San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1925-11-22


from the Communist party
of the United States.
My fellow American dele
gate, Louis Fraina, was just
as thrilled at the prospect
but somewhat apprehensive, as w
set sail across the channel from Eng
land. Poor Fraina was not yet curet
OF the taste for luxury into which
tempted him so as to bend him to my
own wishes. In our two weeks In
London / had spent $500 in high
living to break down his morale.
On the channel we found rough
weather. 1t was particularly rough
on Fraina. The trip seemed to sober
him up in several ways.
SWELL" he said, I'VE are goins
right up against it now. We are not
going to meet a lot of Sylvia Pank-
bursts and people like we know in
New York. We are going to be face to
face with the biggest of all the Com
munists-they are big men who are
in deadly earnest and have great
SUSPECTS FRAINA
@We must be careful not to make o
bad impression on them. We must
watch them carefully and pattern
after them in every way. That is the
only way for us TO get along"
/ agreed with him. But this made
me begin to wonder. Why was he
putting me on my guard? Had my
big show OF money made him sus-
picious? Did he secretly feel or did
he secretly know that 1 was n secret
service man? And il SO what would
be the result?
Several things he said made me
wonder more than ever about this.
And IL he did know and suspect was
he going to denounce NE to the Com
munists? What was L going to face?
Then 1 reasoned further. If he did
know or suspect why had he not taken
action against me before this? And,
as a matter of fact. could it be pos
siblc that away in the shadowy back
ground he himself actually had some
secret connection with the govern
inent? was living in land of sha-
dows and suspicious where nobody
eofld be trusted. How far could 1
trust Fraina? .s-.
SPY ON EACH OTHER.
had worked on him for a pur-
pose, but later j was TO learn that
while 1 thought / was breaking him
down he was spying on me also and
later was to betray me as to my heavy
expenditures, either because he was a
true Communist or because he wanted
to protect himself against me. / will
tell you more of this later.
Arriving at Amsterdam, we went to
an inexpensive section and got n poor
ly furnished room for about $3.50 a
week. 1t would be best for us TO have
the Communists find us living in
place Of that sort.
It will be remembered that Fraina
aad letter from Rothstein, the Soviet
secret paymaster of England, to Rut-
gers, very Dutch Communist, and
that / had induced FrGina to open this
letter and let me read it. This / had
done so J could communicate to Scot
land Yard, but / made Fraina believe
is-was because / wanted TO protect him
against being caught with dangerous
letter in his possession.
So. on our first day in Amsterdam
we hunted up Rutgers. He lived
about fifteen miles out in the country
in small cottage. He was suffering
from tuberculosis.
EXPLAINS LETTER OPENING.
We had delicate job on our hands.
We had to give him the secret letter,
opened and try TO explain the circum
stances. did the talking while Fraina
looked on. very much confused.
told Rutgers, who eyed me keenly,
that as n former courier / had been
used to all sorts Of dangers, and that
it might be fatal for us TO be arrested
and found with dangerous communi-
cation. ! also said that New York
was holding me responsible for the
safe conduct of Fraina. added. as a
happy afterthought. that ] had con-
sidered It best to risk his displeasure
by familiarizing myself with the con-
tents Of the letter so that we could, in
an emergency, destroy it and then tell
him verbally Of the contents.
He took the letter without comment
and read it carefully. He frowned,
smiled. and finally became thoughtful.
Then he spoke deliberately.
EXCUSE PASSES.
at would have been better, il you
feared consequences. TO have returned
the letter to Comrado Rothstein and
refused to endanger yourselves" he
said. at so happens that there is
nothing dangerous about il. 1t mere
" deals with Sylvia Pankhurst and
states facts which are pretty generally
known. IT is impartial in dealing
with her. You should not have open
ed st."
Fraina became excited and said
that there had been no time to re-
t,,rn the letter to Rothstein after his
discussion with me about it just be-
fore we sailed. ,utgers merely smiled
and said that the whole thing was
iinimportant. He was cutting but
Kindly.
We had n long discussion about
the Communist movement in America
and he asked about the dissention be-
tween Ambassador Martens and the
American soviet leaders. From what
lie said il was clear that Martens had
lost the confidence of the Communist
heads in Moscow and was at that mo-
nent tottering.
He said that the two reasons Mar
tens had not already been recalled
were that he had originally been APP
pointed through Lcnine, whose pr