Beadle's Pocket Library, No. 174

This Beadle and Adams dime novel (Vol. XIV, No. 174, May 1887) features "Dandy Rock's Scheme: The Golden Hand" by George Waldo Browne. Set in Arizona in 1852, it concerns the legendary Lost Mine—a sealed valley called Black Pocket, made inaccessible when an antagonist named Cape Horn destroyed the pass, trapping and killing the twelve miners and their families via forest fire. The story opens with Dandy Rock (Rock Randel) and young prospector Bustin Dare examining the cursed location. Their conversation is interrupted by the arrival of twelve mysterious riders dressed entirely in black—the "League in Black," claiming to be the spirits of the dead miners. A dramatically-dressed stranger called the Golden Hand, bedecked in gold-trimmed garments and weapons, confronts the masked riders, calling them frauds and threatening individual duels. Rock and Dust become unwilling witnesses as the confrontation escalates into a challenge.