FURTHER SHELLING OF MADRID

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 173, 19 April 1937, Page 9

FURTHER SHELLING OF MADRID

60 Casualties in Day DISCOVERY OF REBEL ESPIONAGE PLOT Over Fifty Arrests Made By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. (Received April IS, 7.30 p.m.) Madrid, April 17. While two members of the British House of Commons, the Duchess of Atholl (Conservative —Kinross) and Miss Ellen Wilkinson (Labour—Jarrow) were lecturing at the Gran’ Via Hotel, the- insurgents recommenced bombarding the city. A shell crashed in a theatre opposite, killing eight and injuring many. The shelling continued throughout the day, 15 being killed and 40 injured. The Councillor for Public Order announces the arrest of 53 people following the discovery of an espionage organisation. Documents seized contained the names of conspirators and passwords and described acts of sabotage contemplated when the rebels were closer to the city. There was also a plot to close house doors throughout the city and guard their entrances, enabling a massacre of republicans to be made.

Meanwhile the conspirators were heliographing to the rebels the movements of the loyalist troops. . The organisation included disguised priests supplied with money from Italy. POIGNANT SCENES Truce in .Fighting for Burial of Dead (Received April 18, 7.30 p.m.) London, April 18. The British United Press correspondent at Madrid says several hours’ truce at El Pardo enabled the burial of 50 dead to be made in “no man’s land.” There were strange scenes, the coflinbearers exchanging cigarettes and reminiscences, and engaging in arguments, each trying to persuade the other that he was espousing a lost cause. There was a poignant incident when two brothers fighting on opposite sides embraced and went apart to exchange family news, and then returned to their own lines when the bugle called off the truce. The Paris correspondent of “The Times” says that although the French Government is equally as anxious as the British not to extend the Spanish conflict, French vessels are prepared to run the Bilbao gauntlet, and will do so without disapproval until there is proof that the seas are mine-strewn. Basque Claims Not Confirmed. The diplomatic correspondent of the “Sunday Times” says information officially received in London does not confirm the Basque claims that the harbour entrance has been cleared of mines, or that the shore batteries are able to protect ships in territorial waters. A message from Valencia states that the insurgents bombed Andujar and Almeria from the air, killing 22 and injuring 31. A message from Amsterdam states that the insurgents seized the Dutch steamer Sarkani as it was passing through the Strait of Gibraltar without a convoy, the Dutch cruiser Java having refused this because she is only protecting vessels not transporting arms and ammunition to Spain. SIEGE OF MONASTERY Republicans Take Famous Sanctuary London, April 16. The Madrid correspondent of the British United Press agency reports that a nine months’ siege ended when Republicans entered the famous sanctary of Virgin de la Cabeza, a monastery fortress among the peaks of Sierra Morena, which has been named “the Alcazar of the South.” In the monastery w’ere sheltered 1200 civil guards and Fascist phalangists and their wives and children, who marched out of Jaen Province on the outbreak of the war, took refuge in the fortress, and hoisted the rebel flag. The loyalists’ offensive at Cordoba sealed the fate of the fortress. The Republicans, after demanding their surrender, advanced under a barrage to-day and found that the garrison had departed by night. WORKING CLASS SUFFERS Rebel Bombardments of Madrid (Received April 18, 7.30 p.m. Madrid, April 17. Miss Eleanor Rathbone, Independent member of the House of Commons for the Combined Universities, supporting the Duchess of Atholl in a broadcast to Britain as chairman of the National Joint Committee for Spanish Relief, said the working class quarters, on which the rebels apparently concentrated, had suffered most from the bombardments. In one quarter 200 were killed and 400 wounded in a single week.