Judge — December 1888 — page 29: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This two-panel satirical cartoon depicts a gambling scheme, likely referencing theatrical or street-level con games of the late 19th/early 20th century. The "flats" refers to con-artist operations. In the top panel, "Ma. Pookan" runs a rigged game (possibly dice or cards), telling participants the winner gets a "turkey" while she rushes to deposit the winnings at the bank before closing. The bottom panel shows "Ma. Simmonson" running a similar scheme with a bag labeled "SUGAR FIXED," revealing the deception when the curtain is removed—the game is fixed from the start. The heavy dialect and caricatured drawings suggest this satirizes immigrant con artists or working-class gambling fraud. The repeated joke is the absurdity of criminals openly admitting their scams to their victims.