Life, 1908-04-23 · page 9 of 24
Life — April 23, 1908 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page depicts an early 20th-century incident involving Comstock, likely a fugitive or escapee from custody. The photograph shows dramatic rock formations with a vehicle, illustrating the text's reference to Comstock's escape "near Goldfield" (Nevada). The satirical dialogue mocks the situation: Taft (presumably President William Howard Taft) and others discuss the escape, with jokes about political responsibility and the chase. The caption "What, ho!" and references to "the Presidency" suggest this played into contemporary debates about executive authority and competence. The phrase "On to Maxim's" (a famous French restaurant) implies absurd juxtaposition—from frontier chaos to civilized luxury—typical of Life magazine's satirical humor mocking both criminal incidents and political figures' responses to them.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“on “What, HO!” exclaimed Taft. “Our handy-man-about-the-car has escaped. T'll bet he’s now on his way back to Sum- mit, N. J. He mast be getting tired.” As for Metcalfe, only his undaunted spirit sustained him in’ the face of this disaster. “This is terrible!” he cried. “If Com- stock gets back home and is allowed to resume operations, the whole country will blame me, And you!” he exclaimed to Taft. “What chance will you have now for the Presidency Taft smiled “You forget,”” he said, “that no mat- ter what happens, Teddy never goes back on his friends. But let us hurry.” To MANIM's!" The Zip—for the first time—was turned back and they shot toward Gold- field In the meantime a wire was sent on to this office Comstock at large. Escaped from cart day To which we replied Have Governor of Nevada order out militia, If he refuses call up Washington. In meantime, will watch all avenucs s escape spread The stock market was the first to feel it, dropping The news of Comstoc rapidly all over the country. off several points. It was regarded as a A SLIGHT DELAY NEAR GOLDFIELD The London in commenting, 1 national calamity Times, we, having 1 Austin Tt is just about the seme as tten rid of AV learn that h once and for all g should suddenly back Women all along the line of retreat led with terro: daring to leave the house after dark were no one of them Bulletins were printed in all the lead ing towns of the We FSCAPED REFORME about art store Capture de alive. Every p terested in pe shoul comicbooks.com