HARD-HITTING HISCOCKS.

NZ Truth, Issue 473, 11 July 1914, Page 5

HARD- HITTING HISCOCKS.

Man who Made the "Free Lance " Famous. Punched a Pal Pen-pusher. Alleged Cribbed Cartoons and Tracing Tricks.

That meteoric brush wielder, and pen and pencil pusher, Fred Hiscocks, cartoonist, ivhq jhas splashed quite a jot of cieyer, ( work all over Masseyiand for the, last ten years or so, on Monday y?eek at the Wellington S.M.s Court, landed, in. fhe journalistic spuptureeri' with a, sullen and fatty splash, which he is not m the least likely, to boast about hereafter— much as he is given to that same. Extreme modesty doesn't trouble Freddy, so that getting convicted of. an assault of what the S.M.- called a "cowardly nature" will be one of the deep back-

ground jghadows on his life's picture. Frederick the ... Great-r-cartopnist-y came up b'efpre Mr. D. G. A. Copper, S.WU on Monday pn the b?eihpu3 charge of havingi on May 27 last, severely stoiwhed Arto^r CJaude Geddii, who helps his bjil man to nih that brilliant sgissiety journal, tHe" ?l Free Lance." Frederick wa> asked to find sureties of the peace that he, would hot dp it some hipre. ' ' '' '" ..':•■■ ' „'.-. "BEST BLACK AND WHITE ARTIST m New Zealand" loudly denjed guilt and 'employed Lawyer Tom T^llf ord to keep his end up, whilst Lawyer Blair attended to • the damaged dial of the "Free Lance." Lawyer Blair outlined the; story of the 'prrible outrage, and called upon 'urted Arthur to speak his little piece,. . Arthur reckoned he was giving the "Free Lance" a hand to > mould the destinies of Gprzpne and keep Capital from leaving the country. Just about the time of the angry artist's insurrection there was a camp of Territorials at Takapau and HJscocks was asked to bring out something really start] fag about the milingtary. On the Wednesday before the stoush operations Plscpcks roosted m the pflSce' fpr a while vrrastllng fpr ideas, and couldn't find any under the "galley press" or 7 in tyie spittoon, apput the inllingtary, pp he asked witness to jet him take home whit he had dons and flnjshj £fte wrastllng fpr inspiration there. Witness told Fred that he had better continue to sool up inspiration at the Qfflce, so that the cartoon might be passed m m good time, but finally agreed to let him take it home. On

U)o previous Saturday Freddy had drawn • TEN ROBERTO IN ADVANCE on the mllinglary cartoon, and Just before takimc the attempt at Inspiration homo with Mm, loudly demanded another "sub" of " ? arf a thiok 'un." As witne«B was busy, ho told Freddy that matters wero too crowded to allow him to hunt round for specie, but. mebby, the old man In the next room could connect him up with aorae fllthy lucre. Frod duly landed tho bullion and cleared, and the cartoon was subsequently, as scarce ft« champagne la

Booth's Rescue 'Ome. Through the dreadful defe.ctj.Qn- of Hiscocks the Hartist, the '"Fr|e'?' and Untrammelled "Lance" was artistically "up the pole" and ha 3to fill up' its cartoon tummy -with £ }6i of other pictures about nothing m. particular. * Then the stance" got told' "'■ of another pencil propagator called Furrow, Vho blew m most ~ opportunely with a nice cartoon .about the cp/jvjuice industry, then causipg both awful Auckland and wowsery Wellington TO SIT UP AND TAJEE NOTICE, On May 27 Hiscocks blew intq fJ^e rest of the "Lance" with bipod 'in his optic and asked to see the famous Frank Morton, who gives the "Lance*' a hand to skewer life's -prongs m the The friendly Frank not on the premise^, so Freddy impraved the shining hour §y checking off at Farrow's caxtbpn qn tte' cow- Juice industry. "Vyitness replied that they ail had tp begin spmeumep and perhaps cQpy a cert^iti amount of p.thers' ideas, and that probably Freddy had not been above adopting a few suggestions from the work of others m his salad, anil shaveless days;' that he had seen Freddy looking o.yer the work!? of piher artists m search of Inspiration. . Then . if iscocif p the Hartist rpse m wrath' and reckoned that the remarks v?ere a sanguinary insult to the ''best black and white artist m New Zealand/ After making these Pertinent remarks Freddy proceeded to use whqie heaps of- swear words of so'cprrosiye a nature that they melted a bronze "statue qf the late lamented boodlgr Booth, which le,n.t grace and righteousness to the premises. '• The infuriated Freddy bounced off the premises, but returned later with the famous Frank Morton, and without: warning Freddy bashed witness enthusiastically on " THE MASTICATING APP ARATUS when witness was not looking. Continuing, Arthur said tiiat Frank Morton then pulled the hard-hitting Hiscocka off and witness told Freddy that, if he did not get off the precious premises the John Department would be loudly called for. Instead of being overwhelmed at this intelligence, the furious EYeddy loudly announced that he would stoush witness's old man as well. To Lawyer Gilford : Freddy had not been back to the "**?&" ,<&. *YeV c «Lance" since, but witness still felt that Freddy might return and re-stftrt stoush operations. Lawyer ' Wilford here produced

copies oft "Phil May m- Australia," "Humors of History," arid o£her faippug cartoon collections, and showed the witness that a whole heap of the material m Farrow's CARTOON HAD BEEN CADGED from the drawings In these illustrious works. Mr. Gilford: Is it hot a fact Uiat the flrsi thing Mr, Hiscooks said when he came m w&a, "I see you cannot pick up an original artist put of the gutter every day?"— No, he did not you gave him an advance of 10s on that cartoon?— Yes. , What do you pay for that page?— Two guineas. Mr. Hiscocks is a highly tempera' mental man and very sensitive, is he not?— He is — when drunk- (Laughter.) I mean temperamentajly he is very sensitive, as all great artists are?— l don't know. Do you know of any greater insult which could have been handed to an artist than to accuse him of tracing? —No. And yet you charged him with what you call copying and what we call tracing?— No, I said to him: "We are all beginners," and "YOU OOPY YOURSELF, HISCOQKS." Why did you say that?— When he was located In the office he used to go through magazines and drawings before he made his cartoons. On the same principle that Baring Gould lqoks over Leech's old sketches? —I don't know. Kenneth Maurice Ballantyne, now holding down the job of cartoonist at the "Free Lance," reckoned he was alongside Arthur, "When the enthusiastic stoush operator operated. Also ho heard sorao infuriated party loudly romark, "Thai's what I think of a blanky thing like you!" Next witness was the redoubtable Frank Morton, whom time docs not scorn to age and who is growing Just as much thatch as usual. In polished terms Frank announcod that on the day of the insurrection ho blew against Freddy, who was bolting over at the sides and edges with rage. Freddy said ho had been accused of "tracing" and went back to the office with witness. Hartist Hiscooks then dived into tho, Oeddis room and witness saw him lean over the gifted Arthur and sweetly remark something; about "YbU SAY I'VE BEEN TRACING?" Witness did not see heated Hiscooks hit Arthur, but had to haul Freddy oft «tho heap. To Lawyer Wllford: Frank reckon-

ed that an artist accused pf tracing was practically being palled a thief. Hie was like a writer who collared another man's writings, and signed his name to them. In 'witness's opinion, f'that wa^ theft, pure'aaid simple." Af tet making that truthf ul remark, Frank gracefully descended from the rqstirom and returned to His walking stick and other literary appurtenanc&S--Lawyer WiWord' sadly announced that he had no witnesses to cafi to show that Freddy was a martyr, and before calling upon the '"best black and" White artist' ln'^ie.w. Zealand'" to ; a fe/9? words, Tom drew the atten^

tipn of the S.M. to section 75 of the Crimes Act which, In cases of assault, declared, "jirovocatipn could be caused f>y blpws, .gestures or threats." He quoted ai^o 7 from section 315 of the J.F. Act that, m- the case of sureties of tie peace, the justice might dismiss the application if there was no fear of future trouble. The S*.M.: "I don't think , you need address your^ejf to the question of pyretles, Mr, "Wilford." The wily TVllford smiled. "Very well, sir. I cqriterid there HAS BEEN INTENSE PROVOCA, TION m this case." Then he waved his lilywhjte hand as a signal to the famous but somewhat " fractious Freddy to mount the soap-box and ohuck it oft his chest. The hall-marked Hiscocks climbed into 'the box with the air of one who was doing the Court honor. It was manifest that- the fecund Freddy's greatest fault isn't modesty. He is a top-nptßher m the pencil pushing practice, and blushes not at the acknowr lodgement of his guilt Speaking m a cujchawed tenor the fanfaring Freddy reckoned he had been with the "!>aunce" years and years ago, but had left it because the proprietary "dealt dishonestly with hi|i>." However, m his inflnite mercy he had pardpned the awful sin of the "Launce," and fia^ returned to it so that it might work put its salvation. Ho had been giving the "Launce" a hand for the lahst five yeans to mould the destinies Of Masseyland and it was a dern thankless sort of a jph, doncherknow, with no gold watohes or.Bilver teasets attached to it. Wednesday was tho proper day> for handing m the

weekly cartoon, but Hometimos tho "Launco" people K«t him to put In things on a Tooaday. In this particular week they asked him to bJow down on the Toosday. Under bis contract, as they PARTED UP SO UTTLEJ LUCRE, ho had stipulated that they were to supply the ideas for the weekly cartoon. On this particular Toonday, as tho "Launcc'a" luminaries apparently were bankrupt of Idea*. wltn©*« waa kept waiting till 3 o'clock without oven getting suggested to him tbo idea of

an hilarious sardine moving the "Addreßs m Reply." Then witness repkoned that he would supply the ideas for the mlllngtary cartopi\ himself o_hd bring H m on the following morning. He showed the pointed end of the "Laurvpe" a few preliminary sketches he had worked out on the subject and the polished point was quite pleased with 'em. Freddy' then, according to custom, tapped the scintillating spear for an advance on the cartoon, but It put a safety-pin oh Its ''dpener" pocket and • dried up. Then he went out and collected £4 for some of his famous work he had done for other papers, and returned and triumphantly displayed it to the point of the "Launce," sweetly Informing him that he could do his blanky cartoon hiaself . WUness went out, but meeting Frank Morton, they sprinted back together to the domain of genius. Thero witness told Frank that Arthur had accused him of iraoing and remarked to Arthur that If ho did not tako. the "words back" he would stoush him some. Then, as Arthur DID NOT BAT THE 'UMBLE, witness kept up his end of the contract and baebed the "Launco." Likewise, witness mpst unkindly remarked to Arthur that he waa a pup-pay, an upstaht. but although the times were strenuous, witness usod no very thick, blaoH cuss -words. "Why," continued the refined Freddy, with muoh modesty, "had it not b?en for me their paper would have blown out yeahs and yeabs. and yculiß ajyowl" Lawyer Blair: You had previously got an advance of 10s on tbat cartoon 7-T-Yos. It was customary. And although you never drew the cartoon you have not yet REDEEMED YOUR 1.0. U.? —No. In answer to further questions, Freddy reckoned tbat all tho other papers which he had given a hand to . mako good, bad given him three times what the "Launce" paid. The "Launco" rate of pay was pore. Ho had ncvor threatened to atoush old man Geddln. The S.M. said that the assault, whioh Was admitted, had not been dono on tho npur of tho moment, an an Interval of several minutes, had elapsed betwocn HlHcocka leaving and returning to tho "Lanco" office. If Hlscocka had such an exoltable temperament as his counsel had pleaded, ho would havo to learn to control his temper. It was a cowardly thin* to strike a young man seated on a chair. Tho B.M. then paanod Freddy a finicky lltftl© flno of two flimsies, with a fringe ol! otbor two and soven*e«n roberto c«8t8. Tho fariMjhortoned Freddy ytna allowed a tortnlfot to scratch cartoons to secure the ca*h tofl conciliate tbo Court, *