The Wasp — 1893 — page 377: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page features satirical cartoons about San Francisco elevators, accompanied by the headline "Don't Tempt Providence, When It Comes in the Shape of a San Francisco Elevator." The sketches depict two scenarios of elevator mishaps. The first shows a man confronting another, with dialogue suggesting complaint about goods sold the previous week that "represented, may Sheep me graychus, auf just goods in't paid!" The second cartoon ("But the elevator got there first") illustrates what appears to be a fatal elevator accident—a darkly humorous reference to elevator safety dangers. The satire likely mocks both the mechanical unreliability of early elevators and the risks faced by San Francisco residents using this relatively new technology. The cartoons suggest elevators were dangerous enough to be considered tempting fate.