Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. KennedyUnited States. Warren Commission
History
Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy
United States. Warren Commission
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Assassination; Oswald, Lee Harvey
When Rowland testified before the Commission on March 10, 1964, he
claimed for the first time to have seen another person on the sixth
floor. Rowland said that before he had noticed the man with the rifle
on the southwest corner of the sixth floor he had seen an elderly Negro
man “hanging out that window” on the southeast corner of the sixth
floor.[C6-63] Rowland described the Negro man as “very thin, an elderly
gentleman, bald or practically bald, very thin hair if he wasn’t
bald,” between 50 and 60 years of age, 5 feet 8 inches to 5 feet 10
inches tall, with fairly dark complexion.[C6-64] Rowland claimed that
he looked back two or three times and noticed that the man remained
until 5 or 6 minutes prior to the time the motorcade came. Rowland did
not see him thereafter. He made no mention of the Negro man in his
affidavit.[C6-65] And, while he said he told FBI agents about the man
in the southeast corner window when interviewed on the Saturday and
Sunday following the assassination,[C6-66] no such statement appears in
any FBI report.[C6-67]
Mrs. Rowland testified that her husband never told her about seeing
any other man on the sixth floor except the man with the rifle in
the southwest corner that he first saw. She also was present during
Rowland’s interview with representatives of the FBI[C6-68] and said
she did not hear him make such a statement,[C6-69] although she also
said that she did not hear everything that was discussed.[C6-70]
Mrs. Rowland testified that after her husband first talked about
seeing a man with the rifle, she looked back more than once at the
Depository Building and saw no person looking out of any window on
the sixth floor.[C6-71] She also said that “At times my husband is
prone to exaggerate.”[C6-72] Because of inconsistencies in Rowland’s
testimony and the importance of his testimony to the question of a
possible accomplice, the Commission requested the FBI to conduct an
inquiry into the truth of a broad range of statements made by Rowland
to the Commission. The investigation showed that numerous statements
by Rowland concerning matters about which he would not normally be
expected to be mistaken--such as subjects he studied in school, grades
he received, whether or not he had graduated from high school, and
whether or not he had been admitted to college--were false.[C6-73]
The only possible corroboration for Rowland’s story is found in the
testimony of Roger D. Craig, a deputy sheriff of Dallas County, whose
testimony on other aspects of the case has been discussed in chapter
IV. Craig claimed that about 10 minutes after the assassination he
talked to a young couple, Mr. and Mrs. Rowland,
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