Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 955

Old Kit Bandy's Compromise This Beadle and Adams dime novel (November 1895, No. 955) features "Old Kit Bandy's Compromise," a frontier adventure by Oll Coomes, alongside an advertisement for "Young Jove, the Dandy Dead-Shot." The main narrative follows Ben Hall and Fred Weston, Iowa businessmen lost in fog on the Little Dismal Desert while crossing Colorado territory. Searching for lost horses, they encounter a headless corpse fastened to a riderless horse—which Ben recognizes as his friend John Kingsley. Messages carved on the saddle, signed "Silent Honor," explain the body was found dead from heart failure and request the finder wear a blue ribbon or badge to claim Kingsley's gold fortune. After discovering their own horses and escaping the desert, Hall and Weston witness a chase through Black Rock Canyon where a fleeing boy is pursued by Indians toward a cliff edge. The boy repeatedly falls into bushes on the precipice face, evading both capture and death.