Beadle's Dime Library, No. 348

This issue of *Beadle's Dime Library* (Vol. XXVI, June 24, 1885) contains the beginning of a serialized Western novel by Edward Willett, "Dan Dillon, King of Crosscut; Or, A Woman's Wild Work." The story unfolds in the frontier town of Crosscut, a booming cattle-shipping center. A woman named Effie Seaver has been arrested for murdering her elderly, wealthy husband Josiah Seaver during a cattle drive southward. The arrest triggers lynch-mob fervor among Crosscut's residents, who frequent saloons demanding summary justice. The woman refused to visit Crosscut before her husband's death, arousing suspicion and contempt. The narrative introduces Dan Dillon, the saloon-owning "King of Crosscut," who mysteriously withdraws from public view during the excitement. In private with his associate Bart Scammell (a gambling-house manager), Dan reveals his crucial connection: he was formerly engaged to Effie Seaver. The serial concludes with hints that her marriage to Seaver was connected to this prior engagement, establishing the story's central mystery.