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A well-dressed union representative labeled “Walking Delegate” stands outside a prison cell, holding a paper that states “Law to Prohibit Convict Labor in State Prisons.” A dejected prisoner sits in the cell. Caption: But idleness, misery and insanity for the unfortunate convict.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1897-02-10.
Criminals on the left enter a prison labeled “Penitentiary” with a statue of “Justice.” On the right, they leave the prison after serving their sentences and are given papers labeled “Freedom,” where they are confronted by a large hand above a city with a wall labeled “Ex-Convicts Not Wanted.” Includes text about the failure of the Penal System.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1909-10-20
A man labeled “Producer,” laden with farm produce, is stopped on one side, and a man labeled “Consumer” is stopped on the other, by a masked man between them labeled “Food Speculator” who is pointing handguns labeled “Cold Storage” at both. They have been ambushed on the “Road of Supply and Demand” and the middle-man is now going to profit from both the producer and the consumer. Caption: Good guns in bad hands.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1909-10-06
On the left, money is being counterfeited and is labeled “Low-down and Illegal.” On the right, capitalists on “Wall Street” hold papers labeled “Watered Stock” and “Dividends.” Caption: What is the difference morally between making and circulating valueless paper in the guise of money, and making and circulating valueless paper in the form of securities? Both kinds of counterfeits get real money in exchange for fake; only, one kind gets a few hundreds of dollars, perhaps, and then goes to jail, while the other gets millions, maybe, and says: “Don’t! You’ll destroy confidence,” to anybody who ventures to criticise.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1910-09-28
Peter B. Olney, New York District Attorney, passes a paper that states “Charges Against the Central Office Detectives – Peter B. Olney, Dist. Att’y” over the head of Fredericka Mandelbaum to Thomas Byrnes at “Police-Head-Quarters,” who in turn passes to Olney a paper that states “Denial of Charges – Insp’r. Byrnes.” In the background is a small building labeled “Mrs. Mandelbaum Receiver of Stolen Goods” on which a notice has been posted that states “Mortgage – To Cover Bail and Costs of Trial.” Caption: When “honest men” fall out, thieves have to suffer.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1884-08-12
Several rogues, including Jay Gould labeled “R. Road Monopolist,” William H. Vanderbilt labeled “Corporations,” Cyrus W. Field labeled “Telegraph Monopoly,” Russell Sage(?) labeled “Stock Jobbing,” and George M. Robeson labeled “Congress,” rob a “Tax Payer” of his “Income” (Robeson/Congress strangling him with “Unjust Tax”). In the right foreground the tools and “Cloth” the “Tax Payer” needs are “Taxed” as others help themselves to his “Products of Honest Labor.” Vanderbilt directs some carrying bags labeled “Plunder” and “Gains” up steps labeled “Tax Steals, Land Grants, Friendly Judges, Lobbyism, [and] Public Apathy” that lead to a large building labeled “Castle Monopoly” atop a mountain. In the background, on the right, are buildings labeled “Manufactory Closed [and] Foundry Closed” and other industrial buildings “Closed.” A chain labeled “Protection” blocks the harbor, preventing ships with products for export from departing.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1882-06-14
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
James Gillespie Blaine, dressed like a Roman statesman, stands on a pedestal that states, “What are you going to do about it,” a phrase attributed to Boss Tweed. The ghost of Tweed stands behind Blaine, weeping, holding a paper that states, “Why wasn’t I vindicated? I cast my anchor windward too!!” At the base of the pedestal are books and papers, some labeled, “20 Years Casting My Anchor to Windward,” “Burn this,” and “20 Years No Deadhead.” Whitelaw Reid stands at center, appealing to Blaine. On the left are various bank officers who committed crimes and got caught. Some hold papers that state, “I saw various channels in which I could be useful. President Dodd, Bank Breaker,” “I cast an anchor to windward in the Marine Bank. J. D. Fish, Bank Breaker,” “I would ‘sacrifice a great deal to get a settlement’ Captain Howgate, U. S. A., Defaulter,” “I did not prove a deadhead in the enterprise. A. S. Warner, Albion Bank Breaker,” “I received very large sums of money without one dollar of expense. Ferdinand Ward, Swindler.” Albert S. Warner was President of The First National Bank of Albion; Henry W. Howgate was a Disbursing Officer in the U. S. Signal Service. Caption: Chorus of Non-Magnetic Swindlers – “Why shouldn’t we be vindicated, too? We saw various channels in which we could be useful. We were no deadheads.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1884-09-24
Inside a “Prison Barber-Shop” are two men labeled “Budensiek” and “J. D. Fish,” wearing prison stripes and “Close Crop” haircuts by the prison barber, who is holding a shaving mug labeled “Ferd. Ward.” Entering on the right is a man labeled “F. Ward” wearing civilian clothing, followed by a prison guard. On the shelves are other shaving mugs labeled “J. D. Fish, Baldwin, [and] Crowley.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1885-07-08
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!”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1885-06-24
Two crooks labeled “Robeson” and “Roach” walk down a sidewalk, whistling. They are being trailed by William C. Whitney, Secretary of the Navy, as a policeman. Caption: “Cheese it!”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1885-06-24
“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!”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1882-08-16
Uncle Sam in the background hands out pardons to criminals labeled “Gyp the Blood” (Harry Horowitz), “Dago Frank” (Francesco Carofisi), “Lefty Louis” (Louis Rosenberg), and “Whit e Lewis” (Jacob “Whitey Lewis” Seidenschner), who head toward “The Mexican Line” bearing handguns and knives. In the foreground, about to step across the line, is Charles Becker, holding a pistol in one hand and a “Pardon on condition that you ‘croak’ the Mexican Muss.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1913-08-20
A dastardly figure peers from behind a bush in the background, as a matronly woman pushes a young woman, looking starry-eyed and carrying a suitcase bursting with cash and stocks, out the front door, in response to a note which shows a pink handprint and states “Put ze girl and ze money on ze doorstep or I will slap you on ze wrist. Ze Pink Hand.”
L. M. Glackens’s cartoon presumably is a cartoon reference to a crime wave that existed throughout America cities starting in the 1890s and having a peak of activity in 1908 — extortion of innocent people through letters signed by a Black Hand. The activity was most active in the Italian immigrant enclaves of New York City, Chicago, and coal-mining regions of northern Pennsylvania. That, as well as internal evidence of the notes and confessions of blackmailers, confirmed the Southern Italian component of the movement.
A throng of petty criminals in a prison point to a small cell labeled “For the Incorporated Law Breaker,” insisting that white-collar crime goes unpunished. Caption: The cry of the small crook.
In this powerful double-page cartoon, the great Art Young speaks for the small fry, not excusing them but painting a contrast, versus the “big fish” in the American justice system.
Santa Claus points a handgun at the viewer. Caption: As Santa Claus looks to some of us.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1912-12-11
A group of highwaymen labeled “Trust, Express Company, [and] Protected Monopoly” rob a stagecoach labeled “The Consumers’ Coach.” The driver, labeled “Congress,” is throwing them a pouch labeled “U.S. Parcels Post.” Caption: What else do you expect when the driver is in league with the highwaymen?
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1911-07-19