Judge, 1902-05-24 · page 16 of 16
Judge — May 24, 1902 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top cartoon ("A Cinch"):** Rural characters discuss a boarding house owner's profitable misfortune. When a smallpox case forced all summer boarders to remain through winter quarantine, they had to pay for extended lodging—a financial "cinch" (easy win). The satire mocks the callousness of exploiting disease for profit. **Bottom cartoon ("He Was Suspicious"):** Uses racist dialect and stereotypes to depict an African American father warning his daughter against a suitor's romantic intentions. The joke relies on period racial caricatures: the father suspects the gentleman is courting her only for her meager savings ("fo'teen dollars"), portraying Black people as gullible and materialistic. Both cartoons reflect 1901 attitudes: casual exploitation of illness and crude racial mockery presented as humor. The second cartoon's offensive language and stereotypes are characteristic of the era's casual racism in mainstream publications.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A CINCH. Josu Meppers—* Rube Whipple was in great luck with his summer boarders last season.” jaow so?" Hank Urtam—** Jost Meppers—" Why, one of ‘em was taken down with the small-pox, and the hull lot had to stay through the hull winter till the quarantine was off." COPIRIONT 1901 BY JUDGE COMPANY OF NEW YORK Socket ysitho & Pig Co. New York. HE WAS SUSPICIOUS. Davonrer (angrily)—"' | don't see why a swell cullud gentleman can't court me in sincerity even ef | ain't han'some mahself.”” Her ratuen— Dat swell cullud gent's fervence on sech short acquaintance am very suspicious, chile. How do you know but what he has diskivered you've got fo'teen dollars in de bank an’ he is only one of dem low-down adventurers ?"" comicbooks.com