Hands Up; or, The Knights of the Canyon

Catalog Entry "Hands Up; or, The Knights of the Canyon" by William R. Eyster, serialized in Beadle's Dime Novel (April 19, 1882). This Western vigilante story opens with the execution of Varley Vane, a young outlaw convicted of murder in an Arizona mining camp. When a dark-haired woman in black velvet arrives moments too late, she is revealed as Vane's wife. She vows revenge against Captain Rawlings, the judge, but is disarmed by an unknown sympathizer. The narrative shifts to New York City nearly a year later, where a young heiress named Mira Coyle reads a newspaper account of the execution. Her distressed reaction signals a hidden connection to the Arizona events. Mira lives under her uncle Roger Vanclyde's guardianship; Vanclyde, a congressman and philanthropist, has been appointed chairman of a Western investigating committee. A frequent visitor, General Harvey Sloat—a mining entrepreneur and politician from the West—courts her attention. The story appears to be establishing parallel threads linking Eastern society figures to Western violence.