Beadle's Half Dime Library, Vol. XIII, No. 324

This issue of a pulp magazine (October 9, 1883, No. 324, five cents) features the opening installment of "Ralph Ready, the Hotel Boy Detective; or, Tracking the Foxes to Earth" by Charles Morris. Ralph, an eighteen-year-old aide to the hotel clerk at the Grand Central Hotel, observes three suspicious arrivals: Judge Bluebottle of Duluth, whom the clerk suspects is a Western thief sought by police for an Illinois robbery; a young couple, Roger Sherman and lady, whom Ralph identifies as runaways; and John H. Benson of Chicago, whom Ralph deduces is the couple's pursuing parent. When Ralph encounters the young Mrs. Sherman in a corridor, she appeals for his assistance navigating the hotel, and he reveals his suspicions about their elopement, which she denies. The story establishes multiple mysteries for Ralph to investigate.