The President's Commission reconvened at 2:15 p.m.
The CHAIRMAN. The Commission will come to order.
Amos, will you stand up, please, and raise your right hand?
Do you solemnly swear the testimony you will give before this
Commission will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the
truth, so help you God?
Mr. EUINS. Yes, sir.
The CHAIRMAN. You may be seated. How old are you?
Mr. EUINS. Sixteen.
The CHAIRMAN. All right.
Mr. SPECTER. Mr. Chief Justice, should we start by reading the purpose?
The CHAIRMAN. Yes. I think you received a copy of this statement. But I
just want to say to you that the purpose of today's hearing is to hear
the testimony of Arnold Louis Rowland, James Richard Worrell, Robert
H. Jackson, and yourself who were in the vicinity of the assassination
scene on November 22, 1963. The Commission proposes to ask you facts
concerning your knowledge of the assassination of President Kennedy.
You understand that?
Mr. EUINS. Yes.
The CHAIRMAN. All right.
Mr. SPECTER. Would you tell us your full name for the record, please?
Mr. EUINS. Amos Lee Euins.
Mr. SPECTER. What is your exact date of birth, Amos?
Mr. EUINS. January 10, 1948.
Mr. SPECTER. January 10, 1948?
Mr. EUINS. Yes, sir.
Mr. SPECTER. And are you a school boy at the present time?
Mr. EUINS. Yes, sir.
Mr. SPECTER. What school do you go to?
Mr. EUINS. Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Mr. SPECTER. What grade are you in at that school?
Mr. EUINS. The ninth.
Mr. SPECTER. Do you live with your parents, Amos?
Mr. EUINS. Yes, sir.
Mr. SPECTER. How is your health generally?
Mr. EUINS. I guess it is all right.
Mr. SPECTER. How are your eyes?
Mr. EUINS. They are all right.
Mr. SPECTER. Can you see good at a distance?
Mr. EUINS. Yes, I can see good at a distance, but I can't see at real
close range.
Mr. SPECTER. Are you able to read without glasses?
Mr. EUINS. Yes, sir.
Mr. SPECTER. You don't use glasses for any purposes, then?
Mr. EUINS. No, sir.
Mr. SPECTER. When you say you have trouble at close range, just what do
you mean by that?
Mr. EUINS. You know, like I put something on real close.
Mr. SPECTER. Indicating about 4 or 5 inches from your eyes?
Mr. EUINS. Yes, sir. And then they kind of get dim. But on a long
scene, I can see good.
Mr. SPECTER. How are your grades in school, Amos?
Mr. EUINS. They are all right.
Mr. SPECTER. Are they better than average, or what?
Mr. EUINS. They are about average.
Mr. SPECTER. All right.
Going back to November 22, 1963, that is last year, Amos, do you recall
what you were doing early on that morning?
Mr. EUINS. Yes, sir. When I first got up, I went to school. Then about
11:30, well, the teachers called us and told us the ones that wanted
to go downtown to see the President come down to the office and get an
excuse and they could go. So I went down to the office, and I got an
excuse, so I went downtown.
Mr. SPECTER. And what time did you leave school?
Mr. EUINS. 11:30.
Mr. SPECTER. And where did you go from your school?
Mr. EUINS. Downtown.
Mr. SPECTER. What part of downtown?
Mr. EUINS. Right over by the county jail.
Mr. SPECTER. Do you know the names of those streets, Amos?
Mr. EUINS. No, sir.
Mr. SPECTER. If I told you they were Elm and Houston, would that help
your memory as to what the names of those streets were?
Mr. EUINS. It was right by the freeway.
Mr. SPECTER. All right. Let me show you a photograph, Amos, which is on
a document I have marked as Commission Exhibit No. 365.
(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 365 for
identification.)
Mr. SPECTER. Take just a minute and look at that, and see if you can
recognize where that is.
Mr. EUINS. This is going across the railroad tracks, back up to
here--right here at the corner is the Book Depository Building.
Mr. SPECTER. That is the Book Depository Building, you say?
Mr. EUINS. Yes, sir.
Mr. SPECTER. All right.
Why don't you just put an "X" with this pencil on the Book Depository
Building, as you identify it there, Amos--on the building itself.
(Witness marking.)
Mr. SPECTER. Now, were you somewhere in that area when the President's
motorcade went by?
Mr. EUINS. I was right here.
Mr. SPECTER. Why don't you take this black pencil and put an "A" right
where you were, Amos.
(Witness marking.)
Mr. SPECTER. Now, what time did you get to the place where you have
marked with an "A"?
Mr. EUINS. Oh, I would say around about 15 minutes or something like
that to 12, because my mother brought me down there.
Mr. SPECTER. She drove you down, did she?
Mr. EUINS. Yes, sir.
Mr. SPECTER. Now, were you with anybody when you came to that spot, or
did your mother leave you off there by yourself?
Mr. EUINS. She left me. She had to go on to work.
Mr. SPECTER. Now, about how long was it after you got there that the
motorcade came by?
Mr. EUINS. Oh, I would say about--I had been there about 15, maybe 20
minutes. It come around the corner, come on around.
Mr. SPECTER. All right.
Amos, I want to show you another picture here that I have marked as
Commission Exhibit No. 366.
(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 366 for
identification.)
Mr. SPECTER. I ask you if you can recognize what that building is.
Mr. EUINS. This here is the Book Depository Building.
Mr. SPECTER. All right.
Now, look back over here at 365. Can you tell us which direction the
President's motorcade came from on this picture?
Mr. EUINS. It come from right in here.
Mr. SPECTER. First of all, do you know what the name of this street is?
Would that be Main Street, in Dallas?
Mr. EUINS. Yes, sir; I think so.
Mr. SPECTER. Coming down Main Street, indicating in a general westerly
direction. Turning which way?
Mr. EUINS. This way.
Mr. SPECTER. Turned right.
Do you know if that is Houston Street?
Mr. EUINS. No, sir; I don't.
Mr. SPECTER. Let the record show the witness is identifying a street
heretofore identified as Houston.
Then which way did the motorcade go after proceeding in a general
northerly direction on Houston?
Mr. EUINS. It come this way, turn.
Mr. SPECTER. Which way--right or left?
Mr. EUINS. It turned to the left, coming down, going on.
Mr. SPECTER. Do you know the name of the street it turned onto when it
made the left turn?
Mr. EUINS. I was just trying to keep an eye on the President.
Mr. SPECTER. The witness has identified a street heretofore identified
as Elm Street.
Tell us what you saw as the motorcade went by.
Mr. EUINS. I was standing here on the corner. And then the President
come around the corner right here. And I was standing here. And I was
waving, because there wasn't hardly no one on the corner right there
but me. I was waving. He looked that way and he waved back at me. And
then I had seen a pipe, you know, up there in the window, I thought it
was a pipe, some kind of pipe.
Mr. SPECTER. When had you first seen that thing you just described as a
pipe?
Mr. EUINS. Right as he turned the corner here.
Mr. SPECTER. Now, exactly where did you see that thing you have
described as a pipe come from. And take a good look now before you tell
us where it was.
Mr. EUINS. Right here.
Mr. SPECTER. Now, will you mark an "X" on Exhibit No. 366 where you saw
the pipe? Mark the exact window, if you can, Amos.
(Witness marking.)
Mr. SPECTER. All right.
Proceed to tell us what happened, Amos.
Mr. EUINS. Then I was standing here, and as the motorcade turned the
corner, I was facing, looking dead at the building. And so I seen this
pipe thing sticking out the window. I wasn't paying too much attention
to it. Then when the first shot was fired, I started looking around,
thinking it was a backfire. Everybody else started looking around.
Then I looked up at the window, and he shot again. So--you know this
fountain bench here, right around here. Well, anyway, there is a little
fountain right here. I got behind this little fountain, and then he
shot again.
So after he shot again, he just started looking down this, you know.
Mr. SPECTER. Who started looking down that way?
Mr. EUINS. The man in the window. I could see his hand, and I could see
his other hand on the trigger, and one hand was on the barrel thing.
Mr. SPECTER. All right.
Now, at the time the second shot was fired, where were you looking then?
Mr. EUINS. I was still looking at the building, you know, behind
this--I was looking at the building.
Mr. SPECTER. Looking at anything special in the building?
Mr. EUINS. Yes, sir. I was looking where the barrel was sticking out.
Mr. SPECTER. How many shots did you hear altogether?
Mr. EUINS. I believe there was four, to be exact.
Mr. SPECTER. Now, where were you looking at the time of the third shot,
if you remember?
Mr. EUINS. After he shot the first two times, I was just standing
back here. And then after he shot again, he pulled the gun back in
the window. And then all the police ran back over here in the track
vicinity.
Mr. SPECTER. Slow down just a little bit in what you are telling us.
When the second shot occurred, were you still standing at the point
where you marked with an "A" on 365?