I said, "You sure can. Get in." And instead of opening the back door he
opened the front door, which is allowable there, and got in.
Mr. BALL. Got in the front door?
Mr. WHALEY. Yes, sir. The front seat. And about that time an old lady,
I think she was an old lady, I don't remember nothing but her sticking
her head down past him in the door and said, "Driver, will you call me
a cab down here?"
She had seen him get this cab and she wanted one, too, and he opened
the door a little bit like he was going to get out and he said, "I will
let you have this one," and she says, "No, the driver can call me one."
So, I didn't call one because I knew before I could call one one would
come around the block and keep it pretty well covered.
Mr. BALL. Is that what you said?
Mr. WHALEY. No, sir; that is not what I said, but that is the reason I
didn't call one at the time and I asked him where he wanted to go. And
he said, "500 North Beckley."
Well, I started up, I started to that address, and the police cars, the
sirens was going, running crisscrossing everywhere, just a big uproar
in that end of town and I said, "What the hell. I wonder what the hell
is the uproar?"
And he never said anything. So I figured he was one of these people
that don't like to talk so I never said any more to him.
But when I got pretty close to 500 block at Neches and North Beckley
which is the 500 block, he said, "This will do fine," and I pulled over
to the curb right there. He gave me a dollar bill, the trip was 95
cents. He gave me a dollar bill and didn't say anything, just got out
and closed the door and walked around the front of the cab over to the
other side of the street. Of course, traffic was moving through there
and I put it in gear and moved on, that is the last I saw of him.
Mr. BALL. When you parked your car you parked on what street?
Mr. WHALEY. I wasn't parked, I was pulled to the curb on Neches and
North Beckley.
Mr. BALL. Neches, corner of Neches and North Beckley?
Mr. WHALEY. Which is the 500 block.
Mr. BALL. What direction was your car?
Mr. WHALEY. South.
Mr. BALL. The cab was headed?
Mr. WHALEY. South.
Mr. BALL. And it would be on the west side of the street?
Mr. WHALEY. Parked, stopped on the west side of the intersection, yes,
sir.
Mr. BALL. When he got out of the cab did he go around in front of your
cab?
Mr. WHALEY. He went around in front, yes, sir; crossed the street.
Mr. BALL. Across to the east side of the street?
Mr. WHALEY. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. Did you see whether he walked south?
Mr. WHALEY. I didn't see whether he walked north or south from there.
Mr. BALL. In other words, he walked east from your cab and that is the
last time you saw him?
Mr. WHALEY. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. Was there anything in particular about him beside his
clothing that you could identify such as jewelry, bracelets?
Mr. WHALEY. Yes, sir; he had on a bracelet of some type on his left
arm. It looked like an identification bracelet. Just shiny, you know,
how you see anything shiny, an unusual watchband or something shiny,
you notice things like that.
Mr. BALL. I have a map of Dallas here, which I would like to have
marked as the Commission's next exhibit which is Exhibit No. 371.
The CHAIRMAN. It will be so marked.
(The map referred to was marked Commission's Exhibit No. 371 for
identification.)
Mr. BALL. I would like to offer into evidence Exhibits Nos. 368 and 369
that were marked yesterday.
The CHAIRMAN. They may be admitted.
(Commission Exhibits Nos. 368 and 369, heretofore marked for
identification, were received in evidence.)
Mr. BALL. And 371 being a form map of Dallas can probably be offered
in evidence at this time. It is going to be used to illustrate the
witness' testimony.
The CHAIRMAN. That may be done.
(Commission Exhibit No. 371, heretofore marked for identification was
received in evidence.)
Mr. BALL. There is a map here which is described as Dallas street map,
Republic National Bank of Dallas, and in one corner of this map there
is shown a small map of downtown Dallas.
Will you point on the map there to the Greyhound bus station?
Let's take the small map. It was on the corner of Jackson?
Mr. WHALEY. And Lamar.
Mr. BALL. And Lamar.
Mr. WHALEY. The northwest corner, Greyhound bus station.
Mr. BALL. You have seen this map before, have you not?
Mr. WHALEY. Yes, sir; I am very familiar with that map.
Mr. BALL. And let's take Lamar, here is Jackson.
Mr. WHALEY. Lamar is down here, sir.
Mr. BALL. This is Jackson, this is the Houston viaduct.
Mr. WHALEY. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. Here is Jackson, and Lamar is right there.
Mr. WHALEY. Well, the Greyhound bus station is on the northwest corner.
Mr. BALL. Suppose we make an "X" there at Jackson.
Mr. WHALEY. All right, sir.
Mr. BALL. And Lamar. That is where you picked your passenger up?
Mr. WHALEY. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. When you started out which direction did you go, and before
you mark just take this blunt end and then we will mark it after you
describe it on the map.
Now, the next street is Austin, just to the west of Lamar?
Mr. WHALEY. That is right.
Mr. BALL. All right.
Mr. WHALEY. I turned to the left.
Mr. BALL. All right.
Mr. WHALEY. I turned to the left off Lamar onto Jackson, went one block
to Austin, then from Austin I turned to the left again and went one
block over to Wood Street.
Now, the reason for that is if you catch this light right at Lamar and
Jackson, this other light turns green as you make your turn here and
the other one turns green as you make your turn at Wood. You just move
through traffic. That was my reason for making the turn.
Then I turned left on Wood off Austin and went straight on down Wood to
Houston which is the street which we call the old viaduct.
Mr. BALL. You call that the Houston Street viaduct?
Mr. WHALEY. Yes.
(At this point Representative Ford entered the hearing room.)
Mr. WHALEY. Went across the viaduct to Zangs, as soon as you get across
the angle to the left, that is Zangs Boulevard.
Mr. BALL. Take the black pen and draw your course along this small map
as far as you can go and we will go to the continuation of the map.
Now, can you tell us--did everybody see this course--now can you tell
us where you were when the sirens were blowing and you saw police cars
all around?
Mr. WHALEY. I was still at the Greyhound, sir.
Mr. BALL. You were still there?
Mr. WHALEY. They were there when I loaded.
Mr. BALL. Now, in the course of your travel down to the Houston viaduct
did you see any police cars?
Mr. WHALEY. Oh, yes, sir; lots of them, what we call triangle,
three-wheeled motorcycle, they all seemed to be converging on one spot.
Mr. BALL. What spot?
Mr. WHALEY. Well, it seemed to be the courthouse, that is what it
seemed to me at that time. I didn't know what had happened.
Mr. BALL. The courthouse is about a block from the Texas State Book
Depository?
Mr. WHALEY. You could throw a baseball from one building to the other.
Mr. BALL. Now we will turn to the large map and we will still use
the--get downtown. Here we are. Will you use--Lamar and Jackson again.
Mr. WHALEY. This will be kind of ticklish because that is very small.
Mr. BALL. That is right.
Mr. WHALEY. Main, Commerce, Jackson, Lamar.
Mr. BALL. Do the same thing.
Mr. WHALEY. To Austin, to Wood, to Houston, to the viaduct, across
the viaduct, let's see, Colorado comes in off this, this is the Zangs
Boulevard, the red line where it hits Marcel is here, that is Zangs
Boulevard. Up past Colorado, still going Zangs here.