Judge, 1899-11-11 · page 16 of 16
Judge — November 11, 1899 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This two-panel cartoon satirizes rural Southern feuding culture, specifically depicting a backwoods family dispute in Georgia. The humor centers on misplaced priorities during a violent conflict. In panel one, a boy reports that "Old Buck Sawyer" shot at his father twice—but the boy's mother cares less about the attempted murder than about the destroyed demijohn (large jug) of whisky intended for his sister's wedding. Panel two escalates the absurdity: the mother mobilizes for revenge, but again frames the offense not as an assassination attempt, but as damage to "good whisky." The implication is that the family's honor has been wounded by property destruction rather than lethal violence. The satire mocks both the casual acceptance of gunplay among poor rural Georgians and their skewed value system—treating alcohol as more precious than human life. This reflects late-19th-century Northern stereotypes about Southern backwardness and lawlessness.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ra\ Th a yer, Bi aioe 1, SON—" Old Buck Sawyer shot at pap on his way back frum town —shot at him twice.” MoTHer— Well, your fool pap orter had his eyes open. Did it kill him?" te a Son—"Nope! The bullet didn’t hurt pap, but it smashed the demijohn of whisky he wuz bringin’ home fer Sister Lize’s weddin’, an’ "— COPYRIONT 1699 BY JUOGE COMPANY OF MEW YOR. ‘Sackett & Wilhelins Litho & Pr Co. New York. 2, MOTHER—" Get your gun, lad—get your gun an’ come with me! We'll show the Sawyer family what it means to shoot at a Lee an’ hit a demijobn of good whisky-the varmints!” IN GEORGIA. comicbooks.com