Cross-swearing. between Thornton and Macdonald runs to several pages, the
latter making admissions incriminating both and the former denying them, so far, at least, as he was concerned. On one point new light is definitely thrown. The verbatim report bears out to only a limited degree the implication behind the statement of most of the correspondents that Macdonald, on the second day of the trial, withdrew his plea of guilty and then, after being taken out of court in charge of the Ogpu officials, came back and admitted everything after all. Occasional recesses of twenty minutes were a" regular feature of the long sittings, and after retracting his plea of guilty Macdonald—before the adjournment— admitted that he had obtained information regarding shells and passed it on to Thornton. A little later, the examination of a particular witness having been con- cluded, there came the recess, and after that Macdonald continued his admissions regarding what was termed economic, political and military espionage. The casual reader of the full printed repOrt would not, I think, be struck by any sharp change of attitude between the last ten minutes before the adjournment and the first ten minutes after, but the correSpondents who commented on the alteration in Macdonald's outward demeanour when he returned to court may be quite right in drawing conclusions which the questions and answers alone would not naturally suggest. In any case the fundamental enigma of Macdonald remains. The report is marked 1.50 roubles. If it is obtainable in London I predict it will soon be a best seller. Other volumes covering the rest of the trial are in preparation.
* * * *
Previous page
