Mr. TAGUE. I can't tell too much which angle of the curb this is or
what here.
Mr. LIEBELER. That is not a very clear picture either. Actually, I
can't figure which way to look at it.
Mr. TAGUE. I can't either.
Mr. LIEBELER. It looks like there is a man standing there with a hand
along the side of the curb.
Mr. TAGUE. Yes; this looks like the curb here at the back and the sun
shining down. The bullet mark was right at the circle of the curb as
this here.
Mr. LIEBELER. In other words, where the curb turned?
Mr. TAGUE. Right. At the very round, right in the middle of the round.
Mr. LIEBELER. That is where the street curb turns; when it turns there?
I don't understand that. [Looking at Commission Exhibit No. 354.]
Mr. TAGUE. This right here, this picture was taken this way. It would
be looking this way.
Mr. LIEBELER. I am still at a loss. You indicated there is a turn in
the curb at some point along here. Does the curb end and the road go
together?
Mr. TAGUE. Here is the curb here I am talking about on the very round.
Mr. LIEBELER. On the round top of the curb? The curb itself continues
on, but the bullet struck sort of the top edge of the curb?
Mr. TAGUE. That's right.
Mr. LIEBELER. I understand. Did you have any idea where these shots
came from when you heard them ringing out?
Mr. TAGUE. Yes; I thought they were coming from my left.
Mr. LIEBELER. Immediately to your left, or toward the back? Of course,
now we have other evidence that would indicate that the shots did come
from the Texas School Book Depository, but see if we can disregard that
and determine just what you heard when the shots were fired in the
first place.
Mr. TAGUE. To recall everything is almost impossible. Just an
impression is all I recall, is the fact that my first impression was
that up by the, whatever you call the monument, or whatever it was----
Mr. LIEBELER. Up above No. 7?
Mr. TAGUE. That somebody was throwing firecrackers up there, that the
police were running up there to see what was going on, and this was my
first impression. Somebody was causing a disturbance, that somebody had
drawn a gun and was shooting at the crowd, and the police were running
up to it. When I saw the people throwing themselves on the ground is
when I realized there was serious trouble, and I believe that was after
the third shot was fired.
Mr. LIEBELER. Your impression of where the shots came from was much the
result of the activity near No. 7?
Mr. TAGUE. Not when I heard the shots.
Mr. LIEBELER. You thought they had come from the area between Nos. 7
and 5?
Mr. TAGUE. I believe they came from up in here.
Mr. LIEBELER. Back in the area "C"?
Mr. TAGUE. Right.
Mr. LIEBELER. Behind the concrete monument here between Nos. 5 and 7,
toward the general area of "C"?
Mr. TAGUE. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you look up near the railroad tracks in that area
after you heard the shots?
Mr. TAGUE. I looked all around. I looked at the complete area to try
to find out where the disturbance was. And for some reason, after the
third shot, I believe I ducked down back in here.
Mr. LIEBELER. Under the railroad tracks?
Mr. TAGUE. Right. Behind an abutment. And when I stuck my head outside,
the Secret Service car was just starting to pass under the underpass.
Mr. LIEBELER. The car immediately behind the President. Did you see any
evidence of anybody having fired from the area on the railroad tracks
above the triple underpass?
Mr. TAGUE. None.
Mr. LIEBELER. Do you think that it is consistent with what you heard
and saw that day, that the shots could have come from the sixth floor
of the Texas School Book Depository?
Mr. TAGUE. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. There was in fact a considerable echo in that area?
Mr. TAGUE. There was no echo from where I stood. I was asked this
question before, and there was no echo. It was just a loud, oh, not a
cannon, but definitely louder and more solid than a rifleshot.
Mr. LIEBELER. So you, being in a place where there was no echo, you
were able to recognize how many shots there were quite clearly?
Mr. TAGUE. I believe so.
Mr. LIEBELER. And you say you heard three shots?
Mr. TAGUE. That is right.
Mr. LIEBELER. Do you remember seeing anything else or observing
anything else that day that you think would be helpful to the
Commission, that I haven't asked you about?
Mr. TAGUE. Not that I can think of. There is lots of things that you
recall about something like that, that you don't recall for certain.
What struck me the most was that everybody said all three shots were
accounted for. I felt very strongly that the third shot hit down there,
and there was the deputy sheriff and the patrolman down under the
bridge right there with me.
Mr. LIEBELER. Now you say you thought it was the third shot that hit
down there?
Mr. TAGUE. No; I said I thought that all three shots were accounted
for. All the newspaper accounts for months said all the shots were
accounted for.
Mr. LIEBELER. In terms of hitting in the car?
Mr. TAGUE. Hitting into the car; yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. Well, there was a story in the paper more recently that
indicated that one of them might have missed.
Mr. TAGUE. That's right.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you see that?
Mr. TAGUE. That's right; yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. Other than that, is there anything that you can think of
that you think the Commission should know about of what you heard and
saw that day?
Mr. TAGUE. No; I don't know a thing. The only thing that I saw that I
thought was wrong was that there was about 5 or 6 or 7 minutes in there
before anybody done anything about anything.
Mr. LIEBELER. That was after the shots were fired?
Mr. TAGUE. That was after the shots were fired.
Mr. LIEBELER. What do you mean, "Before they did anything"?
Mr. TAGUE. There was no action taken except for the one policeman that
I could see that stopped his motorcycle, and it fell over on him at
first, and he got it standing upright and drew his gun, and he was the
only one doing anything about it.
Mr. LIEBELER. You didn't see any other policemen around in the area?
Mr. TAGUE. Not for 4 or 5 minutes. If Oswald was in that building, he
had all the time in the world to calmly walk out of there.
Mr. LIEBELER. Apparently that is just what he did do. Well, if you
can't think of anything else, Mr. Tague, I want to thank you for coming
in and for the cooperation you have given us. We appreciate it very
much.
Mr. TAGUE. Okay.