Executions and executioners

A large man wearing a red outfit, labeled “The Senate,” holds an axe above his head. He is about to chop a legislative bill, shown as rolled-up papers, labeled “Progressive Legislation.” Other bills, some labeled “Tariff Revision, R.R. Rate Bill, State Hood, [and] Pure Food Bill,” await their turns on the chopping block.

comments and context

Comments and Context

The United States Senate as Grand Executioner is how Puck its cartoonist J. S. Pughe held the Upper House, and in the context of “progressive legislation,” the cover drawing is dispositive.

President Roosevelt tells Governor Guild of Massachusetts that he has been requested to interfere in the planned execution of Charles L. Tucker. Roosevelt is not sure if he has such power, but regardless wishes to tell Guild that he feels that carrying out Tucker’s sentence seems “entirely sound,” and that he feels there should be no interference.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-06-10

David B. Hill labeled “Hill-ism,” Richard Croker as the Tammany Tiger labeled “Croker-ism,” and Roswell P. Flower, wearing a tall stove-pipe hat, labeled “Flower-ism,” stand on “Condemned Row” in the “Prison of Public Condemnation.” They are watching a group of men, on the left, construct a guillotine labeled “Reform Movement.” Puck is standing on the left with “Parkhurst, Grace, Lexow, Godkin, Ottendorfer, [and] Goff,” who is posting a notice on the wall of the prison that states, “Notice! On Election Day, Nov. 6th 1894. Execution of Hill-ism, Croker-ism, and Flower-ism. By Order of the People.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1894-06-13

Two medieval monks labeled “McKinley” and “Reed” construct a wall using blocks labeled “War Tax on Dinner Pails, Heavy Duty on Laborers Tools, Prohibitory Duty on Necessaries, High Duty on Raw Materials, Unjust Tax on Farmers Implements, Burdensome Tariff on Clothing, Duty on Iron, Duty on Steel, [and] Class Legislation” and cement labeled “Monopoly Mortar” to bury alive a female figure labeled “American Industries.” Arriving “in the nick of time” is William L. Wilson with a sword labeled “Wilson Bill” to put a stop to the punishment and torture of “our industries.” Caption: Rescuer Wilson comes none too soon to prevent the Republican monks from walling up our industries alive, in the true old Mediæval style.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1894-02-28

Illinois governor John R. Tanner appears as a devilish executioner holding a gallows, with noose, labeled “For Capitalists.” The “Illinois” capitol building is in the background.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1898-11-09

“G. W. Curtis” and “Jay Hubbell” appear as executioners, each wearing a mask and holding large axes labeled “Civil Service Reform Association” (Curtis) and “Republican Congressional Committee” (Hubbell). Curtis instructs the “Office Holder” seated between them to “Don’t Pay! or be Discharged” and Hubbell instructs the bewildered man to “Pay! or be Discharged.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1882-07-12

A woman labeled “Republican Party” is held in the “Condemned Cell” of a jail labeled “To Be Executed Nov. 6th 1883,” with Charles A. Dana labeled “Jailor” and Henry Watterson labeled “Turnkey.” Watterson looks dismayed and Dana appears shocked when Puck, as a “Messenger Boy,” arrives with a newspaper that states “Reprieve – Nov. 6th – By Order of the People.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-11-14