Life, 1902-01-09 · page 20 of 20
Life — January 9, 1902 — page 20: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The main cartoon depicts a humorous domestic scene titled "The Snoring Burglar: A Battersea Story." It shows a burglar caught mid-heist in a bedroom, but the joke appears to be that he's been discovered snoring loudly enough to wake the household—hence the caption referencing "rumbling noise, Maria!" The illustration plays on the absurdity of an incompetent criminal whose noise gives him away. The surrounding content is primarily **advertising**—liquor and beverage brands common to early 1900s England and America: Evans' Ale, Harper Rye whiskey, Lea & Perrin's sauce, Martell's Brandy, and President Suspenders. These ads were typical revenue for *Life* magazine during this period. The cartoon's satire mocks petty criminality through slapstick, suggesting even burglars could be bumbling and self-defeating rather than genuinely threatening—a reassuring message for middle-class Victorian readers.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
January 9, 1902, al hes ae as Soups ee and digesti ant tetas &Perrins sauce ( SronaTyRe ON EVERY corn. lar pend John Duncan's Sons- Agents-NewYork. [Dron by dln Hewat, THE SNORING BURGLAR: A BATTERSEA STORY, UNSURPASSED AND UNSURPASSABLE. Famous at home and abroad. If local dealers cannot supply it, address the distillers, A BOTTLE of EV A N S ’ | “PRESIDENT BERNHEIM BROS., Louisville, Ky. ALE BA .. SUSPENDERS “A Genuine Old Brandy made from Wine. —Medical Press (London), Aug, 1899, as ma -_ J | MARTELL'S ela tender chop makes a banquet of sufireme | ., LIFE BINDER ee THREE ST AR CHEAP, STRONG AND DURABLE. We furnish these in black or red, to hold BRA N DY 26 numbers, for $1.00, postage prepaid. LIFE PUBLISHING CO.,19 31st Street, N.Y. AT ALL BARS AND RESTAURANTS. PREGS OF THE J. W. PRATT CO., NEW YORK. comicbooks.com