Judge, 1893-01-14 · page 16 of 18
Judge — January 14, 1893 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a straightforward advertisement for a "Missing Word Contest" run by Frank Leslie's Weekly magazine. It's not satirical or political—it's a promotional page announcing a real literary competition modeled on popular English contests. The contest works like a lottery: readers pay 25 cents per entry to guess a missing word in a printed paragraph (taken from literary sources), and the entrance fees are pooled and divided equally among all correct answers. The advertisement mentions a London precedent where 217,000 people participated and winners split $53,500. The page includes legal disclaimers noting postal authorities approved the contest as non-gambling (since it uses published literature rather than random drawings). This was a legitimate—if somewhat speculative—fundraising scheme for the magazine. There are no political figures or satire here; it's simply a period advertisement for audience engagement and revenue.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A Literary Contest. % To assist in enlivening the Holiday Season, the Publishers of ¥¢ Frank Leslie’s Weekly have concluded to inaugurate in America the latest English fashion : THE MISSING WORD CONTEST. These amusing contests are now quite the rage in London, and we have heard of one of them in which 217,000 persons participated. As each participant contributed a shilling entrance fee, the amount divided among those who supplied the missing word was large. The total $53,500 was divided among 114 persons, so each of these got almost $470. —--—__ Here are the Terms of the Contest: Each person who wishes to try to supply the missing word in the paragraph that will presently follow, must cut out the “MISSING WORD COUPON” from this week’s Frank Lesiie’s WEEKLY, and with name and address, and the missing word plainly written in the proper blank spaces, send the same to the office of the publish- ers together with twenty-five cents in postage stamps orcurrency. On the lower left hand corner of the en- velope enclosing the coupon and entrance fee, should be written “MISSING WORD CONTEST.” The total of the entrance fees will be divided equally among those who correctly supply the missing word, This is the Paragraph: This coupon will be printed every week in “Frank Leslie's Weekly” until the close of the contest. The result of the contest will be announced in the issue of February 16th. No contestants will be permitted to enter after noon of February rst. There has been some doubt as to whether or not the proposed contest was objectionable to the law. So that there could be no doubt on the sub- ject the post-office authorities have been consulted. ‘The assistant attorney general for the Post Office Department says that if the paragraph, from which a word has been omitted, be taken from a well-known book to be found in almost every library, there could be no objection. We therefore change the paragraph as given in our first announcement, and give a quo- tation from a writer well known to every reader of English literature, “He knew, besides, that his powerful friends, who would have interceded for him had his offence been merely burning a house or killing a neighbor, would not plead or stand by him i so pitiful a concern as the slaughter of this wretched ad All who have sent in the missing word of the former paragraph are privileged to make another trial without paying another entrance fee, or at their option to withdraw their entrance fee. 2 ° may make as many attempts as they choose, but Competitors each attempt must be made on a coupon taken from FRANK LESLIE'S WEEKLY, and Fee of 25 cents. accompanied by the entrance prevececeececereercrececcced Address Publishers FRANK LESLIE’S WEEKLY, ARKELL WEEKLY (0., 110 Fifth Ave., N. Y. City. comicbooks.com