Opper, Frederick Burr, 1857-1937

A dreadful attack of “presidential fever” in the U.S. Senate

Puck stands in the Senate chamber, among many senators sick with “Presidential Fever.” Puck is offering a spoonful of “Anti-Presidential Quinine” to John Sherman. Among the senators present are Wade Hampton, George Frisbie Hoar, J. D. Cameron, William Mahone, Warner Miller, Daniel W. Voorhees, John Alexander Logan, George F. Edmunds, John Sherman, George Graham Vest, Thomas F. Bayard, John P. Jones, and David Davis. Peering over the chamber walls are George M. Robeson, Jay Gould, and Roscoe Conkling.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-02-21

The good monopoly missionaries and the wicked island

William H. Vanderbilt, Jay Gould, and Cyrus W. Field escape in a small boat from cannibals on an island where they have built a railroad but refused to give the natives a reduced fare rate. The cannibals are angry and demand “5-cent fares.” Caption: “After all we have done for them, Brothers, they insist on having 5-cent fares. Let us leave the cannibals to their fate!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-02-28

The harder he pumps, the dirtier his case gets

Robert Green Ingersoll, attorney in the Star Route trials, pumps Montfort C. Rerdell, depicted as a pump, for more “Evidence” as Thomas Jefferson Brady and Stephen Wallace Dorsey stand in the “Prisoners Box.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-03-07

Another “greatest effort of his life”

Roscoe Conkling holds a corkscrew labeled “Investigation,” and attempts to pull the cork that shows the face of Jacob Sharp out of a bottle with a label that states “Jacob Sharp’s Private Information about the Broadway Railroad Steal.” On shelves in the background are the “Aldermanic Bottles to be Opened Next.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1886-02-17

“Here’s a health to the mugwumps, who helped in the strife, and have made this the happiest day of my life!”

Samuel J. Tilden sits in a rocking chair, raising a glass of the “Elixir of Youth” over his head and holding a telephone receiver to his ear. Hanging on the wall is a plaque that states “This Certifies that Sam’l. J. Tilden Was Duly Elected President (Dejure) in 1876. [signed] Chas. A. Dana.” Next to the telephone on the wall is a sign that states “Direct Reports of the Inaugural Ceremonies.” Tilden is offering a toast to the news of Grover Cleveland’s inauguration, the first democratic president since before the Civil War.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-03-04

United in misery

A minister and a “Theater Manager” are crying because of poor attendance at sermons and theater closures due to “Poor Business.” A young boy on roller skates is nearby with a sandwich board that states “Sunday evening sermon by the Rev. Dr. Gums, on the Sin of Roller Skating.” A crowd of people are standing at the entrance to a “Roller-Skating Rink” in the background.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-03-18

Consistent civil service reform

President Cleveland hands a paper that states “Re-appointment for Honesty and Efficiency” to Henry G. Pearson for his appointment as Postmaster in New York. Pearson carries a box labeled “The People’s Trust.” In the background are Whitelaw Reid with dagger labeled “N. Y. Tribune” and Charles A. Dana with dagger labeled “N. Y. Sun.” Both appear angry that an efficient and honest citizen has been appointed to a civil service position. Caption: Bravos in Background – “Ha! Foiled again!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-04-08

False weather-prophets

Whitelaw Reid, on the roof top of a building, looks through a telescope at the sun labeled “Civil Service Reform,” and Charles A. Dana, on the neighboring roof top, checks a “Sun Barometer.” Signs on their respective buildings state “Tribune Political Weather Bulletin – Terrible Traitor Earthquakes, Rebel Cyclones, ‘Dude-and-Pharisee’ Simoons, Hurricanes of Plunder and Tornadoes of Spoils!” and “The Sun’s Political Weather Predictions – Very Doubtful. Probable Cold Mugwump Wave Approaching. Cautionary Signals along the entire Political Coast.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-04-15

The monopolists’ may-pole

Several wealthy men, “Gould, W. K. Vanderbilt, W. H. Vanderbilt, Sage, Cornell, [and] Cornelius Vanderbilt,” some dressed as women, hold ticker tape and dance around a may pole. Cyrus W. Field, dressed as a woman, sits on a safe next to the pole. Sitting on a bench to the left are Chauncey M. Depew playing cymbals labeled “Monopolist Music” and Whitelaw Reid playing a horn labeled “Tribune.” Behind them is William M. Evarts looking out a window in a building labeled “Millionaires Snug Harbor,” and in the background is a “Monopoly Mill” labeled “Stocks” and “U. S. Bonds.” Lambs gambol nearby. Includes verse.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-04-29

They can not stop the wheel

John Kelly and Benjamin F. Butler struggle against a waterwheel labeled “Cleveland Boom” driven by rushing water from a trough labeled “Popular Enthusiasm” in a millrace outside a “Reform Mill.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-07-23

Blaine’s letter of acceptance

James Gillespie Blaine, startled, looks out a window in a building labeled “Star-Routers’ Head-Quarters,” watching as Puck, standing on a ladder labeled “Public Approval,” nails a letter labeled “From the Mulligan Series” to a column outside the window. The letter states Blaine’s acceptance of an “offer to admit me to a participation in the new railroad enterprise.” It further states Blaine’s wish to purchase some of the shares of another shareholder who had expressed an interest in this transaction.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-07-30

The “early-and-often” voter preferred

New York City Mayor Franklin Edson has his arm around an office seeker holding a paper that states “Application for Office – New York Ward Worker.” He gestures toward another office seeker who drops a paper that states “Application for Office – My small income forces me to reside outside New York” into the wastebasket. A portrait of John Kelly hangs on the wall next to the Mayor’s desk. Caption: Mayor Edson “Very sorry I can not appoint you; you may be capable, but you can’t vote!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-03-05

Nothing but wind!

A woman, on the left, labeled “Republican Party,” wears a hat labeled “War Record” and uses a bellows to pump “Reform, Purity and Honesty!!” into the ear of a man labeled “Independent Voter.” Another woman, on the right, labeled “Democratic Party,” wears a hat labeled “Jeffersonian Principles” and uses a bellows to pump “Honesty, Purity, and Reform!!” into the other ear of the man labeled “Independent Voter.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-04-16

Once the senatorial Apollo – now the court-jester

Roscoe Conkling appears as a court jester during proceedings in “Surrogate’s Court – Hoyt Will Case.” Papers extending from his pocket state “There’s Millions in it” and “Fee.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-04-23

The innocents

African American men stand in a group. One, standing at center, is wearing a hat labeled “Judge Whitewashed,” and the others are wearing hats labeled “Whitewasher No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, No. 5, No. 6, No. 7, and Whitewasher No. 8.” They are standing in front of a cabin labeled “Capitol at Albany.” The eight whitewashers gesture toward the central figure. Caption: “He hain’t seen nuffin o’ yer chickens – he’s as innercent as we is!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1882-06-07

The absurdities of the boycott

A stupefied laborer reads a notice that states “You are hereby ordered to Boycott as follows. Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York Tribune, Straiton & Storms’ Cigars, Thalia Theatre, All Fashionable Clothing Stores, All Turkish Baths, All Champagnes, by order of the Labor Union.” All the items, other than the newspaper, are most likely beyond the common laborer’s financial means. Caption: Bewildered Laborer “I guess the Labor Union is trying to make a fool of me!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-12-30

Shutting the stable-door after the horse is stolen

Chester Alan Arthur closes a door labeled “Good Administration” to a stable labeled “Political Record Barn.” On the ground is a lock with a key in it. In the background, a group of men labeled “The New York ‘Boys'” and “Jim, Mike, [and] Pat” are getting away with a white horse labeled “Arthur’s Good Name.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-05-07

Puck’s pyrotechnics – Fourth-of-July fireworks free to all

Print shows a fireworks display with Puck bowing on a stage in front of a “Fan Light” featuring the likenesses of William H. Vanderbilt, Russell Sage, Cyrus W. Field, and Jay Gould; on stage with Puck is a hand holding a smoldering torch which may represent Bartholdi’s hand and torch from the Statue of Liberty. On the left is a pagoda labeled “Puck Office” and on the right is a building labeled “Tammany Hall.” Among the fireworks are many faces of politicians and other prominent figures of the day, some labeled by type of firework, such as “Chicago Shower” – Arthur, Grant, Conkling, Logan and Cameron; “Tumbler” – Tilden; “Twister” – Schurz; “The Falling Tammany Star” – Kelly; “Bomb” – Davis; “Junk Whizzler” – Robeson; “Polar Rocket” – Bennett; “Buster” – Butler; and “Star Route Staggerer” – Dorsey. Others shown are James G. Blaine, Henry Ward Beecher, Elizabeth Tilton(?), Thomas De Witt Talmage, and Theodore Tilton.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1882-07-05

A free feast for the congressional colored boys – they are all after a slice

Several legislators are slicing up a large watermelon labeled “River and Harbor Bill” in an effort to carry off a share for themselves, while Chester Alan Arthur sleeps in the shade of a tree in the background. George G. Vest carries off a slice labeled “Pistol-Pocket Harbor,” James D. Cameron has carved out a small chunk labeled “Washy Washy Creek,” Elbridge G. Lapham is eating a slice labeled “Gowanus Back-Water Gutter,” and a slice labeled “Blue-Grass Brook” is at the feet of James B. Beck. Beck and Warner Miller work at cutting slices labeled “Wood-Pulp Puddle” and “Skatchekoosis Stream-let,” while Lucius Q. C. Lamar and Joseph E. Brown approach from the background, with large knives.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1882-07-26

More money wanted – O’Connor’s charity craft

Print shows an Irishman sailing in a top hat with a sail labeled “Money Wanted Fur to Free the Ould Country!” mounted on a clay tobacco pipe; his coattails are labeled “Land League” and “Free Ireland”. He is just offshore of land labeled “Michigan” where there is a crop of “American Greenback Corp.” labeled with “$”. Caption: “Wonst more, me byes, for Ould Oirland – the land of divilment and distriss!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1881-10-19