(Testimony of Perdue William Lawrence)
Mr. Griffin.
Southard." Lieutenant Southard works for Captain Thompson and we were to use my motorcycle officers and his corner men, so, because of the motorcade part of it, I assume that this was the reason that it was turned over to me. Normally on parade or a special assignment and such, this is under the jurisdiction of Captain Thompson, but because of the escort part of it, I am assuming that this was why it was given to me. I would like to also add that Captain Thompson and I work evenings on alternate Friday and Saturday nights, and I was scheduled to work daytime hours on Friday, November 22, and this may also be a reason I was given this particular assignment. Captain Thompson did work evenings on Friday, November 22, 1963, and Saturday, November 23, 1963.
Mr. Griffin.
Had you participated in other traffic control projects in the past?
Captain Lawrence.
Yes; I had.
Mr. Griffin.
Had you ever been involved in one that involved the President of the United States or any other important official who required special protection?
Captain Lawrence.
No; I had not.
Mr. Griffin.
In your experience in the Dallas Police Department, had there ever been a time when there had been a President or an important person who had come through who required special protection?
Captain Lawrence.
Yes; but not in which I was directly assigned to any duties. When President Kennedy came to town to visit Mr. Rayburn at Baylor Hospital, Lieutenant Curtis was in charge of that detail and I don't know if I was on a day off or what it was, but I was not in charge of that detail at all. I made none of those arrangements.
Mr. Griffin.
From whom did you receive your instructions in connection with the duties that you were to carry out?
Captain Lawrence.
My immediate superior was Deputy Chief R. H. Lunday, and I received my instructions from Chief Lunday and Asst. Chief Batchelor; both of them.
Mr. Griffin.
When were you first told that you were to be in charge of this traffic control?
Captain Lawrence.
The first day was on a Tuesday--November 19.
Mr. Griffin.
And who told you at that time?
Captain Lawrence.
Chief Batchelor.
Mr. Griffin.
And what did Chief Batchelor tell you at that time that your responsibilities would be?
Captain Lawrence.
He told me he wanted me to go over this route and to start working with the assignments of men to the intersections on the motorcade route, and he said that he had gone over this route and handed me a list of intersections that he wanted covered and the amount of men he wanted on each intersection and the reason he wanted more than one or two at certain intersections was because of the turning movements of the motorcade, but he also wanted assignments made to certain overpasses and told me the number of men that he would like to have stationed on the overpasses.
Mr. Griffin.
Did he tell you the names of the particular men he wanted on the overpass?
Captain Lawrence.
He gave me the names of no men. He told me to make the assignments, and when he handed me this list, he was either with Chief Lunday or I went immediately to Chief Lunday and asked for the assistance of Lt. W. F. Southard because he--his men would be directly involved also in these assignments.
Mr. Griffin.
I notice you have a list in your hand. Is that the list Chief Batchelor gave you?
Captain Lawrence.
That's the list that Chief Batchelor gave me.
Mr. Griffin.
Would you mind if we marked this and returned this for our file?
Captain Lawrence.
No; not a bit. I would like to add that it was not requested that I bring any papers with me. I did bring with me some original personnel assignment notes for the purpose of refreshing my memory, and I see no reason why my superiors would object to any requests made by this Committee.
Mr. Griffin.
Let me now turn this over and I will state for the record that it consists of five small white sheets of paper, roughly 2 1/2 by 5 inches in size, and
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