The art director at The New Yorker knew Searle was the right illustrator for this story! (from 2002)
The Mythical Fortune That Fuelled America’s Greatest Fraud
Posing as a British lord, Oscar Hartzell convinced thousands of Americans that they could get a piece of the Sir Francis Drake estate—a multibillion-dollar inheritance that didn’t exist.
The shadow Ronald Searle's style casts over other cartoonists is pervasive. It was said once you've seen his style it's hard to draw any other way. From Mad Magazine's Mort Drucker and Jack Davis to the Disney artists on '101 Dalmatians' and the character design on Pixar's 'Soul' his influence can be detected. Contemporary cartoonists and illustrators such as Peter De Seve, Nick Galifiniakis and Richard Thompson have all publicly doffed their caps to the master.
Here's an Arnold Roth with commentary by Jules Feiffer. Using a cat's tail asa brush may be alluding to the story of Searle doing that as a POW: a couple of kittens had wandered into Changi gaol and Searle apparently made use of the tails after they were eaten! If Roth had read that anecdote in Searle's book 'To The Kwai and Back' he certainly made a less gruesome gag out of it!
Feiffer commentary: "Arnold had an early period in which he was living in England, and he was trying to be Ronald Searle. And this is very Searle looking. When he got rid of trying to be Searle, he became one of the most original and interesting artist in the business and he remains underappreciated. Arnold is brilliant. He has done covers for The New Yorker and his artwork has appeared in TV Guide, Sports Illustrated and Esquire. He was part of the Harvey Kurtzman crew and his cartoons and illustrations were in the magazines Harvey edited. Arnold has never gotten the attention he deserves. I love this work even if this is still him being very Ronald Searlish. Arnold, over the years, has quietly become one of our most original and evocative cartoonists. And he is blessed with a great wife, Caroline."
