The Deadwood Dick Library, Vol. III, No. 29

This is the September 27, 1899 issue of Half-Dime Library, containing the opening installment of "Boss Bob, the King of Bootblacks; or, The Pawnbroker's Plot," a Philadelphia story by Edward L. Wheeler (author of the Deadwood Dick series). The narrative follows Boss Bob, a street-smart bootblack of Irish descent working the Market Street Bridge near the Schuylkill River during the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. While shining boots at two in the morning, Bob meets Oliver Mortimer, a visitor from Toledo who has just arrived by excursion train. Bob demonstrates encyclopedic knowledge of the city's inhabitants and criminal elements—"peelers," con artists, and thieves—while also mentioning his taciturn partner, the Nondescript. When Mortimer departs, he accidentally drops papers containing information that the Nondescript retrieves. The story appears to be setting up an adventure involving the mysterious Mortimer's meeting with Colonel Rutherford and connections to the businessman Morton Prescott, whose financial troubles Bob has observed.