HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1962-08-09, Page 4air's it dots
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#inlet.producer managed to get
lot of money QI4 of gullible la-
vestcgs . by Saying'. he was going
to make a picture revealing the
"inside- story" of "The Mack
Dahlia" affair.
He WO eventually sent to
prison — the only conviction the,
mystery has yet prOdueedl
Has the sadistic killer ever
struck again? It is, Very. possible,
.for Hollywood has a grisly ree-
ord of unsolved sex crimes.
Seen after Seth. Short's
death, bore quite e resemblance.
The girl, .Teertne Axford Frenele
had lovely auburn hair, And the
unclad corpse of this Hollywood
model and small-part actress was.
found in a Los Angeles field.
Scrawled in lipstick on her
skin were the initials "B.D."
No one waa ever brought to
book for this murder, either.
Monied Far Si,KtP-0.0. Years •
The Monster
Smugglers Galore
And Mostly Women!
CAUGHT IN THE ACT, BUT ONLY ON FILM — A hidden movie camera records the
scene as two armed men (right) hold up the St. Cloir Savings and Loon Co. in Cleveland.
The robbers got away With over $13,000.
years?" Veronika asked, trying
to soothe Eichmann's fears as he
vacillated between letting her
return to. Austria or letting the
PaEssecpitomrtanexril)ile, finally made his de-
cision and in April, 1959, Veron-
ika was on a plane headed for
Aus tria Atthe end of April, 1980, Ver-
onika decided it was safe 'enough
to return.
Through a travel agency, she
made a reservation back to
Buenos Aires and was given a
ticket for May 2, It 'was an un-
eventful flight.
Life quickly settled back into
its old. routine, May 11 was a day
exactly like any other — hot,
dusty, uneventful, Eieh'mann had
told her that morning that he
would be home at 7:20,
At -7;30 he still hadn't arrived.
At 7:35 Veronika felt the first
twinge of alarm,
The next, morning, she and
Klaus went to the police sta-
tion and reported Eichmann's
disappearance.
It wasn't until twelve days
later that Veronika Eiclunann
heard of his capture by the Is-
raelis — along with the rest of
the world,
Veronika was prostrate. She
had delivered. Eiclunann into the
hands of his enemies, Both of
them had thought the world had
forgotten. But it had not,
They had been watching and
waiting for her in Austria. And
they had followed her back to
Argentina. ...
Argentina. . • . From "Tit-iBte"
PRANZIWA OltaeLZ
Veronika. Lichen ieaniid• fete
•ward. toward her mirror and Pet
on a touch of lipstick, her only
luelcieetee Her s.eeet, leave hair
:was parted cnt the side and she
wore it swept bade Wier, she
wotilei welt it rwatly euride: the
demure. cap-like wedding veel,
for rodeo, May 17, 1935, was her
wedding day. She gazed down
at Ulf photograph stain:line 0 E1
the eiretrz.. A c'tu aereeeet
in tepee SS uniform loeked
back at net. He wore his clerk
hair :n the military fashion,
eloseaeue The blue-grey eves
were steely,
Tt wr,a a hard face. 4. fright-
ening• .faee. but it was the face
'that teventy-five.year-old Ver-
onika Liebel loved, It was the
freer of Adolph Eichanann, the
men she was about to marry.
"hen they met, he was Just
a taaateeing salesman for -en oil
comperiy.
He had: come to Fiseitendonf
because it was on his sales
route, And, miracle of miracles,
he had asked her out for a quiet
dinner at the only hotel the
village boasted, She had told
him al, about herself, !hat her
tam* were actually ftroni
Czeatiosiov.akia.
Atte. Adolf — well, ha ;vies at- •
tentive and courteous, and he.
told eve all about himself in
return. and, finally, that Ito be-
longed to a secret organization,
the Austrian Nazi Party-
But he had made it clear
that no one must know about
thee otherwise there week} be
trouble.
And. suddenly, trouble. came,
In le33,.• e year after they met,
Adolph last his job, It had been
discovered that he belonged. to
the Za'aea. Party, Soon after that
lie told her that the Reichsfuhrer
ef the German SS had come to
inspect the Upper Austrian SS
and had sworn him in 'as a mem-
ber.
One February night, though,
the game was nearly up, The
Austrian police discovered Ad-
o:les membership of the SS and
came for him.
But Adolf was too quick for
them. With the help of some fel-
low party-members, he slipped
across me border' into Germany
and made his way to Berlin,
where he joined the Austrian Eli-
vision of the SS.
Verenika had. been heart-
broken when the news of A.d-
elf's flight first came, She felt
she would never see him again,
and it was then she realized how
much he had come to mean to
her during the past year,
But six months later he sent
tor her, "I've been assigned to
the SS liaison staff at Passau,"
he wrote. "I can't enter Austria,
but you can come and see me."
And she did. Then, one day,
Adolf had asked her to marry
him,
She was still amazed at her
good fortune, At twenty-eight,
lie was already an SS sergeant,
and many of the big people
the party looked on him as a
protege. And, as his wife, she
'would share his good fortune.
From now on she. would .have
to waech herself, to be careful
that she did nothing • that could
briog. discredit to the man. she
tOved.
So when Adolf had. tome to
her with the Plea that she al-
low a doctor to give her a coed -
plena physical examination; and
that she else supply documents
attesting to her facial back.-
ground, she naturally complied,
He had to be absolutely cer-
tain that she was pure Aryan.
end in good physical health for
he had to receive the sanction
of his superiors before he could
merry her;
Finally; on January 2'3, 1935,
a 'tiff fOrtnal teate came from
SS headquarters. Permissicu to
marry had eaen granted
Nit as. were new in foil
power in “ermany.
When,. two rem-101e after the
wedding, she mind she wee
pregnant, liei contentment was
complete,
Mon chug, Reinhardt Floyd-
rich, was a frequent visitor to
their home. Veronika did nut
like. ben He was handsome,
tall. fair-haired, but his mouth
teas thin and cruel.
Veronika gave birth to tter
baby — a een whom they named
Nikolaus. K!aus for short. Ad-
olf was overjoyed when he learn-
ed he had a sun.
When Nikolaus was a teat-
months old, Adolf told Veronika
that he had to go to Vienna, on
business.
A few days later he was gone.
He came back to his home in
Berlin on frequent visits, al-
ways bringing presents for
Klaus, but Vienna was now his
base of operation.
Slowly, Veronika got used to
her husband's prolonged absence.
Later, she learned that Adolf
had been sent to Vienna to
study the Jewish situation there.
He told her he wanted to help
the Jewish people to emigrate
to Palestine. Secretly, she disa-
greed with many of his views
on. the Jewish question.
The annexation of Austria to
the German Reich made less im-
pression on Veronika than the
birth of her second son, Horst.
The baby was born in Vienna,
where the family had moved af-
ter the annexation, .
Adolf had installed them in a
luxurious flat and Veronika bus-
ied herself with getting her new
household organized.
Within a year, the family were
on the move again. The German
troops had marched into Czech-
oslovakia and Adolf, now a
Storm Troop Leader in the SS,
was transferred to Prague,
Six months later the Germans
marched into Poland— and the
Second World War began, Ad-
olf was recalled to Berlin, but
Veronika stayed in Prague, How-
ever, every weekend he would
return.
Later, Veronika sent for her
sister, Anna Khals, Agitatedly,
she paced up and down, then
turned to Anna: "I've been hear-
ing horrible stories about Adolf..
I'm going to ask him for an ex-
planation," she announced, "If
the stories are really true, then
I must get a divorce."
Veronika went to the Ger-
man officials in. Prague and ap-
plied. for a divorce. Then she
discovered she was pregnant
with her third child. She let
the divorce proceedings drop,
and Dieter was born in 1944.
She had never appreciated the
gull, significance of Adolfe
work, although he had always
told her he was a racial expert.
But there was not even time to
think about divorce now.
In 1944, the _tide of war had
turned, Veronika and. her three
children went to Linz in Aus-
tria, Eichmann's boyhood home.
Adolf told her: "Don't 'worry
about me, In case the end comes,
I've made all my arrangements."
The end came swiftly. In
April, 1945, a few days before
the capitulation of Germany,
Adolf arrived in Linz. He wore
civilian clothes.
"Get packed," he told Veron-
ika. "I'me taking you and the
children to Salzburg."
In Salzburg, he put her on "the
train to Fischendorf. Before say-
ing goodbye, he pressed a pack-
age into her hands.
Veronika suspected she was
being watched but she made no
attempt to hide. Her husband
had left her enough money to
live on comfortably, so she de-
voted herself to the only thing
in her life: her children, And
she waited.
One day, she knew, Eichmann
Would send for her,
And around Christmas, 1950,
Veronika received a letter from
him, in code, signed with the
assumed name they had agreed
on beforehand — Ricardo Cle-
ment,
Veronika began telling her
.sons about an "Uncle Ricardo"
who was living in Argentina;
that some day he might send
for them, and then they would
go and visit him.
On 'June 30, 1952, 'Veronika
Eichmann and her three sons
boarded the ship Salta in Genoa,
Italy, arriving in Buenos Aires
on July 28, There was no one
waiting for them when they ar-
rived. Eichmann was working
as an engineer in the primitive
region of Tucuman, where he
met them on August 15, Veron-
ika stepped from the train and
embraced him while her chil-
dren gaped, He was introduced
to them as "Uncle Ricardo."
For the next year, the fam-
ily was happy. Then the blow,
fell.
The firm which employed
Eichmann was liquidated. He
was out of a job.
They then moved to Buenos
Aires where they rented a house
in the 011vas submit).
The boys still thought of Eich-
mann as Uncle Ricardo. None of
them questioned it however,
when Veronika was officially
registered as the wife od Senor
Clement, _She called herself Ca-
talina Clement.
In 1954 Veronika gave him
another son. They called him
Ricardo Francisco Clement, but
he was known by the pet name
of Haasi. Eichmann got himself
a job at the Mercedes Benz fac-
tory at. Suarez.
Only one thing out of the,
past now worried the Eich-
manns. Veronika's passport was
due to expire. Not that she need-
ed it now, registered. officially
as Ricardo Clement's wife,
But the Peron regime, which
had sympathized with the Nazi
cause, had been overthrown in
Argentina, and the future was
Uncertain.
Eichanann, as usual, wanted to
assure all avenues of escape, It
would be easier for the family
to flee if Veronika's passport was
still valid,
"Anyway, who'd still 'be look-
ing for you after all these
self the title of "Smupoor$
etny No, 11% writes l3ill Eyton
Jones in ""Tit. Bits"",
lit s answer was prompt.
"When they come 'face to, face
with. the Customs effieers, wo-
men are more verbally adroit
than PIM" he said.
Quoting from his. Casebook,.
Mr. Herrington related the story
of a Yorlcshireman who had been
oat boliday on . the Continent with.
his wife in a small touring car.
"The chap himself was ..not
likely smuggling type," Mr. Her.
rington told me. "He declared a
number of small trinkets of lit.
tie value,
"But his wife was rather more
talkative and said they had had
a wonderful holiday, spending.
more than a month in France,
Italy and • Switzerland. As the,
travel allowance was then £50
per person, this would take a lot
of doing."
The Yorkshire neuseWife was
complimented on .her good .mati, •
agement which had made this
possible. Still talkative, she ex-
plained they had met some ""very
alongg
nice ,,p.eoftple who helped us
Her husband, chewing hard
on his pipe, was throwing his
wife some very baleful glances,
So the Customs officers decided.
to search the car.
Beneath the upholstery of the
rear seat was a little parcel hold-
ing .10,000 worth of Swiss watch
movements,
Vilient was opened, the York-
shireman was staggered.
Frerichie said it was only
a 1:1 .)x., of ;nears for a 'friend," be
Mr. Herrington told. me of the
case of a Mayfair ex-debutante
who was jailed for a year for
trying to smuggle 8,500 watches
into Britain in the gas tene et
8 car..
Chief of the smuggling gang
was a Polish businessman who
had taken on French nationality
and was ostensibly running
transport company with branch-
es all over Europe,.
He recruited his accomplices
from the ranks of society and
titled ladies, racing drivers, for-
mer war pilots and others from
the Riviera high-spots. All these
dupes were approached and ofa
fered large amounts of cash for
a little innocent crime. His trucks
smuggled, the watches from Geri••
eva to Paris where they were
repacked into airtight metal
cases which could be fixed into
the gas tanks or in neath the
wings of private cars.
The irresistible lure of Paris- •
Ian fashion and the desire of
women to try to avoid paying
duty on purchases abroad are
well known to Herrington.
At a South. Coast part, he wax
called in to intervene in a dis-
pute between a "grandmotherly
old dear in her sixties" and a
young Customs officer; ,
The woman was highly indig-
nant when the officer would nee
accept her word that a large bale
contained artificial silk dreses
which she had taken out for
France for her son-in-law to sell
cheaply in Paris, The dresses had
failed to "catch on" so she had.
brought them back,
As the bale was being opened,
the old woman explained that the-
dresses were copies of Paris mod-
els produced months earlier by
the famous fashion houses, '
But she ,failed to dupe Mt,
Herrington. He pointed out that.
the high waist and flared skirt
design of the dresses had only
been released in the Rue do- la
Paix to the public a few days
earlier,
The woman's reaction was
terse, •
"I think it's a damn shame that
you men know anything about
women's clothes," she complain.
ed loudly, "I say it isn't fair,"
Mr. Herrington reminded me
of an old Customs saying: '"Eng-
land .expects every man to do
and pay his duty,"
ANN
Bolstered by bulging wallets
and the annual yearning for
'living it up" in exotic foreign
resorts, the greatest-ever exodus
from Britain to the Continent
is now in progress,
Officials estimate that 4,000.-
000 people will go abroad this
summer — more than half of
them women.
But their gay going will give
scant peace of mind to the of-
fivers of Customs Preventive
Service. These busy watchdogs
of security at Britain's ports and
airfields do not begrudge the
happy wanderers their trips —
but do fear their return.
For it is expected that this
boom summertime will produce
a surge of smuggling which may
well cost the national exchequer
a small fortune in the evasion of
duty on contraband.
Sad to relate, women will play
,a major role in what is coming
to .be regarded as a national pas-
time, The game of "Kidding the
Cuustorns,"
Both Scotland 'Yard and the
Customs authorities are con-
vinced that one of the chief men-
aces of cross-Channel smuggling
this summer will be an all-out
attempt by the Swiss watch-
smuggling syndicates to per-
suade British holidaymakers to
act as carriers and go-betweens.
It is almost certain that the
largest distributing centre for
the Swiss watches is now Brus-
sels, and that Ostend will be an
extremely busy Channel outlet
for the British market.
Women have been used on
many occasions as watch car-
riers by air and sea, Foreign
girls have been known to enter
into marriages of convenience
with unscrupulous Englishmen to
gain British passports to help
them with their nefarious traf-
fic.
For anyone prepared to "have
a go" and risk transporting a car-
go of watches from Belgium or
France through Dover, South-
end or Newhaven in, say, the
linings of a specially tailored
calico lightweight blouse or
waistcoat, the pay-off can be
very handsome — and the penal-
ty, if caught, correspondingly
severe,
"Men without names"—agente
of the big gangs — are adept
at selecting British holidaymak-
ers as 'potential messengers.
Often, it is a simple request to
a kind-hearted Britisher to de-
liver a parcel to a friend in Lon-
don. Sometimes, it is a direct
challenge to a "sporty" type to
earn a little extra pocket money
by running the Customs gaunt.
let with a "present" to a relative.
Inevitably, it is to a woman
that the request or offer is first
made. For the gangs- are con-
vinced, she will stand the best
chance of fooling the Customs by
viteue of her sex and innocence,
In addition to the watch-
smuggling racket, there are the
overwhelming temptations for
any susceptible woman to pur-
chase 'fashionable coats, hats and
underwear, cosmetics, jewellery
and leather goods and bring
them hOme without declaration.
If she needs a safeenard, shop-
keepers all over Europe are
ready and willing to offer spur-
ions bills of sale, giving a cons—
pletely false valuation of the
purchased goods.
Do Women make better, smtig-
glers than men?
I asked Mr. Ben Herrington,
who Served for more than forty
years in the watetguard btanch
of the Customs and earned him,
CiktiWbOID H614011 KONG As more rind hibre stijni.dweljet§ rtiOve into gOverrirrient;
housing, Itetindry-feStooreild &like:44-0'dt betbitit ti common sight, An ciVeidge of eight person*
t;ccutiy each cipartiniett.
thought Hollywood had to offer,
She was soon disillusioned,
As a waitress, she drifted from
job to job. She had the looks,
but lacked the talent needed for
a film career.
There were many boyfriends,
of course. put then she fell deep-
ly in. love with a handsome ma-
jor in the Army Air Corps. He
proposed and everything was set
for a happy - marriage when he
was suddenly posted to the Far
East,
Two years later he was dead—
killed in an air crash in India,
Beth's world crumbled — there
were no more love letters, no
hopes left to keep her from temp-
tation,
With the war just over, Holly-
wood was celebrating in a typi-
cally larger-than-life style, There
were plenty of wild parties, and
lovely girls were he demand, es-
pecially if they were accommo-
dating „ .
And money was no object.
In this unhealthy, hot-house
atmosphere, "The Black Dahlia"
bloomed and flourished. She
posed for glamour photos as a
profitable sideline,
Suddenly, sickened of the life
she was leading, Beth went home
to her mother. But- it was too
late,
She was inured by then to late
nights, drink-sodden parties, and
all the phoney gaiety that Hol-
lywood's nether-world had to of-
fer, She found it impossible to
settle down in a small, strait-
laced New England town, writes
Basil Bailey in "Tit-Bits."
After a few months, Beth was
back in Hollywood, sharing
rooms with a blonde call-girl.
One of her particular male
friends was a twenty-five-year-
old commercial, traveller, tall,
good-looking and red-haired.
A week before Beth's hideous
death, he called for her in his
car and they went to Los An-
geles for the night, There, he
later told the police, he left the
girl at a hotel.
He never saw her again . .
The man's movements were
traced throughout the week of
Beth's disappearance, His story
was corroborated. On the night
of the murder he and his wife
were playing cards with friends
in San. Diego.
By now, 100 policemen were
trying to discover where, and
with whom, Beth had been hid-
ing. Her photograph was display-
ed all over California, The many
names mentioned in the bundles
of live letters left, behind by the
dead girl were all carefully In-
vestigated, But there was no prow
gress,
A week after the crime, a per-
son with a soft, silky voice
phoned the offices of the Log
Angeles Examiner and 'told .the
city editor that -he was poking
him souvenirs of Beth short,
The next day a parcel arrived
at the office containing some of
the murdered girl's personal be;
longings, her birth certificate and
an address book full of names
which set the police off on many
new ttaile.
A_ little later the same news..
paper. received a postcard. The
printed letters, which had been
cut out and stuck on, read: "Rote
it is, Turning in Wednesday,
January 29, 10 a,tn, Had my fun
at police. Bleak Dahlia Avenger."
The sender never turned up,
but iii thd fifteen yeam .which
have elapsed since the tritite,
mantle fifty people' have eonfese-
ed to it!
Some of them weretraCkpots.
Others Were seeking publicity.
-Said lieutenant Harry' Ilaftaee,
*lid wag in oft the cash /tone eti
early date: "Otte man eventually
Said he had corifessed because
be and hie wife had separated
and he wanted hig piettlee Iii the
Peeers,"
Not king' agd„ It conficleride
trickster' dbAtiibitig as.
Terror Reigned
In Hollywood
The early-morning Californian
sun beat down on the dead, naked
body of a beautiful young girl,
There were rope burns on her
slim wrists and. ankles. She had
been bound and mutilated before
blows on her head had fractured
the skull, bringing merciful re-
lief from torture.
Discovery of this sadistic Hol-
lywood murder was made by a
woman out for a walk with her
small son,
Her hysterical phone-call to
the police was the first news of
a crime which was to shake the
film city to the core, and make
women afraid to walk the streets
at night.
Here was a horror story to
rival anything ever produced on
the screen.
The body was found lying
among the weeds on a vacant
plot of ground, just off a busy
Loa Angeles street. Presumably,
it had been dumped there, from
a car.
The girl's rich black hair had
recently been dyed auburn ea ite
had her eyebrows. Her eyes were
g7ey-green, her features regular
and pleasing and her toe and fin-
ger nails were tinted a delicate
rose-red.
Prom her finger-prints, which
had been taken when she worked
as a post office employee in Mas-
sachusetts, the pelice soon dis-
covered the name of this pathetic
victim,
She was twenty -two-year-old
Elizabeth. Sheet, better known as
Beth.
Hee Hollywood nickname was
"The Black Dahlia!' This she
had earned by her addiction to
black clothing, even tinder-wear,
which' Metalled her beautiful
long, hair, and offset her creamy
akin
One of the biggest anysteriee
was why she had had the black
hair, of which she was so poetic!,
dyed auburn, She had never done
It before, and this action Seetried,
quite out of thatecter.
Beth had left her quiet Nete
England Mate (Airing' the- Wee
when she' WO'seventeen and
mho." for the ixeiteirient She
iCKINa THE HEAT
preparesfdkd',.,kirt in th -
GettitItlittikeit With ti
b,der.,oh d,
ISSUE', 3d 'Ott