Evening star., 1930-06-22


but looked odd in suit OF black knee-bootS,
black SIouched hat and black mask upon his
face, hiding all his features eTcept q firm
mouth jetty mluStdche and a chin that bore
signs of character. He armed NTH another
Tepolper besides the he held in his hand,
and a IGSso hung from his hip.
"Who you?" Edith asked, SuSpiciouSIy,
%1Dhp are the UigiIanteS chasing you and tOly
hGUe you entered my house in this manner"
''The uigilanteS chasing because they
fDGnt the doubtful pleasure OF Stringing me up
to the hdndtest tree they come to-" the stranger
replied quietly my name is DeddWood Dick,
they S0y-perhGps you may hare heard OF nae?"
II INDEED. fair Edith had heard of Dead
wood Dick as who hadn't in those glo-
rious days when Beade & Adams were
publishing dime novels by the million?
And when fair Edith had saved Dick,
the Prince of the Road, from the vgilantes
and he had saved her from the villains the
last page of the book the author, Edward L.
Wheeler conf1des that Somewhere in the Colo
RADIO districts, hidden under the disguise of
Phneas Porter, detective, Deadwood Dick lives
with his new bride-his third wife, by the
way-whose name is Edith"
Intrepid Deadwood Dick saved other fair
damsels in dire distress, yea score of them,
in other years and when he could not marry
them all himself he saw to it that they
happily welded to the tall beautifully propor-
toned young heroes who were forever riding
the deserts with the Prince of the Road. Ed
ward Wheeler to that His was great
trust and he kept it well. No villain
emerged triumphant, no hero ever long at
q disadvantage in Wheeers books, nor in those
of Sylvanus Cobb, jr; Mayne Reid Capt. ]. c.
Adams, Col Prentiss Ingraham, DR.. Carver or
the hundred other writers whose thrills could
be purchased by the volume for dime in
the days before the movies, when ''it' was still
a prosaic pronoun.
RUT all that was 30, 40 even so years ago.
And today the awful perils of Deadwood
Dick and Oregon Sol and Nevada Nat and Cali
fornia Joe may cost you as much as $65
volume; they have become treasured antiques
and musteum pieces.
And yet Deadwood Dick in the flesh has just
been laid away on the top of mountain near
Deadwood, S. Oak: close alongside the grave
of Wild Bill Hickock Buffalo Bill has been
dead only few years Poker Alice" Tubbs died
within the year and the last of the old stage
coach drivers still are living The wild West
era of the dime novel rose and declined and the
men who lived the thrills themselves fingered
The dime-novel is gone, closed but
only now is the life that made the dime novel
fading out.
That it should all be so close upon our
heels is hard to realize. There are men still
hving who could recall the first l0-cent books
put out in 1860 by Beadle & Adams, the first
real dime-novel publishers. Erastus Beadle was
the moving spirit of the venture, a man as
energetic and resouceful the heroes of his
books.
Born in Pierstown, N. Y. on September IL,
1921, Beadle grew up with tales of the back
woods and the frontier ringing in his ears.
When he was scarcely more than youth he
carved wood blocks to stamp -four bags and
toured the country selling his This
turned him to printing, and when he started his
FIRST printing office in Buffalo he printed .
dime songbook which had immediate vogue.
Heartened-and enTiched-Beadle moved TO
New York. He would print fiction, sell it
cheaply, perhaps make real fortune.
eTHHE FIRST volume prepared. offered to the
public. 1t made a tremendous hit. Thou
ksnds bought it, clamored for more Manu-
scripts began TO pour into the Office. The best
were chosen. rushed TO the presses and like
wise sold tremendously Writers Of recognized
Stsnding were invited to work for Mr.. Beadle,
and among those who contributed were Col. A.
J. Dugane, Francis Fuller Barritt, Judge Jared
aI Mavp