Evening star., 1944-09-03
Details Of British Case|
AGAINST Kent Revealed
By State Department
BY JOSEPH H. BAIRD.

former clerk In the American En-
bassy in London, was made public
yesterday by the State Department.
He was charged with taking some
l 500 documents from the embassy,
some OF which were said to have
reached German agents.
Kent, 80. once student at St.
Albans School and George WASH
ington University here, now is
serving a seven-year sentence i'm
posed by the Central Criminal
Court in London in November, 1910,
and faces the possibility of an
other trial before an American
court when he is released from
British jurisdiction. His mother
maintains a residence here.
Associate Of Russian Girl.
The State Department revealed
that Scotland Yards interest In
Kent was first prompted by his
association with q White Russian
girl, Anna Wolkoff. the daughter
of an admiral in the former Rus
sian Imperial Navy, who had come
to London after the revolution and
taken out British citizenship pa
pers. Miss Wolkoff, tried at about
the same time as Kent, was given
a l0-year term of penal servitude.
London police knew that Miss
Wolkof was In contact with pro-
German circles in England and was
believed to have confidential chan
mel OF communication with the
Reich. They learned that she and
Kent were together frequently,
shared an automobile and had a
number Of friends whose loyalty
to England was under suspicion.
Kent Under Suspicion.
These facts led the police to sus-
pect Kent was supplying Miss VOL
koff with information take, from
the confidential files of the I bassy.
These suspicious were commune
Gated to Ambassador Joseph P. Ken
nedy, who waived Kent's diplomatic
immunity, allowed the Scotland
Yard men to search his room, where
the documents were found, and con-
~,
to his arrest and trial
The Embassy and the State De-
partment have been criticized in
Congress for consenting to Kent's
arrest, and yesterdays report. pre-
pared by the Foreign Service Ad-
ministration Of the State Depart
ment, appeared to be a reply to
those criticisms.
Senator Shipstead, Republican, OF
Minnesota set off American COM
ment last June when he read to the
Senate London dispatch, from the
Chicago Tribune's bureau, quoting
a member OF Parliament as saying
he had been told" Kent and Capt.
A. H. M. Ramsay, a member of the
House of Commons, had been i'm
priSoned to prevent revelation of a
purported agreement between Pres
ident Roosevelt and the then First
Lord of the Admiralty Winston
Churchill, under which this country
was supposed to aid Britain in event
she was involved in war.
circumstances Slted.
In reviewing the Kent case" the
State Department said, 1T is i'm
portant to bear in mind the circum
stances surrounding it. At the time
OF Kent's arrest and trial Great
Britain was at war and the United
States was not. The case involved
a group OF people suspected of SUBJ
versive activities. The evidence re-
lating to individuals Of the group
was inextricably mixed, and the &C
tivities Of no single suspect could
be separated from the activities OF
the others.
The interest of Great Britain in
such a case, at a time when it was
lighting for its existence, was there
fore pre-eminent. Deep as was the
concern of the Government of the
United States over a betrayal OF
trust by one of its employees, it Is
hardly conceivable that it would
have been justified in asking the
government Of Great Britain tc
waive jurisdiction over an American
citizen in the circumstances de-
scribed.
Kent was within the jurisdiction
OF the British courts, and all the
evidence. witnesses, ct cetera, were
available to the British courts
Moreover, it was, as has been men,
toned, in the interest of the United
States to have determined immedi-
ately on the spot, where the evil
dence was available, whether or not
one OF It's employees in a position OF
trust was violating such a trust.
The question OF whether the
United States will prefer additional