Episode 10.5: C.J. Taylor’s 1881-82 William Vanderbilt Comic Strips: “The Public Be Damned!”, Part 2
From the October 18th, 1882 issue of the (New York) Daily Graphic, artist Charles Jay Taylor takes a second poke at William Vanderbilt, for his “The public be damned” comment. (To see the first poke, click here.) Taylor shows Vanderbilt standing atop a pyramid of human beings, whose efforts support him. His trains are approaching from all directions, entering [...]
Episode 10: C.J. Taylor’s 1881-82 William Vanderbilt Comic Strips: “The Public Be Damned!”, Part 1
The past two weekends, we saw comics about The Disaster in the Fourth Avenue Tunnel, wherein William Vanderbilt is confronted with the collision of two passenger trains on his railroad lines, with resultant death and injuries. His reluctance to spend money on safety measures — as doing so would cut into profits — were blamed as the cause (an [...]
Vanderbilt’s Tunnel Horror, Part 3
On September 22nd, 1882, in the comic strip A Sporting Connoisseur, Charles Jay Taylor depicted for the (New York) Daily Graphic, the events of a relatively light-hearted carriage horse team race between William H. Vanderbilt and one of his rivals. The following day, September 23rd, the mood changed dramatically, as the New York Times reported on [...]
The Tunnel Horror continued: The Selfish Millionaire
Last Saturday, we saw the October 5, 1882 Edward Kemble comic, The Recent Disaster in the Fourth Avenue Tunnel, involving a deadly two-passenger train collission on William Vanderbilt‘s railroad lines. The collision was caused by the exact same safety concern as other recent deadly crashes on Vanderbilt lines (the Spuyten Duyvil references), directing public anger at him, for his resistance to [...]
C.J. Taylor’s 1881-82 William Vanderbilt Comic Strips, Episode 9
To recap what this series is, for those who may just be finding this website… In the years 1881 and 1882, artist Charles Jay Taylor created a series of approximately one dozen sequential comic strips featuring as the main character, railroad monopolist and stock market manipulator, William H. Vanderbilt. These appeared on the front page [...]
Episode 8.5: C.J. Taylor’s 1881-82 William Vanderbilt Comic Strips
Today’s episode — A Disinterested Friend of the Public, from the front page of the May 2nd, 1882 issue of the (New York) Daily Graphic — I’ve labeled Episode 8.5 (rather than “9″) of Charles Jay Taylor’s series of sequential comic strips starring William H. Vanderbilt, because it’s a single panel cartoon. But being produced by Taylor within [...]
Episode 8: 1881-82 Comic Strips Featuring William Vanderbilt, by C.J. Taylor: Wall Street Frauds Make Wonderful Cartoons, Part 63
In Bon Voyage — Episode 8 of artist Charles Jay Taylor’s 1881-82 series of sequential comic strips starring railroad baron and stock market manipulator, William H. Vanderbilt, appearing on the front page of the April 22, 1882 issue of the (New York) Daily Graphic – Vanderbilt is shown heading off for a trip to Europe, to [...]
Episode 7: C.J. Taylor’s 1881-82 Comic Strips Featuring William Vanderbilt: Wall Street Frauds Make Wonderful Cartoons, Part 60
In artist Charles Jay Taylor‘s seventh sequential comic strip starring monopolist & railroad baron William H. Vanderbilt, Taylor once again used an actual newspaper interview with Vanderbilt (in this case, with the New York Tribune) as his means of taking shots at Vanderbilt. In Mr. Vanderbilt’s Views, appearing on the front page of the March 25, 1882 [...]
Episode 6: C.J. Taylor’s 1881-82 William Vanderbilt Comic Strips: Wall Street Frauds Make Wonderful Cartoons, Part 55
The March 17, 1882 front page of New York City’s Daily Graphic newspaper, featured artist Charles Jay Taylor’s sixth sequential comic strip with railroad baron and stock market manipulator William H. Vanderbilt. In this outing, Vanderbilt, shown wearing a sunflower and gone Aesthetic (per the Aesthetic Art Movement of the day) is holding a reception in his home, to show [...]
“The Monopoly Grind”, A.B. Frost’s William Vanderbilt, 1879: Wall Street Frauds Make Wonderful Cartoons, Part 48
For the front page of the January 21, 1879 issue of the (New York) Daily Graphic, artist Arthur Burdett Frost depicted William H. Vanderbilt as the Miller of Dee from the traditional 1762 folk song, turning it into The Monopoly Grind. At right, people come from far away, hauling their grain for the miller to [...]
