THE FERRER CASE 45 



Against this mass of testimony Ferrer offered no witnesses. 

 He only claimed that he did not belong to the school of mili- 

 tant anarchy. No attempt was made to prove what Ferrer 

 did from the 26th to the 29th day of July, while the horrors of 

 murder, pillage, and arson were going on. He did not under- 

 take to prove that he never wore a blue suit and a straw hat, 

 or why he shaved off his beard and ran away. If he had been 

 innocent, the simplest thing would have been for him to go 

 before the authorities on the first day of the riots and offer 

 his services to restore order. That would have tested the 

 kind of man he was, and would have proved the most effective 

 alibi. It has been said that his mistress, Soledad Villafranca, 

 who was deported by the authorities to Teruel, two hundred 

 and fifty miles away, could have proved his innocence, but her 

 testimony was not taken. Yet she was not called as a witness, 

 although the trial lasted twenty-eight days. Nor was any 

 request made to take her testimony by deposition, although 

 that method was open at all times. During all this time the 

 radical and anarchist press throughout Europe was ready to 

 publish anything that might tend to exculpate Ferrer; yet 

 Soledad Villafranca and the others said not a word. Nor 

 have they detailed any facts since. 



Ferrer's counsel. Captain Galceran, wanted the trial sus- 

 pended until he could get declarations from abroad in France, 

 Italy, and Belgium, principally of distinguished anarchists, 

 "that the ideas of Ferrer were opposed to every kind of act 

 of violence," which would show he was incapable of taking 

 part in the July rioting. The court properly rebuked Captain 

 Galceran that such a line of defense was not proper, and that 

 Ferrer was being tried for his acts and their consequences, 

 not for his ideas. This rebuke was afterward magnified into 

 a report, first, that Galceran had been shot for his energetic 

 defense, and, later, that he had been court-martialed for it. 

 As a matter of fact, nothing occurred. 



The trial was in the open court-room, and the illustrated 

 papers in Spain and France had large double-page illustrations 

 showing a hundred persons or more present. It lasted twen- 

 ty-eight days, ten of which were allotted for the defense to 

 use. After deliberation, the sentence of the court on October 

 9, 1909, was that Ferrer was guilty of rebellion and treason 

 under aggravating circumstances. This sentence was con- 



