Wild West Weekly #658

Wild West Weekly, No. 658, May 28, 1915 This issue features "Young Wild West's Grit; or, The Ghost of Gauntlet," credited to "An Old Scout." The main story concerns Young Wild West, a nineteen-year-old expert rider and marksman, who encounters Tom Turpin, a broncho buster selling horses in the mining town of Weston in the Black Hills. Turpin boasts that his unbroken broncho cannot be ridden two hundred feet without throwing its rider. Wild accepts the challenge, initially for two hundred dollars, then raises the wager to half a mile to prove his superior horsemanship. Using a lariat, Wild catches and subdues the wild horse, saddles it, and demonstrates his exceptional riding ability as the broncho attempts various tactics—bucking, rolling, rearing—but fails to unseat him. Turpin, initially confident in his horse's viciousness, becomes increasingly dismayed as Wild's friends recognize him as "the prince of the saddle." The fragment concludes with the broncho buster's recognition of his mistake in challenging the renowned rider.