Judge, 1905-01-14 · page 5 of 16
Judge — January 14, 1905 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a six-panel comic strip satirizing a con artist character named "Nervy Nat." The plot follows a simple scam: Nat pretends to be an umbrella repairman, uses this cover to acquire stolen umbrellas from unsuspecting victims (Mr. Taxer and Mr. Loser), then attempts to sell them back to their original owners. The satire targets petty street hustlers and con men—common urban figures of the era. Nat's "nerve" (shamelessness) is the joke: he brazenly claims the umbrella is his when caught, invents elaborate excuses, and tries to profit from his own theft. The final panels show Mr. Loser's violent revenge, which provides comedic justice. The strip ridicules both the con artist's audacity and the ease with which such schemes apparently operated on city streets.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
is one you can fix for me. One of the ribs is ben! Mr. Taxer—" You say you mend umbrellas, my man? Well, here hat's all. But where are your tools?" Nervy Nat—' My good sir, you surely don't expect an umbrella- mender of any standing to work in the street? You pain me. | shall take it to my shop, of cou Se euerere rare brella, that was swiped at a restaurant three mor initials. Tell me where you got it 3. Me. Loser—" You rascal! where did you get this? This is my um= ‘There are my} nd you shi Nexvy Nat—" Well, since it that way, | humor you. | got it from the pee ished that very ugly umbrella, will you?" dly buy this umbrella from me, sir? It is a handsome article, and | don’t like to part with it, because it was But | must have money to get to New York. stranded here, in fact. [am willing to let you have it for a dollar-fifty——a dollar-forty-nine—cash.”* as a pet of mine, and that sentiments quite becor your umbrella all the time and | was re Taxer—"' Ouch! Let me up! ashing me! Help! Loser—"' Yes. yo mon sneak-thief! I'll let you up after I've pol- of yours with a little of this snow, Take my wy NK ee! this is great. Taker will have a complexion like Recamier when Loser gets through massaging him." NO. 57. at doesn't belong to hi ner with me, old chap!" nee was worth at least two di NERVY NAT AND THE UMBRELLA. comicbooks.com