Judge, 1897-10-16 · page 16 of 16
Judge — October 16, 1897 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the obsession with breaking horse-pacing speed records in the 1890s. The headline "Judge Suggests A Few Methods for Lowering the Existing Pacing Records" introduces absurd, impractical solutions. The cartoons mock: 1. **Using a bicycle** to scare an old, rheumatic walker-horse into faster movement 2. **Hitching multiple wives** (a "sextet") to a racing horse, likely referencing contemporary marital/domestic comedy 3. Various other ridiculous mechanical or human-powered contraptions The satire targets both the era's obsession with speed records and the ridiculousness of proposed "improvements." References to "Star Pointer" (likely a famous pacer) and the "Klondike" (the 1890s gold rush) anchor this in its specific moment. The humor assumes readers followed horse-racing closely enough to recognize the absurdity of these "solutions" versus actual training methods.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
hy War comicbooks.com Jupcr’s patent equestrian pneumatic bike might assist our Mr. Old Rheumatic Walker endangers the pacing-record Cun.coor CHartix—"Say ! T wish T hed thet horse ter go ter aniesdd felends'in lowering the present record. whenever he hears a bicycle-bell. the Klondike, COPYRONT 1897, BY THE JUDGE PUBLISHING COMPANY OF KEW YORK. Star Pointer's pacing record might be broken if they employed the assistance of a “sextet.” Sacker 8 Wives Like & Pi Co Rew ork JUDGE SUGGESTS A FEW METHODS FOR LOWERING THE EXISTING PACING-RECORDS.