San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1925-11-15


tons / could see that he had been
given great deal of misinformation.
For instance, he asked me if it were
true that the Communists were stor-
ing arms in this country against the
day of q revolution.
QUIZZED BY BAKERS SON.
told him this was not so, in so
far as any general plan was con-
ccrncd. lie asked me If it were true
that bombs were being manufactured
and stored. I ridiculed that idea. and
said such information must have been
supplied by men who were trying to
justify their salaries as investigators.
He smiled rs he listened to me.
My replies seemed to justify his
opinions regardless of what he had
been told.
What / told him was reassuring in
so far as any thought of immediate
violence was concerned. After about
two hours the interview ended. He
told Mr.. Vanderpoel he would hear
from him later.
Two days afterward / was in Mr..
Vanderpocl's office when he tele-
phoned to George +. Baker Jr., with
the result that Mr.. Baker came in to
see us.
Mr.. Baker, whose father, head of
the First National Bank of New York,
is one Of the richest men in the world,
asked me q great many questions, 60
ing from one end of the Communist
movement to the other. He seemed
to want to get the same kind Of infor-
nation that Judge Gary sought and he
smiled as l showed him that the Com
munist movement was very much over
rated. The next day Mr.. Vanderpocl
handed me $4,000 or $500, and said it
was a gift from Mr.. Baker.
L went to England and later came
my resignation from Scotland Yard.
When / reported to Mr.. Marsh at once
in New York, he said: "Your first
assignment will be to go to Europe
and make general survey and have
two assistants Of yours here reporting
to me.
COVERED CONTINENT.
j started at once and went to Eng
land, France, Germany. Belgium, Aus
tria, the Slavich countries. | reached
the Russian border. On the trip /
got lot Of information and wrote a
report of 142 typewriter pages. In
short, l reported there were traces of
great discomfort among the workers of
Europe, but that Europe was long
way from revolution. On this trip 1
posed as a newspaper correspondent
for the Mclean Newspaper Syndicate,
having obtained credentials from Col
onel Mclean through Mr.. Marsh.
For about two months after that
experience i did very little until /
was suddenly given the job of trying
to work out the solution Of the Wall
Street bomb explosion, the story Of
which j shall tell later.
After the Wall Street bomb tragedy
investigation, for which / was paid
S37 900 as separate employment, Mr..
Marsh told me there was no more
money in sight. He said the i'm
portant people did not feel it was
necessary to maintain such an organi-
zation as he had planned. and thar
he was through with it. That ended
at the start. SO far as I know, the
great anti-Communist organization.
But now to get back to the trans
formation of Louis Fraina, ardent
Communist.
You will recall in an earlier chap
ter how Fraina was tried and ac.
on the charge OF double.
crossing the Communists in New
York. Well. we were due to sail
the next morning after the secret
trial on the steamer Lapland. so
there was a special meeting held at
my home late that night.
In addition to Fraina. his wife and
myself, there were present Bittleman
and Lovcstone. two leading members
Of the party, and Rose Pastor Stokes,
who was also very important, and Sen
Katayama, an elderly japanese So.
cialist.
ABROAD WITH FRAINA.
The result of the meeting, which
lasted for hours. was n decision thai
Fraina should proceed TO the third In
ternational without waiting for the
final determination of all the mem
bers of the trial court.
MN cut W. tht iNSl VI tiit hlBut
and wrote for the United States De
partment of Justice my full report of
NIL that had happened and went out
and mailed it TO Mr.. Marsh and to
Mr.. Hoover. of the Department of
Justice. Then 1 cabled to Colonel
Carter. OF Scotland Yard, that |
would soon arrive on the Lapland
with Fraina.
At ten in the morning we were
aboard the Lapland. Fraina used the
fake passport which ] had got with
the consent of the government, and
used my regular passport.
Fraina had severe case OF the
shivcrs while our passports were be
ing examined because naturally ht
,ould not realize that the government
had agreed with me secretly to let
him think he was escaping.
l began to feel Fraina could proba-
bly, be made very useful because he
resented the way he had been accused
and tried MS traitor. and / thought
that taste of high life might make
him very valuable for my government
al work.
EDUCATING" COMMUNIST.
He had been born of poor Italian
parents, didn't even have n grammar
school education, and yet at the age
Of % he had become a pretty well
man. But his life had been
20 narrow and poor that on the first