Mrs. Oswald. Thank you. That it would be better if he bought something for himself—that I would manage.
Mr. Rankin. Did this seem to make him more upset, when you suggested that he wait about getting an apartment for you to live in?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes. He then stopped talking and sat down and watched television and then went to bed. I went to bed later. It was about 9 o'clock when he went to sleep. I went to sleep about 11:30. But it seemed to me that he was not really asleep. But I didn't talk to him.
In the morning he got up, said goodbye, and left, and that I shouldn't get up—as always, I did not get up to prepare breakfast. This was quite usual.
And then after I fed Rachel, I took a look to see whether Lee was here, but he had already gone. This was already after the police had come. Ruth told me that in the evening she had worked in the garage and she knows that she had put out the light but that the light was on later—that the light was on in the morning. And she guessed that Lee was in the garage.
But I didn't see it.
Mr. Rankin. Did she tell you when she thought your husband had been in the garage, what time of the day?
Mrs. Oswald. She thought that it was during the evening, because the light remained on until morning.
Mr. Rankin. Why did you stay awake until 11:30? Were you still angry with him?
Mrs. Oswald. No, not for that reason, but because I had to wash dishes and be otherwise busy with the household—take a bath.
Mr. Rankin. This is a good place for a recess, Mr. Chairman.
The Chairman. All right. We can take a recess now.
We will recess now for 10 minutes.
(Brief recess.)
The Chairman. The Commission will be in order.
Mr. Rankin?
Mr. Rankin. Mrs. Oswald, why did the use of this false name by your husband make you so angry? Would you explain that a little bit?
Mrs. Oswald. It would be unpleasant and incomprehensible to any wife if her husband used a fictitious name. And then, of course, I thought that if he would see that I don't like it and that I explained to him that this is not the smart thing to do, that he would stop doing it.
Mr. Rankin. Did you feel that you were becoming more impatient with all of these things that your husband was doing, the Fair Play for Cuba and the Walker incident, and then this fictitious name business?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes, of course. I was tired of it.
Every day I was waiting for some kind of a new surprise. I couldn't wait to find out what else would he think of.
Mr. Rankin. Did you discuss that with your husband at all?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes, of course.
Mr. Rankin. What did you say about that?
Mrs. Oswald. I said that no one needed anything like that, that for no reason at all he was thinking that he was not like other people, that he was more important.
Mr. Rankin. And what did he say?
Mrs. Oswald. He would seem to agree, but then would continue again in two or three days.
Mr. Rankin. Did you sense that he was not intending to carry out his agreement with you to not have another Walker incident or anything like that?
Mrs. Oswald. I generally didn't think that Lee would repeat anything like that. Generally, I knew that the rifle was very tempting for him. But I didn't believe that he would repeat it. It was hard to believe.
Mr. Rankin. I wasn't clear about when Mrs. Paine thought that your husband might have been in the garage and had the light on. Can you give us any help on the time of day that she had in mind?
Mrs. Oswald. In the morning she thought about it. But she didn't attach any significance to it at that time. It was only after the police had come that this became more significant for her.
Mr. Rankin. So she thought it was in the morning after he got up from his night's rest that he might have gone to the garage, turned on the light?
Mrs. Oswald. In my opinion, she thought that it was at night, or during the evening that he had been in the garage and turned on the light. At least that is what she said to me. I don't know.
Mr. Rankin. Did she indicate whether she thought it was before he went to bed at 9 o'clock?
Mrs. Oswald. I don't know. At first it seems it wasn't nine, it was perhaps ten o'clock when Lee went to bed. And first, Ruth went to her room and then Lee went. He was there after her.
Mr. Rankin. So he might have been in the garage sometime between 9 and 10? Was that what you thought?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes. But I think that he might have even been there in the morning and turned on the light.
Mr. Rankin. On this evening when you were angry with him, had he come home with the young Mr. Frazier that day?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes.
Mr. Rankin. When was the last time that you had noticed the rifle before that day?
Mrs. Oswald. I said that I saw—for the first and last time I saw the rifle about a week after I had come to Mrs. Paine.
But, as I said, the rifle was wrapped in a blanket, and I was sure when the police had come that the rifle was still in the blanket, because it was all rolled together. And, therefore, when they took the blanket and the rifle was not in it, I was very much surprised.
Mr. Rankin. Did you ever see the rifle in a paper cover?
Mrs. Oswald. No.
Mr. Rankin. Could you describe for the Commission the place in the garage where the rifle was located?
Mrs. Oswald. When you enter the garage from the street it was in the front part, the left.
Mr. Rankin. By the left you mean left of the door?
Mrs. Oswald. It is an overhead door and the rifle was to the left, on the floor.
It was always in the same place.
Mr. Rankin. Was there anything else close to the rifle that you recall?
Mrs. Oswald. Next to it there were some—next to the rifle there were some suitcases and Ruth had some paper barrels in the garage where the kids used to play.
Mr. Rankin. The way the rifle was wrapped with a blanket, could you tell whether or not the rifle had been removed and the blanket just left there at any time?
Mrs. Oswald. It always had the appearance of having something inside of it. But I only looked at it really once, and I was always sure the rifle was in it. Therefore, it is very hard to determine when the rifle was taken. I only assumed that it was on Thursday, because Lee had arrived so unexpectedly for some reason.
Mr. Rankin. Did you believe that the reason for his coming out to see you Thursday was to make up?
Mrs. Oswald. I think there were two reasons. One was to make up with me, and the other to take the rifle. This is—this, of course, is not irreconcilable.
Mr. Rankin. But you think he came to take the rifle because of what you learned since. Is that it?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes, of course.
Mr. Rankin. Before this incident about the fictitious name, were you and your husband getting along quite well?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes.
Mr. Rankin. Did he seem to like his job at the depository?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes, because it was not dirty work.
Mr. Rankin. Had he talked about getting any other job?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes. When he went to answer some ads, he preferred to get some work connected with photography rather than this work.