SAYPOL: Miss Bentley, had you learned what was the relation of the Communist Party of the United States to the Communist International?
BENTLEY: It was part of the Communist International and subject to its jurisdiction as such.
SAYPOL: Well, what connection did the Communist Party membership of you and Golos have with the destination of this material to Russia?
BENTLEY: The Community Party being part of the Communist International only served the interests of Moscow, whether it be propaganda or espionage or sabotage....
Bentley testified about her relationship with her Soviet control, Mr. Golos.
SAYPOL: Miss Bentley, referring to this occasion when you accompanied Mr. Golos to the vicinity of Knickerbocker Village and you saw him in conversation with a man. Do you recall that?
BENTLEY: Yes.
SAYPOL: Can you describe the characteristics of that individual to whom Golos talked? What did he look like?
E. H . Bloch objects
COURT: I am going to sustain the objection to that particular assertion.
SAYPOL: Well, then, if that i so, I will abandon that line of inquiry, if the Court please. Subsequent to the occasion when you went to the vicinity of Knickerbocker Village with Mr. Golos and saw him in conversation with a person, and continuing until November 1943, did you have telephone calls from a person who described himself as Julius?
BENTLEY: Yes, I did.
SAYPOL: Did you then have conversations with Golos regarding the telephone calls from the person describing himself as Julius?
BENTLEY: That is correct.
SAYPOL: And thereafter, having conversed with Golos about the telephone call from Julius, in the first instance, would you immediately hereafter receive further telephone calls from the person describing himself as Julius?
BENTLEY: Yes.
E. H. BLOCH: Same objection, your Honor.
COURT: Overruled. (Court ruling on objection: It will be for the jury to determine, not for you, not for me, it will be for the jury to determine from all the evidence whether or not the "Julius" she is referring to is the defendant Julius Rosenberg on trial. The testimony is admissible, as I see it, because of the foundation which had been aid, or shall I say, the previous testimony which came in from the lips of Elitcher, and I believe it is found on page 355 of the record. . . . It will be for the jury to infer, whether they want to give any weight whatsoever to this portion of the evidence . . . as to whether or not the Julius she spoke to in view of this previous testimony, is the defendant Julius Rosenberg.)
SAYPOL: May I have one further question, if you allow me? Then I will drop it.
COURT: Yes.
SAYPOL: From your conversations with Julius and with Golos, did you come to learn in what vicinity Julius resided?
BENTLEY: Yes.
E. H. BLOCH: I object to it, your Honor, upon the same grounds.
COURT: Overruled.
E. H. BLOCH: I respectfully except.
BENTLEY: Yes, he lived in Knickerbocker Village.
Bentley was asked what function she served in relation to Golos and "Julius":
BENTLEY: My part was that I took messages from Julius to Golos and told Golos that he wanted to meet him, and so on. I was the go-between.
COURT: I see. Very well.
SAYPOL: I think that is all. You may examine.
Cross-examination:
E. H. BLOCH: Now, you have referred to a man by the name of Jacob Golos? He was known to you also as John?
BENTLEY: John was the name he used with his undercover contacts. His real name was Jacob Nathan Golos.
E. H. BLOCH: And what name did he use to you?
BENTLEY: Well, when I first met him for the first year, I knew him as Timmy. After that, I knew him by his real name.
E. H. BLOCH: What name did you call him?
BENTLEY: You mean personally?
E. H. BLOCH: Yes.
BENTLEY: I called him Yasha.
E. H. BLOCH: You were pretty friendly with him, weren't you?
BENTLEY: I think I have said this in other trials; I was in love with Mr. Golos.
E. H. BLOCH: And you not only were in love with him, but you lived with him, did you not?
BENTLEY: Yes, I did and, as I have explained at each and every trial, that was a Communist--
E. H. BLOCH: I move to strike out "at each and every trial," your Honor. I think I am entitled to a direct answer.
COURT: Answer the question.
E. H. BLOCH: You lived with him, did you not?
BENTLEY: I lived with him in what was the Communist conception of marriage. The Communists didn't believe in bourgeois marriage.
E. H. BLOCH: And you didn't believe in bourgeois marriage?
BENTLEY: Since I was a Communist, I didn't.
E. H. BLOCH: And you lived with him, did you not?
BENTLEY: I certainly did. . . .
E. H. BLOCH: Did you know that Golos was married at the time you started to have relations with him?
BENTLEY: Mr. Golos was never legally married to any woman in his life. Any other women had the same relationship I had. He did not believe in bourgeois marriage. He was a Communist.
E. H. BLOCH: Would you characterize your relationship with Mr. Golos as your being the mistress of Mr. Golos?
BENTLEY: I don't feel I am called upon to characterize it. That is up to you.
E. H. BLOCH: I am asking you now.
COURT: No, I am going to sustain the objection. I think she is giving you the facts. Characterization is unimportant. . . .
E.H. BLOCH: Did you know that Mr. Golos had a child when you started to have relations with him?
BENTLEY: I knew that Mr. Golos had lived with a woman previously, who had gone back to the U.S.S.R. two years before, and that he had had a child by her, yes....
E. H. BLOCH: Did you go down to the FBI for the purpose of discussing your Communist Party activities?
BENTLEY: Certainly. I was working with the Russian secret police; I was going with the FBI to work with them; I was being taken out socially by a man who told me he was doing undercover work for the United States Government. That made a very dangerous situation....
E. H. BLOCH: Have you ever been arrested for committing the crime of espionage or conspiring to commit espionage?
BENTLEY: No, I haven't.
E. H. BLOCH: Have you ever been indicted? There is a distinction, Miss Bentley, between an arrest and indictment, I am sorry.
BENTLEY: No I have not been indicted, nor have I been arrested for anything....
E. H. BLOCH: Did you recognize the voice of the man who you say called you up and said, "This is Julius"?
BENTLEY: What do you mean recognize?
E. H. BLOCH: Are you a college graduate?
BENTLEY: Well, I mean--
E. H. BLOCH: Did you recognize whose voice it was who called you up and said--
BENTLEY: I don't understand, your Honor. I have heard the man over a telephone, that is all. I have heard no other voices. What does he mean?
SAYPOL: Just a moment. I object to the question as to form. It depends upon whether Mr. Bloch addresses himself to the first call from Julius or to subsequent calls. I hardly think--
COURT: No, no. Did you ever meet a person, did you ever meet anybody in person, whose voice you heard, and you can now say is the voice of the man who identified himself as Julius on the telephone?
BENTLEY: No. I have never met anyone whose voice I heard, whom I could identify as Julius.
E. H. BLOCH: How many times in all do you say this person who called you up and said, "This is Julius"--
BENTLEY: It might have been five or six; it may have been more.
E. H. BLOCH: And during what period of time was this?
BENTLEY: I think I have stated that. It was from the fall Of '42 to about November Of '43--
E. H. BLOCH: Can you tell us more specifically when these calls came in?
BENTLEY: Yes, they always came after midnight, in the wee small hours. I remember it because I got waked out of bed. .
E. H. BLOCH: You were living at that time in Mr. Golos' apartment?
BENTLEY: I have just informed you, I think twice, that I did not live with Mr. Golos. I lived at 58 Barrow Street, by myself.
E. H. BLOCH: When you say these calls came in in the wee hours of the morning, was that at Mr. Golos' house at which you received these calls?
BENTLEY: I have just told you, the calls came to my house at 53 Barrow Street. Mr. Golos was living some other place.
E. H. BLOCH: Was Mr. Golos with you at your house at 58 Barrow Street when these calls came in?....
BENTLEY: Yes, on one occasion he was.
E. H. BLOCH: And on that one occasion, did you answer the phone?
BENTLEY: I always answered the phone.
E. H. BLOCH: Did you always ask the people who called you their names.
BENTLEY: If I didn't get the voice right off, but this particular party always started his conversation by saying "This is Julius."
E. H. BLOCH: "This is Julius"?
BENTLEY: Yes.
E. H. BLOCH: That was on six or seven occasions?
BENTLEY: I put it at five or six. It might be seven or eight. I don't know exactly the number of them.
Bentley had written a book detailing her spy activities. It had recently been submitted to a publisher. Bloch asked whether in her book she mentioned her phone calls to a man named "Julius."
BENTLEY: Yes.
E. H. BLOCH: When?
BENTLEY: I haven't the least idea when that particular part of the book was written, but that was put into the book very definitely. Whether it is still in or whether it has been cut out I don't know....