Here’s an early weekday strip from the playful pen of Roy W. Taylor that ran on the back page of the Chicago Daily News on occasion from January 3 to March 8 1902. The Hungry Five chronicles the rather repetitive misadventures of a German polka band that plays for handouts in the street. But keep in mind that a strip could get away with being repetitive in those days, as they ran so infrequently that readers forgot the gag in the meantime.

Thanks to Cole Johnson for the scans.