Mr. Belin.

You mean by the time you brought the suspect out?

Mr. Hill.

Yes; the area immediately in front of the theatre looking to the car was open at the time.

Mr. Belin.

Who opened it?

Mr. Hill.

The crowd had been kept back by some officers who had been left outside to cover off the front of the theatre when the rest of us entered.

Mr. Belin.

Apart from the fact that the crowd was split when you led the suspect out, does this appear to be about the number of people there?

Mr. Hill.

No, sir. I would say probably this picture appears to me to contain 75 to 100 people, and I would say probably at the time that we came out of the theatre, by just glancing on both sides as we moved between the two groups to the car, I would estimate the crowd was probably about 200.

Mr. Belin.

All right; anything else up to the time you got to the car that anyone said or did that you haven't related, that you can remember now?

Mr. Hill.

Not that I can recall, sir.

Mr. Belin.

All right; now, let's pick up what happened from the time you started, with the time you opened the doors of the car to put the suspect in the car.

Mr. Hill.

Officer Bentley--the suspect was put in the right rear door of the squad car and was instructed to move over to the middle. C. T. Walker got into the rear seat and would have been sitting on the right rear.
Paul Bentley went around the car and got in the left rear door and sat on that side.

Mr. Belin.

That would have been from the left to the right, Bentley, Oswald, and Walker? Or Bentley, the suspect, and Walker?

Mr. Hill.

K. E. Lyons got in the right front. I entered the door from the driver's side and got in the middle of the front seat.

Mr. Belin.

And being that he had the keys to the car, Bob Carroll drove the vehicle.

Mr. Hill.

As he started to get in the car, he handed me a pistol, which he identified as the one that had been taken from the suspect in the theatre.

Mr. Belin.

When did he identify this to you?

Mr. Hill.

I asked him was this his. He said, "No, it is the suspect's."

Mr. Belin.

When did he do that?

Mr. Hill.

As soon as he handed it to me.

Mr. Belin.

When was that?

Mr. Hill.

Right as I sat down in the car, he apparently had it in his belt, and as he started to sit down, he handed it to me. I was already in the car and seated.

Mr. Belin.

Now I am going to hand you what has been marked Commission Exhibit 143. Would you state if you know what this is?

Mr. Hill.

This is a .38 caliber revolver, Smith & Wesson, with a 2" barrel that would contain six shells. It is an older gun that has been blue steeled, and has a worn wooden handle.

Mr. Belin.

Have you ever seen this gun before?

Mr. Hill.

I am trying to see my mark on it to make sure, sir. I don't recall specifically where I marked it, but I did mark it, if this is the one. I don't remember where I did mark it, now.
Here it is, Hill right here, right in this crack.

Mr. Belin.

Officer, you have just pointed out a place which I will identify as a metal portion running along the butt of the gun. Can you describe it any more fully?

Mr. Hill.

It would be to the inside of the pistol grip holding the gun in the air. It would begin under the trigger guard to where the last name H-i-l-1 is scratched in the metal.

Mr. Belin.

Who put that name in there?

Mr. Hill.

I did.

Mr. Belin.

When did you do that?

Mr. Hill.

This was done at approximately 4 p.m., the afternoon of Friday, November 22, 1963, in the personnel office of the police department.

Mr. Belin.

Did you keep that gun in your possession until you scratched your name on it?