The Wasp — 1894 — page 47: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon satirizes a man caught with smuggled cigars. The title "He Was Posted" is a pun: the man has been warned ("posted") about opium smugglers, yet he purchased cigars from a Mexican claiming they were smuggled—meaning duty-free and therefore cheaper. The joke turns on his naïveté: he thought he was getting a good deal on contraband goods, but the cigars were likely legitimate while he remains vulnerable to arrest for knowingly trafficking in smuggled merchandise. The woman warns him that authorities have arrested opium smugglers that week and he should "look out." The accompanying advertisement offers prizes for collecting "Wasp Coupons," with a bicycle as the top prize—standard magazine promotion of the era.