148
The Green Bag
Leshinsky, son of Christian and Trina Leshinsky, and one Kugren. Christof, in his first deposition, taken January 29, 1906, swears that the killing of his parents and the burning of their house was done by two men only; that one of them wore blue glasses and had his face covered with a handkerchief, the other was uncovered, wore a moustache, and was about twenty years old, but that in his fright he did not observe his features and could not identify him. This testimony was taken soon after the commission of the crimes. After calm deliberation, official Rus sia reached the conclusion that this deposition of Christof did not prove as much as was desirable from the point of view of the government, and hence another deposition was taken, June 27, 1907, or about one year and five months later than the first. In his second deposition, he swears that the acts were committed by five men; that among them he recognized Urban, who wore blue glasses and had his face covered with a handkerchief; a second had his face smeared and covered with a hand kerchief; this one he recognized as Rudowitz, by his stature, voice and clothes. It is impossible to reconcile these two accounts of the same transaction. According to the second, the number of persons making up the band of execu tioners is more than twice as large as stated in the first account. The one who according to the first deposition would have been Rudowitz no longer has his face "uncovered," but has it smeared and covered with a handker chief. It is also difficult to understand why the smearing of the face and cover ing it with a handkerchief should enable one to recognize a person whom he could not recognize in the absence of smear and handkerchief. The average
person very rarely resorts to these means in order to make it easier for his friends to recognize him or to establish his identity at a bank. The second deposition makes it abun dantly clear to any one who will take the trouble to read the evidence that, during the interval of seventeen months between the first and second deposition, the boy's recollection had been refreshed from some source. I shall make no attempt to indicate what, in my judg ment, is the more probable source, as the reader is as capable of judging in this matter as am I. The two depositions being contra dictory, no one can believe both, nor is it unnatural to conclude that the one taken relatively soon after the occur rence is the more nearly a correct narra tive of the events and that the depar tures from it in the second deposition are mainly a result of suggestion. Recol lection does not as a rule become more accurate with lapse of time. Granting that the first deposition is at all accu rate as to the age of the one accompany ing the person with the blue glasses, it could not have been Rudowitz who was with him; for Rudowitz is thirty-five years old and looks as old as he is. He could therefore not be mistaken for a man of but twenty. Contradictory as it is, the testimony of Christof is much more convincing in connecting Rudowitz with the commis sion of the crimes than is that of Kugren. The latter swears that the band, con sisting of eight persons, passed through his yard on the way from Benen, that in great fear he looked out through the window and recognized Rudowitz. If this testimony be correct, it would fur nish grounds for an inference that Rudo witz might have been one of the two, or five, who did the killing. But there is not wanting evidence that this, in
