Evening star., 1948-09-16

on both sides Of the automobile.
Thinking that the agents might be
unaware Of the provisions of diplo-
matte immunity, Mr.. Green ac-
companied one Of the agents to
the security police headquarters.
when he had left, the other
agents began to claim that the
Americans had been photographing
the port area and demanded that
q camera be surrendered to them.
"All five agents were speaking
simultaneously. As their demands
became more insistent. the agent
who had originally stopped the car
made two efforts to open its front
door In an apparent attempt to
enter the vehicle. Twice the door
was pulled shut by the occupants
with a warning to the agent con-
corning the diplomatic character of
the car.
When after IS minutes Mr.. Green
did not return, Miss Maggard, who
had her oficial passport with her,
went to the police headquarters, in
the company of one of the remain
ing agents, to make inquiries.
In the meantime, MIR. Green had
been taken to the office of the chief
of the Siguranta. This security
police chief, a certain Nedelcu
(ValescU appeared after 20 min
utes and, upon reading reports sub
mitted to him by several agents, re-
quested Green's passport and infor-
nation regarding the other three
passengers of the car.
Accused of Photographing.
Having called the attention of
the security police chief to his diplo-
matte status and the irregularity of
such proceedings, Mr.. Green sup
piled the names of the other three
Americans together with their posi-
tions at the Legation. Mr.. Green
asked the reason for the detention
of the group and was informed that
charges had been made that they
were photographing in the port
area. The security police chief de-
manded that q camera be sur
rendered.
Specific accusations of taking
photographs were made against
Miss Maggard twho had by this
time been brought into the chief S
ONCE although she had no camera.
Mr.. Green informed Nedelcu that
no member Of the group had taken
any photographs either in the city
or port area of Giugiu.
"Once more. Mr.. Green called
Nedelcu's attention to his status as
q diplomatic officer and that, in the
circumstances, his detention was
highly improper. He demanded
that If the group were not under
arrest, it be released Immediately.
The security police chief informed
Mr.. Green that the group was not
under arrest and would be detained
only so long as 1t would take to
confirm by telephone, through the
Romanian Foreign ONCE. the in
dividual status of the persons in the
group-a matter of five or six
minutes
Denied Use of Phone.
cat 7:45 pm, when it became
evident that the groups release was
not imminent, Mr.. Green sought
permission of the security police
chief to telephone the American
Legation. This was denied
AT $50 pm. Mr.. Green again
requested either the release of the
group or the right to telephone the
American minister. Nedelcu again
refused but stated that the group
would be released Immediately il
the camera which had allegedly
been used in photographing the port
area were surrendered. Once more
Mr.. Green refuted the charge that
any mmber of the group had taken
pictareSs in that area, at which the
security police chief became indig-
nant and asserted that none of the
group would be released until a
camera was surrendered.
"At g. pm. Miss Maggard asked
for some food, but was informed by
Nsdeicu that he himself had not
eaten since lunch and that he
thought she could wait until her re-
release before eating.
mo member of the group was al
lowed anything to eat or drink for
16 hours. Not until 1890 the fol-
lowing morning did they receive
some bread and fruit purchased by
an agent at the insistence of the
Americans with money which they
supplied
From 8 pm. until a m. the chief
of the security police intermittently
interrogated Miss Maggard and Mr..
Green, continuing to insist that a
camera be handed over. Repeatedly,
Mr.. Green requested either their re-