Inspired by the English publication Punch, it ran in weekly editions from 2 April 1870 to 24 December 1870.
They found four investors willing to provide $5000 each—though they did not disclose that those four were robber baron Jay Gould, financial buccaneer Jim Fisk, and corrupt politicians Boss Tweed and Peter B. Sweeny.
[1] The magazine's main illustrator was Henry Louis Stephens,[2] who produced a full-page cartoon every week.
Other sections included theater reviews, correspondence (real or fictional) from Philadelphia, Boston, and Chicago, and essays on foreign affairs.
[1] According to historian of periodicals Frank Luther Mott, "in format as in name, it was an imitator of the London Punch."