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The tattooed legs and bottom of James G. Blaine and the tail of a dog labeled “We Claim Everything – Me & Jack” appear in a lake next to a bar of soap labeled “Hurrah Soap – to Remove Tattoo.” They had been sitting on a board labeled “Soap Campaign,” which has broken, dumping them into the lake. Roscoe Conkling observes from the weeds in the upper right.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1884-11-19
An explosion has occurred at the “Claim Agency, Formerly Republican Head Quarters” with William M. Evarts peeking through the opening in the tent to survey the damage. Several small kiosks labeled “Machine Republicans Meet Here, County Democracy Blaine Exchange, Tribune Blaine Organ, [and] Friends of Tammany Meet Here” have been blown over and damaged. Also knocked to the ground by the blast were “Keifer, [Blaine holding a paper that states “I Claim Everything”], Logan, W. Reid, Butler, Dana, Burchard [labeled “R.R.R.”], Robeson, Elkins, Dorsey,” and an unidentified man lying on the ground next to bags of “Soap.” On horseback, in the upper left corner, is Grover Cleveland holding a scroll labeled “Reform,” and a Puck character carrying a standard labeled “Independents.” Among the ranks are Carl Schurz, George W. Curtis, and Henry Ward Beecher. Strewn on the ground are papers that state “I.O.U. If we win. J. G., I.O.U. Conditional on Success, C.W.F., [and] I.O.U. If you get there, J. Roach”; and several of the downed “Mulligan Guard” hold papers that state “We Still Claim,” whereas Dana’s paper states “I Give Up.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1884-11-19
Two men and Carl Schurz, holding hands and labeled “C. & H.”, sit on James Gillespie Blaine who is lying on the ground wearing armor.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1884-11-26
A glum Thanksgiving Day feast is occurring with the downtrodden Republican presidential candidate James G. Blaine and his supporters “W.W. Phelps, [Roscoe Conkling at an open door], William Mahone, Cabot Lodge, [John Logan], Robeson, Dorsey, [W. Reid, Benjamin F. Butler], Elkins, Platt, [Cyrus W. Field, and] C.A. Dana” gathered around a table, and with John Kelly as a dog next to a plate with a small bird labeled “Compliments of N.Y. Citizens.” Reid is removing the top of a platter labeled “Campaign” where there is a “Crow” that is “Compliments of the People.” Through a window, where Puck is looking in, can be seen Grover Cleveland carrying a large turkey labeled “Presidency” over his shoulder, and across the street is Jay Gould offering his “Congratulations.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1884-11-26
Puck stands with lithographic pen and a long banner with scenes from cartoons that appeared in Puck Magazine during 1884, including the British Lion and “El Mahdi” in Egypt and Sudan, James G. Blaine’s presidential hopes, the rise of Chester A. Arthur, a downtrodden Tammany tiger, John Kelly and Benjamin Butler as entertainers, the French and the Chinese in “Tonquin,” the figure for the Independent Vote and Grover Cleveland joining forces, and millionaires Jay Gould and William H. Vanderbilt.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1884-12-31
Puck holds a shotgun over one shoulder and a dead owl in his raised right hand. With him are two hunting dogs labeled “Wit” and “Satire.” He is surrounded by dead animals that have the faces of politicians, including James G. Blaine, Roscoe Conkling, George M. Robeson, and William E. Chandler. A frog probably represents Benjamin F. Butler, an unidentified man is lying in the marsh grass, and a bird of prey, with the face of Jay Gould, carries off a sheep with “Wit” in pursuit.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1885-01-14
James G. Blaine, wearing Elizabethan style dress, and a small band of accomplices labeled “Clapp, Reid, Murat Halstead, Elkins, [and] Mahone” make their way down a Tudor style street, marking the doors of potential victims, including Puck’s offices, of a personal vendetta. Reid carries a long list that includes “C. Schurz, H. W. Beecher, G. W. Curtis, C. A. Arthur, Col. Lyman, H. White, G. Jones, [and] E. L. Godkin.” Drawn by the commotion, Arthur, Curtis, Schurz, and Beecher lean out windows observing, as does Puck’s figure of the Independent Party. Caption: He organizes a little private St. Bartholomew’s eve of his own.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1885-01-21
At a costume ball, a band of newspaper editors labeled “Herald, Sun, Staats-Zeitung, World, Times, [and] Evening Post” is conducted by Puck. Among those present at the ball are James Gillespie Blaine, Whitelaw Reid, William Maxwell Evarts, Roscoe Conkling, Ulysses S. Grant, Grover Cleveland, and John Kelly.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1885-01-28
A large ape labeled “Irish Vote” sits on a ballot box, holding a shillelagh. He is being pumped up by a bellows labeled “Demagogery” manipulated by Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa and others. Behind them stands James G. Blaine with a copy of “Irish World” in his pocket, and kneeling nearby is John Kelly. A crowd of congressmen are supplicating themselves to the “Irish Vote,” including John Sherman, John A. Logan, and George F. Edmunds. Caption: The reason why we cannot expect legislation on the dynamite question.
A ship has lost its course and wrecked at the sight of the “Flying Dutchman” labeled “Speeches” with the face of James G. Blaine as the ship’s figurehead and using the “Bloody Shirt” as sails. Men cling to the wreck of the ship. Some are in the sea, and many are on the rocks. Some are identified as “Cornell, Wadsworth, Daggett, Catlin, Carr, O’Brien [who is clinging to “Davenport’s Bar’l”], Evarts, “Jake Hess,” Miller, T. Platt, Davenport, Sherman, Edmunds, [and] Jonah B. Foraker.” Among those unidentified are Whitelaw Reid holding a bottle labeled “Tribune Editorial Solace,” Joseph Pulitzer as a bird labeled “N.Y. World,” and John Logan.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1885-11-11
James Gillespie Blaine, dressed like a farmer with a patch labeled “Vindication” on his pants, stands next to John Alexander Logan who is dressed as a girl. They are on a beach looking out to sea, watching the waves labeled “Revolt, Revolt in Connecticut, Iowa Doubtful, Ohio Uncertain, Michigan Doubtful,” and “Wisconsin, N. Jersey, [and] Indiana” are going “Democratic.” Blaine is holding a rope attached to an anchor labeled “To Windward.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1884-10-01
Joseph B. Foraker holds a hot air balloon fashioned from shirts stitched together and labeled “Bloody Shirt” with the initials “J. G. B.” for James G. Blaine. John Sherman leans over a small pot labeled “Sectional Hatred” that is fastened to the bottom of the balloon (the basket and anchor has been discarded in the background), attempting to generate enough hot air to get the balloon off the ground by using a bellows labeled “Stump Speeches” to fan a fire in the pot. A notice pasted on a fence on the right states “John Sherman’s Mt. Gilead Speech.” A portion of the text states, “The Solid South, held together in political fellowship by crimes, violence and fraud.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1885-09-02
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.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1884-10-01
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.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1884-10-08
James Gillespie Blaine is pictured as Apollo playing a lyre labeled “N. Y. Tribune” fashioned from the body of Whitelaw Reid, before a gathering of the gods on Olympus. Among those present are Cyrus W. Field as Mercury, George M. Robeson as Neptune, Charles A. Dana as Minerva, Jay Gould as Zeus, Thomas Collier Platt, Robert Green Ingersoll, and Rutherford B. Hayes as angels, Chauncey Depew, W. H. Vanderbilt as Pluto, Russell Sage, William W. Phelps, John Roach as Vulcan, Stephen B. Elkins as Dionysus, Joseph Warren Keifer as Hercules, John Alexander Logan as Mars, Benjamin F. Butler as Venus, Stephen Wallace Dorsey and Thomas Jefferson Brady as putti, and John Kelly as an owl.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1884-10-08
Uncle Sam is seated at a table in front of “Uncle Sam’s Inter-State Market,” with a businessman labeled “Northern Capital” on the right and an agricultural producer labeled “Southern Goods – Cotton, Sugar, Tobacco, Whiskey” on the left. Standing before the table are James G. Blaine labeled “Bloody Shirt,” and John Sherman, Whitelaw Reid, and Joseph B. Foraker, who all have long flowing hair and beards like Rip Van Winkle. Blaine is leaning on a rifle labeled “Shot Gun.” Two young African American men are sitting on a bale of cotton and a keg of “Tobacco” in the lower right corner, and in the middle ground African Americans are harvesting cotton. In the background, along the shores of a harbor, is a prosperous city. Caption: Uncle Sam “My fossil friends, the War ended twenty years ago. Have you been sleeping ever since?”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1885-09-16
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!”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1884-10-15
James G. Blaine, badly bruised after boxing a round against the “Ohio Secretary of State,” is slumped against the ropes. William W. Phelps and Whitelaw Reid attempt to revive Blaine with a bottle of “Monopoly Mixture,” as Grover Cleveland hops into the ring, ready to go the next round with Blaine. Caption: Grover Cleveland – “You weren’t fighting me that round, my fine fellow! Now come up to the scratch, if you can!”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1884-10-22
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.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1884-10-22
The spirits of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln look at a throne draped with an American flag beneath a sign that states, “This coming term will end the first hundred years of the American presidency. Shall the century begun with Washington at the head of government end in disgrace with James G. Blaine in that sacred chair?” Below is Blaine, tattooed with scandals and frightened by the shades of past presidents, his hat labeled “Corruption” falling off, with his foot on the first step toward the presidency. Leaning against his back is Jay Gould holding a paper that states “Four Supreme Court judges to be appointed by the next president.” Also behind Blaine, on his hands and knees, is Stephen W. Dorsey, next to a paper on the floor that states, “Honesty No Requisite for the Presidency (Blaine’s Theory).” On the right stands Benjamin F. Butler as a court jester labeled “Barcain with Blaine.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1884-10-29