Mr. CABELL. We went on to the hospital. We could not tell whether they
were just going back to the airport or going toward the hospital. Now
there was a question raised among us as to where we were headed.
Mr. HUBERT. You didn't in fact know who had been hit, I take it?
Mr. CABELL. No; we couldn't tell. We could tell, of course, there was
confusion in the presidential car--activity. The Secret Service men
ran to that car. From out of nowhere appeared one Secret Service man
with a submachine gun. His attention seemed to be focused up toward
the building. One of the motorcycle officers and the escort pulled
his motorcycle over to the side and jumped off with his drawn handgun
and ran up the slope toward the building, toward the School Book
Depository. I do not recall any other shots being fired than the three
which I mentioned.
Mr. HUBERT. I take it also that you got to the hospital very shortly
after the Presidential car did?
Mr. CABELL. Of course, when we turned off of Stemmons Expressway, we
knew then that we were headed toward Parkland. Otherwise, we would have
proceeded on Stemmons to Mockingbird Lane, which would have been the
direct route to the airport.
Mr. HUBERT. When you got to the hospital, had the President been
removed from the car?
Mr. CABELL. He was in the process of being removed; was on the
carriage. Another carriage was brought out, and I was there and helped
to steady the carriage when the Governor was taken out of the car
and placed on the carriage and wheeled in. And I helped escort the
carriage on into the hospital into the anteroom and stayed there until
the body was removed.
Mr. HUBERT. Did you happen to go to the room in which a press
conference was held, at which the official announcement was made of the
President's death?
Mr. CABELL. I was not in when any official thing--I assumed that the
President was dead.
Mr. HUBERT. I was trying to get the anteroom or hallway that you
described. Where was this with reference to the outside door of the
hospital, or the emergency room, or something of that sort?
Mr. CABELL. Well, this was in the emergency section. There is a large
anteroom with a glassed-in enclosure where telephones were, and then
off from that larger room was a narrow anteroom from which a series of
operating rooms connected.
The President was in one of those, and directly across this little
hallway then was where Governor Connally was.
Mr. HUBERT. Were there any news people in that area?
Mr. CABELL. Yes; I am sure there must have been. I don't recall any
whom I recognized personally.
Mr. HUBERT. Specifically, do you know a reporter, newspaperman now with
Scripps-Howard, by the name of Seth Kantor?
Mr. CABELL. I can't recall.
Mr. HUBERT. Now there is some information, Mr. Cabell, that Jack Ruby
was around the hospital some place, either near the entrance or near
the pressroom, or something of that sort. And, of course, I take it
that you now know what he looks like, from pictures in the press?
Mr. CABELL. Well, I knew him by sight.
Mr. HUBERT. You knew him by sight prior to this?
Mr. CABELL. Yes.
Mr. HUBERT. How long had you known him?
Mr. CABELL. I would say for several years.
Mr. HUBERT. Did you see him around the hospital then at any time?
Mr. CABELL. No; I did not.
Mr. HUBERT. And you stayed until the President's body was removed?
Mr. CABELL. Yes.
Mr. HUBERT. What did you do after that, sir?
Mr. CABELL. We went--Mrs. Cabell accompanied me and went back to Love
Field. There was a number of members of the Texas delegation to the
Congress who had accompanied the President and Vice President on the
trip down here, and I more or less took them in tow and secured a
station wagon from the vehicles that were outside the hospital and
carried them, at the direction of one of the Secret Service agents who
was more or less in charge in there, to the Southwest Airmotive side of
Love Field, which is the eastern side, because he advised me that Air
Force I would take off from that side. So there was some with us in our
car, and then the station wagon with the additional ones. When we got
to Southwest Airmotive, Air Force I was still parked on the west side
of the field where they had deplaned the passengers earlier. Realizing
that it was going to take off rather quickly, I asked the public
relations man for Southwest Airmotive to get on the radio and contact
the Air Force officer in charge through the control tower as to what to
do about these men, whether to bring them over to that side, or was the
plane going to come over there.
We did not get a direct answer, but the squad car of the Dallas Police
Department, which is assigned to Love Field, came over and got us,
apparently through clearance of the control tower, and carried us right
straight across the field. Apparently they stopped any movement to get
us across the field. Then those men were able to board the plane.
Mr. HUBERT. Well, after you left the field, after Air Force I had left,
what was your activity then, sir?
Mr. CABELL. We stayed there on the ground until after _Air Force 1_
had taken off with the body of the President. We conferred for a few
minutes with Sheriff Bill Decker and Chief of Police Curry. Chief Curry
was in the plane and a witness to the swearing in of President Johnson.
Shortly after it took off, then Mrs. Cabell, and I returned home.
We dropped Mrs. Cabell off, and then the driver carried me to Mr.
Jonsson's house where I left my car, and then I returned home.
Mr. HUBERT. When did you first know of the apprehension of Lee Harvey
Oswald?
Mr. CABELL. On the field there, Chief Curry told us of the killing of
Officer Tippit, and I believe told us at the same time that they had
apprehended the suspect.
Mr. HUBERT. That is to say, the suspect of the killing of the
President, or of Tippit?
Mr. CABELL. That he was one and the same.
Mr. HUBERT. Did he tell you what information he had to indicate that
the killer of Tippit was also the assassin of the President?
Mr. CABELL. Only that it was believed that he was one and the same. Now
the details, I did not get at that time either concerning the killing
of Officer Tippit or the subsequent apprehension of Oswald.
Mr. HUBERT. What was your next contact with Curry, if you recall?
Mr. CABELL. I don't recall any further contact with Curry. This was not
a face to face or personal contact. It was telephonic concerning the
issuance of this parade permit, which is covered in the report by the
bureau man.
Mr. HUBERT. That was a conference by telephone on Sunday the 24th?
Mr. CABELL. That is correct.
Mr. HUBERT. You had no contact, to your knowledge, with him?
Mr. CABELL. I don't recall any further contact with Chief Curry.
Mr. HUBERT. Did you have a contact with any other member of the police
department?
Mr. CABELL. No.
Mr. HUBERT. Did you have any knowledge of the situation in the county
jail with reference to the news media?
Mr. CABELL. That was the city jail.
Mr. HUBERT. I beg your pardon, city jail, with reference to the
covering of the matter by the news media, and the confusion that came
about as a result of that?
Mr. CABELL. I knew fairly well what was going on by watching my own
TV from time to time and the covering that they had on the activities
around the police department of the city hall.
Mr. HUBERT. Was there any meeting of the council during the interval
between the 22d and the 24th?
Mr. CABELL. No.
Mr. HUBERT. Did you have any contact with City Manager Crull during
that time?
Mr. CABELL. The Sunday morning, I knew that the city manager was out
of town, and in my conversation with Chief Curry subsequent to the
shooting of Oswald, I asked him if he had made contact with Mr. Crull,
and suggested that if he had not, that he do make immediate contact and
ask for his return to the city.
Mr. HUBERT. That was after the shooting of Oswald?
Mr. CABELL. This was after the shooting of Oswald. And he told me at
that time that Mr. Crull had been contacted and was on his way back.
Mr. HUBERT. Did you know prior to the shooting of Oswald, or have you
learned since whether there was any awareness in the police department
of possible danger to Oswald?
Mr. CABELL. No, no. After it had all occurred, then I recall having
been told by someone that there had been an attempt, or that an attempt
would be made, but that is not clear, and purely a matter of hearsay.
Mr. HUBERT. I believe in your conversation with Chief Curry on Sunday,
you discussed a threat that had been made to you, or indirectly?
Mr. CABELL. He called me that this call had come through the
switchboard of the city hall, and it was his understanding that it
was long distance, but he did not know the source, and since it was a
direct dial and they could not trace it, there was not enough time,
wherein the caller said that an attempt would be made on my life.
Mr. HUBERT. He told you that was a long-distance call?
Mr. CABELL. It was his impression, the switchboard operator's
impression that it was some long distance.
Mr. HUBERT. That was prior to Oswald's death?
Mr. CABELL. No; that was following Oswald's death, and that is when he
told me that he was sending officers out to maintain security.
Mr. HUBERT. Attached to page 3 it seems to indicate that the call with
Curry must have occurred a bit before you received the news of Oswald's
shooting?
Mr. CABELL. The first call from Curry, or only the starting of any
conversations with Chief Curry were relative to this torchlight parade
on that night. I had called him and told him that I would recommend
the cancellation of that parade. He had granted it, but then I had
recommended the cancellation, and I would assume full responsibility
for having given that instruction.
Mr. HUBERT. At that time Oswald had not been shot?
Mr. CABELL. No.
Mr. HUBERT. But on that first call then, was there any discussion
between you and Chief Curry about the transfer of Oswald?
Mr. CABELL. No.
Mr. HUBERT. Was there any discussion about the security precautions
that were being observed or the problems that they were?
Mr. CABELL. I do not recall any discussion on that at all.
Mr. HUBERT. Chief Curry did not tell you that any threats had been made
to Oswald?
Mr. CABELL. No.
Mr. HUBERT. Now during the period November 22 until the shooting of
Oswald, did you have any conversations with the press concerning the
whole matter?
Mr. CABELL. There were a number of calls. There were members of the
press, both the national and international press that came to my home
during that period. I had given a statement on Friday night to both
television stations.