Based on Democratic presidential nominee Grover Cleveland's
Maria Halpin scandal, this cartoon presents Harper's Weekly editor George William Curtis as a
seduced and abandoned woman. Curtis led the New York committee of Independent
Republicans who bolted their party upon its nomination of James Blaine, and
endorsed his Democratic rival. In his editorials, Curtis attacked Blaine's
domestic and foreign policies, but especially his reputation as a corrupt
influence-peddler.
