Judge, 1936-02 · page 9 of 36
Judge — February 1936 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "A Crook's Diary" - Judge Magazine Satire This page satirizes American criminal justice through a fictional criminal's diary entries (June through February). The diarist boasts of evading consequences for bank robbery, attempted murder, forgery, and bribery—each crime dismissed, reduced, or unpunished through legal technicalities, lawyer intervention, or corrupt officials. The two cartoons reinforce this critique: one shows a man entering an office labeled "Offices of Who's Who in America," satirizing how criminals achieve social respectability; the other depicts a courtroom scene with the caption "Hillo, everybody. Reverend Follinsby speaking!"—mocking the absurdity of judicial proceedings. The satire's central point: the American legal system protects wealthy criminals while justice remains illusory. The "New Style" section at bottom suggests organized crime now operates like legitimate business.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Judge A Crook’s Diary UNE 4: Arrested for Amalgamated Bank hold-up, and held in $10,000 bail, Looked had for a while, but Finkel witz, my lawyer, cooked up an alibi, and the charges against me were dropped 213: Had to shoot a cop today to escape from that je store hold-up, Will scram to St. Louis, and hide there for a while until the thing blows over. Should have known better and pull a job on the thirteenth anyway Sept. 26: Jailed today for forging t $25,000. check, and will have to stay in the brig overni Will be paroled the m as this is only my ninth offense, and [ have mised to Oct : c led today in the state’s attempt to convi Chisel Searpella. Judge ruled tao mistrial when it sc me of the ju a ad been arrested for government has decided not to retry, ind Tam to Nov. 11: Stole sine today, and was pinched by a witz proved that the cop had been rinning a speed trap » from me. He got five years. Accepting a bribe is “Hi-ho, everybody. Reverend Follingby speaking!” I got a suspended s e, due to extenuating circumstances when it was shown I stood to profit by ing the bribe. days in jail for bumpin Janey Feb, 18: f the rotten br Am I They've sent me up for two years for a cigar store robbery [ had nothing to do with. Twas in Philly all the time, but [ couldn't prove it to the jury, What a system! Justice certainly dead in this dumb country, New Style N the old days it was criminals couldn't win, Nowadays payers. Several shows have been closed up in Boston and Chicago, and now a new or ganization has been formed in) New York end profanity in the theatre. The first thing they're to do is fix the seats so the audience won't step on march right in and tell them ‘Who’s Who? ach other's fee 7 comicbooks.com