Keppler, Joseph Ferdinand, 1838-1894

A hard pull

James Gillespie Blaine is dressed as a knight, with the plumes of his helmet labeled “Dodger, Speakership Record, [and] Mulligan Letters.” He holds papers labeled “Aggressive Cash Campaign” and has his other hand in a bag of money labeled “Vote Persuader.” He is riding in a wagon labeled “J. G. Blaine, Unlicensed Vendor, Stocks, Political Influence, etc.,” the seat of which is labeled “Compressed Magnetism.” William Walter Phelps is riding on the back of the wagon, sitting on boxes of “Condensed Fireworks” and “Campaign Lies, Scandals.” He is holding a portrait painting of George Washington labeled “J. G. Blaine.” At the front of the wagon, “Dorsey, Brady, [Robeson, and] Keifer” are pulling, and at the back “Gould, Clapp, [and] Clayton” are pushing. Whitelaw Reid marches alongside as a one-man band playing a horn labeled “Brag,” a drum labeled “Bluster,” an organ labeled “Blaine Organ,” a bellows labeled “Campaign Wind,” and firing a cannon labeled “Blaine Orgun.” Stephen B. Elkins, in the background on the left, waves a whip that spells “Enthusiasm,” and former Vice President Schuyler Colfax, with a “Credit Mobilier” plume in his cap, carries the standard that states, “Westward The Star of Corruption Fakes its Way.” They are passing a sign that states “To Ohio.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-10-01

Tantalus

James Gillespie Blaine is pictured as Tantalus chained to a large rock labeled “Mulligan Letters” and standing on rocks labeled “Guano” and “Northern Pacific R. R.,” yearning to reach a table laden with food and drink labeled “Presidential Cake, Patronage, [and] Spoils.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-10-08

Puck’s palette

Illustration shows an artist’s palette, with brushes and portfolio, and drawings depicting an artist(?) among several women wearing a variety of hats, also caricatures including one of big business as a pig wearing a top hat. Caption: A little memento found in our artist’s studio after his departure for Europe.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-09-09

The false “friend of the workingman”

James G. Blaine stands before starving miners outside the entrance to the “Hocking Valley Mines.” He is holding a paper that states “Blaine’s $25,000 share in ‘Hocking Valley’ Ohio,” and on the ground behind him is a paper that states “I have never ‘owned a share of stock in any coal, iron or land company in the state of Ohio’ J. G. Blaine.” In the background, on the left, is a large house with banner that states “J. G. Blaine’s Washington House cost $150,000,” and at center a band of “Italian Cheap Labor” miners are coming up the road. Caption: Hungry Miner – “You call yourself our friend! Your ask for our votes! Why, you are the ally of the monopolists who starved us out in Hocking Valley, and imported cheap Italian laborers to take our places!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-10-15

Helping the rascals in – a burglarious scheme that may be suddenly spoiled

James G. Blaine, wearing a top hat with three plumes, a sack labeled “For the Plunder” hanging from his neck, and a paper tied at his waist that states “20 Years on the Make,” attempts to break into the “White House” through an open window. He is being supported from below by Benjamin F. Butler who is sitting on the back of Charles A. Dana who is holding “The Sun” newspaper dated “June 16, 1884,” on which is written “Turn the Rascals Out!” Puck’s figure for the Independent Party has just come around the corner carrying a stick labeled “Independent Vote.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-10-22

Men may come, and men may go; but the work of reform shall go on forever

Columbia stands with Puck’s figure for the “Independent” party/vote and Puck who is holding a design drawing for a statue labeled “Reform,” which is under construction behind them by “D. W. Everett, Rev. J. F. Clarke, Beecher, Col. The. Lyman, Schurz, H. White, G. F. Williams, Curtis, [and] Jones.” The building blocks are labeled “Scratchem 1879, Anti-3rd Termism 1880, Tidal Wave Elections 1882, Civil Service Reform Bill, [and] Republican Revolt 1884.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-11-05

Kik – kik – cock-a-doodle doo! Mr. Kelly, how are you?

New York City Mayor William R. Grace is a rooster crowing over a defeated and demoralized John Kelly, Tammany Hall boss. Grace, an anti-Tammany Hall politician, was just re-elected mayor of New York City after being out of office for the previous term.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-11-12

On the threshold of office–what have we to expect of him?

Print shows the members of the late James A. Garfield’s cabinet looking at Chester Arthur; on the wall in the background are four frames with three portraits and a question mark. The portraits are labeled “First Failure – Tyler, Second Failure – Fillmore, [and] Third Failure – Johnson”.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1881-09-28

Leap-year

Near a wetland labeled “Campaign Swamp” are William M. Evarts and John G. Carlisle as two cranes on the left. Several frogs identified as “Lincoln, Arthur, Robeson, Edmunds, Cameron, Sherman, Logan, Grant, Davis, [and] Blaine” perch on the right. Another small frog, labeled “Me Too,” who may be Jay Gould, rides piggy-back on a larger frog that may be William H. Vanderbilt. “Lincoln” is making a leap over “Arthur” across a bit of water toward a board labeled “Presidential Nomination 1884” that is part of a dock or wharf. Caption: It would not surprise us to see the above acrobatic feat performed by this rising young frog.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-03-26

The only source from which he gets absolution

Whitelaw Reid, pictured as a bishop, absolves James Gillespie Blaine, who is kneeling on a long list of scandals, at a confessional labeled “Tribune Sanctum.” On the floor between them is a statement published in the “N. Y. Tribune, Sept. 30, 1872” stating, “The startling exposure of Speaker Blaine’s venality in connection with the Union Pacific Road, Eastern Division, entirely destroys, of course, whatever credit some people may have given to his evasive denial of the Oakes Ames bribery, and puts the whole case of the Crédit Mobilier upon a different basis. *** Now it is shown that Speaker Blaine never deserved his good reputation. He has taken bribes in another case.” Caption: W. R. – “I absolve you! Go forth a pure and a guiltless man!” – Puck (aside) – “But that won’t save him on ‘Judgement-Day.'”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-09-03

The pyrrhic victory of the Mulligan guards in Maine

James Gillespie Blaine is dressed as a knight, with the plumes of his helmet labeled “Speakership Record, Mulligan Letters, [and] Credit Mobilier.” He holds papers labeled “Aggressive Cash Campaign,” and rests his left hand on the head of William Walter Phelps who is holding a sword and a battered shield labeled “Blaines Magnetism.” Whitelaw Reid, wearing a paper hat, carries a standard that states “Moral Ideas,” (crossed out) “Soap and Success!” Stephen B. Elkins presents a “Report” to John Alexander Logan and Blaine that states “Great Victory in Maine! Blaine Vindicated! Cost $265,000.” Charles A. Dana sits in the lower right corner pouring “Personal Animosity” into cannonballs labeled “Personal Animosity, Spite, Mud Bombs, [and] Malice.” Frederick Douglass holds a sign labeled “Mulligan Guards Blaine’s Record” that appears to have drawn considerable enemy fire. On the left, “A. M. Clapp” turns his empty pockets inside out and George M. Robeson looks at an empty cash barrel. In the background, there is action at the “Whiskey Arsenal, Fort Cleveland, Polls, [and] Fort St. John” and casualties on the battlefield. Caption: “Another victory like this and our money’s gone!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-09-17

A summer smoke-cloud

Puck reclines before a table covered with alcoholic beverages, some labeled “V. H. Dusenbury’s P.P. Brandy” and “Puck Punch [No London Punch],” smoking and blowing smoke rings. Among the figures appearing in Puck’s smoke cloud are Chester Alan Arthur labeled “For a Good Veto” and fishing for “Popularity”; George M. Robeson at the helm of a boat carrying a large money bag labeled “Appropriation”; Jay Gould, Russell Sage, and William H. Vanderbilt sailing on a boat labeled “Monopoly”; Susan B. Anthony and another woman, George William Curtis labeled “Civil Service Reform,” Roscoe Conkling, Jay A. Hubbell labeled “Deform,” Ulysses S. Grant labeled “No Third Term,” David Davis, Robert Green Ingersoll boxing with Thomas De Witt Talmage, James Gordon Bennett, “Old Rossa” with “Dynamite,” Cyrus W. Field trying to net a “Coronet,” John Kelly and Samuel J. Tilden on a seesaw, William Russell Grace standing on a rock labeled “Public Esteem” with Seth Low trying to climb up, and James Russell Lowell on a “British Mission.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1882-08-09

Congressional cracksmen

“Policeman Puck” and Uncle Sam investigate a robbery at the U.S. Treasury. A safe has been broken into and a barrel labeled “150,000,000 $ Surplus” is empty, and there is a hole in the floor which leads to the Congressional chamber, below. A crumpled notice on the floor of the chamber states, “Congressional Theatre – The Hit of the Season!!! ‘The 40 Thieves’ – Keifer manager, Robeson property man.” The robbery happens to coincide with the end of the first session of the 47th Congress. A ladder labeled “Adjournment of Congress” leans against an open window, supported by John A. Logan and John Sherman, as Horace F. Page and two other Congressmen descend. Other Congressmen, among them George M. Robeson carrying a sack labeled “Navy Appropriation” and James D. Cameron dragging a sack labeled “River & Harbor,” are headed for their home states carrying sacks with “$” on them. Caption: Policeman Puck to Uncle Sam–“This is the work of Professionals!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1882-08-16

Uncle Sam’s neglected farm

Puck’s “Independent Party” figure, holding a hoe labeled “Civil Service Reform,” talks to Uncle Sam who is sitting on a fence. Two figures argue on the right. One is labeled “Democrat, Bourbonism, Secession Record, [and] Stupidity.” The other is labeled “Republican, Monopoly, Pension Swindle, River & Harbor Steal, Credit Mobilier, [and] Bossism.” At their feet are farm tools and jugs labeled “Corruption Bourbonism” and “Spoils Switchel.” In the background are farm outbuildings labeled “Navy Dept., Post, Interior, [and] Indian.” Caption: New and Independent Party: “Look here, Uncle Sam, isn’t it about time you got rid of those two quarrelsome fellows, and gave the job to ME?”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1882-08-23

The deadly upas tree of Wall Street

A large old tree grows at the edge of a body of water, with Albany, New York, on the right, and the U.S. Capitol on the left, in the background. Hanging from the branches are many coins with “$” and a few blossoms labeled “Bribes for Legislation, Bribes for Lawyers, Bribes for Judges, Bribes for Editors, [and] Bribes for Congress.” Telegraph lines are tangled in the branches, and the face of Jay Gould is formed by limbs and branches at center. The bodies of several people lay among the debris beneath the tree. Roscoe Conkling is slumped against a row of buildings. “Westbro[?]” has expired over the same row of buildings. A skull labeled “Jim Fisk” lies next to “Whitelaw Reid.” Ulysses S. Grant, at center, is labeled “Black Friday.” Beneath a railroad is the body of a woman labeled “Stockholder.” Against the trunk of the tree is a man labeled “Stockholder E.R.R.” who looks a little like Cornelius Vanderbilt, and on the right is Alonzo Cornell labeled “Blind Pool.” All appear to have succumbed to greed through the machinations of Jay Gould. Caption: “This tree … was said to be so exceedingly poisonous that no one could even approach it without certain death.” Zell’s Encyclopedia.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1882-08-30

“Sheol”

A number of historical figures enjoy the pleasant atmosphere of “Sheol” after suffering the flames of Hell. At left is a dejected Devil sitting beneath a sign that states, “This Business is Removed to Sheol, Opposite.” Among those ferried across the river by “Charon” are “Hypatia, Fanny Elssler, Voltaire, Frederick [the] Great, Socrates, J. Offenbach, Darwin, J. S. Mill, Rousseau, George Sand, Galileo, Jefferson, Th. Paine, Goethe, [and] H. Heine.” Caption: According to the new version of the Old Testament, many respectable people who have been writhing in the old fashioned Hell will have to be transferred to the pleasant watering-place known as “Sheol.” This is Puck’s notion of the evolution of Hell to Sheol.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-05-27

Two political paths

“Evarts, Reid, Robeson, Logan, [and] Blaine” and William W. Phelps stand on the remains of a bridge “washed away by the freshet of Nov. 1884” labeled “Partisan Civil Service” and find it difficult to get to the other side of the river. In the background, on a solid “Civil Service Reform” bridge are President Cleveland, members of his cabinet, Carl Schurz, and others unidentified, one holding a sheet of paper labeled “A Mugwump Engineer” and others holding a board labeled “Tariff Reform.” In the upper left corner is a flag pole with a banner that states “Non-Partisan Civil Service” and a municipal building labeled “Good Government.” Caption: The Democrats have the Mugwump bridge, and a fair chance to reach the goal; but our Republican friends seem to have struck a pretty hard road to travel, just at present.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-06-10

Canada as “Mother Mandelbaum”

Uncle Sam, dressed as a policeman, stands on the U.S. side of a “‘Fence’ for American Defaulters” and stares at Fredericka Mandelbaum who is standing on the Canadian side, dressed as a Native American, wearing a headdress labeled “Canada” and leaning on the “Fence.” Behind her, a man carrying a case labeled “R. S. Scott” tips his hat, and in the background are mansions labeled “Mandelbaum, Eno, [and] Stewart.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-06-17

Scientists assert that all diseases can be prevented by inoculation

Puck stands on a stack of bound Puck volumes between a row of people on the left identified as a “Bank President, Cashier, Teller, Clerk, [and] Janitor” as well as a scrub-woman and an office boy, and a row of known criminals on the right identified as “Scott, O. L. Baldwin, F. Ward, J. D. Fish, H. W. Howgate, [and] Eno,” and Fredericka Mandelbaum identified as “M.” Between the two rows are bottles of “Virus from Thieving Office-Boy, Light-Fingered Scrub-Woman, Defaulting Bank Cashier, Receiver of Stolen Goods, [and] Corruptible Janitor,” “Lymph from Swindling Bank President [and] Embezzling Bank Clerk,” and “Vaccine from Speculating Bank Teller.” O. L. Baldwin was a cashier at the Mechanics’ National Bank in Newark, Henry W. Howgate (1834-1901) was a Disbursing Officer in the U. S. Signal Service, and Fredericka Mandelbaum was a known fence for stolen property. Caption: “Now, my friends, step right up and be vaccinated for all forms of disease to which bank officials are liable!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-06-24

Cut-throat business in Wall Street. How the inexperienced lose their heads

Print shows William H. Vanderbilt, Jay Gould, Russell Sage and James R. Keene checking ticker tape connected to a large straight-edge razor labeled “Wade in & Butcher’em” and “This Indicator Rises & Falls with Stocks” with a bear and a bull and several money bags labeled “$” balanced on the back of the blade; below, draped over the handle are many investors reaching for bundles of “Pacific Mail, Western Union, [and] Erie” stocks, the blade is poised to drop. In the background another group of investors labeled “The Lambs Brigade” are headed into the “N.Y. Stock Exchange”.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1881-09-07