Turgeman Hotel, where Stavsky spent the night of the murder, went into the witness box to describe both places. He told the court that the Turgeman Hotel has one door which could easily be opened or locked with a tool instead of a key, and also that the hotel could be departed from via the balcony without disturbing anyone or without arousing the least notice.
The next man to give evidence was Dr. Alotin, of Hadassah Hospital, who described the unsuccessful operation to save Dr. Arlosoroff’s life, and the ensuing post mortem examination.
BULLET PRODUCED
Shitrit caused a sensation in court when he produced the bullet with which Dr. Arlosoroff was slain to be put into evidence. Dr. Alotin, replying to a question by Magistrate Bodilly as to whether Dr. Arlosoroff might have been saved if he had been given different medical treatment, replied in the negative.
The next witness for the prosecution, Aba Cohen, went into the witness box to give evidence that he lives near a wooden path near where, he said, the murderers escaped. He said he heard two men running. When they reached an asphalt road, he said, they stopped. Immediately thereafter, Cohen stated, he heard an automobile start and saw it move in the direction of town. Five minutes later, Cohen said, a motorcycle coming from town arrived at the same spot on the asphalt road, signalled two or three times, and then turned around and headed back.
Ibrahim Irgayeg, Bedouin police tracker, took the stand to describe how he examined the tracks near the site of the murder on the night Dr. Arlosoroff was slain. Later, he said, he identified Stavsky’s footprints as belonging to one of the accomplices of the murder—the bigger man.
CHANGES IN HIS SHOE
When Stavsky’s shoes were produced in the courtroom to be put into evidence as an exhibit Stavsky, who had been quietly standing in the “accused box” in the rear of the courtroom, exclaimed: “I notice changes in one of the shoes!”
Irgayeg admitted he saw Stavsky the day before June 20, when Stavsky was brought to prison for identification as suspects were paraded before Mrs. Arlosoroff.
At this point Magistrate Bodilly adjourned the examination until August 3, at which time the police will bring further witnesses to court.
Before the court closed, however, Yehuda Minz, 19-year-old member of the Brith Trumpeldor, Revisionist youth group, was brought before Magistrate Bodilly by the police, who asked that he be remanded into their custody for another week. The police argued that Mrs. Arlosoroff had not yet identified Minz as an accomplice to the murder, but had said she saw him on the seashore running away immediately after the murder.
CASE AGAINST MINZ
Moishe Weizer went into the witness box to give evidence that he was one of the men who carried Dr. Arlosoroff’s wounded body to town. He said he saw Minz running by. The latter did not offer to help carry Dr. Arlosoroff, he testified. This, he said, aroused his suspicion and he reported the incident to the police.
Magistrate Bodilly, in granting the remand, said the case against Minz was weak, but that he did not wish to handicap the police investigation.
Lawyers for the arrested men are Mr. Spindel, connected with the Polish Consulate, and Mr. Kaiser-man, engaged by the Revisionists. At this stage of the proceedings, according to British law, they were not entitled to participate in the court questioning.
Dr. Arlosoroff, a member of the political department of the Jewish Agency for Palestine and one of the most brilliant leaders in the Zionist movement, was shot and killed on the night of June 16 as he was strolling with his wife along the Tel Aviv seashore.
Five minutes before the assassination occurred, Mrs. Arlosoroff had warned her husband that they were being followed. At eleven o’clock, two strangers confronted the couple and asked Dr. Arlosoroff the time. His answer was the signal for the firing of a revolver by one of the two men, who immediately fled.
Stavsky, who is identified with the extreme Revisionist group, was arrested on June 19 and is said to have been identified as one of the assassins by Mrs. Arlosoroff. He arrived in Palestine from Poland about three months before the crime was committed. He has denied any connection with the murder.
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.
