Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1914-02-26
Sir John TennieI, Merci-
less Caricaturer of Lin
coin, Passes in London.
WORLD FAME is GAINED
Children Become His Admirers
Through His illustrations for
"AeSop's Fables"

London, Eng, Feb. 26.-Sir John
Tenniel, many decades the leading
British cartoonist, died today. aged 81.
Sir John Tenniel was the famous
English cartoonist who so mercilessly
caricatured Abraham Lincoln during
/ the Civil war. He was the dean of the
worlds great political cartoonists.
Tenniel held the record for continu-
Gus service. Fifty years were spent,
with scarcely a holiday, as cartoonist
for London Punch. His pencil pleased
millions. He set the principle of the
political cartoon so firmly that it has
been adopted the world over His keen
political foresight was worked out in
more than 1000 sketches, touching
upon, and perhaps deciding, the great
world events during the last half of
the nineteenth century. Queen Victoria
received the famous cartoonist and in
1898 knighted him for his services to
his country.
His first great achievement as an
illustrator was in his youth when he
figuratively stepped into the hearts of
children OF all nations as illustrator OF
"Aesops Fables" and won even more
fame as the original illustrator OF
Lewis Carols "Alice in Wonderland"
do they suppose there is anything
funny about me?" was his answer to
the offer to join Punch. in 1851. He had
just submitted his design for frescoes
in the Palace OF Westminster. 1t was
with reluctance that he gave up his
ambition to be a great painter and ac-
cepted the offer. Ruskin once said that
the cartoonist might have won renown
as a painter. and added: "Tonniel has /
much OF the symbolic mystery of i'm /.
agination which belonged to the great /
leaders OF classic art
Wizard as Forecaster.
Tenniel was a wizard in forecasting
political events. He and his associates
would gather on Wednesdays and dis 4
cuss the subject of the cartoon for the 1
next weeks issue. Thus they had to
decide a week in advance what was to /
be the outcome of current political /
troubles. In all his half-century OF
service, Tenniel, is is said, made but
one false prophecy.
II was during the rebellion in Sudan.
General Gordon and his army were be-
sieged in Khartum. A British army
was marching to the rescue. The next
issue of Punch showed Tenniel's car
toon, picturing Gordon clasping the
hand OF the relieving general, with the
army of relief in the background. The
title read: AT last" The journal was
scarcely on the newstands when word
came that Khartum had fallen, and
Gordon and his garrison massacred.
Americans will remember the furore
created by Tenniel during the Mason
and Slidell affair in 1861 when the
United States was forced in the inter-
ests OF peace to give way to England.
Mason and Slidell, appointed by the
government to represent
IL in England and France. were seized
on board an English mail steamer by
Captain Wilkes of the United States
sloop San Jacinto, and Great Britain
forthwith demanded their release.
Punch gloated over the episode, and !
Tenniel pictured Lincoln in a cartoon
as a coon up a tree. Beneath stood
John Bull with a gun. The legend ran:
Coon: Air you in earnest. Colonel?" {
John Bull: Il am" =,
Coon: Don't fire; I'll come down"
Bitterness Disappears.
On Lincoln's death Tenniers bitter
ness against him disappeared. His
cartoon pictured Britannia in sorrow
laying a wreath upon the martyred
Americans bier with Shirley Brooks
ines:
You lay a wreath on murdered Lin
coins bier,
fou who with mocking pencil went to
trace a
Broad for the self-complacent British =,
sneer
lis length OF shambling limb. his fur
rowed face" c
Sir John was a typical old-worlG c
in London in 1920.
During the latter part of his life ne :
became totally blind. Even during :
IFS service on Punch he had the use of !,
tut one eye. The other was lost dur
ng his youth while fencing with his ,
ather. He bore his affliction philo-
ophically. In referring to II on one
occasion he remarked: 1T is a cur
ous thing. isn't IL. that two OF the
men of Punch. Du Maurier
author OF Trilby) and /. have only
wo eyes between us"
The political leaders, artists and
tterateur in London will gather s
bout the bier OF the venerable pat v
larch TO pay tribue to his genius. II Il
probable that "a memorial exhibition Il