Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 320

This is the first installment of "The Genteel Spotter; or, The Night Hawks of New York" by Albert W. Aiken, a tale of urban crime published December 10, 1884. The story opens with two river thieves—"river rats"—silently rowing a muffled boat along the East River at night, planning to rob a Dutch merchant vessel carrying twenty thousand dollars in government bonds. During their escape after the police patrol passes, they rescue a drowning woman from a ferry boat, whom the taller thief recognizes. Chapter II shifts to description of New York's criminal underworld, particularly the Fourth Ward's squalid tenements and sailor boarding-houses. The narrative then depicts Bristol Bill, a master-scoundrel, entering a saloon with a drunk companion, intending to move to a private back room for nefarious purposes.