SPAIN: Conspiracy

Major Isaac Gabaldon was a Spanish Civil Guard investigator responsible for tracking down and turning over to military tribunals many Spanish Republicans. Despite thousands of former Loyalists imprisoned and executed by the New Spain, underground resistance remains. Fortnight ago Major Gabaldon's chauffeur halted his automobile near Alcala de Henares when three men in the uniform of Army captains raised their arms in a signal to stop. It was an ambush. Seven hitchhikers climbed in the car, shot the Major, his 17-year-old daughter, the chauffeur, then tossed the bodies into a ditch.

Two hours later police caught the seven murderers driving the Major's car into Madrid. One hundred more suspects were rounded up from the neighborhood of the crime. The authorities stated that they had uncovered a nest of conspirators recruited "from the most sinister Marxist underworld" who called themselves "The Clan of Class Vengeance with Blood." Major Gabaldon's name was claimed to be merely one on a coded "death list" of Franco officers.

Last week end 61 alleged plotters were tried in batches and executed, 53 by shooting, seven by the garrote which chokes and punctures the spine. More arrests were promised.