awarding Marguerite $1,500; at her request, the divorce restored to Marguerite her former name, Marguerite C. Oswald.137

While the divorce suit was pending, Marguerite moved from Eighth Avenue to a house on 3300 Willing Street, next to railroad tracks.138 The boys found her there in May when they returned from the military academy; for John, the move signified that they "were back down in the lower class again." 139 Lee's withdrawal from the Clayton School on March 18, 1948, 140 probably coincided with the move to Willing Street. He entered the Clark Elementary School on the following day, and in June completed the second grade with a record mostly of B's and A's.141 Philip Vinson, a classmate at the Clayton School has described Lee at, that time as "a quiet type of kids" who "didn't make a lot of noise." 142 Lee was "stocky and well built," which made other boys look up to him and regard him as the leader of one of their schoolyard "gangs." 143 Vinson thought that Lee was not a bully and got along with his classmates, but had the impression that he rarely played with them or brought them home after school.144

Shortly after the divorce, Mrs. Oswald purchased a small house in Benbrook, on what is now San Saba Street; 145 John has testified that it had a single bedroom, in which Lee slept with his mother, and a screened porch where John and Robert slept.146 Mrs. Oswald worked at a department store in Fort Worth, and left the three boys home alone.147 A neighbor, Mrs. W. H. Bell, has stated that Lee seemed to enjoy being by himself and to resent discipline; 148 another neighbor, Otis R. Carlton, stated that he once saw Lee chase John with a knife and throw it at him, an incident which, Carlton said, their mother passed off as a "little scuffle." 149 At the end of the summer, Carlton purchased the property. He stated that he appraised it at $2,750 at Mrs. Oswald's request; she then insisted that he had made an offer to purchase at that price, which he finally agreed to do.150

After the house was sold, the family returned to Fort Worth, a move necessitated by Mrs. Oswald's, and now John's, employment.151 Mrs. Oswald bought a two-bedroom, frame house at 7408 Ewing, from which Robert and Lee could walk to school.152 John, who was then 16, obtained a job as a shoe stockboy at Everybody's Department Store; he testified that he wanted to finish high school at the military academy, but that his mother advised him to leave school and help to support the family.153 He gave her $15 per week out of his salary of $25.154 Robert returned to school.155

Lee entered the third grade at the Arlington Heights Elementary School.156 He remained at Arlington Heights for the entire school year, completing the third grade with a satisfactory record, which included A's in social studies, citizenship, elementary science, art, and music, and a D in spelling. 157 In September 1949, he transferred to the Ridglea West Elementary School, where he remained for the next 3 years.158 Lee's record at Ridglea is not remarkable in any respect. In the fourth and fifth grades, he received mostly B's; in the sixth grade, B's and C's predominate.159 He received D's in