Life, 1893-03-02 · page 12 of 14
Life — March 2, 1893 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# A Turkish Bath Incident & Missing Stagecoach This page satirizes two unrelated topics. "A Turkish Bath Incident" (illustrated cartoons) depicts women in a Turkish bath reacting with alarm—likely mocking Victorian propriety and anxieties about exotic foreign customs. The main text concerns a missing Fifth Avenue stagecoach (#3033). *Life* playfully treats its disappearance as a mystery, with experienced navigators baffled. A reader's letter defends an unnamed "brilliant editor" (likely a figure at a rival publication like the Union League Club) against accusations of negligence, sarcastically arguing the horses were adequately fed and the whip sufficient—mocking concerns about animal welfare in urban transportation. The bottom joke about Columbus and "Wanamaker's stamps" appears to reference John Wanamaker, the Philadelphia merchant and postmaster general, suggesting some commercial or postal humor now obscure. The satire targets journalistic sensationalism, class tensions, and contemporary urban concerns about transportation and commerce.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
140 -*LIFE- NOT A WORD YET A TURKISH BATH INCIDENT. 3033'S. WHEREABOUTS A MYSTERY. EXPERIENCED NAVIGATORS AT A LOSS—FAINT HOPE GROWS DIMMER—THE RELIEF EXPEDITION HAS STARTED. We are pained to state that no further news has been received from the missing 3033, of the Fifth Avenue Stage Line. All now is conjecture. She may be anywhere between here and Halifax and the other place. A pious reader has sug- gested that daily prayer be offered in the churches for the safety of 3033 and those on board, We see no objection to this. Experienced persons who have navigated Fifth Avenue in all kinds of weather and with all kinds of loads, are at a loss to suggest a solution to the mystery. A member of the Manhattan Club writes to inform us that he believes the Republican pirates who infest the Union League Club have seized 3033 and are holding the passengers for ransom against the hard times that are coming to them after the fourth of March. We reject this theory as probably being the outgrowth of partisan spite. It is against Lire’s rule to pay any attention to anonymous letters, but we have an idea who wrote the following communication, and as soon as our suspicions are confirmed we shall take the proper steps. NEw YORK, March ist. To THE EpIToR OF LIFE: I am surprised and indignant at your course with reference to the not remarkable delay of 3033 of the Fifth Avenue Stage Line. Among the friends of those on board you have created almost a panic, and you have given many persons un- pleasant thoughts concerning a gentleman who vari: Waly ; | i < is not only one of the most brilliant editors of y i the century, but is as well and simultaneously a Christian who hides his light under a bushel and a philanthropist who is afraid to let his right hand know what his left hand is doing. I have reason to know that the horses of 3033 had been fed at least twice within the fortnight preceding the departure from the stable, and that the driver was equipped with a particularly strong whip. If you think that stage horses should be fed three times a day on canvas-back ducks and paté de fore gras, it shows that you AT THE GATES. don't know much about running a stage line at 2W ARRIV. What is that angel weeping about in the corner ? a profit. See Job vii, 17-19. T, PETER: s Columbus. He just seen a set of Wana- ONE WuHo Knows, maker's stamps. 1 AM ONLY THE BEARDED LADY FROM SMITHS MUSEUM. : comicbooks.com