Mr. Lehrer.

I was with the Dallas Morning News about 2 years.

Mr. Liebeler.

Before that?

Mr. Lehrer.

I was in the Marine Corps. I went there directly from school into the service.

Mr. Liebeler.

And then you came to work for the Dallas Morning News?

Mr. Lehrer.

I did.

Mr. Liebeler.

Then you went to work for the Dallas Times Herald and you are employed by them now?

Mr. Lehrer.

Yes, sir.

Mr. Liebeler.

I have received information that you were in the office of the Dallas Times Herald on the morning of November 28, 1,963; is that correct?

Mr. Lehrer.

Yes.

Mr. Liebeler.

Would you tell us when you got there and what you did that morning and what you saw?

Mr. Lehrer.

Well, it was Thanksgiving and I got there about 7 or 7:30, something like that, and I don't remember specifically any stories that I worked on on that day. It was just a routine day, not a routine day--a holiday is not routine, because you don't work the whole day on a holiday, so I only worked until around noon that day.

Mr. Liebeler.

You got to the office about 7 o'clock?

Mr. Lehrer.

About 7 or 7:30--something like that.

Mr. Liebeler.

Do you know Hunter Schmidt, Jr.?

Mr. Lehrer.

Yes; I do.

Mr. Liebeler.

Is he also employed as a reporter by the Dallas Times Herald?

Mr. Lehrer.

Yes.

Mr. Liebeler.

And he was at that time?

Mr. Lehrer.

Right.

Mr. Liebeler.

Did you see him in the office that morning?

Mr. Lehrer.

Yes, sir.

Mr. Liebeler.

Are you familiar with the fact that a story appeared in the Dallas Times Herald on this day concerning a gunshop in Irving, Tex., at which Oswald was supposed to have had some work done on a rifle?

Mr. Lehrer.

Right.

Mr. Liebeler.

Were you aware of how that story came into the office of the newspaper?

Mr. Lehrer.

Yes; in a general way. The desk, or the city desk, which consists of the city editor and the assistant city editor or the rewrite staff--somewhere they got a tip that there was a fellow in Irving who had mounted the sight or knew something about it. It was given to Hunter to check out. I happened to be sitting over there. I do not normally work physically on the city desk, but all of us had been working on the assassination aspects and it had been a lot of my responsibility in particular, because so much of it was on my beat at that time, and somebody said they got this guy and they gave it to Hunter to check out and I was sitting right next to Hunter and when he checked it out--in other words--when he called.

Mr. Liebeler.

What did he do do you remember?

Mr. Lehrer.

Well, he just--he was talking to somebody on the telephone and he was given the checkout and he had the man's name before he called and he called somebody on the phone and I was doing something myself--I wasn't writing a story, but I was sitting there and he was talking to this guy, talking to somebody on the telephone, let's put it that way, and when he got through he said something about, "Yeah--this is it; that's right."
Or, it was words to that effect, and then I looked at his notes, you know, and said, "That's a hell of a story," or something like that, and about that time somebody said, "Don't talk about it, write it." ,So he gave it to, I think it was--I'm not sure about this, but I think it was in a general story of the assassination developments of that day, which we were running every day, and I think a rewrite man may have taken the notes and written the story. I don't recall seeing Hunter write the story.

Mr. Liebeler.

Do you know the name of the man that Schmidt was talking to?