Testimony Of Ruth Hyde Paine Resumed

The President's Commission reconvened at 2:05 p.m.

Mr. JENNER - May we proceed, Mr. Chairman?
Mr. McCLOY - Yes; we are all ready whenever you are. You are still under affirmation.
Mr. JENNER - Mrs. Paine, may I hand you the document again?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - It has been marked Commission Exhibit 426. You were making a comparison with the block printing on that document with like block printing that you testified yesterday had been written in your address book. I have forgotten the exhibit number, but in your address book which you have before you----
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - And the printing in your address book to which you were addressing yourself was what?
Mrs. PAINE - His printing of the place where he worked in April of 1963.
Mr. JENNER - And that is Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall?
Mrs. PAINE - Right.
Mr. JENNER - You were comparing that printing which you saw him put in your address book with what?
Mrs. PAINE - The printing on this application for Texas driver's license.
Mr. JENNER - And any particular printing on that application?
Mrs. PAINE - Was put in in pen. I do observe that the printing here uses a mixture of upper case and lower case letters, as does the printing in my phone book, most of it being block upper case.
Mr. JENNER - The form and shape of the printing in both of the documents is--
Mrs. PAINE - Is similar.
Mr. JENNER - Similar. All right, thank you. Mr. Chairman, because of the point raised by Representative Ford with particular reference to the word "photographer" which, by the way, is misspelled, it is spelled "f-o-t-o-g-r-a-p-e-r," and things of that sort do occur as you have already noted in many of his writings, very bad misspellings.
Mr. McCLOY - Yes, his grammar seems to be better than this spelling.
Mr. JENNER - Yes. This form is an official form printed of the Texas State License Bureau entitled "Application for Texas driver's license," on the line provided for "name" there appears over "first name", "Lee"; over "middle name", "Harvey"; and "last name", "Oswald."
The second set of spaces, provisions for address, birth, and occupation. He gives as his address, 2545 West Fifth Street, Irving, Tex. Was that the address of their home when you first became acquainted with them?
Mrs. PAINE - No.
Mr. JENNER - Is the address 2545 Irving Street familiar to you?
Mrs. PAINE - I think it is 2515.
Mr. JENNER - Perhaps we will have to have it interpreted by someone else. It looks like a "4" to me, but it may be a "1." This birthday, October 18, 1939. The age last birthday 24, and then under "occupation" appears the word I have already related. Sex, male; color of eyes, gray; weight, 146 pounds; race, the letter "C"; color of hair, brown; height, 5 foot 9 inches.
Mr. McCLOY - Were you about to comment?
Mrs. PAINE - I was interested in his comment on his race.
Mr. JENNER - I assume C means Caucasian. There are a series of questions, printed questions on the form, and he answered them, they are from 1 to 12, as follows:
"Question No. 1" he answers in the negative, "Have you ever held a Texas license?"
Question No. 2. All these are in the negative.
"Have you ever been examined for a Texas license?
"Have you ever held a license in any other State?
"Have you ever been denied a license?
"Has your license and driving privilege ever been suspended, revoked, or canceled?
"Have you ever been convicted of driving while intoxicated, failure to stop and render aid, aggravated assault with a motor vehicle, negligent homicide with a motor vehicle or murder with a motor vehicle?"
All answered in the negative.
"Have you ever been convicted of any other moving traffic violation?
"Have you ever been involved as a driver in a motor vehicle accident?
"Have you ever been subject to losses of consciousness or muscular control?
"Have you ever been addicted to the use of intoxicating liquor or narcotic drugs?
"Do you have any physical or mental defects?"
And, lastly: "Have you ever been a patient in a hospital for mental illness?"
The side as to the driving record, that is the reverse side, nothing appears thereon, and nothing in any portion of the form which deals with the record of his examination.
I am a little at a loss, Mr. Chairman, as to whether I should offer this in evidence at the present moment, because it is a document found among his effects in his room, and my statement of fact would be pure hearsay.
Mr. McCLOY - How did we get in possession of it?
Mr. JENNER - It was supplied to us by the FBI. The document was turned over to the FBI. May I withhold offering the document in evidence? We may have another witness who will be able to qualify it.
Mr. McCLOY - Who can identify it?
Mr. JENNER - I am sure we will have a witness. We do want the document in evidence.

[Commission Exhibit No. 426 is also Commission Exhibit No. 112, vol. I, p. 113.]

Identifying as Commission Exhibit 427 a form of employee identification questionnaire of the Jaggars- Chiles-Stovall Co. Please examine Exhibit 427. I direct your attention to the signature in the lower left-hand corner. Are you familiar with that signature?
Mrs. PAINE - I can't say I am familiar with it.
Mr. JENNER - Did you ever have any discussion with Lee Oswald relating to his obtaining of a position with Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - And when did that discussion occur?
Mrs. PAINE - In New Orleans on the second trip, the end of September, when we talked about the possibility of Marina's coming back to have the baby in Texas where they could qualify as one year residents, he equipped me to show that he had been in Texas, and in Dallas for a year by giving me a receipt or part of a paycheck, I don't know just what it was, with the Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall name on it, in October.
Mr. JENNER - What was the purpose--
Mrs. PAINE - He was supplying me with documents that would admit her to Parkland Hospital as a patient. He gave me his--
Mr. JENNER - To show the necessary--
Mrs. PAINE - That he had worked with Stovall.
Mr. JENNER - And the necessary residential period of time in Texas?
Mrs. PAINE - And the necessary residence.
Mr. JENNER - I see.
Did you take that document with you?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes; I did.
Mr. JENNER - And what did you do with it?
Mrs. PAINE - Took it to Parkland Hospital. And subsequently returned it to him.
Mr. JENNER - For what purpose had you gone to Parkland Hospital?
Mrs. PAINE - For prenatal care and care at the time of the birth of Marina Oswald's second child.
Mr. JENNER - And is Parkland Hospital a public institution in Dallas?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - With the necessary residential period of time, Marina, if she had qualified in that respect, or did qualify then she could receive treatment with respect to the birth of her child either at no cost to her or at reduced cost, is that correct?
Mrs. PAINE - I understood it to be cost fitted to their ability to pay.
Mr. JENNER - And so you did, yourself, affirmatively arrange that?
Mrs. PAINE - That is right. What arrangement?
Mr. JENNER - Affirmatively. You did it yourself?
Mrs. PAINE - Oh, yes.
Mr. JENNER - We have now reached the summer period of 1963, and covered some of it in part. My recollection of your testimony is that you vacationed in the summer of 1963.
Mrs. PAINE - That is right.
Mr. JENNER - You visited various members of your family up north?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - You departed Irving, Tex., some time in July, is that correct?
Mrs. PAINE - I believe it was the 27th of July.
Mr. JENNER - And just tell us whom of your family you visited and where you visited, without telling us what you did.
Mrs. PAINE - I visited my mother-in-law and stepfather-in-law.
Mr. JENNER - That is Mr. and Mrs. Young, Arthur Young?
Mrs. PAINE - That is right.
Mr. JENNER - In Paoli, Pa.?
Mrs. PAINE - I first went to Naushon Island off the coast of Massachusetts.
Mr. JENNER - Were you driving in the station wagon?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes; I was.
Mr. JENNER - With your children?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - And you went from there to where? Whom did. you visit next?
Mrs. PAINE - How detailed do you want to be?
Mr. JENNER - Just tell us whom you visited us all.
Mrs. PAINE - I stopped and saw Miss Mary Forman, in Connecticut, one night.
Mr. JENNER - She is an old friend of yours?
Mrs. PAINE - She is an old friend of mine from Columbus, Ohio, and went on then to Paoli the next day, and stayed there, again with the Youngs, until the early part of September.
Mr. McCLOY - Is that Paoli, Pa.?
Mrs. PAINE - That is right.
Mr. JENNER - Did you visit your mother and your father or either of them?
Mrs. PAINE - My father came to Paoli and visited me there.
Mr. JENNER - Did I ask you yesterday, Mrs. Paine, and please forgive me if this is a repetition, the occupation of your father.
Mrs. PAINE - He is an insurance underwriter; he composes the fine print.
Mr. JENNER - Was he at one time an actuary?
Mrs. PAINE - What does actuary mean?
Mr. JENNER - A man who computes the probabilities and works in connection with----
Mrs. PAINE - He may be. I am not certain exactly what his position is.
Mr. JENNER - For what company, please?
Mrs. PAINE - The Nationwide Insurance Company.
Mr. JENNER - Where is there main office?
Mrs. PAINE - In Columbus, Ohio.
Mr. JENNER - Your father visited you at Paoli. Did you see your mother during that summer period?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes; I did. I saw her briefly on the way to Naushon Island, and then again I saw her on my way back to the south and west, in Columbus, Ohio.
Mr. JENNER - At Columbus, she was living there then?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - Did you see your sister on that trip?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes; I did.
Mr. JENNER - And where did you see her?
Mrs. PAINE - She lives in suburban Washington, and I saw here there at her home. I also saw Michael's brother, and his wife, who live in Baltimore.
Mr. JENNER - Would you identify Michael's brother, please?
Mrs. PAINE - His name is Cameron Paine, C-a-m-e-r-o-n.
Mr. JENNER - What is his occupation or business?
Mrs. PAINE - He works with Social Security.
Mr. JENNER - For the State or the United States Government?
Mrs. PAINE - For the United States Government.
Mr. JENNER - That covers generally the people you visited that summer?
Mrs. PAINE - No. I also visited by brother, in Yellow Springs, Ohio.
Mr. JENNER - That is your brother, the physician?
Mrs. PAINE - That is right. I visited with friends in the Philadelphia area, while I was at Paoli.
Mr. JENNER - Do you mean by the term "friends" there to mean in the sense would mean friends?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - Or members of the Friends Society?
Mrs. PAINE - Some were both, but I meant it as personal friends. And then I saw also friends, also both, capital F and small, in Richmond, Ind., and then from there I headed directly south to New Orleans.

(Discussion off the record. )

Mrs. PAINE - Shall I go on to arrival at New Orleans?
Mr. JENNER - This spanned a period of a little over 2 months, did it not?
Mrs. PAINE - It was just short of 2 months total that I was away from my home in Irving.
Mr. JENNER - And in the meantime you had had the correspondence with Marina that you had related this morning, during the course of your going along, had you?
Mrs. PAINE - During that vacation she and I exchanged one letter each.
Mr. JENNER - Yes. Had you advised her that you were coming to New Orleans?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - For what purpose?
Mrs. PAINE - To visit. And to talk.
Mr. JENNER - About what?
Mrs. PAINE - To see if it was appropriate for her to come to my house for the birth of the baby.
Mr. JENNER - At that moment, at that time, when you were about to return or about to go to New Orleans, this concept was limited to her coming to be with you for the birth of the child?
Mrs. PAINE - That is correct.
Mr. JENNER - At least temporarily she abandoned the notion of joining you on a semipermanent basis?
Mrs. PAINE - It was abandoned. It was not taken up again.
Mr. JENNER - You arrived in New Orleans?
Mrs. PAINE - That is right.
Mr. JENNER - The 20th of September.
Mr. McCLOY - Maybe you are going to get to this. Maybe I am anticipating your case, so to speak, but during these visits that you paid to your friends on this trip, did you talk about your association with Marina?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.; I did.
Mr. McCLOY - You did?
Mrs. PAINE - Quite a lot. It was rather an important thing to me.
Mr. JENNER - I have some questions to put to Mrs. Paine on that subject, but they are in the area of the collateral that I spoke of this morning, so I did not go into them at the moment.
Now, starting with your arrival in New Orleans, you got there in the morning or afternoon?
Mrs. PAINE - I arrived midafternoon, as I remember.
Mr. JENNER - And you went directly to their home, did you?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - What did you find when you reached the home?
Mrs. PAINE - I was expected. They had groceries bought.
Mr. JENNER - Who was home?
Mrs. PAINE - Marina and Lee, and the baby June.
Mr. JENNER - I don't have a calendar before me. The 20th of September is what day of the week?
Mrs. PAINE - Is a Friday.
Mr. JENNER - 1963?
Mrs. PAINE - I spent the night there that night and the succeeding 2 nights. Lee who bought the groceries while I was there, was host. At one point Mrs. Ruth Kloepfer, who has been previously mentioned, came and visited with her sister excuse me, with her two daughters. This was after I had made a telephone call to her.
Mr. JENNER - These daughters were adults or were they children?
Mrs. PAINE - The daughters were grown daughters.
Mr. JENNER - Grown?
Mrs. PAINE - In college, college-age daughters, and one had been studying Russian, didn't know very much. I was impressed with the role that Lee took of the general host, talking with them, looking over some slides that one of the daughters had brought of her trip, recent trip to Russia, showing sights that they recognized, I guess, in Moscow.
Mr. JENNER - That the girls recognized?
Mrs. PAINE - No; that Lee and Marina recognized of Moscow, or Lee did, at least. And he was very outgoing and warm and friendly. He seemed in good spirits that weekend. I found him--he made a much better impression on me, I will say, that weekend than the last weekend I had seen him, which was in May.
I could see, and it was the first time that I felt that he was concerned about his wife's physical welfare-and- about where she could go to have the baby, and he seemed distinctly relieved to consider the possibility of her going to Dallas County and getting care through Parkland Hospital, and clearly pleased that I wanted to offer this, and pleased to have her go, which relieved my mind a good deal.
I hadn't wanted to have such an arrangement come about without his being interested in having it that way.
Mr. JENNER - During the course of this, did you say you were there 3 days?
Mrs. PAINE - Three nights, two days.
Mr. JENNER - Two days and three nights; there was then a discussion between yourself and Marina, yourself on the one hand, Marina and Lee on the other, in which it was determined that Marina would return with you to Irving, Tex., for the purpose of having the birth of her child in Irving?
Mrs. PAINE - That is right.
Mr. JENNER - And Lee did participate in those discussions?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - Now, during the course of the time you were there, was there any discussion of the fact that Lee was at that time jobless and would be seeking a position?
Mrs. PAINE - I knew from Marina's letters that he was out of work.
Mr. JENNER - Yes.
Mrs. PAINE - We did have one short conversation and this was in English. I began it. He was willing to proceed in English.
Mr. JENNER - This is one of the few occasions in which he permitted himself to speak with you in English?
Mrs. PAINE - That is correct. I asked him if he thought his application was any impediment to his getting and keeping a job. He said he didn't know, and went on to say that he had already lost his job when he was arrested for passing out pro-Cuba literature here in New Orleans. And he said he spent the night in jail, and I said, "Did Marina know that?" "Yes, she knew it."
Mr. JENNER - I want you to finish the conversation.
Mrs. PAINE - This was as much of a revelation, accurate revelation of what he had done as I ever got from him.
Mr. JENNER - Excuse me, Mrs. Paine. I am going to get into that with you.
I would like to have you finish the conversation first before you give your reaction.
Mrs. PAINE - That was the end of it.
Mr. JENNER - That was the end?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - Now, with respect to the Fair Play for Cuba Committee activity, had you up to this moment heard of Lee Harvey Oswald's activities, if any, of any character and to any extent, with respect to the Fair Play for Cuba Committee?
Mrs. PAINE - I had not heard of any such activities.
The name of the committee was not mentioned. I did not know the name of the committee until it appeared in the newspapers after the assassination.
Mr. JENNER - Now, how did Lee Harvey Oswald describe that? What did he say?
Mrs. PAINE - He said that he was passing out pro-Castro or pro-Cuba literature, and that there were some anti-Castro people who also caused some disturbance, and that he had spent the night in jail.
Mr. JENNER - And did I understand you correctly to say that he assigned that as a possible--
Mrs. PAINE - No, on the contrary.
Mr. JENNER - As possibly having had some effect on his loss of position?
Mrs. PAINE - On the contrary, he made the point that he had already lost his job before this happened.
Mr. JENNER - That he had lost his position before the Fair Play for Cuba incident?
Mrs. PAINE - So that he did not know, he could not cite an instance where his application had made it difficult for him in his work.
Mr. JENNER - Had you had conversation with Marina prior to this time in which she might have suggested or did suggest that his application and his history of having gone to Russia and then returned to the United States as having an adverse effect on his efforts to obtain employment?
Mrs. PAINE - No; nothing of that nature was said.
Mr. JENNER - That was never discussed in your presence?
Mrs. PAINE - No.
Mr. JENNER - Was it ever discussed in your presence or raised in your presence by anybody other than Lee Harvey Oswald or Marina?
Mrs. PAINE - Not to my recollection.
Mr. JENNER - Was it ever discussed with you by anybody even though they weren't present? By "they" I mean Lee and Marina. You recall none? This is the first instance of any discussion of that character, and you raised it, did you?
Mrs. PAINE - That is right.
Mr. JENNER - And you have exhausted your recollection of this particular conversation, have you?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - I gather from your testimony that you found the relations between Marina and Lee improved on this occasion?
Mrs. PAINE - They certainly appeared to be improved. The weekend time was certainly much more comfortable than the weekend in early May had been when I first was, in New Orleans.
Mr. JENNER - You described yesterday an irritability as between Marina and Lee when you were there in the spring?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - And that that had continued during all the time you were in New Orleans. You found the situation different?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - On your return in the fall?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - Now, you have already related the incident about touring Bourbon Street, and that occurred on this occasion, did it?
Mrs. PAINE - During that weekend, yes; those days.
Mr. JENNER - And Lee Harvey Oswald stayed home that evening or that day. It was late in the day, was it, rather than the evening?
Mrs. PAINE - It was early evening.
Mr. JENNER - Early evening. What did he do at home, do you know?
Mrs. PAINE - When we got back Marina noticed that the dishes had been cleaned up and put away. I take it back, they had been washed, not put away. And I believe he did some packing.
Mr. JENNER - In anticipation of your returning to Irving, Tex., with Marina?
Mrs. PAINE - That is right.
I was impressed during these 2 days with his willingness to help with the packing. He did virtually all the packing and all the loading of the things into the car. I simply thought that gentlemanly of him at the time. I have wondered since whether he wasn't doing it by preference to having me handle it.
Mr. JENNER - I was about to ask you your impression in that direction. Did he seem eager to do the packing?
Mrs. PAINE - He did, distinctly.
Mr. JENNER - Distinctly eager?
Mrs. PAINE - I recall he began as early, you see, as Saturday night and we left Tuesday morning.
Mr. JENNER - And you are aware of the fact he did some packing while you and Marina were on tour?
Mrs. PAINE - It couldn't have been Saturday night, because I only arrived on Saturday. More likely it was Sunday. Is Bourbon Street open on Sunday?
Mr. JENNER - Bourbon Street is open all the time.
Mrs. PAINE - Then it would have to be.

(Discussion off the record.)

Mr. JENNER - Did you have the feeling at the time that he was quite eager to do the packing?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - And did you have the feeling it was just a touch out of the ordinary?
Mrs. PAINE - It didn't occur to me that it was.
Mr. JENNER - But on reflection now, you think it was out of the ordinary?
Mrs. PAINE - On reflection now I think it wasn't simply a gesture of the gentleman.
Mr. JENNER - But at the time it didn't arouse enough interest on your part to have a question in your mind?
Mrs. PAINE - No; I would have expected it of other men, but this was the first I saw him taking that much interest.
Mr. JENNER - It did arrest your attention on that score, in any event?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - Now, you were there for 2 full days and 3 evenings. Would you tell us, conserving your description in your words, what did you do during these 2 days and 3 nights. When I say "you", I am including all three of you.
Mrs. PAINE - Of course, afternoons we usually spent in rest for the children, having all small children, all of us having small children.
Mr. JENNER - Whenever this doesn't include Lee Harvey Oswald would you be good enough to tell us?
Mrs. PAINE - When he was not present?
Mr. JENNER - That is right.
Mrs. PAINE - My recollection is that he was present most of the weekend. He went out to buy groceries, came in with a cheery call to his two girls, saying, "Yabutchski," which means girls, the Russian word for girls, as he came in the door. It was more like Harvey than I had seen him before. He remembered this time. I saw him reading a pocketbook.
Mr. JENNER - The Commission is interested in his readings. To the best of your ability to recall, tell us. You noticed it now, of course.
Mrs. PAINE - Yes. I don't recall the title of it. I do recall that I loaned him a pocketbook at one point. I can't even recall what it was about. But I might if I saw it.
Mr. JENNER - Was it a book on any political subject?
Mrs. PAINE - No.
Representative FORD - Was it an English book?
Mrs. PAINE - But it was in English, unless it was a parallel text of Russian-English short stories, something like that, I can't remember. It might have been Reid's Ten Days That Shook the World, or something like that, but I am not at all certain I would have thought he would have read that, anyway.
Representative FORD - Was it a book that you recall having had with you that summer? Ten Days--
Mrs. PAINE - It is a book I should still own, and I don't recall for sure whether I have that one.
Representative FORD - Ten Days That Shook the World?
Mrs. PAINE - I am very shaky in my memory. I had prepared a collection of books for the course in Russian at Saint Marks School, and they included history and literature and English.
Representative FORD - But you were still anticipating teaching Russian at Saint Marks School in Irving?
Mrs. PAINE - That is right, and this was just part of a bibliography of things of interest that included some of the more historical texts from many points of view regarding Soviet life.
Representative FORD - I interrupted you.
Mr. JENNER - I was asking you to tell us in general what was done during those 2 days and 3 nights.
Mrs. PAINE - We went out to wash diapers at the local washateria, and stayed while they were done and went back.
Mr. JENNER - You and Lee?
Mrs. PAINE - I don't think that he went. My recollection is that Marina and I went.
Mr. JENNER - He remained home?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - Did you visit with any of their in-laws?
Mrs. PAINE - No.
Mr. JENNER - Did they visit while you were there?
Mrs. PAINE - No.
Mr. JENNER - Did they come there?
Mrs. PAINE - No. I have already referred to a visit from Mrs. Kloepfer, with her two girls which must have been the day before we left or Monday.
No, Sunday, it must have been Sunday. It wasn't much time altogether, because Sunday was the day before we left.
Mr. JENNER - Is Mrs. Kloepfer a native American?
Mrs. PAINE - I have no idea. She speaks natively.
Mr. JENNER - But she does have a command of the Russian language?
Mrs. PAINE - Oh, no, no. Her daughter has had 1 year of Russian in college, and was much too shy to begin to say anything, thoroughly overwhelmed by meeting someone who really spoke.
Mr. JENNER - I must have misinterpreted your testimony this morning.
Mrs. PAINE - Her daughter had visited in the Soviet Union just recently and had slides that she had taken that summer.
Mr. JENNER - But Mrs. Kloepfer, as far as you are informed, had no command of the Russian language?
Mrs. PAINE - Absolutely none. She was the only person I knew to try to contact to ask if she knew or could find anyone in New Orleans who knew Russian, and she said she didn't know anyone, over the phone.
Mr. JENNER - I see.
Mrs. PAINE - And I, therefore, also tried to get Mrs. Blanchard to seek out someone who could talk to Marina.
Mr. JENNER - Mrs. Blanchard had no command of the Russian language, as far as you knew?
Mrs. PAINE - I would be certain she didn't.
Mr. JENNER - Have you described for us generally the course of events in the 2 days and 3 nights you were there?
Mrs. PAINE - Well, much of the last portion, some of the last portion of Sunday was spent packing up. It was a very well loaded automobile by then, because I already had a great many of my own, including a boat on the top of the car to which we attached the. playpen, stroller, and other things on top. I should describe in detail the packing, which was another thing that made me feel that he did care for his wife.
We left on Monday morning, yes, Monday morning early, the 23d, and it seemed to me he was very sorry to see her go. They kissed goodbye and we got in the car and I started down intending really to go no farther than the first gas station because I had a soft rear tire and I wasn't going to have a flat with this great pile of goods on top of not only my car but my spare, so I went down to the first gas station that was open a couple blocks down, and prepared to buy a fire.
Lee having watched us, walked down to the gas station and talked and visited while I arranged to have the tire changed, bought a new one and had it changed. I felt he wished or thought he should be offering something toward the cost of the tire. He said, "That sure is going to cost a lot, isn't it?" And I said, "Yes; but car owners have to expect that." This is as close as he came to offering financial help. But it was at least a gesture.
Mr. JENNER - Then there was no financial help given you?
Mrs. PAINE - There was no financial help.
Mr. JENNER - Given you by Lee Harvey Oswald?
Mrs. PAINE - No.
Mr. JENNER - In connection with the return of Marina to Irving, Tex.?
Mrs. PAINE - And he did not at this time give her, so far as I know, any small change or petty cash to take with her, whereas when he left her in late April to go to my house, she to go to my house, and he to go to New Orleans, he left $10 or so with her. She spent that on incidentals.
Mr. JENNER - Mrs. Paine, did he ever, during all of the period of your acquaintance with the Oswalds, ever offer any reimbursement financially or anything at all to you?
Mrs. PAINE - No; he never offered anything to me.
Mr. JENNER - Was there any discussion between you and him on the subject?
Mrs. PAINE - No. As close as we came to such discussion was saying that when they had enough money and perhaps after Christmas they would get an apartment again, and I judged, felt that he was saving money towards renting a furnished apartment for his family.
Mr. JENNER - Now, I used the term "offer." Did he ever offer? Did he in fact ever give you any money?
Mrs. PAINE - He in fact never gave me any money, either. He did give Marina.
Mr. JENNER - The one incident of which you are speaking or on other occasions?
Mrs. PAINE - There was that one incident in April.
Mr. JENNER - Yes.
Mrs. PAINE - He did give her, I think, $10, just prior, or some time close to the time of the assassination, because she planned to buy some shoes.
Mr. JENNER - Shoes for herself, or her children?
Mrs. PAINE - For herself, flat s. But when he gave that to her I am not certain. I do know that we definitely planned to go out on Friday afternoon, the 22d of November, to buy those shoes. We did not go.
Mr. JENNER - That is you girls planned to do that?
Mrs. PAINE - She and I did; yes.
Representative FORD - Mr. Jenner, do you plan to ask questions about the process of packing of the car?
Mr. JENNER - Yes; I do. Now, this improvement in the attitude of Lee Harvey Oswald, arrested your deliberate attention--didn't it?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes; it did. It was really the first I had felt any sympathy for him at all.
Mr. JENNER - Did you have any feeling that he, in turn, felt that he might not be seeing Marina any more?
Mrs. PAINE - I had no feeling of that whatever.
Mr. JENNER - None whatsoever.
Mrs. PAINE - He told me that he was going to try to look for work in Houston, and possibly in Philadelphia; these were the two names he mentioned.
Mr. JENNER - We are interested in that, in this particular phase of the investigation. Did he make that statement in your presence, in the presence of Marina?
Mrs. PAINE - I don't recall.
Mr. JENNER - I take it that this was elicited by a discussion of the subject of his going to look for work after you girls had left, is that correct?
Mrs. PAINE - About what he would do after we left?
Mr. JENNER - Yes.
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - Now, would you repeat just what he said on that subject?
Mrs. PAINE - He told me that he was going to go to Houston to look for work, or possibly to Philadelphia.
Mr. JENNER - Did he say anything about having any acquaintances or friends in either of those towns
Mrs. PAINE - He did. You recalled to my mind he said he had a friend in Houston.
Mr. JENNER - Did he mention other towns he might undertake to visit?
Mrs. PAINE - No; he didn't. Or any other friends.
Mr. JENNER - Was there any inference or did you infer from anything he said or which might have been said in your presence that after you girls left he intended to leave New Orleans? To look--
Mrs. PAINE - He was definitely planning to leave New Orleans after we left.
Mr. JENNER - Promptly?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - You had that definite impression?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - And he put it in terms of leaving New Orleans to go to Houston, or what was the other town?
Mrs. PAINE - Possibly Philadelphia.
Mr. JENNER - Possibly Philadelphia. Now, during all that weekend, was there any discussion of anybody going to Mexico?
Mrs. PAINE - No.
Mr. JENNER - Was the subject of Mexico discussed at any time and in any respect?
Mrs. PAINE - Not at any time nor any respect.
Mr. JENNER - On the trip back to Irving, Tex., did Marina say anything on the subject of Mexico?
Mrs. PAINE - No.
Mr. JENNER - Did you girls discuss what Lee was going to do during this interim period?
Mrs. PAINE - Only to the extent that he was looking for a job, but I think that discussion, my memory of it comes from a discussion with Lee rather than a discussion with her. I may say that we never talked about any particular time, he would see Marina again.
Mr. JENNER - You did not?
Mrs. PAINE - He kissed her a very fond goodbye, both at home and then again at the gas station, and I felt he cared and he would certainly see her. And this I recalled the other night. It should be put in here. As he was giving me this material, I have already mentioned, that indicated his claim to 1 year residence in Texas, I can't remember just what I said that elicited it from him, but some reference to, shall I say that you have gone, or how can I--what shall I say about the husband, where is the husband?
Mr. JENNER - Do the best in your own words.
Mrs. PAINE - Shall I say that you have gone away or away looking for work or something? What shall I say about you?
Mr. JENNER - This is Marina?
Mrs. PAINE - This is in English now, this one English conversation.
Mr. JENNER - By you?
Mrs. PAINE - Apropos of being prepared to admit her to Parkland. I asked, what shall I say about him, that he is gone or what?
He said, "Oh, no, that might appear that I had abandoned her."
And I was glad to hear him say that he didn't at all want it to appear or to feel of himself that he had abandoned her.
Mr. JENNER - Did he say anything as to what representations you might make to Parkland Hospital and other State authorities in that respect?
Mrs. PAINE - No; I don't recall.
Mr. JENNER - On the trip back to--may I defer the packing until Representative Ford returns--on the trip back to Irving, Tex., did you and Marina discuss the subject matter of Lee's going to Houston, Tex, or to Philadelphia to look for a job?
Mrs. PAINE - No; we didn't.
Mr. JENNER - At any time during the weekend you were in New Orleans or driving from New Orleans to Irving, Tex. was the friend identified, the supposed friend?
Mrs. PAINE - No.
Mr. JENNER - In Houston, identified?
Mrs. PAINE - No; I remember wondering if there was one.
Mr. JENNER - You wondered at the time?
Mrs. PAINE - I wondered to myself if there was one.
Mr. JENNER - What made you wonder?
Mrs. PAINE - I may say, also, I wondered, as I have already indicated for the Commission, I had wondered, from time to time, whether this was a man who was working as a spy or in any way a threat to the Nation, and I thought, "This is the first I have heard anything about a contact. I am interested to know if this is a real thing or something unreal." And waited to see really whether I would learn any more about it. But this thought crossed my mind.
Mr. JENNER - It did? Now, many of my questions are directed towards trying to find out what this man did with his time. When he went job hunting, according to some of the records here, he appeared to return home rather promptly. That is, he would leave in the morning but he would be home before noontime.
Mrs. PAINE - Oh.
Mr. JENNER - Did you notice anything of that nature?
Mrs. PAINE - I never saw him when he was job hunting. The times in New Orleans, of course, I wasn't there. The times in April he was job hunting from a base of 214 Neely Street, and in October he was operating from the base of the room on Beckley Street. So I never saw him.
Mr. JENNER - So that as far as--this I would like to bring out, Mr. Chairman--as far as your contact with Lee Harvey Oswald as such, Mrs. Paine, your opportunities for knowing what he did with his time were limited, were they not?
Mrs. PAINE - They were limited.
Mr. JENNER - That is in the spring, there was this New Orleans period when he was absent in New Orleans altogether during the 2 weeks that Marina was with you?
Mrs. PAINE - Right.
Mr. JENNER - It is the period preceding the trip to New Orleans that they lived a little distance from you, and that was in a period of your really becoming more acquainted with them. Were you aware of what Mr. Oswald was doing during the daytime, or evening along in that period of time?
Mrs. PAINE - No.
Mr. JENNER - In the fall when you saw him then for 2 days and 3 nights in the early fall of 1963, he was out of work. He was at the home substantially all of that time?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - You returned to Irving, then, and you didn't see him until he appeared as you testified this morning, on October 4, 1963?
Mrs. PAINE - That is right.
Mr. JENNER - Now, he was in your home from October 4, 1963, until what was it--the 15th of October? Is that correct?
Mrs. PAINE - No.
Mr. JENNER - He was not?
Mrs. PAINE - Not at all. He was in the home for the weekend of October 4. I then took him to the bus around noon on the 7th, that is a Monday, to the Intercity Bus between Irving and Dallas. You can't walk to it from my house. There is no way to get anywhere from my house unless you use a car.
Mr. JENNER - We are interested in that, also, Mrs. Paine, about his ability to get to your home from whatever means of public transportation there was. Would you be good enough to describe the problem in that connection?
Mrs. PAINE - He called on the afternoon of the 4th.
Mr. JENNER - Would you give us the problems first, the physical problems? Where was the bus located? What was the bus terminal? How far was it from your home?
Mrs. PAINE - The bus terminal in Irving where you could get a bus going to Dallas was several miles away, 2 to 3 miles away from my home, a 10 minute car ride.
Mr. JENNER - And what means of transportation was there from the bus terminal to your home?
Mrs. PAINE - Walking?
Mr. JENNER - Any public transportation.
Mrs. PAINE - There was nothing public.
Mr. JENNER - You would have to hitchhike or walk or be driven?
Mrs. PAINE - That is correct.
Mr. JENNER - I take it, then, there were occasions when you would have to go and pick him up at the bus terminal?.
Mrs. PAINE - I recall at least one such occasion, and that was on the 12th of October, a Saturday, which was the next time he came out.
Mr. JENNER - That was the next time following the October 4 weekend?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - When was the first time that you heard, or had any notice of the fact that this man had been in Mexico, or possibly may have been in Mexico?
Mrs. PAINE - They are two different questions. I will answer the first one. I heard that he had been in Mexico after the assassination in one of the papers.
Mr. JENNER - Was that the first time?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes; that was the first time. Looking back then, with that knowledge, I could see that I might have guessed this from two other things, that had happened.
Mr. JENNER - All right, give us them in sequence, please.
Mrs. PAINE - One was, I can describe by an incident that took place at our home, I am not certain which weekend, one of the times that Lee was out. He wanted to drill a hole in a silver coin for Marina so she could wear it around her neck, and presumed to use my husband's drill press, which is one of the many things in the garage, and I complained. But he convinced me that he knew how to operate it and knew just what he was doing.
So I said, all right, and he proceeded to drill a hole in this coin, and then Marina showed it to me later. I didn't look closely at it. It wasn't until--although I could have perfectly well in this situation. I did see that it was a foreign coin.
Mr. JENNER - It was a what?
Mrs. PAINE - It was a foreign coin. It was not a coin I recognized. It was about the size of a silver dollar, but not as thick, as I remember it. And it was not then until perhaps a week or something less after the assassination when an, FBI agent asked me was there anything left in the house that would be pertinent, and he and I went together and looked in the drawer in the room where Marina had been staying, and found there this drilled coin, looked at it closely, and it was a peso, the Republic of Mexico. This is the first I had looked at it closely. Also, with this peso was a Spanish-English Dictionary.
My tendency to be very hesitant to look into other people's things was rather put aside at this point, and I was very curious to see what this book was, and I observed that the price of it, or what I took to be the price was in a corner at the front was not in English money, and at the back in his hand or somebody's hand in small scribble was the notation, "Buy tickets for bull fight, get silver bracelet for Marina" and there in the drawer also was a silver bracelet with the name Marina on it, which I took to be associated with this notation.
Mr. JENNER - Was it inscribed on the bracelet?
Mrs. PAINE - It was inscribed, the name Marina. And some picture post-cards with no message, just a picture of Mexico City in this dictionary, and these I gave to the FBI agent.
Mr. JENNER - Had you seen any of these items in your home at anytime prior to this occasion that you have now described?
Mrs. PAINE - None of these items except the peso which I had not noticed to be that, seen it, of course.
Mr. JENNER - Now, that is one incident.
Mrs. PAINE - That is one incident. Another refers to a rough draft of a letter that Lee wrote and left this rough draft on my secretary desk.
Mr. JENNER - Would you describe the incident? In the meantime, I will obtain the rough draft here among my notes.
Mrs. PAINE - All right. This was on the morning of November 9, Saturday. He asked to use my typewriter, and I said he might.
Mr. JENNER - Excuse me. Would you please. state to the Commission why you are reasonably firm that it was the morning of November 9? What arrests your attention to that particular date?
Mrs. PAINE - Because I remember the weekend that this note or rough draft remained on my secretary desk. He spent the weekend on it. And the weekend was close and its residence on that desk was stopped also on the evening of Sunday, the 10th, when I moved everything in the living room around; the whole arrangement of the furniture was changed, so that I am very clear in my mind as to what weekend this was.
Mr. JENNER - All right, go ahead.
Mrs. PAINE - He was using the typewriter. I came and put June in her high-chair near him at the table where he was typing, and he moved something over what he was typing from, which aroused my curiosity.
Mr. JENNER - Why did that arouse your curiosity?
Mrs. PAINE - It appeared he didn't want me to see what he was writing or to whom he was writing. I didn't know why he had covered it. If I had peered around him, I could have looked at the typewriter and the page in it, but I didn't.
Mr. JENNER - It did make you curious?
Mrs. PAINE - It did make me curious. Then, later that day, I noticed a scrawling handwriting on a piece of paper on the corner at the top of my secretary desk in the living room. It remained there.
Sunday morning I was the first one up. I took a closer look at this, a folded sheet of paper folded at the middle. The first sentence arrested me because I knew it to be false. And for this reason I then proceeded--
Mr. JENNER - Would you just hold it at that moment. This is for purposes of identification, Mr. Chairman, rather than admission of the document in evidence. I have marked pages 321 and 322 of Commission Document No. 385 generally referred to by the staff as the Gemberling Report. He is an FBI agent. I have now placed that before the witness. You examined that yesterday with me, did you not, Mrs. Paine?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - The document I am now showing you?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - Is that a transcript, a literal transcript of the document you saw?
Mrs. PAINE - Of course the document was in English, transcribing of what was said; yes.
Mr. JENNER - By transcript I meant that it has been retyped, that it is literal.
Mrs. PAINE - That is the document; yes.
Mr. JENNER - That is interesting. You noticed that the document was in English.
Mrs. PAINE - Oh, yes.
Mr. JENNER - You saw it. And it was folded at what point, now that you have the transcript of it before you?
Mrs. PAINE - At the top of what I could see of the paper. In other words, it was just below the fold. It said, "The FBI is not now interested in my activities."
Mr. JENNER - Is that what arrested your attention?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - What did you do?
Mrs. PAINE - I then proceeded to read the whole note, wondering, knowing this to be false, wondering why he was saying it. I was irritated to have him writing a falsehood on my typewriter, I may say, too. I felt I had some cause to look at it.
Mr. JENNER - May I have your permission, Mr. Chairman. The document is short. It is relevant to the witness' testimony, and might I read it aloud in the record to draw your attention to it?
Mr. McCLOY - Without objection.
Mr. JENNER - Mrs. Paine, would you help me by reading it, since you have it there.
Mrs. PAINE - Do you want me to leave out all the crossed out--
Mr. JENNER - No; I wish you would indicate that too.
Mrs. PAINE - "Dear Sirs:
"This is to inform you of events since my interview with comrade Kostine in the Embassy of the Soviet Union, Mexico City, Mexico."

(Discussion off the record.)

Mrs. PAINE - He typed it early in the morning of that day because after he typed it we went to the place where you get the test for drivers. It was that same day.
Mr. JENNER - It was election day and the driver's license place was closed, is that correct?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - And that was November 9?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - Now you have reached the point where you are reading the letter on the morning of November 10.
Mrs. PAINE - That is right; after I had noticed that it lay on my desk the previous evening.
"I was unable to remain in Mexico City (because I considered useless--)" because it is crossed out.
Mr. JENNER - Excuse me, Mr. Chairman. In this transcript wherever there are words stricken out, the transcriber has placed those words in parenthesis and transcribed the words, but then has written the words "crossed out" to indicate in the original the words crossed out.
Proceed, Mrs. Paine.
Mrs. PAINE - "Indefinitely because of my (visa--crossed out) Mexican visa restrictions which was for 15 days only.
"(I had a---crossed out) I could not take a chance on applying for an extension unless I used my real name so I returned to the U.S.
"I and Marina Nicholyeva are now living in Dallas, Texas. (You all ready ha--crossed out).
"The FBI is not now interested in my activities in the progressive organization FPCC of which I was secretary in (New Orleans, La.--crossed out) New Orleans, Louisiana since I (am-crossed out) no longer (connected with-crossed out) live in that state.
"(November the November-crossed out) the FBI has visited us here in Texas on November 1st. Agent of the FBI James P. Hasty warned me that if I attempt to engage in FPCC activities in Texas the FBI will again take an 'interest' in me. The agent also 'suggested' that my wife could remain in the U.S. under FBI protection', that is, she could (refuse to return to the-crossed out) defect from the Soviet Union. Of course I and my wife strongly protested these tactics by the notorious FBI.
"(It was unfortunate that the Soviet Embassy was unable to aid me in Mexico City but-crossed out) I had not planned to contact the Mexico City Embassy at all so of course they were unprepared for me. Had I been able to reach Havana as planned (I could have contacted--crossed out) the Soviet Embassy there (for the completion of would have been able to help me get the necessary documents I required assist me crossed out ) would have had time to assist me, but of course the stuip Cuban consule was at fault here. I am glad he has since been replaced by another."
Mr. JENNER - Now I would like to ask you a few questions about your reaction to that. You had read that in the quiet of your living room on Sunday morning, the 10th of November.
Mrs. PAINE - That is correct.
Mr. JENNER - And there were a number of things in that that you thought were untrue.
Mrs. PAINE - Several things I knew to be untrue.
Mr. JENNER - You knew to be untrue. Were there things in there that alarmed you?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes; I would say so.
Mr. JENNER - What were they?
Mrs. PAINE - To me this--well, I read it and decided to make a copy.
Mr. JENNER - Would having the document back before you help you?
Mrs. PAINE - No, no. I was just trying to think what to say first. And decided that I should have such a copy to give to an FBI agent coming again, or to call. I was undecided what to do. Meantime I made a copy.
Mr. JENNER - But you did have the instinct to report this to the FBI?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - And you made a copy of the document?
Mrs. PAINE - And I made a copy of the document which should be among your papers, because they have that too. And after having made it, while the shower was running, I am not used to subterfuge in any way, but then I put it back where it had been and it lay the rest of Sunday on my desk top, and of course I observed this too.
Mr. JENNER - That is that Lee didn't put it away, just left it out in the room?
Mrs. PAINE - That he didn't put it away or didn't seem to care or notice or didn't recall that he had a rough draft lying around. I observed it was untrue that the FBI was no longer interested in him. I observed it was untrue that the FBI came--
Mr. JENNER - Why did you observe that that was untrue?
Mrs. PAINE - Well, the FBI came and they asked me, they said--
Mr. JENNER - Had the FBI been making inquiries of you prior to that time?
Mrs. PAINE - They had been twice.
Mr. JENNER - November 1 and--
Mrs. PAINE - November 1, and they told me the 5. I made no record of it whatever.
Mr. JENNER - But it was a few days later?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes; a few days later. And the first visit I understood to be a visit to convey to Marina that if any blackmail pressure was being put upon her, because of relatives back home, that she was invited, if she wished, to talk about this to the FBI. This is a far cry from being told she could defect from the Soviet Union, very strong words, and false both.
Mr. JENNER - Did you ever hear anything at all insofar as the FBI is concerned reported to you by Marina or Lee Harvey Oswald during all of your acquaintance with either of them of any suggestion by the FBI or anybody else that Marina defect in that context to the United States?
Mrs. PAINE - No, absolutely not.
Mr. JENNER - Or anything of similar import?
Mrs. PAINE - Nothing of similar import.
Mr. JENNER - I limited it to the FBI. Any agency of the Government of the United States?
Mrs. PAINE - Nothing of that sort.
Mr. JENNER - And did you see or observe anything during all of that period of your acquaintance, which stimulated you to think at all or have any notion that any agency of the Government of the United States was seeking to induce her to defect?
Mrs. PAINE - To the United States?
Mr. JENNER - To the United States.
Mrs. PAINE - No, and her terminology in view of it was so completely different from such stereotyped and loaded words that I was seeing as I read this. What I was most struck with was what kind of man is this.
Mr. JENNER - Is who?
Mrs. PAINE - Why is Lee Oswald writing this? What kind of man? Here is a false statement that she was invited to defect, false statement that the FBI is no longer interested, false statement that he was present, "they visited I and my wife."
Mr. JENNER - Was he present?
Mrs. PAINE - He was not present. False statement that "I and my wife protested vigorously." Having not been present he could not protest.
Mr. JENNER - He was not present when the FBI interviewed you on November 1. Was Marina present then?
Mrs. PAINE - She was present.
Mr. JENNER - And was Marina present when the FBI came later on November 5?
Mrs. PAINE - She came into the room just after basically the very short visit was concluded.
Mr. JENNER - The second interview was a rather short one?
Mrs. PAINE - The second interview was conducted standing up. He simply asked me did I know the address. My memory had been refreshed by him since.
Mr. JENNER - The first interview, however, was a rather lengthly one?
Mrs. PAINE - But it was not strictly speaking an interview.
Mr. JENNER - What was it?
Mrs. PAINE - It was, as Mr. Hosty has described to me later, and I think this was my impression too of it at the time, an informal opening for confidence. He presented himself. He talked. We conversed about the weather, about Texas, about the end of the last World War and changes in Germany at the time.
He mentioned that the FBI is very careful in their investigations not to bring anyone they suspect in public light until they have evidence to convict him in a proper court of law, that they did not convict by hearsay or public accusation.
He asked me, and here I am answering why I thought it was false to say the FBI is no longer interested in Lee Oswald; he asked first of all if I knew did Lee live there, and I said "No." Did I know where he lived? No, I didn't, but that it was in Dallas.
Did I know where he worked? Yes, I did.
And I said I thought Lee was very worried about losing this job, and the agent said that well, it wasn't their custom to approach the employer directly. I said that Lee would be there on the weekend, so far as I knew, that he could be seen then, if he was interested in talking to Lee.
I want to return now to the fact that I had seen these gross falsehoods and strong words, concluding with "notorious FBI" in this letter, and gone to say I wondered whether any of it was true, including the reference to going to Mexico, including the reference to using a false name, and I still wonder if that was true or false that he used an assumed name, though I no longer wonder whether he had actually gone.
Mr. JENNER - There was a subsequent incident in which you did learn that he used an assumed name, was there not?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes, a week later.
Mr. JENNER - We will get to that in a moment. But was this--
Mrs. PAINE - But this was the first indication I had that this man was a good deal queerer than I thought, and it didn't tell me, perhaps it should have but it didn't tell me just what sort of a queer he was. He addressed it "Dear Sirs." It looked to me like someone trying to make an impression, and choosing the words he thought were best to make that impression, even including assumed name as a possible attempt to make an impression on someone who was able to do espionage, but not to my mind necessarily a picture of someone who was doing espionage, though I left that open as a possibility, and thought I'd give it to the FBI and let them conclude or add it to what they knew.
I regret, and I would like to put this on the record, particularly two things in my own actions prior to the time of the assassination.
One, that I didn't make the connection between this phone number that I had of where he lived and that of course this would produce for the FBI agent who was asking the address of where he lived.
Mr. JENNER - I will get to that, Mrs. Paine.
Mrs. PAINE - Well, that is regret 1.
Mr. JENNER - I don't want to cover too many subjects at the moment.
Mrs. PAINE - But then of course you see in light of the events that followed it is a pity that I didn't go directly instead of waiting for the next visit, because the next visit was the 23d of November.
Mr. JENNER - Now I am going to get to that. What did you do with your copy of the letter?
Mrs. PAINE - I put my copy of the letter away in an envelope in my desk. I then, Sunday evening, also took the original I decided to do that Sunday evening.
Mr. JENNER - He had left?
Mrs. PAINE - No, he had not left.
Mr. JENNER - He had not left?
Mrs. PAINE - I asked the gentlemen present, it included Michael, to come in and help me move the furniture around. I walked in and saw the letter was still there and plunked it into my desk. We then moved all the furniture. I then took it out of the desk and placed it.
Mr. JENNER - When did you take it out of the desk?
Mrs. PAINE - I don't think he knew that I took it. Oh, that evening or the next morning, I don't recall.
Mr. JENNER - And this was the 10th of November?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - Did you ever have any conversation with him about that?
Mrs. PAINE - No. I came close to it. I was disturbed about it. I didn't go to sleep right away. He was sitting up watching the late spy story, if you will, on the TV, and I got up and sat there on the sofa with him saying, "I can't speak," wanting to confront him with this and say, "What is this?" But on the other hand I was somewhat fearful, and I didn't know what to do.
Representative FORD - Fearful in what way?
Mrs. PAINE - Well, if he was an agent, I would rather just give it to the FBI, not to say "Look, I am watching you" by saying "What is this I find on my desk."
Mr. JENNER - Were you fearful of any physical harm?
Mrs. PAINE - No; I was not.
Representative FORD - That is what I was concerned about.
Mrs. PAINE - No; I was not, though I don't think I defined my fears. I sat down and said I couldn't sleep and he said, "I guess you are real upset about going to the lawyer tomorrow."
He knew I had an appointment with my lawyer to discuss the possibility of a divorce the next day, and that didn't happen to be what was keeping me up that night, but I was indeed upset about the idea, and it was thoughtful for him to think of it. But I let it rest there, and we watched the story which he was interested in watching. And then I excused myself and went to bed.
Mr. JENNER - What did you do ultimately with your draft of the letter and the original?
Mrs. PAINE - The first appearance of an FBI person on the 23d of November, I gave the original to them. The next day it probably was I said I also had a copy and gave them that. I wanted to be shut of it.
Mr. JENNER - So I take it, Mrs. Paine, you did not deliver either the original or the copy or call attention to the original or the copy with respect to the FBI.
Mrs. PAINE - Prior.
Mr. JENNER - Prior to the 23d did you say?
Mrs. PAINE - That is right.
Mr. JENNER - And what led you to hold onto this rather provocative document?
Mrs. PAINE - It is a rather provocative document. It provoked my doubts about this fellow's normalcy more than it provoked thoughts that this was the talk of an agent reporting in. But I wasn't sure.
I of course made no--I didn't know him to be a violent person, had no thought that he had this trait, possibility in him, absolutely no connection with the President's coming. If I had, hindsight is so much better, I would, certainly have called the FBI's attention to it. Supposing that I had?
Mr. JENNER - If the FBI had returned, Mrs. Paine, as you indicated during the course of your meeting with the FBI November 1, would you have disclosed this document to the FBI?
Mrs. PAINE - Oh, I certainly think so. This was not something I was at all comfortable in having even.
Mr. JENNER - Were you expecting the FBI to return?
Mrs. PAINE - I did expect them to come back. As I say, I had said that Lee was here on weekends and so forth. It might have been a good time to give them this document. But as far as I knew, and I know now certainly, they had not seen him and they were still interested in seeing him.
Representative FORD - How did you copy the note?
Mrs. PAINE - Handwritten.
Representative FORD - Handwritten?
Mrs. PAINE - I perhaps should put in here that Lee told me, and I only reconstructed this a few weeks ago, that he went, after I gave him--from the first visit of the FBI agent I took down the agent's name and the number that is in the telephone book to call the FBI, and I gave this to Lee the weekend he came.
Mr. JENNER - You gave it to Lee?
Mrs. PAINE - I gave it to Lee.
Mr. JENNER - What weekend was that?
Mrs. PAINE - I am told that came out on the 1st of November, so that would have been the weekend of the 2d, the next day.
Mr. JENNER - You have your calendar there. The 1st of November is what day of the week?
Mrs. PAINE - It is a Friday. Then. he told me, it must have been the following weekend, that same weekend of the 9th.
Mr. JENNER - Did he say anything when you gave him Agent Hosty's name on the telephone?
Mrs. PAINE - No.
Mr. JENNER - Nothing at all?
Mrs. PAINE - I don't recall anything Lee said. I will go on as to the recollections that came later. He told me that he had stopped at the downtown office of the FBI and tried to see the agents and left a note. And my impression of it is that this notice irritated.
Mr. JENNER - Irritating?
Mrs. PAINE - Irritated, that he left the note saying what he thought. This is reconstructing my impression of the fellows bothering him and his family, and this is my impression then. I couldn't say this was specifically said to him later.
Mr. JENNER - You mean he was irritated?
Mrs. PAINE - He was irritated and he said, "They are trying to inhibit my activities," and I said, "You passed your pamphlets," and could well have gone on to say what I thought, but I don't believe I did go on to say, that he could and should expect the FBI to be interested in him.
He had gone to the Soviet Union, intended to become a citizen there, and come back. He had just better adjust himself to being of interest to them for years to come.
Mr. JENNER - What did he say to that?
Mrs. PAINE - Now as I say, this I didn't go on to say. This was my feeling.
I didn't actually go on to say this. I did say, "Don't be inhibited, do what you think you should." But I was thinking in terms of passing pamphlets or expressing a belief in Fidel Castro, if that is why he had, I defend his right to express such a belief. I felt the FBI would too and that he had no reason to be irritated. But then that was my interpretation.
Mr. JENNER - Have you given all of what he said and what you said, however, on that occasion?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes. I will just go on to say that I learned only a few weeks ago that he never did go into the FBI office. Of course knowing, thinking that he had gone in, I thought that was sensible on his part. But it appears to have been another lie.
Mr. JENNER - I will return to that FBI visit in a moment. I want to cover that as a separate subject.
Representative Ford is interested in another subject. I would like to return to the day or the period that your station wagon was being parked just before you took off. You have already testified to the fact, either earlier this afternoon or late this morning, that Lee Harvey Oswald appeared to be quite active in doing packing.
Mrs. PAINE - Right.
Mr. JENNER - Of household wares or goods that were being taken back to Irving, Tex. Were you present when the station wagon was loaded with the various materials?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes, I was present for most if not all of that.
Mr. JENNER - Who did that?
Mrs. PAINE - He put the things in. I knew that we would spend one night on the road, that there were certain things we would have to get too, and I knew where these were, and he didn't, so that I talked about where these things should be placed, and helped with some of the binding, tying things to the boat on the car rack.
Mr. JENNER - The boat on top of the station wagon?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - Now would you please tell us what there was in the way of luggage placed in the station wagon?
Mrs. PAINE - There again the two large duffels which were heavier than I could move, he put those in.
Mr. JENNER - Describe their appearance, please.
Mrs. PAINE - Again stuffed full, a rumply outside.
Mr. JENNER - With what?
Mrs. PAINE - Rumply.
Mr. JENNER - Rumply? No appearance of any hard object pushing outwards?
Mrs. PAINE - No.
Mr. JENNER - Against the sides or ends of the duffel bags?
Mrs. PAINE - No.
Mr. JENNER - You saw nothing with respect to those duffel bags which might have led you to believe--
Mrs. PAINE - A board in it, no.
Mr. JENNER - A tent pole, a long object, hard?
Mrs. PAINE - No.
Mr. JENNER - Nothing at all?
Mrs. PAINE - No.
Mr. JENNER - And how many pieces of luggage?
Mrs. PAINE - Again these same suitcases, 2 or 3, I think 3 including quite a small one, and the little radio.
Mr. JENNER - What about the zipper bag?
Mrs. PAINE - That was there. I think so. Oh no, it probably wasn't. I don't recall the zipper bag as being part of that.
Mr. JENNER - I wish you would reflect a little on this because it is important, Mrs. Paine, if you can remember it as accurately as possible.
Mrs. PAINE - I don't recall the zipper bag among those things.
Mr. JENNER - Do you recall the zipper bag when you arrived in Irving?
Mrs. PAINE - I think I saw him arrive with it himself, but I am not certain. No, wait, that may not be because I didn't see him when he first arrived.
Mr. JENNER - When you arrived in Irving, Mrs. Paine, not when he arrived.
Mrs. PAINE - I don't recall that. I distinctly recall the duffels because it was all I could do to get them off of the car and set them on the grass until Michael could come and put them into the garage.
Mr. JENNER - Do you distinctly recall the hard-sided luggage you described yesterday?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - All of the pieces that you saw?
Mrs. PAINE - Well, I don't recall that it was all. I couldn't even recall too well how many went down to New Orleans originally.
Mr. JENNER - Was there more than one?
Mrs. PAINE - There was certainly more than one.
Mr. JENNER - Do you think there were more than two?
Mrs. PAINE - I don't recall specifically.
Mr. JENNER - Do you have a recollection as to whether there was a piece of luggage still apart from the zipper bag, still in the apartment at 4907 Magazine Street when you girls pulled out to go back to Irving?
Mrs. PAINE - I have no specific recollection.
Mr. JENNER - Is it fair to say it is your best recollection at the moment that the zipper bag you have described earlier, you described yesterday, was not placed in the station wagon, and did not return with you to Irving?
Mrs. PAINE - I do not recall it being in the station wagon.
Mr. JENNER - Now, was there a separate long package of any kind?
Mrs. PAINE - I do not recall such a package.
Mr. JENNER - Was there a separate package of any character wrapped in a blanket?
Mrs. PAINE - No. There was a basket such as you use for hanging your clothes. It carried exactly that, clothes and diapers, and they weren't as neat as being in suitcases and duffels would imply. There was leftovers stuffed in the corner, clothes and things, but rather open.
Mr. JENNER - So you saw no long rectangular package of any kind or character loaded in or placed in your station wagon?
Mrs. PAINE - No, it doesn't mean it wasn't there, but I saw nothing of that nature.
Mr. JENNER - You saw nothing?
Mrs. PAINE - I saw nothing.
Mr. JENNER - When you arrived in Irving, Tex., were you present when your station wagon was unpacked?
Mrs. PAINE - Marina and I did that with the exception of the duffels.
Mr. JENNER - You did it all yourself and you took out of the station wagon everything in it other than the two duffel bags?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - Now, in the process of removing everything other than the two duffel bags-on the occasion on the 24th of September 1963 when you reached Irving, Tex., did you find or see any long rectangular package?
Mrs. PAINE - I recall no such package.
Mr. JENNER - Did you see any kind of a package wrapped in the blanket?
Mrs. PAINE - Not to my recollection.
Mr. JENNER - Did you see any package
Mrs. PAINE - I don't recall seeing the blanket either.
Mr. JENNER - On that occasion?
Mrs. PAINE - On that occasion, not until later.
Mr. JENNER - Not until later.
Representative FORD - Did you see the blanket in New Orleans?
Mrs. PAINE - On the bed or something. I am asking myself. I don't recall it specifically.
Mr. JENNER - Of course we all know the blanket to which we are referring, which I will ask you about in a moment. I might show it to you at the moment, or at least ask you if it is the blanket. I am exhibiting to the witness Commission Exhibit No. 140. Is this blanket familiar to you?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes, it is.
Mr. JENNER - And give us the best recollection you have when you first saw it.
Mrs. PAINE - My best recollection is that I saw it on the floor of my garage sometime in late October.
Mr. JENNER - 1963?
Mrs. PAINE - Right.
Mr. JENNER - Do you have a recollection of ever having seen it before that time?
Mrs. PAINE - No. I might say also now that I know certainly I have never seen this binding until last night.
Mr. JENNER - When you say "this binding," you are pointing to what appears to be some black binding?
Mrs. PAINE - Some hemstitching, it is sewn.
Mr. JENNER - On the edge of the blanket.
Mrs. PAINE - Yes. This binding was not apparent, did not show.
Mr. JENNER - You never noticed the binding before, if the binding had always been on it, is that what you mean to say?
Mrs. PAINE - When I saw the blanket the binding was not showing.
Representative FORD - How carefully did you analyze the blanket on the previous occasions?
Mrs. PAINE - I stepped over it. I didn't pick it up or look at it closely.
Representative FORD - Didn't turn it over?
Mrs. PAINE - No.
Representative FORD - Didn't move it?
Mrs. PAINE - No, I didn't.
Representative FORD - So you only saw one surface more or less?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes, only one surface, except I saw that it had been moved.
Representative FORD - But you didn't move it yourself?
Mrs. PAINE - No.
Mr. JENNER - In what shape, that is form, was the blanket when you first saw it? And I take it you first saw it in your garage.
Mrs. PAINE - That is my recollection.
Mr. JENNER - And it was subsequent to the time that you and Marina had returned to Irving?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - And you are certain that you did not see the blanket in your station wagon when you arrived in Irving?
Mrs. PAINE - I do not recall seeing the blanket in my station wagon.
Mr. JENNER - And you didn't see it in their apartment at 4907 Magazine Street when you were there?
Mrs. PAINE - I don't recall seeing it there.
Mr. JENNER - Either in the spring or in the fall, is that true?
Mrs. PAINE - That is true.
Mr. JENNER - Now tell us--I take it from your testimony that the blanket, when you first saw it in a garage, was in a configuration in the form of a package?
Mrs. PAINE - It was a long rectangle shape with the ends tucked in.
Mr. JENNER - Would. you be good enough to re-form that blanket so that it is in the shape and the dimension when you first saw it?
Mrs. PAINE - About like so.
Mr. JENNER - For the record if you please, Mr. Chairman, the length of the form is just exactly 45 inches, and it is across exactly 12 inches.
Representative FORD - That is across lying flat.
Mr. JENNER - Across lying flat, thank you.
Now, what else about the form of the blanket did you notice on the occasion when you first saw it on your garage floor? Anything else?
Mrs. PAINE - I recall from either that occasion or another that there were parallel strings around it.
Mr. JENNER - Tied?
Mrs. PAINE - Into a bundle, yes, 3 or 4.
Mr. JENNER - How many were there?
Mrs. PAINE - 3 or 4, I don't recall.
Mr. JENNER - 3 or 4?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes. I suppose it would be four. It would be very well spaced if it was only three, and I think they were closer than that.
Mr. JENNER - Your best recollection now.
Mrs. PAINE - Is four.
Mr. JENNER - Rather than rationalization.
Mrs. PAINE - Yes, there were four.
Mr. JENNER - There were four string ties across the 12-inch side of the blanket. Were those string ties pulled so they seemed to hold something inside the blanket?
Mrs. PAINE - They didn't seem particularly tight, but then I don't have a strong recollection of them prior to the 22d.
Mr. JENNER - Did you ever pick up that package?
Mrs. PAINE - No, I never did.
Mr. JENNER - That was wrapped in the blanket. Did you ever have any discussion with Marina Oswald about the package in your garage?
Mrs. PAINE - Not until the afternoon of the 22d.
Mr. JENNER - Did you see anybody move it about your garage at any time?
Mrs. PAINE - No, I did not see anyone move it.
Mr. JENNER - And how long after you returned to Texas did you notice that package in your garage?
Mrs. PAINE - I said I thought it was late October perhaps. I wouldn't be at all certain about when I first noticed it.
Mr. JENNER - And did you notice from time to time that it was in a different position or places in your garage?
Mrs. PAINE - I recall two places I saw it.
Mr. JENNER - And the first was where?
Mrs. PAINE - Over near--the radial saw, what do you call it, buzz saw?
Mr. JENNER - Bandsaw.
Mrs. PAINE - No, buzz saw.
Mr. JENNER - Oh yes, a disc type, a buzz saw, near the buzz saw. Then on the second occasion when you saw it, where was it?
Mrs. PAINE - Over near the work bench in front of part of the work bench, one end extending toward the bandsaw.
Mr. JENNER - And on both of those occasions was the package lying flat on the floor or was it upended?
Mrs. PAINE - Flat on the floor.
Mr. JENNER - And you never had any curiosity with respect to it to lead you to step on it or feel it in any respect?
Mrs. PAINE - No, I didn't,
Mr. JENNER - Did you have a lot of debris or articles in the garage?
Mrs. PAINE - Indeed, and do yet. Our things and most of the Oswald things were stored there. I have mentioned several pieces of machine tools.
Mr. JENNER - We identified the garage picture at the tail end of yesterday, and I think the Chairman is seeking it.
Mr. McCLOY - I am trying to find it now.
Mrs. PAINE - That of course was taken more recently, but it is reasonably typical of its condition at that time too.

(Discussion off the record.)

Mr. JENNER - This is a photograph numbered eight, entitled garage interior, which I have marked with Commission number 429, and I now exhibit that to Mrs. Paine.
Are you familiar with what is depicted in that photograph?
Mrs. PAINE - Very.
Mr. JENNER - Do you know when that photograph was taken?
Mrs. PAINE - It was taken about 2 weeks ago.
Mr. JENNER - Were you present?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - And does it accurately depict everything that was there and in its relative position at the time the picture was taken?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - And it is your garage?
Mrs. PAINE - It is.
Mr. JENNER - Would you locate on that, and I would like to have you place an X at the point in that picture that you first saw the package?
Mrs. PAINE - Underneath that box.
Mr. JENNER - All right. You have written an arrow or X next to "on floor" and it is underneath the box that is on the floor.
Mrs. PAINE - It was in front as I recall it; this was the buzz saw I was talking about, right here.
Mr. JENNER - Right here the witness is pointing to the right hand upper middle section of the photograph
Mr. DULLES - Is this the first location of the package?
Mrs. PAINE - It was over on that side of the garage, towards the door or--
Mr. DULLES - The first location of it?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - Toward what door, Mrs. Paine?
Mrs. PAINE - Toward the front of the garage.
Mr. JENNER - Where did you see it on the second occasion?
Mrs. PAINE - Part of it in front of this work bench, one right under this box here.
Mr. JENNER - Put a double X here, between this workbench and this bandsaw.
Mrs. PAINE - On the floor.
Mr. JENNER - The workbench and the bandsaw to which the witness is pointing are on the left hand side of the photograph,, the bandsaw being about the upper middle. Is that correct?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes. The package was farther to the interior from the bench.
Mr. JENNER - It was toward the back rather than toward the door?
Mrs. PAINE - It was the other side of the bandsaw so it was farther to the interior than its first location.
Mr. JENNER - I offer in evidence as Commission Exhibit No. 429 the document which the witness has identified which in turn was identified as Commission Exhibit 429.
Mr. McCLOY - It will be admitted.

(The photograph referred to, previously identified as Commission Exhibit No. 429, was received in evidence.)

Mr. JENNER - For the record, I am placing the rifle in the folded blanket as Mrs. Paine folded it. This is being done without the rifle being dismantled. May the record show, Mr. Chairman, that the rifle fits well in the package from end to end, and it does not--
Mrs. PAINE - Can you make it flatter?
Mr. JENNER - No; because the rifle is now in there.
Mrs. PAINE - I just mean that--
Mr. JENNER - Was that about the appearance of the blanket wrapped package that you saw on your garage floor?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes; although I recall it as quite flat.
Mr. JENNER - Flatter than it now appears to be?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes. But it is not a clear recollection.
Mr. JENNER - You have a firm recollection that the package you saw was of the length?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes, definitely.
Mr. JENNER - That is 45 inches, approximately. You had no occasion when you stepped on the package--
Mrs. PAINE - I stepped over it.
Mr. JENNER - You always stepped over it?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes; until the afternoon of the 22d.
Mr. JENNER - By accident or otherwise, did you happen to come in contact with it?
Mrs. PAINE - No.
Mr. JENNER - You don't know whether there was anything solid or hard in it?
Mrs. PAINE - No.
Mr. DULLES - Did it look about the way this package looks?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. McCLOY - Except for the fact it had some cord around it?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Representative FORD - When it had some cord around it, did the way it was tied pull it in or distort the shape?
Mrs. PAINE - No; it didn't distort the shape.
Representative FORD - About the same shape even with the cord?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. DULLES - The cords weren't pulled tight?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - They were relatively loosley tied?
Mrs. PAINE - I recall this definite shape.
Mr. JENNER - To hold the blanket in that form rather than to hold the contents of the package firm, is that your impression?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. McCLOY - Are you going to ask about the husband's testimony in connection with the moving of the package?
Mr. JENNER - I did not intend to.
Mr. McCLOY - I was not present but your husband testified he had moved the blanket from time to time but had not opened it. Did he ever refer to it? Did he ever speak to you about having had to move it while he was--
Mrs. PAINE - Not until after the assassination.
Mr. McCLOY - Not until after the assassination but before the assassination he had not complained about its being there or any difficulty in moving it?
Mrs. PAINE - No; he did not mention it, and I was not present when he moved it.
Representative FORD - Was he the person who used these various woodworking pieces of equipment?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Representative FORD - Did he work in the garage?
Mrs. PAINE - Well, he had--he made the workbench, and he had worked in the garage when he lived at the home and it has since been somewhat filled up.
Representative FORD - But during the time that you and Marina came back he didn't work in the garage?
Mrs. PAINE - He did still cut occasionally something on the saws. Indeed, did, too. I like to make children's blocks. I am trying to think when I last, if it is pertinent, when I used the saw.
Mr. McCLOY - Did you use the saw while the blanket was on floor?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes; I believe so.
Mr. McCLOY - You had to step over the blanket to do that?
Mrs. PAINE - Or around it.
Mr. McCLOY - Or around it. But in the course of your use of the saw you never had the necessity or the occasion to readjust the blanket or move it in any way?
Mrs. PAINE - No.
Mr. DULLES - Did we get the three locations here? I only see two.
Mr. JENNER - There were only two?
Mrs. PAINE - Two that I recall.
Mr. DULLES - Only two.
Representative FORD - She made a mistake in the first drawing of the second one.
Mrs. PAINE - I touched it by mistake.
Representative FORD - I think that ought to be clarified on the record.
Mr. JENNER - On the right-hand side of Commission Exhibit 429 there is an X or an arrow above which is written the words "on floor". That is the first location point at which you saw the package?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - On the left-hand side, the lower half of the photograph there is a double X.
Mrs. PAINE - Which I could not put in enough to give the proportion.
Mr. JENNER - You mean in the photograph?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - Is that where you saw the package for the second time?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes; as I have described it. The position I have described is more accurate than the XX.
Mr. JENNER - There is a red strip above the table with the tablecloth on it.
Mrs. PAINE - That is an accident with my hand.
Mr. JENNER - That was an accident on your part?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - So there are only two locations?
Mrs. PAINE - Right.
Mr. JENNER - Now, Mr. Chairman, may I reinsert the rifle in the package, on the opposite side from what it was before, and have the witness look at it?
Mr. McCLOY - You may.
We are back on the record.
Mr. JENNER - Yes.
Mr. Chairman, I have now placed the opposite side of the rifle to the floor, and may the record show that the package is much flatter The rifle when inserted firstly was turned on the side of the bolt which operates the rifle which forced it up higher.

Now does the package look more familiar to you, Mrs. Paine?
Mrs. PAINE - I recall it as being more like this, not as lumpy as the other had been.
Mr. JENNER - More in the form it is now?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - Now directing your attention to the rifle itself, which is Commission Exhibit 189, when did you first see that rifle, if you have ever seen--
Mrs. PAINE - I saw a rifle I judge to have been the same one at the police station on the afternoon of November 22, I don't recall the strap.
Mr. JENNER - You don't recall at the time you saw it on the 22d of November in the police station that it had a strap?
Mrs. PAINE - It may well have had one but I don't specifically recall it. I was interested in the sight
Mr. JENNER - Had you ever seen this rifle prior to the afternoon of November 22?
Mrs. PAINE - No.

(At this point, Senator Cooper entered the hearing room.)

Mr. JENNER - Now, we do have some particular interest, Mrs. Paine, in the rifle strap. Had you ever had around your house a luggage strap or a guitar strap similar to the strap that appears on Commission Exhibit 139?

Mrs. PAINE - No; in fact, I don't recall ever seeing a strap of that nature.
Mr. JENNER - Whether in your home or anywhere else?
Mrs. PAINE - Precisely.
Mr. JENNER - And you are unable to identify or suggest its source?
Mrs. PAINE - That is right.
Mr. JENNER - What do you have in your home, Mrs. Paine, by way of heavy wrapping paper?
Mrs. PAINE - I have the sort of paper you buy at the dime store to wrap packages, about 36 inches long, coming in a roll.
Mr. JENNER - Exhibiting to you Commission Exhibit No. 364, is the wrapping paper that you have in your home as heavy as that?
Mrs. PAINE - I don't believe it is quite that heavy and it certainly isn't quite that long. Well, it could have been cut the otherway, couldn't it, possibly?
Mr. JENNER - What about its shade, color?
Mrs. PAINE - It would be similar to that.
Mr. JENNER - Similar in shade.
Do you have the broad banded sticky tape or sticky tape of this nature?
Mrs. PAINE - There is no tape this wide in my home nor to my recollection has there ever been.
Mr. JENNER - You have whole rolls of this tape, of the paper in your home?
Mrs. PAINE - A whole roll.
Mr. JENNER - A whole roll?
Mrs. PAINE - Which I use for wrapping packages, mailing.
Mr. JENNER - Do you have string in your home that you use in attaching to this wrapping?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - Did you by any chance know the weight of the string that wrapped the blanket package as against the strength or weight of the string that you normally used in your home for packages?
Mrs. PAINE - It was similar in weight, rather thin.
Representative FORD - Color was the same?
Mrs. PAINE - I think it was a whitish color on the blanket and one of the rolls I have is that.
Representative FORD - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - Would you say it was a relatively light package string?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - Not a rope type?
Mrs. PAINE - Oh, no.
Mr. JENNER - And the string you saw on the blanket package was of the lighter weight type and not-
Mrs. PAINE - And of the lighter color too, I think.
Mr. JENNER - And the lighter color.
Now, you and Marina arrived home on the 24th of September, with the packages and contents of the station wagon, and, save the duffelbags, they were moved into your home, and everybody settled down?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - When next was there--did you hear from Lee Harvey Oswald at any time thereafter?
Mrs. PAINE - Not until the afternoon of the 4th, which I have already referred to.
Mr. JENNER - No word whatsoever from him from the 24th of September?
Mrs. PAINE - 23d we left him in New Orleans.
Mr. JENNER - 23d of September, until the 4th of October?
Mrs. PAINE - That is correct; no word.
Mr. JENNER - By letter, telephone?
Mrs. PAINE - Or pigeon.
Mr. JENNER - Or otherwise, anything whatsoever?
Mrs. PAINE - No word.
Mr. JENNER - Did you and Marina have discussions in that 10-day period about where Lee was or might be?
Mrs. PAINE - No.
Mr. JENNER - None whatsoever? Did you have any discussion about the fact that you hadn't heard from Lee Harvey Oswald in 14 days or 10 days?
Mrs. PAINE - No; we didn't.
Mr. JENNER - No discussion on that at all. What did you and Marina discuss during that 10-day period?
Mrs. PAINE - I can't recall which was during that period or which was after; general conversation.
Mr. JENNER - Was it generally small talk, ladies talk about the house?
Mrs. PAINE - It was generally what my vocabulary permitted and then she would reminisce, her vocabulary being much larger, about her life in Russia. about the movies she had seen. We talked about the children and their health-We talked about washing, about cooking.
Mr. JENNER - Did you have ladies visit. Did ladies in the neighborhood come and visit?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - Did you go to neighbors homes?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - With Marina?
Mrs. PAINE - Again, I can't recall which was before October 4th and which was after, but there was the normal flow nonetheless--
Mr. JENNER - And interested people?
Mrs. PAINE - Of my visiting at other people's homes and particularly Mrs. Roberts or Mrs. Craig.
Mr. JENNER - Mrs. Roberts was your next door neighbor and Mrs. Craig was how many doors down or across the street?
Mrs. PAINE - She is, you have to drive. You have to drive to her home. She is the young German woman to whom I referred.
Mr. JENNER - Yes. Was there any discussion during this 10-day period of Marina's relations with her husband, Lee?
Mrs. PAINE - Not that I recall.
Mr. JENNER - She expressed no concern during this 10-day period, that no word had been heard from Lee?
Mrs. PAINE - No.
Mr. JENNER - Did he evidence any--did she do or say anything during that period to indicate she did not expect to hear from him during that 10 days period?
Mrs. PAINE - No; she did not.
Mr. JENNER - There was nothing?
Mrs. PAINE - There was nothing.
Mr. JENNER - Did it come to your mind that it was curious you hadn't heard from Lee Harvey Oswald for 10 whole days?
Mrs. PAINE - No; it didn't seem curious. I know he had spent at least 2 weeks looking for work on previous occasions in different cities and I thought he wanted to find something before he communicated.
Mr. JENNER - But in view of the affection that had been evidenced on the day of departure on the 23d, You were not bothered by the fact that not even a telephone call had been received in 10 days?
Mrs. PAINE - If he was not in town I wouldn't have at all expected a telephone call because that would have cost him dearly.
Mr. JENNER - He might have made it collect.
Mrs. PAINE - I didn't expect that either.
Mr. JENNER - But there was no telephone call, there was no postcard, there was no letter.
Mrs. PAINE - No.
Mr. JENNER - There was nothing?
Mrs. PAINE - There could well have been a letter but there was none.
Mr. DULLES - Where did you think he was at this time?
Mrs. PAINE - Houston.
Mr. DULLES - Houston, looking for a job? Houston?
Mrs. PAINE - Houston, possibly.
Mr. JENNER - Because of the conversation on the morning of the 23d, because of the possibility of his going to Houston or Philadelphia, your frame of mind was that he was either in Houston or Philadelphia?
Mrs. PAINE - I thought he probably was in Houston. The Philadelphia reference was very slight.
Mr. JENNER - Was there any reference or discussion between you and Marina during that period of the possibility that he was off in Houston looking for work?
Mrs. PAINE - No, there was not.
Mr. JENNER - You are sure there was just no discussion of the subject at all during that whole 10 days period with Marina?
Mrs. PAINE - I don't recall any discussion of it.
Mr. JENNER - She expressed no concern and you none?
Mrs. PAINE - That is right.
Mr. JENNER - That nobody had heard from Lee.
All right.
You heard from him on the 4th of October?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - Would you give the Commission the circumstances, the time of day and how it came about?
Mrs. PAINE - He telephoned in early afternoon, something after lunchtime.
Mr. JENNER - The phone rang. Did you answer it?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - And did you recognize the voice?
Mrs. PAINE - He asked to speak to Marina.
Mr. JENNER - Whose voice was it?
Mrs. PAINE - Well, after he asked to speak to Marina, I was certain it was Lee's.
Mr. JENNER - What did you say?
Mrs. PAINE - I said "here" and gave her the phone.
Mr. JENNER - You didn't say "where are you", or "I am glad to hear from you, where have you been?"
Mrs. PAINE - No I thought that was her's to ask. He wished to speak to her and I gave her the phone and, of course, that is what was then asked. I heard her say to him.--
Mr. JENNER - You heard her side of the conversation, did you?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - All right. What did you hear her say?
Mrs. PAINE - I heard her say, "No, Mrs. Paine, she can't come and pick you up."
Mr. JENNER - Was she speaking in Russian?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - Throughout?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - When Lee asked for Marina, did he speak in English or Russian?
Mrs. PAINE - I don't recall. And Marina went on to say that Mrs. Paine, "Ruth has just been to Parkland Hospital this morning to donate blood, she shouldn't be going driving now to pick you up."
Mr. JENNER - Did she refer to you as Mrs. Paine or Ruth?
Mrs. PAINE - No; I am trying to make it clear who is being talked about.
Mr. JENNER - I see. You might give your testimony the wrong cast.
Mrs. PAINE - No; of course. She referred to me as "Ruth" or "she".
To Junie, she called me Aunt Ruth. To Junie, speaking of me to her little girl, she referred to me as Aunt Ruth.
Mr. JENNER - You are giving the conversation now, the end of it that you heard?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes. Then I heard Marina say "Why didn't you call?"
Mr. JENNER - You did hear her say that?
Mrs. PAINE - I believe so. I certainly remember her saying it afterward. She hung up and she explained the conversation to me.
Mr. JENNER - What did she say to you?
Mrs. PAINE - That he had asked for me to come in to downtown Dallas to pick him up and she said no; he should find his own way.
Mr. JENNER - To come to downtown Dallas?
Mrs. PAINE - To come to downtown Dallas to pick him up, and she never asked me whether I wanted to or would have, told him, no; it was an imposition, that I had just given blood at Parkland Hospital.
Mr. JENNER - And you had in fact given blood?
Mrs. PAINE - Oh, yes; indeed.
Mr. JENNER - That morning?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes, I have a card or the FBI does to that effect. Then she said that he had said that he was at the Y, staying at the Y, and had been in town a couple of days, to which she said, "Why didn't you call right away?", in other words, "why didn't you call right away upon getting to town?"
Then he also asked whether he could come out; this was, of course, during the conversation, and she referred the question to me, could he come out for the weekend, and I said, yes, he could.
Mr. JENNER - This was while she was still talking on the telephone?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes. Prior to his asking for a ride. So then they hung up and I went grocery shopping, and when--
Mr. JENNER - You left the home?
Mrs. PAINE - I left the home.
Mr. JENNER - You have now exhausted your recollection as to everything that was said to you by Marina after she hung up and was relating to you, at least a summary of the conversation with her husband?
Mrs. PAINE - I believe it was also said that he wanted to look for work in Dallas. He was here, staying at the Y. Could he come out for the weekend. He planned to look for work in Dallas.
Mr. JENNER - I see.
Did you say anything about--were you stimulated to say anything to Marina about any of the subject matters of that conversation as she reported it to you?
Mrs. PAINE - No.
Mr. JENNER - You expressed no response, made no response to her having made a statement to her husband that--of her surprise as to why he hadn't called and if he were just over in Dallas and staying at the Y?
Mrs. PAINE - I thought that but I didn't try to put it in Russian.
Mr. JENNER - There was no discussion is all I am getting at.
What did she say as to his coming out by whatever means he could get there? Was there any discussion of that?
Mrs. PAINE - It implied whatever means, that he shouldn't ask me to--
Mr. JENNER - He was coming?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - But that you were not going to go to get him?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - And you left and went to the grocery store or market?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - When you returned, was Lee at your home?
Mrs. PAINE - He was already there, which surprised me greatly.
Mr. JENNER - Why did it surprise you?
Mrs. PAINE - Because I thought he would have to take a public bus to Irving, they run very rarely if at all during the afternoon, and I thought he would have considerable difficulty getting out. I thought it would be at least supper time before he got there.
Mr. JENNER - How much time elapsed between the time you left and the time you returned?
Mrs. PAINE - Shopping? Oh, I don't know, perhaps an hour, perhaps a little less.
Representative FORD - Where did you go shopping?
Mrs. PAINE - The grocery store in the same parking lot where we practiced.
Mr. JENNER - That was three blocks away?
Mrs. PAINE - It is a little more than that. These would be long blocks.
Mr. JENNER - Did any conversation ensue as to how he had, by what means he had come from Dallas to Irving?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes. He then said that he had hitchhiked out, caught a ride with someone who brought him straight to the door, a Negro man.
Mr. JENNER - To your door?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes. To whom he said that he had been away from his wife and child and he was just now getting home, and the man kindly brought him directly to the door.
Mr. JENNER - Where did this conversation take place?
Mrs. PAINE - In the home that afternoon.
Mr. JENNER - When you returned to your home, that was in the afternoon, wasn't it?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - Where was Lee Harvey Oswald?
Mrs. PAINE - I don't recall.
Mr. JENNER - Was he inside the home or outside?
Mrs. PAINE - Inside, I believe.
Mr. JENNER - Did any conversation ensue as to where he had been in that 10-day interim?
Mrs. PAINE - Where he had been?
Mr. JENNER - Where he had been in the intervening 10 days?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes; he said to me that he had been in Houston and that he hadn't been able to find work there and was now going to try in Dallas.
Mr. JENNER - Did he say anything about Philadelphia?
Mrs. PAINE - Nothing.
Mr. JENNER - From your testimony I gather he did not say anything about Mexico?
Mrs. PAINE - No; he did not.
Mr. JENNER - Was Marina present when he stated to you that he had been in Houston looking for work?
Mrs. PAINE - That is my recollection of it; yes.
Mr. JENNER - You never had any conversation with her up to the 23d or 22d of November on the subject of whether Lee had or had not been in Mexico?
Mrs. PAINE - We never had such a conversation.
Mr. JENNER - Despite your having read that letter on the 10th of November in which he stated that he had been?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes. Now there was no occasion in that letter that she may have known that he went any more than there was certain indication to my mind that this was true and not false. Had I looked at the peso, this would have been the only occasion that she knew.
Mr. JENNER - But the fact is, apart from your rationalization now there was no conversation on that subject?
Mrs. PAINE - That is right.
Mr. JENNER - How long did he remain in your home?
Mrs. PAINE - Monday morning--
The CHAIRMAN - Before you get to that, I want to ask a question about giving the blood that day. Did you give it for a particular person or for a blood bank?
Mrs. PAINE - It was for Marina. For each of the persons who come in under county care they ask you to donate two pints of blood, one at a time.
The CHAIRMAN - I see. And you donated one pint for her?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
The CHAIRMAN - Thank you.
Mr. JENNER - How long did he remain in your home on this visit?
Mrs. PAINE - Until Monday morning, the 7th of October, almost noon, in fact, when I took him to an Intercity bus at the Irving bus station.
Mr. JENNER - This is that bus terminal approximately 3 miles from your home?
Mrs. PAINE - That same day I gave him a map to assist him in job hunting.
Mr. JENNER - All right. I would like to get to that.
I show you what is in evidence, I don't know whether it is received or not; it is a Commission Exhibit No. 128, and ask you if you have ever seen that before?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes; I have.
Mr. JENNER - Is that the map to which you now have reference?
Mrs. PAINE - I would say it is.
Mr. JENNER - What did you do with the map with respect to Lee Harvey Oswald on this occasion?
Mrs. PAINE - I don't recall who asked, who mentioned a map first, but, of course, I knew, and he did, that it would be a useful thing to have job hunting. I think he asked if I had a map of the city of Dallas and I said, yes, I did, and I can easily get another at the gas station, one of these.
Mr. JENNER - Mrs. Paine, it is your clear recollection that this document, Commission Exhibit No. 128, a map, is the map that you gave Lee Harvey Oswald, this was October 7th?
Mrs. PAINE - It was certainly this kind of map, whether it is the identical map, I couldn't say for sure, but I much prefer the ENCO map of the city and this is the kind I always get to use. So this is the kind I had in mind.
Mr. JENNER - So, to the best of your recollection, the coloring has been changed a little bit because of attempts to draw fingerprints from it?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - But your best recollection now, observing it, is that this is the document?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - Would you examine it carefully and see that there might be something on it that would arrest your attention as your having placed thereon or Lee?
Mrs. PAINE - I have examined this carefully and a copy of it.
Mr. JENNER - On other occasions?
Mrs. PAINE - On other occasions, and I could not at any time find a marking that I had made.
Mr. JENNER - Do you recall having made markings?
Mrs. PAINE - I do not recall having made any markings on this particular map. Sometime on some maps I knew I had made remarks where I was going.
Mr. JENNER - Just for the purpose of the record, may I reverse it, and you see no markings on the reverse side, I take it?
Mrs. PAINE - No; which is Fort Worth, not Dallas, isn't it?
Mr. JENNER - Yes; it is. All right, now tell us about that incident?
Mrs. PAINE - The map?
Mr. JENNER - Yes.
Mrs. PAINE - I have.
Mr. JENNER - That is all there was to it?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - Did you suggest, was there any discussion of, particular places of employment?
Mrs. PAINE - There was no such discussion.
Mr. JENNER - As to which he might inquire?
Mrs. PAINE - No.
Mr. JENNER - What did he-did you hand him the map?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - And was it opened before you and Lee in your discussions?
Mrs. PAINE - No, no; we didn't discuss. He said, do I have a map, and I said, yes, I do, you may have it.
Mr. JENNER - You handed it to him, and that was all that occurred?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - And did he place it in his pocket or did he go into his room or his and Marina's room and place it there?
Mrs. PAINE - He may have already been on his way to the bus station when this conversation occurred and took it with him.
Mr. JENNER - All right.
I notice what appears to be a notation that the document has not as yet been offered in evidence, Mr. Chairman, and I offer in evidence, therefore, as Commission Exhibit No. 128, the document heretofore identified by that exhibit number.
Mr. McCLOY - It may be admitted.

(The document referred to, heretofore marked as Commission Exhibit No. 128 for identification, was received in evidence.)

Mr. JENNER - Was Marina present during this discussion of his job hunting?
Mrs. PAINE - I don't recall. I seem to think we were on our way out already to go in our car to the bus station.
Mr. JENNER - Did Marina accompany you?
Mrs. PAINE - No; she did not.
Mr. JENNER - She did not?
Mrs. PAINE - She stayed home with the baby. My children probably went with me, I don't recall specifically.
Mr. JENNER - That is the baby, you mean June?
Mrs. PAINE - June.
Mr. JENNER - You drove into the bus terminal approximately 3 miles from your home. Did you remain until the bus came along?
Mrs. PAINE - I think so.
Mr. JENNER - You saw him depart?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - Was anything said about where he would reside in Dallas before he left?
Mrs. PAINE - I am not certain, but I think he said the Y was rather expensive. He was going to look for a room.
Mr. McCLOY - What was the date you took him into the bus station?
Mrs. PAINE - That is the 7th of October.
Mr. McCLOY - The 7th of October?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - Was there an occasion in this early period that you drove him all the way into Dallas?
Mrs. PAINE - I can't recall ever driving him all the way into Dallas.
Mr. JENNER - At any time?
Mrs. PAINE - We drove, except to the Oak Cliff Station for this driver training test.
Mr. JENNER - That is the only occasion?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes; that is the only one I recall. Can you refresh my memory. I can't think of any other.
Mr. JENNER - You are clear that you drove him from your home to the bus terminal in Irving?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - And either you left immediately Or waited to see him board the bus, but it is your definite recollection you did not drive him to the Dallas downtown area on that occasion?
Mrs. PAINE - Oh, I did once drive him to the Dallas downtown area, because I recall where he got out. Now why I was going--yes, I think I may know why I was going.
Mr. JENNER - Fix the time first.
Mrs. PAINE - I do recall now driving him into downtown Dallas because I was already going and it was probably Monday, the 14th of October.
Mr. JENNER - This is the day before his employment began with the Texas School Book Depository?
Mrs. PAINE - It would have been 2 days before, the day before he applied. I have several recollections but which day they attach to is not quite as clear.
I recall taking him to the bus. I recall picking him up at the bus. I recall going in and dropping him off at a corner of Ross Avenue and something else, which was near the employment office.
Mr. JENNER - In downtown Dallas?
Mrs. PAINE - Near the employment office station. I was on my way to get a key fixed on my Russian typewriter which is what was taking me downtown. I hadn't been thinking--I at no time made a purposeful trip just to take him to downtown Dallas, but I was going and he went along and I am pretty sure that was a Monday and he got out at that corner and Marina was with me and we went on to get this typewriter fixed either to pick it up or to leave it. I am quite certain it was the 12th, Saturday, that I picked him up at the station.
Mr. JENNER - At the bus terminal?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes. And I am pretty certain that it was the 7th I took him to the bus station. I recall it being already noon, and I thought he might well have started looking for a job earlier that day.
Mr. JENNER - When next did you hear from Mr. Oswald?
Mrs. PAINE - After the 7th. Probably on the 12th when he called again to ask if he could come out for the weekend.
Mr. JENNER - The 12th is what day of the week?
Mrs. PAINE - The 12th is a Saturday.
Mr. JENNER - Do you recall that he did call?
Mrs. PAINE - Pardon?
Mr. JENNER - Did you recall that he did telephone and ask permission to come?
Mrs. PAINE - Oh, indeed he did.
Mr. JENNER - Did he always do that?
Mrs. PAINE - He always did that with the exception of the 21st of November.
Mr. JENNER - We will get to that in a very few moments.
Mr. McCLOY - Before you get to that you said you went all the way into Dallas with this errand, that Marina was with you.
Mrs. PAINE - That is my recollection.
Mr. McCLOY - What did you do with the children?
Mrs. PAINE - We always take them.
Mr. McCLOY - Took them all, put them all in the station wagon?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes; big station wagon.
Mr. JENNER - By the way, I would like to go back a little. When you picked him up at the bus station on the afternoon of the 4th of October, what did he have?
Mrs. PAINE - On the afternoon of the 12th, around noon of the 12th.
Mr. JENNER - Please, when he first returned to Irving after--
Mrs. PAINE - He hitchhiked out.
Mr. JENNER - On the occasion that he told you he had been in Houston looking for a job?
Mrs. PAINE - The 4th, he hitchhiked out.
Mr. JENNER - Yes.
It is that occasion that I have in mind.
What did he have with him in the way of luggage?
Mrs. PAINE - I don't recall certainly. It does seem to me that I remember he, took the zipper bag on Monday, the following Monday, with him to town, along with some clothes over his arm, ironed. shirts, things that are hung on hangers.
Mr. JENNER - With respect to that trip--
Mrs. PAINE - You must remember I was shopping when he arrived on the afternoon of the 4th.
Mr. JENNER - Yes.
Mrs. PAINE - So I didn't see him when he arrived that moment.
Mr. JENNER - But you do have a recollection of having seen the zipper bag on Monday?
Mrs. PAINE - The 7th.
Mr. JENNER - When you took him to the bus terminal for the purpose of his returning to downtown Dallas?
Mrs. PAINE - To find a room and live there and have sufficient clothing there. That is my best recollection.
Mr. JENNER - Is that the first time you had seen the zipper bag?
Mrs. PAINE - No.
Mr. JENNER - From the time you had left New Orleans on the 23d?
Mrs. PAINE - So far as I recall.
Mr. JENNER - Did you notice anything else in the way of pieces of luggage in your home after you came back from the shopping center that afternoon of October 4th that hadn't been there prior to his arrival?
Mrs. PAINE - No.
Mr. JENNER - The only piece of luggage of which you have any recollection then is the zipper bag which you saw him take with him when he left on Monday morning, the 7th
Mrs. PAINE - And that is, I would not say a certain recollection. But that is the best I have.
Mr. JENNER - It is your best recollection anyhow?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - Now, when you returned to your home did you have any discussion with Marina about Lee's departure and his future plans and her understanding of them?
Mrs. PAINE - No; nothing I recall specifically.
Mr. JENNER - None at all.
What discussion went on between you and Marina, that is the subject matter with respect to his weekend visits?
Mrs. PAINE - She wanted to be certain it was all right for him to come out, you know that it wasn't too much of an imposition on me. We got into discussing his efforts to find a job. Then Monday, the 14th as best as I recall, was the first time we talked about him, more than to say it was too bad he didn't find something. This is the--
Mr. JENNER - During the course of the week was there discussion between you and Marina respecting Lee Oswald's attempt at employment?
Mrs. PAINE - No.
Mr. JENNER - Now, there came an occasion, did there not, that weekend or the following weekend at which there was a discussion at least by you with some neighbors with respect to efforts to obtain employment for Lee Harvey Oswald?
Mrs. PAINE - As best I can reconstruct it this was, while having coffee at my immediate neighbors, Mrs. Ed Roberts, and also present was Mrs. Bill Randle, and Lee had said over the weekend that he had gotten the last of the unemployment compensation checks that were due him, and that it had been smaller than the others had been, and disappointing in its smallness and he looked very discouraged when he went to look for work.
Mr. JENNER - Did he say anything about amount?
Mrs. PAINE - I didn't hear the question.
Mr. JENNER - Did he say anything about amount
Mrs. PAINE - No; he didn't, just less.
Mr. JENNER - All right.
Mrs. PAINE - And the subject of his looking for work and that he hadn't found work for a week, came up while we were having coffee, the four young mothers at Mrs. Roberts' house, and Mrs. Randle mentioned that her younger brother, Wesley Frazier thought they needed another person at the Texas School Book Depository where Wesley worked.
Marina then asked me, after we had gone home, asked me if I would call--
Mr. JENNER - Was Marina present during this discussion?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes; Marina was present, yes, indeed.
Mr. JENNER - Did she understand the conversation?
Mrs. PAINE - It was a running translation, running, faulty translation going on.
Mr. JENNER - You were translating for her?
Mrs. PAINE - I was acting as her translator. And then after we came home she asked me if I would call the School Book Depository to see if indeed there was the possibility of an opening, and at her request, I did telephone--
Mr. JENNER - Excuse me, please.
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - While you were still in the Roberts' home was there any discussion at all of the subject mentioned by you or by Mrs. Randle or Mrs. Roberts or anyone else, of calls to be made, or that might be made, to the Texas School Book Depository in this connection?
Mrs. PAINE - I don't recall this discussion. As I recall it was a suggestion made by Marina to me after we got home, but I may be wrong.
Mr. JENNER - But that is your best recollection that you are now testifying?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - Is that correct?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - You reached home and Marina suggested that "Would you please call the Texas School Depository?"
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - What did you do?
Mrs. PAINE - I looked up the number in the book, and dialed it, was told I would need to speak to Mr. Truly, who was at the warehouse. The phone was taken to Mr. Truly, and I talked with him and said--
Mr. JENNER - You mean the call was transferred by the operator?
Mrs. PAINE - To Mr. Truly, and I said I know of a young man whose wife was staying in my house, the wife was expecting a child, they already had a little girl and he had been out of work for a while and was very interested in getting any employment and his name, and was there a possibility of an opening there, and Mr. Truly said he didn't know whether he had an opening, that the young man should apply himself in person.
Mr. JENNER - Which made sense.
Mrs. PAINE - Made very good sense for a personnel man to say.
Mr. JENNER - Did you make more than one call to this Texas School Book Depository?
Mrs. PAINE - No.
Mr. JENNER - Only the one?
Mrs. PAINE - Only the one.
Mr. JENNER - What was the date of this call?
Mrs. PAINE - Reconstructing it, I believe it was October 14.
Mr. JENNER - What day of the week is October 14?
Mrs. PAINE - It is a Monday.
Mr. JENNER - Following that call and your talking with Mr. Truly, what did you do?
Mrs. PAINE - Began to get dinner. Then Lee call the house.
Mr. JENNER - In the evening?
Mrs. PAINE - In the early evening.
Mr. JENNER - Did you talk with him?
Mrs. PAINE - Marina talked with him, then asked--then Marina asked me to tell Lee in English what had transpired regarding the possible job opening, and then I did say that there might be an opening in the School Book Depository, that Mr. Truly was the man to apply to. Shall I go on?
Mr. JENNER - Yes.
Mrs. PAINE - The next day--
Mr. JENNER - Excuse me, I meant go on as far as the conversation was concerned.
Mrs. PAINE - That is all there was.
Mr. JENNER - Mrs. Paine, I would like to return just for a moment to the conversation in the Roberts' home.
Was any possible place of employment in addition to the Texas School Depository mentioned?
Mrs. PAINE - No.
Mr. JENNER - You have no recollection of any other suggestion as to possible places of employment?
Mrs. PAINE - I have no recollection of that.
Mr. JENNER - You have no recollection of any other, at least two other places being suggested, and you, in turn, stating that they would be unsatisfactory, one because an automobile had to be used, or it would be necessary for Lee to have an automobile, and the other that he was lacking in the possible qualifications needed? None of that refreshes your recollection?
Mrs. PAINE - None of that refreshes my recollection. I certainly know that I thought, for instance, he couldn't have applied to Bell Helicopter or to any place apart from the city area.
Mr. JENNER - But Bell Helicopter was not mentioned?
Mrs. PAINE - I don't recall it being mentioned.
Mr. JENNER - Your husband-is employed by Bell Helicopter, is he not?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - Had you made an inquiry of your husband as to the possibility of employment by Lee Harvey Oswald with Bell Helicopter?
Mrs. PAINE - No; I hadn't, especially knowing that he had no way of getting there.
Mr. JENNER - Unless he knew how to drive a car?
Mrs. PAINE - Unless he knew how to drive a car.
Mr. JENNER - You didn't believe he was proficient enough at this moment to operate it?
Mrs. PAINE - We have got on record here that I gave him the first lesson on the 13th of October.
Mr. JENNER - And in any event were you aware he had no driver's license?
Mrs. PAINE - I certainly was.
Mr. JENNER - Especially that week?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - Did you give him the telephone number and the address of the Texas School Book Depository on the occasion when you talked to him, this is the 14th?
Mrs. PAINE - The address, I don't think so. I probably gave the phone number. I don't recall that I gave him an address.
Mr. JENNER - Directing your attention to your address book, you have an entry in your address book of the Texas School Depository, do you not? Would you turn to that page?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes; I have it here.
Mr. JENNER - Is there an entry of address of the Texas School Depository on that page?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes; which I believe I made after he gained employment there.
Mr. JENNER - Rather than at the time that you advised him of this possibility?
Mrs. PAINE - Indeed.
Mr. JENNER - Have you made an entry of the telephone number of the Texas School Book Depository on that date?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes; I have and of the address.
Mr. JENNER - And that is the telephone number and the address of the Texas School Depository Building where--
Mrs. PAINE - On Elm Street.
Mr. JENNER - I heard you mention the Texas School Depository warehouse Did you think the warehouse was at 411 Elm?
Mrs. PAINE - No. I had seen a sign on a building as I went along one of the limited access highways that leads into Dallas, saying "Texas School Book Depository Warehouse" and there was the only building that had registered on my consciousness as being Texas School Book Depository.
I was not aware, hadn't taken in the idea of there being two buildings and that there was one on Elm, though, I copied the address from the telephone book, and could well have made that notation in my mind but I didn't.
The first I realized that there was a building on Elm was when I heard on the television on the morning of the 22d of November that a shot had been fired from such a building.
Mr. JENNER - For the purpose of this record then I would like to emphasize you were under the impression then, were you, that Lee Harvey Oswald was employed?
Mrs. PAINE - At the warehouse.
Mr. JENNER - Other than at 411, a place at 411 Elm?
Mrs. PAINE - I thought he worked at the warehouse. I had in fact, pointed out the building to my children going into Dallas later after he had gained employment.
Mr. JENNER - Did you ever discuss with Lee Harvey Oswald where he actually was employed, that is the location of the building?
Mrs. PAINE - No; I didn't.
Mr. JENNER - Did he ever mention it?
Mrs. PAINE - No.
Mr. JENNER - There never was any discussion between you and, say, young Mr. Frazier or Mrs. Randle or anyone in the neighborhood as to where the place of employment is located?
Mrs. PAINE - No. It may be significant here to say, my letter to which I have already referred--
Mr. JENNER - Commission Exhibit No.
Mrs. PAINE - 425, which says, "Lee Oswald is looking for work in Dallas, does not give a time of day.
Mr. JENNER - What is the date of that letter?
Mrs. PAINE - October 14, Monday.
Mr. JENNER - This is the letter to your mother?
Mrs. PAINE - But I don't normally write letters any time except when the children are asleep, they sometimes nap but usually this is in the evening.
If it were in the evening it means that he had gotten the suggestion as to a place to apply, but I didn't mention that. I only mentioned that he was looking and was discouraged.
I bring this out simply to say that I had no real hopes that he would get a job at the School Book Depository.
I didn't think it too likely that he would, but it was worth a try.
Mr. JENNER - Did you hear from him then either on the 14th or 15th in respect to his effort to obtaining employment at the Texas School Depository?
Mrs. PAINE - He called immediately on Tuesday, the 15th, after he had been accepted and said he would start work the next day.
Mr. JENNER - When you say immediately, what time of day was that?
Mrs. PAINE - Midmorning I would say, which was contrary to his usual practice of calling in the early evening.
Mr. JENNER - By the way, is the call from Dallas, Tex., to Irving a toll call?
Mrs. PAINE - No.
Mr. JENNER - What is its cost, 10 cents?
Mrs. PAINE - I expect so.
Mr. JENNER - Did you answer the phone on the occasion he called?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - What happened?
Mrs. PAINE - He asked for Marina.
Mr. JENNER - He said nothing to you about his success?
Mrs. PAINE - No.
Mr. JENNER - As soon as you answered he asked for Marina?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - Did he identify himself?
Mrs. PAINE - No; but I am certain he knew that I knew who he was.
Mr. JENNER - You recognized his voice, did you?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - You called her to the phone. Did you hear her end of the conversation?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - What took place by way of-- of conversation?
Mrs. PAINE - She said, "Hurray, he has got a job." Immediately telling me as she still talked to the telephone that he had been accepted for work at the school book depository and thanks to me and she said, "We must thank Mrs. Randle."
Mr. JENNER - Did you return to the telephone and speak with him?
Mrs. PAINE - No.
Mr. JENNER - You did not. Where was he residing then, did you know?
Mrs. PAINE - No; I did not know.
Mr. JENNER - Had you had any information that he was not residing at the YMCA?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - How did you come by that information?
Mrs. PAINE - He gave me a telephone number, possibly this same weekend.
Mr. JENNER - That is of importance, Mrs. Paine. Would you give us the circumstances, please?
Mrs. PAINE - He said that he was at a--
Mr. JENNER - Excuse me, where was he when he said this?
Mrs. PAINE - He was at the home so far as I remember. It might have been during one of his telephone calls to the house, but I don't think so. He rarely talked with me when he was out.
Mr. JENNER - This would be the weekend of what?
Mrs. PAINE - So this must have been the weekend of the 12th of October, the same weekend.
Mr. JENNER - That was the weekend following his return to Dallas on the 7th of October?
Mrs. PAINE - Fourth of October.
Mr. JENNER - He departed on the 7th.
Mrs. PAINE - His return to Dallas, I am sorry.
Mr. JENNER - Yes; now, give it as chronologically as you can; how you came by that telephone number, the circumstances under which it was given to you.
Mrs. PAINE - He said this is the telephone number.
Mr. JENNER - Was Marina present?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes. He said of the room where he was staying, renting a room, and I could reach him here if she went into labor.
Mr. JENNER - I see, the coming of the baby was imminent?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - When was the baby expected?
Mrs. PAINE - Any time after the first week in October. Any time, in other words.
Mr. JENNER - The obstetrician predicted the birth of the child as when?
Mrs. PAINE - As due on the 22d.
Mr. JENNER - Did Marina have a different notion?
Mrs. PAINE - She thought it might be due around the 8th.
Mr. JENNER - So there was a considerable variance in the expectation between the date and when the baby actually did arrive? When did the baby actually arrive?
Mrs. PAINE - On the 20th of October, a Sunday.
Mr. JENNER - Did he give you more than one telephone number?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - At this occasion did he give you more than one telephone number?
Mrs. PAINE - No.
Mr. JENNER - Just stick to this particular occasion. What telephone number--did you record it?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - In what?
Mrs. PAINE - In ink in my telephone book.
Mr. JENNER - Your telephone and address book?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - Have you opened that telephone address book to the page in which you have made that recording?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes; I have.
Mr. JENNER - Is that the page you identified yesterday?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - Excuse me, Mr. Chairman, may I examine it for a moment here.
Now, relate for the record the telephone number that Mr. Oswald gave you, the first one he gave you on this particular occasion?
Mrs. PAINE - The number was WH 2-1985.
Mr. JENNER - And that is at the bottom of the page written in ink.
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - Is that in your handwriting?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes; it is.
Mr. JENNER - What exchange is "WH" in Dallas?
Mrs. PAINE - I don't know. I did not know. I know now, maybe I know, Whitehall, something. I know now what it is, but I didn't know then.
Mr. JENNER - Did he on that occasion say anything about where the apartment or room was?
Mrs. PAINE - No; he did not.
Mr. JENNER - He did not give you an address?
Mrs. PAINE - No.
Mr. JENNER - Didn't locate it in any area in Dallas?
Mrs. PAINE - No.
Mr. JENNER - All he gave you was the telephone number?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - Did he say anything that would indicate to you that you are other than free to call him and ask for him by his surname you knew him by?
Mrs. PAINE - No; he did not make such a limitation.
Mr. JENNER - I take it from your testimony that the number was given to you, at least the discussion was, so that you could call him in connection with the oncoming event of the birth of his child?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - Am I correct about this?
Mrs. PAINE - That is correct.
Mr. JENNER - Now, you have mentioned a second number that Mr. Oswald, Lee Harvey Oswald, gave you. Did you receive that second number subsequent to the birth of Rachel or prior to that time?
Mrs. PAINE - Also prior to the birth of Rachel.
Mr. JENNER - Now, relate for the Commission the circumstances under which you received a second number?
Mrs. PAINE - He gave me a second number, I suppose by phone, but I don't recall.
Mr. JENNER - When?
Mrs. PAINE - It was certainly before the birth of the baby because again it was so that I could reach him if she went to the hospital.
Mr. JENNER