The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-04-18

LEON G. TURROU
 Ace "G" Man
 of all 5000 cases on which he worked. This will serve as the basis for his autobiography, which is scheduled for publication late this year.
 Turrou has no hobbies, no diver sions other than reading and writ ing. He never had time for such amusements as fishing or hunting, both of which he'd like to indulge in, during his G-Man service.
 Ransom Money .
 The greatest thrill of his career with the F.BI., he says, was discov- cry of the Lindbergh ransom money in the Hauptmann garage.
 The Nazi spy ring broke too slow ly for him to get any sharp, indi- vidual thrill out of it, he explains, but it was an elating moment when Dr. Ignatz Griebl, key man of the ring in America, finally broke after days of intensive questioning and agreed to tell all."
 Griebl, respected and honored surgeon and obstetrician who en- joyed very lucrative practice among Americanized Germans in New York City probably would never have been suspected except for the discovery in his office of a paper match pack on which were written symbols of the Nazi spy code.
 The greatest thrill of his life, in- cluding his career as a federal of- ficer, of course, was Turrou's dis covery that his wife and two infant sons still lived after he had thought them dead for more than two years.
 Turrou found them alive in the village of Taiga, Siberia. He had never seen his second born until that moment.
 Mrs. Turrou, Polish girl Turrou married in Harbin, Manchuria, soon after he was invalided from the Russian Imperial army near the close of the World War, went to Taiga to bear her second son among relatives.
 The Russian civil war broke out and Turrou was informed by SUD- posedly unimpeachable sources that his wife, first born and infant sons had been killed during the occupa- tion of Taiga by the Reds. Alive!
 Two years later, when he travelled to Moscow as a member of the American Relief Administration, Turrou made last desperate at- tempt to determine the true fate of his family. He found them alive, but horribly emaciated by starva- tion.
 AS soon as they had sufficiently recovered he took them back to a country where everybody, even Nazi spies, get square deal and a fair trial and a chance to earn de- cent living-the United States of America.
 Turrou's two sons, Edward and Victor, now are both students of George Washington University. Vic- tor is member of the varsity foot ball team and is following an aca- demic course with view of eventu- ally studying medicine. Edward ex- poets to enter theological institute to study for the Catholic priesthood.
 The Turrous all are devout Cath olics.
 Turrou was born near Warsaw, Poland, in 1895.
 He was orphaned at birth, his fa- | fhnr ho ix1 Paris, his mother in Poland soon after his birth.
 Adopted by Polish family, the father an importer and exporter, he was taken to Cairo, Egypt, where he was acting as tourist guide to the pyramids at the age of five.
 His foster parents put him in 8 Jesuit School in Cairo when he reached the age of six and he was taken to Annoy, China, on his ninth birthday.
 Master Linguist | Already Leon has begun the mas- tery of languages that was to prove a great asset during his eleven years as a G-Man. His knowledge of German was invaluable to him dur ing the NaZi Spy investigation.
 At the age of ten he could speak German, Polish, English, Arabian and he had a smattering of one Chi nese dialect Subsequently he mas tered other languages until now he speaks fifteen fluently, including all the Slovakian dialects, and French and Russian in addition to the first | four he learned. He also has a working knowledge of Italian. The others, with the exception of Chi nese, he speaks and writes with the huency of native.
 Turrou was the only linuuist in the F.B.I. Some G-Men had a knowledge of one or perhaps two languages besides English but none could nearly equal his mastery of fifteen languages and dialects. Leon's foster father was killed in the Russo-Japanese war in 1905 and his foster mother died few months later. He was befriended by Polish teacher who took him to Berlin and left him stranded there at the age of IS.
 The youngster then took to the seas, travelling for two years to the four corners of the earth as captains steward on a German freighter.
 He came to the United States for the first time in 1912, remaining in this country until 1916 and working as translator for commercial firms and foreign newspapers in New York City, Washington and Boston.
 In 1916 the war was on. Turrou returned to Europe, enlisting with