Evening star., 1947-03-10
70 U. 5. 5eamen Face
British Trial in Capture
|0f Immigrant Ship
BY shs A.seeIs.sd Pres

JERUSALEM, Mar. l0.-Twen-
ty American seamen were haled
before q magistrates court In
Haifa today on charges OF "aid-
ing and abetting illegal immi-
grafton" In Palestine and were
ordered held for trial IL days
hence.
The seamen, crewmen Of an In
tercepted Jewish refugee ship, in
cluded both Jews and Gentiles. Also
under detention ct Haifa were an
american newspaperman and a
French woman writer who were
aboard the ship.
A British military announcement
today meanwhile disclosed that the
weekend death toll from gunfire
and bomb blasts had grown to 10,
This announcement said one Brit
ish soldier had been killed and six
others wounded in gun and
grenade attack on an army install
lation at Hedera, between Tel Aviv
and Haifa, at 8 O'Clock last night,
Twenty Jews In the area were cues
toned. 1t added, and one was de-
tained..
Nine persons had been killed pre-
yiously, and British Army officers
had said they frankly" were ex-
pecting fresh violence as a result
Of deportation Of unauthorized Jew
ish immigrants aboard the inter-
cepted vessel.
onicials reported 500 such immi-
grants were aboard the 70o-ton
steam yacht Abril, boarded OF JafYa
Saturday. They said that, except
tor q pregnant woman and her hus-
nand who were permitted to stay in
the Holy Land, all we're shipped to a
Cyprus camp aboard three British
troop carriers.
An ofncial announcement said the
United States crewmen were ar
rested yesterday when the Abril was
brought to Haifa.
Newspapers reported the Abril
formerly was the private Yacht
Cytherea-later the wartime patrol
vessel Ply 81 of the United States
Navy, which sold her for $36 900 last
year. The ship, which was flying
the Honduras nag when stopped
was believed to have sailed from
France.
Ship Was Named for Ben Hecht.
(1n New York, the American
League for a Free Palestine, Inc.
said the vessel belonged to the
Tyre Shipping Co., Inc, Of New
YORK, and her crew, except for
the engineers, consisted entirely
OF United States citizens. The
League said she had been re-
named for Ben Hecht, American
Jewish playwright
For the second Jewish Sabbath in
a row, life was lost Saturday night
In raids blamed on Jewish under
ground extremists.
Three Jews and a British guards
man were killed and a fifth body
later was found in all-Jewish Tel
Ayiv, where raiders fired on Brit
ish military headquarters In Citrus
House.
Corpses Of three civilians were
found in barbed-wire entanglements
around the British Armyis Sarona
camp nearby, reported attacked with
three hand grenades. Mrs. Katja
Bath Shalom Misrahi was shot and
killed in Rehovot, west of Jerusalem.
A report said masked men had
warned the woman. terming her a
police informer.
Raiders Estimated at Is.
In Tel Aviv attacks, IL Jews and
a British constable were wounded
severely and three Jews and Brit
ish constable were slightly hurt. An
explosion cuased damage estimated
at $4,000 at the Nur match factory.
A British intelligence officer said
last night that not more than IS
men "at the most" had carried out
Saturday nights raids on the mill
tary headquarters and camp in Tel
Aviv and on police headquarters in
Jaffa, Arab city to the south.
"A handful of men dashing from