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The Verdict / 171
The prosecution coached an important witness.
Edith Murray's testimony was a bombshell, coming at the very end of the trial. She was the only person, other than the Chamberses, to say that the two couples had been together. Her pretrial testimony, which was not made available to the defense before she took the stand, shows that an FBI agent showed her a photograph and told her it was a woman named Priscilla Hiss.
This is not the way Mrs. Murray described the conversation when she gave her testimony. At the trial she said she identified the Hisses in the courthouse hall. She looked around and couldn't find anybody that she knew. Then she saw Mr. and Mrs. Hiss come over, "and right away I knew them." When taken with her preparation (being shown the photographs and told the names of the people), it is difficult to conceive of a less reliable method of securing an identification.
Hiss's petition was turned down. But he continued to be optimistic that his innocence would be revealed someday.
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