Evening star., 1952-01-25
By Herbert A. Philbrick
Chapter WI.

II
Chapter WI.
Rebuilding the Wakefield Cell.
The old elm shrouded midnight
secrets. Strangers passed under
Its whispering leaves late at night
and slipped up the steps into the
old Parker house in Wakefield
the towns new headquarters for
Communist conspiracy.
Comrades johnson and Collier
called at the house not long after
we were settled. They had in
|structions from the Boston dis
trict.
Gus Johnson--whoSe name was
the cause of Hal Leary's surprise
was a hulking, fiorid Swede
with a thick accent which was
usually made even less coherent
by the cheap whisky he dumped
into his iron belly. He was
amiable enough some of the time,
but stupid. and a confirmed Boil
sevik of the roughhouse school.
Collier was bookish, thin. sullen
and unhealthy. He rarely drank.
but chain smoked cigarettes and
his gaunt face had the pallor Of
ash. Frank had a deep apprecia-
tion of literature and a large
library, the most complete private
Marxist library I ever en-
countered.
Insisted ON Secrecy.
The two comrades were, I
thought, unduly insistent upon
the deepest secrecy.
I inquired through outside
sources and found out why. Two
years before, Wakefield had q
Red hunt, inspired--it fitted so
perfectly that it was laughahle-
by Mrs. johnson. The lady was
as rabidly anti Communist as Gus
was Communist.
She marched straight to the
police and delivered an expose.
Mrs. johnson named names Of
party stalwarts in Wakefield
two teachers in the public schools
and two ministers among them.
The American Legion seized on
the disclosure with vigilante
ardor. Torchlight parades were
held around the houses Of those
named by Mrs. Johnson. Insults
and threats were hurled. Some Of
the victims fed town. The party
cell was shattered.
Collier, johnson and I had q
list of some IA persons in. Wake
field who were still listed on the
party rolls. Frank and Gus knew
most of them, and undertook to
make the contacts.
Members Collect Quietly.
A half hour before the first
meeting there was knock at the
front door and a figure silently
melted into the shadows Of my
living room. A few minutes later,
then another. One or
two came in by the side door. No
more than a single member ar
rived at any one time. The ses-
sion was desultory, primarily
devoted to the speech with Gus
in remarkably good control Of his
accents and his party fervor) 1.-THE
collection Of dues and arrange
ments for further sessions which
1aarlg a4 spf Them promised to
Eva sat through it all in q big
wing chair, nervously twining and
a piece of string in her
fingers. When the meeting broke
up, the arrival process was put
into action in reverse. One by one,
at intervals of several minutes,
they slipped out the door into the
night, walking briskly away, keep
ing to the shadows.
The precautions were thorough
to prevent neighborhood
detection of the cell headquarters.
I also took precautions of my own.
After the meeting I trudged up
the stairs, climbed a narrow stair
way to the unfinished attic, picked
my way across the open beams to
the end of the room where stood
a huge cedar closet
Secret Operative Unit.
I reached for concealed latch.
swung the entire closet outward
on its heavy hinges, and passed
through the false end wall Of the
loft into my FBI operatives unit.
Here, in a tiny room with a win
dow screened by the big elm,
compactly equipped with type
writer, debating machine, photo
graphic equipment. I filed my re-
port to the bureau.
I attended cell meetings of diff
ferent types - educational, cul-
tural, social-in many different
tOCd11GICOs 4AC1C WCIC CCSo1OA4o 1U
Nat Mills apartment in Boston.
The identity of more and more
Communists was revealed to me. I
branched out into communities
like Brookline and Dorchester.
One unusual series of gatherings
was held in a sumptuous apart
ment near the Harvard yard
their apparent purpose, to make
available to select Harvard men
q place for entertainment, liquor
and the companionship Of we'll
groomed, sophisticated young
Communist girls. Eva and I went
to several parties there, where the
afnuenee was tastefully displayed
and controlled, the liquor flowed
freely, and political liberalism"
was leavened with sophistry, pop
ular music for connoisseurs of
Jazz and the comforts Of deep
rnfoS