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LOAGAVUSSING Dre & cy wipiomatl _ phate living in Asolo “|Mis. Freya Stark. Newsman Discovers Plenty of Evidence But Misses Man By Hugo Kuranda ASOLO, Italy, July 2 (NANA- Kemnews).—Pblice I have spoken. to in Asolo hafe no dotibt that the; Englishman gd the Villa La Mur; was Guy Burgpss. J have no rea- son to suppote they are wrong. There is plenty of evidence here. I missed Burgess by some 72; . hours. He disappeared suddenly! enn ene Guy Burgess, missing British diplomat, fas been reported troced to the fron tier of Northeastern itely. The vital clue to the whereabouts of the former Foreign Office employe, who dis- sppecred with Doneld MecLeon, 13 months ago, unearthed in London. Reporters ned te trock down Burgess. This dispatch recounts whet transpire Se after a mysterious telephone call, tw the local police had warned; them of his presence in the vicin- ity. When the message from London reached me in Rome, I telephoned to the Asolo police. I asked theri. if they could help me contact “an] English friend of mine” living’ there—and gave them a full de-; scription of Guy Burgess without’ mentioning his name. the police at once fired a suc- cegsion of questions at me, was 1? What did I want?) Why dig I believe my friend was in Asolo? As Iwas attempting some harm- Jess explanation, the girl at the Asolo telephone exchange sud- denly broke into the conversation, Operator Gives Clue. “I know them.” she said. “I: ve seen Mr. Burgess, but I have, en the lady. They live at the, a" Before she could say any more: the police officer interrupied her angrily, shouting: “Who told you to give information to the public?” ‘ They were furious at the girl for, stving away what they were trying ‘to conceal. I had learned enough to make me leave at once for Asolo, Asolo, though only 50 miles from Venice, is hard to get at. It was a long ‘This time I found the officer in jman here," Who; AP witeonete. GUY BURGESS. charge of the local police in per- son. He had obviously decided against anv further attempts at, concealment. “We did have such an English- he told me. “We have, many strangers here from time to: time, who come to visit your poet ‘Robert Browning's home at Asolo, but this one was different from the: Urest of the English. “He was thick-set, about 5 feet| 8 inches hich. He had a strong ‘beard, and always wore a Panama Hat.” Identified From Clipping Ishowed the officer a newspaper ,cutting with a photo of Burgess :(who was clean-shaven when he left England). He studied it in- tently for some time, then with a ‘ture. “That's him allright. He stayed with Engtish people, one of them a Mr, Samue¥Langford, of London, who for the past six months has) Mura adjoining the Browning house. “Four nights ago we received an janonymous phone cail. It was a ‘foreign voice. We were told to watch that stranger with the beard. “When we checked up the fol: lowing morning the man with the beard was not there. His name? Ah, but you must understand we are not notified about visitors who come only for a short stay.” ‘The police officer chuckled. “But I dar+ say his presence here has been réted by the British. We \pencil drew a beard on the pic-| been living here in the Villa La! S KEporte 2 ‘itish Bey. 9 we ki worked for the Brita... intelligence! service. She is warmly disposed; towards Italy. We get on fine with; her. I went up the hill in blinding: i sunshine to the Villa La Mura. I) ‘was shown into Langford’s study: by an Italian maid who spoke per- fect English. Volunteers Information Langford is a tall, red-haired man of about 35. Without waiting for me to state my business he said: “Iam afraid I can tell you noth- ing about Guy. But he isn't here, nor has he been here. I think he is dead.” Pressed to explain himself, Langford finally said: “Well, Fi never was a Communist. I knew him very well and saw a lot of him when we worked together in Lon- don. That was before I came, labroad. I am doing free lance journalistic work here in Ttaly, tn- cluding photography, mainly for, America.” “How do you know I have come to inquire about Guy Burgess?” I asked, quickly. “Oh well!" Langford hestitated. “But everybody does. “And the man with the beard! the police say stayed with you un-' til three days ago?" “That was a friend from home. A colleague of mine. No, I really know nothing about Guy,” After a pause he as 2 “What else did the police tell you about me?” I called next at the house where the police said Mrs. Fre yf tark, |the famous explorer and duthoress jand former member of the British intelligence service, was staying. The Jady had just left for an unknown address. Diplomats Traced. Evidence that the missing Brit- ish diplomats Guy Burgess and Donald MacLean may have trav- eled to Poland in a Polish ship] from Dunkirk & few days after | | they were last seen in Brittany in| |May of last year has been obtained | iby German intelligence agents’ ‘from a Communist agent arrested | in Bremen. — members of the iltegal eastern’ }German Communist sabotage or-« - The wa —_—-—— yay 4, Langford looked taken aback. j The Germans were searching Toes . raced to italy Ganization Wollweber in Ngrth now! German ports., They picked‘up a Pole of Ger- man origin named Edmun eRe ener whose job was to att as a secret courier between Communist agents in French, and German ports and Poland, For these trips he traveled to ,and fro between Western Europe and Danzig on the Polish ship Warmia, He told the Germans; that two Englishmen whose de-/ scriptions fitted those of Burg, 8s! and MacLean traveled on Warmia from Dunkirk to Da: in May 1951, After questioning, the 50-year- old “salesman” made # full con- fession. He admitted working foi the Wollweber spy ring. which is) ‘sending large supplies of machine. guns, rifles and other armaments” ig, Mr. Cleeg — Mr. Glavin Mr. Harho ._. om. shington Post 1952