Judge — September 9, 1882 — page 16: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical cartoon critiques the dangers of Thomas Edison's newly installed underground electrical wiring system. The top panel shows a man obliviously driving a cart while a woman watches from a doorway—captioned "Unconscious of Danger." The bottom panel, titled "A Shock from Under the Pavement," depicts the aftermath: the man and horse have been violently thrown, surrounded by scattered objects and debris. The joke warns that buried electrical wires pose hidden hazards to unsuspecting pedestrians and drivers. The irony is that Edison's innovation—meant to modernize cities by concealing wires underground—actually created unpredictable electrocution risks. The cartoon satirizes the gap between technological progress and public safety, showing how "modern" infrastructure could literally shock Gilded Age urbanites without warning.