Evening star., 1950-01-22
Sentencing Of Hiss,
Guilty Of Perjury,
Set for Wednesday

ing one That he set the verdict
aside.
Hiss Refuses Statement.
AS the court session broke UP
Hiss and his wife quickly pressed
through the crowd of spectators
A reporter rushed up, pad in hand
mo-" said Hiss, mo, have moth.
Ing at all to say" The Hisse,
crossed the corridor and entered
an office which has been the de.
tense headquarters throughout
the trial.
One of their lawyers reported
that the couple embraced word.
lessly as soon as the door closed
behind them.
Defense Attorney Cross, mean.
while. commented only that the
defense would appeal. 1T ISM
proper for me to say more" he
said. "We are still in the middle
of a fight" For the second trial
MIR. Cross, a mild-mannered Bos-
ton lawyer, replaced the famboy-
ant Lloyd Paul Stryker. defense
counsel at the first Hiss trial.
The Kisses, accompanied by g
group of friends. left the court.
house in about a half an hour
Outside, they pushed through g
battery of cameras and made fol
a red Chevrolet sedan, parked
across the street. One of the girls
in the party raced the motor a.
the Kisses climbed into the back
seat. The car moved away-pho.
tographers ran alongside, still
swapping their pictures. Finally
the car was lost in the traffic.
Mr.. Murphy, the 6-foot 4-incf
prosecutor had fought hard anc
brilliantly to win his case, and il
was great day for him. JuSt
after the Kisses left, he held &
news conference.
my job was to present the fact
to an American jury. and it wal
their job to decide those facts,
he said. II think that by theil
verdict the issue has now beer
permanently decided.
"I want to take this opportunity
to sincerely thank all the men who
have worked so hard and so Ions
with me in this CASE"
He described the case as "one
of the toughest I've ever had" He
said he did not believe that "any
single piece of evidence was 9
clincher."
Praised by Superior.
Asked what would be his next
big case and whether he planned
a vacation to recover from the two
trials, he shrugged and laughed:
"All I know is that I'm off unit
Monday morning"
His boss, United States Attorney
Irving Saypol, gave high praise tt
Mr.. Murphy and his assistants.
"Mr. Murphy's comments are
mine" he said. THE verdict
demonstrated amply that Mr.
Murphy vindicated justice"
There were other comments
everywhere. One of the women
operating an elevator in the sky
scraper courthouse, who many
times had taken the Hitees to and
from the trial setting on the 18th
floor. reported she was sick to
her stomach" when she heard the
news.
Seemed Like Lovely People.
Maybe It's because I'm wonl-
an" she said. But they did seem
like such lovely people,"
The bartender across the street
reacted a little differently. "1'hey
ought to shoot him." he said.
A philosophical customer took
issue: "a lot of people were Com
munists in 1888. It's the lies that
matter, not that spy stuff.
But the trouble is, no matter
who you are, this whole thing
leaves bad taste in your mouth
The debate, in all probability
will go on indefinitely.
Heard Million Words.
Most observers agreed that this
5ury's debate, which lasted II
hours and 20 minutes plus time
out for meals and sleeping, wa.
not surprisingly long In view o.
the cases cumbersome complexity
In 80 courtroom days, the juror!
had heard more than 4 900, ,00t
words of testimony and argument
Over 100 witnesses had appeared
for Mr.. Hiss and against him.
The panel had to cut through &
maze of conflicting statements OF
peripheral issues, in grapplint
with two essential problems:
l. Did Mr.. Hiss lie to a Fedora
Grand Jury in 1948, when he swor,
he did not give State Department
secrets to Mr.. Chambers for trans.
mission to Moscow?
2. Did he lie when he said HI
did not see Mr.. Chambers aftel
January l, 1887?
Had New Evidence.
The jury in the second Hiss tria
had a lot more to go on than III
predecessor. That was becaus,
the judge followed the policy O
including virtually all the testi
mony the Government or the de-
fense wanted the jury to have.
The defense was allowed to tro
out two mental experts ITO attacl
Mr. Chambers, a former Tim,
magazine editor, as "psychopa'
th1c personality" whose word wa
not to be believed.
The prosecution also benefited
from the judges broadmindedness
Several witnesses barred at tn,