Mr. BELIN. Next we will call Mr. Truly.
Mr. McCLOY. Will you raise your right hand, and stand?
Do you solemnly swear the testimony you will give in this case will be
the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Mr. TRULY. I do.
Mr. McCLOY. I would like to state, Mr. Truly, what the purpose of this
hearing is.
This is to hear the testimony of several witnesses, or people close
to the event of the assassination of the President, to get as much
knowledge as we can of the facts concerning that event, which largely
centers around the School Book Depository and the people in it, on the
afternoon of November 22d.
Will you state for the record your full name?
Mr. TRULY. Roy Sansom Truly.
Mr. BELIN. Mr. Truly, where do you live?
Mr. TRULY. I live at 4932 Jade Drive, Dallas, Tex.
Mr. BELIN. Are you originally from Dallas?
Mr. TRULY. No. I have been in Dallas since 1925.
Mr. BELIN. Where were you born, sir?
Mr. TRULY. Hubbard, Tex.
Mr. BELIN. And what was your birth date?
Mr. TRULY. August 29, 1907.
Mr. BELIN. Mr. Truly, where did you go to school?
Mr. TRULY. I finished high school at Hubbard.
Mr. BELIN. In Texas?
Mr. TRULY. In Texas.
Mr. BELIN. And what did you do after you finished high school?
Mr. TRULY. Well, I came to Dallas in the fall of that year and I have
been there ever since.
Mr. BELIN. For whom did you become employed when you came to Dallas?
Mr. TRULY. I believe--my father ran a cafe here in Dallas, and I worked
with him a short while. And then in the fall of 1925, I went to work
for Higginbotham, Bailey, Logan Co.
Mr. BELIN. What business is that?
Mr. TRULY. That is wholesale drygoods.
Mr. BELIN. And how long did you work with them?
Mr. TRULY. I believe a little less than a year.
Mr. BELIN. And then where did you go?
Mr. TRULY. I went to work for National Casket Co.
Mr. BELIN. And about how long did you work for them?
Mr. TRULY. I couldn't be certain. Several years--maybe 3 or 4 or 5
years.
Mr. BELIN. And in what capacity did you work for them?
Mr. TRULY. Well, I worked in the cloth room, learning the trade of
putting in the drapery and things in the caskets.
Mr. BELIN. And from there, where did you go?
Mr. TRULY. I worked a short time at the Dallas Coffin Co., several
months. It wasn't very long. And I left there and during the depression
I worked for several things. I drove a laundry truck off and on for a
couple of years.
(At this point, Representative Ford withdrew from the hearing room.)
Mr. TRULY. I believe I even worked for the WPA back there in those days.
Mr. BELIN. All right.
And after the depression, where did you start working then?
Mr. TRULY. I went to work for the Texas School Book Depository in July
1934.
Mr. BELIN. And have you been employed by the Texas School Book
Depository since that date, since July 1934?
Mr. TRULY. That is right.
(At this point, Mr. Dulles entered the hearing room.)
Mr. BELIN. In what capacity have you worked for that company?
Mr. TRULY. First, when I first went to work for this company, I had
charge of the miscellaneous order department, which is actually a
one-man operation. I filled orders for books other than state-adopted
textbooks.
Mr. BELIN. And then what?
Mr. TRULY. I worked on through that time until the present time.
During the war I worked in the North American plant at Arlington.
Mr. BELIN. That is the North American Aviation?
Mr. TRULY. North American Aviation plant at Arlington, for around 14
months, at night. But I continued to hold my job.
Well, I would go down to work 2, 3, 4 hours a day. Shortly after that,
I took charge of all the shipping.
Well, I have been superintendent of the operation since some time in
the late 1944.
Mr. BELIN. You have been superintendent of the Texas School Book
Depository. And do you have any other positions with the company at
this time?
Mr. TRULY. I am a director--I am a member of the board of directors of
the Texas School Book Depository.
Mr. BELIN. Is that a State organization or a private company?
Mr. TRULY. It is a private corporation.
Mr. BELIN. Mr. Truly, when did you first hear of the name of Lee Harvey
Oswald?
Mr. TRULY. I heard the name on or about October 15th.
Mr. BELIN. Of what year?
Mr. TRULY. Of 1963.
Mr. BELIN. And from whom did you hear the name? Could you just relate
to the Commission the circumstances, if you would, please?
Mr. TRULY. I received a phone call from a lady in Irving who said her
name was Mrs. Paine.
Mr. BELIN. All right.
What did Mrs. Paine say, and what did you say?
Mr. TRULY. She said, "Mr. Truly"--words to this effect--you
understand--"Mr. Truly, you don't know who I am but I have a neighbor
whose brother works for you. I don't know what his name is. But he
tells his sister that you are very busy. And I am just wondering if you
can use another man," or words to that effect.
And I told Mrs.--she said, "I have a fine young man living here with
his wife and baby, and his wife is expecting a baby--another baby, in a
few days, and he needs work desperately."
Now, this is not absolutely--this is as near as I can remember the
conversation over the telephone.
And I told Mrs. Paine that--to send him down, and I would talk to
him--that I didn't have anything in mind for him of a permanent nature,
but if he was suited, we could possibly use him for a brief time.
Mr. BELIN. Was there anything else from that conversation that you
remember at all, or not?
Mr. TRULY. No. I believe that was the first and the last time that I
talked to Mrs. Paine.
In fact, I could not remember her name afterwards until I saw her name
in print, and then it popped into my mind that this was the lady who
called me.
Mr. BELIN. All right.
Anything else on--what was this--October 15th--about Lee Harvey Oswald?
Mr. TRULY. Yes, sir; I am sure it was on October 15th.
Mr. BELIN. Anything else you can remember about Lee Harvey Oswald on
that day?
Mr. TRULY. She told me she would tell him to come down and see me.
So he came in, introduced himself to me, and I took him in my office
and interviewed him. He seemed to be quiet and well mannered.