The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-11-07
SPAIN MAY HAVE
MORE TROUBLE
Cloud Looms Big On The Mo-
roccan Side
A MAN CONFESSES THEFT
Something Of the Personal Side of
Senior Ferrer Who Was Executed
for Anarchstle Teachings
in Barcelona.
A MAN CONFESSES THEFT
BY GEORGES DUFREsNE.

BY GEORGES DUFRESNE.
Paris. November 6.-Some experts who
are closely following the Spanish move
ments In Morocco are veering round to
the view that General d Armada was not
far wrong when he declared that in time
Spain would occupy the road from Taxa
to Fee. M. Gabriel Hanotaux, a former
foreign secretary, says practically the
same thing in the Journal today. He
points out that the Moroccan tribes are
organizing the struggle to the south of
the Seluan. and that as a result the
Sultan may allow himself to be prevailed
upon to start holy war. In this case.
M. Hanotaux hints that the Spanish
generals will be obliged to extend their
sphere of operations. The road from
Taxa to Fee will then be menaced. From
strategical if not from a diplomatic
point of view, therefore, General OAR
made's cry of alarm seems to be justi-
fed
Dispatches from Spain on the d Armade
incident indicate that the Spaniards are
suspicious about the whole business. They
seem to believe that the general expressed
I had in Its mind some time now-the occu-
/ patton of Taxa.
General d'Armade's charge that the
Vatican prevented the French priests
from going to Casablanca is dealt with
in the Matin. The paper recalls that
when a French royalist journal opened a
subscription with the object of sending
French priests to Morocco the Vatican
naA md or6a Tad f1a ola Cd. -
list. The royalist journal then informed
Its readers that no list of subscriptions
would be published, at the request of the
ecclesiastic authorities.
The Matin declares that in spite of the
denials from Rome, General dArmade
was right. and asks how 1t was that
French soldiers in Morocco could only
obtain the consolation of their religion
in a foreign tongue.
A dramatic scene occurred in the Fan
bourg- Montmartre police station yester-
| day. man entered the police commits
| sary's office and smilingly informed the
| magistrate that he had come to give
! himself up He explained that six years
ago he was employed as a valet de
chambre by Jean Coquelin. the actor, and
| that he had robbed his employer shame
| fully: Since that time, he added, Il
| have been tormented with remorse, and
L prefer to give myself up in order to
expiate the offense l committed against a
master whom l worshiped."
| The mans story was inquired into and
1t was found that in 1903 M Jean Coque-
lin had lodged a complaint of thieving
| against a servant The man was ar
| rested, but the smile left his face when
policemen arrested him and led him to a
cell. Take care of yourself he shout
ed; IT am covered with sulphuric ether.
| In ho Hor IL
and the police station will be destroyed.
The fire has commenced already. I am
| burning
The valet fell on the floor shrieking.
He had become suddenly mad. He was
| medically attended to, and taken to the
special inf1rmary of the depot. His
! story as to whether he is really the thief
who robbed M. Jean Coquein is being
| inquired into.
| Now that the rather artificial indigna-
| ton aroused by the recent execution of
/ Senior Ferrer has died away, a few I'M
biased words about the real Ferrer-not
/ the glorified political martyr-may be of
| interest to Americans
| Francisco Ferrer was a weIl-known
| figure in Paris, and we of the press came
| in pretty frequent contact with him at
| one time or another. He never struck
me as a particularly educated man, nor
| was there anything in his career that
| enabled him to pose as such. He came
| into a lot of money from an old maiden
lady who took fancy to him and his
| ideas. So far from spending his SUBJ
| stance in the propagation of his subyer-
| sive theories, his fortune increased by
| successful administration. At Barcelona
| he started his School OF Liberty a title
| he changed to Modern School to avoid
| conflict with the authorities. 1t was a
training center for the dissemination Of
| anarchism and atheism in Spain, and
| dependent from 1t he opened 20 branch
| schools throughout the country. An item
| among others of his teachings was to
| recommend that weapons be poisoned
whom used for political assassination, SO
| as not to miss the mark Just as Tincno
was the center of Italian anarchy years
| ago, so Barcelona was, under Ferrer, the
| headquarters Of Spanish anarchy. His
! schools closed by order of government.
| Ferrer started his publishing firm, which
! fiourished prodigiously. as the property
was valued at 100000 pesetas, until 1t
| was burned to the ground during the re-
preston of the Barcelona troubles. Nor
| raj, who threw the bomb at the carriage
| In which Alfonso XIII sat with his fair
! English bride, was pupil OF Ferrers.
| Accused of being an accomplish, Ferrer
was given the benefit of the doubt and
acquitted. Spanish justice In 1905 was not
|
believe it is now Unfortunately for him.
when arrested this time, Barcelona was
| under martial law.
| A witty French writer this week ex-
| pressed his admiration for the English
| suffragettes Fanatical and ridiculous
| they might be, but they were an avant-
| garde, active and violent covering the
| approach OF an army that would show
| itself before long. Their best argument
was that woman suffrage was already in
existence; in England for local elections,
! in New Zealand for political elections.
Another forcible argument WAS In the
use of the term universal suffrage. How
| could suffrage be universal, II 1t meant
/ only the moiety? For more rlan q CEN
! fury theorists of democracy had been
| crying out, You must obey the laws be-
! cause you elect your legislators. If
| women elect no one, they should ac-
cording to this be dispensed from OBJ
serving the laws Or else you must ad-
nit that participation in government is
the attribute of privileged class, and
then you fall back to the ancient regime.
The suffragettes' movement is not USE
less with all Of its noise, for It wakes