16 Witnesses

[Gil Jesus]

The FBI interviewed 16 witnesses who worked in the Texas School Book Depository who stated that they had not seen any strangers in the building on November 22, 1963 nor had they ever seen Lee Harvey Oswald AT ANY TIME prior to the assassination.

These witness statements can all be found in Volume 22 of the Warren Commission Hearings ( CE 1381 ).

The witnesses were:

Virginia Barnum pg. 636
Jane Berry pg. 637
Edna Caso pg. 639
Avery Davis pg. 642
Elsie Dorman pg. 644
Sandra Elerson pg. 646
Betty Foster pg. 647
Dorothy Garner pg. 648
Georgia Hendrix pg. 649
Yola Hopson pg. 653
Judy Johnson pg. 656
Ruth Nelson pg. 665
Madie Reese pg. 669
Joyce Stansbery pg. 674
Sandra Styles, pg. 676
Mary Lee Williams pg. 682

By their own admission, having never seen Oswald in the building meant that they didn't know all of the employees of the TSBD.

So this raises some questions:

How could they know there were no strangers in the building if they didn't know all of the employees ?
Oswald worked in the building from October 16th- November 22nd ( 27 days not counting Veteran's day ).
That's 216 hours in that building.
 

And they never saw him. Not even in the lunchroom.

How much weight do we give these witness statements that they didn't see any strangers in the building on the morning of the assassination when they didn't see Oswald for 27 days ?

My guess is not much.

[Micah Mileto]

What? I remember a thread here where they were talking about a man seen leaving the building, and there was speculation that he was a conspirator.

[Mark Ulrik]

It's not a bad observation. Pat Speer, in his "Pieces of Work" chapter, makes a similar one about Mrs. Garner: "yet another employee of the school book depository who had no recollection of Oswald whatsoever and who would therefore have had no idea what a stranger in the building would look like."

I think it's a bit harsh, however, to blame the witnesses for somewhat contradicting themselves in this particular case. It seems they were all put through the same rigid list of questions by the agents, and the one about "strangers" was obviously a bit tricky and should probably have been reworded into something about people "seeming out of place" or "behaving oddly."

Edited July 2, 2022 by Mark Ulrik