Judge, 1900-10-13 · page 16 of 16
Judge — October 13, 1900 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This three-panel Judge cartoon satirizes burglars exploiting a common urban situation. Panel 1 shows "Second-Story Mike" and a partner planning a robbery, believing the family is away at a political parade—a timely reference to the page's era when large public political gatherings were common events that emptied homes. The joke's irony unfolds in Panel 2: the servants (cook, maid, and their various friends) remained home, uninterested in politics. Panel 3 shows the thieves' comeuppance as they're discovered and expelled. The satire works on multiple levels: it mocks both criminals' carelessness *and* implicitly critiques working-class indifference to political participation. The title's Shakespearean reference ("All's Well That Ends Well") suggests justice prevails when the criminals face consequences.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
1, Seconp-story Mike—"* Dis is acinch. De family is all away at de political parade, an’ all we gotter do is ter walk right inter de dinin’-room an’ swipe all de silver in sight.” * " = bu € ¢ Z ¢ ¢g 2 < 0 : < t ¢ b ( : 2. But the cook, the maid, the cogk’s cousin Kate, the cook’s cousin Kate's lady friend, the cook's cousin Kate's lady friend's lady friend “and gents" were not at the political parade—— Corrie 900 BY JUOGE comPhay CF NEW YORK, b Sucht Biles Lita a wor. “ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL"; OR, THE FITTING FINISH OF SECOND-STORY: MIKE AND HIS PARTNER. comicbooks.com