Judge, 1885-06-13 · page 3 of 16
Judge — June 13, 1885 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "The Boss Bear Fighter" This page contains a satirical story mocking Wall Street speculators and their self-aggrandizing lies. **The Main Figure:** Harry Duraface, a chronic "bull speculator" who boasts of surviving dangers greater than a man jumping from Brooklyn Bridge. He's a caricature of the arrogant, dishonest Wall Street trader. **The Satire:** Duraface brags about financial schemes—organizing "blind pools" (fraudulent investment schemes), manipulating silver mines, and outmaneuvering other brokers—presenting himself as a daring adventurer. The narrator exposes these stories as exaggerations, noting Duraface actually made money through dishonest dealings and by withdrawing before losses hit. **The Point:** Judge ridicules the vanity and moral bankruptcy of Wall Street operators who dress up financial fraud as heroic enterprise. The secondary poem "Two Points of View" reinforces this by contrasting how Jack and the narrator interpret the same horse ride—a joke about perspective and self-serving narratives. The cartoon mocks Gilded Age financial culture and investor gullibility.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE JUDGE. out — notifica- tion, Iedrew and struck me AID he: “TI have faced | —but, like more danger than the any another man who jumped from r, he struck the Brooklyn Bridge, and I was L advise you not to allow est. Tle the remark to slip from better or- your mental grasp.” anized than [ ‘The remark was made hought, and [ ina Broad Street eating | came near be- sheol, and as soon as I | ing posted for heard the peculiar stri- | non-delivery.” dent tone in which it was | uttered, I knew it was Harry Duraface, the chronic “bull speeu- lator.” much. For a “Danger among the | short time [ brokers and breakers?” [| withdrew from the stre & t Well, a lite but not a8 Duraface looked at me with a deep-down-in-the-well contempt, | it were. But and pi ; when [ recov ar ied up with s wool and mutton a few | ered consciousn years ago to such an em puddle in silver-mining “Constructed a what “Organized a blind pool nds to put the extent that [constructed an opaque | demoralized short you as Got a lot of my dearest fri West, young man, to « ‘ow up with the « ‘over asilver mine, invest the pool and | raisin untry. And [did really go and roughed | on th ies, prospecting.” upward lot it ¢g it among the Roc “Why didn’t * Well, of course—but [ wanted to be the fellow to let others inon the ground floor, while [ crawled out through the cellar win- | tured. By han dow, chew know Besides, just then I could make more money | to one end of the by not being here to t certain long contracts of my crowd. | and the top part of Anyway, I went. mountain to th time a and had deferred his appetite till it should rall could eat a Grand Central hackman or a Manhattan director. You may know how he looked when L that I was of the superior stay for a moment cornered by that single t qualities of Wall 5! “But [had learned to draw on my reserve resources, or some | cheek, as its evidenc other bank’s, save rent by f to move with, is not to be plagued by. one . when he time to hypotheeate his cheek. I simply defied ‘t him to ‘come on and help himself to the man in the Declaration of Indep check also, evated | [ said, urine steak, raw. Like | pool came out?” ndence, T turned the other “Oh, th nd gave the brute the right to draw at sight, with- stakes buck. Bear ste We stood in the Park one duy, Jack Delong and 1, the cavalcade nd canter by Trot a Twas in love with Maud— Blue eyes and auburn hair— While Jack would give all he owned For Tom Foster's chestnut mare “The beauty! There she goe: Said Jack. My heart beat big Thinking of Maud. Said h “What a flank! what a fiery eye!” T turned and bit him sq In the mouth; like are | ass, of course or Twas thinking girl, And Jack was tall horse! am no goo hard-earned money into my hands, and [went | my side, reached for my bowie, placed it nd died, “T made the best of my way to camp, and hired an Indian half- ov buy a mine in New York? There are richer | breed to go out and re- lodes on the Mining Exchange than among the mountains,” cover the game that [ | had so. gallantly cap- vg him pole, ther, to * One day, when going over the mountains in Colorado alone, | counterbalan he was Tinct a big bear, not of the Wall street breed, coming down the | able to bring the prize in.” mountain. He looked as if he had gone long on Reading some- “What [ admire most He | about that adventure,” is not the proof long experience. ‘A man who has been able to | the beautiful modesty of suading an obdurate landlord toloan him the money | Wall Street veracity. But | L would like to xnow how at bear—told | the fellows in the blind- I got the | called session we judge he must be out of his w. He stood in front of me with a look wlook that said: "Stranger, stirony Oram lay rt broken animal crawled to gainst his heart, and. something, fell forward untenance our chee! The hi VY, muttered a br the ing eet of OFF THE BENCH. \| Gov. Hitt made such a muddle of his census. Mcrperers, now- grave fears of the cons crimes. hegin to quences of their | CLEVELAND is beginning to turn out well, at last. Tue Junge, it will be remembered, J this some time ago. Impatient Democratic patriots should place more trust in what Tue Jupoe promis Ir costs, averaging the expenses of twen- | ty-live American colle; 2,000 a year || to go through ‘the demd horrid grind,” as Mantillini say When it is remembered, however, that this grind furni passport to all the honors, glories, and emol- uments of earth, the price does not seem to be high. es a sure comicbooks.com