Horace Greeley hangs at the zenith of this underworld, caught by the usual Gratz Brown tag on the tail of his coat. His pockets disgorge literature as before: "What I Know About Running for President," "What I Know About Oblivion," and "What I Know About Chasm." Immediately below, Whitelaw Reid sprawls as if suffering from a hangover. His hand-organ that "Is Not An Organ" carries his unfortunate editorial prediction of six weeks earlier: "We Are On the Home Stretch."

As in earlier instances, it is fair to surmise that Nast's "Bloodless (Sar)c(h)asm" was well under way before the election of November 5. The cartoonist's principal impulse may have come from a pair of apocalyptic designs by his Greeleyite rival, Matt Morgan of Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper. In the issue post-dated November 2, a sweeping Morgan double-page cartoon shows the nation menaced by a dark horde of Republican villains. Columbia is holding the tatters of an American flag as she indicates to a group of departed national leaders (including Washington and Lincoln) the corrupt danger rising from the lower depths.