◆ SpookStack

a By Don Cook * From the Herald Tribune Burean © 1958, N.Y. Herald Tribune Ine, LONDON, Feb. 13.—The reap- pearance in Moscow of missing diplomats Donald Maclean and ‘suy Burgess brought ‘the first reference in the British press to~ day to yet another hitherto secret aspect of -the case—the existence of a “Cairo letter" which suggests that in 1950 Maclean was receiving secret AMmerican’ documents from a contact in the American Em- bassy in Caira, On. assignment in Cairo three months. ago, this correspondent was told the story of the dis- covery of the “Cairo letter,” which had only recently oc- curred, The story was given ta me in confidence, and there was every reason to respect that con- fidence since the matter clearly was under intense security in- vestigation and the whereabouts of Burgess and Maclean was still a mystery, Now Can Be Teld But with the public reference in the British press to the exist- ence of the “Cairo letter, here ‘ds the full story: ....-. Early Jast November, a user jof the British Embassy library ‘in Cairo was leafing through @ ,ubrary book when suddeniv_out dropped an envelope containing @ letter addressed to Donald Eclean. Maclean had heen head of the political department of the British Embassy in Caira from 1948 until he was abruptly. sent home on the first available aircraft after wrecking tha apartment of an American girl In a drunken brawl in May, 1950, The letter was dated that month, and clearly Maclean had .- left Cairo without having time to “pick up his mail.” Signed by an American ( The finder of the letter con. sulted a friend in the British Embassy, who formed the ims Mediate view that it was a coded message of some sort and the letter was immediately turne over to MI-5, the intelligence branch of the embassy. Of thd greatest apparent significanc was the fact that the letter wai signed by an American, with indications that i¢ may hava been an employee of the Amer« ican Embassy immediately across the street in Cairo from ithe British Embassy. The letter was a series of cryptic sentences with referd ences of a clearly conspiratorial sort that only the recipien{ would fully understand. Ond sentence ran: “David is verj cautious about Donald's replace4 ment and doesn’ know what hi is like.” : The letter also carried a refer4 ence to shirts and towels. Even a superficial appraisal led to thé conclusion that Maclean had ay American contact and the twd were using the British Embassy TConrmnied on page 4, .calumn 3 TAA LZ Maclean (Continued from page one} library for their’ “communica- |tions drop’"——a favorite device of espionage. However, after Maclean left Cairo, the British began work ion a hew embassy chancery ‘puildine, which was completed last October, and much of the embassy Hbrary had been in storage until transferred to new quarters, where the letter was found. One other odd circumstantial aspect of the affair is the fact that the American girl whose flat Maclean wrecked. while drunk that night in May, 1950. was employed in the American Embassy library. Maclean ar- rived at the girl's apartment very late, having seen her earlier in the evening af a cock- tall party. By this time he and a friend with him were quite drunk, and they burst in and began pulling down curtains. smashing pictures and doing other damage. | Flees and Calls Help The girl fled and telephoned ‘for help, and by the time the police arrived the apartment was a shambles and the two men had passed out. American Ambassador Jcffer- son Caffery Next morning, as the first business of the day, walked across the street to Brit- ish Ambassador Sir Ralph Stev- ‘enson, formally declared Mac- lean to be “persona non grata” to the American Embassy and demanded damages for the girl's effects, : Sir Ratphn ordered Maclean ‘put on the first airplane leav- ing Cairo and did not even per- mit him to come inte the em- bassy to clean up his desk. He was airbound for London by 2 o'clock that afternoon, Hence theré was scarcely an lsny conspiratorial mail in the ‘embassy library. But the affair certainly gives the He to the as- sertion in Lhe Moscow statement that neither Burgess nor Mac- Jean had acted as Communist agents. —__COO The American Embassy in re rr 4 Cairo Knows of the discovery of the “Cairo letter,” buts—+he—ee tent to which the British may, have communicated the details, to the American Embassy or| have examined with American! authorities the question of who| the American author of the Ict- ter to Maclean might have been is not, of course, known to this reporter. In any case, such a decision would lave been taken secretly in London, and not Cairo, As a footnote to the affair,, Maclean in Cairo o¢cupied a: large Yesidence awned by the British government, and as vf December telsphone bills webe still coming in his name. t taxes a long time to gel auc ¢ opportunity for him to pick up tories changed in Cairo. | er