Beadle's Pocket Library No. 78

Deadwood Dick's Device: The Sign of the Double Cross This 1885 dime novel by Edward L. Wheeler features the outlaw Deadwood Dick (Edward Harris) in a Leadville mining story. During a violent storm, a veiled woman intercepts Harris and directs him to David Howell's cabin at Dead Pine Tract. Inside, the dying Howell—a recluse miner despised as a miser—dictates his will, leaving his entire property (the valuable Howell carbonate mine, land, and cabin) to Harris, along with guardianship of his daughter Stella, currently held by his brother Major Morton Howell. Howell also leaves his relatives one penny each and his "dying blessing." Howell warns that Harris's inheritance will spark violent conflict with his greedy relatives, and urges him to guard the Recorder's deed. Harris, allegedly lynched days earlier but somehow resurrected by the "Girl Sport" (Calamity Jane), accepts the responsibility coolly, promising to protect the mine and Stella.