Continuation of the Frances Patai Papers

As I am browsing through the Frances Patai Papers, I come across a woman named Cleo Duncan. When I open the folder on her, the first thing that pops up about her says "seems like a koook" Obviously, whoever wrote this did not believe in the legitimacy of Cleo Duncan; on the same page, the author remarked that there was not a lot known about her, just very vicious gossip. Of course, this prompted me to look further into the folder.

Cleo Duncan was, like most women involved in the Spanish Civil War, a nurse. As claimed by a telegram, she was "neither poised, serious nor cultured and is entirely innocent of political convictions. But wait...wasn't everyone involved in the Spanish Civil War involved somehow politically with the Communist Party?

Reading on, it spoke about how Cleo Duncan was a relatively useless nurse, as she didn't speak Spanish, nor did she really contribute much to the war effort. On the second page of this telegram, however, it says that she was leaving Spain, and as she was awaiting transportation her arrest took place. Why would they arrest such a seemingly worthless person?? It just didn't make much sense.

Apparently, however, foreigners who desired to leave Spain in such a manner aroused suspicions in authorities, such as in the case of Cleo Duncan. Upon search of Miss Duncan, authorities found a letter addressed to a soldier in Spain.

Here are some question that Miss Duncan answered upon her questioning as given by her statement:

Why did you come to Spain? - Humanitarian reasons only.
How does Roosevelt send his info to America?- What information?
Is the Mayor a Fascist?- I don't know.


I think I am very interested in Espionage during the Spanish Civil War.