The Wasp, 1913 · page 35 of 364
The Wasp — 1913 — page 35: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains prose narrative rather than cartoons—it appears to be a serialized story from *The Wasp*, a 19th-century satirical magazine. The text describes a character named James Burnham, a dangerous man of refined background who becomes a pirate. The satire targets class hypocrisy: Burnham is "born the son of a bishop and educated for holy orders" yet becomes "the most desperate pirate." The passage emphasizes his menacing presence in Kingston through physical description—his "pale eyes," "white rage," and distinctive appearance that intimidates hardened criminals. The earlier anecdote about a tutor-turned-pirate serves a similar purpose: exposing how respectable education masks violent depravity. The humor lies in the incongruity between genteel background and ruthless behavior, while mocking both the criminal underworld and the social pretensions of the upper classes.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
34 THE WASP hair nor hide of him; but when Captain Blue’s brig was cornered among the Bahamas, three months later, by the sloop-of-war Fox, there was the tutor on the brig’s poop, his sash full of pistols and a cut- las in his hand, the most desperate pirate of them all. He despatched five men with his own hand before he was cut down. A notorious pirate he was, and Blue’s trusty—but he’d been born the son of a bishop and educated for holy orders.” James Burnham spent a month in Kingston, all the time in questionable society. His luck was good, and he paid his way with his winnings at dice and cards. Only on two occasions did any of his companions attempt to cheat him at play. On both occasions he proved himself a dangerous person to trifle with. His white rage struck terror to the hearts of the most daring of the company; and during the rest of his stay in Kingston a tremor of apprehension went through the nerves of his companions whenever his pale eyes hardened and began to glint crosswise, as if he were trying to examine the tip of his own nose. Comichooks.com