Evening star., 1944-08-20

Mrs. VelUGlee Dickinson,
the doll shop lady, vho wds
sentenced to 10 years. i'm
priS0nn1e71t and fined $4,000
for aiding the Japs.
A. p. wirephoto.
Shaw. She had made no trip to New
York, and she had not contemplated
making trip to Louisville.
1t was incredible, but still 1t seemed
to Mrs. Wallace that she was stand
ing there holding a spy letter in
her hand--and one written in her
name containing facts about her fam
lily. The FBI posters warning about
espionage in the post Office came to
mind. She went to the postmaster with
the letter. He put her in touch with
the FBI.
When the FBI men saw the letter
they had no doubt about it. The three
peculiar dolls mentioned were evidently
code terms for ships. The mention of
Mr.. Shaw was patent bit of naval
information. Read the bold-face type
IN the letter above. ct was not that
way in the Originally SHAW damaged
but Is being repaired now-will be back
to work soon," clearly was the informa-
ton about the destroyer Shaw which
had its bow blown of at Pearl Harbor,
put managed to make the West Coast
under its own power, where a new
bow was put on.
This Was Doll Talk
A check with the Navy showed that
the guess about the dolls was correct.
Irish dolls evidently were aircraft
carriers, as three had just been COM
mlssioned. The net referred to anti
torpedo protection; the wood on her
back" to the flight deck of one, and the
little boy" showed that the third
carrier was smaller one.
The writer evidently had code terms
Tor the larger units of the fleet. But
there were more than 100 destroyers.
Apparently the writer did not have a
code term for each DESTROYER and came
right out with the name. To make sure
1t would be understood that it was a
destroyer, "he destroyed your letter"
was added. The writer's failure to make
the trip to "Louville," the decoders
concluded, was an admission of failure
to get information on the cruiser of
that name.
A few weeks later a widow at Spo-
kane, Wash, also had returned to her
from South America a letter that she
had not written. This one also was ad-
dressed to Sonora de Molinali. It had
been mailed from Seattle.
1t read: "Please forgive my delay in
tcr'ttng you to thank you for your kind
ness in sending my family the beautiful
Christmas gifts. The girls Were espe-
cially pleased.
II hare been so Uery busy these days.
This is the first time / hare been ouer
to Seattle for tUeeks. came oper to-
day to meet my son ,Dho is here iron,
Portland on business and to get mv
little granddau9hter's doll repaired.
Il must tell you this amusing story.
The 1Dife OF an important business as
soc,ate gaue her an old German bisque
doll dressed in hula grass skirt. 1t
is cheap horrid thing. / do not like
1t and ioish iDe did not hare to hape
it about. Well. broke this auful doll
last month. NoW the person uho care
the doll IS coming to Uisit us pery soon.
/ Ualked all ouer Seattle to get some
one to repair it. No one at home could
or ,Dould try the task. NoW / expect
all the damages to be repaired by the
first week in February. In the mean
Uhile hope and pray the important
gentlen1ans Wite ,vil not come to pisit
US intiH after that date
II do hope you can read my typino.
I am trying to learn to type so can
be able to type records for the Red
Cross.
please accept love and remember
ances sent you from Elizabeth"
In Similar Handwriting
Again the forged signature was a
striking resemblance to that of the pur-
ported writer. The woman in Spokane
had no grandchildren. She was COL
lector Of dolls but she had no such
ridiculous item as German bisque doll
with a hula grass skirt. There was no
Elizabeth in her family. But she had
been in Seattle on the date the letter
had been mailed to meet her son who
had come from Portland on business.
She turned the letter over to the FBI.
The FB1 showed great interest in 1t.
BY this time the decoders in headquar-
tiers at Washington were getting used
to the writerA doll talk. They imme-
diately translated 1t. The German
bisque doll" was one of the three Amer
ican battleships that had put into
Seattle for repairs. The hula grass
skirt" showed that it had come in from
Hawaii-from the debacle at Pearl
Harbor. The rest was clear. Repairs
to "the doll" were to be completed by
February l.
The FBI men asked her if she had any
idea who could have written such let
ter. There was one fact in the letter.
that she had gone to Seattle to meet her
son, who had come from Portland on
business. She gave it a great deal OF
thought and the more she thought, the
surer she was that only one person be-
side her son and daughter knew that
fact. That person was the dealer in
costume dolls she had met in Seattle
that day, Mrs. Velvalee Dickinson of
New York.
She Remembered
The FBI rechecked with Mrs Wallace