Life, 1920-10-28 · page 5 of 46
Life — October 28, 1920 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily **advertising** interspersed with editorial content. **Advertisements visible:** - The Biltmore hotel (top left) - L.E. Waterman Co. fountain pens (center, with decorative handwriting) - Pape's Diapepsin digestive aid (bottom left) **Editorial content** ("Our Panicky Public"): Describes a 1920 Wall Street explosion warning that caused panic. Collector "Big Bill" Edwards received a threat about the Customs House being bombed at 2 PM on September 20th. He wisely publicized it to prevent danger, but citizens still crowded the area unnecessarily—satirizing public overreaction to threats. The page demonstrates **Life magazine's mix of satire, news commentary, and commercial content** typical of 1920s publications.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Che BILTMORE | Where the social life of New York centers by day and evening CLOSE TO ALL THEATRES AND SHOPS Our Panicky Public Léss than a week after the explosion in Wall Street, in which thirty-five people were killed and some hundreds injured, the Collector of the Port of New York received a letter warning him that, at two o'clock sharp on the afternoon of September 20th, the Customs House would be blown up. “Big Bill” Edwards, the Collector, had the good sense to heed the warning, and aused it to be published in the press, so that the public might know of the possible danger, and stay away from the vicinity q at that time. “Big Bill” was at his office in the Cus- toms House as usual on September 2oth, and, when the fatal hour approached, went to the window to see if any red grocery wagons were approaching the place. There were no wagons of any kind, and, if there had been, they would not have been able to get within striking distance of the Cus- toms House, for the place was surrounded with a mob of several thousand men and women, crowding in as close to the build- ing as the squad of perspiring policemen would permit them. The citizens of New York had heeded Mr. Edwards’s warning of the danger that threatened: them—and they had re- PAPE'S DIAPEPSIN AIDS DIGESTION Sah = feu, Mat wil sgn yr nau Hale oud pel [" thera! he AG er passe iT ee 2d 0 EE reas OA Some Coke u- fll L. E. Waterman Co. 191 Broadway, New York 129So. State Street, Chicago, Ill. 24 School Street 17 Stockton Street Boston San Francisco sponded by hurrying to the most danger- ous spot to see the excitement, No wonder Germany was beaten HE various government of —from the President down—are not repre- population of the United States; they are only representa- tive of those members of the population who were patriotic enough to cast their votes on Election Day. The others have no right to representation. sentative of the en comicbooks.com