Warren Commission (12 of 26): Hearings Vol. XII (of 15)United States. Warren Commission
History
Warren Commission (12 of 26): Hearings Vol. XII (of 15)
United States. Warren Commission
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Assassination; Oswald, Lee Harvey
Chief BATCHELOR. No. Chief Lunday didn't come down until later in the
morning, I believe.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Did Captain Talbert join you?
Chief BATCHELOR. No.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Was Captain Talbert still on duty when you arrived at the
police department?
Chief BATCHELOR. Captain Talbert was on duty that morning. He came on
at 7 o'clock.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Talbert came on at 7, but as I understand it, Talbert
called you at your home about 6:30. How did that happen?
Chief BATCHELOR. Well, he is a platoon commander, and a platoon
commander comes down early before the rest of the men to get his
detail, and he had gotten this information from the night commander.
The information came into them before they came on duty, and someone
had tried to call Chief Curry. When they came down, they told me about
it and I called them and I told them to send a squad by and wake Chief
Curry up and tell him.
Mr. GRIFFIN. What platoon was Talbert in charge of?
Chief BATCHELOR. The second platoon that month.
Mr. GRIFFIN. By "platoon," what do you mean?
Chief BATCHELOR. The first platoon is the night platoon that comes
on theoretically at midnight. It actually comes on at 11 o'clock the
preceding day and it goes to 7 o'clock the next morning.
Mr. GRIFFIN. What area does a platoon man?
Chief BATCHELOR. It mans the city. This is a uniform platoon. We
have three substations and they change the same way. The substations
are under the platoon commander, and each of the substations has a
lieutenant in charge of the substation who accounts to the platoon
commander, who is a captain.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Tell me if my understanding is right, that Talbert at this
point had operational responsibility for all the men throughout the
city?
Chief BATCHELOR. That's right.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Sort of like the executive officer on a ship or something?
Chief BATCHELOR. That's right.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Tell us what your conversation was with Chief Curry up in
his office when you first went in?
Chief BATCHELOR. I asked him, I believe, if he had called Sheriff
Decker.
Mr. GRIFFIN. What did he say?
Chief BATCHELOR. He said, no, he hadn't, but he was fixing to do that.
And he did do it. He picked up the phone and called Sheriff Decker.
This was--I got down around 9 o'clock--I mean around 8 o'clock,
correction--and it must have been somewhere around 8:30 or 8:45 when he
called Decker.
Mr. GRIFFIN. How long did you talk with him before he called Sheriff
Decker?
Chief BATCHELOR. Just a few minutes. He called Sheriff Decker, and
Decker said--and I was hearing only one side of the conversation, but
I gathered that Decker had told him he thought he was going to move the
prisoner. Curry said, "Well, if you want us to, we will." So he said,
"I think you've got more manpower than we have. You move him if you
will."
Then we had discussed this threat that had been received and----
Mr. GRIFFIN. You and----
Chief BATCHELOR. Curry.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Did Curry mention the threat to Decker in the telephone
conversation?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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