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Warren Commission Hearings: Vol. V - Page 249« Previous | Next »

(Testimony of Henry Wade)

Mr. Wade.
the killing of Lee Harvey Oswald I thought that Friday night was the time, in my own mind, that is what I thought, he had thought about killing him. I don't say he said he would go arm himself, but in my own mind I had that feeling all along and I thought it was the first time he had thought about it, that is where I discounted all the other theories there was a connection between them because I saw him there and talked to him, and saw his excited demeanor, and so you asked me did I question him any more, he finally told me, what I actually thought were the facts and I do now incidentally.
Mr. Rankin.
You have already testified that you thought it was Jack Ruby before you even knew the name.
Mr. Wade.
Well, you may--I may have stressed a little saying thought. When I was driving down there they said Dallas businessman kills him, without his name.
But in my own mind I said it must have been that Jack Ruby that was down there the night before. I mean I was just talking to myself, there wasn't nobody there. But like I say, one of those things, I might be more truthful to say it ran through my mind rather than to say I thought.
Mr. Dulles.
You didn't say that to your wife?
Mr. Wade.
I didn't say it to a soul. I went down there alone. I took her home. We don't live four or five blocks and I drove downtown myself, and it entered my mind and I will say when they announced it I wasn't too surprised. I mean I had or thought about him as a possibility.
Mr. Rankin.
Now, did you get any assistance from the FBI, Secret Service, and other agencies in the handling of these cases?
Mr. Wade.
Practically none. I never have seen the Secret Service file. This Sorrels is the only one I talked with and I saw his report although I never did get a copy of it. The FBI let us examine, I believe all their files, I am not sure, but we couldn't take possession of them and we had to send somebody up there to run through them and dictate on them, and undoubtedly they helped us some in the trial.
They helped us in this way. If you had a witness on the stand--I was cross-examining and I would say, well now, you talked to the FBI and he would say yes, sir, and they really picked up when they knew they had talked to the FBI and then I would say didn't you tell them this and they would usually admit it.
Mr. Rankin.
Do you know whether the files of the of either of these agencies or both of them were made available to the police in connection with the two cases?
Mr. Wade.
It is a one-way deal usually with the FBI, you know. They don't usually tell you anything about their files but I say they did show us their files on this, and whether they showed them to the police I have no idea.
I will say they turned their files to the U.S. attorney and let me send somebody up there to look at it, 4,500 pages of it.
But that was about a week before the trial, and during the picking of the jury when we were still going through them.
Mr. Rankin.
Did you learn anything during your investigation of the Ruby case about the billfold and the ignition case in the car?
Mr. Wade.
Of Ruby's car?
Mr. Rankin.
Yes.
Mr. Wade.
No.
Mr. Rankin.
That didn't come to your attention?
Mr. Wade.
You know they found a lot of stuff in his car and a lot of stuff on his person. I might say this--there are only two pieces of evidence found on him I wanted to introduce during the trial and until this day I never have found either one of them.
I don't know where they are. The police say they gave them to us, and I know they didn't. One was the receipt from the Western Union which we never, can't find the original of that or a copy, which I think you all have a copy of it.
The second one was he had in his possession a "Lifeline Deal on Heroism," telling about everybody had to take things into their own hands and be a hero.
We later got a copy of that because the night before the killing he gave
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