The Gambler Guardian's Double Deal

Catalog Note This October 1898 issue contains two Western serials by Major Dangerfield Burr. "The Gambler-Guardian's Double Deal" opens with a surgeon-adventurer rescuing a wounded man (Walter Vernon) and a desperado named Bowie Bill from frontier outlaws. After nursing them to health and burying the dead assailants, the surgeon continues to Maryland, where his twin brother Randolph—a struggling attorney—has embezzled widow's funds gambling and faces ruin. Expecting worthless mail, Randolph intercepts a letter addressed to his absent brother containing a check for five thousand dollars from the rescued miner Vernon. Vernon's letter explains he intends the surgeon as guardian to his daughter and executor of his considerable fortune, with authority to use the income freely—a dramatic reversal of the brothers' circumstances. "The Shadow Scourger; or, Miner's Revenge" begins as a separate serial. The OCR text for this story is heavily degraded, making specific plot details unrecoverable.