What Spanish girl?

[Steve Thomas]

I wonder...

Mary Bledsoe testified to the Warren Commission on April 2, 1964.

She said that she rented a room to Lee Harvey Oswald for a week beginning on October 7, 1963.

Right in the middle of her testimony, there was this little exchange:

Mr. BALL - And the foreign language that you heard Oswald using over the telephone on this Wednesday afternoon, do you know what the language was?

Mrs. BLEDSOE - No; I didn't.

Mr. BALL - Can you make a guess?

Mrs. BLEDSOE - No; I have no idea. I do, because the girl is Spanish, hut I don't know whether he called her or not.

Mr. BALL - What girl is Spanish?

Mrs. BLEDSOE - I mean--his wife was Russian.

This is the week leading up to a meeting of DRE people in Dallas on October 13th at which Oswald was alleged to have attended.

Steve Thomas

[Francesca Akhtar]

Interesting! I'm wondering if it could have been 'Ruth Ann', Mac Wallace's handler?

[Greg Parker]

I wonder...

Mary Bledsoe testified to the Warren Commission on April 2, 1964.

She said that she rented a room to Lee Harvey Oswald for a week beginning on October 7, 1963.

Right in the middle of her testimony, there was this little exchange:

Mr. BALL - And the foreign language that you heard Oswald using over the telephone on this Wednesday afternoon, do you know what the language was?

Mrs. BLEDSOE - No; I didn't.

Mr. BALL - Can you make a guess?

Mrs. BLEDSOE - No; I have no idea. I do, because the girl is Spanish, hut I don't know whether he called her or not.

Mr. BALL - What girl is Spanish?

Mrs. BLEDSOE - I mean--his wife was Russian.

This is the week leading up to a meeting of DRE people in Dallas on October 13th at which Oswald was alleged to have attended.

Steve Thomas

Steve, while the timing is interesting, I think (as in the case of the photo) she misspoke and corrected herself. Just before this exchange Ball asked "Are you familiar with the Spanish language?"

She wasn't familiar with it, and when asked if she knew the language being spoken on the phone, her reply indicates she did -- but only because she knew his wife was Russian -- though it initially came out wrongly as "Spanish" probably due to Ball's question.

[Steve Thomas]

Greg,

Steve, while the timing is interesting, I think (as in the case of the photo) she misspoke and corrected herself. Just before this exchange Ball asked "Are you familiar with the Spanish language?"

That is a reasonable explanation, and you are probably right.

Ball's question seems to come out of the blue.

Why didn't he ask her if she knew Polish, or German? Why Spanish?

Greg, have you ever come across any references that Oswald might have known any of the students at the University of Dallas?

I know he was involved with, or spoke to students at Tulane in New Orleans, and there is some suggestion that he might have met with some students while he was in Mexico City.

I was just wondering about Dallas.

I know I am tilting at windmills, but I'm just mulling over the whole DRE, Fermin de Goicochea, Sarita Odio angle.

Steve Thomas

[Greg Parker]

Greg,

Steve, while the timing is interesting, I think (as in the case of the photo) she misspoke and corrected herself. Just before this exchange Ball asked "Are you familiar with the Spanish language?"

That is a reasonable explanation, and you are probably right.

Ball's question seems to come out of the blue.

Why didn't he ask her if she knew Polish, or German? Why Spanish?

Greg, have you ever come across any references that Oswald might have known any of the students at the University of Dallas?

I know he was involved with, or spoke to students at Tulane in New Orleans, and there is some suggestion that he might have met with some students while he was in Mexico City.

I was just wondering about Dallas.

I know I am tilting at windmills, but I'm just mulling over the whole DRE, Fermin de Goicochea, Sarita Odio angle.

Steve Thomas

Steve, I agree... Ball's seemingly out-of-the-blue interest on Spanish is intriguing since the obvious assumption should have been Russian. I think maybe he was fishing, based on something from someone else's testimony, or from an FBI report. When did the WC first here about the DRE meeting in Dallas?

I can't recall ever coming across any reference to LHO hanging out with students in Dallas. I think, fwiw, Mike Paine may have - though I could be confusing that with something else in my memory.