Apparently both of them having a sack lunch. And he said, "You go
ahead, send the elevator back up to me and I will come down just as
soon as I am finished."
And he didn't say what he was doing. There was a commotion outside,
which he later rushed downstairs to go out to see what was going on. He
didn't say whether he took the stairs down. He didn't say whether he
took the elevator down.
But he went downstairs, and as he went out the front, it seems as
though he did have a coke with him, or he stopped at the coke machine,
or somebody else was trying to get a coke, but there was a coke
involved.
He mentioned something about a coke. But a police officer asked him who
he was, and just as he started to identify himself, his superintendent
came up and said, "He is one of our men." And the policeman said,
"Well, you step aside for a little bit."
Then another man rushed in past him as he started out the door, in this
vestibule part of it, and flashed some kind of credential and he said,
"Where is your telephone, where is your telephone, and said I am so and
so, where is your telephone."
And he said, "I didn't look at the credential. I don't know who he said
he was, and I just pointed to the phone and said, 'there it is,' and
went on out the door."
Mr. BELIN. Anything else?
Mr. HOLMES. I believe not.
Mr. BELIN. Mr. Holmes, when we first met, we sat down and I practically
started taking testimony right away, is that correct?
Mr. HOLMES. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Is there anything in the short conversation we had before we
started taking testimony about this matter that we haven't discussed
here on the record?
Mr. HOLMES. No, sir.
Mr. BELIN. For the record, I would like to offer as a part of this
deposition Holmes Exhibits 1, 2, 3, and 4, and in addition, I don't
know for the record, but I would like to offer--at some of the
depositions we have had delays, but will you have copies made, madam
reporter?
And one final thing, you have the right, if you want, to come back
and read the deposition and sign, or else you let it go to us without
signing or coming back without reading it. Do you want to waive it or
come back?
Mr. HOLMES. I will waive it.
Mr. BELIN. One other thing. I better mark this as Holmes Deposition,
Exhibit 5.
Mr. HOLMES. I want to save that.
Mr. BELIN. Mr. Holmes, I hand you Holmes Deposition Exhibit 5 and ask
you to state if you will what this is.
Mr. HOLMES. It is a circular-type sheet simulating a wanted circular
as put out by the post office department or the FBI showing a profile
view. That is two separate views of President Kennedy.
Mr. BELIN. The one that says "Wanted for Treason"?
Mr. HOLMES. Underneath his picture in large type is "Wanted for
Treason."
Mr. BELIN. How did you get ahold of this document, or what is the fact
involved?
Mr. HOLMES. This was handed to me by one of the postal supervisors who
brought it to my office stating that it had been brought in by one of
the carriers that found it in a collection box on his route.
Mr. BELIN. On what day, do you know, offhand, in relation to the
assassination?
Mr. HOLMES. He brought that in the afternoon of the assassination,
November 22.
Mr. BELIN. Do you know how many of these were passed out?
Mr. HOLMES. No; except that it came from various sources. They were
being passed out at neighborhood shopping centers, and numerous of them
were brought in. This supervisor said that they had dozens of them down
there, that it had come in by the carrier.
Mr. BELIN. I believe you also said that--is there anything else in
regards to Holmes Deposition Exhibit 5 you care to add?
Mr. HOLMES. I believe not.
Mr. BELIN. Now, you showed us your deposition Exhibit 1, this
application for a post office box dated November 1, 1963, of Lee Harvey
Oswald, and you said this was at the terminal annex?
Mr. HOLMES. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. How can you tell?
Mr. HOLMES. Because I recognized it as being the application, and
also--I mean the application that I obtained at the terminal annex, and
also the 6,000 designates that series of boxes at the terminal annex.
Mr. BELIN. And you also showed me an application for box 5475, dated
November 7, 1963. Is that also the terminal annex?
Mr. HOLMES. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. This was taken out by whom?
Mr. HOLMES. That is an application taken out by Jack Ruby on November
7, 1963, showing his firm name as being Earl Products; business,
merchandising.
Mr. BELIN. We will put this as Holmes Deposition Exhibit 6. Do you
know of any connection of your own knowledge between Jack Ruby and Lee
Harvey Oswald?
Mr. HOLMES. No, sir; I know of none.
Mr. BELIN. Anything else you can say about Holmes Deposition Exhibit 6?
Mr. HOLMES. I believe not.
Mr. BELIN. Other than the fact that within a week of one another these
two applications were taken out at the same post office?
Mr. HOLMES. That is the only significance that it has, as far as I am
concerned.
Mr. BELIN. We will offer in evidence Holmes Deposition Exhibits 5 and
6, in addition to 1 through 4.
Let the record show that the original of Holmes Deposition Exhibit 5
will be returned to Mr. Holmes, and we will just for our records have
copies made by the court reporter.
Mr. HOLMES. I have a photocopy machine in my office.
Mr. BELIN. Mr. Holmes, you have also asked me to make a photostatic
copy of Holmes Deposition Exhibit 2 and you keep the original. This
would be satisfactory for our purposes. This is the advertisement
you cut out. Do you suppose you could get this to the court reporter
yourself? Would you take the photostats?
Mr. HOLMES. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Mr. Holmes, we want to certainly thank you for all the
cooperation you have given the President's Commission.