Mr. Liebeler.

me ask you was anybody else present beside you and your companion at the time of the conversation?

Mr. Paine.

No, just he and I.

Mr. Liebeler.

Tell us the general essence of the conversation as best you can recall.

Mr. Paine.

There had been talk, of course, people, I don't get a newspaper, but I do listen to the radio. I know what my news source is, it is mostly magazines. So there was some anxiety about the President coming to Dallas-Fort Worth, and' it appeared that this thought was in the minds of several others, I was not singular in this way. It had been expected, of course, that trouble would come from the right-wing, and I was wondering whether there was any danger, I suppose, that is somebody who could be drummed up by local feeling. The number of anti-Kennedy jokes cracked was quite large in Texas, and so I was wondering, you know, what kind of a person would kill a President, and I don't think Dave Noel knew anything about it, so it was just musing or conjecturing on my part. I certainly didn't think of Lee Oswald. -I didn't expect it from that cause, from that end of the spectrum.

Mr. Liebeler.

When did you first think of Lee Oswald in connection with the assassination?

Mr. Paine.

As soon as I heard the Texas School Book Depository Building mentioned. Now, I did not know that--it never occurred to me, I didn't realize, there was a building there on his route. I had seen this warehouse building from the expressway, you can see the name written in large letters, but that is the way from any main thoroughfare. So I had supposed, I never put except when it was mentioned that that was the building he shot from or was the building that the shot was fired from, then I realized I did know where he worked.

Mr. Dulles.

You had not been at Irving that previous night?

Mr. Paine.

No, I had not.

Mr. Liebeler.

You knew Oswald worked at the Texas School Book Depository Building?

Mr. Paine.

Yes, I did.

Mr. Liebeler.

As soon as you heard that that building was involved in the assassination, you thought of Oswald, did you not?

Mr. Paine.

Yes.

Mr. Liebeler.

What did you think?

Mr. Paine.

Wondering whether Oswald would do it. And the argument against it, the only argument against it, was Just I didn't think he was irrational, or it seemed to me to be irrational.

Mr. Liebeler.

And you asked yourself the question of whether or not Oswald would do it solely on the basis of your knowledge that he worked in that building, is that correct?

Mr. Paine.

Yes. Well, I didn't realize he worked in that building, but then I realized I didn't know--I knew he worked at that organization. I didn't realize there was a building on Elm Street there.

Mr. Liebeler.

Did you talk to your wife after you heard that the Texas School Book Depository Building was involved in the shooting, and before you subsequently heard that Oswald had been arrested in connection with the assassination?

Mr. Paine.

I don't believe so. I think I called her only once to see that she was listening to the news, and then I assumed she would know all that I knew, and as soon as she heard that I supposed she would be wondering the same thing. It wasn't many minutes later though, it seemed to me, that the name Lee Oswald was mentioned-in the theater. The newsmen didn't connect it up at all, but that is all I needed to send me home.

Mr. Liebeler.

So then you left for your home in Irving?

Mr. Paine.

Yes.

Mr. Liebeler.

You left for home before there had been any public connection made between Oswald and the assassination, is that correct?

Mr. Paine.

Well, of course, the police were reporting they had suspects here and suspects there, were chasing suspects over here, and here was a man who