The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Victoriana

by Jess Nevins

The Diamond Dick Adventures (1878-1911)

copyright © Jess Nevins 2022

The Diamond Dick Adventures were created by “Delta Calaveras” and began with “Diamond Dick; or, The Sarpint of Siskiyou County” (New York Weekly, 1878). “Delta Calaveras” was the pseudonym of William B. Schwartz (?-?), who wrote a number of dime novels for Street and Smith.

Diamond Dick was one of the most popular and longest-running cowboy heroes, appearing in several hundred stories. His real name was Richard Wade, and at some far-off point in his past he was hanged and left for dead, which left his face a ghastly white. (This Gothic touch was never followed up on, although it would return in the pulps, as in the Avenger stories [1939-1944] of Henry W. Ralston, Lester Dent, Walter B. Gibson, and Paul Ernst). Wade inherits a silver mine and moves to the West, where events lead him to become a lawman. He is called “Diamond Dick” because of his clothing, which is Spanish-influenced and embellished with diamonds. His revolvers are also encrusted with diamonds. Wade is accompanied by his son Bertie, a.k.a. “Diamond Dick, Jr.,” and by their friend Handsome Harry, a bearded strong man of eccentric expressions (“I’m the ol’ Sarpint of Siskiyou, wi’ seventeen rattles and a button!”1).

One unusual aspect of the Diamond Dick stories is the progression of time. Diamond Dick and his son both age, Dick growing old and his son growing from child to man. At one point in 1894 Richard left the series so that Bertie could become the main hero. Richard returned when the original stories were reprinted in Diamond Dick, Jr., alternating with new stories. Diamond Dick, Jr. eventually stopped the reprints and offered new material which focused on Richard and Bertie’s adventures on the frontier, including train robberies, cattle thieves, and Wild West shows. At the beginning of 1905 Diamond Dick, Sr. leaves the series and Diamond Dick, Jr. carries on without him, adventuring from the Arctic circle to the tip of South America.

Less unusual but still notable is the ethnic make-up of the friends and companions of Diamond Dick and, after 1905, Diamond Dick, Jr. Following the lead of The Nick Carter Mysteries, the Diamond Dick and Diamond Dick, Jr. stories featured an ethnically-varied cast of supporting characters: for Diamond Dick, “Lottie Mack (Bertie’s girl friend), Quip (Richard’s black servant), Two-Spot Peters (the boy from New York), the Dutchman Fritz, and the Chinese Hoop La;”2 for Diamond Dick, Jr., “Billy Doo, a tough Chicago kid; Belle Bellair, described as Diamond Dick’s girl pard; and Jack Sinn, gambler, gunman, and recurring villain.”3 While the portrayal of women and characters of color cannot be described as progressive by modern standards, and in fact most readers would describe their portrayals as sexist and racist, it must be kept in mind that in the context of the times, and in the context of where they appeared, the intent behind the creation of the women and characters of color was a positive one and their portrayal was intended to be progressive.

The Diamond Dick Adventures are also notable because of the length of time they spanned. When they began, in 1878, there were twenty-six dime novels being published, and the dime novel format was soon to go through its Golden Age. When the stories ended, in 1911, there were thirty-five dime novels being published, but the medium was beginning its decline as the pulps (fifteen published in 1911) were commencing their ascent to the top of the serial literature food chain. The figures of Diamond Dick and his son evolve from diamond-encrusted cowboys to “a red shirt, fringed buckskin chaps, boots, white gauntlets and a white sombrero, it is the costume of a working cowboy.”4 The Western was quite popular in dime novels in 1878, representing over a fifth of all dime novels published; by 1911, they were a fraction over ten percent of all dime novels published, with no Western pulps being published. The rise, glory days, and fall of Diamond Dick and his son Diamond Dick, Jr. mirror the rise, heyday, and fall the dime novels themselves.

Recommended Edition 

Print: J. Randolph Cox, ed., Dashing Diamond Dick and Other Classic Dime Novels. New York: Penguin Books, 2007.

Online: http://digital.lib.usf.edu/SFS0036408/00023

 

1 “Diamond Dick’s Dynamite Victory; or, The Anarchist Plot at Pocomo,” Diamond-Dick Jr.: The Boys’ Best Weekly, (June 22, 1907), accessed Jan. 24, 2019, http://digital.lib.usf.edu/SFS0036408/00023/5x.

2 Cox, The Dime Novel Companion, 83.

3 Cox, The Dime Novel Companion, 84.

4 Cox, The Dime Novel Companion, 84.