Judge, 1899-08-05 · page 16 of 16
Judge — August 5, 1899 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two cartoon jokes from 1899 targeting tramps and vagrant life. **"Off for the Links"** (top): Tramp dogs escape a butcher shop and sausage factory, joking they're "off for the links"—a pun on golf links. The humor relies on the double meaning: the dogs are fleeing to freedom while the phrase suggests leisure, when tramps would actually be desperate and hunted. **"A Terrible Combination"** (bottom): Two tramps ("Weary Willie" and "Frosted Fentzer") discuss a stolen electric belt. The joke hinges on wordplay: one tramp warns that combining "copper" (both the metal in the belt and slang for police) with a "battery" creates danger. The final pun—feeling "shivery"—conflates electrical shock with the tramps' actual physical misery. Both cartoons mock homeless men through crude caricature and puns, reflecting late-19th-century attitudes treating poverty as comic subject matter.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ry >! i>) 5 el>) vy > x > (ay) 1 |e 1p owe = x) | a Ae . OFF FOR THE LINKS. Cnorus oF TRAMP DOGS—"' Hello, boys! Where are you going to?” ‘THE CAGED CANINES—" Oh, we're off for the links !” COPYRONTI899 BY JUOGE COMPANY OF REW YORK. ‘Sackett & Withelns Litho & Pig Co. Rew York. A TERRIBLE COMBINATION. Frostep Fexrex—'' Wot kind of a belt is dis, Weary? I jes’ swiped it from dat i ‘Waany Wiir— Why, dat is an electric belt. Every one of dem t' ia copper call tater Frostap Frerzz—'' Frozen dogs! What a combination! Copper ! 1 Battery! No I felt shivery de minnit I pat it on.” comicbooks.com