Judge, 1929-03-09 · page 26 of 36
Judge — March 9, 1929 — page 26: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two separate pieces of satirical humor typical of Judge magazine's style: **"Another Freak of Science"** is a tall tale about Siamese triplets named Paul Leftwich, Paul Centerwich, and Paul Rightwich. The narrator, one of the pauls, describes how their different eye colors (green, red, and blind) made them useful as traffic signals for the city. The satire mocks pseudo-scientific curiosity about medical oddities (referencing real Siamese twin cases that fascinated the public) by presenting an absurdly implausible scenario. The humor derives from the ridiculous premise and the narrator's deadpan delivery about such an outlandish situation. **The cartoon above** shows a traffic cop berating a driver, illustrating the conflict mentioned in the story's punchline about signaling systems failing. The lower cartoon depicts two women, with one (labeled "Athenian Mrs.") accusing the other of consorting with "that Medusa"—a classical mythology reference used as casual social mockery about appearance or reputation. Both pieces reflect early 20th-century American humor: absurdist storytelling mixed with genteel social commentary.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
i | Hid REO. Trarric Cop—Well, ye blank-dashety-blank! Another Freak of Science Many people that has been car- ried away with reading about the Siamese twins being s ted by a stroke of the surgeon's knife has probably overlooked a even more baffling case. I will wager that no more than three people in the U. A, are aware that the writer of these lines was one- third of a Siamese twin by the name of Leftwich and probably don't care. The three of us was born to a Mrs. Leftwich about twelve years back who had just been pardoned by the governor for shooting a cuff in self-defense. The other two boys was intensely handsome, as was also the writer, although Dame Modesty prevents him from saying how handsome. Well, the boy on the left-hand end was christened Paul Leftwich, and me and my brother on the right was called Paul Centerwich and Paul Rightwich to tell us apart. “Which is which was a favor- ite saying amongst the neighbors, none of whom were wits. Paul Leftwich had magnetic green eyes, whilst Paul Rightwich had red ones. I myself was totally blind for days on end, mostly from imbibing cans of Sterno. This red and gr of my brothers’ eyes was very handy, especially in traffic. When Paul Leftwich’s green eyes would flash, why that would mean “Go” and I wouid “go,” but a gleam from Paul Rightwich’s eyes would mean “Stop” and then I would take the girl home. For n combination some years the trio of us garnered a respectful amount of lucre Why don'tcha say something? working as signals for the city, but then the blow fell. Paul Leftwich had been keep- ing company with a girl named Gossamer or Gossoon or some funny name that, and they used to m vening seeret- ly down in the gulley. But it kept getting less secret all the time be- cause I and Paul Rightwich had long cach time, as we was tached” to our brother, Atuentan Mrs.—Aha! You've been out with that Medusa again! comicbooks.com