Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 745

Museum Catalog Note This issue of Beadle and Adams's pulp publication (November 3, 1891) features the opening installment of "Kansas Jim, the Cross-eyed Detective," by Lieutenant A. K. Sims. The narrative concerns cattle raiders operating from hill fastnesses near the Double-Bar Ranch. Foreman Luke Stevens and pursuing cowboys encounter a disreputable mounted man named Kansas Jim (alias James Kennedy), whose cross-eyes and peculiar pistol-handling—revolvers trained in different directions with hands crossed—create initial ambiguity regarding his intent. Despite threatening posture, Jim proves affable and eventually joins the ranch party. Philip Marshall, the ranch owner, privately receives credentials identifying Jim as a detective retained to investigate the raiders. Jim's rough manner and comic dialect mask his actual professional mission. The narrative concerns the systematic theft of cattle and horses by Big Head Mike's organized outlaw band.