Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 238

1882 · 16 pages

This issue of a Beadle and Adams dime novel (No. 238, Vol. 5) features "The Parson Detective: Little Shocky, the Ranger of Raven-Roost" by Oll Coomes. The narrative opens in River View, a rough Missouri River frontier settlement plagued by outlaws and lacking effective law enforcement. Reverend Ptolemy Frodd, a tall, angular preacher with a deceptively mild appearance, arrives to establish a church. When bullies at the Pine Cone saloon attempt to force him to drink liquor, Frodd reveals hidden strength, knocking them senseless with his fists before drawing revolvers and commanding their attendance at his Sunday sermon. The parallel plot follows Roger Millbank, a young ranger engaged to local beauty Ethel Robertson. Ambushed by three masked outlaws seeking information, Millbank is captured after his horse is shot from under him. As the villains prepare to hang him for a confession, three unseen rescuers intervene with gunfire.

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