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. Continue reading
MARVEL FEATURE Vol 1 #1 (December 1971)
CASEY JONES (1957-1958) – Alan Hale, in his pre-Gilligan’s Island years, starred as the legendary train engineer John Luther “Casey” Jones in this series that’s not only appropriate for Frontierado season but makes for a nice watch with the whole family all year ’round. (It never depicted the incident in which the real Casey Jones died.) 
The show lasted 32 half-hour episodes and was set in Tennessee as Casey worked his steam engine the Cannonball Express (just Cannonball in real life) westward and back during the 1890s. Child actor Bobby Clark played our hero’s son Casey, Jr. while Mary Lawrence was Casey’s wife Alice. Eddy Waller portrayed Conductor “Red Rock” Smith.
The Frontierado Holiday falls on Friday, August 1st this year. As regular readers know, Frontierado celebrates the myth of the old west, not the grinding reality. Here’s a seasonal post. 
Here’s a mid-week current events roundup from 
THE AMERICAN ADVENTURER: STORY OF THE SECOND TRAVELER (1879) – While looking for new blog posts to mark Frontierado this year I unexpectedly came across this short story that is more sci-fi than Wild West. 
Balladeer's Blog 