Judge — August 25, 1900 — page 5: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a visual pun playing on the term "second-story thief" (a burglar who enters buildings through upper floors). A well-dressed man tells an editor that his novel's sequel has been plagiarized. The editor quips back that it must have been stolen by a "second-story thief"—making a joke about both literary theft and actual burglary. The cartoon's humor relies on the double meaning: the writer's "second story" (his sequel novel) has literally been stolen, making the plagiarist a "second-story thief" in both the literary and criminal sense. The elegant illustration by Penrhyn Stanlaws emphasizes the sophisticated setting, contrasting the refined world of literature with the crude reality of theft.