Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 918

1895 · 16 pages

Beadle and Adams Dime Novel, No. 918 (February 26, 1895) "The Trump Dock-Boy" by J.C. Cowdrick begins serialization in this issue. The story follows Dock-Boy Dick, an eighteen-year-old hotel runner on the New York docks, who encounters a mysterious meeting between a young man named Philip Holland (arriving from New Orleans) and an older gentleman, Joseph Belchaine, from New Jersey. Belchaine possesses a severely withered, skeleton-like hand that he keeps concealed. Local superstition holds that anyone who grasps it will die within the year. Philip deliberately shakes the hand to disprove the superstition, alarming Belchaine. After Dick secures their baggage to the Hotel Brimton, the two men engage him to deliver a valuable four-thousand-dollar diamond—a family heirloom destined for Philip's bride. Philip declines to send Dick with the gem, explaining its sentimental significance beyond monetary value, and offers Dick an apology for his uncle's dismissive conduct.

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