Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 542

Cimarron Jack's Last Hunt This issue features the opening chapters of "Cimarron Jack's Last Hunt," a Western romance by Frederick Dewey, set on the Colorado River plateau in July 1849. The narrative centers on Kit Duncan, a quarrelsome camp cook, and introduces a supernatural mystery. When Duncan's mustang bolts from camp, he witnesses a phantom horseman—a tall, dark-skinned rider on a chestnut horse, advancing silently with a vacant, frozen stare. Despite Duncan's warnings and a rifle shot that audibly strikes the rider's skull, the horseman continues approaching before circling Duncan's position and retreating over the ridge without acknowledgment or apparent injury. The episode establishes tension between the skeptical Duncan and unexplainable phenomena in the desolate, heat-ravaged landscape.