Mr. WHALEY. I don't want to get you mixed up and get your whole
investigation mixed up through my ignorance, but a good defense
attorney could take me apart. I get confused. I try to tell you exactly
what happened, to the best of my ability, when they brought Oswald out
in the lineup of four. He was the third man out. I don't know which way
they count them.
Mr. BELIN. We don't want you to be concerned about affecting the
investigation one way or the other by what you say. What we want you to
say is tell us what you know, to the best of your recollection.
Mr. WHALEY. That is exactly what I am doing, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Let me ask you this. What day of the week did you take this
cab passenger, on a Friday or Saturday?
Mr. WHALEY. I would have to see my trip sheet.
Mr. BELIN. You don't remember?
Mr. WHALEY. No, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Was it the day of the motorcade?
Mr. WHALEY. The day of the President's parade, yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Now, was it that day that you went down to the police
station to see the lineup?
Mr. WHALEY. No, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Was it the next day?
Mr. WHALEY. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. The next day you went down to the Dallas Police Station and
saw a lineup of how many people?
Mr. WHALEY. Four people.
Mr. BELIN. These men came out and there were numbers above their heads?
Mr. WHALEY. The numbers were stationary. Looked through a black silk
screen at them. In other words, they were very dim, the numbers.
Mr. BELIN. What did you see as the number over the man that you
identified as having been in your cab that day?
Mr. WHALEY. No. 2.
Mr. BELIN. Did you see a picture of that man in the paper at any time?
Mr. WHALEY. Saturday morning, sir; following the event on Friday.
Mr. BELIN. You saw his picture in the paper?
Mr. WHALEY. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Was that the same man that you identified as No. 2 in the
lineup?
Mr. WHALEY. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Did you ever see his picture in the paper again?
Mr. WHALEY. No, sir; I take that back, sir. I saw the picture in the
paper when they had, when Ruby killed him at the time between the two
detectives.
Mr. BELIN. Was the man in connection with the Ruby matter with the two
detectives, did it have his name in the paper as Lee Harvey Oswald? Was
his name in the paper then when you saw his picture?
Mr. WHALEY. Well, I don't think they had it that way. I think they just
had it Oswald. I am not sure what they had under it. I am not for sure,
but I did see the picture.
Mr. BELIN. Was that the same man you carried in your cab on Friday?
Mr. WHALEY. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Was that the man you identified at the police station?
Mr. WHALEY. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. It is your best recollection, if I understand it, that this
was the No. 2 man in the lineup?
Mr. WHALEY. That's right, sir. That was from the left now. No. 2 from
my left. I was facing him.
Mr. BELIN. Right. I mean correct. Now, your affidavit which is Whaley's
Deposition Exhibit A, the last sentence says, "The No. 3 man who I now
know as Lee Harvey Oswald was the man who I carried from the Greyhound
bus station to the 500 block of North Beckley." Now you say it was the
No. 2 man from your left, is that correct?
Mr. WHALEY. From my left. No. 3 from my right.
Mr. BELIN. What about whether or not you carried him to the 500 block
of North Beckley. Did you carry him there?
Mr. WHALEY. No, sir. That is where he asked me. That is where I put on
my trip sheet.
Mr. BELIN. You had it on the trip sheet the 500 block of North Beckley?
Mr. WHALEY. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. When did you put it on your trip sheet, before or after you
let him out?
Mr. WHALEY. After, sir; a good while after.
Mr. BELIN. Why?
Mr. WHALEY. Well, see, sometimes when you are busy you make three or
four trips before you ever write one up.
Mr. BELIN. Why didn't you put it on your trip sheet for 700 instead of
500 North Beckley?
Mr. WHALEY. Because that is what he told me and that is what I remember
when I wrote the trip up. I imagine there were hundreds of trip sheets,
because people get off before they get where they are going. But I
remember the thing that way.
Mr. BELIN. When did you first ascertain or start thinking about it that
it was the 700 block of North Beckley where you let him off?
Mr. WHALEY. Well, when the FBI man got in my cab and he wanted to go
over the route.
Mr. BELIN. When was this?
Mr. WHALEY. I don't know the exact date, sir, but it was the next week.
Mr. BELIN. In the next week you told the FBI that it was the 700 block?
Mr. WHALEY. No, sir; I don't recall. I know I took him to where I let
him out.
Mr. BELIN. You did?
Mr. WHALEY. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Did you ever tell anyone it was the 700 block of North
Beckley?
Mr. WHALEY. No, sir. I left it said just like I had it on my trip
sheet. Nobody else asked me about it.
Mr. BELIN. When we went out there today, when we started the stopwatch
from the Greyhound bus station to the 700 block of North Beckley, do
you know about how many minutes that was on the stop watch?
Mr. WHALEY. A little more than 5 minutes, between 5 and 6 minutes.
Mr. BELIN. Would your trip that day, on November 22, have been longer
or shorter, or about the same time as the trip we took today?
Mr. WHALEY. It would be approximately the same time, sir, give or take
a few seconds, not minutes. Because the man drove just about as near to
my driving as possible. We made every light that I made, and we stopped
on the lights that I stopped on.
Mr. BELIN. Let the record show that the stopwatch was 5 minutes and
30 seconds from the commencement of the ride to the end of the ride,
and let the record further show that Dr. Goldberg and Mr. Robert Davis
from the Texas attorney general's office and I walked back from the
point where the Deponent Whaley told us he let the passenger off at the
residence at 1026 North Beckley, and that this walk took 5 minutes and
45 seconds.
And let the record further show that after visiting the rooming house
at 1026 North Beckley--that is what I call the "long way around
route,"--was walked from 1026 North Beckley to the scene of the Tippit
shooting, which took 17 minutes and 45 seconds at an average walking
pace, and this route would be to take Beckley to 10th Street and then
turn on 10th Street toward Patton, and this is not the most direct
route. Rather, the most direct route would be to take Beckley to Davis
Street and then turn left or east on Davis, walking a short block to
Crawford, and taking Crawford to 10th, and then 10th east to Patton, or
taking Davis Street directly to Patton, and taking Patton down to East
10th, and that the more direct nature of the later route appears from
the map which I believe is Commission's Exhibit No. 371, which is the
Dallas street map.
Mr. Whaley, is there anything else that you care to add, or can you add
anything else that might be helpful in this investigation?
Mr. WHALEY. No, sir; I can't.
Mr. BELIN. We sure appreciate all your help and taking the time to go
over the route today.
Mr. WHALEY. Thank you. I still would like to know where I knew you
before.
Mr. BELIN. Sir, I don't know. Now, Mr. Whaley, if you like, you can
come back and read this deposition after it is typed, and sign it
before you mail it to Washington, or you can waive the signing of it.
You have a right to read it and sign it before it goes, or you can
waive the reading of it and send it directly to us in Washington.
Mr. WHALEY. Does it make any difference?
Mr. BELIN. It does not make any difference.
Mr. WHALEY. It will all be what you said and what she took down?
Mr. BELIN. What you said?
Mr. WHALEY. Yes, sir; and what I said?
Mr. BELIN. Yes.
Mr. WHALEY. That will be all right. I will waive the signing of it.