Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 880

1894 · 16 pages

Museum Catalog Note This Beadle and Adams dime novel, "Broadway Billy and the Bomb-Throwers; or, The Detective Queen of Paris" by J. C. Cowdrick, begins with a dramatic historical narrative. Detectives Broadway Billy and Harry Freeman witness the execution of anarchist Auguste Vaillant by guillotine in Paris on February 5th. The detailed, eyewitness account depicts Vaillant's composure before death and his final cry of "Death to the bourgeoisie! Long live Anarchy!" Following the execution, Billy and Harry overhear two bomb-plotting anarchists discussing revenge attacks on Paris. Using a ruse, they infiltrate the anarchist network by posing as sympathetic foreigners, gaining an appointment to meet the conspirators. The story combines sensational true-crime reportage with detective fiction adventure, as the American sleuths pursue investigation into a contemporary European anarchist threat. The narrative exemplifies the period's popular crime-and-espionage pulp formula.

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