The Press: Hangover

In the late 1870's a woodcarver named Dirks left his home in Heide, Schleswig-Holstein, and shipped himself, wife and nine children to the New World where he settled down in Chicago's West Side lumber yard and railroad district. One son, Rudolph, soon picked up broken English, discarded newspapers which he sold for 1¢ profit, and a knack of drawing. In time he | drifted to New York, originated in 1897 a color page of comics called "The Katzenjammer Kids," became one of the world's most beloved cartoonists.

In 1900 a Syrian sheik named Monte...