Warren Commission (15 of 26): Hearings Vol. XV (of 15)United States. Warren Commission
History
Warren Commission (15 of 26): Hearings Vol. XV (of 15)
United States. Warren Commission
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Assassination; Oswald, Lee Harvey
Chief BATCHELOR. Yes, sir; they were there when I started to run up the
ramp and close the back door at the time they brought Oswald out.
Mr. HUBERT. The men were still there?
Chief BATCHELOR. They were still there.
Mr. HUBERT. But you don’t recall their names now?
Chief BATCHELOR. No, sir; I don’t.
Mr. HUBERT. But it was the same men, the one man guarding the 1-foot
space on the Harwood Street side, and the other two guarding the 2-foot
space on the other side were there right after the truck backed in and
were still there just before Oswald was shot, and so far as you know,
they did not move?
Chief BATCHELOR. Yes.
Mr. HUBERT. They were under orders to stay there?
Chief BATCHELOR. Yes; I didn’t give them their orders. They were placed
there, and they were there, so I assumed that they knew to stay there.
Mr. HUBERT. What did you do after you left the truck, do you recall?
Chief BATCHELOR. Left the truck?
Mr. HUBERT. The armored car.
Chief BATCHELOR. I was standing in the basement after I left the truck,
and went down to the foot of the ramp. There was a time that Chief
Stevenson came down and whispered to me that they had a change of plans
and that they were going to use the truck as a decoy, and that Oswald
was to be taken in an automobile with detectives.
Mr. HUBERT. You did not go back up to the third floor then between the
time?
Chief BATCHELOR. Not after that truck got to the basement.
Mr. HUBERT. Did you leave the basement area at all after the truck
backed in?
Chief BATCHELOR. No, sir; I don’t recall that I did.
Mr. HUBERT. Where were you then, just around in there?
Chief BATCHELOR. Around in there.
Mr. HUBERT. And Stevenson told you about the change after you had left
the truck. About how much time, roughly, before the shooting?
Chief BATCHELOR. Oh, just a very short time. From the time that he told
me that they had changed their plans and the time the shooting happened
couldn’t have been over 10 or 15 minutes at the most.
After he told me, Lieutenant Pierce and Sergeant Putnam got a squad car
and took it out the Main Street ramp to get around the city hall.
Mr. HUBERT. Was that movement part of the original movement?
Chief BATCHELOR. No, sir; that was part of the changed plan.
Mr. HUBERT. Did Stevenson tell you about that too then?
Chief BATCHELOR. No; he didn’t actually tell me about that. I saw him
pulling out. I believe at that time he told me what they were doing,
and then immediately after they took their car out. Two homicide
detectives got two detective cars and started lining them up to go
behind this truck, and one of them got in place and pulled up to the
edge of the ramp, and then the other one backed his car in the place,
and he had hardly stopped when they brought Oswald out.
And I was standing up toward the front of the back car, the best I
remember, toward the front of the front fender, and they were still
sort of jockeying these cars.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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