THE DOUBLE DAGGERS (1877) THE SECOND DEADWOOD DICK DIME NOVEL

This year the Frontierado Holiday hits on Friday, August 1st. As always, the event celebrates the myth of the old west, not the grinding reality. Last year I reviewed the very first Deadwood Dick Dime Novel, so this year I’m tackling the second.

WHO IS DEADWOOD DICK? For newbies to Dime Novels of the American West, let me recap. This character, whose name is practically synonymous with Dime Novels, was created in 1877 by prolific writer Edward L. Wheeler, who also created various FEMALE Dime Novel figures that I’ve reviewed in the past, like Hurricane Nell, the Denver Doll, Baltimore Bess and Cinnamon Chip.

As his name implies, the masked Deadwood Dick operated in and around Deadwood and the Black Hills region. He was a notorious outlaw/ road agent who led a band of masked followers in assorted robberies. Deadwood Dick was embedded in the American consciousness decades before Zorro, who didn’t debut until 1919, and the Lone Ranger, who came along in the 1930s.

THE DOUBLE DAGGERS or DEADWOOD DICK’S DEFIANCE (December 21st, 1877) – This hero’s tales were republished over and over again into the early 20th Century, so readers will encounter references to this book supposedly being published years later than this.

As this story begins, it is a few months after the conclusion of Deadwood Dick’s previous 1877 adventure. Our masked bandit and his gang continue to plunder gold shipments, stagecoach cargoes and mine payrolls throughout the busy Black Hills goldfields, then fade into the landscape.

Traditional lawmen and even the U.S. Cavalry failed to curtail Deadwood Dick’s prairie pirate/ Robin Hood escapades last time around. Now, however, a deadly outfit of specialists called the Deadwood Regulators have been leaning on outlaw activity in the Black Hills.

Those Regulators are led by Dashing Dave and number in the dozens. They’ve snuffed out or driven off lesser bandits but the legendary Deadwood Dick – real name Ned Harris – and his men are still at large.

Our main character leads ten members of his gang in a lucrative stagecoach robbery near Cheyenne, Wyoming. Later, while dividing the loot in Big Lode Canyon, the eleven outlaws are taken by surprise by the capable Dashing Dave and the Deadwood Regulators.

In the bullet-riddled battle that followed, all ten of Deadwood Dick’s subordinates were killed but he himself managed to escape. A few days later, our Black Rider of the Black Hills forces an ad in the Deadwood Pioneer newspaper. The ad reads: 

“Deadwood Dick, the Road-Agent, desires to say, through these columns, that he defies Deadwood it· self and all its inhabitants; that he is even now within the confines of the Magic City and will soon show the so-called Deadwood Regulators that for every Road-Agent killed in Big Lode Canyon the other day, he will guarantee the demise of a Regulator. Let Dashing Dave beware; let all Deadwood beware; for the Prince of the Road is on his muscle! 
(Signed,) The Public’s dutiful servant, DEADWOOD DICK.”

And with that, our tale kicks into high gear. The title comes from the Double Daggers logo that our lead character brands or carves into the foreheads of each Deadwood Regulator or other enemy he guns down in this saga.

Characters aside from Deadwood Dick himself:

ANITA HARRIS-MCKENZIE – The sister of our masked outlaw’s secret identity Ned Harris. In Dime Novels they never cared about continuity, so even though Anita and her husband Justin McKenzie moved back east at the end of the previous story that is ignored.

She and her husband, who maintain covert contact with Deadwood Dick, are depicted living in Deadwood and running their gold mine, ignoring the fact that it was actually supporting characters Alice Terry and her new husband Harry Redburn who stayed in Deadwood to run that mine.

LEONE HAWK – The 17-year-old female lead of this story. Like so many of Edward L. Wheeler’s other female characters she is courageous, resourceful and shoots as well as the men do. She is fleeing a forced marriage being imposed on her by her stepfather in order to keep valuable properties back in Texas in the family and under his control.

CURTIS SYDNOR – The vile man who Leone’s stepfather wanted her to wed. He and the stepfather plus their hired men have pursued the young lady to the Black Hills intent on dragging her back for the wedding. Curtis is cunning, slick and dishonest. Years ago, he threw Leone’s mother off a riverboat and into the Mississippi River to drown when she tried defying Curtis and the stepfather’s villainy. 

JASPER LESLIE – Leone’s evil stepfather. He killed off the girl’s father years ago and forced her mother to marry him because of her wealth. He’s ten years older than Sydnor. The pair are basically pale, lesser versions of the older mastermind/ younger acolyte villains from the first Deadwood Dick story.

DASHING DAVE – The first leader of the Deadwood Regulators, he was strong, ruthless, capable and good with guns. He is the first victim of Deadwood Dick’s revenge quest and is posthumously marked with the Double Dagger insignia.

GERALD HAWK – Leone’s brother, whose presence in Deadwood is the reason she flees there. Tragically, Dashing Dave and his men convince themselves he is really Deadwood Dick and lynch him.

CALAMITY JANE – The author’s VERY fictional version of the real-life figure. Wheeler would write several Dime Novels about her, as well. She’s back from the previous tale but the romance between her and our hero is no longer mentioned. 

This time around she spends most of her time running her cave-concealed gold claim which she calls the Golden Bar Mine. She’s also the new owner of the remodeled Metropolitan Saloon, the site of the previous story’s large-scale, apocalyptic shootout.   

DONALD YATES – The handsome young gunslinger whom Calamity Jane has taken under her wing as her partner in the Golden Bar prospecting operation. He meets Leone Hawk when Calamity lets her hide with them. Donald has eyes for Leone, but she may be out of his league.

THE VEILED QUEEN – The female gambler-gunslinger who has been plying her cardsharp skills and gunmanship in Deadwood. She dresses in black right down to an apparent veil of mourning. Ida Burton is the name she goes by but it’s only an alias. Her shocking true identity is revealed late in the novel.

BLACK HARPER – The new nom de guerre of Chet Diamond from the first Deadwood Dick story. He’s still lewd, disgusting and a secondary villain. Chet got his new nickname from a black burn mark left on his forehead after he was struck by lightning. Harper lusts after Leone and hungers for Calamity Jane’s gold claim.

URIAH DENBY – The late Dashing Dave’s successor as leader of the Deadwood Regulators. He’s much less decisive than Dave was and is a much less effective leader.

SILVER SAL – The overweight female singer and part-owner of the dangerous low-life dive bar called the Slop-Bucket. This criminal establishment is the site of the story’s highest body-count shootout this time around.

FRED AUDLEY – A traitorous member of Deadwood Dick’s gang who tries to betray him into the hands of the Deadwood Regulators. He winds up with our hero’s Double Dagger brand on his forehead.

BESSIE AUDLEY – Fred’s long-suffering wife, who makes it clear she will marry Donald Yates when her villainous husband is killed.

CARLOS CAMBRE – A Mexican member of Deadwood Dick’s gang. He is promoted to one of Dick’s lieutenants to replace Fred Audley.

BEN JOHNSON – The black cowhand and scout who helps Leone get from Texas to Deadwood. He is shot to death by Black Harper. 

MINNESOTA MIKE AND DEER-FOOT – Two mean-spirited gunslingers who clash with Deadwood Dick in the Slop-Bucket.   

AUGUSTUS – Assistant Editor of the Deadwood Pioneer and a covert agent of Deadwood Dick. 

*** Regarding other story elements, including SPOILERS:

The early lynching of Gerald Hawk when Dashing Dave and his men mistakenly think he is really Deadwood Dick angers the real masked outlaw. He spends part of the novel bluffing the bad guys that he is the ghost of the hanged Deadwood Dick when carrying out some of his robberies and revenge killings.

Many characters are smart enough to see through that con but a few do fall for it and are appropriately terrified. At one point Dick poses as a gunslinger called Buffalo Ben when lying low in the Slop-Bucket.

Deadwood Dick and Leone Hawk fall in love with each other as he protects her and deals with her evil enemies throughout the story. The Veiled Queen turns out to be Leone’s presumed dead mother.

After several gunfights, chases, holdups and other action, Jasper Leslie and Curtis Sydnor get their clutches on Leone. They drug her and take her with them on a stagecoach out of town and Deadwood Dick must overtake them to save the woman he loves. The two villains are killed.

Leone’s mother does not survive, unfortunately, but our hero and Leone get married in a ceremony held at Calamity Jane’s Golden Bar hideaway. All the good guys assemble there for the nuptials and partying. Ordained Minister Perry Pennypacker performs the ceremony.

We readers are told that Deadwood Dick’s love of danger prompted him to continue his outlaw career while frequently visiting his new bride Leone at a hideout in Bozeman, Montana. 

*** It is always fascinating to me to read these 1870s tales in the words of people who actually lived back then. There’s always a lot to be learned from how heroes, heroines and villains are depicted during a given time period.

For just one example, Wheeler’s female characters being such sharp-shooting, two fisted gals is a revelation, considering how demure and weak that movies and television shows would depict women of the old west.