Law and Disorder

Not to be confused with the Steel Pier Jail in Atlantic City, N.J. 8-)

Unrepentant milk drinkers arrested for disudderly conduct and nearly causing a cowtastrophe.

A law and order photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. For similar novelty photos, see Steel Pier Jail, Atlantic City, N.J., 1954 and New Orleans Jail (below).

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of law and order . A real photo postcard dating to the early twentieth century. The partially visible sign in the background indicates "18 Miles to Balto" (an abbreviation for Baltimore -- I identified the sign based on another photo posted online). The same automobile and painted backdrop also appear in a photo showing Three Gents in a Car .

A Wild Wild West photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. Printed on the back of this real photo postcard: "Western Photo Gallery, 215 Smithfield St., Pittsburgh, Pa." Note the signs painted on the backdrop: "No trust, no bust," "Dead Man's Gulch Saloon," "Reward, dead or alive, Bad Dick, $5000.00, Sheriff," and "Poker." Ironically, the Western Photo Gallery, which provided the dramatic photo of these gun-toting dudes in their cowboy outfits, was located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania--almost as far east in the U.S. as you can get!

This could be a scene from a movie —a photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. I know it's only a novelty photo, but the guys in this real photo postcard are so elaborately outfitted—cowboy hats, revolvers, chaps, gun belts, wrist cuffs, vests, and bandanas—that I could imagine them stepping away from the cartoonish saloon backdrop and heading right onto a Western movie set. These kinds of cowboy getups must have been popular. Take a look at these fellows in Shootout at Dead Man's Gulch Saloon (below), which I previously submitted to the Theme Park as a Wild Wild West photo.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of hold it (people holding something) . These three guys are holding guns and a baton as they pose in cowboy and police costumes. Printed on the back of this real photo postcard: "Metropolitan Photo Studio, 645 Sixth Ave., N.Y." The signs in the background are difficult to read. Two of them are: "Brother Jones' Gin Mill." "We use the best chemicals in our distillery."

Signs on float: "Brothers of the Brush, Elliottsburg Jail." "Comb Nation Jail." Perry County Sesquicentennial Parade, photo taken at the intersection of West Main and Apple Streets, New Bloomfield, Pa., 1970. For other photos from this parade, see:

"P[olice] D[epartment]. Calling you my valentine." For another valentine from the same series, see Valentine Express :

Now even Santa knows what it feels like to be held hostage by all the holiday advertising!

But still holding up the old holiday traditions.

Postmarked Franklin, Indiana, Dec. 21, 1916, and addressed to Miss Nellie Templeton, Greensburg, Indiana. Handwritten message: "Dear Nellie, May you and yours have a Merry Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year. Hester Magill."

It's Santa Claus who's wielding the gun here, but other vintage postcards show naughty children trying to make off with Santa's toys (see below). The twenty-fifth of December, If you will remember, Comes but once a year: So smother your curses Hand over your purses And don't try to interfere.

Was "Parkhurst" an inmate at Vermont State Prison? Miss Estella M. Clark of East Jaffney, New Hampshire, was the recipient of this postcard in 1905.

"If you want a big man for sheriff, vote for Laury P. Sevis, the biggest man in York County (363 pounds). Thanks." A local political candidate card, probably dating to the 1930s.

"For sheriff: D. K. Burkholder of Lancaster City, 1887. Subject to Republican rules."

"This man used Le Page's Liquid Glue in the wrong place. Unequaled for repairing wood, leather, glass, ivory, china, jewelry, metals, &c. Sold in bottles and in cans. No loafers allowed here. Hold on! It's no use pullin' I'm stuck with Le Page's Glue. Awarded gold medal, London, 1883. Forbes Co. Lith." A Victorian-era advertising trade card that humorously illustrates the consequences of misusing Le Page's Liquid Glue.

Posted to the Vintage Photos Theme Park on the way "back to school." For a close-up of the students in the middle of the crowd , mouse over the image above or select the thumbnail image below.. A real photo postcard showing the "Annual Chapel Fight, U. of P., September 24, 1915. Photo by Richards." The "Chapel Fight" (or "Chapel Rush") was one of a number of traditional male student competitions that took place at the University of Pennsylvania and many other American colleges and universities in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The competitions pitted one class against another, and similar annual events at Penn included a " Bowl Fight ," "Poster Fight," and " Push Ball Fight ." It's not obvious from the photo what the goal of the Chapel Fight on Friday, September 24, 1915, was. Some of the students at the center of the fray are wearing white undershirts and seem to be missing their hats, coats, and outer shirts, so perhaps tearing off clothes was one way to win the contest, as it apparently was in 1909 (see account quoted below). Also visible in the photograph are students wearing "beanies," hats that freshmen were required to wear. Students fought hard to defend the honor of their classes, and injuries resulted from some of the scraps. Student fights came to a tragic end at Penn when one student was killed and several were injured during the Bowl Fight of 1916 . The following account from The Scroll of Phi Delta Theta , vol. 34, no. 2 (Nov. 1909), p. 184, describes the Chapel Rush that took place at Penn in 1909. It also mentions the Poster Fight. "The university opened September 24, but no regular classes were held until September 27. Friday morning [October 1] immediately after chapel exercises, the annual Chapel Rush between the sophomores and freshmen took place. The freshmen won the first half of the fight, touching the door on the H[o]uston Club , which was guarded by the sophomores, in less time than any former class. The second half of the fight was in favor of the sophomores, the freshmen being successful in tearing the clothes off the president of the second year class in a limited time. On the Thursday night previous, the Poster Fight took place and the freshmen accomplished a victory contrary to precedent by tearing the sophomore poster off the rear door of College Hall."