Mr. RANKIN. Did you learn at any time that he had been practicing with
the rifle?
Mrs. OSWALD. I think that he went once or twice. I didn't actually see
him take the rifle, but I knew that he was practicing.
Mr. RANKIN. Could you give us a little help on how you knew?
Mrs. OSWALD. He told me. And he would mention that in passing--it
isn't as if he said, "Well, today I am going"--it wasn't as if he
said, "Well, today I am going to take the rifle and go and practice."
But he would say, "Well, today I will take the rifle along for
practice."
Therefore, I don't know whether he took it from the house or whether
perhaps he even kept the rifle somewhere outside. There was a little
square, sort of a little courtyard where he might have kept it.
When you asked me about the rifle, I said that Lee didn't have a rifle,
but he also had a gun, a revolver.
Mr. RANKIN. Do you recall when he first had the pistol, that you
remember?
Mrs. OSWALD. He had that on Neely Street, but I think that he acquired
the rifle before he acquired the pistol. The pistol I saw twice--once
in his room, and the second time when I took these photographs.
Mr. RANKIN. What period of time was there between when he got the rifle
and you learned of it, and the time that you first learned about the
pistol?
Mrs. OSWALD. I can't say.
Mr. RANKIN. When you testified about his practicing with the rifle, are
you describing a period when you were still at Neely Street?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. Do you know where he practiced with the rifle?
Mrs. OSWALD. I don't know where. I don't know the name of the place
where this took place. But I think it was somewhere out of town. It
seems to me a place called Lopfield.
Mr. RANKIN. Would that be at the airport--Love Field?
Mrs. OSWALD. Love Field.
Mr. RANKIN. So you think he was practicing out in the open and not at a
rifle range?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. Do you recall seeing the rifle when the telescopic lens was
on it?
Mrs. OSWALD. I hadn't paid any attention initially.
I know a rifle was a rifle. I didn't know whether or not it had a
telescope attached to it. But the first time I remember seeing it was
in New Orleans, where I recognized the telescope. But probably the
telescope was on before. I simply hadn't paid attention.
I hope you understand. When I saw it, I thought that all rifles have
that.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you make any objection to having the rifle around?
Mrs. OSWALD. Of course.
Mr. RANKIN. What did he say to that?
Mrs. OSWALD. That for a man to have a rifle--since I am a woman, I
don't understand him, and I shouldn't bother him. A fine life.
Mr. RANKIN. Is that the same rifle that you are referring to that you
took the picture of with your husband and when he had the pistol, too?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes. I asked him then why he had dressed himself up like
that, with the rifle and the pistol, and I thought that he had gone
crazy, and he said he wanted to send that to a newspaper. This was not
my business--it was man's business.
If I had known these were such dangerous toys, of course--you
understand that I thought that Lee had changed in that direction, and I
didn't think it was a serious occupation with him, just playing around.
Mr. RANKIN. Do you recall the day that you took the picture of him with
the rifle and the pistol?
Mrs. OSWALD. I think that that was towards the end of February,
possibly the beginning of March. I can't say exactly. Because I didn't
attach any significance to it at the time. That was the only time I
took any pictures.
I don't know how to take pictures. He gave me a camera and asked me--if
someone should ask me how to photograph, I don't know.
Mr. RANKIN. Was it on a day off that you took the picture?
Mrs. OSWALD. It was on a Sunday.
Mr. RANKIN. How did it occur? Did he come to you and ask you to take
the picture?
Mrs. OSWALD. I was hanging up diapers, and he came up to me with the
rifle and I was even a little scared, and he gave me the camera and
asked me to press a certain button.
Mr. RANKIN. And he was dressed up with a pistol at the same time, was
he?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. You have examined that picture since, and noticed that the
telescopic lens was on at the time the picture was taken, have you not?
Mrs. OSWALD. Now I paid attention to it. A specialist would see it
immediately, of course. But at that time I did not pay any attention
at all. I saw just Lee. These details are of great significance for
everybody, but for me at that time it didn't mean anything. At the
time that I was questioned, I had even forgotten that I had taken two
photographs. I thought there was only one. I thought that there were
two identical pictures, but they turned out to be two different poses.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you have anything to do with the prints of the
photograph after the prints were made? That is, did you put them in a
photographic album yourself?
Mrs. OSWALD. Lee gave me one photograph and asked me to keep it for
June somewhere. Of course June doesn't need photographs like that.
Mr. RANKIN. Do you recall how long after that the Walker matter
occurred?
Mrs. OSWALD. Two, perhaps three weeks later. I don't know. You know
better when this happened.
Mr. RANKIN. How did you first learn that your husband had shot at
General Walker?
Mrs. OSWALD. That evening he went out, I thought that he had gone to
his classes or perhaps that he just walked out or went out on his own
business. It got to be about 10 or 10:30, he wasn't home yet, and I
began to be worried. Perhaps even later.
Then I went into his room. Somehow, I was drawn into it--you know--I
was pacing around. Then I saw a note there.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you look for the gun at that time?
Mrs. OSWALD. No, I didn't understand anything. On the note it said,
"If I am arrested" and there are certain other questions, such as,
for example, the key to the mailbox is in such and such a place, and
that he left me some money to last me for some time, and I couldn't
understand at all what can he be arrested for. When he came back I
asked him what had happened. He was very pale. I don't remember the
exact time, but it was very late.
And he told me not to ask him any questions. He only told me that he
had shot at General Walker.
Of course I didn't sleep all night. I thought that any minute now, the
police will come. Of course I wanted to ask him a great deal. But in
his state I decided I had best leave him alone--it would be purposeless
to question him.
Mr. RANKIN. Did he say any more than that about the shooting?
Mrs. OSWALD. Of course in the morning I told him that I was worried,
and that we can have a lot of trouble, and I asked him, "Where is the
rifle? What did you do with it?"
He said, that he had left it somewhere, that he had buried it, it seems
to me, somewhere far from that place, because he said dogs could find
it by smell.