The Huge Hunter

This issue of Beadle's Dime Library (No. 270/591) is primarily a catalog and promotional supplement, but includes the beginning of "The Huge Hunter; or, The Steam Man of the Prairies" by Edward S. Ellis. The narrative concerns two prospectors, Ethan Hopkins (a Yankee) and Mickey McSquizzel (an Irishman), working on the western prairies who encounter a remarkable steam-powered mechanical humanoid constructed by an inventor named Baldy. The steam man, approximately ten feet tall, features an iron body painted black with white stripes, locomotive-like machinery in its chest cavity, articulated limbs, and is operated through reins controlling directional valves and steam release. Drawing a wagon laden with fuel and water, the device can achieve tremendous speed across the plains. The chapter culminates with Hopkins and Mickey attempting to operate the machine themselves, resulting in an uncontrolled jerk that throws them backward off the wagon as the steam man begins moving at alarming velocity.