Warren Commission (06 of 26): Hearings Vol. VI (of 15)United States. Warren Commission
History
Warren Commission (06 of 26): Hearings Vol. VI (of 15)
United States. Warren Commission
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Assassination; Oswald, Lee Harvey
Mr. CRAWFORD. That was--I had a hard time describing that. When I saw
it, I automatically in my mind came to the conclusion that it was a
person having moved out of the window. Now, to say that it was a brown
haired, light skinned individual, I could not do that.
Mr. BALL. Could you tell whether it was a man or woman?
Mr. CRAWFORD. I could not.
Mr. BALL. You made a report to the Federal Bureau of Investigation on
the 10th of January?
Mr. CRAWFORD. Yes.
Mr. BALL. Before I ask you about your report, did you have any
impression as to the source of the sound, from what direction the sound
came, the sound of the explosions?
Mr. CRAWFORD. Yes; I do. As I mentioned before, the sound, I thought
it was a backfire in the cavalcade from down the hill, down the hill
toward the underpass.
Mr. BALL. You mean west on Elm?
Mr. CRAWFORD. Yes, and that was a little confusing and in analyzing it
later, evidently the report that I heard, and probably a lot of other
people, the officers or the FBI, it evidently was a sound that was
reflected by the underpass and therefore came back. It did not sound to
me, ever, as I remember, the high-powered rifle sounding. It was not
the sharp crack.
Mr. BALL. What caused you to look up at the Texas School Book
Depository Building?
Mr. CRAWFORD. The sound had to be coming from somewhere; the noise was
being made at some place, so I didn't see anyone shooting firecrackers
or anything else and I thought "this idiot surely shouldn't do such
a thing," but if they were, where were they, and if they were shots,
where were they coming from, and that caused me to search the whole
area on Houston Street and in front of the Texas Depository on Elm
Street and then up and that's how I happened to be looking up at the
time, rather than observing things in the street, probably.
Mr. BALL. Did you ever see any smoke?
Mr. CRAWFORD. No, sir; I did not.
Mr. BALL. In your remark to Mary Ann Mitchell, did you say "if those
were shots, they came from that window"?
Mr. CRAWFORD. Yes.
Mr. BALL. That is what you reported to the FBI agent, also?
Mr. CRAWFORD. Yes, I suppose; at that time, I was still not absolutely
sure that they were shots and that's why I said if they were shots. I
was basing that, I am sure I was basing that mainly on the fact of this
quick movement that I observed. In other words, if I were firing the
shots, I would have jumped back immediately at the conclusion of them.
Mr. BALL. Later on, did you go back in the street and talk to someone?
Mr. CRAWFORD. Yes.
Mr. BALL. Did you talk to a deputy sheriff?
Mr. CRAWFORD. Allen Swett.
Mr. BALL. What did you tell him?
Mr. CRAWFORD. I told him to have the men search the boxes directly
behind this window that was open on the sixth floor--the window in the
far east corner.
Mr. BALL. Did you tell him anything of what you had seen?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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