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Warren Commission Hearings: Vol. I - Page 151« Previous | Next »

(Testimony of Mrs. Marguerite Oswald)

Mrs. Oswald.
No. It was a pleasant conversation. But she did not volunteer to tell me what was said, and I did not ask her what was said.
Mr. Rankin.
What did you do after that?
Mrs. Oswald.
So then after that we went back to the Adolphus Hotel. And upon arriving at the hotel-I am a little ahead of my story.
The police and the detectives at the Dallas jail were most courteous to Marina and I. There were hundreds of reporters out in the corridor. And we were getting ready to leave, so they said that they would take us down the back way--incidentally, the same place where my son was shot. And they had arranged for two to go down and to get a car and to bring into this basement, and take us down the back elevator, and try to avoid the reporters. And there were approximately six or seven in the elevator. When we got down there, there were just a few reporters, and they went way out of their way to elude any reporters. We were at the Adolphus Hotel as I explained to you. And instead of from the jail going straight to the Adolphus Hotel, they drove around 20 or 25 minutes time in circles in order to lose anybody who might be following Marina and I.
So, as we got to the floor of the Adolphus Hotel, we knocked on the door where we were, and no one answered. We were with two men. Immediately around the corner comes Mr. Tommy Thompson, the Life representative.
Mr. Rankin.
What two men were you with?
Mrs. Oswald.
Two men from the Dallas courthouse.
Mr. Rankin.
From the police?
Mrs. Oswald.
Yes, from the police.
So Mr. Tommy Thompson came and they asked for his credentials. I had never even--as thorough as I am trying to be I am trying to tell you there are some things I don't know because of the confusion--I didn't ask for the credentials. I could have been with anybody. I just assumed they were Life representatives. I had not asked. But these Dallas detectives or police, in plain clothes, asked Mr. Tommy Thompson for his credentials, and then left us in his care again.
Immediately Mr. Tommy Thompson said, "Mrs. Oswald, what do you plan to do now?"
The interpreter was gone, and so was the other representative, Mr. Allen Grant.
I said, "Well, the arrangement was that we were going to stay here in the hotel for a few days, and you were going to pay expenses."
He said, "But you have not given us any facts."
They were not interested--and to me it seems very strange that they were not interested in my conversation at the jail with my son. They did not even ask if we saw Lee. Yet they knew we left the Adolphus Hotel in order to go see Lee. But they did not even ask if we saw Lee. And I have often wondered about that.
So when I told him that we expected to stay there, he said, "Well, Mrs. Oswald, the reporters will be coming in flocks, they know where you are. Just a minute."
He got on the telephone. Mr. Allen Grant--they had a Life the Life representatives had a room on the ninth floor where they had a lot of men working on this case, and we were on the 11th, I believe. So Mr. Allen Grant came down from the ninth floor with another man--I do not know his name because the baby's diapers had to be changed and things of this sort. He said, "Mrs. Oswald"-- they left. Tommy Thompson said, "Mrs. Oswald, what we are going to do is get you on the outskirts of town, so the reporters won't know where you are, and here is some money for your expenses in case you need anything."
Well, I took the bill, and I put it in my uniform pocket without looking at it.
That may sound strange to you gentlemen, but this is confusion. I knew it was money, and I just put it in my uniform pocket.
So Mr. Allen Grant escorted my daughter-in-law and I out of the hotel, the Adolphus Hotel, and took us to the Executive Inn, which is on the outskirts of Dallas. We sat in the car. He went in and came out, then, and said, "Mrs. Oswald, I have arranged for you all to stay here for 2 or 3 days. I have to be
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