Judge, 1910-08-13 · page 16 of 16
Judge — August 13, 1910 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a humorous tall tale in comic strip form, featuring an unscrupulous salesman's absurd story. Captain Fibb claims he sold lightning rods to Esquimaux (Inuit) in Baffin's Bay—an inherently ridiculous proposition since igloos wouldn't need lightning protection. The satire targets two things: (1) aggressive American salesmen who peddle useless goods through sheer persistence, and (2) racist stereotypes depicting Indigenous peoples as foolishly gullible. The joke culminates when Fibb uses the lightning rods to kill a polar bear attacking the Inuit, convincing them of the product's "value"—a nonsensical resolution that exposes the entire con. The comic mocks both the huckster mentality and the exaggerated storytelling conventions of frontier yarn-spinners.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
JUDGE THE YARNS OF CAPTAIN FIBB. 1. " Did L ever tell you how I sold a cargo of lightning-rods to the Esqui- 2. — I argufies with ‘em fer an hour, but them Esquimaux is that ignorant roux? Well, we lay to in Baffin’s Bay. and I went ashore with an arm- T couldn't make ‘em see the great advantage of lightning-rods, so I climbs up fal of samples.—— con the roof of an igloo to demonstrate.— . —— Well, the more I talked the less they could see it, and I wuz jist about 4. —— a big polar bear suddenly comes up and chases them Esquimaux round to despair of disposin’ of me cargo when —— and round that igloo till they waz most all in Then I gits an idee! —— 5, ——'This is how they work !" shouts I, and with that I jabs one arter 6. —— Then they sees the value of lightning-rods and they buys the bull ship- another of them sharp-pointed lightning-rods inter the critter till he wuz kilt load, giving me in exchange a cargo of sealskins. Yessir, lightning-rods in dead entirely ! the polar regions is handy things, you bet !"*