The Grand Opening March Over the Brooklyn Bridge

by Frederick Opper (1883)



The LOC says:

Illustration shows a large procession crossing the Brooklyn Bridge, at the front, dressed as policeman with nightsticks, are several newspaper editors, among them are James Gordon Bennett, Oswald Ottendorfer, Whitelaw Reid, Murat Halstead, Joseph Pulitzer, Charles A. Dana, and Carl Schurz. Puck follows at center on a white horse, with a group of dandies on the right, one labeled "Freddie", and a group of "Political Tramps" on the left, including George M. Robeson, Ulysses S. Grant, Thomas C. Platt, James G. Blaine, and Roscoe Conkling. John Kelly is at the lead of the "Tammany Heelers", followed by Hubert O. Thompson with the "New York Street Cleaning Department", behind them comes "Puck's Monopoly Target Company" with Russell Sage, William H. Vanderbilt, Jay Gould, and Cyrus W. Field. On the left is a masonic group labeled "F. & A.M." carrying a goat on a pedestal. Beneath the bridge is a boat labeled "The Dynamiter" filled with angry anachrists [sic].

Lazy Curator™ sez: No real corrections* (apart from the typo at the end) to the LOC’s blurb; it’s pretty comprehensive and I’m fairly impressed (they even identified Oswald Ottendorfer correctly, something I failed to do the first time with this image).

In lieu of the usual Christmas-related image, I instead opted to post an image featuring Weekly Puck Breakout Superstar Hubert O. Thompson, also [belated] birthday boy! So enjoy, and Merry Christmas to all!

*EDIT: I take it back. I am not seeing Murat Halstead here anywhere (so I’m removing his tag. AND I am removing his favorite record from the jukebox: “It’s Raining Men”!), but I do spot an un-identified George Jones (NOT the country singer!) in between Messrs. Pulitzer and Reid.

Uncle Sam’s Thanksgiving Turkey

by Joseph Keppler (1888)

Chorus of Hungry Patriots.—For what we are about to receive, let us be truly thankful!

Lazy Curator™ sez: The LOC was of no help to me, so I had to go into extra innings, and I have no idea if I identified all the “hungry patriots” grasping for Uncle Sam’s turkey correctly. But I’ll have a go. From left to right, más o menos:

Jay Abel Hubbell

James M. Tuttle

George P. Foster (?)

William Wade Dudley

Thomas C. Platt

Frank Hiscock

J. Warren Keifer

William E. Chandler

George M. Robeson (who looks as though he’s devoured an entire turkey already!)

Edward H. Fairchild (?)

Matthew Quay

Chauncey I. Filley

Stephen W. Dorsey

Powell Clayton

Thomas J. Brady, and

William Mahone

Decoration Day, 1883

by Bernhard Gillam (1883)

They deck with flowers, this Day of Decoration, full many a blighted hope and reputation.

The LOC says:

Illustration shows a large group of politicians and others in a cemetery on Memorial Day, each seems to be grieving at gravestones that bear special messages, such as Pope Leo XIII standing in front of a stone that states "Here lies my Irish Influence"; Ulysses S. Grant placing a wreath labeled "Tho' Gone Not Forgotten" at a monument that states "Here Lies the Third Term 1880"; Stephen Dorsey and Thomas Brady, arm in arm, in front of a stone that states "[Star] Route Here Lies Our Hope of Acquittal"; James G. Blaine placing a wreath on a stone that states "[He]re Lies My South American Policy"; and Samuel J. Tilden and Charles A. Dana in front of a stone that states "Tilden Boom 1876 Rest in Peace". Also depicted, clustered around Grant, are Roscoe Conkling holding a tattered military standard labeled "Stalwart Battle Flag 1880", James D. Cameron on crutches labeled "1882", John A. Logan as a drummer with number "306" on his drum strap, and Thomas C. Platt as a little girl; also grouped before a stone that states "Here Lies Democratic Consistancy on the Tariff" are Benjamin F. Butler, Winfield Scott Hancock, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Stephen B. Elkins. Others depicted are Simon Cameron, John Kelly, Jay Gould, George W. Childs, George M. Robeson, David Davis, Robert Ingersoll, Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa, and a man identified as "Campbell".

Lazy Curator™ sez: I do believe that’s Abram Hewitt and not Rutherford Hayes. I mean, what would Hayes be hanging out with a bunch of a bunch of Democrats? I mean, unless it was C. A. Dana insisting he hang out with his chums, making him all grumpy.

I’d put in the work effort on identifying Mr. Campbell where the LOC historian dropped the ball, but blah blah lazy blah.

I also apologize for posting this a day late. Oh well, at least I’m “in orb,” as astrologers like to say.

Rival Jugglers at the New York State Fair

by Louis Dalrymple (1891)



Lazy Curator™ sez: Image shows a carnival featuring Thomas Platt (“Boss” Platt) manipulating a puppet that resembles Warner Miller (holding a leaflet reading “I Am Not a Tool of Tom Platt”) from behind a board reading “The Republican ‘Boss’ Show.” Meanwhile at the “Tammany and Harmony Show,” David Bennett Hill, clad in star-spangled shorts, uses his feet to juggle a barrel marked with a dollar sign leaking coins, with Roswell Pettibone Flower inside.

EDIT: Warner Miller tag removed. Upon review, I believe it’s actually Jacob Sloat Fassett that the puppet represents.

A Dreadful Attack of “Presidential Fever” in the U.S. Senate

by Frederick Opper (1883)



Lazy Curator™ sez: Image shows members of the Senate attempting various remedies for fever as a prominently placed wastebasket contains crumpled bills for Tariff Reform, Civil Service Reform, Army Reform, Reduction of Taxation, Internal Revenue Reform, Navy Reform and Good Measures. Front and center, Puck (with a Diploma in his back pocket) administers a healthy spoonful of Anti-Presidential Quinine to a quailing John Sherman. Also present (clockwise from Sherman):

George F. Edmunds

John Alexander Logan

Daniel Wolsey Voorhees (with a huge block of ice tied to his head, LOL!)

Joseph E. Brown

Warner Miller

Frank Hiscock

William Mahone

Elbridge G. Lapham

J. Donald Cameron

George F. Hoar

Wade Hampton III

David Davis (with an “Anti-Presidential Plaster” affixed to his chest)

John Percival Jones

Thomas Bayard

George Graham Vest (holding thermometer)

Peering over the parapet we see Roscoe Conkling, Thomas C. Platt and George M. Robeson peering down. Each of the three were embroiled in personal scandals at the time and retired (temporarily in Platt’s case, perhaps surprisingly if you know his personal history) from politics.

This may look familiar to some of you. In which case, you must be Facebook friends with me, as I already used this as a cover image earlier this week. I do feel a bit bad that I am burning through the 1883 images so fast, but I just wanted to get this one out while it was still fresh in my mind. Same reason for posting that Hubert O. Thompson image a couple of weeks ago (there aren’t many left featuring him, alas, sort of unfortunate for the man who has rather become an unofficial mascot for this feature).

George Graham Vest tag added. Not expecting a deluge of extra images featuring him (though I did post one already), but it just didn’t feel right to post an image featuring the “Man’s Best Friend” guy and not somehow canonize the event.

EDIT: Throwing in an “off-model” tag for good measure, despite this looking like one of the least off-model Opper color images in general. Sorry, George Edmunds still looks weird to me. Like he had a sudden attack of laziness and just pasted a photo of his face in there.

The National Political Mad-House

by Joseph Keppler and W. Kaulbach (1887)

Puck (to the Physicians of the International Medical Congress at Washington).—Gentlemen, can’t you do something for these poor unfortunates?

Lazy Curator™ sez: A large group of physicians stand at the gate of a sanitarium, overseen by Puck and Uncle Sam. Inmates include:

Benjamin Butler (holding a baby that looks like himself)

Joseph B. Foraker (clutching a piece of paper reading “Anti-Cleveland Mania”)

Charles S. Fairchild (?)

John J. Ingalls

Samuel J. Randall

Thomas C. Platt (wearing “King of New York” crown)

Edward McGlynn (with “New Crusade” crucifix)

Whitelaw Reid

Charles A. Dana and Joseph Pulitzer embracing and attempting to kiss an unwilling James G. Blaine

Henry W. Blair

Henry George

John P. St. John

James M. Tuttle

I imagine there’s quite a lot to discuss here, but the focus is a bit askew on account of the Dana/Pulitzer/Blaine scene (as well as Whitelaw Reid on the sidelines, making kissy-kissy-goo-goo eyes), a sad reminder of the dark days where homosexuality was treated as a mental illness.

A Revival of a Bad Old Practice—Fighting While the Fire Burns

(A Pleasant Prospect for the Next Four Years)

by J. A. Wales (1881)



Lazy Curator™ sez: Image shows Roscoe Conkling and James Garfield battling each other with fire hoses, Conkling’s marked “Stubbornness” and Garfield’s “Firmness.” Garfield is assisted with his “Administration No. 20” engine by James G. Blaine, stoking the furnace with “Public Sympathy” coal. Meanwhile, Conkling is given an assist on his “Senatorial Courtesy No. 1” engine by Chester A. Arthur, Thomas Platt and John P. Jones (nice butt!), as wee little William Mahone (so cute!) rides on the back and shakes his fist at the Democratic Headquarters, populated by Lucius Q. C. Lamar, Benjamin H. Hill, Joseph E. Brown and James B. Beck. At floor level in the background, we see J. Donald Cameron, Ambrose Burnside and Henry L. Dawes.

I am sorry. Perhaps this wasn’t the best time to put fire-related imagery in this feature. And I can’t help but cringe at some of these early Garfield-related images, particularly in hindsight what with the “next four years” comment.

Puck’s Thanksgiving Dinner to the Destitute and Disappointed Politicians and Labor Agitators

by Joseph Keppler (1887)



Deviantart user RD-DD1843 says:

In the wake of their defeats in 1884 to 1886, Joseph Keppler's "Mr. Puck" serves "cold consolation" and "caustic sauce to various Republican or third party figures. Head of the table is Senator Willaim Malone of Virginia (wearing a Confederate Uniform - he was a Confederate Major General in Lee's Army), followed by James G. Blane (the loser of the election for President in a squeaker), and diminutive Tom Platt of New York State (rebuilding his shattered career in New York Republican circles - in 1881 he shared the end of his then U.S. Senatorial career with Senator Roscoe Conkling, when he was caught with a prostitute in Albany during a special re-election by the New York State Legislature; however Platt eventually was boss of the Republican Party again by the 1890s). Blaine's plumed knight helmet next to him is based on the 1876 "Plumed Knight" speech by prominent lecturer, agnostic, and Republican Robert Ingersoll at that year's nomination convention - which Blaine lost out to "Dark Horse" reformer Rutherford Hayes of Ohio, but the speech became very famous and the nickname for Blaine stuck. Newspaper editor of the "New York Tribune", Whitlaw Reid, heads the back side of the table of losers, followed by New York City reformers Father McGlynn and Henry George - glaring at McGlynn - who lost the 1886 election for Mayor to Abram Hewitt, Republican Senators John Sherman of Ohio and William Evarts of New York (who were Secretaries of the Treasury and State in Hayes' cabinet, but neither of whom could be nominated for the Presidency themselves), and Democrat turned Greenback, former Massachusetts Congressman and Governor, and Union Civil War Major General Benjamin Franklin "Spoons" Butler, who also failed (in 1884) first to get the Democratic nomination instead of Grover Cleveland, and then failed to beat Cleveland.

Lazy Curator™ sez: Also present at the dinner table: Henry B. Lovering, Frederick D. Grant, Harrison H. Riddleberger and Terence Powderly.

On the wall behind them, a painting depicting noted publishers Charles A. Dana and Joseph Pulitzer as fighting game-cocks, and another showing The Downfall of Atlas, with Atlas (again, resembling Henry George) having failed to carry a shattered sphere marked “United Party of Labor”).

This image required substantial surgery, as poor “Little Billy” was sat right in the middle of the seam. He kind of looks a little weird to me still.

EDIT: Updated, with additional info (which I wanted to include earlier, but I was in a rush).