Beadle's Pocket Library No. 345

Jacques, the Hardpan Detective; Captain Frisco, the Road-Agent By J. C. Cowdrick, this serial spans 1853–1860 and comprises three acts set in California. The narrative opens with four miners—James Raesoner, his sons Mark and John, and son-in-law Ralph Rowland—returning home with their fortune after four years of hardship. They are ambushed and shot by masked bandits led by Henry Calley, a rejected suitor of Ralph's wife Mary. Calley murders the miners and steals their gold, then falsely reports Ralph's death to Mary, causing her mother to die of grief. By 1856, Calley has married Mary. The final act (1860) introduces the "Wild Man of Shasta," a long-haired, animal-skinned creature whom hunters capture. He reveals himself as one of the original miners, driven mad by witnessing his companions' massacre and years of wilderness trauma. Hunters Bill Tappan and Tom Pratt help restore his memory and promise to aid his return home.