Obscurity of the Day: Farmer Waybacker

Here's a very early series from one of my very favorite cartoonists, Walter R. Bradford. While not exactly a slick stylist, Brad had a screwball sense of humor that just wouldn't quit. 

In the comic strip above, Brad not only gives us a pretty good screwball gag, but also uses for a prop an invention that had hardly even been invented yet -- the electric fence. According to Wiki, though there had been some experiments with electric shock fencing in the late 1800s, it wasn't really until much later, the 1930s, that the electric fence was really perfected and became popular.

Farmer Waybacker ran in the Chicago Tribune (and in the few papers that took their features, like the Boston Post) from April 27 to May 25 1902.

Thanks to Cole Johnson for the scan!