The Dread Shot Four

This issue (June 16, 1897, Vol. LXXV, No. 4) features "My Pards of the Plains," credited to Colonel William F. Cody, a Western romance serial. In Dark Days Mining Camp, a stranger named Frank Belden disrupts an auction placing bounty on outlaw Captain Rainbow (leader of the Scarlet Scouts gang) and matches the miners' $20,000 stake with his own $20,000, creating a $40,000 reward. Belden is visibly affected when Kid Glove Kate—a mysterious twenty-year-old gambler dressed in crimson, who plays only for gold coins—enters the saloon. Kate operates from a remote canyon cabin, rebuffing visitors; she's known for skillful card play and marksmanship. The opening chapters establish the mining camp setting, introduce the bounty plot, and present Kate as an object of mystery and fascination.