The Wasp — 1890 — page 434: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

The page features two satirical illustrations mocking incompetence and near-misses. **Top cartoon**: Officer Mulvey (identified in caption) is scolded for allowing a drunk man to escape. The humor lies in the officer's casual indifference to his failure—he caught the suspect "inter the bay" but lost him again. **Bottom cartoon**: Officer Mulvey narrowly avoids disaster when a flask misses him by seconds. The caption suggests if the timing were slightly different, he'd have been struck—satirizing his generally poor performance and luck. These cartoons appear designed to mock San Francisco's police force through a recurring character, suggesting widespread incompetence in law enforcement during this period.