Life, 1917-02-08 · page 16 of 42
Life — February 8, 1917 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This cartoon satirizes a defense attorney's closing argument to a jury. The illustration shows the lawyer (left) delivering an insultingly condescending speech to jurors (right), while the accompanying text reproduces his remarks verbatim. The satire targets the attorney's counterproductive strategy: he systematically insults the jurors' intelligence, accusing them of illiteracy, inattention, stupidity, and indifference—then expects them to acquit his client. The title "Too Good to Be True" suggests this approach is absurdly optimistic. The piece mocks both courtroom theater and the absurdity of insulting decision-makers while asking for their favor. It reflects early 20th-century American skepticism about jury competence and legal procedure, using exaggeration to ridicule a lawyer's apparent belief that belittling jurors will somehow persuade them to render a not-guilty verdict.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE The Convincing Plea “AND now, gentlemen of the jury, my time limit of thirty-six hours is about exhausted and I must leave the case in your hands. The re- luctance with which I do so is greater than I am able to express in mere words. For gentlemen of a jury, pos- sessing as little intelligence as I know you to possess, are unfit to pass judg- ment on a sheep-killing dog. There is not one of you who is able to distin- guish an alibi from a lullaby. There is not one of you who is alive to the fact that a fellow human being is on trial before you for his life. There is not one of you who, at some time during the progress of this trial, did not yawn at the introduction of important tes- timony, blink and nod during the able address of the prosecutor, and snore through my own forensic efforts. Doubtless you will fall fast asleep while the court is delivering its charge. “The voir dire examination showed, gentlemen of the jury, that not one of you ever had read a word concerning this remarkable case, that not one of you ever had talked about it with any other person and had never heard it discussed: If that be true you are, collectively, the most perfect exempli- fication of ignorance and stupidity ever called together to serve on a jury. It shows that you do not or cannot read, that you do not converse, and that you are supremely indifferent to the life about you. Such a jury can do nothing but commit error, and I expect you to find my client guilty as charged, al- though there has not been one scintilla of competent or relevant testimony in- troduced in this case that tended to prove he was within a hundred miles of the scene of the crime at the time of its commission. “Such jurymen as you are a disgrace to the country, an insult to your peers, a reproach to mankind, a travesty on justice, and a menace to the lives and the property of the peple. With pus for brain, ignorance for understanding, indifference for interest, I can expect only a verdict at random or by guess, the kind the low-brow and the rusty- teeth invariably render. “ After the charge of the court, gen- {| comicbooks.com