Judge — August 28, 1886 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The Political 'Keely' Motor" — Judge Magazine, August 28, 1886 This cartoon satirizes John Worrell Keely, an inventor who claimed to have created a revolutionary "motor" powered by "etheric force." The caption quotes Keely Cleveland (likely a pun combining the inventor's name with President Grover Cleveland) saying he cannot demonstrate the motor but needs people's faith and investment. The cartoon mocks both Keely's fraudulent invention scheme and, by extension, politicians who make grand promises without delivering results. The caricatured figures in formal dress represent credulous investors or politicians being duped. The motor appears on the floor as a mere drawing—suggesting it exists only in theory, never in working reality. The satire targets gullible faith in unproven schemes.