Evening star., 1948-05-17
10 Reds Questioned
lin Greece in Staying
I0f j. ). Broadcaster
BY the kssoeioted Press

SALON1KA, Greece, May IT.
Twenty or more Communists
were reported under questioning
today about the strange death
of George Polk. "a, American
broadcaster for CHS.
Mr.. Polk's trussed-up body.
bullet in the head, was found float
ing in the bay off Salonika yester'
day.
I'VE are 1000 per cent sure 1t L
the work of Communists" said ons
leading government official wht
declined to allow the use of hi
name.
Mr.. Polk was last seen a week
ago Sunday after telling friends he
was trying to interview Markos
Vaf1ades, Communist guerrilla
leader.
Underground Angle Checked.
Police were reported authorita.
lively to be working on a theory
that, Mr.. Polk made contact with
the Communist underground and
spent several hours in a hideou,
before being shot through the heac
and dumped into the bay
A high police official discounted
the theory that Right Wing extrem.
lists might have killed Mr.. Poll
when they heard of his effort te
meet Vafiades. Mr.. Polk criticized
the government as well as the
guerrillas.
Mrs. Rhea Polk, the Greek girI
Mr.. Polk married eight months ago
said her husband might have ar
gued with an underground guide
and been shot.
HE had a terrible temper" she
said. Il think he may have got
mad. He talked back to anybody
(Carl Rankin, United States
charge d'affaires, called on For
eign Minister Constantin Tsal-
daris in Athens and was UNDER
stood to have received report
on the Polk investigation. Mr..
Tsaldaris was reported to have
told Mr.. Rankin every effort will
be made to arrest the killers)
Full Inquiry Ordered.
Premier Themistokles Sophoulis
announced in Athens that he had
ordered a full investigation and
Constantin RENTS, the minister OF
public order, undertook to conduct it
Mr.. Polk, "a. correspondent for
the Columbia Broadcasting System
disappeared a week ago, after telling
friends he was trying to get an
interview with Markos Vaflades
leader of the Communist Greek
guerrillas.
In Athens, however, a close friend
of Mr.. Polk's said the correspondent
had received several threatening
telephone calls. in which the callers
accused him of being Communist,
indicating that anti Communists
might have desired his death.
Mrs. Polk said he had been threat
ened by both Arabs and Jews in Pal.
estine, but never, so far as she knew
in Greece. He has been the chief
Middle East correspondent for CHS
for two years. Mrs. Polk said his
body will be buried in Athens, in
accordance with his will, which
stipulated that he be buried In the
country in which he, died. ..1
- PIanned to Return This Week
He.wasthe f1rst4Amefipan CORES
psondent to die III the Greek cfvi
war. He had been nominated for 8
Nieman fellowship in journalism
at Harvard and had planned to re.
turn to the United States this week
fHa. foad-a friend he wanted ths
Msrkus interview as%farevell scoop
( Mr. Polk was navy pilot during
the war and was wounded in the
Solomons. Before the war he wa!
city editor of the Fairbanks (Alas.
ka) Daily News Miner, worked or
the Shanghai Evening Post and ir
the Paris bureau of the New York
Herald Tribune. He also worked fol
the Herald Tribune in New York
lust before and in Washington just
after the war. He was born in Fort
Worth, Tex, and attended Virginia
Military Institute.