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Warren Commission Hearings: Vol. X - Page 267« Previous | Next »

(Testimony of Mrs. Jesse Garner)

Mr. Liebeler.
You say your husband had talked to her. Did he tell you what she had said?
Mrs. Garner.
No; I never asked him and he never said nothing.
Mr. Liebeler.
Did you ever have any direct contact with either Oswald or his wife after they moved into the apartment?
Mrs. Garner.
Well, the first thing, they was there a couple of weeks and I have a window fan in the kitchen, and I take the screen down to hose it and clean it, and I didn't put the screen back up. I just set it on the screen porch, and a couple of weeks later he come to me and asked me if I had a ladder and hammer, he was going to put the screen up.
Mr. Liebeler.
This was the screen that belonged on the window.
Mrs. Garner.
The screen belonged on the outside of the kitchen. I have a window fan and it gets dirty, and I take it off. and hose it and clean it, but I didn't put it back. I left it on the porch, and he wanted to put it back.
Mr. Liebeler.
Was this a window fan in Oswald's kitchen?
Mrs. Garner.
It was in Oswald's kitchen, and he wanted to put the screen up and asked me was it all right to put the screen up, and asked me would I loan him a ladder and a hammer. The hooks belonged to the screen to hook the screen, they was off, but I loaned him two nails and told him to tack the screen on so .far, so I could take the nails off, and that would be it, so his wife come outside in the meantime with the baby, and they was talking Russian and I couldn't understand what they were saying.
Mr. Liebeler.
Did you know it was the Russian language then?
Mrs. Garner.
No; I don't. know. I just put two and two together when they come out-with that Russian, but I knew she was Russian. He told me she was Russian when they come to rent the apartment. I don't know what made me say it, but I told him, I called him Lee, I said, "Lee, why don't you talk English to your little girl and your wife? That way she could learn to talk English, and when the little girl goes to school it wouldn't be as hard on her."
He said, "She has time enough to learn that," and he never had a nice word to say to me after that. I think that must have made him hate me or something like that, because he just passed me up all the time too, and never turned his head to look.
Mr. Liebeler.
Did he get the screen back up?
Mrs. Garner.
Yes; he tacked it back up, and I got my ladder and hammer back, and he never even said thank you or nothing.
Mr. Liebeler.
Did he tell you any specific reason why he didn't speak English to his wife and girl?
Mrs. Garner.
No; that's all he said, they had plenty time enough for that, something like that.
Mr. Liebeler.
Did you ever try to talk to Marina Oswald?
Mrs. Garner.
Yes; I did when she would be outside hanging clothes. I tried to talk to her and to the baby, I talked to both, and she would put her hands over her eyes and start crying. I asked her how she felt, and she would just do like this with her shoulders.
Mr. Liebeler.
She shrugged her shoulders?
Mrs. Garner.
Yes; and when she would see you she would not try to say hello, and she always wore little pedal pushers around the house with a little shirt, and her hair was straight pulled back and pinned down.
Mr. Liebeler.
This was Marina?
Mrs. Garner.
Yes.
Mr. Liebeler.
Did she have long hair?
Mrs. Garner.
Yes; long enough, about here.
Mr. Liebeler.
Down to her shoulders?
Mrs. Garner.
Yes.
Mr. Liebeler.
Did you have any other contact with Oswald yourself, personally?
Mrs. Garner.
Yes. One time I went for my rent, it was a few days past due, the rent, and I mean, you know; when you let them go they wait too long and they don't ever get it. It was a few days later, I was going around the drive to see about my rent and he was starting out the drive to catch a bus on the corner, and when he saw me he turned around and looked, figured I
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