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Complete HarpWeek Explanation:
Nast’s second caricature of Horace Greeley appeared on the cover of the
November 1859 issue of Phunny Phellow. Like “Rival Jockeys,” it focuses
on journalistic competition and features James Gordon Bennett. The New York
Herald editor and his oversized “prize poompkin” [pumpkin] are about to
collide with New York Tribune editor Greeley and his huge squash.
Standing empty-handed between them is New York Times editor Henry
Raymond, who complains that he can display no farm produce except for “a couple
of small potatoes.”
It seems highly likely that Nast contributed two additional Phunny Phellow
front-page cartoons before he sailed for England on February 17, 1860, to cover
the world championship boxing match between John C. Heenan and Tom Sayers. One
drawing in the April 1860 issue shows Greeley and Mayor Fernando Wood as
promoters of rat-catching dogs, “Billy” (Senator William Henry Seward) and “Dug”
(Senator Stephen Douglas), respectively, competing in the “Grand Match for the
Presidential Collar.” The other cartoon, in the May 1860 issue, uses the
familiar horserace theme by featuring Greeley as a jockey driving his
presidential steed/candidate, Seward, against jockey Bennett driving his
steed/candidate, Douglas. Nast and his Phunny Phellow editors were
apparently unaware that Greeley was, on the contrary, determined to block
Seward’s nomination by the Republican Party because the Tribune editor
thought the New York senator was unelectable. Greeley’s vigorous opposition to
Seward helped secure the nomination for Abraham Lincoln.
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