Judge, 1922-10-14 · page 5 of 36
Judge — October 14, 1922 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Doc Pugsley on Wood Alcohol" This is a satirical story by Roy L. McCardell illustrated by Gilbert Wilkinson. The narrative concerns Doc Pugsley, apparently a rural veterinarian and practical joker, who discovers that Lem Dinglebender—described as a society leader and prohibitionist reformer—has been secretly producing and selling spirits ("wood alcohol") in the forest despite publicly advocating temperance. The satire targets the hypocrisy of Prohibition-era "dry" advocates who privately violated their own moral positions. The cartoon depicts characters investigating Dinglebender's illegal operation, while the accompanying illustration shows a candle-lit stump supposedly marking the hidden still location. The story mocks both bootleggers and sanctimonious reformers.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
n by Gitsert WILKINSON. . The One Girl, He Always Said, Who “Understood"—Don’t go for a minute, George. I want to look about a bit. replied the horse doctor. ‘‘He never was Doc Pugsley on Wood Alcohol o Reformer’ eitlier bile beiwas atpracticl ; joker and’ now I guess he wishes he by Roy L. McCardell wasn’t.’ Y’ see,” Doc’ Pugsley continued, win’ them con- I DIDN'T know Lem Dinglebender was “since prohibition went into effect you id Doc Pugsley, a reformer,” ventured the tobacco could often hear a horn blowing in the drummer, “I wondered he didn’t show up woods on dark and stormy nights and to in his T ‘k me and my the cognescenti of Mudville that implied mith’s general that if you went out into the forest primeval hercabouts, follering the sound of the horn, you'd most likely find a lighted candie on a stump. Then you could leave: your tribute to lawlessness say two dullars—down on the stump and blow out the candle, and retire to a dis- crect distance. Then, when you heerd the horn blow agin and saw the candle shine once more on the stump like a naughty deed in a good! worlds you: could|.ad vance andyou would always find a pop bottle or more of red-eye on the stump in the place where your money had been. co drummer se 5 and made a significant motion towards his hip pocket. “If you are going to take a shot, or if ing to give me a shot, as I the doctor wiped th k of ross his mouth, “come on of m rd and let us liquidate in a seemly reful manner.” They did so, and as the empty flask was 1 under the flivver, the veterinary you his hand is as strong an outery against bootlegging in general and the demon rum in particular in Mudville i ever. Mudville, as you know, always a moral and upright and strictly prohibition community even before this yer Volstead Act went into effect, lem Dinglebender, nung society leader and expert mechanician on Fords, has recently brought around an extra strong revival of public conscience. So the strict temperance rules and_ rej tions that govern our model village ain't sagging down none whatever, no and amateur mer- ry-Andrew, Lem Dinglebender, gets word somehow to these mysterious mediums as is producing these spirits in the woods without the aid of ectoplasm, that Con- stable Abe Cokley, whose re is a terror to evildoers, is layin’ for them. Then, it seems, as how Lem gets a candle V ELL, our genial and enterprising young townsmar matter how lawless and unconstitu- ac ee and a horn and goes out into the woods | tional adjacent communities may have BUT ONLY SKIN DEEP hisself at the witching hour, generally become. “A thing of beauty is a joy forever” (Continued on page 5) comichooks.couy)