The Dripping Dagger

In Athens' swank Grande Bretagne Hotel, someone slipped a note under the door of the suite occupied by Lieut. General James A. Van Fleet, the U.S. commander in Greece. The note appeared to have been written in blood. It bore the crudely lettered words, "Tomorrow you die," and a picture of a blood-dripping dagger.

Athens was already nervous because of a renewed flurry of Communist sabotage. Some unguarded telephone stations had been blown up, and Communist pamphlets were attacking the new government, U.S. aid, and--most venomously--General Van Fleet, who was referred to as "Murderer Van Flit." Towering, husky Van Fleet, who led a regiment across the Normandy beaches in 1944 and rose to be a division commander in four months, was not alarmed by the threat on his life, but the Athenian authorities were. How had the note-bearer escaped the vigilance of two detectives constantly on guard in the general's corridor?

The Grande Bretagne's guests were put under surveillance, employees were questioned, "incoming parcels were screened. Despite his pooh-poohs, Van Fleet was escorted on his way to & from his office by two bodyguards. Finally one of the hotel's house dicks, studying the note, recognized the dripping dagger as the emblem of a gang he had encountered before. In 15 minutes its members were rounded up.

The ringleader was the nine-year-old son of a U.S. officer living down the hall from Van Fleet. He and his fellow desperadoes, high-spirited American youngsters, had already made a name for themselves as "Athens' Dead End Kids." Written with a mother's lipstick, the note had been slipped under the general's door while the gang was at play in the corridor. Action recommended: sound spankings. Action taken: as recommended.

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