Mrs. Oswald. He was due at work at 8 or 8:30. At 7:15 he was already gone.
Mr. Rankin. Do you know whether he rode with Wesley Frazier that morning?
Mrs. Oswald. I don't know. I didn't hear him leave.
Mr. Rankin. Did you ever see a paper bag or cover for the rifle at the Paine's residence or garage?
Mrs. Oswald. No.
Mr. Rankin. Did you ever see a bag at any time?
Mrs. Oswald. No.
Mr. Rankin. Where did your husband have his lunch? Did he take a sandwich to the depository, or did he go home to his rooming house for lunch? Do you know?
Mrs. Oswald. He usually took sandwiches to lunch. But I don't know whether he would go home or not.
Mr. Rankin. Had your husband ever left his wedding ring at home that way before?
Mrs. Oswald. At one time while he was still at Fort Worth, it was inconvenient for him to work with his wedding ring on and he would remove it, but at work—he would not leave it at home. His wedding ring was rather wide, and it bothered him.
I don't know now. He would take it off at work.
Mr. Rankin. Then this is the first time during your married life that he had ever left it at home where you live?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes.
Mr. Rankin. Do you know whether your husband carried any package with him when he left the house on November 22nd?
Mrs. Oswald. I think that he had a package with his lunch. But a small package.
Mr. Rankin. Do you know whether he had any package like a rifle in some container?
Mrs. Oswald. No.
Mr. Rankin. What did you do the rest of the morning, after you got up on November 22d?
Mrs. Oswald. When I got up the television set was on, and I knew that Kennedy was coming. Ruth had gone to the doctor with her children and she left the television set on for me. And I watched television all morning, even without having dressed. She was running around in her pajamas and watching television with me.
Mr. Rankin. Before the assassination, did you ever see your husband examining the route of the parade as it was published in the paper?
Mrs. Oswald. No.
Mr. Rankin. Did you ever see him looking at a map of Dallas like he did in connection with the Walker shooting?
Mrs. Oswald. No.
Mr. Rankin. How did you learn of the shooting of President Kennedy?
Mrs. Oswald. I was watching television, and Ruth by that time was already with me, and she said someone had shot at the President.
Mr. Rankin. What did you say?
Mrs. Oswald. It was hard for me to say anything. We both turned pale. I went to my room and cried.
Mr. Rankin. Did you think immediately that your husband might have been involved?
Mrs. Oswald. No.
Mr. Rankin. Did Mrs. Paine say anything about the possibility of your husband being involved?
Mrs. Oswald. No, but she only said that "By the way, they fired from the building in which Lee is working."
My heart dropped. I then went to the garage to see whether the rifle was there, and I saw that the blanket was still there, and I said, "Thank God." I thought, "Can there really be such a stupid man in the world that could do something like that?" But I was already rather upset at that time—I don't know why. Perhaps my intuition.
I didn't know what I was doing.
Mr. Rankin. Did you look in the blanket to see if the rifle was there?
Mrs. Oswald. I didn't unroll the blanket. It was in its usual position, and it appeared to have something inside.
Mr. Rankin. Did you at any time open the blanket to see if the rifle was there?
Mrs. Oswald. No, only once.
Mr. Rankin. You have told us about that.
Mrs. Oswald. Yes.
Mr. Rankin. And what about Mrs. Paine? Did she look in the blanket to see if the rifle was there?
Mrs. Oswald. She didn't know about the rifle.
Perhaps she did know. But she never told me about it.
I don't know.
Mr. Rankin. When did you learn that the rifle was not in the blanket?
Mrs. Oswald. When the police arrived and asked whether my husband had a rifle, and I said "Yes."
Mr. Rankin. Then what happened?
Mrs. Oswald. They began to search the apartment. When they came to the garage and took the blanket, I thought, "Well, now, they will find it."
They opened the blanket but there was no rifle there.
Then, of course, I already knew that it was Lee. Because, before that, while I thought that the rifle was at home, I did not think that Lee had done that. I thought the police had simply come because he was always under suspicion.
Mr. Rankin. What do you mean by that—he was always under suspicion?
Mrs. Oswald. Well, the FBI would visit us.
Mr. Rankin. Did they indicate what they suspected him of?
Mrs. Oswald. They didn't tell me anything.
Mr. Rankin. What did you say to the police when they came?
Mrs. Oswald. I don't remember now. I was so upset that I don't remember what I said.
Mr. Rankin. Did you tell them about your husband leaving his wedding ring that morning?
Mrs. Oswald. No, because I didn't know it.
Mr. Rankin. Did you tell them that you had looked for the gun you thought was in the blanket?
Mrs. Oswald. No, it seems to me I didn't say that. They didn't ask me.
Mr. Rankin. Did you watch the police open the blanket to see if the rifle was there?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes.
Mr. Rankin. Did Mrs. Paine also watch them?
Mrs. Oswald. It seems to me, as far as I remember.
Mr. Rankin. When the police came, did Mrs. Paine act as an interpreter for you?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes. She told me about what they had said. But I was not
