811.91262/280: Telegram
The Ambassador in France (Leahy) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 20—12:40 a.m.]
576. Paris telegram 1214, April 2318 as [and?] previous. Some days ago a member of the Embassy staff received a letter from Jay Allen which had apparently been smuggled out of Chalon stating that he had been informed by the German authorities at Chalon that they were prepared to let him go and that he was now being held at the [Page 613] request of French authorities for an affair involving a document purloined from a Ministry in Vichy. The letter added that he has been questioned in his jail by a French police inspector. In the light thereof the Embassy immediately took the matter up with the Foreign Office and insisted on knowing whether Allen’s fears were well founded.
We have been officially informed by the Foreign Office that Allen’s detention does not spring from the French authorities and that it is not being prolonged at their request. Allen is implicated in an affair other than that which caused his arrest by the Germans, the Foreign Office stated, which may give rise to steps being eventually taken against him by the French authorities following his release by the Germans.
We understand from other sources that four people are under arrest in Vichy on charges of purloining from the Ministry of the Interior of a confidential document which was shown to Allen.
It is asserted that it was purloined at his request and that in return he paid a sum of money to one of the men—a French journalist now under arrest. In his letter Allen admits having seen “secret” reports but denies that he solicited their purloining and states he gave sum of money to the journalist for another purpose.
Paris has been requested to inform Allen that he is not being held at French request. While he was in Vichy Barnes stated that he understood the Germans intend to release Allen after he has served 3 months, the maximum sentence imposed by the German military authorities for illegal crossing of the demarcation line. Allen was arrested on March 13.
- Missing from Department files.↩