Life, 1885-02-19 · page 11 of 16
Life — February 19, 1885 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Explanation for Modern Readers This page satirizes late 19th-century British anxieties about Irish-American dynamite terrorism. The main article describes a (fictional) assassination attempt on the Prince of Wales at London's Haymarket Theatre, where a disguised stranger offers him explosive-laden cigarettes. The satire lies in the absurdist details: dynamite hidden in the attacker's nostrils, the Prince calmly sitting in the bomb crater, and subsequent paranoia that London's gray clouds are "loaded with dynamite." The cartoon below depicts a ship captain and passenger—a commentary on nautical caution amid social unease. The "Political" section mocks American Irish nationalists' suspicions of President-elect Cleveland, sarcastically suggesting his hotel choice signals pro-British sympathies. References to "Ochiltree" and "incendiary speakers" appear to target specific contemporary political figures, though they're now obscure. The humor targets both Irish-American radicalism and British establishment fears of that radicalism during a period of actual bombings in London.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
- LIFE: 109 LATEST FROM LONDON. police arrested a portion of one coat-tail and an entire shirt- stud belonging: to him, but, there being no evidence to war- ANOTHER DYNAMITE OUTRAGE. | rant their detention, have discharged them. The police are | looking for other people to discharge.” The explosive ploughed a hole in the floor, in which the [Special, cabled by Live-line.] | Prince was able to sit down comfortably. He is badly ONDON, FEBRUARY 14TH.—Last night as the Prince |.shaken. His neutral annex, though substantially built, has of Wales, in the lobby of the Haymarket Theatre, was | suffered severely, and his roof has become unsteady. It is fulfilling his official duty by smoking a cigarette (as repre- | estimated that £2000 will be required to repair the damage sented in familiar chromo advertisements), a stranger ap- | done to his architecture. proached him disguised as a gentleman, and offered him a Col. Majendie is in several places at once and doesn't feel package of new cigarettes. ‘ The Prince accepted them, and | happy in any of them. He has photographed the ruins of was about to try one when smoke was seen issuing from the | the Prince. stranger’s nose. At first this was thought to proceed from An eye-witness swears that the stranger was of American burning tobacco, but one of the gentlemen in waiting sus- | manufacture. His dress-coat, however, was a complete pected that it was caused by an ignited fuse, and stepped | disguise. forward to put out the mysterious individual, when suddenly | To-day London is in a ferment, and as the clouds over- a loud explosion occurred and the stranger disappeared. hanging the city are gray, many persons suppose that they, It is now plain that he carried dynamite concealed in his | too, are loaded with dynamite, which (as it has a downward nostrils. Whether it affected him unpleasantly when ex- | tendency), will presently fall on the metropolis and obliterate ploded remains uncertain. He has not yet been found. The | ii ATTEMPT TO BLOW UP THE PRINCE OF WALES. POLITICAL AND OTHERWISE. OTHERWISE, O the uninitiated the announcement that there is “No light at Hell Gate” seems peculiar. It would seem that the flicker of the furnaces would be sufficient if Mr. Ingersoll is in the wrong. . * * O, Lottie, the French cook’s ball is not a fish-ball, nor does it ever indulge in a French roll. POLITICAL. ’TCHE narrow escape of the capitol buildings from destruction by fire has made our law makers fully alive to the necessity of suppressing Ochiltree, | Robinson and other incendiary speakers. . . . ESSRS. Randall and Carlisle may claim that their visit to Mr. Cleveland had no political sig- nificance, but every one must acknowledge that the | President-elect in stopping at the Victoria Hotel in New | York has aroused the suspicion, strong in the cam- paign, that his relations with the British Government are such as to arouse the gravest anxiety on the part of his Irish-American friends. Rossa’s chances for the Cabinet seem to be on the wane, as Mr. Cleveland, in stopping at the hotel named, has seemingly aimed a blow at the patriot’s cause. . * * © R. MORTON would make a good Postmaster- Important Passenger: SAV, PILOT, WHAT 'S THE BOAT General, his chief qualification for office being STONED FORT: rag es the possession of unlimited stamps. 1. P.: BUT I CAN SEE THE SKY OVERHEAD. Mr. Cleveland would do well to consider the gentle- Pilot: WAL, 'TIL THE BILER BUSTS WE AINT A GOIN’ man’s candidacy. | THAT Way. comicbooks.com