SEVENTH VICTIM

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 264, 5 October 1940, Page 7

SEVENTH VICTIM

RUMANIAN KIDNAPPING. INDIGNATION AT HOME. (United Press Association—Copyright.) (British Official Wireless.) (Rec. 9.55 a.m.) RUGBY, Oct. 4. Confirmation has reached London of the kidnapping in Bucharest of a seventh British subject, Mr Percy Clark, president of an engineering firm at Ploesti. He was kidnapped by three men who tricked him into leaving his hotel in Athenee Places in the. centre of Bucharest.

No further developments have occurred in regard to the other detained men and no further report has been received from the Consul regarding the condition of the five men who are in the hands of the police and who when last seen bore signs of maltreatment. While it is recognised that the brutal hooliganism of which Mr Miller and ■Mr Clark are the latest victims owes its origin. to German 5 elements, indignation here is acute, and it is felt the Rumanian Government cannot escape the responsibility for this uncivilised conduct:''* ’' v ' : ; •

The disappearance of Mr Miller is considered to be possibly connected with unexploited oil deposits of wh.clj he has secret details.

The British Legation has denied the German radio version of M. Sturdza’s communication.

The Rumanian authorities declare they are unable to act, and the Iron Guard denies knowledge of the kidnapping. The Legation’s repeated demands for the trial or release of the five Britons arrested a week ago remain unanswered.

Tlie Berlin radio says the Rumanian Foreign Minister (M. Sturdza) has rejected the British Minister’s protest against the arrests and accused him of being involved in sabotage plans in which those arrested were implicated. M. Sturdza asked the Minister to resign. The Times’s correspondent in Bucharest says thugs on the frontiers are bullying departing Britons. The strongest possible pressure from Britain is necessary to meet the situation, which is still deteriorating. ■ A later. message says the police have advised' the Legation that Mr Miller lias been located. He is being detained at the local police headquarters. The British Legation staff, after-see-ing Mr Miller, stated that he hhd been subjected to the “third degree” and beaten during" the 48 hours in which he was held by the kidnappers. It is officially stated in Bucharest that the arrested British subjects will be tried in the Courts. Professor Esk, a French journalist, is reported to have been arrested for complicity in a British sabotage plot.