National Affairs: Gitlow Lost & Found

MINOR PARTIES Gitlow Lost & Found

Missing—between San Diego, Calif., and Phoenix, Ariz.—one Nominee for Vice President of the U. S. His name was Benjamin Gitlow. He was a Communist—six feet high, a 200-pounder with black hair, swart skin, bright black eyes, long fingers, very large feet, round shoulders. His friends suspected a Klannish plot, or strong-arm work by the American Legion, which had warned him not to visit Phoenix. William O’Brien, candidate of the Workers’ (Communist) Party for Governor of Arizona, began searching small-town jails through the Southwest. Suspicion pointed to El Paso, in the western corner of Texas, then to Nogales, on the Arizona-Mexico Border. Attorney-General Sargent and Governor Hunt of Arizona were both notified they would be held responsible for the Nominee’s safety. There were two days of minor furore in minor circles. Then up turned Nominee Gitlow in Houston, Tex. He had not been kidnapped, he said. He had merely tarried two extra days in San Diego.