852.2221 Dahl, Harold/10: Telegram
The Consul at Vigo (Graves) to the Secretary of State
[Received 10:55 p.m.]
Department’s telegram of July 23, 7 p.m. I have returned from Salamanca where I had a private interview with Harold Dahl and took his affidavit.
Dahl tells me that he and Frank Tinker, acting separately and at different times, signed contracts of enlistment in the Spanish Embassy in Mexico City. Dahl tells me that he went to Mexico in October of last year and there met José Melendreras a representative of the Spanish Embassy in Mexico City. Dahl tells me that his and Tinker’s contracts were signed in the Spanish Embassy in Mexico City with Gordon Ordas, Spanish Ambassador to Mexico, acting for the Madrid Government. Dahl informs me that he and Tinker were issued Spanish passports by the Spanish Consul General in Mexico City whose last name he believes is Tampico, Dahl’s passport issued in the name of Hernando Diaz and Tinker’s in the name of Francisco Trejo (it also appears that Dahl’s American wife was included on his Spanish passport and that she is now living at the Hotel Miramar in Cannes, France, [Page 530] under the name of Edith Rogers Diaz). In addition to the other American pilots listed in the Department’s telegram, Dahl mentions.… With the exception of himself and Tinker, Dahl informs me that the other American pilots were encouraged by Commander Sanz Sainz, then acting as agent of the Madrid Government in New York, to proceed to Spain to fly. According to Dahl’s statement to me these men did not sign contracts in the United States and all travelled to Spain by way of France on American passports in company with Sanz Sainz who paid all their travelling expenses. Dahl tells me that only Baumler’s passport had a notation not valid for travel in Spain. Dahl informs me that they signed their contracts abroad and that in these contracts, as in his and in Tinker’s, there is a provision that the individual will not assert his rights as a foreign citizen during the continuance of the contract. Dahl tells me that he and Tinker sailed from Mexico and the others from New York and they all sailed in December of last year. (Dahl tells me that all of the pilots under reference have returned to the United States with the exception of Baumler and Tinker and that Sanz Sainz is dead.)
Dahl is apparently telling conflicting stories. To me Dahl denied that either he or any of the other American pilots had any dealings directly or indirectly with the Spanish Embassy in Washington and that the only part played by the Spanish Consul General in New York is the payment of allotments to wives of American citizens flying for the Spanish Government. However, the Assistant Judge at Salamanca, through whom I requested an interview with Dahl, volunteered the information that Dahl had signed a statement that he and Tinker had obtained their contracts and Spanish passports (the passports actually signed by the Spanish authorities in Mexico City) from the Spanish Embassy in Washington and that there is a regular ring operating in the United States to assist the Valencia Government. The headquarters are reputedly the Spanish Embassy in Washington … Dahl further told me that … upon his arrival in Paris he went to the Spanish Embassy as directed where he was ordered to proceed to Valencia. According to the Assistant Judge, Dahl’s compromising signed statements are not to be furnished to Spanish or foreign newspaper correspondents before the court martial. The Assistant Judge informed me that after the court martial they intend to have photographed and published certain of Dahl’s compromising statements. The Spanish authorities at Salamanca are letting Dahl sign and retract as many statements as he likes. Although refraining from the slightest suggestion of physical intimidation, Dahl tells me that the authorities are encouraging him to sign statements which would tend to implicate innocent persons or persons whose activities [Page 531] he knows nothing about. Preposterous as the charge is, I feel I must mention the Assistant Judge’s statements to me that they have proof of the activities of … in favor of Valencia Government.
Although he stated that under existing regulations he could not officially advise me of the date that Dahl’s court martial will take place, the Assistant Judge assured me that unofficially he would advise me in sufficient time so that I could attend. He stated that the date of the court martial had not yet been set but that it would be held at Salamanca in about two weeks. He further stated that Dahl would be tried for military rebellion and would unquestionably be sentenced to death. I can only suggest that as soon as the death sentence is confirmed, representations be made to Queipo de Llano for a commutation of sentence, assuming that the Department considers Dahl entitled to protection as an American citizen. Dahl tells me that neither he nor any of the other American pilots have taken an oath of allegiance to Spain or naturalized themselves as foreign citizens. When captured Dahl apparently had no identifying documents on his person.
Will the Department please advise me of the receipt of this telegram?83
- The Department replied by telegram of July 30, 5 p.m., instructing the Consul not to attend the court martial (852.2221 Dahl, Harold/15).↩