New Nick Carter Weekly, No. 37

Nick Carter Weekly No. 37: "Nick Carter Does His Best; Or, A Fortune in the Balance" This issue, published by Street & Smith in September 1897, features the opening installments of a detective serial by the author of the Nick Carter series. Inspector Byrnes engages private detective Nick Carter to investigate the mysterious disappearance of Frank Wilson, an eighteen-year-old bookkeeper employed by Wall Street broker James Jackman. Initial suspicions of foul play give way to discovery: Wilson has orchestrated an elaborate embezzlement scheme, stealing fifty thousand dollars and twenty thousand dollars in municipal bonds. Carter traces Wilson's confederates through Brooklyn saloons, extracting information from a loafer named Mose regarding Wilson's associations and secret plotting. The investigation reveals forged checks, suspicious bank transactions conducted by an unidentified accomplice, and evidence that the theft was meticulously preconceived. Carter pursues leads at the bank itself while managing Jackman's growing anxieties and maintaining strict secrecy throughout the inquiry.