(Testimony of Henry Wade)
Mr. Wade.
For every year I have been in the office down there. And I assume you have taken their depositions. I don't know what the relations--the relations are better between Curry and Fritz than between Hanson and Fritz, who was his predecessor. But Fritz runs a kind of a one-man operation there where nobody else knows what he is doing. Even me, for instance, he is reluctant to tell me, either, but I don't mean that disparagingly. I will say Captain Fritz is about as good a man at solving a crime as I ever saw, to find out who did it but he is poorest in the getting evidence that I know, and I am more interested in getting evidence, and there is where our major conflict comes in.
I talked to him a minute there and I don't believe I talked to Captain Fritz. One of my assistants was in Fritz's office. I believe I did walk down the hall and talk briefly, and they had filed, they had filed on Oswald for killing Tippit.
Mr. Dulles.
Which assistant was that?
Mr. Wade.
Bill Alexander. There was another one of--another man there, Jim Alien, who was my former first assistant who is practicing law there in Dallas and frankly I was a little surprised of seeing him there, he is a real capable boy but he was there in homicide with Captain Fritz. They were good friends.
And I know there is no question about his intentions and everything was good, but he was just a lawyer there, but he had tried many death penalty cases with Fritz---of Fritz's cases.
But he was there. Your FBI was there, your Secret Service were there in the homicide.
Mr. Rankin.
Who from the FBI, do you recall?
Mr. Wade.
Well, I saw Vince Drain, a special agent that I knew, and Jim Bookhout, I believe, and there was Mr. Kelley and Mr. Sorrels--Inspector Kelley of the Secret Service, Sorrels, Forest Sorrels.
I might tell you that also, to give you a proper perspective on this thing, there were probably 300 people then out in that hall.
You could hardly walk down the hall. You just had to fight your way down through the hall, through the press up there.
Mr. Rankin.
Who were they?
Mr. Wade.
The television and newsmen. I say 300, that was all that could get into that hall and to get into homicide it was a strain to get the door open hard enough to get into the office.
Mr. Rankin.
Did you say anything to Chief Curry about that?
Mr. Wade.
No, sir; I probably mentioned it but I assume you want--whether I meant he ought to clean them out or not. I didn't tell him he should or shouldn't because I have absolutely no control over the police. They are a separate entity. They have a municipality, and they work under a city manager.
Mr. Rankin.
Did you say anything to Chief Curry about what should be told the press about investigation, how it was progressing or anything of that kind?
Mr. Wade.
Yes; I think that is the brief conversation, that is the last I talked to Curry that night. I may have talked to--but that is all I recall. I left thereafter, and went on out to dinner.
Mr. Rankin.
About what time did you leave?
Mr. Wade.
7, 7:30, something like that. I got home, say, 9:30 or 10, after eating dinner, and I believe I talked to the U.S. attorney or at least I saw it come on the radio that they are going to file on Oswald as part of an international conspiracy in murdering the U.S. President, and I think I talked to Barefoot Sanders. He called me or I called him.
Mr. Rankin.
I wanted to get for the record, Mr. Wade, who would be trying to file like that.
Mr. Wade.
I don't know. All I know it wasn't me. It was told to me at one time that the justice of the peace said something about it and another one, one of my assistants, Alexander had said something about it and I have talked to both of them since and both of them deny so I don't know who suggested it or anything but it was on the radio and I think on television.
I know I heard it and I am not sure where.
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