Mr. BALL. Mr. Whaley. I have here an exhibit which I will mark 370.
(The document was marked Commission Exhibit No. 370 for identification.)
Mr. BALL. 370 is a photostat of a manifest of yours, and it is dated
November 22, 1963. I mark this 370. Do you recognize that?
Mr. WHALEY. That is the original trip sheet.
Mr. BALL. In your handwriting?
Mr. WHALEY. Yes, sir; in my handwriting.
Mr. BALL. I will offer this into evidence at this time, and the
original trip sheet as Exhibit No. 382.
Representative FORD. So admitted.
(Commission Exhibits Nos. 370 and 382 were received in evidence.)
Mr. BALL. I have here a bracelet which is marked 383. Take a look at it
and tell me if you have ever seen it before.
Mr. WHALEY. Yes, sir; as near as I can tell that is the bracelet he was
wearing the day I carried him, the shiny bracelet I was talking about.
Mr. BALL. You mentioned the fact that the man who sat in the front seat
of your cab, which you drove from the Greyhound Station on Lamar Street
over to 500 North Beckley, had an identification bracelet on him.
Mr. WHALEY. Yes, it looked like an identification bracelet. It looks
like this one, sir, it was shiny, I couldn't tell exactly whether that
was the bracelet or not.
Mr. BALL. But it looks like one of them?
Mr. WHALEY. Yes, sir; it looks like it.
Mr. BALL. Offer this in evidence.
Representative FORD. So admitted.
(Commission Exhibit No. 383 was withdrawn and a photograph of the
bracelet was received as Commission Exhibit No. 383-A.)
Representative FORD. What hand or what arm did he have it on?
Mr. WHALEY. He had it on the arm next to me, which was the left arm.
Representative FORD. Was it protruding below the sleeve or jacket?
Mr. WHALEY. His coatsleeve was like this when he stretches his arm out
it was short, that is when I saw it.
Representative FORD. Where was his hand when you saw it, if you can
recollect it?
Mr. WHALEY. Well, just moving. You know you catch any bright object,
why you notice it, that is how I noticed it. He was just moving his
hand around. When the old lady stuck her head in the door and asked me
to call her a cab, why he reached over to the door to open it like he
told her she could have that one but she decided that she would wait
for the next one because he already had that one. And that is when I
saw it, sir.
In the picture, I believe, I don't think he had it on in that picture
in the paper the next morning.
Representative FORD. This is something you clearly noticed while he was
riding in the car with you?
Mr. WHALEY. Yes, sir; I noticed it; yes, sir. I always notice
watchbands, unusual watchbands, and identification bracelets like
these, because I make them myself. I made this one.
Representative FORD. In other words, you have a particular interest in
them?
Mr. WHALEY. Yes, I particularly notice things like that.
Representative FORD. Did you notice anything unusual about it?
Mr. WHALEY. No, sir, it was just a common stretchband identification
bracelet. A lot of them are made of chain links and not stretchbands.
Stretchbands are unusual because there is very few of them.
Representative FORD. In other words, this was an unusual band?
Mr. WHALEY. Yes, sir; this one was a stretchband like the one you
showed me.
Representative FORD. It is sort of a hobby with you to make these kinds
of wristbands?
Mr. WHALEY. Yes, sir; I make watchbands like that.
Mr. BALL. Do you recall when you told, talked to the Dallas police
officers that you told them that you had seen a heavy identification
bracelet on this passenger's wrist?
Mr. WHALEY. Yes, sir, I told them about the bracelet.
Mr. BALL. You told the FBI officers, also?
Mr. WHALEY. Yes, sir; but I don't remember saying it was heavy because
I wouldn't have known how heavy it was without handling it.
Mr. BALL. You described the bracelet?
Mr. WHALEY. I just described the bracelet as a shiny bracelet.
Mr. BALL. A moment ago you told us about this man getting into your cab
and an old lady coming up and asking for a cab.
Mr. WHALEY. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. Did the man sitting next to you open the door?
Mr. WHALEY. He just started to, sir, just reached for door handle and
she said she wanted me to call one. She didn't want that.
Mr. BALL. Did the man who was sitting beside you in the cab say
anything?
Mr. WHALEY. Only that she could have that one.
Mr. BALL. He said that?
Mr. WHALEY. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. I think that is all.
Any other questions of this witness?
Did you describe the shirt that this man had on to the police?
Mr. WHALEY. Yes, sir, I did.
Mr. BALL. What did you tell them?
Mr. WHALEY. To the best of my ability, I did, sir. I just told them it
was a dark colored shirt with what looked like a silver lining.
Mr. BALL. Were you shown the shirt later?
Mr. WHALEY. About, it was at least a week later, sir, an FBI man
brought the shirt over and showed it to me.
Mr. BALL. Is that the same shirt you saw here?
Mr. WHALEY. I think it is, sir. I am not positive but it had the same
kind of silver streak in it.
Mr. BALL. What did you tell the FBI man who brought the shirt to you?
Mr. WHALEY. I told him to the best of my ability that was the shirt he
had on.
Mr. BALL. Did the man riding with you say anything at all except tell
you where he wanted to go?
Mr. WHALEY. That is all, sir, except he said when we got to where he
wanted to go he said, "This will do fine," when I pulled over.
Mr. BALL. Now, in the police lineup now, and this man was talking to
the police and telling them he wanted a lawyer, and that they were
trying to, you say he said they were trying to, frame him or something
of that sort----
Mr. WHALEY. Well, the way he talked that they were doing him an
injustice by putting him out there dressed different than these other
men he was out there with.
Mr. BALL. Now, did anyone, any policeman, who was there, say anything
to him?
Mr. WHALEY. Yes, sir; Detective Sergeant Leavelle, I believe it was,
told him that they had, would get him his lawyers on the phone, that
they didn't think they were doing him wrong by putting him out there
dressed up.
Representative FORD. Did the man you identified have any reaction when
they brought the group out, did he have any reaction that you noticed
at the time you identified him?
Mr. WHALEY. Only that he was the only one that had the bruise on his
head, sir. The only one who acted surly. In other words, I told this
Commission this morning you wouldn't have had to have known who it was
to have picked him out by the way he acted. But he was the man that
I carried in my taxicab. I told them when I identified him. I didn't
identify him as the man who shot the President. I identified him as the
man who rode from the Greyhound to 1500 North Beckley with me.
Representative FORD. Did you point him out with your hand?
Mr. WHALEY. No, sir; I did not. They asked me which number he was
standing under and he was standing under No. 2.
Representative FORD. Could he hear you make this identification?
Mr. WHALEY. No, sir; he couldn't see me.
Representative FORD. He couldn't see you?
Mr. WHALEY. No, sir; they had the black silk screen that keeps the
prisoners from seeing the people who show up.
Mr. BALL. I have no further questions.
Senator COOPER. I have no questions.
Mr. BALL. Do you know a taxi driver named Darrell Click?
Mr. WHALEY. I may know his face, sir, but not his name.
Mr. BALL. You don't know his name?
Mr. WHALEY. We go mostly by numbers.
Mr. BALL. Okay, no further questions.
The witness is excused.
Representative FORD. May we wait just a moment, please? Would you like
to make a statement, Mr. Powell?
Mr. POWELL. Mr. Chairman, I think I might say just this: I am here
representing Mr. Walter Craig, as I think the Commission understands.
I have been here the last two days. In a conversation with Mr. Rankin
yesterday morning we agreed that rather than my asking questions
directly of witnesses, I would make suggestions to Mr. Ball or to one
of his associates, and I have been following that practice yesterday
and today, after consulting with Mr. Murray who is also here for
Mr. Craig, and Mr. Ball and his associates have followed up these
suggestions that we have made.
Representative FORD. The suggestions you have made have been
transmitted to Mr. Ball or his associates and have been asked of the
various witnesses?
Mr. POWELL. That is correct.
Representative FORD. Any other questions?
Thank you very much, Mr. Whaley.
Mr. WHALEY. Thank you, sir. I am glad to be able to be of service.
(Whereupon, at 12:30 p.m., the President's Commission recessed.)
_Friday, March 13, 1964_