The Deadwood Dick Library, Vol. III, No. 36

This November 15, 1899 issue of the Half-Dime Library presents Edward L. Wheeler's "The Boy-Girl Detective; or, Old Blakesly's Money." The story opens in Philadelphia where retired merchant Redmond Blakesly encounters a newsboy named New York Nell—revealed to be a girl disguised in boy's clothes selling newspapers for survival. Blakesly later arrives at the railway station and reunites with his estranged son Jack, whom he had sent away eight years prior to earn his fortune through education. Jack arrives with Miss Viola Vernon, a young orphan whose family perished in a railroad accident out West, claiming she will stay with his Aunt Prudence while seeking her lost brother. The narrative involves mysteries surrounding identity, inheritance ("Old Blakesly's Money"), and hidden connections between characters.