eyewitness

“‘Madame,’ said the president, ‘you have engaged to furnish the committee with some important particulars respecting the affair at Yanina, and you have stated that you were an eyewitness of the event.’—‘I was, indeed,’ said the stranger, with a tone of sweet melancholy, and with the sonorous voice peculiar to the East.

Historically, eyewitness testimony was considered the gold standard of evidence, often serving as the decisive factor in legal proceedings and courtroom adjudications.