For thirteen months between February 1885 and February 1886, a tabloid publication in Cincinnati published a wide range of articles, cartoons, editorials, and stories that lampooned American life.  No topic or person escaped the sharp wit of Sam the Scaramouch, and for the short time this weekly newspaper was in existence, its editors took on national tariffs, elections from Cincinnati to Washington, the temperance issue, urban sophisticates and country bumpkins, race and ethnicity, and, a growing national obsession with sports.  Grover Cleveland was president.  European colonization of Africa was in full force.  The Statue of Liberty arrived in New York, and Ulysses S. Grant died.  And, in many ways, Sam was like other newspapers around the country in covering these events, carrying local advertisements and notices, and publishing occasional doggerel and short fiction, and reflecting the “new” journalistic Realism. Continue reading →