Mr. SKELTON. And Austin Miller, of course.
Mr. BALL. Did you know Dodd, the employee of the railroad?
Mr. SKELTON. No, sir; like I say, I recognized them off and on when I
see them around there.
Mr. BALL. Did you see any police officers there?
Mr. SKELTON. Yes; this man right here--they say it was him--I don't
recall whether it was or not.
Mr. BALL. Who--Mr. Brown?
Mr. SKELTON. The one who was in here just a while ago--they say he was
the one up there, but I don't know.
Mr. BALL. You didn't recognize him there?
Mr. SKELTON. No; I didn't recognize him.
Mr. BALL. In other words, you saw some police officers up there?
Mr. SKELTON. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. Where were they standing?
Mr. SKELTON. There was one standing directly behind me, I think, or in
the general vicinity, and there was one on the far side of the triple
underpass.
Mr. BALL. By "far side," you mean where?
Mr. SKELTON. It would be back on this side.
Mr. BALL. It would be south?
Mr. SKELTON. No, sir; that would be the east side--isn't it?
Mr. BALL. Elm runs east and west.
Mr. SKELTON. It would be the west side.
Mr. BALL. It would be west?
Mr. SKELTON. Yes, sir; and then there was one back over here on
Stemmons--I noticed one, at least, over there and one on the railroad
overpass on Stemmons.
Mr. BALL. How many police officers were on this overpass, the railroad
overpass?
Mr. SKELTON. Two, I would say, sir. That's all I saw.
Mr. BALL. And how many men did you see standing right near on the
railroad overpass over Elm, just approximately?
Mr. SKELTON. Eight, including the officer--eight or nine.
Mr. BALL. Did you see the President's car turn on Elm Street?
Mr. SKELTON. Yes, sir; I saw the car carrying the Presidential flag
turn.
Mr. BALL. And did you hear something soon after that?
Mr. SKELTON. Just about the same time the car straightened up--got
around the corner--I heard two shots, but I didn't know at that time
they were shots.
Mr. BALL. Where did they seem to come from?
Mr. SKELTON. Well, I couldn't tell then, they were still so far from
where I was.
Mr. BALL. Did the shots sound like they came from where you were
standing?
Mr. SKELTON. No, sir; definitely not. It sounded like they were right
there--more or less like motorcycle backfire, but I thought that they
were these dumbballs that they throw at the cement because I could see
the smoke coming up off the cement.
Mr. BALL. You saw some smoke come off of the cement?
Mr. SKELTON. Yes.
Mr. BALL. Where did it seem to you that the sound came from, what
direction?
Mr. SKELTON. Towards the President's car.
Mr. BALL. From the President's car?
Mr. SKELTON. Right around the motorcycles and all that--I couldn't
distinguish because it was too far away.
Mr. BALL. How long did you stand there?
Mr. SKELTON. I stood there from about 12:15 until the time the
President was shot.
Mr. BALL. How many shots did you hear?
Mr. SKELTON. I think I heard four--I mean--I couldn't be sure.
Mr. BALL. You think you heard four?
Mr. SKELTON. Yes.
Mr. BALL. How long did you stay there after you heard the fourth shot?
Mr. SKELTON. Not very long--just as soon as the cars sped away and
everything was in a big commotion--we ran down to listen to the radio.
We couldn't get anything off of that--we heard that the President had
been shot and so we went back up there and the police officer asked
us if we had seen the assassination and we told him we had. He said
he would like to get a statement from us, so he took us over to the
sheriff's office.
Mr. BALL. Did you see any pigeons flying or anything like that?
Mr. SKELTON. No, sir; I didn't see anything like that--any pigeons at
all.
Mr. BALL. I think that's all I have. This will be written up and
submitted to you for your signature, if you want to sign it, or you can
waive your signature.
Which do you want to do?
Mr. SKELTON. I will waive my signature. I am sure it is all right.
Mr. BALL. That is fine. Thank you very much.
Mr. SKELTON. There's one thing I could say--you have that other report?
Mr. BALL. What is that?
Mr. SKELTON. About when I saw one of the bullets where it hit on the
pavement and it hit, the smoke did come from the general vicinity of
where you say Oswald was.
Mr. BALL. Wait a minute--let me ask you some questions about that.
Tell me, now, about the smoke--did you see some smoke?
Mr. SKELTON. After those two shots, and the car came on down closer to
the triple underpass, well, there was another shot--two more shots I
heard, but one of them--I saw a bullet, or I guess it was a bullet--I
take for granted it was--hit in the left front of the President's car
on the cement, and when it did, the smoke carried with it--away from
the building.
Mr. BALL. You mean there was some smoke in the building?
Mr. SKELTON. No; on the pavement--you know, pavement when it is hit
with a hard object it will scatter--it will spread.
Mr. BALL. Which way did it spread?
Mr. SKELTON. It spread just right in line, like you said.
Mr. BALL. I haven't said anything--tell me what you think it was?
Mr. SKELTON. Like I said--south of us--it would be southwest, you know,
in a direct line from the Texas Depository.
Mr. BALL. I see. In other words, the spray seemed to go to the west; is
that right?
Mr. SKELTON. Yes.
Mr. BALL. All right. Thanks very much.
I'm going to get you to mark one of these maps and show where you were
standing. Here is Elm and here is the railroad underpass and pay no
attention to the diagrams, but show me about where you were standing.
Mr. SKELTON. I was about right there (marked instrument referred to as
requested by Counsel Ball).
Mr. BALL. By that "X" we will put the word "Skelton" and that is where
you were standing with your friend?
Mr. SKELTON. Approximately--yes.
Mr. BALL. Now, did you see any smoke or anything from any place around
there?
Mr. SKELTON. No, sir; I just stated to your secretary that I heard
people say they did, but I didn't.
Mr. BALL. But you did see something light on the street?
Mr. SKELTON. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. About where?
Mr. SKELTON. A bullet--let's see--this is kind of out of proportion
[referring to diagram], and I would say the bullet hit about right here
[indicating on diagram].
Mr. BALL. Then, let's mark that as "Skelton (2)" and we will make the
first Skelton number (1) and then Skelton number (2), and this X mark
here is where you saw the bullet and which way did the spray go?
Mr. SKELTON. Just like it was going there.
Mr. BALL. Mark an arrow showing the direction that you think the spray
was going.