The Wasp — 1887 — page 69: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This appears to be a literature/editorial page rather than a cartoon page. The main content is a detailed article titled "History of the Pacific States" by Herbert Howe Bancroft, discussing the Vigilance Committees of early California. The text critiques the Vigilance Committees—extrajudicial groups that executed suspected criminals outside legal processes. The article argues these committees, while claiming to restore "law and order," actually represented mob justice that undermined proper governance and constitutional authority. **Key satirical point**: The article exposes the hypocrisy of claiming to defend civilization while employing vigilante violence—suggesting these committees were themselves lawless despite their stated purpose. This reflects 1850s California's actual tension between frontier justice and establishing legitimate legal institutions. The satire targets both the historical committees and potentially contemporary readers who romanticized them.