Judge, 1906-01-20 · page 16 of 16
Judge — January 20, 1906 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a six-panel comic strip satirizing a character called "Nervy Nat," a petty criminal attempting to steal mail from a British royal postbox (letter-box). The humor centers on his escalating misadventures: he reaches into the pillar-box searching for money, gets his arm stuck, recruits help to extract the heavy mailbag, and ultimately tips the entire postal structure over while attempting to haul it away. The satire targets both the criminal's bumbling incompetence and British class pretensions—his affected speech ("'pon honor," "doosid awkward") contrasts comically with his desperation. The final panel shows him arrested, having failed spectacularly at theft while claiming he couldn't stoop to *certain* criminal depths. The comic satirizes the "criminal underworld" as portrayed in popular British fiction of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
1. + Nerv Nat—"'Suffertng postmen! will you look at that letter-box? I'll have a look in this. | simply love correspondence. There may be some kopecks in some of them." 3. Nervy Nat—"' Oh, I say! What ho! This will never do, ‘pon honor! lcarn't get me arm out, dsncherknow! And, by George! I'm letting go my mail, That ‘E.R,’ means ‘ everything recedes," | fancy. This would really be doosid awkward if a Scotland-Yard man should see me here, He might think I'd bean tampering with the bally royal mail, Nervr Nat—"‘ Assistance! Here, under the royal sewerpipe! Now, who would have thought that paper and envelopes were 30 heavy? If some one doesn't come soon there will be nothing left of yours cordially but a half-tone plate on the asphalt.” Gomrmant 1908 By sv06E COMPANY PUBLISMERS, £26 FOURTH Ave. néW YORK. Nervy Nat—“‘Ah, I feel something. It may be a letter with a five- pun note reclining between the coveriets. 1 wonder if that ‘E. R.’ on the front here means ‘easily reached,’ or * elbow-room,’ or what? Seems to be a jolly lot of letters in here. It would almost pay to cart this thing to my apartments under Blackfriars Bridge and examine it leisurely.” Nervy Nat—"'There! I've uprooted the English postal system. If there's any scrap of truth in the law of depravity there Is a nice young bump coming to me immejately—I might say soon,” 6. Orricer Summ— Don't attempt to escape!" Nerv Nat—"‘No, officer; you have me word, You may look upon me as a deep-dyed criminal, but there are depths to which | have not reached—my arm was too short. All I arsk is that you will get this royal Baltimore heater off my hands—I do not care for sovenirs,""