Lester Ziffren 1906-2007

Lester Ziffren, who covered the Spanish Civil War for United Press, has died at the very fine age of 101. Before his death he was believed to be the oldest surviving employee of United Press. The Quad City Times has this interesting snippet from his reporting of the civil war,

“Deadline Every Minute,” a 1957 history of United Press by Joe Alex Morris, recounted a puzzling message Mr. Ziffren sent from Madrid to the UP European headquarters in London on July 17, 1936:
“MOTHERS EVERLASTINGLY LINGERING ILLNESS LIKELY LARYNGITIS AUNT FLORA OUGHT RETURN EVEN IF GOES NORTH LATER EQUALLY GOOD IF ONLY NIGHT ”
The agency’s London staffers eventually concluded the message was in code, with the real meaning revealed by the first letter of each word: “MELILLA (a Spanish seaport in Morocco) FOREIGN LEGION REVOLTED MARTIAL LAW DECLARED.“
That was the first word to get through Spanish censorship that parts of Spain’s military had revolted, and it meant the start of Spain’s bloody civil war. link