Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, “The Obscene Handbill Nuisance,” September 23, 1859

    Source citation
    “The Obscene Handbill Nuisance,” Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, September 23, 1859, p. 1: 1.
    Newspaper: Publication
    Chicago Press and Tribune
    Newspaper: Headline
    The Obscene Handbill Nuisance
    Newspaper: Page(s)
    1
    Newspaper: Column
    1
    Type
    Newspaper
    Date Certainty
    Exact
    Transcriber
    Don Sailer, Dickinson College
    Transcription date
    The following text is presented here in complete form, as it originally appeared in print. Spelling and typographical errors have been preserved as in the original.

    The Obscene Handbill Nuisance.

    We respectfully call the attention of the Mayor, City Marshal, City Attorney, and whomever else may have authorities and duties in the premises, to the ordinance prohibiting the posting of obscene handbills in the streets. Almost every corner in the city has been covered with the abominable things for weeks, and a fresh layer was plastered on last night. The nuisance has become intolerable. We believe there are not more than two newspapers in the city which admit the pestiferous advertisements in their columns. Since the public are not likely to see them in these channels, the advertisers have adopted the expedient of thrusting them impudently in the face of every man, woman and child who sets foot on the sidewalk – sticking them even on the fence posts of churches on Wabash Avenue and other elegant thoroughfares. In close juxtaposition with every theatre programme or dry goods poster, are from one to six handbills, setting forth the excellence of this or that “Old Lock Hospital,” whose attending physician ought long ago to have been employed behind the best lock which the city furnishes to the keeper of the Bridewell.

    How to Cite This Page: "Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, “The Obscene Handbill Nuisance,” September 23, 1859," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/index.php/node/25010.