The testimony of Malcolm Howard Price, Jr., was taken at 9:15 a.m.,
on April 2, 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. Robert T.
Davis, assistant attorney general of Texas, was present.
Mr. LIEBELER. Would you rise, sir, 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?
Mr. PRICE. I do.
Mr. LIEBELER. Mr. Price, my name is Wesley J. Liebeler. I am a member
of the legal staff of the President's Commission investigating the
assassination of President Kennedy. I have been authorized to take
your testimony by the Commission, pursuant to authority granted to the
Commission by Executive Order No. 11130, dated November 29, 1963, and
Joint Resolution of Congress No. 137. I want to give to you a copy of
that Executive order and of that joint resolution, as well as a copy of
the rules of procedure adopted by the Commission governing the taking
of testimony of witnesses.
We want to inquire of you concerning the possibility that you saw
Lee Harvey Oswald at the Sports Drome Rifle Range, 8000 West Davis,
sometime in November 1963.
Before we get into the details, I would like to have you state your
full name for the record.
Mr. PRICE. It is Malcolm Howard Price, Jr.
Mr. LIEBELER. Where do you live, Mr. Price?
Mr. PRICE. At 1127 Rice, Grand Prairie.
Mr. LIEBELER. Where were you born?
Mr. PRICE. I was born at Graham, Tex.
Mr. LIEBELER. Have you lived all your life here in Texas?
Mr. PRICE. No; I have lived in Oklahoma for 4 years and in California
for 5 years.
Mr. LIEBELER. How long have you lived in Dallas--this last time--in
Grand Prairie?
Mr. PRICE. Oh, about 13 years.
Mr. LIEBELER. When were you born?
Mr. PRICE. April 6, 1928.
Mr. LIEBELER. Where are you employed?
Mr. PRICE. I am retired--I am unemployed.
Mr. LIEBELER. I understand that's primarily because of the fact that
you have a heart condition?
Mr. PRICE. Yes; that's right.
Mr. LIEBELER. Are you married?
Mr. PRICE. Yes; I am.
Mr. LIEBELER. Do you have any children?
Mr. PRICE. I have five.
Mr. LIEBELER. Are you familiar with Sports Drome Rifle Range?
Mr. PRICE. Yes; very familiar with it.
Mr. LIEBELER. As a matter of fact, you work there from time to time, do
you not?
Mr. PRICE. I have helped them there--I'm not, as you say, employed, but
I do help there from time to time. They are close friends of mine and
I have helped them get the things set up and get it started.
Mr. LIEBELER. Are you referring to the Davises?
Mr. PRICE. Virginia and Floyd Davis.
Mr. LIEBELER. The Commission has information to the effect that
sometime during November 1963, you saw a gentleman at the rifle range
whom you subsequently came to believe was Lee Harvey Oswald; is that
correct?
Mr. PRICE. That's right. The first time that I saw this person was in
September, the last week--the last Saturday of September, and that was
the afternoon that they opened the rifle range.
Mr. LIEBELER. On the last Saturday of September?
Mr. PRICE. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. That would be September 28?
Mr. PRICE. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. Tell me the circumstances under which you first saw this
fellow?
Mr. PRICE. Well, it was just about dusky dark and he came in in an old
model car, I would judge it was possibly a 1940 or 1941 model Ford.
Mr. LIEBELER. Was there anyone with him?
Mr. PRICE. No; he was by himself, and I have heard that he couldn't
drive, but he was driving that day because he was the only one in the
car, and he came down and inquired if there was anyone there that could
set a scope, a telescope on a rifle, and I told him that I could, and
he said, well--he had one that he had had mounted and boresighted but
it hadn't been fired on a range and that he would like to have it
sighted in, so I went down and set up a target on a hundred yards.
Actually, he set the target up himself and I drove my car and turned
the headlights on on the target and as I proceeded to set the rifle--I
fired the rifle approximately 12 to--12 to 18 times I would say and
zeroed it in on a hundred yards and Mr. Davis came in from work before
we left and he also drove his pickup down and turned his lights on. He
drove his pickup down on the opposite side and turned his lights on the
target.
Mr. LIEBELER. On the opposite side of the target from your car?
Mr. PRICE. Yes; and Mrs. Davis went home--she was tired and wasn't
feeling too good and she went home as soon as he got down there.
Mr. LIEBELER. As soon as Mr. Davis did?
Mr. PRICE. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did Mr. Davis see this fellow at that time?
Mr. PRICE. Well, I don't know whether he saw him or not. He apparently
don't remember it.
Mr. LIEBELER. You have discussed it with Mr. Davis?
Mr. PRICE. Oh, we have talked about it some, but he doesn't--he don't
even recall turning his headlights on.
Mr. LIEBELER. Now, did this man fire the rifle himself?
Mr. PRICE. He fired three shots after I had got it set to where I could
fire a pattern, with three shots in a bull's eye. I turned it over to
him and I said, "Now, I'm satisfied with it, you try it."
And, he fired three shots and he scored bull's eye with all three--a
very tight pattern and he said, "Well, I am completely satisfied."
Mr. LIEBELER. How much did you charge him for zeroing the rifle in?
Mr. PRICE. I didn't charge him anything. I charged him $1 for the use
of the range and that was all. I just did that as a favor to Floyd to
help him get his business in. I figured this was just another hunter
who had come down to get his rifle zeroed in for deer season.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you have any other conversation with this fellow at
that time?
Mr. PRICE. No, that was all. It was rather abrupt. He didn't talk too
much, and I was kind of surprised that he didn't fire the rifle more.
He just fired the three shots and he said, "Well, that's good enough,"
and he got up and left.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did he leave the shell casings lying there at the range
or did he take them with him?
Mr. PRICE. No, he took them with him--he picked them all up after the
rifle was fired and took the shell casings along with him.
Mr. LIEBELER. You had an opportunity to observe the rifle, did you not?
Mr. PRICE. Yes, I had it in my hand.
Mr. LIEBELER. Would you be able to identify the rifle?
Mr. PRICE. Well, I believe I would--it was a foreign make rifle and I
wasn't too familiar with it at the time.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you see it again?
Mr. PRICE. On two other occasions that he was there.
Mr. LIEBELER. Before we go on to that, you indicated that in order to
see the target you had to turn the lights of the automobile on and that
of Mr. Davis' truck on; is that right?
Mr. PRICE. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. Was it light up at the rifle range from where you fired?
Mr. PRICE. Oh, yes; we have neon lights there.
Mr. LIEBELER. So you didn't have any difficulty in seeing this fellow?
Mr. PRICE. No--no difficulty at all.
Mr. LIEBELER. Then this fellow just put the rifle in the car and drove
off?
Mr. PRICE. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did he have a gun case or anything like that?
Mr. PRICE. Well, if he did, he didn't bring it down to the firing house.
Mr. LIEBELER. He didn't have anything he wrapped the rifle in?
Mr. PRICE. Not that I know of. In fact, the best I remember, when he
got out of the car, he just picked the gun up out of the back seat
because it wasn't wrapped in anything or wasn't in a case.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you see this fellow again?
Mr. PRICE. On two other occasions--one was 2 weeks later and at turkey
shoot. It was Sunday, though, it was on a Sunday.
Mr. LIEBELER. It would have been in October sometime, then, is that
right?
Mr. PRICE. Yes, it would.
Mr. LIEBELER. The last Saturday in September, which is the day you
indicated was the first time you saw him was the 28th of September?
Mr. PRICE. Yes; that was the day they opened. They opened in the
afternoon.
Mr. LIEBELER. And 2 weeks later would have been the 12th of October,
and the Sunday following would be the 13th of October; is that right?
Mr. PRICE. Yes, somewhere around there. They had a turkey shoot and I
went down to participate in a turkey shoot and he was sitting in Booth
6 or 8 and was firing on a 100-yard line with a heavy bore rifle and I
didn't talk to him then, but the third time that I saw him there I did.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you see this time in October, the day of this turkey
shoot, did you see that he had the same rifle you had observed?
Mr. PRICE. No, I didn't pay too much attention to that. I just saw
him as he came by and he went on down to the booth. There are people
that come down there and some of them have as high as six or seven
different rifles. This Mr. Slack that you just talked to--I noticed him
in particular because he had quite a variety every time he come down
there--he had three or four rifles with him.
Mr. LIEBELER. There's nothing that happened on this second time that
you saw that particularly stands out?
Mr. PRICE. Well--not that I know of personally, but I do understand
there was a hassle between him and Mr. Slack over shooting the wrong
target or something like that. I was over on the opposite end shooting
at a target for the turkey shoot and I didn't pay any attention to
that. That was their business.
Mr. LIEBELER. Who told you that there was a hassle between this guy and
Slack?
Mr. PRICE. It was Mr. Davis and Mrs. Davis.
Mr. LIEBELER. But you, yourself, don't remember anything that happened
on this day, as far as this fellow was concerned?
Mr. PRICE. No.
Mr. LIEBELER. Now, going back to the first time you saw him, was
there anyone there at the rifle range besides this man, Mr. Davis and
yourself?
Mr. PRICE. At the first time I saw him--me and Mrs. Davis was the only
one there, and we were just fixing to close up and go home and he came
in and, like I said, inquired if there was anybody that could set a
telescope. I took him down to set his telescope and we stayed there
that much longer and Mr. Davis came in and Mrs. Davis went on home.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did Mrs. Davis have an opportunity to see this man?
Mr. PRICE. Not that I know of--she knew there was somebody there but
she was inside the building.
Mr. LIEBELER. There was nobody else there?
Mr. PRICE. There was no one else there.
Mr. LIEBELER. When was the next time you saw him, the third time?
Mr. PRICE. Well, I don't remember just exactly when it was, but it
was--it could be anywhere from 1 to 3 weeks later--I don't remember
exactly, but it was on a Sunday, Sunday was the only time I went down
there after that in a good while.
Mr. LIEBELER. Mr. Price, this is Mr. Davis from the attorney general's
office for the State of Texas.
Mr. Price has testified that he saw Oswald out at the Sports Drome
Rifle Range.
Mr. PRICE. I don't remember the exact date on that, but the third time
that I saw him he did have the same gun.
Mr. LIEBELER. He did?
Mr. PRICE. Yes.