(Crime and Punishment) RECKLESS RALPH'S TWENTY-FIVE CENT NOVEL LIBRARY NO. 2, 1935; FEATURING "PRISON DELIVERY" BY EMMETT DALTON; SIGNED BY EMMETT AND JULIA DALTON ON THE FRONT WRAPPER. Grafton, Mass.: Ralph F. Cummings, 1935. FIRST EDITION. 8vo - 8-5/16" x 5-7/16". Original yellow paper wrappers with titles printed in black to front wrapper, with minor toning along spine and a few light stray marks; also on front wrapper are the full signatures in ink of Emmett Dalton and his wife Julia Dalton; back wrapper with minor toning along the lower edge and other light signs of handling for what is a nice copy of the periodical. 8 pp.; staple bound and laid in wrappers as issued. Reckless Ralph's Twenty-Five Cent Novel Library was an early dime novel fanzine self-published by Ralph F. Cummings. It was devoted to the collecting and preservation of the old-time dime and nickel novels, libraries and popular story papers and all the wonderful American literature contained within them. The feature article in the issue offered here is "Prison Delivery" by Emmett Dalton. Dalton, in addition to being an author, was an outlaw, train robber and member of the infamous Dalton gang in the American Old West. The Dalton gang was implicated in a series of train robberies that began in 1889. In 1892, the M-K-T Railroad posted a $40,000 reward for the capture of the Daltons whose notoriety had increased substantially in just three short years. On October 5, 1892, short on money and long on wanting to out do the James gang's record, the Daltons robbed two banks in Coffeyville, Kansas in one day. While successful in both robberies, the Daltons were not successful in steering clear of an angry mob of local citizens that ambushed them, killing four of the five gang members and leaving the fifth, Emmett Dalton, with 23 gunshot wounds and an eventual life sentence in the penitentiary in Lansing, Kansas. After serving 14 years of his life sentence, Dalton was pardoned by the Kansas governor. After his release from prison, Dalton moved to California where he got married to Julia Johnson, wrote two books, played himself in the Hollywood movie version of his first book, "Beyond the Law," consulted on other movie projects and sold real estate.
The first article in the magazine, "Prison Delivery" by Emmett Dalton, is a critique of America's prison policies and prison systems. In it he offers suggestions based on his own personal experiences and observations he made during his 14 years behind bars, as to how to improve the lot of the over four hundred thousand "prison deliveries" (Dalton's term for the men, women and juveniles released from confinement) made every year into the neighborhoods and homes next door to the law abiding masses. Dalton believed that the implementation of his ideas and observations would improve the lives of the people coming out of prison systems every year, and by extension, the lives of all the people who would be coming into contact with them.
The second article in the magazine, "Two Remarkable Heroes: The Deadwood Dicks, Senor and Junior, Are the Gentlemen" was written by the magazine's publisher, Ralph F. Cummings. In this article, Cummings argues that a trace of literature from the beginning of time to his present day would "show but few heroes that in the eyes of boyhood would be even judged worthy of comparison with the two greatest heroes known to American literature . . . Deadwood Dick and Deadwood Dick, Jr." I would personally go out on a limb and say that Ralph F. Cummings really, really liked the two Deadwood Dicks! The condition of the magazine is NEAR FINE. Only seven copies located on OCLC/WorldCat. RARE; and probably unique signed by the famous outlaw author and his wife. # 001138
Note: Magazine will be accompanied by a "Letter of Authenticity" from PSA/DNA Authenticating Services, authenticating both Emmett and Julia Dalton's signatures; PSA/DNA Certification Number: AL04813.