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| | Both before the grand jury and in the second Hiss trial, Inslerman would refuse to answer questions on grounds of potential self-incrimination. But in Inslerman's Schenectady home, the FBI found a Leica whose imperfections matched the scratch marks on Chambers' famed pumpkin film. In 1954, Inslerman would corroborate Chambers' story [http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,819479,00.html under oath]. He would later turn up on the "[[Gorsky memo]]" (code-named 107th), as would another photographer identified by Chambers, "David Carpenter" (David Zimmerman),<ref>[[#refHaynes08|Vassiliev Concordance]]: 28</ref> code-named 103rd.<ref>[[#refVasBlack|Vassiliev Black Notebook]]: Orig. 39; Trans. 77</ref> Recently released files reveal that the third photographer identified by Chambers,<ref>[[#refBerle|Berle memo]]</ref> ex-[[GRU]] agent<ref>[[#refHK99|Haynes, Klehr 1999]]: 166</ref> William Edward Crane [[#refNYRB|admitted to the FBI]] that he photographed documents from the Treasury and State Department for Chambers in Baltimore.<ref>[[#refVasBlack|Vassiliev Black Notebook]]: Orig, 39; Trans. 77 (cf. [[#refBLH05|Bachman, Leich, Haynes 2005]]; [[#refLowCher|Lowenthal, Chervonnaya 2005]]); [[#refSpies09|Haynes, Klehr, Vassiliev 2009]]: 30</ref> | | Both before the grand jury and in the second Hiss trial, Inslerman would refuse to answer questions on grounds of potential self-incrimination. But in Inslerman's Schenectady home, the FBI found a Leica whose imperfections matched the scratch marks on Chambers' famed pumpkin film. In 1954, Inslerman would corroborate Chambers' story [http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,819479,00.html under oath]. He would later turn up on the "[[Gorsky memo]]" (code-named 107th), as would another photographer identified by Chambers, "David Carpenter" (David Zimmerman),<ref>[[#refHaynes08|Vassiliev Concordance]]: 28</ref> code-named 103rd.<ref>[[#refVasBlack|Vassiliev Black Notebook]]: Orig. 39; Trans. 77</ref> Recently released files reveal that the third photographer identified by Chambers,<ref>[[#refBerle|Berle memo]]</ref> ex-[[GRU]] agent<ref>[[#refHK99|Haynes, Klehr 1999]]: 166</ref> William Edward Crane [[#refNYRB|admitted to the FBI]] that he photographed documents from the Treasury and State Department for Chambers in Baltimore.<ref>[[#refVasBlack|Vassiliev Black Notebook]]: Orig, 39; Trans. 77 (cf. [[#refBLH05|Bachman, Leich, Haynes 2005]]; [[#refLowCher|Lowenthal, Chervonnaya 2005]]); [[#refSpies09|Haynes, Klehr, Vassiliev 2009]]: 30</ref> |
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| − | Finally, on December 6—more than 16 months after it convened—Truman Justice called Chambers to testify before the [[#refBentleyGJ|grand jury]]. On that day, Hiss's attorney Edward McLean gave the defense's documents examiner, J. Howard Haring, a batch of old Hiss family letters that Hiss had given him the previous September, two months before Chambers produced the documents. Immediately identifying the typeface as that of a [http://www.whittakerchambers.org/images/woodstocktypewriterno5_300dpi250x200pxl.png Woodstock typewriter], Haring reported that one of Mrs. Hiss's 1933 letters "was typed on the same machine as the Chambers documents." McLean informed the Hisses of this finding the same day. The next day, according to another of Hiss' lawyers, John F. Davis: "Alger ... asked [me to] check on an old machine which he remembers he gave to Pat, the son of Claudia Catlett...." Yet Hiss continued to swear under oath that he remembered neither the make nor disposition [[#refNYRB|of the typewriter]]. | + | Finally, on December 6—more than 16 months after it convened—Truman Justice called Chambers to testify before the [[#refBentleyGJ|grand jury]]. On that day, Hiss' attorney Edward McLean gave the defense's documents examiner, J. Howard Haring, a batch of old Hiss family letters that Hiss had given him the previous September, two months before Chambers produced the documents. Immediately identifying the typeface as that of a [http://www.whittakerchambers.org/images/woodstocktypewriterno5_300dpi250x200pxl.png Woodstock typewriter], Haring reported that one of Mrs. Hiss' 1933 letters "was typed on the same machine as the Chambers documents." McLean informed the Hisses of this finding the same day. The next day, according to another of Hiss' lawyers, John F. Davis: "Alger ... asked [me to] check on an old machine which he remembers he gave to Pat, the son of Claudia Catlett...." Yet Hiss continued to swear under oath that he remembered neither the make nor disposition [[#refNYRB|of the typewriter]]. |
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| | Hiss would later change his story, testifying that he gave the typewriter to the Catletts in 1937, before the date of the documents produced by Chambers. Pat Catlett, however, would tell defense lawyers that Hiss gave the Catletts the typewriter in the [[#refHissAppellate|spring of 1938]], just after the dates of the documents. | | Hiss would later change his story, testifying that he gave the typewriter to the Catletts in 1937, before the date of the documents produced by Chambers. Pat Catlett, however, would tell defense lawyers that Hiss gave the Catletts the typewriter in the [[#refHissAppellate|spring of 1938]], just after the dates of the documents. |
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| − | On December 13, the FBI independently located specimens of Priscilla Hiss's typing from the 1930s. The FBI laboratory concluded, like Haring, that all the papers in question had been typed on the same typewriter, [[#refNYRB|a Woodstock]]. | + | On December 13, the FBI independently located specimens of Priscilla Hiss' typing from the 1930s. The FBI laboratory concluded, like Haring, that all the papers in question had been typed on the same typewriter, [[#refNYRB|a Woodstock]]. |
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| − | Another defense expert, Harry E. Cassidy, concluded that Priscilla Hiss not only typed the Chambers documents, but wrote all the handwritten corrections on the typed documents. Asked by Hiss's attorneys whether it was more likely that Hiss or Chambers had written these corrections, Haring responded: "I am inclined to the opinion that the AH [Alger Hiss] corrections more closely resemble the QUESTIONED writing, than do the writings of WC [Whittaker Chambers]." A third defense expert, Edwin Fearon, agreed, reporting to the Hiss lawyers: "The corrections appearing in Exhibits 5-47 inclusive (exception—Exhibit 10) bear a closer resemblence [sic] to the handwritten corrections made by AH than to those made by WC." Fearon added that all but one of the documents were "[[#refNYRB2|typed on Woodstock typewriter no.N230099]]"—the Hiss' machine. | + | Another defense expert, Harry E. Cassidy, concluded that Priscilla Hiss not only typed the Chambers documents, but wrote all the handwritten corrections on the typed documents. Asked by Hiss' attorneys whether it was more likely that Hiss or Chambers had written these corrections, Haring responded: "I am inclined to the opinion that the AH [Alger Hiss] corrections more closely resemble the QUESTIONED writing, than do the writings of WC [Whittaker Chambers]." A third defense expert, Edwin Fearon, agreed, reporting to the Hiss lawyers: "The corrections appearing in Exhibits 5-47 inclusive (exception—Exhibit 10) bear a closer resemblence [sic] to the handwritten corrections made by AH than to those made by WC." Fearon added that all but one of the documents were "[[#refNYRB2|typed on Woodstock typewriter no.N230099]]"—the Hiss' machine. |
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| | On December 15, Alger Hiss proposed to the grand jury a theory that someone (perhaps Chambers)<ref>[[#refWeinstein78|Weinstein 1978]]: 270</ref> had sneaked into the State Department and stolen the documents from his desk<ref>[[#refWeinstein78|Weinstein 1978]]: 178, 253, 257, 299, 397</ref> then, having somehow obtained access to Hiss' typewriter,<ref>[[#refWeinstein78|Weinstein 1978]]: 298, 300</ref> typed some of the documents on it<ref>[[#refWeinstein78|Weinstein 1978]]: 281, 298</ref> and microfilmed others, and then sneaked back into the State Department and replaced the originals,<ref>[[#refWeinstein78|Weinstein 1978]]: 254</ref> all in an elaborate plot to frame Hiss<ref>[[#refWeinstein78|Weinstein 1978]]: 299</ref> a decade later.<ref>[[#refWeinstein78|Weinstein 1978]]: p. 281</ref> Even Hiss admitted that his theory was "fantastic,"<ref>[[#refWeinstein78|Weinstein 1978]]: 299</ref> stating, "Until the day I die, I shall wonder how Whittaker Chambers got into my house to use my typewriter," a statement provoking outright laughter among jurors.<ref>[[#refWeinstein78|Weinstein 1978]]: 300</ref> | | On December 15, Alger Hiss proposed to the grand jury a theory that someone (perhaps Chambers)<ref>[[#refWeinstein78|Weinstein 1978]]: 270</ref> had sneaked into the State Department and stolen the documents from his desk<ref>[[#refWeinstein78|Weinstein 1978]]: 178, 253, 257, 299, 397</ref> then, having somehow obtained access to Hiss' typewriter,<ref>[[#refWeinstein78|Weinstein 1978]]: 298, 300</ref> typed some of the documents on it<ref>[[#refWeinstein78|Weinstein 1978]]: 281, 298</ref> and microfilmed others, and then sneaked back into the State Department and replaced the originals,<ref>[[#refWeinstein78|Weinstein 1978]]: 254</ref> all in an elaborate plot to frame Hiss<ref>[[#refWeinstein78|Weinstein 1978]]: 299</ref> a decade later.<ref>[[#refWeinstein78|Weinstein 1978]]: p. 281</ref> Even Hiss admitted that his theory was "fantastic,"<ref>[[#refWeinstein78|Weinstein 1978]]: 299</ref> stating, "Until the day I die, I shall wonder how Whittaker Chambers got into my house to use my typewriter," a statement provoking outright laughter among jurors.<ref>[[#refWeinstein78|Weinstein 1978]]: 300</ref> |