GIRL LEADER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22628, 16 January 1937, Page 2 (Supplement)

GIRL LEADER

CIVIL WAR HORRORS MEN MADE TO WHIP NUNS FIRING SQUAD ENDS CAREER LONDON, Dec. M Never before have women taken such a conspicuous part in a war as the Spanish women have in the present civil strife. The Basque, "La Passionara," whose real name is Dolores Jbbarui, and who has been acting as a Communist envoy touring Europe to obtain support for the cause of the Government, undoubtedly is the best known among the Spanish Amazons.

But there*are many more. Some of the most famous of these are: Victoria Kent, who is known for lier work in. the Spanish prisons; Clara Carnpoamork, daughter of a well-known Spanish poet, wlio committed suicide when she heard of the victories of the rebels at the beginning of the war; the young anarchist, Margerita Neklken, daughter of a German emigrant, who became 11 Spanish national, and Dolores i'riino de Hivera y Cobo de Guzman, daughter of the former dictator, I'rirno de Rivera, who fights for Franco's cause. .Most of these names have become internationally known with the civil war occupying more and more exclusively the columns of the newspapers in London, and even the provincial towns. Real Name Kept Secret Senorita Moron, a beautiful girl of 19, however, surely stands out as the most remarkable among the female military leaders. She was recently shot by the executive committee of the rebels, into whose hands she had fallen. Her real name was never revealed, though it was known she was a member of a well-to-do middle class family of the little town of Moron, near Seville. She was brought up in a convent, but the education she received there does not appear to have been a great success, for when she left the convent she was filled with the most extravagant hatred against all forms of religious life.

After finishing her school career she lived like most Spanish daughters of well-to-do families, taking an interest in sports and becoming very popular at social gatherings in Moron and Seville. Jii the summer of 10-'io, she was elected "Senorita Moron," the most beautiful girl in her native town. Then she suddenly left home and took up politics with fervent enthusiasm. Within a few weeks Senorita Moron became the leader of the local Communist organisation, and when the civil war broke out she nt once organised the local militia and led her men in the fight against the insurgents. Convent Invaded The first action of the former convent pupil was to attack the convent of Santa Clara, where she had been educated. At the head of her troops she invaded the convent budding and confiscated all its money and valuable works of art. She had all the 28 nuns arrested and transported to a prison, where she ordered them to be whipped as a revenge for the many inhuman punishments she alleged they had inflicted on her while she was their pupil. All the prisoners taken by her soldiers she ordered to be executed, and the same fate was meted out to anv who were suspected of backing the cause of the insurgents. Thirteen members of the civil guards who had opposed her troops when they took Moron were executed in public in the market square. One of them who was only slightly wounded in the execution feigned to be dead and managed to escape in the general turmoil. When the Franco troops a few weeks later succeeded in conquering the town it was "Senorita Moron" who put up the most resolute resistance.

She was one of the prisoners and the court-martial of the insurgents sentenced her to death. 'together with her troops she was executed on the same spot where she had a short time previously ordered her enemies to be shot.—K.X'.A. (Copyright.)