Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

Puck’s plan to relieve the country of two embarrassments – give Grant the surplus, and let him spend it on a little court of his own

Ulysses S. Grant as a king sits on a throne, surrounded by his courtiers, identified as Rev. J. P. Newman, Henry Ward Beecher, Roscoe Conkling, Jay Gould, George W. Childs, William Belknap, G. Jones, Senator John P. Jones, Simon Cameron, James Donald Cameron, James D. Fish, John A. Logan, T. C. Platt, George M. Robeson, [and] Joseph W. Keifer.” The unidentified man standing behind Logan may be Ferdinand Ward. At center is a large cushion covered with coins labeled “$150,000,000 Surplus – Result of Over-Taxation.” In the background is a standard that states “Glory to the Ex-Decoy for Grant & Ward.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-05-21

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

One thing he can not shake off

Chester Alan Arthur is a cat, with the spout labeled “‘Soap’ Campaign 1880,” that has broken off a pitcher, around his neck. The pitcher labeled “N. Y. Ward Politics” lies on the ground nearby. James Gillespie Blaine is a dog sitting in front of a doghouse, chained to a weight labeled “Mulligan Disgrace.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-05-28

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

Phryne before the Chicago tribunal

Republican presidential candidate James G. Blaine as the prostitute “Phryne” is revealed by Whitelaw Reid, wearing shorts, a bib labeled “Magnetic Pad,” and covered with tattoos relating to his various shady dealings, standing before Republican delegates who are dressed as Greek senators. Among those depicted are George W. Curtis, William M. Evarts, Carl Schurz, a youthful Theodore Roosevelt, Benjamin Bristow, Warner Miller, William H. Robertson, John A. Logan, John Sherman, James Donald Cameron, Simon Cameron, Benjamin Harrison, and George F. Edmunds. Drawing is based on J. L. Gerome’s 1861 painting “Phyrne Before the Areopagus.” Caption: Ardent Advocate “Now, Gentlemen, don’t make any mistake in your decision! Here’s purity and magnetism for you – can’t be beat!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-06-04

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

Another bombardment – the newspaper fleet firing on the Bedouins in Washington

Print shows newspaper editors Charles A. Dana, James G. Bennett, Carl Schurz, Henry Watterson, George W. Curtis, and Whitelaw Reid, as well as Puck, with a fleet of paper gunboats labeled “N.Y. Times, N.Y. Sun, N.Y. Herald, Ev. Post, Puck, Brooklyn Eagle, Courier-Journal, Harpers, Phila Times, Mail, [and] N.Y. Tribune.” The fleet is firing cannons, “ink” bottles, and pens, bombarding a fortress flying a flag labeled “Plunder,” where the walls are comprised of paper bundles labeled “Bills, Jobs, Bargains, Corrupt Bills, [and] Logrolling.” The fortress is defended by “Robeson Bey” standing at center with a bandage labeled “Record” around his head, “Keifer” and “Jones,” with John A. Logan labeled “306,” James D. Cameron, David Davis, John Sherman, and others. Cannonballs burst among them labeled “Criticism, Censure, [and] Condemnation.” The fortress cannons are labeled “River & Harbor Bill $20,000,000, Pension Arrears $103,962,300, Monitor Job, Public Buildings, Mileage Steal, [and] Mississippi Levee.” Within the fortress are the U.S. Capitol and the U.S. Treasury labeled “Ammunition House.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1882-08-02

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

The receiving-vault of the Republican politicians who defied public morality

A procession carries an embalmed James Gillespie Blaine to a place among other embalmed Republicans in an Egyptian tomb. Among those previously embalmed are Thomas Collier Platt, Stephen W. Dorsey, Thomas Brady, Ulysses S. Grant, Roscoe Conkling, George M. Robeson, Joseph W. Keifer, William P. Kellogg, and William Belknap. Among those carrying the embalmed Blaine, labeled “Nominated June 6, Embalmed Nov. 1884” are William W. Phelps, Whitelaw Reid, William H. Robertson, Powell Clayton, and Joseph Medill. Caption: The wire-pullers have nominated him; but the people will send him where they have sent the others.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-06-11

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

His boasted magnetism – and the kind of metal it attracts

James Gillespie Blaine is the “plumed knight” wearing cabbage leaves on his head with two plumes labeled “Brag” and “Bluster,” and with a quill pen labeled “Gail Hamilton.” He holds a sword labeled “Guano Statesmanship” and a shield labeled “Monopoly Press,” and his legs are the bars of a horseshoe magnet labeled “Spoils System.” He sits on a pile of “Mulligan Letters” and “R. R. Bonds.” Attracted to the magnet are George M. Robeson labeled “Navy Swindles,” Whitelaw Reid, John A. Logan labeled “Hoodlum,” Col. John A. Joyce labeled “Ex-Convict,” Stephen W. Dorsey, William P. Kellogg labeled “Louisiana Frauds,” Joseph W. Keifer labeled “Speakership Corruption,” Cyrus W. Field labeled “‘L’ Road Swindle,” Jay Gould labeled “R. R. Wrecker,” Robert G. Ingersoll labeled “Star Route Plunder,” John Roach labeled “Navy Jobs,” Alonzo B. Cornell labeled “Blind Pool,” Thomas Collier Platt labeled “Me Too!!”, Schuyler Colfax labeled “Credit Mobilier,” Thomas J. Brady labeled “Star Router,” Powell Clayton labeled “Arkansas Frauds,” Russell Sage labeled “Wall Street Stock Gambler,” and Roscoe Conkling.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-06-25

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

“Me and Jack”

James Gillespie Blaine, wearing swimming trunks, sits on a board extending over a pond, with John Alexander Logan, as a dog, sitting next to him. Blaine’s body is tattoed all over, with “”Bluster, Mulligan, Guano Statesmanship, [and] Pacific Bonds.” A can labeled “Pro-Slavery” is tied to the dog’s tail and there is a bar of soap labeled “Hurrah Soap to Remove Tattoo” on the shore-end of the board.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-07-02

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

A way out of President Arthur’s dilemma

Ulysses S. Grant recommends to President Chester A. Arthur some “friends” of his as political appointees. All the men shown were involved in scandals during Grant’s administration. Caption: General Grant “Don’t be troubled if a few fellows do decline. Here are some friends of mine who never refuse office.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1881-11-02

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

John A. Logan in 1859

John Alexander Logan stands at center, holding a paper that states “No Interference with Slave-Hunters!” and looking over his left shoulder at two slave hunters rounding up a family of fugitive slaves. A similar scene is repeated in the background. Abraham Lincoln, William H. Seward, and Charles Sumner are standing on the left, watching in anger and with restraint. Caption: “You call it the dirty work of the Democratic Party to catch fugitive slaves for the Southern people. WE are willing to perform that dirty work.” –John Alexander Logan, in the Illinois State Legislature, Dec. 9th, 1859.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-07-09

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

Barkis is willin’

Print shows an Irishman man labeled “Democracy” standing at center, holding a small glass slipper labeled “’84 Presidential Nomination”, with Samuel J. Tilden and Charles A. Dana as courtiers standing behind him. On the left, sitting in a chair is Benjamin F. Butler, as a housemaid, holding up a huge foot, an oversized shoe labeled “Unanimous Renomination” is on the floor next to the chair. Butler claims to be “Cinderella” (and like Dickens’ “Barkis,” he is willing), though the others look with dismay at the size of his foot. Caption: B. Butler “Here’s your Cinderella, gentlemen – you needn’t go any further.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-10-03

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

The two dromios

Print shows an American cowboy talking to a British nobleman who is standing on papers labeled “Brutality, Vulgarity, Insolence, Arrogance, Selfishness, [and] Boorishness”, with an “Invitation N. Pacific R.R. Opening – Villard” extending from a pocket. In the background is a railroad car labeled “Parlor Car Villard Excursion.” Caption: American Cowboy to British Nobleman (Villard Variety) “Methinks, thou art my mirror!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-10-10

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

Getting them into line for 1884

Print shows Benjamin F. Butler as a military officer sitting on a horse, gesturing with his “Programme” to a snickering man labeled “Solid South” to get him to fall into line with Butler’s support for his presidential bid in 1884. On the left, already in line, are “Old Soldiers, Discontented Republicans, Oldtime Democrats”, and “Womens Rights” advocates, also two old men labeled “Greenbacker”, paupers, and prisoners, as well as a group of infants labeled “The Babies Cry for Him.” The horse, who also looks a little like Butler, leans over a pile of hay on which are papers labeled “Notoriety, Sensationalism, [and] Controversies”.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-10-17

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

“Puck” is not going to be left – he has a horse-show of his own

Print shows the interior of a barn crowded with horses and even more trying to get in. On the left in the back, George M. Robeson, George F. Hoar, Rutherford B. Hayes, William Mahone, and Thomas Collier Platt are trying to enter; but Uncle Sam, holding a “Rejected” sign, stops them at the door. At center is Benjamin F. Butler leading a horse that looks like himself, followed by Puck’s “Independent” Party figure leading two horses identified as “Cleveland” and “Mayor Low.” Puck, holding a lithograph pencil and a sign that states “Supreme Judge,” is standing with newspaper editors Whitelaw Reid, Carl Schurz, James Gordon Bennett, Joseph Pulitzer, and Murat Halstead. Among the horses waiting in the barn are Chester A. Arthur “Present Holder of First Prize,” Samuel J. Tilden being groomed by Henry Watterson, Thomas Hendricks, Roscoe Conkling, James G. Blaine, Ulysses S. Grant, Winfield Scott Hancock, David Davis, John A. Logan, James D. Cameron(?), Hubert O. Thompson, George Hoadly, Samuel S. Cox, Allen G. Thurman, Thomas F. Bayard, Frederick Edson, Abram S. Hewitt, William S. Holman getting a “Sun Mixture” from Charles A. Dana, John Sherman, and John Kelly as a mule labeled “Tammany” with its owner the “Irish Vote.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-10-24

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

In the jaws of death – a cold day for the Independent Party

Print shows Puck’s figure for the “Independent Party” in a small sailboat of that name, flying a banner labeled “Independents”, sailing through icy waters among large icebergs. In the background two ships labeled “Tariff Reform” and “Civil Service Reform” have wrecked on icebergs. Among the faces in the icebergs are Rutherford B. Hayes, Roscoe Conkling, George M. Robeson, William Mahone, George F. Hoar, James G. Blaine, Jay Gould, Cyrus W. Field, John Sherman, John A. Logan, Whitelaw Reid, Samuel J. Tilden, Hubert O. Thompson, John Kelly, Charles A. Dana, Thomas Hendricks, Thomas F. Bayard, Winfield Scott Hancock, Benjamin F. Butler, Grover Cleveland, Ulysses S. Grant, Allen G. Thurman, Abram S. Hewitt, and Chester A. Arthur.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-11-07

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

“Evacuation day” March 4th, 1885 – a Democratic dream

Print shows the Republican Party, led by Chester A. Arthur, laying down their arms, with George M. Robeson, James G. Blaine, Roscoe Conkling, Whitelaw Reid, Carl Schurz, John Sherman, Charles J. Folger, Robert T. Lincoln, John A. Logan, Ulysses S. Grant, James D. Cameron, George F. Hoar, George F. Edmunds, and Henry Ward Beecher, exiting a citadel in the background. They are surrendering the presidency to the Democratic Party, led by newspaper editors Joseph Pulitzer of the N.Y. World, Charles A. Dana, and Henry Watterson. Samuel J. Tilden “Old Ticket,” Benjamin F. Butler, Grover Cleveland, Thomas Hendricks, Winfield Scott Hancock, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Thomas F. Bayard are on horseback, and Tammany Hall, led by John Kelly, marches under the banner “To the Victors Belong the Spoils.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-11-21

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

He missed the chair, but he has the floor

Samuel S. Cox, as a court jester, is booted off a podium by a man sitting in the “Speaker’s Chair” in a congressional chamber, and is about to land on the floor. Cox is holding a stick with balloons attached labeled “Jokes, Witticisms, [and] Sarcasm,” and a book “by S. S. Cox” titled “Why We Laugh” (possibly the new and enlarged 1880 edition of his book first published in 1876) drops to the floor next to him. In the upper right, looking on approvingly, are members of Congress, Allen G. Thurman and Lucius Q. C. Lamar among them.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-12-05

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

A new way of “waking” the Democratic shaughraun

Print shows a small, rustic room crowded with members of the Democratic Party, some dressed as old women, others drinking and smoking clay pipes. One man, the “Shaughraun” labeled “Democratic Party,” is lying on a board that is resting on wooden supports. He is stirred to life by snuff sprinkled on his nose from a bowl labeled “Tariff Reform Snuff” by John G. Carlisle who is dressed in a formal uniform with sword. Among the crowd are Charles A. Dana, Benjamin F. Butler, and Samuel J. Tilden (all dressed as old women), Grover Cleveland, Samuel J. Randall, John Kelly, Henry Watterson, Abram S. Hewitt (dressed as an old woman), Samuel S. Cox, and Thomas F. Bayard (also dressed as an old woman), with arms raised in alarm and a broken pipe at his feet. On the far right are Thomas A. Hendricks drinking from a bottle labeled “Old Ticket Rye,” Winfield Scott Hancock, and Allen G. Thurman. Caption: “Captain” Carlisle shows that he is up to snuff.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-12-12

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

Foes in his path – the herculean task before our next president

Grover Cleveland, as Hercules carrying a large club labeled “Honest Legislation,” encounters a group of troublemakers along the “Administration Road” to “Success” seen in the distant background. Among the problems to be dealt with are a “Rotten Navy” represented by a two-headed hydra labeled “Robeson” and “Roach” holding a club labeled “Lobby,” an old man labeled “Mormonism” with many wives dangling from his belt, Jay Gould labeled “Land Grabber” holding a club labeled “Monopoly” and carrying a sack with papers labeled “R. R. Land Grab, U. Pacific Land Grab, [and] Land Grab,” a stereotypical Jewish man wearing a top hat labeled “Bankrupt” and holding papers labeled “List of Preferred Creditors,” a vulture labeled “High Tariff” and “Over-Production” sitting next to the prostrate body of a man whose hat, labeled “Labor,” has fallen on a nearby rock, and two men, one labeled “Cuba” holding a paper that states “Please Help a Poor Man with a Treaty” and the other labeled “Mexico” holding a paper that states “Please Help Poor Mexico with a Treaty,” a snake labeled “Silver Swindle” among the rocks, and a man in the background labeled “To the Victor Belong the Spoils” holding a club.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-02-18

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

The old lion and the ass

An injured lion, with the face of Ulysses S. Grant, lies on the ground next to a paper that states “An Appeal to the People, U.S. Grant.” Just beyond the lion is a donkey wearing a military uniform labeled “Rosecrans” and kicking up its hind legs. Caption: General Rosecrans, (Dem., of California,) thought that General Grant’s reputation had been exaggerated and misrepresented, and when history came to be written, it would be pared down to very different dimensions. –Debate on the Grant Retirement Bill in the House, Feb. 16th, 1885.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-02-25

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

A tail they can’t twist

Print shows Samuel S. Cox, Abram S. Hewitt, and William E. Robinson (waving a paper that states “The demands of 20,000,000 Irish-Americans”) pulling on the tail of the British Lion. The front paws of the lion rest on the body of a man with a handgun in one hand and a paper labeled “Assassin O’Donnell” in the other. A gibbet stands in the background. Patrick O’Donnell was executed by hanging in London on December 17, 1883, for the murder of James Carey. Caption: The little men and their little grip on the British Lion.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-12-19

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896