Ben Schneider was a middle-aged New York City photographer.
SAYPOL: When was the first time, Mr. Schneider, that you had any knowledge, any notice, any conversation with any human being regarding the fact of y our being a witness here?
SCHNEIDER: Yesterday.
SAYPOL: What time?
SCHNEIDER: About 11:30.
SAYPOL: At that time were you visited by some agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation?
SCHNEIDER: Yes, sir.
SAYPOL: And was it the very first time?
SCHNEIDER: Yes, sir.
SAYPOL: What is your business?
SCHNEIDER: A photographer, sir.
SAYPOL: Where is your place of business?
SCHNEIDER: 99 Park Row.
SAYPOL: When you say that you are a photographer, what is the substantial part of your business, what do you do mainly?
SCHNEIDER: Passport photographs and identification photographs.
Schneider testified that in May or June 1950 he had he been visited by a family consisting of a husband, wife, and two children, about ages six and four. He was aked whether he saw the man and woman in the courtroom. He pointed to Julius and Ethel, and each stood up. Schneider said that the Rosenbergs asked to have passport photos taken. According to Schneider, Rosenberg waited for twenty minutes while the pictures were developed. Ethel used the time to take the children, who were being unruly, for a walk. Rosenberg paid the $9.00 fee for thirty-six photos (an unusually large order), and told Schneider that the family was planning a trip to France. [OBVIOUSLY, IT WAS THE SUGGESTION OF THE PROSECUTION THAT THE ROSENBERGS WANTED PASSPORT PHOTOS BECAUSE THEY WERE FEARFUL OF ARREST AND WERE PLANNING TO FLEE THE COUNTRY.]
SAYPOL:And is that the last time you saw him before today?
SCHNEIDER: That's right.
[Later it was revealed that Schneider had been taken to court the previous morning by FBI men to see whether he could identify the Rosenbergs as the customers who had ordered the passport photos.]
Cross-examination:
E. H. Bloch began by asking for the negatives, which Schneider said he didn't keep. Bloch then asked whether he had any records to confirm the Rosenbergs' visit.
SCHNEIDER: No, we generally take photographs like this, see, engineers, three for a dollar. We don't keep no records of it.
E. H. BLOCH: Haven't you any sales slips in your place of business?
SCHNEIDER No.
E. H. BLOCH: None at all?
SCHNEIDER: No.
Schneider was asked whether he had read of the Rosenbergs and why he hadn't come forward earlier.
E. H. BLOCH: Didn't mean a thing to you?
SCHNEIDER: I didn't think of them; I didn't think of them at that time.
E. H. BLOCH: And the first time you thought of them was when?
SCHNEIDER: When the FBI men came in and showed me a photograph, a front and side view, and then I saw it, I recognized.
E. H. BLOCH: You recognized them?
SCHNEIDER: Yes.
E. H. BLOCH: What kind of a view did you see of Mr. Rosenberg in the newspapers? Was it a front view or a side view?
SCHNEIDER: Just a front view.
E. H. BLOCH: Did you ever see a front view of Mrs. Rosenberg in the newspapers?
SCHNEIDER: No, I don't recall.
E. H. BLOCH: You say you read the News and the Mirror regularly?
SCHNEIDER: Yes....
E. H. BLOCH: You didn't mean to say, did you, that you remember this incident because you came down this particular Saturday?
SCHNEIDER: Yes, I come down Saturday. I generally make up my chemicals and fix the papers for the entire week, clean up the place, you see.
COURT: But you don't do any work; is that it?
SCHNEIDER: No, no, unless somebody comes in. It is a very slow day, on Saturday. During July and August, I generally take off the Saturdays, see?....It was on a Saturday. That is as much as I know.
E. H. BLOCH: Now there are some Saturdays when you do a rather rushing business?
SCHNEIDER: Not a rushing business.
E. H. BLOCH: Well, a good business?
SAYPOL: Did you say "a Russian business" or "rushing business"?
E. H. BLOCH: I didn't know that Mr. Saypol was a punster.
COURT: You mean you haven't found it out after all these weeks?
E. H. BLOCH: I have been giving him the benefit of the doubt.
KUNTZ: It seems to me, Judge Kaufman, in a case like this, that humor is out of place.
SAYPOL: It is not intended as humor. I just want to be clear what language was.
COURT: Let's get on. Try to restrain your desire to be another Milton Berle....
E. H. BLOCH: Did you see the Rosenbergs from the time you say they took pictures in your place, in June 1950, until the time you walked in this courtroom?
COURT: He answered that question.
E. H. BLOCH: I am sorry.
SAYPOL: I object to it.
COURT: You object because it has just been answered?
SAYPOL: Yes.
COURT: I understood he answered. He said, "No."
BLOCH: He said "No"?
COURT: That is right.
E .R. BLOCH: I didn't so understand, your Honor.
Bloch asked whether other customers told him where they were travelling, as he said the Rosenbergs did.
SCHNEIDER: Well, why, you get people who like to talk, and well, naturally, you have a conversation, but not often, you know, people come in and talkative, like to talk. That is about it.
[The witness was excused.]
COURT: Any more witnesses?
SAYPOL No, that is the Government's case. The Government rests.
COURT: Defense rests?
E. H. BLOCH: Defense rests.
COURT: Do you rest, Mr. Kuntz?
KUNTZ: We rest, your Honor.