(Testimony of Mrs. Bertha Cheek)
Mr. Griffin.
males in 1959 and 1960. I understand that these two Cubans were living at 5212 Gaston?
Mrs. Cheek.
Yes.
Mr. Griffin.
Does that apartment have a name?
Mrs. Cheek.
No.
Mr. Griffin.
How big----
Mrs. Cheek.
It wasn't an apartment. It was a boarding house; room and board.
Mr. Griffin.
How many rooms did you rent out there?
Mrs. Cheek.
I think it was about 10 rooms that I rented out.
Mr. Griffin.
Who managed that boarding house?
Mrs. Cheek.
I had different managers throughout the year.
Mr. Griffin.
Well, now, in the period 1959 and 1960, who was managing it for you at that time?
Mrs. Cheek.
I would have to look back on my records. Nineteen what, now?
Mr. Griffin.
1959 or 1960?
Mrs. Cheek.
I would have to look back, because managers for boarding houses is like waitresses and cooks, they come and go because you don't pay them very much.
Mr. Griffin.
Do you recall when your sister, Mrs. Roberts, was working at or managing your boarding houses?
Mrs. Cheek.
Not the exact date.
Mr. Griffin.
Do you recall whether she was managing any boarding house for you back in 1959 or 1960?
Mrs. Cheek.
She might have been at 5430. You would have to ask her. I believe you would have a more correct answer on that.
Mr. Griffin.
Is there anything that makes you recall that the two Cubans lived at 5212?
Mrs. Cheek.
I don't know right now just what brought that up or anything. Now my son was there, I think, while the two FBI men were there, and he might have mentioned it, or my sister might have mentioned it, I don't remember. There were two Cubans there, I think. They might have been Cuban and they might not have been.
Mr. Griffin.
What made you think they were Cubans?
Mrs. Cheek.
I don't know how they got that they were Cubans, because I don't know a Cuban from a Spanish or a Spanish from a Mexican. Like Dr. Florescent, when he come in, he was real dark. I wasn't going to rent because I don't rent to dark Spanish people or Mexicans or Indians. I always rented to light-colored people my own race. But another color, and he was so well dressed and everything and he insisted--this is in 1948, I think. He came in there from the Philippine Islands. He was going to Baylor Hospital to school.
Mr. Griffin.
How about the two Cubans?
Mrs. Cheek.
I don't really know if I would know they were Cubans or not unless someone told me.
Mr. Griffin.
I take it that it is unusual to have somebody living at your place who is of Spanish or Latin American background?
Mrs. Cheek.
That it would be what?
Mr. Griffin.
It would be unusual for you to rent to someone who was Spanish or Latin American or of Cuban background?
Mrs. Cheek.
No, it wouldn't be unusual, because I had rented to people from Mexico at the Beachcomber, very nice people, when I had short rentals there.
They checked in; they were business people; and I had rented to people from, not China, but the Japs.
Mr. Griffin.
Japanese?
Mrs. Cheek.
Yes, at the Beachcomber, during the fair. The pearl dealers, I rented to, but on short rentals. And there were just a few that I had a short time at the Beachcomber and I had a set up of maid service and television.
Mr. Griffin.
When somebody comes in to rent one of the suites, do they contact you?
Mrs. Cheek.
I had managers there, and sometimes I would be there at the Beachcomber.
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