Public Prosecutor Shitrit caused a sensation here this morning when he announced that he was putting Zvi Rosenblatt and Yehuda Minz into the Arlosoroff murder case and charging them, together with Abraham Stavsky and others yet unnamed, with having taken part in the conspiracy to assassinate the Zionist leader who met his death on June 16 this year in Tel Aviv. Rosenblatt, a Revisionist; Minz, 19-year-old B’rith Trumpeldorite, and Stavsky, were all brought together in the court hall here today.
Only two witnesses were examined today as the hearing into the death of Dr. Arlosoroff continued before a British Magistrate here. After the hearing court was adjourned until August 9.
Captain Rice, chief of the Palestine police’s criminal investigation department, went into the witness box and stayed there for three hours, describing minutely the particulars of the murder case. Captain Rice gave evidence of accounts of the murder told to him by Mrs. Arlosoroff, widow of the slain Zionist leader, and other persons who were involved.
WIDOW IDENTIFIED STAVSKY
Captain Rice stressed the fact that on the day following the murder, which was a Sunday, Mrs. Arlosoroff was shown ten photographs of persons suspected as accomplices or perpetrators of the crime. She pointed to the picture of Stavsky, said Captain Rice, and stated that he resembled the taller man of the group which she said took part in her husband’s killing.
For this reason, and also for other reasons, Captain Rice explained, Stavsky was arrested on the following day. On the evening of the day he was arrested he and sixteen other persons took part in an identification parade at police headquarters. Mrs. Arlosoroff immediately pointed to Stavsky, said Captain Rice, and when she came closer to him she fainted away. A few minutes later she walked down the line once more and again pointed to Stavsky. Then she insisted that all of the suspects should walk up and down. They did so, and she indicated four of the men as resembling the taller accomplice to the murder.
According to Captain Rice, Mrs. Arlosoroff then urged that the police let her speak with each of the five men she had pointed out. They were told to pronounce the Hebrew word: “Kamahashaa.” After Stavsky spoke this word, Mrs. Arlosoroff told the police “He is trying to speak within his throat.”
WIDOW’S IDENTIFICATION POSSIBLE
On Saturday, a week after the murder, Captain Rice described how he and two other police officers went to the scene of the crime and after conducting experiments became convinced that it was possible for the widow to distinguish between the suspects and give a good description of the accomplices owing to the reflection of the lights of Jaffa and the fact that it was a bright night, many stars being visible.
Regarding Rosenblatt, Captain Rice stated that he ordered this man’s arrest as a result of secret information received by the police. In the identification parade at police headquarters on July 29 Mrs. Arlosoroff recognized Rosenblatt as a second accomplice, Captain Rice testified.
On the following day, said Captain Rice, Mrs. Arlosoroff said she wanted to see Rosenblatt unshaved. Upon seeing Rosenblatt with a two-day’s growth of beard, she told Captain Rice she was convinced he was the man she saw on the beach at Jaffa the night her husband was killed.
Replying to a question from the magistrate, Captain Rice stated he had been seeking information regarding Stavsky’s movements since the day of the killing. He declared that he had not heard what Mrs. Arlosoroff said about Stavsky when she identified him in the parade at police headquarters.
SPOKE TO STAVSKY
The second witness to go into the box at the hearing today was Isaac Joseph Chalutz, treasurer of the Palestine Immigration Department.
Chalutz told the court that he spoke to Stavsky on Friday noon, the day preceding the murder of Dr. Arlosoroff. He said that Stavsky came to his office and asked for a refund on his immigration fee because he had not been granted a return Polish visa.
According to Chalutz, he also saw Stavsky at two o’clock on the afternoon of the same day at a cooperative workers’ restaurant. Upon reading the government notice the following day describing the suspects in the murder, Chalutz said he immediately thought of Stavsky as being the taller accomplice because he resembled the police description generally and also because of his peculiar manner of walking and his rough appearance.
Chalutz told the court that his colleague, Tabori, the passport clerk in his office, had the same thought on the matter and immediately notified Captain Rice that he suspected Stavsky was one of the accomplices.
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