Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 375

"The Gold on Blazer's" by W.M. R. Eyster This Western serial by William R. Eyster follows a dramatic standoff at Blazer's Bar. Brilliant Bess, a capable frontier woman, physically blocks a lynch mob led by the cunning outlaw Gentle Joe from reaching a fugitive who has allegedly committed murder. When Joe disarms her and the crowd captures their quarry, a hastily convened court begins proceedings. The prisoner, indifferent to his fate, offers cryptic testimony suggesting others committed the crime. Gentle Joe unexpectedly intervenes, contradicting witness testimony and demanding the trial adjourn for further investigation, drawing his revolvers against the mob. The narrative emphasizes frontier justice systems, moral complications within outlaw communities, and Gentle Joe's mysterious motives, with the old prospector Ragged Rufe observing cynically throughout.