Case of the Dirty Shirt

Harold Goodman. British vice consul at San Sebastian in Rightist Spain, arrived at the border town of Trim last week on his way to France. The customs officers of Generalissimo Francisco Franco passed his diplomatic pouches but searched his unofficial baggage thoroughly. Well they might, for Vice Consul Goodman's baggage contained some very interesting items. Wrapped in one of his dirty shirts they found: 1) a collection of maps giving the positions of Rightist troops; 2) detailed reports of disaffection in Generalissimo Franco's Spain; 3) a list of 200 of the Generalissimo's spies operating in Loyalist Spain.

The vice consul was deeply embarrassed. He said he had no idea where all this material came from, claimed that servants of the consulate had done his bag-packing. Mr. Goodman's explanation was accepted at face value but, with the full approval of the British Foreign Office, Rightist police immediately began questioning servants, secretaries and messengers of a half-dozen British consulates in Rightist Spain. If they found the person who had tried to use Vice Consul Goodman as a pigeon to carry military secrets to the other side, they failed to announce it. But a general spy hunt was launched from the Pyrenees to the Mediterranean.

Long before the Case of the Dirty Shirt, there had been reports that serious internal disorders were disturbing the Rightist side of Spain's civil war. The reports were re-newed and amplified last week. Italian and Spanish officers were said to have wrangled and fought each other in many cities. People who reached the French border from Burgos said 45 Italians had been waylaid and hanged outside that city, that the 11th Field Artillery there had mutinied. Arrests were put at from 750 to 1,000.

Loyalists claimed that General Martinez Anido. Insurgent Minister for Public Order, had been stabbed. Rightist sources said he had influenza. At any rate he died. At 9 p.m. curfew was ordered in the Insurgent capital.

By week's end no large-scale revolt against Generalissimo Franco had materialized, but reports, rumors and facts did provide some inescapable conclusions: 1) there was widespread if suppressed disaffection in Insurgent Spain; 2) the slogan "Spain for the Spaniards," introduced by grapevine from Loyalist Spain, was making trouble for Generalissimo Franco's Italian allies; 3) the Loyalists had an efficient espionage service in their enemy's territory.

Best evidence that on the Rightist side things were not as they should be came when wily Juan March, ex-smuggler, tobacco king and munitions salesman, more recently financial angel to Insurgent Spain, hotfooted it out of San Sebastian and went to earth in Biarritz. Senor March's comings & goings--especially goings--in & out of Spain have long been one of the most reliable barometers of the Spanish political weather. When trouble is brewing, Senor March is generally found in neutral territory.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.