Shall we admit this at this time, or do you want to wait until you have gone through them all, and then admit them all?
Mr. Jenner. It might be more convenient to identify them all, because they are of a series, if I have your permission.
Mr. Dulles. Certainly.
Mr. McKenzie. The next document is Commission Exhibit 277, and purports to be a photocopy, or is a photocopy of a purported contract between Marina N. Oswald and Robert Oswald, bearing the date of December 9, 1963, and purportedly signed by Marina N. Oswald, Robert L. Oswald, John M. Thorne, attorney, and James H. Martin, approved as to form, and consisting of two pages.
Mr. Jenner. Now, if you would turn to the second page, please, sir—I notice a recital, "Executed by the undersigned parties this Ninth day of December A.D., 1963," and what purports to be your signature.
Was this document, or that of which this is a Xerox copy, executed on that date?
Mr. Oswald. I do not have a calendar before me. If the ninth day of December was a Monday, it was signed on that date.
Mr. Jenner. Mr. Dulles is checking the calendar.
Mr. Dulles. I am afraid I don't have a 1963 calendar here.
Mr. Jenner. I am observing a calendar, and the ninth was a Monday.
Mr. McKenzie, does the previous document also bear a date?
Mr. McKenzie. It bears the date of December 6, Mr. Jenner.
Mr. Jenner. December 6, then, was a Saturday.
Mr. McKenzie. If Monday was the ninth, Friday was the sixth.
Mr. Jenner. Was the previous exhibit, which is numbered 276, executed on December 6th?
Mr. Oswald. No, sir; it was not.
Mr. Jenner. On what date was it executed?
Mr. Oswald. It was executed on Monday, December 9th.
Mr. Jenner. Despite its bearing a date of December 6th, it was actually executed on the ninth, when Commission Exhibit 277 was executed?
Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir; that is correct.
Mr. Jenner. Now, directing your attention to the second page of Exhibit No. 277, that likewise bears a series of signatures. I ask you first whether those signatures were affixed in your presence?
Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir; they were.
Mr. Jenner. Now, was the document now identified as 277, which is a Xerox copy—was the original of Exhibit 277 executed at the same time as the copy which you have produced for us executed?
Mr. Oswald. May I have that again, please, sir?
Yes, sir; that is correct.
Mr. Jenner. That is, there were a series of papers, original and carbon copies, signed, at one and the same time?
Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir.
Mr. Jenner. And all of them were signed in your presence?
Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir.
Mr. Jenner. All right.
Now, there are four signatures on that page. Would you proceed to state your familiarity with those signatures and identify them?
Mr. Oswald. All right.
Left to right, as the signatures appear—my signature, Robert L. Oswald.
Mr. Jenner. And to the right of that?
Mr. Oswald. And to the right of that, the signature of Mrs. Marina N. Oswald, which I am familiar with.
The next signature is Mr. John M. Thorne, attorney, and I am familiar with his signature.
And the last signature that appears on this second page, Mr. James H. Martin. I am also familiar with his signature.
Mr. Jenner. And these persons are the same persons you have heretofore identified?
Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir.
Mr. Jenner. And is the document of which this 277 is a Xerox copy in the same condition now as it was the time those signatures were affixed to it?
Mr. Oswald. May I have a moment, sir?
Mr. Jenner. Yes.
Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir; that is correct.
Mr. Jenner. Is that likewise true of Exhibit No. 276?
Would you take a look at it, please?
Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir; that is correct. And if I may say this about this—on page 3 of Exhibit 276, you will note that towards the upper right-hand part of this page there was—on this copy, there is a dark mark, following the word "royalties."
Representative Ford. What page is that?
Mr. Oswald. Page 3, the sixth line, the word that was crossed off or out of the contract was the word "gifts."
Mr. Jenner. And was that done in the course of the discussion and preceding the execution of the document?
Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir; that is correct.
Mr. Jenner. So the document is in the same condition it was when executed?
Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir.
Mr. Jenner. Would you identify the next exhibit, Mr. McKenzie?
Mr. McKenzie. The next exhibit is a photocopy of an investment agency agreement. It is Commission Exhibit No. 278. This exhibit bears the date of December 30, 1963, and is an agreement by and between John M. Thorne and James H. Martin, co-trustees, of Dallas County, Tex., referred to in the exhibit as principal, and the First National Bank of Fort Worth, Tex., referred to in the exhibit as agent.
The exhibit consists of 3 pages, together with a schedule A and a letter addressed to the Trust Department of the First National Bank of Fort Worth, Tex.
This exhibit is a photocopy of a photocopy of a duplicate original.
I have seen the duplicate original upon which it had the names, handwritten names of John M. Thorne, co-trustee, and James H. Martin, co-trustee, as principal, on page 3, and Preston A. Utterbach, Vice President and Trust Officer of the First National Bank of Fort Worth, Tex.
However, these Xerox copies of a copy, being a photocopy, do not have the signatures on, because the second photocopy did not reproduce the signatures.
I have seen those.
Mr. Jenner. The Xerox machine was unable to pick up the signatures?
Mr. McKenzie. No. The prior photocopy was unable to pick up the signatures.
Mr. Dulles. Because they had not been put on, or because they didn't pick them up?
Mr. McKenzie. It would not pick them up, Mr. Dulles. The signatures were on the instrument itself, but the photo machine would not reproduce the signatures.
Mr. Jenner. You actually saw the signatures?
Mr. McKenzie. Yes, sir.
Mr. Jenner. Where did you see that document, Mr. McKenzie?
Mr. McKenzie. Marina N. Oswald gave it to me in my office.
Mr. Jenner. Would you state the thrust or substance of those agreements?
Mr. McKenzie. The substance of it is that Mr. Thorne and Mr. Martin, as principals, constituted the First National Bank of Fort Worth as the agent to hold certain trust funds, consisting, as shown by the exhibit, attached to this exhibit, of $25,000.
Mr. Jenner. It was deposited with the First National Bank of Fort Worth under this trust and deposit agreement, agency agreement?
Mr. McKenzie. Yes, sir.
I presume that to be true. I know Preston Utterbach. And if his signature was on it, I know that the funds were deposited there at the bank,