offend the local roughs, particularly Red Hutch of the "Twin Bulldogs," a brutal pair of bullies who have terrorized the town. After the dandies insult the saloon patrons, Red Hutch threatens violence. Major Mars, an old Confederate soldier, intervenes and arranges a wrestling match between Red Hutch and the daisy-adorned dandy. The story promises that the apparently fragile Bostonian possesses unexpected wrestling prowess, setting up a confrontation between Eastern refinement and Western brutality.