Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 1145

Catalog Note This issue features "The Dumb Destroyer; or, Dick, the Boy Ranger," a serial romance of the Niobrara by Oll Coomes. The narrative opens on the Dakota plains near the Belle Fourche River, where Sioux warriors under Standing Bear witness a mysterious aerial craft descending from the sky. A white-bearded figure in buckskin descends via parachute, claiming to be a messenger from the Great Spirit and gaining the warriors' trust through superstitious awe. He is revealed to be Skylark Sam, a renowned border detective employing the balloon as reconnaissance equipment. When the outlaw Black Diablo arrives at the camp, he recognizes Sam's deception and the detective flees on horseback. The narrative shifts to Colonel Gershom Owens leading an immigrant train of forty settlers toward the Niobrara valley to establish a colony. Armed men, women, children, livestock, and supplies comprise the party. A mysterious heavy wagon covered in canvas accompanies them. As the fog-shrouded train progresses, Colonel Owens discovers a dead Indian warrior on the trail, struck by an arrow through the breast.