Judge, 1904-12-17 · page 40 of 48
Judge — December 17, 1904 — page 40: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This 1904 Judge comic tells a satirical story about credibility and truth-telling. A man with a black eye recounts various implausible excuses (running into a door in the dark, a lady's dropped purse, a violin string) that people skeptically dismiss. However, when he finally tells the *actual* truth—that a toy jack-in-the-box his young son Willie received as a Christmas gift caused the injury—nobody believes him. The satire mocks human nature: absurd lies seem more plausible than mundane reality. The punchline critiques how people's expectations and biases shape what they'll accept as true. It's also gently mocking the earnestness of children's toys and domestic accidents, treating them as inherently unbelievable compared to more dramatic scenarios. The crude, exaggerated caricatural style was typical of Judge's visual humor in this era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
I said that one night I got up and m the dark, mind yoo, feeling my way with ‘hand, Iran straight into the door ; and this seemed credulous, but people looked To another one I said that a lady dropped her pocket-book, and in trying to 4+ And again I stated that ta playing my violin a string snapped and hit me ia the ro Set one te bead.” Teas soteed placeiaia, bur poopie only sasled.” eye. ‘Ob, not Really! they aniggesed.” meres mein 8._ “Bot when I told the real trath—that my little boy Willie had shown me the jack-in- 7. When I told them that in a little political altercation hot words and fisticuffs the bor T had bought him tor Christmaa—nobody believed ine.” ensued, everybody believed me.” THE STORY OF THE BLACK EYE. COPrALGnT 1904.8Y JUDGE COMPANY PUBLISMERS, 228 FOURTH AVE. WW YORE Sacker Withelns Lime b PrgCo NewYors comicbooks.com