CARTOONIST'S SENTENCE.

Mataura Ensign, 18 December 1911, Page 5

CARTOONIST'S SENTENCE.

A KING'S CLEMENCY URGED. 01 ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.—COPYRIGHT. PEK UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION Received December 18, 8.45 a.m. LONDON, Dec. 17.. Nineteen members of the Royal Academy have sent a letter to the King of Spain requesting clemency for Senor Sagusta, a cartoonist, who is undergoing a sentence of nine years' imprisonment for publishing a cartoon which was entitled "Homage to Ferrer." In September, 1909, Senor Ferrer, a distinguished educationist of antimonarchial principles, was arrested. Senor Ferrer had been arrested three years previously on suspicion of complicity with Morral in the attempt to assassinate King Alfonso and his bride, and had been detained in prison for a year. He was now charged with being the prime mover in the revolutionary movement at Barcelona, was tried by court-martial on October 9, and shot on the early morning of the 13th. The execution created a considerable sensation throughout Europe and America. There was widespread in the popular mind a suspicion, unjustified by knowledge, that Ferrer had been sacrificed to clerical prejudices and anti-Spanish demonstrations, fomented by Anarchist and militant Socialist organisations in London.