The Devil Fish of Californian Politics (Walter, 1889)

The cartoon was published in The Wasp, v. 22, Jan. – June 1889 and ’shows “highbinder” caught in tentacles of Buckley octopus’¹. The caption reads ‘The Devil Fish of Californian Politics’ with a sub caption ‘ECSS Buckley’s rapacious maw equal to anything from a state capitol to an almshouse or a dog pound’. The tentacles – with their bird-reptilian like hands – have the names: teachers, state legislators, ‘Solidine’, and grasp: [chinese] ‘highbinder’,  ’spring valley water’, the courts, the school house, the fire dept, the jury, the dog house, the alms house, the house of correction, and the gas company.

Footnotes

1. Library of Congress (http://tinyurl.com/cbltdr) Accessed: 4th April 2009.