The testimony of Patrick Trevore Dean was taken at 4:45 p.m., on April
1, 1964, in the office of the U.S. attorney, 301 Post Office Building,
Bryan and Ervay Streets, Dallas, Tex., by Mr. Leon D. Hubert, Jr.,
assistant counsel of the President's Commission. Mr. P. T. Dean was
accompanied by his lawyer, Mr. Ted MacMasters.
Mr. HUBERT. Note that I am present. Note that Sgt. P. T. Dean is
present and Mr. Ted MacMasters assistant city attorney of Dallas, and
appearing as attorney for Mister--Sergeant Dean. Now, Sergeant Dean,
your deposition was begun on----
Mr. DEAN. I believe it was a Tuesday.
Mr. MacMASTERS. March 24.
Mr. HUBERT. Mr. Burt Griffin as the member of the Commission's advisory
staff conducting the examination. At that time you took an oath, I
believe?
Mr. DEAN. Yes, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. Are you willing to consider that this is simply a
continuation of that deposition?
Mr. DEAN. Yes; I am.
Mr. HUBERT. And that you are under the same oath that you were before?
Mr. DEAN. Yes, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. I wish to advise you that I have been authorized by Mr.
J. Lee Rankin, general counsel for the Commission's staff to take
your deposition under oath also. In other words, both Mr. Griffin and
I have been so authorized, and I think he advised you of the general
conditions and the right of notice and waiver and so forth?
Mr. DEAN. Yes, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. So that as far as I am concerned, I will just ask you if
you have anything to add to your deposition or anything to say at all
in any way?
Mr. DEAN. I told Mr. Griffin on that date that I would bring him
additional information that he wanted.
One was a record of the telephone call received on the 24th. Now, that
would make your interview on the 25th, actually, I believe. Now, no,
no; that's right. The morning, early morning hours of the 24th is when
I received this call from Victoria, Canada.
That is a record of it from the city hall operator. That was pertaining
to the film from the fellow in Alaska--or--correction, in Canada that
he said he would----
Mr. MacMASTERS. Do you want to identify this?
Mr. HUBERT. You have handed me two documents and I judge that one of
them is a photostatic copy of a front of a document, and the other is a
photostatic copy of the rear of that document?
Mr. DEAN. Yes, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. Well; I am going to mark them for identification
as follows: "Dallas, Tex., April 1, 1964. Exhibit--" We'll use
number--5136, continuation of deposition of Sgt. P. T. Dean." And I am
signing my name for the purposes of identification and I am signing
the second document which you state is a photostatic copy of the back
of the document now identified as Exhibit 5136, as follows: "Dallas,
Tex., April 1, 1964. Exhibit 5136-A, continuation of Deposition of P.
T. Dean." Signing my name on the back of this, and for the purposes
of identification and to show that we are both talking about the same
document, would you mind putting your name below mine?
Mr. DEAN. All right, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. Now, will you identify what these two documents were?
Perhaps we'd better do it again, in the light of their identification
numbers, so, let me ask you what are the documents that have now been
marked for identification as 5136 and 5136-A?
Mr. DEAN. A record of the city hall's operator receiving a call from
Victoria, Canada, on that date of March 24, about 4 o'clock in the
morning and at that time I talked to--I believe it is Jack Simpson, or
it is Ralph Simpson, and he stated that he had a reel of movie film
that he had taken of the assassination and the trajectory of the line
of fire which was on the far side of the plaza, which would be on the
south side of Commerce Street. Mr. Simpson told me on the phone that
he believed he had gotten not only the assassination, but also the
building from where the bullet was fired. But I advised him--he wanted
to know what to do with this film, and I advised him to send it to the
Warren Commission in Washington, and he said that he had talked to his
attorney and the attorney, Batter [phonetic] in Victoria, I didn't get
the first name, his attorney had advised him to contact someone in
Dallas and to send them to whatever place they said other than to the
Warren Commission. He then asked me could he send them to me and I told
him that he could. I checked with my office then just before coming
over here today and the film hadn't come in.
Mr. HUBERT. Did he say he was going to send them by mail?
Mr. DEAN. Yes; he said he would airmail them the next day.
Mr. HUBERT. Did he indicate why he had called you, or just that you
were on duty?
Mr. DEAN. Just on the advice of his attorney.
Mr. HUBERT. But, I mean, your particular name?
Mr. DEAN. No; he didn't ask for me particularly. However, he said that
he recognized my name from reading of my testimony in the papers.
Mr. HUBERT. In other words, he made the call, he was calling
specifically to you. You happened to be on duty, and therefore, the
call came to you?
Mr. DEAN. That's right, and that is the record of the call received.
That is what Mr. Griffin wanted.
Mr. HUBERT. And the other part that you told us about was the substance
of a phone call?
Mr. DEAN. Yes, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. Right. Okay. Now, if you are going to talk about another
document let's get it identified first and get numbers on it. Now.
Mr. Dean, you are handing me a document consisting of three pages
being apparently a photostatic copy of a letter dated April 8, 1963,
addressed to J. E. Curry, Chief of Police. Last page shows "P. Treavor
Dean----
Mr. MacMASTERS. I believe that is December 8. You said April.
Mr. HUBERT. Oh, no, no. December 8. Couldn't be April 8, we aren't
there yet.
"P. Treavor Dean, Sergeant Police Control Division," and in order that
it may be identified and that the record may show what we're talking
about, I am marking this first page in the right-hand margin, "Dallas,
Tex., April 1, 1964. Exhibit 5137, Continuation of Deposition of P. T.
Dean," signing my name below that, and the inscription on the second
page, placing my initial in the right-hand lower corner and on the
third page I am doing the same, and also ask you to sign the pages and
initial them as I have done.
Mr. DEAN. All right.
Mr. HUBERT. All right, sir. Now, do you have any comments to make with
reference to this Document 5137, which you have handed me?
Mr. DEAN. No, sir; I believe it is self-explanatory.