Mr. FISCHER. Well, it wasn't--it wasn't--uh--well, I guess there are
a lot of shades of brown. But it wasn't--uh--it wasn't a light brown.
It was a--in the picture it showed up as definitely a darker brown. I
can't think of anything to compare it to.
Mr. BELIN. Well, when you saw the man in the window, did he appear to
have light brown hair, dark brown, medium brown--or what kind of hair
did he have?
Mr. FISCHER. Well, it wasn't dark and it wasn't light. Uh--he didn't
have black hair and he didn't have blonde hair. It--uh--must have been
a brown but, like I say, there are a lot of different shades of brown
and I'm not--I can't--it's hard for me to say just exactly what shade
of brown I saw that he had. I know what shade he had in the picture
but----
Mr. BELIN. Well, I hand you a copy of a statement which I believe--at
least has the signature on it--and ask you to see if this looks like
it's your signature?
Mr. FISCHER. [After perusing paper.] Yes.
Mr. BELIN. All right. I'm going to call this "Fischer Deposition
Exhibit No. 1," and ask you to read this statement, which appears to be
dated November 22, 1963, and ask you to state if there's anything in
that statement that does not appear to be accurate.
(Thereupon, the statement of Mr. Fischer dated Nov. 22, 1963, is
identified as "Fischer Deposition Exhibit No. 1.)
Mr. FISCHER. You want me to read this now?
Mr. BELIN. You can just read it to yourself and then you can tell me
when you get through whether or not there is anything in that statement
that doesn't appear to be accurate.
Mr. FISCHER. [After reading Exhibit No. 1.] That is correct.
Mr. BELIN. Is this what you told these people there?
Mr. FISCHER. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Now, in this statement it says that the man appeared to be
in his twenties--is that what you told them?
Mr. FISCHER. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. It says that all you could see was his head, now you've told
me here today that you could see his chest?
Mr. FISCHER. Yes; from the middle of his chest up. I could see his
shoulders.
Uh--the man taking that particular piece of paper was a court reporter
in the records building, and he didn't--he didn't relate--he had about
12 of these things to take--well, yeah, 12 or 15--however many people
there were in the sheriff's office at that time. And he was, like
I say, he was in a hurry to get it down and I said I could see his
head--and, so, he put that down. And that is right. I could see his
head.
Mr. BELIN. The statement here says that he was light-headed and that he
had on an open-neck shirt. Did he have an open-neck shirt on?
Mr. FISCHER. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Now, what about being light-headed?
Mr. FISCHER. By "light-headed," I meant that he didn't have black hair.
He didn't have dark--he didn't have--well, when I say "dark," I mean
black. He didn't have black hair. He didn't have blonde hair. When I
said, "light-headed," I didn't mean blonde--or I would have said that,
but--uh.
Mr. BELIN. What color of hair did you mean? Did you say "light-headed"?
Mr. FISCHER. I believe I did say "light-headed"--because I didn't--like
I say--I didn't want it to appear that he was dark.
Mr. BELIN. By "dark," what color do you mean?
Mr. FISCHER. Black.
Mr. BELIN. Well, once again, I'll ask you, to the best of your
recollection, what color hair did he have?
Mr. FISCHER. Uh--like I say, it's too hard for me to--uh--to tell one
way or the other. At the distance I was, uh--it's just--it's just too
hard for me to--I'm not going to say it because I don't know for sure,
just exactly what shade of hair he did have. It wasn't blonde and it
wasn't black. Somewhere in between. And it was a shade of brown that
as to whether it was a dark brown, a light brown, a medium brown, or
whatever you call it--I don't know.
Mr. BELIN. All right.
The statement says that you saw him in the window there. Do you
remember how far the window was open?
Mr. FISCHER. The window was open almost all the way open if not, all
the way open.
Mr. BELIN. By that "all the way"--when you have a window all the way
open of that kind, of course, you just have a half of the window case
that is open. Is that correct?
Mr. FISCHER. That's right, You still have half an area of the opening
covered by glass.
Mr. BELIN. Was it the bottom area that was open or the top area?
Mr. FISCHER. The bottom area. The window looked to be--uh--a window
that raised from the bottom up.
Mr. BELIN. And it appeared to be almost as fully open as you could, or
fully open?
Mr. FISCHER. Or fully open. Yes--Or I wouldn't have been able to see
the cases and see past the top of his head had it not been--and his
shoulders.
Mr. BELIN. Now, on this written statement it says that you remember a
tall girl walking into the School Book Depository Building there at
about the time you saw the man?
Mr. FISCHER. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Did you see such a girl walk in the building?
Mr. FISCHER. I can't remember. It must have been before. It must have
been just before--uh--I saw the man in the window. I can't remember
very well. It's been too long. I believe it was before I saw the man in
the window that I saw her walk into the building. Like I say, I made a
mental note of it but I didn't pay too much attention at the time.
Mr. BELIN. Now, sometime later, after November 22, you were interviewed
by the FBI. Do you remember that?
Mr. FISCHER. Yes; in the records building.
Mr. BELIN. And did the FBI man have any pictures with him at all, or
not?
Mr. FISCHER. I don't remember whether he had pictures or not. It seems
like he did.
Mr. BELIN. Could you identify the man you saw in the window from any of
the pictures?
Mr. FISCHER. Uh--not--in fact, I believe they asked me--I believe they
did have pictures of him. It seems like I recall them asking me if it
could have been the picture that they identified as Lee Harvey Oswald,
or if it could have been the picture of Jack Ruby.
Mr. BELIN. Now what did you say about the Jack Ruby picture?
Mr. FISCHER. I told them that I didn't think it could be him
because--uh--he didn't--he didn't have near enough hair, it didn't look
like to me.
Mr. BELIN. What about his build?
Mr. FISCHER. And that, too. His face was just a little--uh--fat;
whereas-uh--Oswald's picture was rather a slender face and neck.
Mr. BELIN. Did the man you saw in the window have a high forehead or a
low forehead--or do you remember?
Mr. FISCHER. I can't--I can't remember seeing that--uh--that well. I
don't know if I could have--if I saw it now, whether I could tell you
whether he had a large forehead or not.
Mr. BELIN. Do you have any estimate of how far you were from that
window when you saw him?
Mr. FISCHER. Uh--from the point where I was standing when I saw him in
the window to him, it must have been, I would say, at least a hundred
feet.
Mr. BELIN. All right. Now, did you ever tell anyone, or might you have
told them, that you saw this person a minute or two before you saw the
motorcade, rather than as you told us here today, 15 or 20 seconds
before you first saw the motorcade?
Mr. FISCHER. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Did you ever tell anyone it was a minute or two before you
saw the motorcade?
Mr. FISCHER. Well, I might have said "a minute or two" in just terms. I
don't remember saying that but.