Testimony Of Linnie Mae Randle

Mr. Ball.: Mrs. Randle, where do you live?
Mrs. Randle.: 2438 Westfield, Irving, Tex.
Mr. Ball.: And you live there with your husband and three daughters, do you?
Mrs. Randle.: Yes, sir.
Mr. Ball.: And your brother?
Mrs. Randle.: Yes.
Mr. Ball.: Wesley?
Mrs. Randle.: Yes, sir.
Mr. Ball.: How long has Wesley been living there?
Mrs. Randle.: Since September, somewhere around the first, I am not sure just the date.
Mr. Ball.: Do you know Mrs. Ruth Paine?
Mrs. Randle.: She is a neighbor that lives up the street from me.
Mr. Ball.: When did you first meet Mrs. Paine?
Mrs. Randle.: Well, for a period, I am not sure of this, it is quite 2 years, I lived across the street from her. I didn't visit with her, but I visited with her neighbor who lives next door.
Mr. Ball.: What is her name?
Mrs. Randle.: Mrs. Dorothy Roberts.
Mr. Ball.: That is on Fifth Street in Irving, Tex.?
Mrs. Randle.: That is right; yes.
Mr. Ball.: That was before you moved down the street to the corner of Westfield and Fifth Street?
Mrs. Randle.: Yes, sir.
Mr. Ball.: You had never visited in Mrs. Paine's home?
Mrs. Randle.: I was in her home on one occasion that I remember at a birthday party for one of her children and she invited mine.
Mr. Ball.: How long ago?
Mrs. Randle.: It has been about a year ago.
Mr. Ball.: That is the only time you have visited Mrs. Paine?
Mrs. Randle.: Yes, sir.
Mr. Ball.: Did you ever meet Marina Oswald?
Mrs. Randle.: Yes, sir; I did.
Mr. Ball.: When did you meet her?
Mrs. Randle.: The first time I met her was over at this Mrs. Roberts. I had gone up there to see Mrs. Roberts and her. Mrs. Oswald and Mrs. Paine was over there drinking coffee, that was the first time I met her.
Mr. Ball.: When was that?
Mrs. Randle.: Well, I believe it was the first week in October.
Mr. Ball.: That is the first time you had ever met Mrs. Oswald?
Mrs. Randle.: Officially met her. I had seen her out in the yard and through the neighbor I knew who she was, I hadn't met her until that time.
Mr. Ball.: Did you ever see her again to talk to her, Marina Oswald?
Mrs. Randle.: Well, she couldn't speak English, "How are you" and things like that was about all she could say and I did visit with Mrs. Roberts quite often and so she would be out in the yard and she would speak.
Mr. Ball.: In whose yards, Mrs. Roberts' yard or Mrs. Paine's?
Mrs. Randle.: Mrs. Paine's. She played with her children, and kept the yard and things like that.
Mr. Ball.: But on this one occasion she was in the house, Mrs. Roberts' house?
Mrs. Randle.: Mrs. Roberts.
Mr. Ball.: With Mrs. Paine, Mrs. Roberts and yourself?
Mrs. Randle.: That is right.
Mr. Ball.: Was there some conversation at that time about her husband Lee Oswald?
Mrs. Randle.: Well, they had--it was just general knowledge in the neighborhood that he didn't have a job and she was expecting a baby. Of course. I didn't know where he was or anything. And of course you know just being neighborly and everything, we felt sorry for Marina because her baby was due right away as we understood it, and he didn't have any work, so they said, so it was just--
Mr. Ball.: Mrs. Paine told you that Lee didn't have any work?
Mrs. Randle.: Well, I suppose. It was just in conversation.
Mr. Ball.: Marina didn't take part in the conversation?
Mrs. Randle.: No. She couldn't. So far as I know, she couldn't speak.
Mr. Ball.: You and Mrs. Roberts and Mrs. Paine talked about it?
Mrs. Randle.: Yes.
Mr. Ball.: Was there anything said then about the Texas School Book Depository as a place he might get a job?
Mrs. Randle.: Well, we didn't say that he might get a job, because I didn't know there was a job open. The reason that we were being helpful, Wesley had just looked for a job, and I had helped him to try to find one. We listed several places that he might go to look for work. When you live in a place you know some places that someone with, you know, not very much of an education can find work.
So, it was among one of the places that we mentioned. We mentioned several others, and Mrs. Paine said that well, he couldn't apply for any of the jobs that would require driving because he couldn't drive, and it was just in conversation that you might talk just any day and not think a thing on earth about it. In fact, I didn't even know that he had even tried any place that we mentioned.
Mr. Ball.: What were some of the other places mentioned?
Mrs. Randle.: Well, I remember two of them. Mrs. Roberts entered into the conversation and, of course, she is more familiar with the place than I am. It was Manor Bakeries which was a home delivery service.
Then there was this Texas Gypsum which makes sheet rock and things like that, and we mentioned because Wesley had tried those places that I mentioned those.
Mr. Ball.: And then you also mentioned the Texas Book Depository?
Mrs. Randle.: Well, I didn't know there was a job opening over there.
Mr. Ball.: But did you mention it?
Mrs. Randle.: But we said he might try over there. There might be work over there because it was the busy season but I didn't have any previous knowledge that there was any job opening.
Mr. Ball.: Did you later learn that Lee had applied for a job?
Mrs. Randle.: She told me, Mrs. Paine told me, later that he had applied for the job, and had gotten the job and she thanked us for naming the places and things like that.
Mr. Ball.: Did you tell your brother that a fellow named Lee Oswald was going to work for them?
Mrs. Randle.: No, sir; I didn't even know his name. She said Lee so I just assumed that was his last name and I just merely mentioned to Wesley that he had got the job or a job over there.
Mr. Ball.: That Lee had the job?
Mrs. Randle.: That Mrs. Paine said that, I had told Wesley that he might--that she said he was going to call over there.
In fact, Mrs. Paine asked me if I would call and see if there was a job available and I told her, no, that I didn't know anybody over there, and if she wanted to call over the place she would have to do it because I didn't know if there was any job openings over there.
Mr. Ball.: You told Wesley, though, that you had--Mrs. Paine had told you that Lee had applied for a job and gotten a job there?
Mrs. Randle.: Sir, I don't remember if I mentioned it to him or not.
Mr. Ball.: When you said a moment ago that you had mentioned something to Wesley?
Mrs. Randle.: I might have had. But I can't say for sure I did because at the time it was unimportant to me. It didn't really matter.
Mr. Ball.: In other words, you are not sure whether you did or didn't?
Mrs. Randle.: That is right. I might have, I don't know maybe for sure if I did.
Mr. Ball.: Did Lee tell you at sometime that he had started to drive?
Mrs. Randle.: I never talked to Lee.
Mr. Ball.: Did Wesley tell you that he was driving Lee home weekends or driving him to Irving weekends?
Mrs. Randle.: Wesley had told me that he asked to ride out on weekends.
Mr. Ball.: Did you ever see him arrive with Lee?
Mrs. Randle.: Yes, sir.
Mr. Ball.: Do you recall on a Thursday night, November 21 that you saw Lee get out of Wesley's car?
Mrs. Randle.: That is right.
Mr. Ball.: About what time of night was it?
Mrs. Randle.: About 5:20, I believe, 5:15 or 5:25 something like that.
Mr. Ball.: Where were you when you saw him?
Mrs. Randle.: I was on my way to the grocery store.
Mr. Ball.: Did you talk to Wesley about the fact that he had brought Lee home on this night?
Mrs. Randle.: No, sir.
Mr. Ball.: Did you think it was unusual that he had come home that night?
Mrs. Randle.: Well, I knew that he had--Friday is the only time he had ever ridden with him before which was a couple of times, I don't think he rode with him over three times, I am not sure but I never did know of him arriving, you know, except on Friday.
Mr. Ball.: Well, did you mention to Wesley that night or did you ask Wesley that night how Lee happened to come home on Thursday?
Mrs. Randle.: I might have asked him.
Mr. Ball.: Do you remember anything about curtain rods?
Mrs. Randle.: Yes.
Mr. Ball.: What do you remember about that?
Mrs. Randle.: He had told Wesley--
Mr. Ball.: Tell me what Wesley told you.
Mrs. Randle.: What Wesley told me. That Lee had rode home with him to get some curtain rods from Mrs. Paine to fix up his apartment.
Mr. Ball.: When did Wesley tell you that?
Mrs. Randle.: Well, that afternoon I suppose I would have had to ask him, he wouldn't have just told me.
Mr. Ball.: You mean that night?
Mrs. Randle.: Yes, sir.
Mr. Ball.: After he came home?
Mrs. Randle.: I was on my way to the store. So I probably asked him when I got back what he was doing riding home with him on Thursday afternoon.
Mr. Ball.: You think that was the time that Wesley told you-
Mrs. Randle.: Yes, sir; after I got back home.
Mr. Ball.: That Lee had come home to get some curtain rods?
Mrs. Randle.: Yes, I am sure he told me that.
Mr. Ball.: The next morning did you get breakfast for Wesley, you, and your mother?
Mrs. Randle.: Yes; mother and my children.
Mr. Ball.: And you were packing his lunch, too, were you?
Mrs. Randle.: Yes, sir.
Mr. Ball.: Did you see Lee?
Mrs. Randle.: Yes, I did.
Mr. Ball.: Where did you see him?
Mrs. Randle.: I saw him as he crossed the street and come across my driveway to where Wesley had his car parked by the carport.
Mr. Ball.: What street did he cross to go over?
Mrs. Randle.: He crossed Westbrook.
Mr. Ball.: And you saw him walking along, did you?
Mrs. Randle.: Yes, sir.
Mr. Ball.: Was he carrying any package?
Mrs. Randle.: Yes; he was.
Mr. Ball.: What was he carrying?
Mrs. Randle.: He was carrying a package in a sort of a heavy brown bag, heavier than a grocery bag it looked to me. It was about, if I might measure, about this long, I suppose, and he carried it in his right hand, had the top sort of folded down and had a grip like this, and the bottom, he carried it this way, you know, and it almost touched the ground as he carried it.
Mr. Ball.: Let me see. He carried it in his right hand, did he?
Mrs. Randle.: That is right.
Mr. Ball.: And where was his hand gripping the middle of the package?
Mrs. Randle.: No, sir; the top with just a little bit sticking up. You know just like you grab something like that.
Mr. Ball.: And he was grabbing it with his right hand at the top of the package and the package almost touched the ground?
Mrs. Randle.: Yes, sir.
Mr. Ball.: He walked over to your house, did he?
Mrs. Randle.: Well, I saw him as he started crossing the street. Where he come from then I couldn't say.
Mr. Ball.: You don't know where he went from that?
Mrs. Randle.: Where he went?
Mr. Ball.: Did you see him go to the car?
Mrs. Randle.: Yes.
Mr. Ball.: What did he do?
Mrs. Randle.: He opened the right back door and I just saw that he was laying the package down so I closed the door. I didn't recognize him as he walked across my carport and I at that moment I wondered who was fixing to come to my back door so I opened the door slightly and saw that it--I assumed he was getting in the car but he didn't, so he come back and stood on the driveway.
Mr. Ball.: He put the package in the car.
Mrs. Randle.: Yes, sir; I don't know if he put it on the seat or on the floor but I just know he put it in the back.
Mr. Ball.: We have got a package here which is marked Commission Exhibit No. 364. You have seen this before, I guess, haven't you, I think the FBI showed it to you?
Mrs. Randle.: Yes, sir.
Mr. Ball.: Was the color of that package in any way similar to the color of this package which is 364?
Mrs. Randle.: Yes, sir.
Mr. Ball.: Similar kind of paper, wasn't it?
Mrs. Randle.: Yes, sir.
Mr. Ball.: Now, was the length of it any similar, anywhere near similar?
Mrs. Randle.: Well, it wasn't that long, I mean it was folded down at the top as I told you. It definitely wasn't that long.
Mr. Ball.: How about the width?
Mrs. Randle.: The width is about right.
Mr. Ball.: The width is about right.
Can you stand up here and show us how he was carrying it. Using this package as an example only?
Mrs. Randle.: What he had in there, it looked too long.
Mr. Ball.: This looks too long?
Mrs. Randle.: Yes, sir.
Mr. Ball.: About how long would you think the package would be, just measure it right on there.
Mrs. Randle.: I would say about like this.
Mr. Ball.: You mean from here to here?
Mrs. Randle.: Yes, sir; with that folded down with this much for him to grip in his hand.
Mr. Ball.: This package is about the span of my hand, say 8 inches, is that right? He would have about this much to grip?
Mrs. Randle.: What I remember seeing is about this long, sir, as I told you it was folded down so it could have been this long.
Mr. Ball.: I see. You figure about 2 feet long, is that right?
Mrs. Randle.: A little bit more.
Mr. Ball.: A little more than 2 feet.
There is another package here. You remember this was shown you. It is a discolored bag, which is Exhibit No. 142, and remember you were asked by the Federal Bureau of Investigation agents if this looked like the package; do you remember?
Mrs. Randle.: Yes, sir.
Mr. Ball.: Now, first of all with color, you told them the bag was not the color?
Mrs. Randle.: Yes.
Mr. Ball.: But they showed you a part of the bag that had not been discolored, didn't they?
Mrs. Randle.: Yes, sir.
Mr. Ball.: Looking at this part of the bag which has not been discolored does that appear similar to the color of the bag you saw Lee carrying that morning?
Mrs. Randle.: Yes; it is a heavy type of wrapping paper.
Mr. Ball.: Now, with reference to the width of this bag, does that look about the width of the bag that he was carrying?
Mrs. Randle.: I would say so; yes, sir.
Mr. Ball.: What about length?
Mrs. Randle.: You mean the entire bag?
Mr. Ball.: Yes.
Mrs. Randle.: There again you have the problem of all this down here. It was folded down, of course, if you would take it from the bottom--
Mr. Ball.: Fold it to about the size that you think it might be.
Mrs. Randle.: This is the bottom here, right. This is the bottom, this part down here.
Mr. Ball.: I believe so, but I am not sure. But let's say it is.
Mrs. Randle.: And this goes this way, right? Do you want me to hold it?
Mr. Ball.: Yes.
Mrs. Randle.: About this.
Mr. Ball.: Is that about right? That is 28 1/2 inches.
Mrs. Randle.: I measured 27 last time.
Mr. Ball.: You measured 27 once before?
Mrs. Randle.: Yes, sir.
Mr. Ball.: How was Lee dressed that morning?
Mrs. Randle.: He had on a white T-shirt, I just saw him from the waist up, I didn't pay any attention to his pants or anything, when he was going with the package. I was more interested in that. But he had on a white T-shirt and I remember some sort of brown or tan shirt and he had a gray jacket, I believe.
Mr. Ball.: A gray jacket. I will show you some clothing here. First, I will show you a gray jacket. Does this look anything like the jacket he had on?
Mrs. Randle.: Yes, sir.
Mr. Ball.: That morning?
Mrs. Randle.: Similar to that. I didn't pay an awful lot of attention to it.
Mr. Ball.: Was it similar in color?
Mrs. Randle.: Yes, sir; I think so. It had big sleeves.
Mr. Ball.: Take a look at these sleeves. Was it similar in color?
Mrs. Randle.: I believe so.
Mr. Ball.: What is the Commission Exhibit on this jacket?
Mrs. Randle.: It was gray, I am not sure of the shade.
Mr. Ball.: 163.
I will show you another shirt which is Commission No. 150.
Does this look anything like the shirt he had on?
Mrs. Randle.: Well now, I don't remember it being that shade of brown. It could have been but I was looking through the screen and out the window but I don't remember it being exactly that. I thought it was a solid color.
Mr. Ball.: Here is another jacket which is a gray jacket, does this look anything like the jacket he had on?
Mrs. Randle.: No, sir; I remember its being gray.
Mr. Ball.: Well, this one is gray but of these two the jacket I last showed you is Commission Exhibit No. 162, and this blue gray is 163, now if you had to choose between these two?
Mrs. Randle.: I would choose the dark one.
Mr. Ball.: You would choose the dark one?
Mrs. Randle.: Yes, sir.
Mr. Ball.: Which is 163, as being more similar to the jacket he had?
Mrs. Randle.: Yes, sir; that I remember. But I, you know, didn't pay an awful lot of attention to his jacket. I remember his T-shirt and the shirt more so than I do the jacket.
Mr. Ball.: The witness just stated that 163 which is the gray-blue is similar to the jacket he had on. 162, the light gray jacket was not.
Mrs. Randle.: Yes.
Mr. Ball.: I have no further questions.
The Chairman.: Senator, have you any questions?
Senator Cooper.: No questions.
The Chairman.: Have you any questions, Mr. Powell?
Mr. Powell.: No, sir.
Senator Cooper.: I think I do have one.
Prior to the assassination of President Kennedy, did any FBI agents or police officer ever visit your house?
Mrs. Randle.: No, sir.
Senator Cooper.: And said anything to you about Lee Oswald?
Mrs. Randle.: No, sir.
Mr. Jenner.: Could I ask, Mr. Chief Justice, along the line Senator Cooper touched on--whether there had been any conversation in the neighborhood prior to the assassination of any FBI agents or police officers having visited in the neighborhood?
Mrs. Randle.: No, sir.
Mr. Jenner.: You heard nothing. along rumors of that kind?
Mrs. Randle.: No. Later, after all this was over, I had heard that they had been to Mrs. Paine's residence.
Mr. Jenner.: But there was no excitement in the neighborhood up to that point?
Mrs. Randle.: No, sir.
Mr. Ball.: I have one question, Mr. Chief Justice.
You used an expression there, that the bag appeared heavy.
Mrs. Randle.: Yes, sir.
Mr. Ball.: You meant that there was some weight appeared to--
Mrs. Randle.: To the bottom.
Mr. Ball.: To the bottom?
Mrs. Randle.: Yes. It tapered like this as he hugged it in his hand. It was more bulky toward the bottom than it was this way.
Mr. Belin.: Toward the top? More bulky toward the bottom than toward the top?
Mrs. Randle.: That is right.
Mr. Ball.: I have no further questions.
Senator Cooper.: On that point--did you see Lee Oswald place the package in the automobile?
Mrs. Randle.: In the automobile. I do not know if he put it on the seat or on the floor.
Senator Cooper.: I mean did you see him throw open the. door?
Mrs. Randle.: Yes, sir.
Senator Cooper.: When he placed the package in there do you remember whether he used one hand or two?
Mrs. Randle.: No; because I only opened the door briefly and what made me establish the door on Wesley's car, it is an old car and that door, the window is broken and everything and it is hard to close, so that cinched in my mind which door it was, too. But it was only briefly that I looked.
Mr. Jenner.: Mr. Chief Justice, could I ask--how far away were you? You were at the kitchen door and the automobile was in the driveway, what was the distance between yourself and Mr. Oswald?
Mrs. Randle.: Sir, I don't know. The carport will take care of two cars, and then Wesley's car was on the other side of the carport so that would be three car lengths plus in between space.
Mr. Jenner.: Car widths?
Mrs. Randle.: Car widths, excuse me.
Mr. Jenner.: Was it a light day?
Mrs. Randle.: It was sort of cloudy, but there wasn't any--I mean it wasn't dark or anything like that.
Mr. Jenner.: Would you be good enough as you can recall--can you recall what the fabric of the jacket was that Mr. Oswald had on this morning, was it twill or wool or gabardine? Cotton?
Mrs. Randle.: Probably cotton or gabardine, something like that that would repel water probably, and that is just my own opinion.
Mr. Jenner.: That is your present recollection?
Mrs. Randle.: Yes, sir.
Mr. Jenner.: Thank you.
The Chairman.: Mrs. Randle, thank you very m

Source:
Warren Commission Hearings, Vol. II, p. 245-251.

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