The alibi of Sheik Taleb Markah to the effect that there were no crowds in the streets while he sat in the cafe, was shaken yesterday by the testimony of Abdul
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ab Sheich, partner of the murdered Rabbi Kastel.
Climaxing the day’s testimony, Sheich stated that he saw an armed crowd of two hundred pass his shop and the cafe next door, whereas Taleb and his friends said they saw no crowd pass the cafe where they sat. Sheich declared that upon seeing the crowd he ran to the home of Rabbi Kastel, to see if he was safe, but was beaten back. He then ran back to his shop where he fainted.
A witness attempted to prove the alibi of Sheik Taleb Markah that he was in the cafe and later in the office of Abdul ab Sheich, when the riots occurred. The witness declared that he did not hear of the riots until Sunday, although he spent several hours in the cafe Saturday with Taleb.
“Do you want me to believe that you were in the cafe two hours with Taleb, without mentioning the riots?” Judge Defreitas demanded. “You are wasting our time. I will never believe you. I think you are deliberately lying.”
Sheik Taleb Markah was recalled to the witness stand to testify again concerning his “rovings,” between prayertime and three o’clock Friday afternoon, the day preceding the day of the massacre, the court evidently suspecting his alibi concerning his whereabouts during the demonstrations, which Assistant Police Superintendent of Hebron, Cafferratta testified he incited.
The brother of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, one of the counsel for the defense, spoke for the first time since the trial opening questioning the authority of the Sheik in testifying that the small mosques were used for prayer on Friday.
An Arab mounted constable, who visited the Slonim house, the principal seene of the slaughter, after the massacre had occurred, when asked whether quiet had been restored through the efforts of the police, smilingly answered that when the crowd finished with this house, it went to other houses, therefore there was quiet.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
