Judge — August 23, 1919 — page 11: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Friday the 13th at Yapp's Crossing" This is a crowded comic scene drawn by John Gruelle depicting chaos and mishaps in a small town street. The illustration shows numerous characters—children, adults, animals, and vehicles—engaged in various comedic disasters: collisions, people falling, items breaking, and general pandemonium. The satire plays on the superstition surrounding Friday the 13th. The cartoonist uses this date as a framework to humorously depict Murphy's Law in action—everything that can go wrong does go wrong simultaneously in this town. Visible storefronts include a drug store and what appears to be a Lewandell business, suggesting this is meant to represent a typical American small town where bad luck strikes indiscriminately across the community. The humor derives from the sheer density of mishaps and the visual gag of universal misfortune on this "unlucky" date.