Judge, 1909-12-25 · page 16 of 17
Judge — December 25, 1909 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a tall-tale comic strip featuring Josh Fibb, a boastful character recounting an exaggerated wartime adventure. The narrative involves shooting down a hawk from an impossibly great distance—five miles up—through meticulous gun-cleaning and marksmanship so extraordinary that ordinary people couldn't perceive the target. The satire targets military braggadocio and immigrant working-class claims to heroism. References to "the Kaiser" and the Schuetzenbund (a German-American rifle club) suggest this targets German-American soldiers or veterans inflating their wartime exploits. The humor derives from the absurd implausibility of the feat and the character's pompous self-aggrandizement—typical of Judge magazine's mockery of ethnic stereotypes and wartime pretension (likely WWI-era, given the 1919 copyright visible).
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Siage ANOTHER CHRISTMAS YARN OF =) JOSH FIBB At Ime ScuEUIEEOresT t to brag about meself of anything; but when it here ain't nobody got nothin’ on m “Save me do calely picks up me gun ai very slowly and carefully imost out of sight and the Kaiser nearly @ the hawk wuz about five miles up in then I aces some rust on me gun barrel, ives up in despair. Then I slowly raises me 3 80 1 deli like gun and takes aim at a tiny speck that an ordinary person couldn't see takes out some chamois and gives her a good cleanin’.—— with the naked eye, and fire. — Piece COPTRIGHT, 1909, BY JONN A. SLEICHER, PRESIDENT, 225 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK. war the greatest a gold medal and made me captain of ‘he Schuetsenbunders