Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, March 1921 · page 40 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #18 — page 40: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains a narrative poem—likely a parody or adaptation of Robert W. Service's "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" (1907), a famous frontier ballad. The text tells of a lonely man's longing for home and a woman named Lou, whose betrayal triggers violent rage and murderous impulse in a saloon setting. The poem references "Dangerous Dan McGrew," the protagonist of Service's original work, establishing this as satirical retellings or commentary on that popular verse. The melodramatic tone—with its emphasis on betrayed love, homesickness, and masculine violence—reflects early 20th-century sentimental literature that *Whiz Bang* likely mocked for its overwrought emotionalism and predictable frontier-bar drama tropes. Without seeing accompanying illustrations, the satire's full target remains unclear, though the exaggerated emotional escalation ("your eyes went blind with blood") suggests mockery of period sentimentality.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
38 Captain Billy's Whiz Bang But the gnawing hunger of a lonely man For a home, and all that it means. For a fireside far, from the cares that are Four walls and a roof above But oh, so cram full of cozy joy And crowned with a woman's love. A woman dearer than all the world And true as heaven is true God, how ghastly she looks through her rouge The Lady, who was known as Lou. The music almost died away, so soft That you scarce could hear, And you felt that your life had been looted Of all that it once held dear. That someone had stolen the woman you loved And her love was a devil's lie And your guts were gone and the best for you Was to crawl away and die. "Twas the crowning glory of a heart's despair And it thrilled you through and through I guess I'll make it a spread Misere Said Dangerous Dan McGrew. The music almost died away Then oft burst like a pent-up flood And it seemed to say, repay, repay And your eyes went blind with blood. And the thought came back like an ancient wrong And it stung like a frozen lash And the lust awoke, to kill, to kill, And the music stopped with a flash. The stranger turned and his eyes they burned In a most peculiar way In a buck-skin shirt that was glazed with dirt He sat and I seen him sway. Then his lips went in in a kind of grin And he spoke and his voice was strong And boys, said he, you don't know me And none of you care a Damn.