Fritz to the Front, or, the Ventriloquist Scamp-Hunter

"Fritz to the Front" is a popular Western by Edward L. Wheeler, a 19th-century American author whose best-known works were about the West and the frontier.

Excerpt

"One bright, hot August morning a cheap excursion was advertised to leave South Street wharf, Philadelphia, for Atlantic City—that lively little city by the sea, which is so fast growing in size and popularity as to rival the more noted of the Atlantic coast summer resorts. A cheap excursion which is within the means of the working class is ever a success, and this one was no exception; it gave the masses a chance to escape from the overheated city for a small sum, and they grasped at it eagerly."