DEATH AT DAWN JULIAN GRIMAU GARCIA WAS 25 AND A DETECTIVE IN 
MADRID WHEN THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR BROKE OUT IN 1936 . 
BUT HE WAS ALSO A MEMBER OF THE SPANISH COMMUNIST PARTY, 
AND HIS PROFESSIONAL POLICE TRAINING SOON LANDED HIM A KEY JOB 
IN THE RED APPARATUS . HE BECAME CHIEF OF " CRIMINAL 
INVESTIGATIONS " FOR MADRID, VALENCIA AND BARCELONA, FERRETING OUT SUPPORTERS OF 
FRANCISCO FRANCO . PART OF GRIMAU'S JOB WAS TO SERVE ON 
KANGAROO COURTS, CALLED CHEKAS (AFTER THE ONETIME INITIALS OF THE SOVIET 
SECRET POLICE), WHICH ORDERED DOZENS OF SUMMARY DEATH SENTENCES DURING THE 
BRUTAL THREE-YEAR WAR . AFTER THE REPUBLICAN COLLAPSE GRIMAU FLED, WORKED 
AS A COMMUNIST AGENT IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA, RUSSIA, MEXICO AND CUBA . 
A MEMBER OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE OUTLAWED SPANISH COMMUNIST 
PARTY, HE WAS LIVING IN FRANCE WHEN HE SLIPPED ACROSS THE 
FRONTIER IN 1959 TO REORGANIZE THE SPANISH COMMUNIST UNDERGROUND . AFTER 
SEVERAL TRIPS IN AND OUT OF SPAIN SINCE 1959, AN INFORMER 
GAVE HIM AWAY TO POLICE IN MADRID LAST NOVEMBER . FRANCO'S 
COPS CLAPPED HIM IN JAIL AND BEGAN A LENGTHY INTERROGATION . 
DURING ONE SESSION, GRIMAU LEAPED, FELL, OR WAS PUSHED FROM A 
FIRST-FLOOR WINDOW, FRACTURING HIS SKULL AND BOTH ARMS . LAST WEEK, 
WITH A LARGE DENT IN HIS FOREHEAD, GAUNT, BALDING GRIMAU HEARD 
A SEVEN-MAN MILITARY COURT TICK OFF THE CHARGES AGAINST HIM ; 
THEY RANGED FROM " CONTINUING MILITARY REBELLION " TO ARSON, TORTURE 
AND EXECUTION OF ANTI-REPUBLICANS BY THE CHEKAS 25 YEARS AGO . 
THE MAXIMUM PENALTY WAS DEATH . DID HE CARE TO SAY 
SOMETHING BEFORE SENTENCE WAS PASSED ONLY THIS, " REPLIED GRIMAU . 
" SINCE 1936, I HAVE LIVED THE LIFE OF A COMMUNIST 
. I WILL DIE A COMMUNIST . " THEN HE TOOK 
HIS SEAT AND LISTENED INTENTLY AS THE COURT PRONOUNCED THE SENTENCE 
EVERYONE EXPECTED DEATH . THIS WAS THE CUE FOR COMMUNIST DEMONSTRATIONS 
IN HALF A DOZEN WEST EUROPEAN CITIES ; NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV, NO 
STRANGER TO EXECUTIONS, HAD THE GALL TO SEND A PERSONAL APPEAL 
FOR CLEMENCY TO FRANCO . GRIMAU'S WIFE VAINLY URGED PRESIDENT KENNEDY 
TO INTERVENE . THE INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE ONLY STIFFENED THE REGIME'S DETERMINATION 
TO CARRY OUT THE PENALTY . AT A MEETING WITH HIS 
CABINET, FRANCO UPHELD THE SENTENCE . NEXT DAY AT DAWN, GRIMAU, 
PALE BUT COMPOSED, WAS LED INTO THE COURTYARD OF CARABANCHEL PRISON 
JUST OUTSIDE MADRID . HE WALKED ALONE TO THE WALL, REFUSED 
A BLINDFOLD, SHOUTED " VIVA EL COMMUNISMO " , AND THEN 
COLLAPSED UNDER A VOLLEY OF SHOTS FIRED BY SPANISH MOROCCAN TROOPS 
. 