SOUTH AFRICA ESCAPE ARTISTS WHILE RADIOS BLARED THE DESCRIPTIONS OF THE FUGITIVES, 
THOUSANDS OF SOUTH AFRICAN POLICE MANNED ROADBLOCKS, SEARCHED WHITE HOMES AND 
BLACK TOWNSHIPS ALL OVER THE COUNTRY . THEIR ELUSIVE QUARRY, HONORED 
BY THE BIGGEST REWARD ($5,600) EVER POSTED IN SOUTH AFRICA : 
FOUR PRISONERS WHO HAD STAGED A 1 A.M . WALK-AWAY FROM 
JOHANNESBURG'S CENTRAL POLICE HEADQUARTERS . THE LEADER OF THE FUGITIVES WAS 
ARTHUR GOLDREICH, AT 33 ONE OF THE COUNTRY'S MOST SUCCESSFUL ARTISTS, 
AND AS OF LAST WEEK ONE OF ITS MORE SUCCESSFUL ESCAPE 
ARTISTS AS WELL . RAID ON RIVONIA . BESPECTACLED AND SLIGHTLY 
STOOPED, WITH A BLACK BEARD (WHEN LAST SEEN), GOLDREICH WON SOUTH 
AFRICA'S 1955 BEST YOUNG PAINTER AWARD FOR HIS FIGURES IN BLACK 
AND WHITE, DESIGNED SETS AND COSTUMES FOR KING KONG, THE FAMED 
SOUTH AFRICAN MUSICAL . TO PRIME MINISTER HENDRIK VERWOERD'S REGIME, HE 
WAS A KEY SUSPECT IN THE CLANDESTINE OPERATIONS OF THE ANTI-APARTHEID 
UNDERGROUND . LAST MONTH POLICE DESCENDED ON THE ARTIST'S SWANK HOME 
IN THE JOHANNESBURG SUBURB OF RIVONIA, ARRESTED GOLDREICH, HIS WIFE HAZEL, 
FOUR OTHER WHITE MEN, AND A DOZEN NONWHITES . LIKE GOLDREICH, 
THE OTHER ARRESTED WHITES WERE ALSO PROMINENT IN SOUTH AFRICA'S INTELLECTUAL 
COMMUNITY : LAWYER ROBERT HEPPLE ; DR . HILLIARD FESTENSTEIN, A 
NOTED MEDICAL RESEARCHER ; ENGINEER DENNIS GOLDBERG ; ARCHITECT LIONEL BERNSTEIN 
. AMONG THE NONWHITES SEIZED WAS WALTER SISULU, ONE-TIME SECRETARY-GENERAL OF 
THE BANNED AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS AND ONE OF THE COUNTRY'S MOST 
WANTED MEN . GOLDREICH WAS JAILED UNDER A RECENT LAW BY 
WHICH POLICE CAN HOLD A SUSPECT FOR 90 DAYS WITHOUT CHARGE 
. (WHEN THE 90-DAY TERM COMES TO AN END, SOME PRISONERS 
ARE BEING DUTIFULLY RELEASED, ALLOWED TO WALK 100 YARDS, THEN REARRESTED 
FOR ANOTHER THREE-MONTH STRETCH.) A MONTH AFTER HIS ARREST, GOLDREICH APPARENTLY 
GOT HOLD OF CELLBLOCK KEYS, POSSIBLY WITH INSIDE HELP, AND FREED 
THREE FELLOW PRISONERS TWO ANTI-APARTHEID ASIANS, AND A JEWISH LAWYER, HAROLD 
WOLPE, LONGTIME DEFENDER OF IMPRISONED LEFTISTS. DARK MUTTERINGS . THE CASE 
CALLED ATTENTION TO THE FACT THAT AMONG SOUTH AFRICAN WHITES WHO 
OPPOSE VERWOERD'S APARTHEID, PERHAPS THE MOST ZEALOUS ARE JEWS . THE 
BULK OF SOUTH AFRICA'S 116,000 JEWS TACITLY CONDONE APARTHEID, THE JEWISH 
BOARD OF DEPUTIES HAS ALWAYS BEEN CAREFUL NOT TO ATTACK IT, 
AND SOME OF THE WEALTHIEST JEWS CONTRIBUTE TO VERWOERD'S NATIONAL PARTY 
. BUT TO THOUSANDS OF OTHERS, ESPECIALLY THE YOUNGER, UNIVERSITY-EDUCATED GROUP, 
APARTHEID SMELLS TOO MUCH LIKE NAZISM . IN THE 1961 GENERAL 
ELECTION, JEWS VOTED MASSIVELY AGAINST THE NATIONAL PARTY, AND THE LONE 
ANTI-APARTHEID CRUSADER IN THE 160-MEMBER ASSEMBLY TODAY IS THE PERT, IRRESPRESSIBLE 
JEWISH WIFE OF A JOHANNESBURG PHYSICIAN, MRS . HELEN SUZMAN . 
DESPITE SUCH OPPOSITION AND VERWOERD'S OWN PRO-NAZI PAST, JEWS HAVE SO 
FAR BEEN UNMOLESTED BY THE REGIME . THE GOLDREICH ESCAPE, HOWEVER, 
TOUCHED OFF OMINOUS RUMBLINGS . LAST WEEK WHEN CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION CHIEF 
REINIER J . VAN DEN BERGH MENTIONED THE RIVONIA RAID IN 
A SPEECH, A VOICE FROM THE AUDIENCE CRIED : " JEWS 
! " VAN DEN BERGH ALLOWED THAT FOES OF APARTHEID MIGHT 
BE " INSTRUMENTS OF JEWS ANOTHER FUGITIVE COLORED PHYSICIAN KENNETH ABRAHAMS, 
WHO HAD ESCAPED SABOTAGE CHARGES BY SLIPPING ACROSS THE BORDER TO 
BECHUANALAND, FOUND HIMSELF BACK IN SOUTH AFRICA UNDER ARREST . ABRAHAMS' 
LAWYERS CHARGED LAST WEEK THAT HE HAD BEEN KIDNAPED BY SOUTH 
AFRICAN POLICE ON BRITISH-ADMINISTERED SOIL . 