The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1937-04-29
SCRIBE TELL 5
OF NIGHT WITH
CONDEMNED
Continued from Page II


them"
FRIENDSHIP ESTABLISHED
I asked;
What are you in fOr?"
He Countered:
Have you any children"
1 told him I had two.
so have l. Three, and a
wife, too"
"Does she know you're here?"
"No."
I showed him pictures Of m.
family. He looked at them eagerly
whats your name?"
"Knick, and yours?"
"PacO."
Then. as though he had final,
decided he could trust me, Pace
said:
II will tell you why l am here"
WILL KNOW 1T is THE END
He walked over to the wall ant
pointed to the scrawled initial.
"CNT"-the Confederation Ma
cional del Trabajo Union OF An
archists and Socialists.
I exclaimed:
you? You are C. N. To"
He looked reproachfully at m!
indiscretion and said:
Now, when they come for me
tonight and you see them bind
my wrists, you will know it Is
the end"
l asked:
But they do shoot all CNT
and every anarchist and every
Communist, don't they?"
mot all of them. In my town
of Corunna, in and around the
town l guess there were, maybe,
$4,000 CNTs. Now 1 reckon
about 10000 have been shot,
and maybe 1000 got away to
fight against Franco, and about
5000 l should say are now in
the FalangiStS."
This was surprising news-that
anarchists should have Joined the
Fascists-but Pace pulled out q
Falangist party card and showed
it to me.
"See, l was member of the
Falangists for a month. 1t did
me no good, but lots of the boys
saved their lives that way. It's
no good, though, if you've got
no money"
WILL ROB HIS POCKETS
He pulled from his pocket three
douros, or Is pesetaS, worth about
a dollar and a half, and said:
That's all 1 have got in the
world, and when my body is
lying out there in the ditch to-
night-mind you / am not sure
it will be-but =. my wife won't
even get it. They will rob my
pockets.
"How much does a common
laborer like me earn in Amer
ica?"
Ireplied:
Maybe up to four dollars .
day if he is lucky"
Pace said:
That's 40 pesetas. God, how
fine you could live on that with
with your wife and three kids.
Do you know what l earn work
ing 10 and IL hours day? l will
tell you. Four pesetaS, and that's
the top. How much is that in
your money? Forty cents? Well,
you try to keep a family on forty
cents day.
"In this war it is only the poor
who have to go to the front. Did
you see the cafes in San Sebas-
tian?"
I had seen them full Of thou
sands of sleek young and middle
aged men, foppishly dressed anc
slick.haired with smooth, white
manicured fingers.
I asked:
But how did the police dis
cover yOu?"
"They did not discover me.
Someone denounced me. And,
you have observed, somebody
must have denounced you. But
from me they learned nothing,
nor from my friend next door,"
His Friends Taken Away
Footsteps sounded. Pace tenseo
listening. The civil guard too
Paco's friend from the cell mex
door. Until they came back 2
minutes later Pace said not
word, but sat on the wooden bench
staring at the blood on the wal
The moment the neighboring Gel
door slammed shut and the guar
went away, Pace leaped to tn
hole in our cell door and begal
whispering to his friend.
Their murmuring lasted l
minutes. Then Pace straightene
up, put his hands in his pockets
and with a puzzled look, bega
to pace up and down. Every tim
he reached the end of the cell I
turn, he uttered a low whistle an
constantly shook his head.
l finally asked:
"Bad?"
every bad"
HIS THOUGHTS ON THE WA
wanted Pace to get his min
off footsteps and asked him t
tell me how he thought the wa
would turn out.