Beadle's Dime Library No. 841

"Trapping River Thieves," by Wm. H. Manning, opens this 1894 dime novel installment. Rodney Proctor and his companion Skimmer Nichols, boating on the East River at night, hear a woman's cry from another vessel. Investigating, they discover a bound captive. When the prisoner shifts her weight, the boat overturns; the rescuers retrieve the young woman while her captors escape. The rescued woman, Hope Trull, reveals she was abducted from a New York street by strangers. Rodney escorts her to her mother, Mrs. Trull, at their boarding house. Mrs. Trull, stern and muscular despite her daughter's delicate nature, reveals the abduction was orchestrated by Montgomery Call, a dangerous enemy pursuing them. The narrative suggests a deeper conflict driving the family's desperate circumstances in the city.