The testimony of Eric Rogers was taken on July 21, 1964, at the Old
Civil Courts Building, Royal and Conti Streets, New Orleans, La., by
Mr. Wesley J. Liebeler, assistant counsel of the President's Commission.
Eric Rogers, having been first duly sworn, was examined and testified
as follows:
Mr. LIEBELER. Mr. Rogers, I am an attorney on the staff of the
President's Commission. I think I met you one day.
Mr. ROGERS. I remember you; yes, sir.
Mr. LIEBELER. I wanted to ask you a few questions about Oswald. I
am questioning you under authority granted to me by the Commission
under Executive Order No. 11130, dated November 29, 1963, and joint
resolution of Congress, No. 137.
You are entitled to have an attorney if you want to and you don't have
to answer any questions if you feel that they are incriminating.
Mr. ROGERS. Well, I can't answer what I don't know. I will tell you
just what I told them, you see. That's all I saw.
Mr. LIEBELER. Mr. Rogers, am I correct in understanding that you lived
at 4907 Magazine Street during the period last summer when----
Mr. ROGERS. I did; a few months.
Mr. LIEBELER. When did you move there?
Mr. ROGERS. It was around in the--in July, around July.
Mr. LIEBELER. Was Oswald there?
Mr. ROGERS. He was there for a short period of time.
Mr. LIEBELER. You lived right next door to Oswald?
Mr. ROGERS. My apartment was in the front and my window was right
next--near his apartment.
Mr. LIEBELER. You met Oswald and came to know him? Did you ever meet
him?
Mr. ROGERS. No; I never met him. He didn't bid the time to anyone.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you talk to him or anything?
Mr. ROGERS. No; never did.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you know what his name was?
Mr. ROGERS. Just by mail coming in the box on the front.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you ever talk to his wife?
Mr. ROGERS. She spoke Russian. She did bid the time of day, that's all,
but he didn't. He wouldn't bid the time to no one.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did they ever have any arguments that you know of?
Mr. ROGERS. Some spats, but in Russian, looked like. You know what I
mean?
Mr. LIEBELER. They spoke Russian and you couldn't understand what they
were saying?
Mr. ROGERS. Yes, sir.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you ever see Oswald have any visitors at his
apartment?
Mr. ROGERS. He had no one. Had some kind of a dark fellow asked where
he lived.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did he appear to be a Cuban?
Mr. ROGERS. Yes; Spanish type of person.
Mr. LIEBELER. Was that in August, do you remember?
Mr. ROGERS. Around that time. I believe it was around that time.
Mr. LIEBELER. Now do you remember anybody else that visited Oswald at
his apartment?
Mr. ROGERS. Probably at the time they had this--you know--Fair Play
for Cuba, something like that. I think they were radio interviewers,
I think. Looked like local people. Didn't look like--heard him saying
something about wanting to play on radio. That's all.
Mr. LIEBELER. You don't remember any other ones?
Mr. ROGERS. Not that I know of unless I was at work. I wasn't there all
the time.
Mr. LIEBELER. Your wife was in the hospital part of this time, is that
correct?
Mr. ROGERS. That's right.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you work at that time, sir?
Mr. ROGERS. No; I wasn't working at that time. See, Mr. Liebeler, I am
on pension, you see. I am only allowed to make so much a year because
of the pension, you see.
Mr. LIEBELER. I see. Did you ever see Oswald sitting on the front porch?
Mr. ROGERS. Oh, yes; with books, reading.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did he read a lot?
Mr. ROGERS. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you ever see any rifle or firearms of any type in his
possession at that time?
Mr. ROGERS. No; I never. We did see one time some--the mailman brought
a big package in. I wouldn't say what it was, of course. I guess they
checked that through the mail.
Mr. LIEBELER. When was that?
Mr. ROGERS. It was in the summer, some time before he left, somewhere
around that time.
Mr. LIEBELER. Oswald's apartment had a little porch in the front?
Mr. ROGERS. Screened porch.
Mr. LIEBELER. It had blinds in it, too, that you could let down, did it
not?
Mr. ROGERS. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. So it would have been possible for him to have sat in
that porch and you couldn't see him very well from the street?
Mr. ROGERS. He wouldn't discuss anything on the porch. He would go in
the house.
Mr. LIEBELER. Would it have been possible to sit in that porch and drop
the blinds so that people couldn't see you?
Mr. ROGERS. It could be possible. I don't know. I never--I seen him
sitting down there and go in and out, coming in and out.
Mr. LIEBELER. We talked to you previously out at the apartment, and
my recollection is that you told us that some time in September, I
believe, that a station wagon came and picked up Mrs. Oswald.
Mr. ROGERS. That was the time he left town.
Mr. LIEBELER. Tell us about that.
Mr. ROGERS. The station wagon was visible. I called my wife. I said
"Well, he must be leaving." They were packing all the things. Probably
left the next night or sometime like I told you, the following night
after. Had the two things in his hand and goggles on like he was
running out of there. I don't know what he was doing.
Mr. LIEBELER. Tell us about those goggles. Were they something like
sunglasses? Describe them.
Mr. ROGERS. I don't know. I couldn't say that.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you see what license plates the station wagon had on
it?
Mr. ROGERS. No, Mr. Liebeler, I couldn't tell you on that. Kind of a
gray station wagon. He was putting the packing, everything in that
himself.
Mr. LIEBELER. Do you know when the station wagon left?
Mr. ROGERS. Well, I told my wife--she said she might have left early in
the morning before we got up, with the lady.
Mr. LIEBELER. You think that she might have left with the lady?
Mr. ROGERS. Yes. Then he left that night or late afternoon. Went out in
a hurry. Left all the lights on.
Mr. LIEBELER. Who was in the station wagon? Was there another lady?
Mr. ROGERS. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you see the station wagon leave?
Mr. ROGERS. We didn't see it leave, but it wasn't there when he left.
There was nobody else evidently.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you see Oswald at all after the station wagon left?
Mr. ROGERS. No; I didn't see him until that night. He slipped out of
there. He was going out to catch the bus across the street. The bus
stop is right across the street from us.
Mr. LIEBELER. You did see Oswald come out of the apartment in the
evening?
Mr. ROGERS. Yes. We was sitting on the porch at that time.
Mr. LIEBELER. So it is clear to you that Oswald did not leave with the
ladies in the station wagon?
Mr. ROGERS. No; he didn't leave with them in the station wagon. It was
the following evening he left on the bus with these two handbags.
Mr. LIEBELER. That was in the evening?
Mr. ROGERS. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. He ran across the street and got on the bus?
Mr. ROGERS. That's right.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did he get on the bus at the bus stop?
Mr. ROGERS. Bus stop on the corner right opposite.
Mr. LIEBELER. Toward the center of the city?
Mr. ROGERS. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you see the bags that he had in his hand when he went
out?
Mr. ROGERS. My wife seen some of them.
Mr. LIEBELER (handing pictures to witness). Let me show you some
pictures and see if these look like it.
Mr. ROGERS (indicating). This middle one, I know that ain't the type
there. That's not the type.
Mr. LIEBELER (handing picture to witness). I show you a picture of a
bag that has been marked as "Commission Exhibit No. 126," and ask you
if that looks like the bag.
Mr. ROGERS. That's it. That's it.
Mr. LIEBELER. Does that look like one of the bags?
Mr. ROGERS. That looks to me like it was.
Mr. LIEBELER (handing picture to witness). Now I show you a picture
which we will mark Rogers Exhibit No. 1, showing two views of a bag.
Does it look like the one Oswald had?
Mr. ROGERS. You mean--he had two of them.
Mr. LIEBELER. How many did he have?
Mr. ROGERS. He had two of them in my estimation, each one in one hand.
They looked like these here to me, to my knowledge. I mean, yes. I
don't think it was this type [indicating]. I would say this type
[indicating].
Mr. LIEBELER. And you are pointing to No. A-1, which is a picture of
Commission Exhibit No. 126 and do you think he had two bags that looked
like "Commission Exhibit No. 126." Did he carry both in one hand?
Mr. ROGERS. One in each hand.
Mr. LIEBELER. As far as you can tell, he did not have a bag similar to
Rogers Exhibit No. 1?
Mr. ROGERS. No, no. It was kind of daylight. You could see. You know
what I mean?
Mr. LIEBELER. What makes you sure that he didn't have one like Rogers
Exhibit No. 1? Is it a different size?
Mr. ROGERS. It was--they both look like the same size, and they were
well packed. They were well stuffed. I know they wasn't light. I don't
know what he had in them.
Mr. LIEBELER. So in your estimation, he had two bags like Exhibit 126?
Mr. ROGERS. If I am not mistaken, they are the two bags that my wife
and I identified when they came over to the house, somebody from
Oklahoma. He was transferred down here.
Mr. LIEBELER. An FBI agent?
Mr. ROGERS. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. They actually brought the bags over?
Mr. ROGERS. They had the pictures like this.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did he show you pictures like these two that I have got
here?
Mr. ROGERS. Sure did.
Mr. LIEBELER. They had bags like Exhibit 126?
Mr. ROGERS. Yes. This is the type. That's the green type of looking
luggage.
Mr. LIEBELER. You say again that he did not have a bag that looked like
Rogers Exhibit No. 1?
Mr. ROGERS. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. Now, did Oswald leave as far as you can tell on the same
day that the station wagon left, or on the next day?
Mr. ROGERS. Well, they packed that night and, yes; they left on the
same day, the following evening.
Mr. LIEBELER. They packed the station wagon on one day and the next day
you looked out and the station wagon was gone?
Mr. ROGERS. He left that following evening. I figured he was moving. I
don't know. If he was moving, he was supposed to tell the landlord.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did he talk to the landlord about it?
Mr. ROGERS. No; but she knew about it. He didn't talk to her. He didn't
talk to nobody. He would give you the money and wouldn't say nothing.
He was quiet himself, that's all.
Mr. LIEBELER (handing picture to witness). I am going to show you a
picture that has been marked "Bringuier Exhibit No. 1," and ask you if
you recognize anybody in that picture.
Mr. ROGERS. Wait. Let me get my glasses on. I can see better this way.
[Examining picture.] No, Mr. Liebeler, I don't think. I don't think.
No; I don't think I know any one in there.
Mr. LIEBELER (handing picture to witness). I show you a picture that
has been marked "Garner Exhibit No. 1," and ask you if you recognize
any individual that is in that picture.
Mr. ROGERS. Well, maybe he did identify him, but I never saw this man.
No. That's when this happened? Mr. Garner did, but I didn't. No, I--if
he did come around, I wasn't there. If I did, I would tell you, you
know.
Mr. LIEBELER (handing picture to witness). I show you a picture that
has been marked "Pizzo Exhibit No. 453-A," and ask you if you recognize
that man.
Mr. ROGERS. No. I seen plenty people, but I don't know him either. If I
did, I would tell you.
Mr. LIEBELER. All right. Thank you very much, Mr. Rogers.
Mr. ROGERS. Under oath, I tell you just exactly what I tell you, the
same thing. As far as the boy is concerned, you know, he never spoke to
anybody. Go in and out, eat and clean. Didn't nobody knew his business.
Mr. LIEBELER. He kept pretty much to himself?
Mr. ROGERS. Yes.