Black Horse Bill, the Bandit Wrecker

Catalog Note: Black Horse Bill, the Bandit Wrecker "Black Horse Bill, the Bandit Wrecker; or, Two Brave Boys to the Rescue" by Roger Starbuck appears in this September 1891 issue. The story concerns Black Horse Bill, a ruthless wrecker who leads a gang preying on ships along the Atlantic coast near Georgia. Bill, an eighteen-year-old former blacksmith of unusual strength, operates from a hidden base with confederates. The narrative opens with Bill interrogating Jim Loman about a captured revenue officer in disguise; the young officer escapes with help from Loman's wife Moll. Bill then encounters the wrecked bark *Caroline*, murders its captain after learning of valuable cargo (cotton and coffee), and begins plundering the vessel. Unknown to the wreckers, Captain Reeves's sixteen-year-old son Jack survives aboard, witnessing his father's murder and vowing vengeance. Jack secures provisions and observes the wreckers systematically looting the ship.