This was printed in "The West Virginian" of Fairmont West Virginia 104 years ago today.
I don't know how cartoon syndication worked back then, but the Library of Congress has four E-Tru comics that came out on Sept 2 1920:
- Daily Graphic of Pine Bluff Arkansas https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ndnp/arhi/batch_arhi_littlefeat_ver01/data/sn89051168/00393343552/1920090201/0725.pdf posted here earlier today.
- The West Virginian of Fairmont West Virginia https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ndnp/wvu/batch_wvu_rollins_ver01/data/sn86072054/00415660522/1920090201/0020.pdf this one here. The original as scanned in the LOC is kinda faded, so I messed with the Contrast and Brightness a bit.
- The Daily East Oregonian of Pendleton, Oregon https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ndnp/oru/batch_oru_cooper_ver01/data/sn88086023/00295868831/1920090201/0859.pdf took me a while to figure out what this one meant
- Imperial Valley Press of El Centro California https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ndnp/curiv/batch_curiv_noblefir_ver01/data/sn92070146/00414189635/1920090201/0447.pdf a nice initial illustration, and E-Tru's post-Outburst contemplation has a fascinating grammatical structure, but I think most people would not like it. The page has a bunch of classifieds, which are always interesting.
