Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 986

Museum Catalog Entry *Deadwood Dick, Jr.'s, Best Card,* from *Beadle's Weekly* (No. 986, June 16, 1896), features a serial adventure by Edward L. Wheeler, author of the *Deadwood Dick* novels. The story, titled *The Mystery of Church City,* follows detective Deadwood Dick Bristol and his Black companion Whitewash as they traverse a treacherous mountain trail toward Church City. They discover the corpse of a horse and, investigating further, find a hidden cavern containing the body of Morgan Mansfield, shot and dead for approximately a month. An inscription on the cavern wall—carved by an unskilled hand—reads "VENGEANCE FOR A FOUL CRIME ACCOMPLISHED AT LAST! MORGAN MANSFIELD MEETS HIS MERITED DOOM." The narrative includes a comedic encounter with Wilhelm Schloss, a German immigrant with a mule, whose dialect-heavy speech punctuates the account. Dick determines to proceed to Church City regardless of the corpse's discovery.