Testimony of Dial Duwayne Ryder Resumed

The testimony of Dial Duwayne Ryder was taken at 7:40 p.m., on July 23. 1964, in the office of the U.S. attorney, 301 Post Office Building, Bryan and Ervay Street's, Dallas, Tex., by Mr. Wesley J. Liebeler, assistant counsel of the President's Commission.

Mr. Liebeler.

Will you stand and raise your right hand, please.

Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you are about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

Mr. Ryder.

Yes.

Mr. Liebeler.

I believe this is the third time that we have met and I have advised you previously of the nature of the Commission's work and you are familiar with the kind of problems that we have?

Mr. Ryder.

Yes.

Mr. Liebeler.

And you are aware of your rights to have an attorney if you want to--we have already discussed that previously, as I recall, and you know who I am, and, of course, you are Dial Ryder and you work at the Irving Sports Shop, and we have had previous testimony concerning the possibility that Lee Harvey Oswald may have had some work done on his rifle in your sports shop.

When I talked to you previously, I asked you if I recall correctly about any conversations that you might have had with a newspaper reporter from The Dallas Times Herald; do you recall me asking you about that?

Mr. Ryder.

Yes; I do.

Mr. Liebeler.

And my recollection is that you told me that you had not talked to any newspaper reporters from The Dallas Times Herald in connection with the story that appeared in that newspaper on November 28, 1963?

Mr. Ryder.

Yes.

Mr. Liebeler.

And specifically you had said that you had not talked to a newspaper reporter on the morning of November 28, 1963, although you did say that on that morning, sometime around about 7:30 a newspaper reporter did call you from The Dallas Times Herald and told you that he wanted to talk to you about this whole situation and you refused to talk to him?

Mr. Ryder.

That's right.

Mr. Liebeler.

And You hung up the telephone and as I recall, you testified that you then took the receiver off the hook, making it impossible for any other calls to come into your telephone; is that correct?

Mr. Ryder.

That's right.

Mr. Liebeler.

And you were interviewed by the FBI again on May 18, 1964, and you told them that same story; is that correct?

Mr. Ryder.

That's right.

Mr. Liebeler.

Is that in fact correct?

Mr. Ryder.

That's right. It sure is.

Mr. Liebeler.

I want to advise you of the fact that we have located the newspaper reporter who supposedly talked to you that morning and his name is Hunter Schmidt, Jr., and that he has testified that he came to work at The Dallas Times Herald that morning and had a lead on this story that he had gotten from an anonymous telephone call that some woman made to the FBI and one was made to a television station here in Dallas telling them that Oswald had had some work done in your sports shop and I think I previously asked you about this and you said you didn't have anything to do with those anonymous telephone calls; is that right?

Mr. Ryder.

That's right.

Mr. Liebeler.

Schmidt says that he started looking for your name which he got from somewhere, apparently in connection with the Dallas Police Department and tracked you down at your home and called you between 7:30 and 8 o'clock on the morning of November 28, 1963, and that apparently your wife answered the telephone as you were still asleep and you came to the telephone and you appeared to be sleepy and that he talked to you for an extended period of time, and that you gave him the information that Subsequently appeared in the newspaper article on November 28, 1963, in The Dallas Times Herald.
Mr. Schmidt was advised when he testified that you had denied giving him