President's Commission on the Assassination of - The Warren Commission (Complete Edition)

Mr. Martin. No.

Mr. Rankin. Because you weren't present.

Do you know whether she understood English enough to read those contracts at that time?

Mr. Martin. No. She couldn't have read the contracts at that time. But she said she understood it sufficiently, and that she would trust Robert's judgment on it.

Mr. Rankin. When did she say that?

Mr. Martin. Just before—I guess the same day she signed it.

Mr. Rankin. I will ask you to look at Exhibit No. 279 and tell us whether you recognize the signatures on that?

Mr. Martin. Yes.

Mr. Rankin. Whose signatures are they?

Mr. Martin. Mrs. Marina N. Oswald and James H. Martin.

Mr. Rankin. In the parts that are stricken out——

Mr. Martin. John M. Thorne.

Mr. Rankin. On Exhibit No. 279 were those stricken out before the discussion of the contract?

Mr. Martin. Yes.

Mr. Rankin. Was that done when you were there?

Mr. Martin. Yes.

Mr. Rankin. Did you observe the signing?

Mr. Martin. Yes.

Mr. Leech. They were not signed the date it says they were signed.

Mr. Martin. On the 5th.

Mr. Leech. The date it says they were signed that is the date they were drawn up but they were all signed the same time, weren't they, Mr. Martin?

Mr. Martin. Yes.

Mr. Rankin. Can you tell us what the facts are in that regard, Mr. Martin?

Mr. Martin. The contracts were drawn—let's see—the contracts were drawn and Robert wanted to go over them, so we held it in abeyance. I think he was there on a Sunday and he came back on a Tuesday, I am not sure about the days, and signed the contracts.

Mr. Rankin. Do you know the signature of Marina Oswald?

Mr. Martin. Yes.

Mr. Rankin. Will you tell us whether or not Exhibit No. 279 bears her signature?

Mr. Martin. Yes, it does.

Mr. Rankin. It appears to be witnessed by you, is that your signature?

Mr. Martin. Yes.

Mr. Rankin. And the acceptance at the bottom of Exhibit No. 279, do you know whose signature that is?

Mr. Martin. John Thorne's.

Mr. Rankin. And you say that the exhibit was, the contract, Exhibit No. 279 was executed on the 6th rather than the 5th day of December.

Mr. Martin. Well, I can't recall the dates on it.

Mr. Leech. Excuse me for just a minute.

(Discussion off the record.)

Mr. Leech. Counsel, for what it is worth, Robert's was executed at the same time as the other ones. I believe his is dated the 9th, isn't it? So it would have been the 9th or afterwards. They were all executed at the same time.

Mr. Rankin. Mr. Martin, do you know that?

Mr. Martin. I know they were all executed the same time.

Mr. Rankin. Whether or not it was the 9th or the 6th you don't recall at this time?

Mr. Martin. No. I am fairly certain it was not the 6th.

Mr. Rankin. Are you certain what date it was?

Mr. Martin. No.

Mr. Rankin. What is your best recollection in that regard?

Mr. Martin. Well, it was several days after the contracts were drawn that they were executed, and I believe the contracts were drawn, and the date that they were drawn was entered on the contract.

Mr. Rankin. You think that might have been December 5 that they were drawn then?

Mr. Martin. Yes.

Mr. Rankin. Mr. Chairman, that is already in evidence.

Mr. Dulles. It has already been admitted.

Mr. Rankin. Yes.

Mr. Dulles. Mr. Rankin, we would like to have a short adjournment at 10:30. The members of the Commission would like to speak with you.

(Short recess.)

Mr. Dulles. The Commission will resume. Mr. Rankin, will you please continue with the examination?

Mr. Rankin. Mr. Martin, I have been asking you about some of your contractual and financial arrangements with Marina Oswald and also Mr. Thorne's and Robert Oswald's. If you and your counsel won't object I would like to depart from that because I would like to have this information developed when some of the members of the Commission are here who might not be at other times during your examination.

Mr. Martin. One thing Mr. Leech brought to my attention was that he thought maybe you might be under the impression that these contracts were all drawn on the same date, December 5. They weren't drawn on the same date. I think it was the 5th, 6th and 7th, or the 5th, 6th, and 9th. Robert's was drawn on the 9th, mine was drawn the 6th, and Mr. Thorne's was drawn the 5th.

Mr. Rankin. Thank you.

I want to ask you about a particular incident that was referred to in the Houston Post, an article in the paper and the source was given as you and that is in regard to Mr. Nixon, Richard Nixon, former Vice President of the United States.

Did Marina ever say anything to you about Lee Oswald planning any violent action or assassination of Richard M. Nixon?

Mr. Martin. Yes.

Mr. Rankin. When did you first learn about that?

Mr. Martin. I don't remember the date. It was sometime in January, and she mentioned it, said that he had come home one night and said, one evening, and said that he had waited for Nixon to shoot him.

Mr. Rankin. Where was this?

Mr. Martin. In Dallas.

Mr. Rankin. What time was it that he came home that night?

Mr. Martin. I didn't question her too much about the time. I assumed that it was after work.

Mr. Rankin. At about what time of the day was it?

Mr. Martin. Five or six o'clock. She said they were living on Neely Street, and he came home that night, and told her about it. So the next morning he got up, Nixon had not come into town, so he said that he would be in the next day, and so he got up the next morning and got dressed with a suit, I believe she said, and she locked him in the bathroom and kept him there all day, they said.

Mr. Rankin. Did she say how she locked him in the bathroom?

Mr. Martin. No.

Mr. Rankin. Did you ask her how she could do that, whether there was a lock on the inside of the bathroom or outside?

Mr. Martin. No, I thought it was a little—I thought the story was a little far-fetched myself.

Mr. Rankin. What did you say to her about it?

Mr. Martin. Well, I said, "Don't go around telling people something like that."

Mr. Rankin. Did she say anything about whether it was true or not?

Mr. Martin. She said it was true.

Mr. Dulles. May I ask a question?

Mr. Rankin. Yes.

Mr. Dulles. Was this brought up in connection with anything in particular or just come out of the blue, blurted out?

Mr. Martin. It just came out of the blue.

Mr. Dulles. There was no prior conversation that led up to this or any background to it?

Mr. Martin. Not that I recall. It was just a statement that she made. I think she was talking about Oswald——

Representative Ford. Was she prone to come out with these kinds of comments or was this an unusual circumstance?

Mr. Martin. No. She at times referred to some particular incident in Russia or various things like that. And they would be completely unattached to anything that we had been talking about.

Mr. Rankin. What more did you say to her about this incident when she brought it up?

Mr. Martin. Well, the only time I recall Nixon being in Dallas was in November. Now, she was not living with Oswald in November, and——

Mr. Rankin. Did you say that to her?

Mr. Martin. No. I just let the thing go.

Mr. Rankin. You didn't even ask her how she locked him in the bathroom?

Mr. Martin. No. I thought about it, because I know the only bathroom doors I have seen lock from the inside and they swing in.

Mr. Rankin. Did you ask her what he did after he was locked in the bathroom?

Mr. Martin. Yes.

Mr. Rankin. What did she say about that?

Mr. Martin. She said he didn't do anything. When she let him out that night, and I suppose he would be pretty mad at her, and she said no, he wasn't.