Mr. BALL. This is Beckley here?
Mr. McWATTERS. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. You can count the streets there, can you?
Mr. McWATTERS. In other words, it would be seven blocks.
Mr. BALL. Seven blocks, Beckley is seven blocks west of Marsalis, is
that correct?
Mr. McWATTERS. Yes.
Mr. BALL. Your bus line doesn't run down Beckley?
Mr. McWATTERS. No, sir.
Mr. BALL. It doesn't run seven blocks, close to Beckley? Have you seen
this? Here is Beckley and here is Marsalis, the bus line.
Is there a bus route on Beckley?
Mr. McWATTERS. Yes, sir; there is.
Mr. BALL. Can you get a bus that goes down Beckley some place around
Houston and Elm?
Mr. McWATTERS. Yes, sir; the bus comes, the Beckley bus comes in on
St. Paul and Elm, in other words, at the time that I was, before we
started, in other words, that is where the Beckley bus enters Elm
Street there and then he goes the same route through town.
Mr. BALL. Same route you go down to the Houston viaduct?
Mr. McWATTERS. Yes. In other words, after the Book Depository down
there, he goes straight on.
Mr. BALL. Let me ask you this: The Beckley bus, the bus that will take
you south on Beckley, has a starting point the same place as yours at
St. Paul and Elm?
Mr. McWATTERS. St. Paul, in other words, the time element is the same.
In other words, he comes in there.
Mr. BALL. Then that Beckley bus goes west on Elm the same as your bus?
Mr. McWATTERS. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. But instead of turning south on the Houston Street viaduct
the Beckley bus goes straight west on Elm, doesn't it?
Mr. McWATTERS. That is correct.
Mr. BALL. Can you show us the bus stop for the Beckley bus on this
Commission Exhibit No. 361?
Mr. McWATTERS. Well, yes; his last bus stop would be right here at the
corner of----
Mr. BALL. Let's put a mark on this. Here is a red pencil, and put a
mark on this in red and show us the place where the Beckley bus would
stop.
Mr. McWATTERS. It would stop--in other words, we consider this corner
of this intersection right here, any letter or what.
Mr. BALL. Just put a rectangular mark about the size of a bus
indicating bus stop--take black ink and indicating a place where the
bus would stop.
Mr. McWATTERS. In other words, the bus would stop along in this place
right here.
Mr. BALL. All right, now that is bus stop for Beckley bus.
Mr. McWATTERS. That is bus stop for Beckley bus.
Mr. BALL. Northeast corner Houston and Elm.
Mr. McWATTERS. Northeast corner of Houston and Elm.
Mr. BALL. The Beckley bus goes on across directly in front of the Texas
School Book Depository Building?
Mr. McWATTERS. That is correct.
Mr. BALL. As your bus gets into another lane of traffic and does not
stop at Houston and Elm and makes a turn south on Houston.
Mr. McWATTERS. Yes.
Mr. BALL. Then the Beckley bus stop, the stop of the Beckley bus, which
is in black ink on the northeast corner of Houston and Elm, we will
mark that with a big "B" which stands for Beckley bus.
Representative FORD. How long have you been on this run that you had
the day of November 22?
Mr. McWATTERS. I worked this run for, I would say, this is the second
year. This makes 2 years that I worked this.
Representative FORD. Two years consecutively?
Mr. McWATTERS. 2 years consecutively that I have been on this run and
worked it.
Representative FORD. So you would be familiar with the route?
Mr. McWATTERS. Yes, sir; just like I say, I worked it, this is the
second year that I have worked the same, in other words, the same
hours, and the same route.
Representative FORD. How many hours a day do you work this route?
Mr. McWATTERS. Well, now, this one particular route right here, I work
it only 2 hours and 35 minutes.
Representative FORD. Each day?
Mr. McWATTERS. Each day.
Representative FORD. How many days a week?
Mr. McWATTERS. 5 days, Monday through Friday. And after that, in other
words, I work on another, a different bus line.
But this one particular one here is just 2 hours and 35 minutes each
day.
Representative FORD. When you say a different bus line, you mean the
same company but a different route?
Mr. McWATTERS. A different route.
Representative FORD. You would be familiar with the time schedules and
all of the stops on this particular route from your 2 years' experience?
Mr. McWATTERS. Yes, sir.
Senator COOPER. May I ask a question?
Mr. McWATTERS. Yes, sir.
Senator COOPER. Have you testified that you saw this passenger whom
you later recognized in the lineup, get on the bus in the vicinity of
Murphy Street--is Murphy Street on your right?
Mr. McWATTERS. Murphy Street is the street that, in other words, that
comes in.
Senator COOPER. Does it run into Elm Street?
Mr. McWATTERS. It runs into Elm Street, it dead ends, in other words,
into Elm Street.
Here is Field Street, in other words, across this intersection and we
stopped across the intersection of Field, and Murphy Street comes in to
the intersection at about where the bus stops, in other words, where
Field Street stops and I guess that Griffin is the next small street
that comes in just, it is just a short distance below.
Senator COOPER. Well, did the passenger that you have testified about,
and whom you stated that you later identified, did he get on in the
vicinity of Murphy Street?
Mr. McWATTERS. Yes, sir.
Senator COOPER. Murphy Street--you proceeded from Murphy Street toward
the Texas School Book Depository?
Mr. McWATTERS. Yes, sir.
Senator COOPER. Is that correct?
Mr. McWATTERS. That is correct.
Senator COOPER. Was the passenger that got on near Murphy Street the
same passenger that you later have testified about who told you that
the President had been shot in the temple?
Mr. McWATTERS. Well, they told me later that it was, but at the time
they didn't tell me.
Senator COOPER. Who didn't tell you?
Mr. McWATTERS. The police didn't.
Senator COOPER. When you say this passenger got on near Murphy Street,
was there anything about him that caused you to take notice of him
particularly?
Mr. McWATTERS. Well, no, sir. I wouldn't say there was. He was, I would
say, he didn't have on no suit or anything, he had on, I believe, some
type of jacket, cloth jacket.
Senator COOPER. What caused you to remember him getting on?
Mr. McWATTERS. What caused me to remember?
Senator COOPER. Yes; at the time he got on.
Mr. McWATTERS. Because, the reason I remembered exactly because I
didn't put out but two transfers, and that, in other words, from where
he got on and everything, I didn't have but one, there wasn't but one
man on the bus and that was the teenage boy, when he got on the bus, in
other words, when he got off, he was the only man except the teenage
boy who was on the bus at the time.
Senator COOPER. Now was this man that you saw got on the bus the same
one who told you that the President had been shot in the temple?
Mr. McWATTERS. The man who got on the bus now?
Senator COOPER. Yes. The man to whom you have just referred as getting
on the bus near Murphy Street.
Mr. McWATTERS. Yes.
Senator COOPER. Is he the same man who told you that the President had
been shot in the temple?
Mr. McWATTERS. No, sir.
Senator COOPER. Who told you that?
Mr. McWATTERS. A man in an automobile in front of me, in other words,
that was sitting in a car come back and told me.
Senator COOPER. Told you what?
Mr. McWATTERS. That the President had been shot, that he had heard over
his radio in his car that the President had been shot.
Senator COOPER. I think you have testified that someone, some passenger
on the bus, in response to a question that you had asked, "I wonder
where they shot the President" said, "They shot him in the temple."
Mr. McWATTERS. Oh, that was now, that was after we had done, that is
when I turned on Houston Street, the conversation with the teenage boy.
Senator COOPER. It was the teenage boy who told you that?
Mr. McWATTERS. Yes, sir; it was the teenage boy, sitting on his right
side of the side seat there, the one that I conversationed with about
the President being shot in the head or the temple, I don't remember,
but the teenage boy was the one.
That was after the man that already got off that had boarded my bus up
around Griffin there.
Senator COOPER. Then the one who told you the President had been shot
in the temple was not the one you later identified in the police lineup?
Mr. McWATTERS. No, sir.
Senator COOPER. This probably has been testified to, but where did the
man that you later identified in the police lineup get off the bus?
Mr. McWATTERS. Got off between Poydras and Lamar Street.
Senator COOPER. Was that after you crossed over the viaduct or before?
Mr. McWATTERS. No, sir; that was before I crossed over.
Senator COOPER. When did the teenage boy get off the bus?
Mr. McWATTERS. He got off at Oak Cliff, I believe. He got off at
Marsalis and Brownley.
Senator COOPER. Was that after the bus had crossed the viaduct?