Judge, 1904-09-17 · page 5 of 16
Judge — September 17, 1904 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a satirical sequence mocking both British pretension and American electoral corruption. A wealthy British aristocrat ("Sir Harold") visits America seeking big-game hunting. "Nervy Nat," a con artist, takes him on a fraudulent hunt on New York's Sixth Avenue, where they supposedly shoot a grizzly bear that appears to be a scam—the "bear" may be fake or belong to someone else (the proprietor "Rosinsky"). The satire targets: (1) British snobbery about American wilderness and wildlife; (2) American hustlers exploiting gullible foreigners; and (3) rampant electoral fraud—Nervy Nat casually mentions voting "fourteen times in New York and Brooklyn," highlighting the era's notorious ballot-box corruption. The "hunting season" is a metaphor: Americans are hunting for British money and election votes alike. The humor relies on period-specific knowledge of American political scandal.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
‘Sir Haro.p—"'I say, old chep, I've just come ovah from Lunnon, Cahn’t you put a chep on to some good hunting—big game and all thet sort of rot?” Nervy Nat—'*Sure! I know where you can get a pop ata grizzly. Come on!"" Nervy Nat—"This is Sixth avenue. You'll see lots of dears, but you mustn't shoot ‘em. But what you want isa fine papa grizzly—the kin whose growl you can have stretched and tanned and use for your library- rug. We are coming to his lair."" Sin HaroLo—"' Thet's it, me dear fellah. It's awfully good of you, you know, to show me, and I'm jolly grateful and all thet sort of rubbish.” 3. Sin Hanovo—"" My word! what a jolly big brute! You Americans are a deuced rum: lot, really, you know. Fancy allowing these grizzlies to roam about loose this way!” Nervy Nat— You're wasting valuable time, old chap. Plug away at him before he sees us. They say every Englishman loves a lord. Well, so does a grizzly. Bang away!" 4 Sir Haroup—" By Jove! I've jolly well bagged him. | was always a ripping shot."* Nervy Nat—‘'I'd like to get my old classmate, * Buffalo William," up here and have him see you shoot. It's all very pretty to hit an ace of spades at fifty paces, but it takes the real thing to wing a small, almost invisible, thing like a grizzly. You're simply great!"" ‘Sir Haroto—* Gad! I've a suspicion you're chaffing me, old chep.”" 5. Sin HaroLo—"'I shall send the photo to my people—the mater will be pleased. Pay no attention to thet beastly old bunny in the doorway. I don’t know what the jooce he’s got to do with it. He talks as if the bear belonged to him. Such blooming cheek!"" Nervy Nat—‘t Never mind Rosinsky. He has a sort of an idea we were shooting on his preserves "—— Rosinsxy—"* Boleece'""* <A. Keaggeo 6. Sir Hanoto—"' This is an outrage! | shall write a letter to the Times immejetly."" ‘The cop—‘‘Oi'll bat youse over th’ head ina minnit if Ol hear an- other wor-rd out av youse!"” Nervy Nat—"'The only thing about this unhappy arrest that gives me real eighteen-karat grief is the fact that | shall be detained over election day, and I had promised to vote fourteen times in New York and Brook- lyn, and I hate to break my word.” NO. 42.-NERVY NAT OPENS THE HUNTING SEASON. e ¢ comicbooks.com~