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(Testimony of Mrs. Lillian Murret Resumed)
Mrs. Murret.
Lee said that. Lee had money that he had saved. He had saved over $1,000 or $1,400---I don't know the amount--but after he got home and stayed there I day, he said, "Well, this is not for me; I'm leaving."
Mr. Jenner.
Lee said that?
Mrs. Murret.
Yes; so he left. She thought he was coming to New Orleans; so she called me and she said that he had left by bus, and that she thought he was coming to New Orleans, and that he had worked as a runner when he was here for a while for Tujague's, and she thought he might be coming here for that reason, and that he may stop at my house, but not to tell him that she had called me, but Lee never did stop at the house. If he did, I didn't know it.
Mr. Jenner.
Did he call you?
Mrs. Murret.
No; he didn't call. I never heard from him, and I was waiting, and I have always felt that if he had only stopped at the house, you know, this might not have happened.
Mr. Jenner.
What do you think would have happened if he had stopped by or called?
Mrs. Murret.
I think we might have been able to help him get a job, or maybe we couldn't have done anything; I don't know.
Mr. Jenner.
Well, you would have tried, anyhow.
Mrs. Murret.
Yes; anyway, we didn't see Lee, and I had to go out that afternoon and I was under the impression, I thought maybe he did come, you know, pass by, and I asked some children in the block if they had seen somebody in the house and they said yes, that they saw someone with a small suitcase, but afterward I thought it was the Fuller brush man. I thought that afterward.
So then I didn't know anything any more about Lee.
Mr. Jenner.
Could we stop there a minute and go back over this? After the divorce from Ekdahl, did she continue to live in Texas?
Mrs. Murret.
Yes, and that's another thing. We felt that if she could have gotten along with Ekdahl, that they would have all been together. Lee would have had someone to look up to as a father, and so forth, and things might have been different, but you can't go by what could have happened. I guess sometimes you make your own troubles.
Mr. Jenner.
In any event, after Ekdahl left and they were divorced, then she remained in touch with you, but she didn't return here?
Mrs. Murret.
No.
Mr. Jenner.
And then, at that time, she would have had her son, Lee, and her son, John, and her son, Robert, with her; is that right?
Mrs. Murret.
Yes.
Mr. Jenner.
All living in in their home in Fort Worth?
Mrs. Murret.
Yes.
Mr. Jenner.
What, if anything, did Marguerite tell you about the way she brought Lee up; I mean with regard to whether he was to stay in the house after school, and things like that?
Mrs. Murret.
Yes; she told me that she had trained Lee to stay in the house; to stay close to home when she wasn't there; and even to run home from school and remain in the house or near the house. She said she thought it would be safer to have him just do a few chores in the house, like taking the garbage cans out and things like that, than to have him outside playing when she wasn't there. She figured he wouldn't get in any trouble in the house. Maybe she thought she was making it safer for him by doing that, rather than being out with other children, but I don't know. I guess that's what happened. He just got in the habit of staying alone like that. That's probably the time that he got like that; he was with himself so much.
Mr. Jenner.
I take it, however, you heard from your sister from time to time?
Mrs. Murret.
What's that?
Mr. Jenner.
You heard from your sister from time to time during all of this period, didn't you?
Mrs. Murret.
Well, every now and then, but after she had left Ekdahl, I didn't hear from her too much. I don't know what went on. I think Robert worked at some supermarket, and so forth. He had to support the family, or
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