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Warren Commission Hearings: Vol. VIII - Page 63« Previous | Next »

(Testimony of Mrs. Myrtle Evans)

Mrs. Evans.
Evans, who helped Lee Oswald get that apartment; how are the Oswalds getting along," and she said, "You know, they are a queer kind of people," and she said, "I just told him, 'After all, how do you expect your wife and your child ever to speak the English language when all you ever talk to them is in Russian'?" She said, "I told him, 'This girl doesn't know a word of English, and I can't converse with her at all'," and she said, "I asked him why he didn't talk to her in English and let her learn some English so that she can talk to the people that live here in this country, instead of always in Russian."
Mr. Jenner.
What did she say he said when she said that?
Mrs. Evans.
Well, she said he didn't say anything. She said she tried to help them in different ways, but they didn't seem to want her to help them, and that the girl couldn't talk a word of English, so she couldn't understand her anyway. She said that Lee had for some reason always talked to her in Russian. She said she told him, "She will never learn to speak English if you keep talking to her in Russian." Now, that must have been prior to the time that I saw this deal on television, and then the next thing I knew about Lee, it was all over television, that he had killed the President, and the rest of it you know. I didn't even know he was back in Texas. I thought he was still living on Magazine Street and working at the Reily Coffee Co.
Mr. Jenner.
You didn't know he was back in Texas?
Mrs. Evans.
No; because I never did go back when I saw this flash about the Cuban situation on TV and Lee's picture all over the screen. I said, "If he is Russian, I don't want to get dragged into it. Maybe they will think I had some thing to do with it."
Mr. Jenner.
So you just stayed away, is that right?
Mrs. Evans.
That's right; I didn't want to take a chance in getting involved in anything like that. However, I will say this, I would have loved to meet Marina. Maybe you can call it curiosity, or something, but I did want to meet her. She seems to be such a lovely person. I couldn't tell you where they lived in Texas. I never heard from them any more after that. I would have liked to tell his mother how sorry I felt for the loss of her son, and things like that, but I just don't know how to go about something like that now. I guess it's just one of those things, but I sure do feel sorry for her.
Mr. Jenner.
Tell me this: in the time that you knew Lee, did he pretty much get his own way? Would you be able to say as to that?
Mrs. Evans.
Well, I would say he did; definitely. She would try to give him everything he wanted--that she could, I mean, and do everything he wanted her to do. I've seen that happen many times in the time that I knew them and especially while they lived at my house. I mean, she couldn't give him a lot of material things. She just didn't have much, you know, but she would try to pacify him. That boy was so inclined to be within himself, that it was hard to figure him out. I guess no one will be able to tell what was really in his mind. They called him a "loner", and I guess that's about the best description you can give him. He was certainly a quiet type boy.
Mr. Jenner.
What did you observe with respect to his relations with other children? Just how did he regard them?
Mrs. Evans.
Well, to be truthful with you, I never really saw him with anyone except his mother practically.
Mr. Jenner.
Do you recall when you had a discussion with Marguerite with respect to her leaving Lee with a couple?
Mrs. Evans.
Oh, yes. Marguerite told me that she had this couple at her home looking after Lee. Lee wasn't 3 at that time, you see, and so he wasn't old enough to put in a nursery, but then the neighbors began telling her that they were cruel to her child when she wasn't home, and that the child was doing a lot of crying, and so she came home from work early one day, and she said her baby was screaming, and he had welts on his legs, and that this man had beat her baby, and so she put them out that night. Now, who they were or what their names where, I don't know, but she said that no one would take Lee, and she just didn't know what to do with him while she was working, so that's why she got this couple in the first place.
Mr. Jenner.
Why wouldn't anybody take Lee?
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