The Deadwood Dick Library, Vol. V, No. 55

This issue of the Half-Dime Library (March 28, 1900) features two works by Edward L. Wheeler. The primary serial is "Denver Doll's Partner; or, Big Buckskin, the Sport," which opens with Chapter I, "A Villainous Bargain." The narrative introduces the Murdock Brothers—notorious desperadoes and horse-thieves operating in Idaho's mining districts—who are hiding in a remote mountain cabin. Captain Burk Murdock and his gang expect visitors: a book-agent named George Washington Gum (who arrives first, speaking in exaggerated tall-tale fashion) and later, a clergyman and young woman brought by the Native American scout Red Eagle. The clergyman approaches the outlaws with a proposition regarding their willingness to undertake morally questionable work for payment. The issue also includes a catalog listing approximately eighty-five previously published Deadwood Dick, Jr. novels by Wheeler, ranging from "The Crimson Crescent Sign" to "Big Four," documenting the character's adventures across western locations and crime-solving scenarios.