The Shadow of Silver Tip

"The Shadow of Silver Tip" is a 1925 western novel by George Owen Baxter (pen name of Frederick Schiller Faust). The serial tells of an outlaw known as The Shadow, who rides a distinctive dappled chestnut horse and operates as a solitary criminal—safe-blowing, holdup work, never collaborating with others, and remaining perpetually masked. Two years before the narrative's opening, The Shadow courted Sylvia Rann in the mountains; three local suitors—Jess Sherman, Harry Lang, and Chuck Parker—ambushed and shot him, believing him a danger to the girl. The Shadow escaped after wounding them all and swore vengeance, threatening each by letter. Now Marshal Jeff Hall arrives in the lawless town of Silver Tip to inform Sheriff Algernon Thomas that The Shadow has reappeared, identified by his distinctive horse. The elderly, mild-mannered sheriff remains unimpressed, maintaining his policy of policing only the town proper while ignoring mountain crimes.