Evening star., 1953-09-15

S
in. Three had led him away.
The other three had stayed,
searched the place and sealed it.
Strange Men Seen.
Since Svoboda's arrest we had
seen strange men around our Of
fee. One, peeking out from
behind a curtain, had looked in
now and then through our wide
second-floor front windows from
another window across the street.
Others, haunting a passageway
beside our building, had watched
our visitors.
On Friday morning, April 20,
I awoke about $3.50 in my room
at the Ambassador Hotel and
telephoned the Office to see if
there had been any news worth
picking up on Prague'S morn
ing newScast.
Our old night watchman, who
spoke only Czech and German,
answered the telephone. asked
for Peter Muntz, the translator
who had been due on the job an
hour and a half earlier. The
old man said, "Nein, nein"-"No,
no."
1 called Muntz's apartment.
His wife said. "Mr. Oats, my
husband is at Office" I waited
awhile and then called the office
again Again the watchman an
swered, but a moment later
somebody else was on the wire,
telling me in broken English
that MuntZ was not there.
It was a man whose voice I
did not recognize. And thought,
This is a cop. Muntz has been
arrested, and if I go to the Of
flee I will be arrested, too" /
asked the man what he was do
ing there. He said he was fixing
the teletype machines.
I drove to the United States
Embassy. I told the counselor,
Tyler Thompson, I was afraid
police were in my Office. On his
advice, I had Miss Mary Horak,
an embassy secretary, telephone
the Office and speak Czech with
the alleged teletype repairman.
He told her exactly what he was
doing to the teletype machines,
and we decided he was no i'm
postor-and no policeman.
"Why Should You Worry"
Richard G. johnson, the vice
consul. went with me to my Of
fee. The night watchman was
still there. The printer repair
man-whom I recognized imme-
diately when I saw him, though
/ had not recognized his voice
was just leaving. Muntz was no
where in sight.
Mr.. johnson said he could do
nothing for him because he was
a Czechoslovak citizen. Nov if
you were to get arrested" he
added-and I gathered that in
that case he could take a hand.
That afternoon I went to DR..
Rudolf Pepper, head of the press
section of the Ministry of Infor-
nation.
Three of my employees are
missing and 1 think they've been
arrested" 1 said. Am going to
get arrested?"
The swarthy, black-haired little
man, who looked something like a
thin Pierre Laval, asked me if I
had a guilty conscience. I said,
mo"
He leaned back in his chair in
the tired way he had, looked down
his face at me and said. why
should you worry? You have
semidiplomatic status"
1t was true that my official
accreditation gave me some
thing like diplomats extra ra-
tions. But it was not true that
it granted me diplomatic i'm
munity from arrest.
That 1r,oc E,;Ioxy ~, C,,yA5ox,
at about 10 am. l drove out of
the public garage where I kept
the Office car and turned a cor
ner on my way back to the hotel.
In my rear-view mirror I saw
another car pull away from the
curb behind me.
Followed by Police Car.
It was a big, black, stream
lined Tatraplan, a Czech model
commonly used by the secret
police. 1t kept a half block be-
hind me. Was it following me?
I would see.
Instead of going straight to
the hotel made a detour around
a block. The Tatraplan fol-
lowed me all the way. When I
parked in front of the hotel it
parked about block behind.
I hurried inside, picked up my
key at the desk and dashed up
stairs. two steps at a time, to my
room on the third floor. I bolted
the door and stood there with
cold terror stabbing into my
stomach. I decided to go to the