Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 30

This Beadle's Dime Library issue features "Gospel George; Fiery Fred, the Outlaw: A Romance of the Gold Mines" by Joseph E. Badger, Jr. In Chapter I, prospectors working California's 1854 gold fields hear gunshots and find a man, "Sorrel-top," stranded in a tree, attacked by a grizzly bear named "Old Eph." Gospel George, a distinctive long-haired stranger, heroically kills the bear with his ax and rescues the prospector Ned Allen from drowning. Gospel George is characterized as a talkative, humorous figure who delivers extended comic monologues—about his ex-wife's verbal abuse and his mule Roxy Ann's flea-killing abilities. Sorrel-top reveals he came west after being mistreated by miners; he hints at discovering something valuable that he'll keep secret from them, having already poisoned their soup to escape. The narrative blends frontier adventure with frontier humor and character development.