Judge, 1883-03-10 · page 3 of 16
Judge — March 10, 1883 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page presents a cautionary tale titled "Coming to York" [likely York, Vermont], featuring three illustrated panels and accompanying narrative text. The story depicts a naive rural Vermonter who travels to New York City seeking fortune. The satire targets both the countryman's gullibility and urban con artists. The protagonist, Silas Smith from Poultney, Vermont, is swindled by city slickers who exploit his trusting nature. After winning money in a lottery (likely a scam), he's manipulated into various schemes—the text references him being robbed repeatedly through fraudulent business propositions and false friendships. The cartoon illustrates his progressive deterioration: the first panel shows him arriving hopefully; the middle depicts his encounters with smooth-talking city folk; the final panel suggests his defeat and desperation. The piece satirizes the collision between rural innocence and urban vice, a common theme in 19th-century American humor. It warns "lady readers" against similar deceptions, positioning the rural character as both sympathetic and foolish for his inability to recognize obvious con games.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
\ party the other ooking wan, cold that trouble was we pr arnel, as foll *Gentlen F “shamed, bat Pv nit hia firat re ¢ beg, by thunder. Oh, that’s your racket, ¢ Mow Ie Fust time in my hife, What's the m Matter!” he exclaim np on bot es. while th te fora men-town somewhere, but that he would meet | nat me an “1 me all gorter questions "bont the corner of City Hall and Fourteenty street in ther boys at last, me twenty-tive cents apiece for ther shin clenchest fist Well, pated 0) ty Why, they only ask five cen Lont arterwa om trie 1: fifty cents worth of hi Wal, TP started ont tu f comes up tu Ye em all hroken np, “Wal, by ther hig horn spune, if yu'd ts for ther past week yu'd be Ls, too, Freckon, It beats all nat What does!” What P'vet Where do you hail f Poultney, Vermont, by thin ein York,” nT wish Twas aid he, with » much “bout aa quick as T ed until, Week afore last, when I come of wer a hundred dollars folks didy't want me ta 4 du better n° would have it rm, hut F couldn't see it, » T packed up my t 1 started for New York, clean sure iy everlastin’ fortin here in no time. A half sympathethie smile went round, fo could see that the Vermonter was tellin: atl we became interestea “Wal, T reach of course never havin’ been in a city little turned round, Tswan tan body thats knowed [war a re dozen boys wanted tH black my down at a pair of No. 15 cow. | amn't yon Feed § y name war Silas Then he axed my ard name war Fred Spr himeby another spruce-lookin’ “Hello, Silas Smith, what | auin? down here? Tow's all ther folks Poultney t* Wal, T coutin't: just erzaetly him, bat said he war ‘ond cous mine, of same name, that he heen in P for three he folks up there that T wa Then he axed me what Tw how much money T had Ttolehim allabout myself, Then he how Torter have mey to start business in York, an’ that [orter « did lottery, an’ had just drawn a bi ter come like a darned f seen him draw Why, it nearly m $ paid him the money ¢ him a show for what if my friend ai told me A sworn my an’ then walked off Wal, Bat he torked ry my luck—an’ pklarnel cent T had. Fact, by | hour, dime a thousand tu start fi how put of the pl I you; but that wasu’t th jer had whisky in i at sown 1 inter a Ak nw ta the lock- 1, by thunter next nie Jelge ste dollars as Thad 10 any my over sid be would pawn it, an” id, but L haven't seen eithe adde), ruefully ht 1 told ther how it war, an’ be » an’ Lookout fo $ hervat gents, yu ser why T' Wer, Phate it Tike pize Tean't starve, but Justin’ bates that [ever F yu won't eateh me out sch, Mr. Smith,” said one the party, pass! shat with a dollar for the poor fe s been cured of bis t 28 to rem nhappy fact: he nose bow it fs hin PRE ak CT RENE ES OE SD mois $ID CSE EE comicbooks.com