In police custody, Trotsky’s assassin, Ramon Mercader, began to weave a series of diversionary and contradictory stories about his identity and his mission in Mexico. He first of all claimed to be a loyal member of the Fourth International sent from Paris to work for Trotsky, but who became disillusioned. Later he said that he was driven to kill Trotsky because of political disagreements over Stalin and Stalinism. Still later he claimed that it was over his relations with Sylvia Ageloff and finally he embarked on the tale that the murder took place when Trotsky assaulted him during an argument over the article he had written. On the morning of August 21, 1940, the day after the assassination, Trotsky’s secretariat at Coyoacan issued a statement on the murderous attack:
Leon Trotsky is now struggling with death, the odds greatly against him. He was struck down by an agent of Stalin’s GPU. This second assault was foreseen and predicted by Leon Trotsky immediately after the previous assault on May 24, 1940. The form it would take was unknown. The facts of yesterday’s attack are briefly as follows: Mr. Trotsky knew the assassin, Frank Jackson, personally for more than six months. Jackson enjoyed the confidence of Leon Trotsky because of his connections with the Trotskyist movement in France and the United States. He was known as a generous financial sympathizer. Jackson visited the house frequently. At no time did we have the least ground to suspect that he was an agent of the GPU.
Later in the statement there is a further reference to Mercader:
The role of Jackson is sinister indeed. He was in Paris at the time of the disappearance of Rudolf Klement, former secretary of Trotsky, who was murdered by the GPU and whose body was found floating in the Seine River without head or arms or legs. His penetration of the household in Coyoacan was clearly premeditated for a long time. It is very possible he took a leading role in the assault of May 24. It may have been he who convinced Robert Sheldon Harte to open the door for the assassins that night. The secret of the identity meant death to Harte. This would explain why Jackson went to the United States immediately after the May 24 assault—undoubtedly to protect himself in case his name was mentioned in connection with the assault. During the last weeks when everything quietened down, he returned to Mexico under orders from the GPU to complete the job.
The GPU undoubtedly had some powerful hold over Jackson. They may have threatened to expose his role in connection with that of Harte. They may have threatened him with death if he did not carry through a second assault, after his failure as one of the leaders in the assault of May 24. During his struggle with the guards he cried out several times, “They have imprisoned my mother!” Later “I want to die.” It may be that the GPU threatened him with the death of relatives of his in Russia or elsewhere.
Stalin, the grave-digger of the October Revolution and the murderer of the entire Bolshevik generation, has succeeded in delivering what seems to be a mortal blow against the last remaining leader of that heroic epoch.
This statement is the first and only mention that Mercader was “a generous financial sympathizer.” In an article published in the Fourth International in October 1940, Joseph Hansen writes:
In talking with the guards, he was careful to mention the donations he claimed he had given to the French section. He told Jake Cooper that he knew Rudolf Klement; was in Paris when the GPU had foully murdered him. He was fond of mentioning that he had met James P. Cannon in Paris. Thus he built up an impression of himself as one known to our people.
The very first thing to emerge during the police investigation was that Mornard, carrying a Canadian passport in the name of Frank Jacson, was neither Belgian, nor French, nor Canadian. His story was further complicated by the fact that when he applied for an American transit visa on June 12, 1940, he stated that he was born in Yugoslavia. Miss Sylvia Ageloff, who was also in custody, cleared up some of the mystery when she told police that she knew his passport was forged. Under interrogation Mercader persisted with the fiction that he was Belgian. Accordingly, the US Embassy arranged for the Belgian Charge d’Affaires to visit his prison cell and talk to him. The US consul, George P. Shaw, reported to his superiors in Washington on September 1:
...the Belgian Charge d’Affaires informed me that he was convinced Morrnard is not a Belgian, because he does not speak French with a Belgian accent, but rather with a Parisian accent; that the address he gave in Brussels is not a residence nor in a section of the city that he stated; that there is no St. Ignatius Loyola College in Brussels which he claims to have attended; that the Belgian minister in Persia from 1904 to 1908 was named T’serstevens (Mornard has claimed that his father was the Belgian minister in Persia in those years and that he had been born in Teheran while his father was serving in that place.) Mornard claimed his brother Roberto is at present in the Belgian consular service but the Belgian Charge states that the Belgian diplomatic and consular lists fail to show any such name.
His passport fraud was quickly unmasked. US consul Shaw got in touch with the British Consul General Rees in Mexico City and got proof that passport No. 31377 issued at Ottawa on March 22, 1937, was originally issued to a naturalized British subject by the name of Tony Babich for the purpose of allowing him to return to his native Yugoslavia. Instead of going to Yugoslavia, Babich joined the International Brigade and fought in the Spanish Civil War, where he was killed. Albert Goldman, Trotsky’s American lawyer, easily pieced together how it came into Mercader’s possession.
Who controlled the International Brigade? It is a matter of common knowledge that the Stalinists—that is, the GPU—controlled the International Brigade. It is a matter of common knowledge that the GPU took away the passport of every volunteer fighting in the Brigade, including American and Canadian volunteers. It is matter of common knowledge that the GPU kept the passports of every volunteer who was either killed in action or killed by the GPU. It is a matter of common knowledge that the GPU utilized those passports for their agents all over the world. More than any other bit of evidence in the record of the whole case, conclusively proving that Jacson was a GPU agent, is that the passport used by Jacson was one belonging to an individual who fought in the International Brigade and died in Spain.
Although its number was known and details of it had been recorded at ports of entry, the passport was never found. Mercader claimed that he burned all items of personal identification before he drove to Trotsky’s house to kill him.
Further details did emerge about Mercader’s finances. Sylvia Ageloff told police that on his arrival in the United States on September 2, 1939, he had given her $3,000 in US currency. She had deposited it in her credit in a bank on Broadway, New York. In his secret memorandum to the State Department dated September 1, 1940, Shaw explained what had happened to this money:
It has been established, however, that on October 5, 1939, Frank Jacson purchased a letter of credit from the American Express Company in New York for $2,500 and that he made the following withdrawals in cash in Mexico City:
November 15, 1939: $300
December 13, 1939: $250
December 14, 1939: $150
December 21, 1939: $150
December 22, 1939: $50
December 29, 1939: $50
January 13, 1940: $100Total: $1,050
The above withdrawals were made in cash at the office of Wells Fargo (agents of the American Express Company in Mexico City). Further withdrawals were made by Jacson at the offices of the Mexican Aviation Company and the Banco Nacional de Mexico, as follows:
Jan. 12, 1940: Mexican Aviation Company
Jan. 12, 1940: Banco Nacional de Mexico
January 18, 1940: Banco Nacional de Mexico
January 23, 1940: Banco Nacional de Mexico
February 28, 1940: Banco Nacional de Mexico
May 11, 1940: Banco Nacional de Mexico for a total of $1,150.It has been ascertained that on January 12, 1940 he sold traveler’s checks CL530,864 and CL530,865 totalling $100 at the Compania Mexicana de Aviacion for pesos. The above transactions left a balance of $300, which he withdrew at the office of the American Express Company, at 65 Broadway, New York, NY, on June 27, 1940. It is particularly interesting to note that in effecting the withdrawals in Mexico City he presented as identification the Canadian passport issued in Ottawa on March 22, 1937, and also a British certificate of naturalization issued in Ottawa in 1929. This is the only mention in the case so far of the appearance of such a certificate of naturalization and it would indicate that it might be the certificate issued to Tony Babich in that year.
Using other facilities open to it, the embassy also managed to get hold of photographs and fingerprints of the two in police custody. In a coded telegram to Washington on August 31, 11 days after the assassination, Shaw reported:
Referring to the Department’s telegram of August 29, 5 p.m. photograph of Jacson is in Department’s possession on Transit certificate No. 328. Fingerprints of him and Ageloff were obtained informally by FBI and have been forwarded to Washington. The judge has promised to permit me to examine the dossier of the case for the first time tomorrow. All available information will be sent by air to reach the department Tuesday morning.
But although Shaw had gathered certain information, he was experiencing local difficulties. He mentioned these to his bosses in Washington: “The police have not been at all cooperative in this case ...” After explaining what evidence he had been able to see, Shaw went on:
The foregoing brings the investigation to the point where it is concluded that the police have deliberately withheld certain evidence which may be presented later and that the statement that everything thus far had been turned over to the judge is incorrect. The Judge, Licenciado Raul Carranca Y Trujillo, stated in answer to a direct question by the writer that while he was not officially informed of anything additional, it was his personal understanding that room No. 113 in the Hotel Montejo where Sylvia Ageloff and Mornard had stayed until the day of the crime, had been and still was sealed by the police and its contents were known only to them.
Neither of the Mexican tourist identification cards mentioned in the testimony appear attached thereto, although a photostatic copy appeared in the press of the card which had been used by Mornard. This and other statements by unofficial persons lead the writer to the conclusion that the police can furnish a good deal more information than has been made available.
After sifting unofficially through the police evidence and exhibits, Shaw filed this summary to Washington on September 1. The spelling in the documents is poor. Jacson appears as Jackson and Rosmer is spelled Rosemere. Natalia Trotsky’s age is given as 70, when she was in fact 58. We have left the errors and printed the document in full:
The pseudonym of Leon Trotsky is given as Leon Davidovich Bronstein.
Statement of Kurt Fritz Otto Schuesler Sondersorge: Says he supposes Trotsky met Jacson through Sylvia Ageloff. Both of them advised Schuesler that Jacson dealt in sugar and petroleum in Mexico.
Attorney Goldman stated he was expecting proof of certain statements and other data from the United States, and offered to present these as soon as they are received. He believes it possible that Sylvia Ageloff may have introduced Mornard to Trotsky.
Joseph Le Roy Hansen: 30 years of age, born in Salt Lake City, Utah. Journalist. Jacson told him after the May 24 assault that he was leaving for the United States.
Jacson stated to Hansen that the GPU on the next assault would use different methods from those used on May 24, but he did not know just what methods would be used.
Hansen states Sylvia was in Mexico in 1937 and at that time visited Trotsky’s house.
Hansen denies that Ruth Ageloff was Trotsky’s Secretary.
Hansen says he does not know what friends Jacson had in Mexico or in the United States.
Hansen says Jacson was armed with a Colt automatic 45 caliber pistol.
Hansen declares that Jacson cried in French that his mother was imprisoned, and at the same time in English said, “Sylvia is not to blame.” Also that Jacson cried in French “My mother, My mother!”
Hansen stated that Trotsky had told him Jacson had at one time given a certain amount of money to the Paris section of the Trotsky Party. Amount not known.
Rodolfo Clement was Trotsky’s Secretary between 1934 and 1937 in Paris and Trotsky knew when Jacson had called on him in Mexico, D.F. that he, Jacson, had been in Paris between the dates mentioned. Clement was secretary of the Executive Committee of the Fourth International.
Official David Gasca Solis testifies that Jacson was using license plates D-2147 on a Buick automobile.
Policeman no. 3121 said that Jacson pleaded “Please kill me! Kill me! If my fathers know this, they die!”
Natalia Sedoff de Trotsky: Originally of Ronni de Pottava, Russia, 70 years of age. University professor. Married. Declares that Sylvia left for New York before Marnard after the first attempt on Trotsky’s life, and returned to Mexico three days after Jacson.
Mrs. Trotsky says she is sure that Sylvia Ageloff is not implicated.
Harold Robbins (one of Trotsky’s Secretaries): Born in New York; bachelor, painter, 32 years of age.
Hansen told Jacson he would not be killed, but that his bones would be crushed and his body filled with holes unless he told who had sent him to kill Trotsky.
When accused that the GPU had sent him Jacson said it had not been the GPU, but “a man” whom he did not know but who had forced him to do it.
Robbins: Jacson said that he was sent by Bartole Paris (possible confusion with Bartolo Perez) whom he knew in Paris.
Charles Cornell (Olney Cornell) born in Cochise, Arizona; bachelor; primary school instructor; 29 years of age. Also heard Jacson say: “They have got my mother.”
Sylvia Ageloff Maslow: Born in New York—Brooklyn. Single. Professor of Child Psychology; 31 years old, living in Room 113, Hotel Mantejo. Stated that in July, 1938 knew Frank Jacson in Paris under the name of Jacques Mornard Vandendreschel. Saw him for first time at the Hotel St. Germain D’Pres; that in August 1938 she went from Paris to Brussels. Back in Paris in September. She went to Europe exclusively as a tourist between the 6th and 9th of January (February) of the following year (1939). She came back to New York alone. From that date until September 1939 she corresponded with Jacson until he came to New York, having stated verbally that he came with a false passport because that was the only possibility he had of having it visaed. Lived in New York together approximately one month. Jacson stated he had to leave for Mexico to join his so-called employer, Peter Lubeck, who paid him 50 dollars a week for his work. Jackson stated that his employer was an important purchasing agent in Mexico of articles of English consumption: petroleum, copper, sugar, old iron, etc. When he arrived in New York from Europe he delivered to Sylvia three thousand dollars which she deposited in the bank (Judge said some bank on Broadway, New York) which she later returned to him.
In January 1940 she came to Mexico to join Jacson who told her his employer’s office was at Edificio Ermita, room 820. That in March when her sister was to be operated upon she telephoned to the number which he had given her with a view to finding him. The number did not correspond to the offices and for this reason she commissioned her sister Gilda, who was with her in Mexico, to go to the building mentioned in search of Jacson, but that her sister informed her that room No. 820 did not exist in that building. This information caused her to suspect that Jacson was in the service of the British Government as an agent of the Intelligence Service. That she communicated these fears to Margaret Rosmer, who was then in Trotsky’s house, and that Mrs. Rosmer advised her not to worry. She remembered receiving a letter from her sister in New York, and was with Jacson in Wells Fargo and Company when she was reading it in the presence of Jacson. When she came to the paragraph which said that in Mexico there were two Stalinist agents, B. Helman and Stachel, although the names given were not exact she was able to give them to Harold Robbins, and that Jacson, who apparently was not reading the letter nor listening, immediately asked who those agents were. She stated that she was in Mexico on a tourist card which was in her possession, without utilizing her passport, and that as she did not think to use it, or had used it, for this reason she had not had it validated.
Otto Schuesler: Born in Leipzig, married, journalist, 35 years of age. Entered through Veracruz in February 1939 from France accompanied by his wife, Gertrude Schroler. Stated that in 1938 he knew Sylvia Ageloff in Paris, whom he did not see against until January of this year (1940), when she made a visit to Trotsky’s house, saying that she brought greetings from comrades in New York.
Sylvia Ageloff stated that she did not introduce Trotsky and Jacson. Also that Jacson had left the Belgian Army in 1938.
Mornard mentions having gone to Acapulco (in connection with purchase of a machete).
Police Record states: Taken from Jacson: “Star” pistol, Cal. 45 matricula 195264, with loader and eight unused bullets. Passport 546,770 taken from Sylvia Ageloff (now in possession of the Judge of Court of First Instance, at Coyoacan, D.F.)
Karl Fritz Otto Schuesler Sondersorge: Says he heard Jacon say: “They have got my mother. They are going to kill her.”
Schuesler states that Mr. Schultz (mentioned as a reference by Jacson in his application for a transit visa) was a friend of Trotsky and lived in Trotsky’s house. Mrs. Schultz lived with Sra. Evelyn Andreas, at Edificio Tivoli, No. 6, Calle Ramon Guzman, Mexico City; that Sra. Andreas was Trotsky’s secretary.
Jacson stated to Cornell that he was working for a firm which dealt in sugar and bananas in Mexico, and that these were sent to England; that Jacson earned 250 dollars a month, but did not know the name of the company.
Alfred Griot (Rosmer) and wife went to Veracruz with Jacson and left that port for Europe via New York.
Harold Robbins Rappaport (Harold Robbins complete name, Rappaport probably being that of his mother).
Gabriel Vazquez Franco: He knew that Sylvia and Jacson were in New York in 1935. Also heard Jacson say “They have my mother. They are going to kill her.”
The following then is recorded in the dossier:
The alpenstock had a handle which was cut off. It was 23 centimeters long and the pick had an inscription: “Garantine Werkgen Fulpmes.” A dagger taken from Jacson 36 centimeters long. A raincoat used by him bore the inscription “The Clifton Raincoat—made in England.” Also taken from Sylvia: Passport No. 546,770, which was issued by the Government of the United States on January 6, 1938 in favor of Sylvia Ageloff, with her picture and signature. This document had various visas: French, British and others, it would seem, in German and Dutch.
Buick automobile: sedan, five seats, motor No. 43,270,453; beige color, in which was found a driver’s permit in the name of Frank Jacson, a map of roads of Mexico and “other objects without importance.”
Sylvia Agileff Moslow: Immigration card 380706, Form 11 issued August 8, 1940, residing temporarily at the Hotel Montejo, Room 113, and in New York at Livingstone Street, No. 50, Brooklyn. She said her mother died in 1930 and her father lives in house No. 70 Remsen Street, New York (Brooklyn). Her father is a building contractor. She lived in New York until 1930; then in Europe, first in Spain, then in Italy and then was successively in Vienna, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, France, having resided two months in Paris studying at the Alliance Francaise, from where she went to London, where she was for one week then returned to Paris, from which she went to St. Malo and from there went to the English port of Southampton from where she went to Oxford University to take the summer course.
That this voyage just referred to was made in 1931, stating that in her journey from Spain to Italy she passed through North Africa; that in the same year she returned to Brooklyn, having remained in Europe eight months, then having lived in the country of her origin, in July 1935 she came to Mexico City, where she remained approximately one month without being able to state precisely if it was in this year or in 1936 that she returned to the United States, which country she left in 1938 to go again to Europe, having been one week in the year 1937 in Canada. After Europe she returned to the United States, having resided eight months in Europe, where she stated she stayed until January of this year, when she again came to Mexico remaining until March, and returning to New York, returning to Mexico on August 9, 1940.
She stated that her father spent money on her education (defrayed the expenses of her education) and subsistence and that she only worked in the years 1936 to 1938. That her first journey to Europe was paid for by a policy which her mother left, and as enough money was not available her father paid the rest. The second journey was paid for by her father. Her first trip to Mexico was paid for by her father and subsequent journeys were paid for by herself. She said she was a professor of Child Psychology and that her salary was $103 a month. Belonged to the Labor Party in 1935 and 1936 working in the field of propaganda. Stated she never visited Russia. Has no connection with political elements in Mexico except those which form a part of the Fourth International. Does not belong to the GPU. With regard to activities of her sister, Ruth, five years ago to the present date came out of school and came to Mexico, remaining for the winter.
Later returned to the United States where she studied stenography. Later, being in ill health, her father sent her to California, which did not please her. She returned to Mexico and offered to remain to take dictation from Mr. Trotsky, returning later to the United States. Sylvia says that she first knew Jacson in 1938 in Paris through Ruby Weil, and that Ruby accompanied her on her last trip to Europe. That a brother-in-law of the Weil sisters named Harry Howel, was formerly with the Labor Party and later with the Stalinists. He is now in New York but doesn’t know his address.
Jacson told her he worked for a Mr. Levic, who paid him fifty dollars per week. Came back to the United States from Europe in February, 1939, and met Jacson in September of the same year. She stated that Jacson had made the trip from Europe to the United States in the company of the Costa Rican Minister to France. She stated that Jacson has no political or social connections in the United States because as Jacson entered under a false passport he wanted to avoid complications. Jacson made trips to Guadalajara, Veracruz and Torreon, as well as to Puebla and Toluca. Asked what car he brought to Mexico she said none. That Jacson bought a Buick in Mexico. Jacson told her that he used a code to communicate with friends and colleagues and when asked what this code was he (when they were living in Calle Hamburgo 159) jotted down some letters on a piece of paper and immediately tore it up.
Sylvia Ageloff states that the person she mentioned as being agents of the GPU are Stachel and Bittlemann.
When asked what friends introduced him into the Fourth International, Jacson replied: Rigaoundoulis, Ivan and others.
File contains El Nacional of August 26, 1940.
Monard: He declared that he understood the name of one of the persons who accompanied him on an expedition to Popocatepetl was named Patio, who he is certain is an employee of the Pan American Airways. This was in October or November 1939. The other members of the expedition were deaf mutes!
Mornard states he burned all his documents, including his passport, in an empty lot along Insurgentes on the way to Trotsky’s house on August 20, 1940.
He stated that he left for the United States on June 14, 1940, and remained three weeks only in New York and was only with Sylvia and her family and friends, all Trotskyists except the family—having no relations with other persons. That this was not a business trip but only to see Sylvia.
He declared that his mother had given him a check for $5,000 on the Banque Nationale de Belgique on August 28, 1939.
Sylvia Ageloff: She rectifies her former statement and declares that she journeyed to Belgium of her own volition in August 1938, and that she did not meet Jacson there but later when she returned to Paris; and that she has two sisters, Ruth and Hilda (or Gilda), the first was in New York and the second in Acapulco at the time referred to in this part of her statement of August 20. Jacson told her that he was working on articles for publication in the Argus Press of Paris, but that none of these articles had been published. Jacson had told her with regard to the false passport that it had been purchased from persons who sold false passports for leaving Europe, paying for it with the money which his mother had given him, costing between eight and ten thousand francs. The only time she recalls seeing the passport was on Jacson’s arrival in New York. In June 1940 she saw Jacson in New York with a portfolio of papers. The portfolio was locked. She recalls seeing Jacson taking two or three closed and sealed packages from this and giving it to the clerk in the management of the Hotel Pierpont and that Jacson told her these were shipping documents. These he called for the next day and replaced them in the portfolio. When they went to a movie later he fastened the portfolio to his wrist so he would not lose it. He later told Sylvia that the packages contained not shipping documents but Mexican money of large denominations.
She worked in New York in the Department of Public Welfare, having obtained this work on May 20, 1939, and was in charge of an office of investigation concerning the necessities of poor people; and that she had previously for two years had a job with the Committee of Education in the Department of Sociology in the City of New York. Prior to this she was employed in a hospital in Brooklyn, where she went two days a week without pay. Graduated from the University of New York in 1930 with the degree of Bachelor of Sciences; in 1934 from the University of Columbia with the degree of Master of Arts in the field of Sociology. In January of this year she suffered from a sinus infection and because of this, obtained permission from the Department of Public Welfare in New York to go on vacation. She went back to New York in March. Intended to take up her work in New York at the end of August of this year. Expected to go again into that service.
The following documents are in the file: Postcard postmarked Mexico, D.F., August 17, 1940, addressed to Allan Lupka, Stoneybrook, Westport, Conn., USA. Message as follows: “Dear Allan: I took a plane down to Mexico to see Jacques because he was sick. It was a very large plane with two motors. When we had to go over the mountains the plane rose to 9,000 feet. All I could see were bunches of clouds that looked like whipped cream. Love, Sylvia.” The card had a view of Monterrey, Mexico, on the reverse side.
A second card postmarked at Mexico, D.F., the same day, August 17, 10:15 p.m., addressed to Nomi Lupka, Stoneybrook, Westport, Conn., USA, text of message as follows: “Mexico City, August 16, 1940. How do you like this picture? It is supposed to be a cow and bull getting ready to fight. Give my love to mother and dad. I will be home in two weeks and will see you. Love, Sylvia.”
Also in the file is a translation of an article appearing in the New York Times of August 23, 1940 headed: “The Woman in the Trotsky Case Worked Here with the Civil Committee on Aid to Families.” There is also a copy of the first section of the New York Times of that date.
Also included in the file is the article written in French entitled “’troisieme Camp et Front Populaire” which Jacson asked Trotsky to read at the time he assaulted him.
A statement appears in the file to the effect that there was found on Trotsky’s desk under a sheaf of papers a “Venus” pistol, caliber 6.35 automatic, matricula 5680, with a chamber with six cartridges.
Mornard declares that he did not know any persons called Stachel or Bittlermann, nor that they were Stalinists. States that when he was in Paris he didn’t know a word of Spanish but that today he knows it, having learned it in Mexico.
Mornard declares that all of his papers were known to Sylvia, from whom he did not hide any, and that because he was going to commit suicide after the attack on Trotsky, he burned them up.
States he did not have letter of introduction to Trotsky, and understood that Trotsky would know him through Sylvia and the Rosemeres.
Mornard says that if Siqueiros had a meeting place at the Edificio Ermita, he did not know it, and that his mention of the building to Sylvia was mere coincidence.
File does not contain the statements found on Jacson the day of the crime.