Judge, 1904-01-02 · page 16 of 18
Judge — January 2, 1904 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two separate satirical cartoons: **Top cartoon ("Might Have Been Worse"):** Two Irish working-class men discuss a trolley-car accident where their acquaintance Denny Flaherty lost his arm. The humor relies on ethnic stereotype (Irish brogue spelling) and dark comedy—they're relieved he "only" lost an arm rather than fingers, suggesting fingers would be worse for manual laborers. **Bottom cartoon ("He'd Need It"):** A wealthy man (Uncle Rustus Turwe) takes an umbrella to Wall Street "because watered stock is falling dreadfully." This is financial satire: "watered stock" refers to fraudulent corporate shares artificially inflated in value. The joke plays on the double meaning of "falling"—stocks declining in value, humorously treated as literal rain requiring umbrella protection. This reflects early-1900s concern about stock market manipulation and financial fraud. Both cartoons use wordplay and visual puns typical of Judge's satirical style.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
MIGHT HAVE BEEN WORSE. Par (reading)—"* Begobs! this is bad news. It sez Denny Flaherty had his arm cut off be a throlley-car.”" ! An’ does it say he losht anny av his fingers ?”” : It simply sez he lost an arm—but thot's bad enough." COPYMENT 1903 BY JUDGE COMPANY OF NEW YORK. ‘Sachest& Wilheles Litho & Pry.Co. New York. HE'D NEED IT. Joun Wee Gares—‘ What are you taking your umbrella for, uncle? It 1s not raining.” Unctz Rustiz Turwe—“* Oh, I'm going down to take a squint at Wall street, and they say the watered stock there Is falling dreadfully.” comicbooks.com