Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 25

This Beadle's Dime Novel features "Steel-arm, the Regulator," a western adventure by Francis Johnson. Set in San Francisco during the 1849 gold rush, the story follows miners of diverse nationalities who gather at a crowded hotel seeking lodging and food. Among them are Ribonne (a French soap peddler), Paddy Shanty (an Irishman), Enriquez Mundiaz (Mexican), and Jenkins (American). The action centers on a gaming table where the mysterious Vandelles, a well-dressed duelist and gambler rumored to have killed men, takes the banker's role in lansquenet. Tensions escalate when the brutal Goliaths—three notorious, violent American brothers named Smithson and their cousin Kellow—arrive and assault a Mexican miner. The mysterious "Steel-arm," a celebrated regulator of the mining camps, emerges as an apparent enforcer of justice, intervening to stop the violence with quiet authority.