Mr. BALL. Which is this?
Mr. ARCE. That's the one behind it; directly behind the Texas School
Book Depository at Elm and Houston.
Mr. BALL. You worked there most of the time as an order filler?
Mr. ARCE. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. Did you ever work over at the building at 411 Elm?
Mr. ARCE. Yes, sir; they were short of help up there and they sent me
and the other boy down there.
Mr. BALL. Who is the other boy?
Mr. ARCE. Bonnie Ray Williams.
Mr. BALL. They sent you out to do what?
Mr. ARCE. Help lay out a floor on the sixth floor.
Mr. BALL. What date did they send you down there?
Mr. ARCE. Sir, I don't remember.
Mr. BALL. October?
Mr. ARCE. I know I had been there about 4 weeks when all that happened;
I believe 4 or 5 weeks. I am not too sure about that.
Mr. BALL. You mean 4 or 5 weeks before November 22, 1963?
Mr. ARCE. Yeah.
Mr. BALL. Were you laying floor at that time?
Mr. ARCE. Yes, sir; we laid floor on the fifth and then we were on the
sixth when this happened.
Mr. BALL. Did you ever meet a fellow named Lee Oswald?
Mr. ARCE. Yeah, he worked with us and he didn't associate with us too
much. He was kind of quiet. He didn't like to talk too much to us or
anything.
Mr. BALL. You say he worked with you; did he work laying floors?
Mr. ARCE. No, he was an order filler; he just worked the same place.
Mr. BALL. Did you ever see him on the sixth floor?
Mr. ARCE. Yeah, quite a few times.
Mr. BALL. Ever see him on the first floor?
Mr. ARCE. Uh-huh.
Mr. BALL. Did you ever eat lunch with him?
Mr. ARCE. We all eat lunch together in this little domino room. We play
dominoes and eat our lunch. He might walk in and lay around with us and
he would walk out. He didn't stay in there too long. I guess he didn't
like crowds.
Mr. BALL. On the 22d of November, what time did you go to work?
Mr. ARCE. We start at eight but I believe I was a little late.
Mr. BALL. You went to work on what floor?
Mr. ARCE. Sixth.
Mr. BALL. Did you work there all morning?
Mr. ARCE. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. What time did you get off work?
Mr. ARCE. That day?
Mr. BALL. At noon for your lunch hour or your lunch period?
Mr. ARCE. What time we left down for lunch?
Mr. BALL. Yes.
Mr. ARCE. We usually leave down about 5 to 12, something around there.
Mr. BALL. How did you go down stairs?
Mr. ARCE. By the elevator.
Mr. BALL. Did you have sort of a race that day, do you remember?
Mr. ARCE. Yeah.
Mr. BALL. Tell me about it.
Mr. ARCE. Well, me and Bonnie Ray and, I am not too sure, I believe it
was Billy Lovelady, were on the same elevator, and Charles Givens and
the other guys were on the other one and we were racing down.
Mr. BALL. Which elevator were you on?
Mr. ARCE. We have two of them that go up, the same deal and I was on
the one facing east. There's an east and a west elevator and I was in
the one facing east.
Mr. BALL. Did you see Lee Oswald or hear him speak on the way down?
Mr. ARCE. Yeah, he was up there and I believe someone asked if he
wanted to go down.
Mr. BALL. He was there--on what floor?
Mr. ARCE. That's what I'm not too sure; I believe he was on five or the
sixth floor. I am not too sure but we were going down and I believe he
was on the fifth; I am not too sure.
Mr. BALL. What did you hear?
Mr. ARCE. He said "You all close the door on the elevator, I will be
down," or somethin'. I didn't pay too much attention. He said to leave
the elevator come down.
Mr. BALL. Did you ever see him around there after that?
Mr. ARCE. No, I didn't see him around after that.
Mr. BALL. Did you have lunch?
Mr. ARCE. Yeah.
Mr. BALL. Where?
Mr. ARCE. In that little domino room there.
Mr. BALL. Where did you go after that?
Mr. ARCE. I went outside.
Mr. BALL. With whom?
Mr. ARCE. With Billy Lovelady and Mr. Shelley and I was out there with
Junior.
Mr. BALL. Who is Junior?
Mr. ARCE. I don't know his real name; I just know him by Junior.
Mr. BALL. Was Bonnie Ray Williams ever out there with you?
Mr. ARCE. No, he stayed upstairs with Hank. Junior stayed up there but
he was down a little while and I guess he went upstairs.
Mr. BALL. What about Givens?
Mr. ARCE. He was down there with Shields, I guess--I mean Melvin--no,
Carl, that's who he was with.
Mr. BALL. What about Jack Dougherty?
Mr. ARCE. He was on all floors; I couldn't tell you where he was.
Mr. BALL. Was he outside?
Mr. ARCE. No, he was eating lunch; me and Jack Dougherty, same time.
Mr. BALL. Dougherty ate his lunch?
Mr. ARCE. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. Did he go outdoors after lunch?
Mr. ARCE. I don't know; I didn't see him.
Mr. BALL. Who went outdoors with you?
Mr. ARCE. Bill Shelley and Billy Lovelady; Carl was out there and
Charles Givens.
Mr. BALL. You stood there how long before the parade came along?
Mr. ARCE. I am not too sure; it was about 10 minutes, somewhere around
there. I am not too sure about that.
Mr. BALL. Did you see the President go by?
Mr. ARCE. Yeah, I did. I seen him when he turned the corner and when he
went down that underpass thing and I heard them shots and I couldn't
see anything. There was a lot of people.
Mr. BALL. Where were you standing when you heard the shots?
Mr. ARCE. I was standing in front of the Texas School Book Depository.
I was on that grassy area part in front.
Mr. BALL. You were not on the sidewalk?
Mr. ARCE. No, I was on the sidewalk, then I walked up to the grass to
get a higher view and still couldn't see.
Mr. BALL. Did you hear shots?
Mr. ARCE. Yeah.
Mr. BALL. How many?
Mr. ARCE. Three.
Mr. BALL. Where did you make out the direction of the sound?
Mr. ARCE. Yeah, I thought they came from the railroad tracks to the
west of the Texas School Book Depository.
Mr. BALL. When you were on the grass, were you south where you were?
Where were you with reference to the entrance to the Texas School Book
Depository?
Mr. ARCE. I was down to the west side, a little more to the west.
Mr. BALL. Were you west of the building itself?
Mr. ARCE. Yeah.
Mr. BALL. You were not in front of the building?
Mr. ARCE. I was directly in front, but then I walked a few steps down
to the west side.
Mr. BALL. Where were you with reference to the west wall of the
building?
Mr. ARCE. Oh, I was way far from it. I was across the street, I mean.
Mr. BALL. What do you mean "across the street"?
Mr. ARCE. Well, there's a little sidewalk right across the street and
there's some grass and things up there and that's where I was at. I
couldn't tell you exactly where I was, see, it's hard to explain.
Mr. BALL. Well, you say you were not in front of the building?
Mr. ARCE. Well, not directly, not in front; I was across the street.
Mr. BALL. And were you west of the west wall of the building?