Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 1004

1896 · 16 pages

The Boulevard Belle Detective, by J. C. Cowdrick. Chapter I introduces the St. Nicholas Avenue Nightingale—Molly McGee, an Irish girl singing while washing clothes behind a fence in upper Manhattan. Her fine voice attracts passersby. Two bicyclists encounter her; one, Sam Buckley (called "Scorcher Sam"), knows her; the other, Phil Dixon, attempts flirtation but is rebuffed, warned that Molly has a protective boyfriend named Mike. Chapter II shifts to Cactus Bill's Circus tent along Amsterdam Avenue, where a Spanish or Mexican performer juggles glass balls while Bill shoots them with revolvers. During her performance, the girl recognizes a man entering the tent—Louis Murrill—and cries out that he is someone she knows from her past. The man attempts to flee; Cactus Bill fires at him but misses. Scorcher Sam, present in the tent, has apparently interfered with Bill's aim, prompting Bill's angry accusation.

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