Judge, 1914-03-14 · page 5 of 24
Judge — March 14, 1914 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This illustrated story satirizes medical treatment and cultural attitudes of the early 20th century. The cartoon depicts a tribe's chief seeking help for a young girl suffering from hiccoughs. Various "cures" are attempted by engineers and a doctor—including shock tactics and a forty-four caliber revolver fired near her—all failing until a young engineer's kiss stops her hiccoughs. The satire targets both outdated folk remedies and the era's pseudoscientific medical practices. The title "Prejudice?" and the narrative suggest commentary on racial attitudes and the assumed superiority of "white men" solutions. The story's conclusion—that an engineer's romantic gesture succeeds where medical expertise fails—appears to mock both contemporary medicine's ineffectiveness and gender dynamics of the period.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
First girl—Eligible? H|HE CHIEF of a tribe B} of Indians in Arizo- na, near whose res- ervation a big irri- gation project was being put through, brought a young girl of the tribe, suffering with hic- coughs, to the con- struction headquar- ters. He explained that the medicine men of his tribe had been unable to do anything for her. She couldn't sleep, and he asked the white man’s doctor to prescribe. After the physician for the camp tried every known and recognized remedy to stop the hiccoughs and failed, one of a group of engineers in the building sug- PREJUDIC E? Second girl—Hardly, | fear. A POPULAR CURE gested that he try the fright cure. It was explained that a sudden shock or fright will frequently stop hiccoughing, and the plan was adopted. One of the engineers walked nonchalantly behind the girl, with a forty-four-caliber revolver, and fired six shots in rapid succession through the floor. The red-skinned lassie never moved an eyelash until the bombard- ment was ended. Then she turned around and smiled at the engineer. “Is she hard of hearing?’’ said the doctor to the chief. The Indian shook his head. There was a consultation between the engineers and the doctor. Several methods of trying to frighten the girl were suggested and tried, but to no avail. The doctor was in despair. He was ready to give up, when one of the engineers said jokingly, College man with a degree of course, “Why don’t you kiss her?”” The doctor declined, but he thought the plan might work. So a long discussion ensued as to who should do the kissing. It was finally decided by tossing coins, the osculatory effort falling to the lot of a tall, handsome young engineer. Smoothing his hair, the loser—or win- ner—stepped up to the red-skinned girl, threw his arms about her and kissed her. The hiccoughs immediately ceased. The chief thanked the white men and took the girl away. An hour passed. The doctor and the other engineers had almost tired of joshing the man who did the kissing, when there came a knock at the door and the Indian girl walked in. She was hiccoughing again, more vio- lently than ever. Unerringly she picked out the good-looking engineer. “Cure Um again,”’ she said. —William A, McGarry, comicbooks.com