The testimony of Virginia Louise Davis was taken at 10 a.m., on April
1, 1964, in the office of the U.S. attorney, 301 Post Office Building,
Bryan and Ervay Streets, Dallas, Tex., by Mr. Wesley J. Liebeler,
assistant counsel of the President's Commission.
Mr. LIEBELER. Would you rise and raise your right hand. Do you solemnly
swear that the testimony you are about to give will be the truth, the
whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Mrs. DAVIS. I do.
Mr. LIEBELER. My name is Wesley J. Liebeler. I am a member of the
legal staff of the President's Commission that is investigating the
assassination of President Kennedy. I have been authorized to take
testimony from you and from other witnesses pursuant to authority
granted to the Commission by Executive Order 11130, dated November 29,
1963, and Joint Resolution of Congress No. 137.
As I told your husband, whose testimony which I just took, Mr. Rankin
sent you both a letter last week which was returned to Washington
because it could not be delivered at the gun range. It was addressed to
the Sports Drome Rifle Range and it could not be delivered there.
Mr. Rankin in the letter advised you that we would be in touch with you
to arrange for the taking of your testimony. He enclosed copies of the
Executive order and the congressional resolution, as well as a copy of
the Commission's rules governing the taking of testimony from witnesses.
I gave your husband a copy of those documents and he has them and will
make them available to you if you want to look at them. You have been
provided with copies this morning.
As I told Mr. Davis, you are technically entitled to 3-days' notice
before appearing before us, but since you are here, I presume that you
would be willing to waive that notice and will go ahead?
Mrs. DAVIS. Sure.
Mr. LIEBELER. We want to question you about the possibility that Lee
Harvey Oswald engaged in rifle practice at the rifle range which is
operated by you and your husband.
Before I get into the details of that testimony, however, would you
state your full name for the record?
Mrs. DAVIS. Virginia Louise Davis.
Mr. LIEBELER. You are married to Floyd Guy Davis, is that correct?
Mrs. DAVIS. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. Your address is 2825 Byway, Dallas?
Mrs. DAVIS. Dallas; yes, sir.
Mr. LIEBELER. You and your husband have been operating the Sports Drome
Rifle Range since some time in October 1963; is that correct?
Mrs. DAVIS. That's right.
Mr. LIEBELER. Are you a native of Dallas, Mrs. Davis?
Mrs. DAVIS. No; Kentucky.
Mr. LIEBELER. Where in Kentucky?
Mrs. DAVIS. Louisville.
Mr. LIEBELER. When did you move to Dallas?
Mrs. DAVIS. Oh, let's see, it has been 7 years ago, I think. I think we
have been here 7 years.
Mr. LIEBELER. You and your husband moved to Dallas from Louisville
together; is that correct?
Mrs. DAVIS. He came down about 6 months before I did.
Mr. LIEBELER. Were you married at that time?
Mrs. DAVIS. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. The Commission has had reports that various people
observed a gentleman whom they believed to be Lee Harvey Oswald at
the Sports Drome Rifle Range at 8000 West Davis on various occasions.
I would like to have you tell us now just what you know about those
reports, and whether or not you have ever seen anybody there that
resembled Oswald?
Mrs. DAVIS. No; I did not.
Mr. LIEBELER. You have not?
Mrs. DAVIS. No. There is only three things that stand out in my mind
at the time it happened that I can verify what they say, and that is
the one night that I was there by myself and Mr. Howard Price got the
last customer that came in and took him down there, and he said that
he thought it was Lee Harvey Oswald because of the rifle, it being an
Italian rifle with this scope on it, and he remembered the gun.
Mr. LIEBELER. Mr. Price told you that?
Mrs. DAVIS. Yes. And then the other time I was there was, this
gentleman that was supposed to have been with him with the beard,
and I couldn't forget him--if I would see the man right now I would
recognize him, but he has never been back.
Mr. LIEBELER. Can you tell us the date that Mr. Price said he took
Oswald in, or this man who he thought was Oswald, who was the last
customer?
Mrs. DAVIS. I don't know the exact date, but I wrote it in my journal,
but I don't have it with me.
Mr. LIEBELER. When you refer to the journal, what do you mean?
Mrs. DAVIS. It is a daily record I keep of everything that happens at
the range. When we first opened, everyone had to sign it. But the FBI
picked up the sign-in slips and checked it out, and, of course, Lee
Harvey Oswald wasn't on it, but at the time we did not have fences up
and anyone could get on the range without us knowing it.
Mr. LIEBELER. Do you know whether or not this man who Mr. Price took
down to the range this evening as the last customer signed in the book
or not?
Mrs. DAVIS. He did not. It was our last customer and he just went on
down with him because it was late and they were tired and cold and
wanting to get home. But he was in an old car and he was alone and he
was a young slender man, and that is all I know.
Mr. LIEBELER. Do you know what kind of car it was?
Mrs. DAVIS. No; I don't.
Mr. LIEBELER. Mr. Price does?
Mrs. DAVIS. Yes; he does. But I don't. It is just an old car to me. I
don't know too much about cars and then the day that Mr. Slack came up
there in a panic because someone was shooting at a target that he had
paid for instead of his own, I remember that. That is the only three
incidents that I remember, and that is all.
Mr. LIEBELER. The first incident was when?
Mrs. DAVIS. A late customer when Mr. Price brought them in.
Mr. LIEBELER. The man was a late customer?
Mrs. DAVIS. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you see this man?
Mrs. DAVIS. Yes; I did, but it was dark and I didn't see his face. I
just went to the window and Mr. Price said, "I will take him. You won't
have to take him down." We always take the customer to the range and
stay with them and put their target up for them because you can't let
them stay down there. They are liable to shoot anything, and he took
him down, and I locked up, and I left, and they were there.
Mr. LIEBELER. You are not able to identify this man if I showed you a
picture of Oswald or someone else?
Mrs. DAVIS. I don't remember.
Mr. LIEBELER. The second incident was when Mr. Slack reported to you
that someone was firing his target, is that correct? Or was that the
third incident?
Mrs. DAVIS. That was the third incident.
Mr. LIEBELER. Let's cover that one. Mr. Slack came up to the office,
you say, and complained that someone was firing on his target?
Mrs. DAVIS. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. What did you do?
Mrs. DAVIS. My husband went down there and asked the boys to quit
firing at someone else's target, and he said something about, "Boys,
you must fire at your own target," or something like that. And he got
it straightened out, but they left.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you see any of these men at that time?
Mrs. DAVIS. No; I was in the office. I take care of that part of it.
Mr. LIEBELER. Was this man with the beard there at that time, do you
know?
Mrs. DAVIS. No; that was on a Sunday afternoon or a Saturday. It was a
Saturday or a Sunday, and the reason I remember him, it was the same
day they said Oswald was out there, and I tried to talk to him, which
I talked to everyone that comes in, and he was noticeable because he
looked like the Castro type. He had this big beard and he was heavy
set and big broad shoulders, and well, he was just outstanding in his
appearance. He had big red earmuffs on and I couldn't help but notice
him.
Mr. LIEBELER. Was anyone with him?
Mrs. DAVIS. I don't know because he never spoke a word. I don't know if
anyone was with him or not, but he did have several guns. When I say
several, I mean not one or two. It was three or four, and he paid for
each rifle.
Mr. LIEBELER. But you did not see anyone with him?
Mrs. DAVIS. No.
Mr. LIEBELER. That was Saturday or Sunday, you say?
Mrs. DAVIS. It was a Saturday or a Sunday, and we was having turkey
shoots at the time and having several people out there.
Mr. LIEBELER. That is when the man with the beard was there, is that
correct?
Mrs. DAVIS. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. Was that the same day that the gentleman complained about
somebody firing into their target?
Mrs. DAVIS. It was. It was the same day they was complaining about the
two boys next to him firing into his target.
Mr. LIEBELER. We mean Mr. Slack, do we not?
Mrs. DAVIS. Mr. Slack.
Mr. LIEBELER. But you yourself did not see either of these two men who
were supposedly firing into Mr. Slack's target?
Mrs. DAVIS. No.
Mr. LIEBELER. So you did not yourself personally observe any of those
gentlemen or who was supposed to have been Lee Oswald, is that correct?
Mrs. DAVIS. That's right.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you ever observe the rifle that was in the possession
of this gentleman who was supposed to be Oswald?
Mrs. DAVIS. No; at the time I didn't know one gun from another. Now I
can tell you everything they bring in.
Mr. LIEBELER. Do you remember whether or not on this Sunday that Mr.
Slack complained that someone was firing into his target, everybody
signed into the journal?
Mrs. DAVIS. Not everyone, because at the time we didn't have our fences
up. See, we have a fence that is all along the gun range, because there
were too many getting on the range without paying.
Mr. LIEBELER. Do you know whether or not the two men who were supposed
to be firing into Mr. Slack's target signed in the journal?
Mrs. DAVIS. No.
Mr. LIEBELER. You don't know one way or the other, Mrs. Davis?
Mrs. DAVIS. I don't know, because the only reason we was having them
sign in was to sign them cards to invite them to the next turkey shoot.
Mr. LIEBELER. Would you have seen them at the time they signed it,
necessarily, or might someone else?
Mrs. DAVIS. Someone might sign in for them.
Mr. LIEBELER. And you would not necessarily have observed these
individuals signing in?
Mrs. DAVIS. No; because the man who was outstanding, he didn't sign in.
I didn't see the man until he walked through the gun range. He didn't
walk through the entrance, or I would have seen him.
Mr. LIEBELER. Mr. Davis mentioned the names of Mr. Slack and Mr. Price,
and he said that there were some others.
Mrs. DAVIS. There was a doctor and his son that was out there that day.
They remembered the rifle and they reported that to me before any of it
came out in the paper, but I didn't get his name. But I do think that
the FBI contacted this doctor.
Mr. LIEBELER. Would you remember his name if I told you it was Dr.
Wood? Would that ring a bell with you?
Mrs. DAVIS. No, it doesn't. It has been so long ago.
Mr. LIEBELER. Now, other than this doctor and Mr. Slack and Mr. Price,
do you know of anyone else who said that they thought that they saw
Oswald at the range?
Mrs. DAVIS. Not that I would take their word for it.
Mr. LIEBELER. Tell us what you mean by that. You must have somebody in
mind, somebody who told you these stories, and I would like to have you
tell them to us if you would.
Mrs. DAVIS. Well, there was a mister--what is his name--Camplen,
Charlie Camplen, and he said he was out there on a Wednesday.