Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes, sir; and I had a part-time job at a construction
company. I don't remember the name of it. But it was just for about a
week.
Mr. BALL. When you were going to school?
Mr. WILLIAMS. No. That was the same time I was working at Marriott's
Motel.
Mr. BALL. Did you work while you went to school?
Mr. WILLIAMS. I delivered the Dallas morning newspaper sometimes, and
little odd jobs.
Mr. BALL. Well, did anybody tell you you might get a job at the Texas
School Book Depository before you went down there?
Mr. WILLIAMS. No, sir.
Mr. BALL. You were just looking for a job?
Mr. WILLIAMS. I just put in applications everywhere.
Mr. BALL. What kind of work did you do when you first went with the
Texas School Book Depository?
Mr. WILLIAMS. I think the first day I started work there they started
me off as a wrapper. Then the fellows told me that I had qualifications
to be a checker, so they put me on as a checker there.
Mr. BALL. What are you doing now?
Mr. WILLIAMS. At the present time I do anything--check, pack, fill
orders, anything.
Mr. BALL. When you went to work there, did you work at the building on
the corner of Houston and Elm?
Mr. WILLIAMS. No, sir. The first time I went there I was hired on at
the other warehouse, the lower part of Houston Street.
Mr. BALL. By lower part, do you mean north of the main building?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes, sir. Down further, the big white building.
Mr. BALL. That is sort of a warehouse?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. You went to work there. That is about a block, a block and a
half north?
Mr. WILLIAMS. A block and a half.
Mr. BALL. North of the corner of Houston and Elm?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. And how long did you work at that place?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Well, I worked there until business began to get slow. I
think that was--it was before November. I think it was some time during
October. I am not sure.
Mr. BALL. And what did they put you to work at at that time?
Mr. WILLIAMS. They called me up to help lay a floor on the fifth floor,
they wanted more boards over it. As I say, business was slow, and they
were trying to keep us on without laying us off at the time.
So I was using the saw, helping cut wood and lay wood.
Mr. BALL. You were laying a wood floor over the old floor?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. On the fifth floor?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. And when you finished on the fifth floor, what did you do?
Mr. WILLIAMS. After we finished on the fifth floor, we started to move
up to the sixth floor. But at the time we didn't complete the sixth
floor. We only completed just a little portion of it.
Mr. BALL. By the time, you are talking about November 22d?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. Before November 22d, how long had you been laying floor in
the building at Houston and Elm?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Before November 22d, I think we had been working on the
fifth floor, I think, about 3 weeks. I think altogether I had been up
there just about 4 weeks, I think.
Mr. BALL. And how long had you been on the sixth floor before--how long
have you been working on the sixth floor before November 22d?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Let's see. Before November 22d, I think it might have
been 2 days--it might have been 2 days. I would say about 2 days,
approximately 2 days.
Mr. BALL. Before you started to lay the floor, did you have to move any
cartons?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes; we did.
Mr. BALL. From what part of the sixth floor did you move the cartons?
Mr. WILLIAMS. We moved cartons from, I believe, the west side of the
sixth floor to the east side of the sixth floor, because I think there
was a vacancy in there.
Mr. BALL. Clear over to the east side?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. Were there cartons stacked up between the west side and the
east side--were there cartons on the floor?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes; there was.
Mr. BALL. After you moved the cartons, then did you start laying the
floor?
Mr. WILLIAMS. After we moved the cartons, we started laying the floor.
Then we had to move the cartons.
As we go we would move cartons to vacate the space, so we could lay the
floor.
Mr. BALL. On November 22d, what time did you go to work?
Mr. WILLIAMS. November 22d, I went to work at 8 o'clock.
Mr. BALL. Were you late or on time that morning?
Mr. WILLIAMS. I believe I was on time that morning. I always get there
a little before eight.
Mr. BALL. Did you know Lee Oswald, Lee Harvey Oswald?
Mr. WILLIAMS. I didn't know him personally, but I had seen him working.
Never did say anything to anyone. He never did put himself in any
position to say anything to anyone.
He just went about his work. He never said anything to me. I never said
anything to him.
Mr. BALL. Did you ever have lunch with him?
Mr. WILLIAMS. No.
The only time he would come into the lunchroom sometimes and eat a
sandwich maybe, and then he would go for a walk, and he would go out.
And I assume he would come back. But the only other time he would come
in and read a paper or nothing, and laugh and leave again.
Mr. DULLES. But he would never say good morning or good evening?
Mr. WILLIAMS. He never would speak to anyone. He was just a funny
fellow. I don't know what kind of a fellow he was.
Mr. BALL. Did you notice what he read in the newspaper?
Mr. WILLIAMS. I believe one morning I noticed he was reading something
about politics, and as he was reading this he acted like it was funny
to him. He would read a paragraph or two, smile, or laugh, then throw
the paper down and get up and walk out.
Representative FORD. Where did this go on?
Mr. WILLIAMS. This was going on in what we call the domino room. This
is where we would eat our lunch and play dominoes. Some fellow would
bring newspapers, to read the sports or something. He never would read
the sports.
Mr. BALL. The domino room is a little recreation room on the first
floor?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes; it is.
Mr. BALL. Now, you see the map there which has been marked Commission
Exhibit 362. Will you point on that map the location of the domino room?
Mr. DULLES. Would it be easier if we put the map up there, and then
everybody could see.
Mr. WILLIAMS. In the front entrance--I could explain the way I know the
best.
As I said, this would be the main entrance from Elm Street. Well,
this would be--the domino room is in the same line with Mr. Shelley's
office, and Mr. Truly's office. The domino room would be right in
here. Because two bathrooms, a large one and a small one right in this
vicinity here.
Mr. BALL. That is marked on the map--the domino room is marked on the
map as rec room, and the toilet is shown there?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes, sir. And there is a small one on the other side.
Mr. BALL. That is on Exhibit 362.
Mr. DULLES. What floor is this we are looking at now?
Mr. WILLIAMS. That is the first floor.
Representative FORD. And it was in the rec room or domino room where
you saw Oswald read the paper on this occasion?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes, sir.
Mr. DULLES. And you said he read some of it to you and smiled about it?
Mr. WILLIAMS. No; he didn't read it to me. We were waiting turns to
play dominoes, and I happened to glance over. And I just noticed what
he was reading.
Mr. BALL. Now, this morning, did you see Oswald on the floor at any
time?
Mr. WILLIAMS. This morning of November 22d?
Mr. BALL. 22d.
Mr. WILLIAMS. The morning of November 22d Oswald was on the floor. The
only time I saw him that morning was a little after eight, after I had
started working. As usual, he was walking around with a clipboard in
his hands, I believe he was.
Mr. BALL. That is on the first floor?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes. He had a clipboard in his hand.
Mr. BALL. That is the only time you saw him that morning?
Mr. WILLIAMS. That is the only time I saw him that morning. I saw him
again between 11:30 and maybe 10 until 12:00.
Mr. BALL. We will come to that in a moment.
Where did you work that morning?
Mr. WILLIAMS. That morning I worked on the sixth floor. I think we went
directly up to the sixth floor and I got there.
Mr. BALL. And how many were working on the sixth floor with you?
Mr. WILLIAMS. I believe there were five.
Mr. BALL. What are their names?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Well, Bill Shelley, Charles Givens, and there was a
fellow by the name of Danny Arce.
Mr. BALL. He is a Mexican boy?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes. And a fellow by the name of Billy Lovelady, and
myself. And there was a fellow that came up--his name was Harold
Norman. He really wasn't working at the time, but there wasn't anything
to do, he would come around to help a little bit, and then back down.
Mr. DULLES. Was he in the employ of the company?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes; he had been working there at the time about 2 years,
I think.
Mr. DULLES. But he wasn't on this particular detail on the sixth floor
that you are speaking of?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Well, he had been helping us on the fifth floor. When the
orders would come in, he would go down and help with the orders, and
when he didn't have anything else to do he would come back and help us
move stock around.