Mr. Oswald. The right hand, sir.
Mr. Jenner. Did he exhibit any proficiency in the use of that .22 caliber gun on that occasion?
Mr. Oswald. I would say an average amount.
Mr. Jenner. Hunting rabbits or squirrels with a rifle takes pretty good marksmanship. Did any of you boys bring down a rabbit or squirrel, on the fly, I mean?
Mr. Oswald. As I recall, one small, very small cottontail as he ran across the peanut field, all three of us were shooting at him, and my weapon that I had, one of the weapons that belonged to me, was a semiautomatic 22 and I perhaps had a burst of four or five rounds that I said I got him. But all three of us were shooting at him.
Mr. McKenzie. Did all three of you claim him?
Mr. Oswald. No, sir; I did.
Mr. Jenner. Was that your only victory on that hunting trip or did someone else shoot down a squirrel or a rabbit?
Mr. Oswald. No squirrels were killed that day and perhaps I believe this was the occasion that we went into what we called a briar patch located off to the left of the farmhouse; at that particular time it was very thick with cottontails, and I believe we exterminated about eight of them at that time between the three of us because it was the type of brush and thorns that didn't grow very high but we were able to see over them, so getting three of us out there it wasn't very hard to kill eight of them.
Mr. Jenner. Now, had you and your brother engaged in this very light form of hunting at any other time during your lifetime?
Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir.
Mr. Jenner. Would you indicate the frequency of that?
Mr. Oswald. If I recall, only one other occasion that we had been hunting together. This was during a leave that Lee had from the Marine Corps.
Mr. Jenner. During a leave that he had?
Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir. And at which time, if I may correct myself there, another time comes to mind, I recall two times that we had this type of light hunting out there at that farm, at the same place. One time was during a leave that he had from the Marine Corps. I don't recall of any game at that particular time that we shot. I know we did handle the rifle and fired maybe target practice, something along that line. I don't recall of anything.
The second time that I now remember is during his stay after he returned from Russia, during his stay at my home in Fort Worth, that my wife and I and our children took him and his wife and child out to the farm to meet our in-laws, my in-laws, and also to do a little hunting while we was out there, and which we did just a very little bit. I believe this was on a Sunday afternoon and we didn't stay out very long.
Mr. Jenner. What weapons did you use on that occasion?
Mr. Oswald. On that occasion, I believe the same weapons we used before.
Mr. Jenner. Would that be true of all three occasions?
Mr. Oswald. I believe on the first occasion, which was the occasion that Lee came home on leave, that at that time I only owned one .22 rifle.
Mr. Jenner. Was that the semiautomatic?
Mr. Oswald. No, sir; it was not the semiautomatic, it was a bolt action rifle, with a clip on it. However, I believe Lee either used my brother-in-law's rifle——
Mr. Jenner. Was that a bolt-action rifle?
Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir; it is a bolt-action rifle. He either used that rifle or a single-shot, bolt-action rifle, another .22 that was out at the farm.
Mr. Jenner. On the occasion during which you went hunting during that 3-day period, interregnum his return and his discharge and his departure for New Orleans, was the weapon he employed a bolt-action weapon?
Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir; it was.
Mr. Jenner. Is it a fair statement on my part that on all the occasions that you recall hunting with Lee he employed a bolt-action rifle?
Mr. Oswald. That is correct, sir.
Mr. Jenner. During your youth and prior to these occasions about which you testified, do you know of the fact or know by rumor or otherwise that your brother engaged in this light hunting or other kind of hunting where he used a firearm even though he was not with you or you did not accompany him?
Mr. Oswald. I feel surely that he did, without recalling any particular time that he told me, but his interest along that line was generally like mine, that is hunting and fishing, and I am sure when he had an opportunity to hunt that he did do so.
Mr. Dulles. Did he ever tell you about hunting in Russia?
Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir; he did.
Mr. Jenner. Would you relate that, please, tell us when the conversation took place and the circumstances, if it was a conversation?
Mr. Oswald. The circumstances was it was in a letter I received from him.
Mr. Jenner. Is that one of the letters you produced?
Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir; it is.
Mr. Jenner. Did you have any conversation with him in addition to the letter, apart from the letter?
Mr. Oswald. I believe I did along that line because as I stated our interests in hunting and fishing was mutual and he did state that he was able to——
Mr. Jenner. In response to Mr. Dulles' question, would you give the conversation? We will take care of the letter in the morning.
Mr. Oswald. No, sir; I am trying to give the conversation.
Mr. Jenner. Thank you. Proceed.
Mr. Oswald. That we talked about hunting over there, and he said that he had only been hunting a half dozen times, and so forth, and that he had only used a shotgun, and a couple of times he did shoot a duck.
Mr. Jenner. It was all shotgun shooting, no rifle shooting?
Mr. Oswald. No rifle shooting, no sir. That is all they were allowed to have, the shotgun.
Mr. Jenner. This conversation took place, as I understand it, on his return from Russia when he was living with you for that month, that would be June-July of 1962?
Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir; that is correct.
Mr. Jenner. And that is the extent of the conversation?
Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir; that is.
Mr. Jenner. As you now recall it—there have been some reports, and they are only reports as far as we of the staff are concerned, of speculation about a television set, whether your brother purchased or owned a television set and whether he purchased it outright or on time with a guarantee from you.
What information or knowledge do you have in that connection?
Mr. Oswald. I am not aware that he purchased a television set, sir. I did at his request, when he and Marina and the baby were living in Fort Worth.
Mr. Jenner. Where in Fort Worth?
Mr. Oswald. Mercedes Street in Fort Worth, in a small duplex which was——
Mr. Jenner. Can you fix even more definitely the time of this event?
Mr. Oswald. This was approximately the latter part of September, 1962. And at his request——
Mr. Jenner. He came to you, excuse me.
Mr. Oswald. He called me, sir.
Mr. Jenner. He called you by telephone?
Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir; he called me at my office from his place of employment in Fort Worth at that time.
Mr. Jenner. Give us the substance of what he said.
Mr. Oswald. We talked briefly about how each family was doing, and so forth, and he said that he would like to establish credit and he had tried to charge something at Montgomery Ward's at Fort Worth,