TESTIMONY OF GENEVA L. HINE beginning at 6H393...

    The testimony of Geneva L. Hine was taken at 2:45 p.m., on April 7, 1964, in the office of the U.S. attorney, 301 Post Office Building, Bryan and Ervay Streets, Dallas, Tex., by Messrs. Joseph A. Ball and Samuel A. Stern, assistant counsel of the President's Commission.

    Mr. BALL. Please stand up and hold up your right hand. Do you solemnly swear the testimony you will give the Commission will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God ?
    Miss HINE. I do.
    Mr. BALL. Will you state your name, please?
    Miss HINE. Geneva L. Hine.
    Mr. BALL. Where do you live.
    Miss HINE. 2305 Oakdale Road in Dallas.
    Mr. BALL. Can you tell me something about yourself; where you were born and raised, and educated and what kind of work you have done.
    Miss. HINE. I was born and raised in Martinsville, Ind., and I graduated from elementary and junior high and high school at that same town. I attended the Ball State Teachers' College in Muncie, Ind., and I attended Metropolitan Bible Institute in Suffern, N.Y., and I received my Bachelor of Science theology degree from Assembly of God College in Waxahachie, Tex.
    Mr. BALL. What did you do after that?
    Miss HINE. Oh, I have always worked as a one-girl office girl until the job I have now.
    Mr. BALL. When did you go to work at the Texas School Book Depository?
    Miss HINE. In December 1956.

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    Mr. BALL. What kind of work do you do there?
    Miss HINE. I have the credit desk.
    Mr. BALL. Now, in November, November 22, 1963, where was your desk; in what part of the building?
    Miss HINE. My desk was on the second floor, the inside wall just along by the corridor.
    Mr. BALL. Did you spend most of your time at your desk?
    Miss HINE. At that time?
    Mr. BALL. Yes; at that time.
    Miss HINE. No, sir; the girls were gone and they wanted to go out and see.
    Mr. BALL. I mean did you spend most of your time in your work--it was a desk job?
    Miss HINE. Yes; that's right.
    Mr. BALL. Did you go in the other floors of the building any?
    Miss HINE. Yes; sir; as my duties necessitated I did.
    Mr. BALL. Did you ever know a fellow named Lee Harvey Oswald?
    Miss HINE. Yes, sir.
    Mr. BALL. When did you first meet him?
    Miss HINE. I never met him to know his name but I saw him every day.
    Mr. BALL. Where did you see him?
    Miss HINE. Downstairs in the warehouse or stockroom whichever you want to call it.
    Mr. BALL. The first floor?
    Miss HINE. Yes.
    Mr. BALL. Did you see him on any other floors?
    Miss HINE. Yes, sir; I saw him on the second floor about noontime almost
every day. He would come in and ask for change, for a dime or quarter.
    Mr. BALL. Did you see him use any part of the second floor?
    Miss HINE. No.
    Mr. BALL. Did you ever see him spend the dime to buy anything with it?
    Miss HINE. No, sir; the coke machine isn't in our room and I wouldn't have seen it.
    Mr. BALL. Where is the coke machine?
    Miss HINE. Out in the little lunchroom back of our office.
    Mr. BALL. Did you ever speak to Oswald ?
    Miss HINE. Yes, sir.
    Mr. BALL. Did he ever speak to you?
    Miss HINE. No, sir.
    Mr. BALL. He never replied to you?
    Miss HINE. No, sir.
    Mr. BALL. Would you say he was unfriendly?
    Miss HINE. Yes, sir; I would.
    Mr. BALL. Did you ever see him smile or laugh?
    Miss HINE. No, sir.
    Mr. BALL. What kind of an expression did he have on his face most of the time?
    Miss HINE. I describe it as being stoic.
    Mr. BALL. That's a pretty good description if he doesn't smile.
    Miss HINE. It was just----
    Mr. BALL. Did you ever mention this to any of the people around there about Oswald?
    Miss HINE. Yes, sir; I mentioned it to Mr. Shelley.
    Mr. BALL. What did you tell him ?
    Miss HINE. One day I said to Mr. Shelley, "Who is that queer duck you have working down here" and I said that Just as a matter of slang because I've known Mr. Shelley for a long time and I was just talking to him, you see, and usually, all the boys that work down there speak to me because I have to go down here to pick up the little "comp" or gift slips on my desk. Every time I went by him I would speak to him, say "Good morning" and he would never catch or meet my gaze so I just made that remark to Mr. Shelley because I had spoken to him so many times and he never answered.
    Mr. BALL. What did Shelley say?

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    Miss HINE. He said that was just his way.
    Mr. BALL. On the 22d of November 1963, did you know that there was to be a motorcade or parade come by your building?
    Miss HINE. Oh, yes, sir.
    Mr. BALL How did 'you find that out?
    Miss HINE. Sir, I don't remember. I probably heard over the news but I cannot remember.
    Mr. BALL. You were just aware of the fact?
    Miss HINE. Yes; I knew it and the girls were discussing it in the office that morning. Many of them, probably six, had not seen the President close. You see, I had seen him on two different occasions and I had been very close to him and so they were lamenting that they couldn't go out so I spoke up and said "I will be glad to answer the telephone so you girls may go out and see the motorcade" and I bad previously answered the telephone when we were in the other building before we moved in this building, so they were delighted and I thought nothing about it.
    Mr. BALL. Did they all go out?
    Miss HINE. Yes, sir; everyone went out.
    Mr. BALL. Was there anyone left in the office part of the building on that second floor office?
    Miss HINE. Only Mr. Williams and myself and he stayed with me because he was working on his desk until he thought that the motorcade was about there.
    Mr. BALL. Then he went out?
    Miss HINE. When he thought it was about there he said "I think I will go out for 5 minutes."
    Mr. BALL. What is his name?
    Miss HINE. Otis N. Williams.
    Mr. BALL. He works in the office, too?
    Miss HINE. Yes.
    Mr. BALL. Did you have to change your desk over to another desk?
    Miss HINE. Yes, sir; to the middle desk on the front row.
    Mr. BALL. Was there a switchboard?
    Miss HINE. No, sir; we have a telephone with three incoming lines, then we have the warehouse line and we have an intercom system.
    Mr. BALL. You don't have a switchboard?
    Miss HINE. Not now; we did in the other building.
    Mr. BALL. Were you alone then at this time?
    Miss HINE. Yes.
    Mr. BALL. Did you stay at your desk?
    Miss HINE. Yes, sir: I was alone until the lights all went out and the phones became dead because the motorcade was coming near us and no one was calling so I got up and thought I could see it from the east window in our office.
    Mr. BALL. Did you go to the window?
    Miss HINE. Yes, sir.
    Mr. BALL. Did you look out?
    Miss HINE. Yes, sir.
    Mr. BALL. What did you see?
    Miss HINE. I saw the escort car come first up the middle of Houston Street.
    Mr. BALL. Going north on Houston Street?
    Miss HINE. Yes, sir; going north on Houston Street. I saw it turn left and I saw the President's car coming and I saw the President and saw him waving his hand in greeting up in the air and I saw his wife and I saw him turn the corner and after he turned the corner I looked and I saw the next car coming Just at the instant I saw the next car coming up was when I heard the shots.
    Mr. BALL. How many did you hear?
    Miss HINE. Three.
    Mr. BALL Could you tell where the shots were coming from?
    Miss HINE. Yes, sir; they came from inside the building.
    Mr. BALL. How do you know that?
    Miss HINE. Because the building vibrated from the result of the explosion coming in.
    Mr. BALL. It appeared to you that the shots came from the building?

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    Miss HINE. Yes, sir.
    Mr. BALL. Did you know they were shots at the time?
    Miss HINE. Yes, sir; they sounded almost like cannon shots they were so terrific.
    Mr. BALL. That is when you were at the window, is that right?
    Miss HINE Yes, sir; that is when I was at the window, because the next car, you see, was coming up and turning and I looked. Of course I looked when I heard the shots. I just stood there and saw people running to the east up Elm Street. I saw people running; I saw people falling down, you know,
lying down on the sidewalk.
    Mr. BALL. That was on Houston Street?
    Miss HINE. No, sir; Elm.
    Mr. BALL. You could see could you see any part of Elm?
    Miss HINE. East, yes, sir.
    Mr. BALL. You could see east on Elm?
    Miss HINE. Yes, sir; I could see east on Elm. I saw them run across east on Elm away from where his car had gone and my first thought was if I could only see what happened, so I went out our front door into the foyer.
    Mr. BALL. You mean the front door to the office?
    Miss HINE. Yes, sir.
    Mr. BALL. That opens on---
    Miss HINE. The foyer, little hall, and---
    Mr. BALL. Steps lead down?
    Miss HINE. Yes, sir; but there is a door before the steps and the elevator is to my left and I went past the hall that goes to my right and I knocked on the door of Lyons and Carnahan; that's a publishing company.
    Mr. BALL. What did you do then?
    Miss HINE. I tried the door, sir, and it was locked and I couldn't get in and I called, "Me, please let me in," because she's the girl that had that office, Mrs. Lee Watley, and she didn't answer. I don't know if she was there or not, then I left her door. I retraced my steps back to where the hall turns to my left and went down it to Southwestern Publishing Co.'s door and I tried their door and the reason for this was because those windows face out.
    Mr. BALL. On to Elm?
    Miss HINE. Yes; and on to the triple underpass.
    Mr. BALL. I See.
    Miss HINE. And there was a girl in there talking on the telephone and I could hear her but she didn't answer the door.
    Mr. BALL. Was the door locked?
    Miss HINE. Yes, sir.
    Mr. BALL. That was which company?
    Miss HINE. Southwestern Publishing Co.
    Mr. BALL. Did you call to her?
    Miss HINE. I called and called and shook the door and she didn't answer me because she was talking on the telephone; I could hear her. They have a little curtain up and I could see her form through the curtains. I could see her talking and I knew that's what she was doing and then I turned and went through the back hall and came through the back door.
    Mr. BALL. Of your office, the second floor office?
    Miss HINE. Yes; and I went straight up to the desk because the telephones were beginning to wink; outside calls were beginning to come in.
    Mr. BALL. Did they come in rapidly?
    Miss HINE They did come in rapidly.
    Mr. BALL. When you came back in did you see Mrs. Reid?
    Miss HINE. No, sir; I don't believe there was a soul in the office when I came back in right then.
    Mr. BALL. Did you see anybody else go in through there?
    Miss HINE. No, sir; after I answered the telephone then there was about four or five people that came in.
    Mr. BALL. Was there anybody in that room when you came back in and went to the telephone?

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    Miss HINE. No, sir; not to my knowledge.
    Mr. BALL. Did you see Mrs. Reid come back in?
    Miss HINE. Yes, sir; I think I felt sure that I did. I thought that there were five or six that came in together. I thought she was one of those.
    Mr. BALL. Mrs. Reid told us she came in alone and when she came in she didn't see anybody there.
    Miss HINE. Well, it could be that she did, sir. I was talking on the phones and then came the policemen and then came the press. Everybody was wanting an outside line and then our vice president came in and he said "The next one that was clear, I have to have it and so I was busy with the phone.
    Mr. BALL. From the time you walked into the room you became immediately busy with the phone?
    Miss HINE. Yes, sir; sure was.
    Mr. BALL. Did you see Oswald come in?
    Miss HINE. My back would have been to the door he was supposed to have come in at.
    Mr. BALL. Were you facing the door he is supposed to have left by?
    Miss HINE. Yes, sir.
    Mr. BALL. Do you recall seeing him?
    Miss HINE. No, sir.
    Mr. BALL. Do you have any definite recollection of Mrs. Reid coming in?
    Miss HINE. No, sir; I only saw four or five people that came by and they all came and were all talking about how terrible it was.
    Mr. BALL. Do you remember their names?
    Miss HINE. Yes, sir.
    Mr. BALL. Who were they?
    Miss HINE. Mr. Williams, Mr. Molina (spelling), Miss Martha Reid, Mrs. Reid, Mrs. Sarah Stanton, and Mr. Campbell; that's all I recall, sir.
    Mr. BALL. Miss Hine, this will be written up and it will be submitted for your signature if you wish, or you can waive signature right now; which do you prefer? Do you have any choice?
    Miss HINE. Well, I would prefer to see it.
    Mr. BALL. Prefer to see it, all right, then this young lady will inform you to come down, read it, look it over and sign it.
    Miss HINE. Okay.
    Mr. BALL. Thanks very much for coming in.
    Miss HINE. You are very welcome.