Judge, 1904-01-16 · page 5 of 16
Judge — January 16, 1904 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This comic strip satirizes a con artist ("Nervy Nat") who exploits public sentiment by posing as a vagrant with an abandoned child. The scheme unfolds across six panels: Nat encounters a neglected baby, adopts the child as a prop, and uses it to solicit charitable donations from sympathetic women ("eighty-three dollars"). The satire targets two things: wealthy ladies' gullibility and sentimentality toward the poor, and the prevalence of street scams in early 20th-century urban life. When the baby's actual nurse appears and a policeman arrives, Nat's con collapses—he's arrested for suspected kidnapping. The heavy dialect (Irish accents for nurse and police) reflects period stereotypes. The humor derives from exposing how easily public charity could be manipulated by clever fraudsters working the sympathies of the upper classes.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
1 Nurse—‘ Now, baby, you shtay roight there, lotke a good lamb, an* nursie will come roight back ina few minutes. Nursie is jist goin’ down the path to talk to Moike, the polaceman,” ‘Basy—" Um!" Nervy Nat—" Lucky | had my outing coat and hat along with me. Well, you certainly are the boss hobo! Your relations are short sports to trun you out in this rough-riding world. But we'll see what we can do in the graft business together.” Basy—"" Papa! Nesvy Nat—"Oh, say not so! Well, of all the unfortunate contre- temps! Poor Nat! you're in for it, There's nothing for it, young fellow, but to Join the club, since you insist uoon the relationship—and I'll have to get you some fitting raiment.” 4. Nervy Nat—"'I'm taking up a collection, ladies, for ‘ Freight-car Freddie,’ the only and original tramp baby. He’s walked all the way from Albuquerque, New Mexico, and {s naturally quite tired." ‘Tue Lapies—"* Oh, the poor little thing! And to think of Its being a poor little tramp! Here, take all we have. It's only eighty-three dollars, but take it, please!” 5. A Nurse—"' Oh, me precious baby! What are ye doin’ in thim rags an’ wid thot ould bum? Come to me this minute—Oi'm thot crazy wid lookin’ fer ye! Moke!" Nervy Nat—" Woman, calm yourself! Go jump in the reservoir. This is no child of yours "—— Mire (the policeman)—'* Thryin’ a little kidnappin’, wor ye? Well, we'll take a shtroll over to the shtation-house, begorry!”* Nervy Nat—‘'I'll admit circumstantial evidence was rather against me; but, pershaw! what's the use of telling you anything, base minion of the law? You'd only go and give it all away to the reporters—and I hate notoriety. * NO. 7.—NERVY NAT AND THE NEGLECTED KID. comicbooks.com