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The Brussels Post, 1962-08-02, Page 4• tidy ` eae self the title of "Smugglers 4n- emy No. 1", writes Bill Eytoie Jones in "Tit-Bits". 'Els answer was prompt. "When they come face- to. thee with the Customs. officers, "woe men are more verbally adroit than men," he said. Quoting from his easebookt • Mr, Herrington related the story of a Yorkshireman who lied been nit holiday on the Continent with. his wife' in a small touring car, "The chap himself was not a likely smuggling type,"' Mr, tier- rington told me, "lie declared A. ntluemvbaeli tl.e. of trinkets of lit- e, "lint 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 ,e() per person, this would take a lot of doing," The Yorkshire housewife was complimented on her good map, agement which had made this possible. Still talkative, site ex- plained they had met some "very nice people who helped us al°1-111: • ' r);Itila)aod, chewing hard on his • pipe, was throwing his wife some very baleful glances.. So the Customs officers decided to search the car, • Beneath the uphOlatery of the rear seat was a little parcel hold- ing. R10,000 worth of Swiss watch movements. When it was opened, the York- shieerean was staggered, "The Frencnie said it was only a box of cigars for a 'friend," he cried. 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 m the gee tenh of a cai Chief of the smuggling .gang was a Polish businessman who bad taken on French nationality and was ostensibly running a transport company with bronchi- 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 of- fered large amounts of cash for a little innocent crime, His trucks smuggled the watches from Gene ev-a to Paris where they were repacked into airtight metal cases which could be fixed into the gas tanks or beneath the wings of private ears. 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 was 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 not accept her word that a large bale contained artificial silk dreses which she had taken out to France for her son-in-law to a „ae cheaply in Paris, The dresses had. failed to "catch Oh!" so she had brought them baelt, As the bale was being opened, the old woman explained that the dresses were copies of Paris Mod- els produced months. earlier by the fait-Otis fashion houses, But she failed to dupe Mr. Herrington, He pointed out that the high waist and flared skirt design of the dresses had only been released in the hue de 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, "1 say it Isn't fah." Mr. Herrington- reminded the Of an old Customs saying: "mg- larid expects every Mari to do and pay his duty." LitkiNdtHE.-REAt - • Win, Sahanutoti prepares frikSialatirt to th ~I Gerriutlielikeit with' aStein- of ISSUE' 3ii...46. 1962' .44.1.04ern arre4 For Sixteen Years To :Ekiimann — The Monster Mtn producer managed to get 191, Pt. 11191.19)! taint of gullible in- vestors by saying: he was going to make a picture revealing the "inside Wu" of "The Block Dahlia" affair. He was eventually sent to. priSen — the only conviction the mystery has yet preduced! Has the sadistic killer ever struck again? 1.t .la very possible, for Hollywood has a grisly Dee. ord of unsolved sex crimes, One, soon after .Beth .Short's death, bore quite a resemblance. The girl, Jeanne Axford French,, had lovely auburn hair. And the unclad corpse of this Hollywood model and small-part actress was found in a Los Angeles Scrawled in lipstick on h skin were the initials "B.D.." No one was ever brought 'to book for this murder, either. CAUGHT IN THE ACT, RUT ONLY ON FILM A hidden movie camera records the scene as two armed men (right) hold up the St. Clair Savings and Loan Co. in Cleveland. The robbers got away with over $13,000. Smugglers Galore — And Mostly Women! Bolstered by bulging wallets and the annual yearning for "living it up" in exotic foreign resorts, the greatest-ever exodus front Britain to the Continent is now in progress, Officials estimate that 4,000,- 000 people will go abroad this summer — more titan half of them women. But their gay going will give scant peace of mind to the of- ficers 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 email 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 Cuustoms." 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"—agents 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 virtue of her sex and inhoceime. 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 safeguard, shop- keepers all over Europe are ready and willing to Offer spur- ious bills of sale, giving a com- pletely false valuation of the purchased goods. Do women make better smug- glers than men? I asked Mr, Ben Herrington, whd served for more than fotty years in the water:guard branch of the Customs and earned hint- . years?" Veronika asked, trying to soothe Eichmann's fears as he vacillated between letting her return to Austria or letting the passport expire, Eichmann finally made his des vision and in April, 1959, Veron- ika was on a plane headed for Austria, At the end of April, 1960, 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, Eichniann 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 Eichtnann's disappearance. It wasn't until twelve days later that Veronika Eichniann heard of his capture by the Is- raelis — along with the rest of the world. , Veronika was prostrate. She had delivered Eichniann 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 "TitsiBte" etiff lorinal note cadte frere SS headquarters. r•e 11111,4S:f.%. marry had teen grouted . 1114 Nazis were neW 111 fink. power in Germane, When, two months after the wedding, site Oiled she ryas pregnant, her eontentmeni was complete. Adoirs glukt, Reinhardt Heyd- rich, was a frequent visitor to their home.. Veronika did not tike him- He was handsome, tall, fair-haired, hut his mouth was thin and cruet. Veronika gave birth to her baby a son whom they named Nikolaue. Klaus tor share Ad- olf was overjoyed when he learn- ed he had a son. When Nikolaus was a few months old, Ado!f 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, hut 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 tin- 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, ,vas 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 full significance of Adolf's 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 Lint, He wore civilian clothes. "Get packed," he told Veron- ika. "Pine taking you and the children to Salzburg." In Salzburg, he put her on the train to Fischendonf, Before say- ing gotelbye, he pressed a pack- age into her hands, VerOnika suspected she was being watched but she made no attempt to hide, Her huaband lay ,FAA.NZISV.A. OftfeZ Veronika. letehel aianed. ward eosverd her initrer aese pat on a touch et lipstick, tea ':i•-y Her Alert black laser was ported ou the eicle and She wore it ewept Laos, site would tuck it neatly Unite: the dentine e, cap-his wedethee for softy, May it 1635. wae hes weddinii day. She galled 4:ViV11 ;A the peotograph use:0111g .cu the deesser. A s eeg eerietent in black SS erefs rot iesited back at. her. He wore is dark hate in the nesittary faelision. close-cut, • The blue-grey eves were steely, It wise a hard We. 4 :rights cuing face. but it was. the face 'that twenty-five-yeareeld Ver- onika Liebel loved. It waa she face of Adolph Bi.e17,mann, she man she was about to, -nem: When they met, he teas Pest a teavening saleernan foe an oil company. He had come TO Tetechenderf because it wag on his sa.es- 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 all about herself, that her farrefes were actually from C zechosiovekia, And Adolf — well. he was. at- tentive and courteous, and he told hee all about himself in return, and, finally, that he :be- longed to a secret organization, the Auetrian Nazi Party. But he had. made it clear that no one must know. about this, otherwise there would be trouble. And. suddenly, trouble came. In 1933, a year after they met, Adolph lose his job. It had been discovered that he. belonged to the Nazi. Party. Soon after that he told her that the Reichefuhrer of the German SS had come to inspect the Upper Austrian SS and had. sworn him in, as a mem-. her. One February night, though, the game was nearly up. The Austrian police discovered Ad- olf's membership of the SS and came for him,' .• But Adolf was lea quick for. theta. With -the help of same fel- low party-members, he slipped across the border into Germany and made his way to Berlin, where he joined the Austrian di- vision of the SS. Veronika had been heart- broken when the news of Ad- oil'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 for 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 ma."' And she did. Then, one day, tdm.olte had asked her to marry She was still amazed at her steed fortune. At twenty-eight, ink was already an SS sergeant, end;: many of the big people in the party looked on him as a protege: PLC,- ;eel .11is wife, she would share his good 'fhnitunee From. now on she would have to .watch herself, careful. that she did. nothing that could bring discredit to the man she loved-. So when Adolf had come to her with the plea that she al- low a doctor to give her a cam- plete physical examination; and that she also supply documents attesting to her racial backe ground, she naturally complied, He had to be absolutely cer- tain, that she was pure Aryan and in good physical health for he had to receive the sanction of his eupetiOrs before he could marry her. Finally, on January 23, 1933, 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 Olives suburb. The boys still thought of Eich- mann as Uncle Ricardo, None of them questioned it however, when Veronika was officially registered as the wife of 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 Haas!. Eichmann got himself a job at the Mercedes Benz fac- tory at Suarez, Only one thing out sof the past now worried the Eich- rnanns, 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, Eichmann, 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 leek- ing for you after all these Terror Reigned in Hollywood The early-morning Californian sun beat down on the dead, naked body of a beautiful young girl. There were robe 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 Los Angeles street. Presumably, it had been dumped there from a car. The girl's rich black hair had recently been dyed auburn -- as Mid her eyebrows. Her eyes were grey-green, her features regular and pleasing and her toe and fin- get nails were tinted a delicate rose-red, From her finger-prints, which had been taken when she worked as a post office employee in Mas- Saellneette, the police soon dis- covered the name Of this pathetic victim, She Was twenty-two-year,old Elizabeth Short, better known as' Beth. Her Hollywood nickname was "The Black Dahlia," Thie she had earned by her addictioe to blaCk Clothing; eV en titidehaear, WhiCh thatehed her ,beetitiftil hang hair, and offset her creamy skin, - One of the biggest VAS Why she had had the bleak hair, of which she Was so Ptotid, dyed auburn She had never done it before, and this eetfini.seeitied quite out of thatiatet. Beth left her htifet neW Eh-gland home during the War when Atte wan seventeen and ittnigkY fait the excitement She thought Hollywood had to offer, Site 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. But then she fell deep- ly in loye 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 lie 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 fram 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 in 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 pro- gress, A week after the crime, a per- son with a soft, silky voice phoned. the offices of the Los Angeles Examiner and told the city editor that he was posting him souvenirs of Beth Short, The next day a parcel arrived at the Office containing some of the murdered girl's personal be- -longings, het birth certificate and an address book full of names which set the police off on many new trails. A little later the Seine news- paper received a postcard. The printed letters, which had been cut out and stuck on, read: "Here it I. Turning in Wednesday, January 29, 10 anti, Had my "fun at police. Black Dahlia Avenger." The sendet 'never turned up, but in the fifteen years which have elapsed since the 'Mimes nearly , fifty people Mien confess- ed to la Some of them Were crackpots, Others were seeking Said Lieutenant Harty Hansen, Who Was in oft the case from an early date; "One Mini eventually said he had tOnfeesed because he and his Wife had eepArated end he wanted his nictute in the' papers," Not long ego; a terifidetiee trickster describing himself as a WS _zoo ititostii if thoo ANC tor looiph for ovary, IC mkt Fix hoot 1114 ditOWDEO HONG KONG retard arid More sitirn-dWeitert• teioVe info government . housing, laundry-festoonlestil bialtorilest tiedorine.d Canadian Sight. Ail average Of eight persatiti eetuoy"idth apartnwetit. '