Judge — March 11, 1882 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The Traitor's Friend" (Judge, March 11, 1882) The main cartoon criticizes **Cyrus W. Field**, a prominent businessman and telegraph pioneer, by comparing him to **Benedict Arnold**, the American Revolutionary general who defected to the British. The caption sarcastically suggests Field should erect a monument to Arnold—implying Field himself is equally traitorous. The figure shown is a skeletal military officer at night, likely representing Arnold's ghost or legacy of betrayal. The specific complaint appears connected to Field's business dealings, though the exact controversy isn't entirely clear from this page alone. The satire uses Arnold—America's most infamous traitor—as the ultimate insult to question Field's patriotism or business ethics during this Gilded Age period of corporate scrutiny.