"Grave Concern"

When he reached Madrid two months ago U. S. Ambassador Claude Gernade Bowers beamingly declared that ''President Roosevelt profoundly admires the Spanish people." Taken to a bullfight, he exclaimed, "I was tremendously impressed. It evoked memories of spectacles in ancient Rome. I have never seen such color and tensity!"

Ambassador Bowers wrote a column for Hearstpapers until just before his appointment. He was advertised as "The Fighter Who Never Pulled His Punches." Last week on Spain's Island of Mallorca the live middle-class U. S. citizens (one female) who had sat in jail for seven weeks on flimsy charges of assaulting a civil guard (TIME, July 24) were still waiting for Fighter Bowers to do something and at least get them out on bail.

In Madrid during a sweltering summer Spaniards dodge fights. The Foreign Office referred Ambassador Bowers to the War Office, remarking that so much as to threaten a member of Spain's famed Guardia Civil is a serious military crime. The War Office balked Mr. Bowers by stating that War Minister Manuel Azana (who is also Premier of Spain) was on vacation, and that that was that. In Washington, after receiving cabled reports, U. S. Acting Secretary of State William Phillips called in Spanish Ambassador Juan Francisco de Cardenas, asked him pleasantly to bring pressure for the five's release.

Meanwhile the secretary of Mallorca's Tourist Agency, Judge Francisco Vidal, had been appointed to try the case. He knew well his duty to Mallorcan prejudice, by which U. S. tourists are rated "too fresh," U. S. women "prostitutes" because they drink and wear beach pajamas in public. He knew what U. S. tourists were threatening, knew also his duty to the Spanish Guardia Civil. "There must be a trial, even if it means an American boycott of Mallorca," cried Judge Vidal, "and I cannot grant bail."

Once again in Washington the Spanish Ambassador was asked to the State Department, told that the matter was now one of "grave concern"--fairly strong diplomatic talk. In Madrid, Ambassador Bowers received a letter from the male prisoners: "We are now four in a cell. . . . The stench is unbelievable." They concluded that the female prisoner, Mrs. Caroline Lockwood, "shows alarming signals of an approaching breakdown." In his tourist bureau Judge Vidal said authoritatively. "They cannot expect first-class hotel life while in jail."

Finally Ambassador Bowers caught Premier Azana and delivered his diplomatic punch. Mr. Bowers knew that the Premier could not antagonize the Guardia Civil, chief prop of Spanish law & order under the Republic as it was under the Monarchy, but surely bail--high if necessary--could be arranged? As Minister of War the Premier is Commander of the Guardia Civil. He conferred with its chiefs in Madrid, then cabled orders to Mallorca.

Bail was set at the sum--enormous for Mallorca--of 10,000 pesetas ($1,175) per prisoner. Promptly Prisoner Rutherford Fullerton, grandnephew of U. S. President Rutherford B. Hayes and wealthy retired businessman of Columbus, Ohio, emerged from jail with Mrs. Lockwood whose nervous breakdown was declared "narrowly averted." They were met by a cheering crowd, composed partly of U. S. tourists and partly of Mallorcan natives.

Mrs. Lockwood, safe in a private villa, gasped, "I feel weak and have lost eight pounds in weight. I want to go away from here." Mr. Fullerton returned to the Hotel Mediterraneo where the Guardia Civil had been assaulted and had smacked Mrs. Lockwood with the flat of his sword. "Provided we are all treated fairly," said Mr. Fullerton, ''I will continue to live in Mallorca after the trial. Americans here have a bad name among Mallorcans. There should be a better understanding on both sides."

Meanwhile the Mallorcan authorities decided that, having collected 20,000 pesetas bail from two prisoners, they might as well release the other three, Edmund Blodgett, Roderick Mead and Mrs. Lockwood's husband Clinton. Judge Vidal collected the five passports, ordered the bailed-out Americans to report daily to him, lest they leave Mallorca. In Madrid diplomatic compliments were exchanged between Ambassador Bowers and Premier Azana who promised ''expeditious conclusion" of the trial. It was expected to end in sentences of imprisonment so short that the five U. S. citizens can be declared to have served their time while being detained in jail, thus saving the honor of the Guardia Civil.

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