◆ SpookStack

2d of Amerasia” Stolen Papers Bared to Public (Continued Jrom First Page) ° U. S. foreign service that Agnes: Smedley was a trusted sotirce of information, government files con- tained the information that she |state division im Washington,| was an admitted associate of Richard Sorge, the notorious Rus. Sian spy, hanged by the Japanese , after his operations as head of « ‘wideflung espionage ring in China and Japan had been ex- posed, : Toward the end of the first World war in March 1918 Miss Smediey was arrested in New York City for violating the federal es- pionage act as an agent for the Indian Nationalist party. She, spent several weeks in jail and the charges were then dismissed. In 1928 she went to China as a correspondent for the German ‘newspaper Frankfurter Zeitung and immediately becatne known as “one of the most energetic workers for the Soviet cause in China,” according to an intell- gence report. ; She was one of the first to write’ that Chinese Communists were realiy not Communists, but “local agrarian revolutionists innocent of Soviet connections,” a hoax which was part of the official Communit party line, «—-——* sate “any x fin _ Hen, 10, 1949, tha _tiniterd States Army made public @ 32,000-: -word report on the Sorge spy ring! inwhich Miss Smedley was named as & comintern agent. She denied: this charge and threatened to sue Gen. MacArthur for libel, On Feb. 18 Col.*George S. Eyster, depuly chief of the Army public rela-, stated that the Army had no proaf to back the charges that Miss Smedley was & member of the spy ring. iFriendship Admitted Miss Smedley admitted know- ing both Sorge and Ozaki Hozumi, the top men in the spy ring, both: of whom were executed, The Army report sald she was the go-between who brought the two men to gether, She declared that the two men were “excellent sources of in- formation” whom she used in her writings. Gen. Charles A. Willoughby, Hief of Gen, MacArthur's intel: gence staff, protested that the re- lease of the spy report by Wash- ington authorities had been against the wishes of Gen. Mac- Arthur. But he added that he dif- fered “emphatically from those who belittle the documentation | supporting the report, which is veluminous and has not been pub- lished.” \ Willoughby said ne would waive any immunity to libel action if Miss Smedley wanted to sue him, and her attorney. O. John Rogge, a former assistant attorney gen- eral, promised io sue. Miss Smed- ley went off to England where she died while writing the life of Gen Chu Teh, commander-inchief of the Chinese Communist army. pec 4-26 Tolson Ladd Clegg. Glavin en Nichols Rosen Tracy Harboe Belmont Mobr Teie. Room__ Neasse Gandy Tines~Herald Wash. Post Wash. News Wash. Star N.Y. Mirror Pag