Mrs. OSWALD. And he had a telephone.
Mr. RANKIN. And you talked back and forth?
Mrs. OSWALD. Back and forth, that is right. That is the way we talked.
And the boy was badly beat up. I have proof in the papers--his face,
black eyes, all scratched up, his neck was scratched. He was badly
beat up. But he assured me they were not mistreating him, that he got
some of the bruises in the scuffle. As I say, the boy, if he was being
mistreated, would not tell his mother that.
Mr. RANKIN. And whatever Marina said to him was in Russian, and you
didn't understand it?
Mrs. OSWALD. No, sir, I did not understand. But I would say this, it
seemed to be just an ordinary pleasant conversation. He was smiling.
And she told me he said he loved her very much, she said she loved him,
and told about buying the shoes for the baby. That is all she said. She
did not tell me any other part of the conversation. And they talked
quite a while. She talked with him twice. She talked with him the first
time. I got on the phone. Then she talked to him again.
Mr. RANKIN. Did it sound like there was any dispute or argument?
Mrs. OSWALD. No. It was a pleasant conversation. But she did not
volunteer to tell me what was said, and I did not ask her what was said.
Mr. RANKIN. What did you do after that?
Mrs. OSWALD. So then after that we went back to the Adolphus Hotel. And
upon arriving at the hotel--I am a little ahead of my story.
The police and the detectives at the Dallas jail were most courteous
to Marina and I. There were hundreds of reporters out in the corridor.
And we were getting ready to leave, so they said that they would take
us down the back way--incidentally, the same place where my son was
shot. And they had arranged for two to go down and to get a car and to
bring into this basement, and take us down the back elevator, and try
to avoid the reporters. And there were approximately six or seven in
the elevator. When we got down there, there were just a few reporters,
and they went way out of their way to elude any reporters. We were
at the Adolphus Hotel as I explained to you. And instead of from the
jail going straight to the Adolphus Hotel, they drove around 20 or 25
minutes time in circles in order to lose anybody who might be following
Marina and I.
So, as we got to the floor of the Adolphus Hotel, we knocked on
the door where we were, and no one answered. We were with two men.
Immediately around the corner comes Mr. Tommy Thompson, the Life
representative.
Mr. RANKIN. What two men were you with?
Mrs. OSWALD. Two men from the Dallas courthouse.
Mr. RANKIN. From the police?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes, from the police.
So Mr. Tommy Thompson came and they asked for his credentials. I had
never even--as thorough as I am trying to be--I am trying to tell you
there are some things I don't know because of the confusion--I didn't
ask for the credentials. I could have been with anybody. I just assumed
they were Life representatives. I had not asked. But these Dallas
detectives or police, in plain clothes, asked Mr. Tommy Thompson for
his credentials, and then left us in his care again.
Immediately Mr. Tommy Thompson said, "Mrs. Oswald, what do you plan to
do now?"
The interpreter was gone, and so was the other representative, Mr.
Allen Grant.
I said, "Well, the arrangement was that we were going to stay here in
the hotel for a few days, and you were going to pay expenses."