Oswald. No, I did not ask him, because I thought it was quite normal that when you have a rifle you must clean it from time to time.
Mr. Rankin. Did you ever observe your husband taking the rifle away from the apartment on Neely Street?
Mrs. Oswald. Now, I think that he probably did sometimes, but I never did see it. You must understand that sometimes I would be in the kitchen and he would be in his room downstairs, and he would say bye-bye, I will be back soon, and he may have taken it. He probably did. Perhaps he purely waited for an occasion when he could take it away without my seeing it.
Mr. Rankin. Did you ever observe that the rifle had been taken out of the apartment at Neely Street—that is, that it was gone?
Mrs. Oswald. Before the incident with General Walker, I know that Lee was preparing for something. He took photographs of that house and he told me not to enter his room. I didn't know about these photographs, but when I came into the room once in general he tried to make it so that I would spend less time in that room. I noticed that quite accidentally one time when I was cleaning the room he tried to take care of it himself.
I asked him what kind of photographs are these, but he didn't say anything to me.
Mr. Rankin. That is the photographs of the Walker house that you were asking about?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes. Later, after he had fired, he told me about it.
I didn't know that he intended to do it—that he was planning to do it.
Mr. Rankin. Did you learn at any time that he had been practicing with the rifle?
Mrs. Oswald. I think that he went once or twice. I didn't actually see him take the rifle, but I knew that he was practicing.
Mr. Rankin. Could you give us a little help on how you knew?
Mrs. Oswald. He told me. And he would mention that in passing—it isn't as if he said, "Well, today I am going"—it wasn't as if he said, "Well, today I am going to take the rifle and go and practice."
But he would say, "Well, today I will take the rifle along for practice."
Therefore, I don't know whether he took it from the house or whether perhaps he even kept the rifle somewhere outside. There was a little square, sort of a little courtyard where he might have kept it.
When you asked me about the rifle, I said that Lee didn't have a rifle, but he also had a gun, a revolver.
Mr. Rankin. Do you recall when he first had the pistol, that you remember?
Mrs. Oswald. He had that on Neely Street, but I think that he acquired the rifle before he acquired the pistol. The pistol I saw twice—once in his room, and the second time when I took these photographs.
Mr. Rankin. What period of time was there between when he got the rifle and you learned of it, and the time that you first learned about the pistol?
Mrs. Oswald. I can't say.
Mr. Rankin. When you testified about his practicing with the rifle, are you describing a period when you were still at Neely Street?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes.
Mr. Rankin. Do you know where he practiced with the rifle?
Mrs. Oswald. I don't know where. I don't know the name of the place where this took place. But I think it was somewhere out of town. It seems to me a place called Lopfield.
Mr. Rankin. Would that be at the airport—Love Field?
Mrs. Oswald. Love Field.
Mr. Rankin. So you think he was practicing out in the open and not at a rifle range?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes.
Mr. Rankin. Do you recall seeing the rifle when the telescopic lens was on it?
Mrs. Oswald. I hadn't paid any attention initially.
I know a rifle was a rifle. I didn't know whether or not it had a telescope attached to it. But the first time I remember seeing it was in New Orleans, where I recognized the telescope. But probably the telescope was on before. I simply hadn't paid attention.
I hope you understand. When I saw it, I thought that all rifles have that.
Mr. Rankin. Did you make any objection to having the rifle around?
Mrs. Oswald. Of course.
Mr. Rankin. What did he say to that?
Mrs. Oswald. That for a man to have a rifle—since I am a woman, I don't understand him, and I shouldn't bother him. A fine life.
Mr. Rankin. Is that the same rifle that you are referring to that you took the picture of with your husband and when he had the pistol, too?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes. I asked him then why he had dressed himself up like that, with the rifle and the pistol, and I thought that he had gone crazy, and he said he wanted to send that to a newspaper. This was not my business—it was man's business.
If I had known these were such dangerous toys, of course—you understand that I thought that Lee had changed in that direction, and I didn't think it was a serious occupation with him, just playing around.
Mr. Rankin. Do you recall the day that you took the picture of him with the rifle and the pistol?
Mrs. Oswald. I think that that was towards the end of February, possibly the beginning of March. I can't say exactly. Because I didn't attach any significance to it at the time. That was the only time I took any pictures.
I don't know how to take pictures. He gave me a camera and asked me—if someone should ask me how to photograph, I don't know.
Mr. Rankin. Was it on a day off that you took the picture?
Mrs. Oswald. It was on a Sunday.
Mr. Rankin. How did it occur? Did he come to you and ask you to take the picture?
Mrs. Oswald. I was hanging up diapers, and he came up to me with the rifle and I was even a little scared, and he gave me the camera and asked me to press a certain button.
Mr. Rankin. And he was dressed up with a pistol at the same time, was he?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes.
Mr. Rankin. You have examined that picture since, and noticed that the telescopic lens was on at the time the picture was taken, have you not?
Mrs. Oswald. Now I paid attention to it. A specialist would see it immediately, of course. But at that time I did not pay any attention at all. I saw just Lee. These details are of great significance for everybody, but for me at that time it didn't mean anything. At the time that I was questioned, I had even forgotten that I had taken two photographs. I thought there was only one. I thought that there were two identical pictures, but they turned out to be two different poses.
Mr. Rankin. Did you have anything to do with the prints of the photograph after the prints were made? That is, did you put them in a photographic album yourself?
Mrs.
