Mr. PIC. To Fort Worth. She didn't return to Fort Worth. They moved
to Fort Worth. We had never been to Fort Worth before that except in
Benbrook.
Mr. JENNER. I see. This was from Benbrook, Tex., to Fort Worth?
Mr. PIC. Right. This address I don't remember, sir.
Mr. JENNER. Does the address 1505 Eighth Avenue, Fort Worth, refresh
your recollection?
Mr. PIC. Yes, sir; that is it.
Mr. JENNER. All right. Go ahead.
Mr. PIC. OK. During that summer her and Mr. Ekdahl had their ins and
outs.
Mr. JENNER. You were home?
Mr. PIC. Yes, sir; I was assistant manager of an ice cream parlor. Now
let's go back further than that. When we first got there I got a job
for the summer at Walgreen's, and I worked there for a couple of weeks
before they fired me.
Mr. JENNER. You are now 15 years old?
Mr. PIC. Yes, sir. And while I was working there I met this other
boy, his name was Sammy, his last name I don't remember, he was from
California. He was working in Walgreen's in Fort Worth, also. So, after
I lost my job at Walgreen's I got this other job, assistant manager of
Tex-Gold Ice Cream Parlor which was on Eighth Avenue, about 6 blocks
from the house.
Mr. JENNER. Describe that house, please.
Mr. PIC. It was the second house from the corner. On the corner lived
the McLeans who was an attorney and I think he was her attorney or
his brother was her attorney in her divorce proceedings. They had a
couple of boys we became friendly with. The house itself was a brick, I
remember brick with a garage in the back. I think there was an upstairs
or side.
Mr. JENNER. Describe the neighborhood, please.
Mr. PIC. I would say it would be middle class.
Mr. JENNER. It was comparable to the neighborhood you lived in at 4801
Victor in Dallas?
Mr. PIC. Yes, sir. I was assistant manager of this Tex-Gold Ice Cream
Parlor.
Mr. JENNER. What was Robert doing?
Mr. PIC. Nothing.
Mr. JENNER. He didn't work?
Mr. PIC. I don't think so.
Mr. JENNER. All right.
Mr. PIC. That is right, he was playing around with girls at that time.
Like I said, my mother and Mr. Ekdahl were having problems. It would
seem they would have a fight about every other day and he would leave
and come back. Well, it seems one night, as I was returning from work,
I think we closed the store about 10 o'clock, Mr. Ekdahl and she drove
up and told me that they wouldn't be home that night, that they were
going downtown to the Worth Hotel. This was one of their reunions, and
this was one of their longer separation periods.
So, I went back and I told Lee and Robert, and this seemed to really
elate Lee, this made him really happy that they were getting back
together. Mr. Ekdahl, while Robert and I were at the academy would
write us, he was a great one for writing poetry. He would send us a
poem about ourselves or something, treated us real swell. Well----
Mr. JENNER. I--what is your impression of Mr. Ekdahl, did Lee like him?
Mr. PIC. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. That is your definite impression that he liked him.
Mr. PIC. Yes, sir; I think Lee found in him the father he never had. He
had treated him real good and I am sure that Lee felt the same way, I
know he did. He felt the same way about it, because Mr. Ekdahl treated
all of us like his own children.
Mr. JENNER. There appears to be in the file at Chamberlain-Hunt
Military Academy a letter from Mr. Ekdahl to your--to you boys dated
August 1946, carrying a return address of the Fayette Hotel on Third
Street of Fort Worth.
Mr. PIC. I don't know, sir.
Mr. JENNER. This would be at the time when your mother was living in
Covington. During that period.
Mr. PIC. I didn't know about it.
Mr. JENNER. You have no recollection of it?
Mr. PIC. I don't know where Mr. Ekdahl was when she was in Covington. I
know he was in the Fort Worth-Dallas area is all I knew.
Mr. JENNER. Your mother and Ekdahl, this incident you mentioned, you
mentioned that because it impressed you that they were getting back
together again, more friendly?
Mr. PIC. No, sir; I mentioned it because it impressed Lee.
Mr. JENNER. I see.
Mr. PIC. I think it impressed him more than it did either of the older
boys.
Mr. JENNER. Did anything else occur during that summer?
Mr. PIC. A whole bunch of stuff.
Mr. JENNER. All right. Go ahead.
Mr. PIC. I think this is the same summer when we made the raid. I don't
know if you know about the raid or not.
Mr. JENNER. I don't think so.
Mr. PIC. Well, this guy Sammy that I knew had another--knew a couple,
a young married couple named Marvin and Goldie, I don't remember
their last names, sir, and Sammy and I were friends, Sammy lived in a
downtown hotel, and Marvin and Goldie had a house somewhere in the Fort
Worth area. So we became friendly the four of us, and then they would
come over to my house, and they got to know my mother and everything.
Well, after they broke up again, after this last incident.
Mr. JENNER. This is still during the summer of 1947?
Mr. PIC. Yes, sir; this is still during the summer, my mother had
strong suspicions that Mr. Ekdahl was seeing another woman and she
was following him, I don't know how. I know she had the lead, she knew
where the woman lived and everything.
So, one night Marvin, Goldie, Sammy, my mother and I all piled into
this young couple's car, went over to these apartments, and Sammy acted
as a messenger, and knocked on the door and said, "Telegram" for this
woman, whoever she was. I don't remember the name. When she opened
the door, my mother pushed her way in, this woman was dressed in a
nightgown negligee, Mr. Ekdahl was seated in the living room in his
shirt sleeves and she made a big fuss about this. She's got him now and
all this stuff. That is about it. Well, that is all to that incident.
In September, Robert--well, in August--Robert and I in September
returned to Chamberlain-Hunt, this is September 1947. During the school
year 1947-48 I was informed about divorce proceedings. Christmas
holidays, 1947, Robert and I returned to the house on Eighth Avenue in
Fort Worth and those are the pictures of Lee sitting on the bike, it is
in that time period.
Mr. JENNER. Let's identify those. I hand you Pic Exhibit Nos. 52 and 53.
Mr. PIC. Yes, sir; this was taken during that time period. This is the
front lawn of the house on Eighth Avenue and the white house in the
background would be that of the attorney Mr. McLean.
Mr. JENNER. Did you take those pictures?
Mr. PIC. Sir?
Mr. JENNER. Did you take the pictures?
Mr. PIC. My brother Robert and I each had a box camera we received--no,
we had the box camera before that. We took it with our box camera.
Mr. JENNER. All right. I offer those exhibits in evidence.
(John Pic Exhibits Nos. 52 and 53 were marked for identification.)
Mr. JENNER. Was Mr. Ekdahl living in the home at that time?
Mr. PIC. We did not see him during those holidays.
Mr. JENNER. You returned to the academy following the Christmas
vacation?
Mr. PIC. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. And you continued on through the end of that school year,
did you?
Mr. PIC. Yes, sir; to May 1948.
Mr. JENNER. Give me your impressions of Lee, he is now getting to
be 8 or 9 years old, his attitudes and course of conduct, and his
relationships with other children, either in the neighborhood or at
school.
Mr. PIC. Well, sir; when we were home, Robert and I, of course, that
was the only time we seen Lee, he would tag along with us to the movies
and everything. He did what we did, got in the same trouble we did and
so forth. I don't remember observing him with the other children. I had
my own problems at the age of 14. We did know that during the school
year of 1947-48, divorce proceedings were going to take place shortly.
We returned from Chamberlain-Hunt in May 1948, to a house I don't
remember the address of, sir, but we were back down in the lower class
again.