1-150-518 - The Cartoon Collector/Heritage-Images

'Sooner or Later; or, What it must come to', 1867. A costermonger plies his trade on the streets of London. This cartoon relates to the clampdown on cheating bookmakers who had until now been making a very tidy living out of fleecing green young men. Punch reports many bookmakers were moved off and some were imprisoned. Despite the huge sums that many made out of their victims, none of them was able to find the ready cash to meet their liabilities. This cartoon is accompanied by a 'letter' from one of these bookmakers who says that unless he is compensated for the loss of his livelihood, then he might have to take to the streets as a costermonger. From Punch, or the London Charivari, November 23, 1867.