Life, 1915-07-29 · page 32 of 40
Life — July 29, 1915 — page 32: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**"We Sure Do Move"** critiques the Reid-Moore gang's looting of Rock Island Railroad stock—comparing modern financial fraud to 19th-century outlaws like Fisk and Gould. The satirical point: contemporary swindlers use sophisticated manipulation ("finesse") rather than crude violence, making them harder to prosecute. The press stays silent, judges collude, and trust companies facilitate the theft while widows and orphans lose everything. Life argues that refined white-collar crime is actually *more* dangerous than historical banditry because it operates within legal structures. **"The Knife-Thrower"** (top) depicts a figure hurling weapons at a target—likely representing the same financial predators attacking the public's wealth. **"If She Had Arms"** (bottom right) shows Lady Justice as a statue, apparently defenseless—suggesting the legal system cannot or will not protect victims from these crimes. The cartoons collectively condemn systemic corruption where financial elites exploit legal processes while legitimate law enforcement remains passive.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE KNIFE-THROWER We Sure Do Move Some of us remember the crude work of the late James Fisk, Jr., and the late Jay Gould. To-day their meth- ods are regarded with something the same interest that we bestow on the masked “money or your life” highwaymen of Hounslow Heath and the violent undertakings of the Jesse James outfit. The looting of the Rock Island system is a good example of the greater expertness and finesse employed in our time. No strong-arm work about this, The Reid-Moore gang simply rigged the three thimbles called Rock Island, Rock Island of lowa and Rock Island of New Jersey. The good money that the confiding public was sure was under the first, and might possibly have gone under the other two, has completely disappeared when the expert magicians have finished their manipulations. The widows and orphans who ask for the punishment of the swindlers ask in vain. The press is mysteriously silent. A United States judge complaisantly throws the real Rock Island into the hands of a receiver who happens to be an employee of the Reid-Moore outfit. One of New York’s big trust companies figured as the financial representative of the old gang, and its president headed the committees that invited the swindled ones to help reorganize the road with the old gang still in charge. We sure do move. The procedure of Fisk and Gould was rude and rough compared with the childlike and bland methods of the Reid-Moore gang. *To statement the New Ye tion. Tt has dared tell the wh York dailies have refrained fro the biggest swindle of our time. ONSULTING SURGEON: I have decided to operate. Famity Puysician: And rob me of my best patient? IF SHE HAD ARMS SE RR. QE comicbooks.com