| | Chambers' version would be corroborated by the car's certificate of title, which showed that Hiss actually transferred the car on July 23, 1936, to the Cherner Motor Company, which [http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/terrorists_spies/spies/hiss/5.html sold it the same day] to the [[Communist]]<ref>[[#refWhite04|White 2004]]: 60</ref> William Rosen for $25. The company's records of the transaction had vanished.<ref>[[#refHUAC48|HUAC 1948]]: 1056 (PDF 566); [[#refWeinstein78|Weinstein 1978]]: 47</ref> Rosen would [[#refHissAppellate|refuse to answer]] questions about his role in the transfer or the [[Communist Party]] on grounds of potential [[self-incrimination]].<ref>''[[#refHissAppellate|U.S. v Hiss]]</ref> Hiss's attorney, Edward McLean, wrote that Rosen's lawyer, Emmanuel Bloch, told him: | | Chambers' version would be corroborated by the car's certificate of title, which showed that Hiss actually transferred the car on July 23, 1936, to the Cherner Motor Company, which [http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/terrorists_spies/spies/hiss/5.html sold it the same day] to the [[Communist]]<ref>[[#refWhite04|White 2004]]: 60</ref> William Rosen for $25. The company's records of the transaction had vanished.<ref>[[#refHUAC48|HUAC 1948]]: 1056 (PDF 566); [[#refWeinstein78|Weinstein 1978]]: 47</ref> Rosen would [[#refHissAppellate|refuse to answer]] questions about his role in the transfer or the [[Communist Party]] on grounds of potential [[self-incrimination]].<ref>''[[#refHissAppellate|U.S. v Hiss]]</ref> Hiss's attorney, Edward McLean, wrote that Rosen's lawyer, Emmanuel Bloch, told him: |
| − | The title transfer bore a signature Hiss acknowledged to be his own, notarized by Hiss's [[Justice Department]] colleague W. Marvin Smith. In 1948 Smith would tell the [[HUAC|Thomas committee]] that he had notarized Hiss's signature on the transfer,<ref>Mr. STRIPLING. I show you a photostatic copy of an assignment of title which was... subpenaed from the files, of the Vehicles and Traffic Division of the District of Columbia... It states in part... "Assignment of title. For value received the undersigned hereby sells, assigns, or transfer unto (name of purchaser)"; then, written in is "Cherner Motor Company; address, 1781 Florida Avenue, Northwest"... It says, "Signature of Assignor, Alger Hiss." Then it says, "On the 23d day of July 1936, before me, the subscriber, a notary public of the District of Columbia, personally appeared Alger Hiss, who made oath in due form of law that the above statements are true. Witness my hand and notarial seal, W. Marvin Smith, Notary Public." Is that your signature, Mr. Smith? Mr. SMITH. It sure does look like it. Mr. STRIPLING. You say it does? Mr. SMITH. Yes; I have no doubt it is. [[#refHUAC48|HUAC 1948]]: 1072 (PDF 582)</ref> but before he could so testify in the Hiss [[trial]], Smith would plunge down a five-story Justice Department stairwell to his [[death]]; there would be no witnesses.<ref>"U.S. Lawyer Who Figured In Hiss Case Killed in Fall," ''The Washington Post,'' October 21, 1948, p. 1</ref> | + | The title transfer bore a signature Hiss acknowledged to be his own, notarized by Hiss's [[Justice Department]] colleague W. Marvin Smith. In 1948 Smith would tell the [[HUAC|Thomas committee]] that he had notarized Hiss's signature on the transfer,<ref>Mr. STRIPLING. I show you a photostatic copy of an assignment of title which was... subpenaed from the files, of the Vehicles and Traffic Division of the District of Columbia... It states in part... "Assignment of title. For value received the undersigned hereby sells, assigns, or transfer unto (name of purchaser)"; then, written in is "Cherner Motor Company; address, 1781 Florida Avenue, Northwest"... It says, "Signature of Assignor, Alger Hiss." Then it says, "On the 23d day of July 1936, before me, the subscriber, a notary public of the District of Columbia, personally appeared Alger Hiss, who made oath in due form of law that the above statements are true. Witness my hand and notarial seal, W. Marvin Smith, Notary Public." Is that your signature, Mr. Smith? Mr. SMITH. It sure does look like it. Mr. STRIPLING. You say it does? Mr. SMITH. Yes; I have no doubt it is. [[#refHUAC48|HUAC 1948]]: 1072 (PDF 582)</ref> but before he could so testify in the Hiss [[trial]], Smith would plunge down a five-story Justice Department stairwell to his [[death]]; there would be no witnesses.<ref>"U.S. Lawyer Who Figured In Hiss Case Killed in Fall," ''The Washington Post,'' October 21, 1948, p. 1. Cf. "[http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1893&dat=19510317&id=lQ8pAAAAIBAJ&sjid=39YEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4789,1952807 Drew Pearson's Washington Merry-Go-Round," ''The Southeast Missourian'', March 17, 1951], p. 6</ref> |