FRIDAY NOVEMBER 22, 1963 (8:34 p.m.)
I was awakened this morning with only one thought in mind: could I afford to get excused from work to go to the parade to see the greatest man of our times, the President of the United States, John F. Kennedy.
Thinking that everyone loved him as much as I did (with the exception of a neighbor who worked in the Republican Party whom I had words with in the front yard - more on her later, and Mr. Edwin C. Clark, President of AT&T - who made a speech in Texas which was put into a pamphlet form and distributed among telephone people during the campaign trying to sway people, of which I did not appreciate.
Anyway, I decided there would be such a crowd that I could never get a glimpse of my favorite couple, much less get to shake his hand and let him know how I had fought for him in my small way.
Here are the events that happened to me, events that have caused me to count the days and hours until I became 55 years old and could retire, so I could pay a moral dept to society (as my lips have been sealed by the Federal Communications Law.)
I was on my lunch hour (12 - 1 p.m.) and Mr. Allen, Traffic Chief, District 1, 4100 Bryan Street, Dallas, Texas, was also on his lunch hour. The telephone in the cafeteria rang about 12:35-40 p.m., an emergency for Mr. Clark. "The president has been shot." (silence). You could hear your heart beat.
Mr. Allen stumbled around the cash register, hitting the rail the foot trays slide on - he's a large man, about like Lyndon Johnson and sorta favors him too. (You notice these things without moving.).
District 1 had all the connections for Kennedy's speech at the Trade Mart (going to the White House, UP, API, and the FBI.
Now hen mad frustrations of switching all the connections to District II, and Mr. J. A. Potts and Mr. Paul Cheatum (over both districts) were there. Parkland Hospital's Central Office on Melrose appeared Unit II, District II. I am on District II, a service assistant. My job is training people and moving traffic.
Someone at our lunch table said we'd better go back to work, they probably need us. I did not want to go back to work for fear that I would hear that President Kennedy was dead.
I got up to go back to work about 12:50-:55. The switchboard was lit up like a Christmas tree. Everyone went to the board to help the operators, including myself. The Assistant Chief Operators and Chief Operators took our posts. Every signal I answered, there was a radio or television in the background blaring out about shooting. Over and over customers (all but one) would put us in the know by saying, "Did you know the president was shot? Have you heard the president was shot in Dallas? I can't believe it, must be a joke about the president...." -- as always when a disaster strikes.
Then I picked up an Irving signal (Blackburn exchange) about or near 2 p.m., The radio or TV was very loud. A women placed a call to North Richland Hills (Butler Exchange) which is a fringe office of Fort Worth. I gave her the area code (817), dialed the number on a direct Fort Worth circuit and asked for her number. She evidently did not hear me for the radio was announcing the news. The number in Fort Worth answered. Again, I asked for the number.
The Irving customer said, "Just a minute." I thought she was talking to me, so I waited.
When she returned to the hone (approximately 5 - 10 seconds later) she blurted out, "Will Lee get his bonus loot?"
A man at the Fort Worth number said, "What are you calling me, and don't mention my name on the phone. Kennedy has to be dead for to get the bonus."
"He is dead," the Irving customer said. "They've just announced it on the radio."
I closed the key, stunned. I do have a witness to this, whom I did not report because I will not involved an innocent person.
I then made a call back to check on the Irving number (for the correct number charge). I monitored the connection again, not believing my ears.
"Don't you call here again. You will be contacted. They are not suspicious of him, no."
I closed the key and reported the call to the Assistant Chief Operator.
Later, I was relieved of the position and told that Mr. Anderson wanted to see me. He was behind me and walked to the district office. He had the toll ticket in his hand and told me I might be questioned by the FBI. I told him I didn't care if I lost my job, because I loved President Kennedy.
Reaching the district office, Mr. Potts was at his desk, his head lowered like he was writing. Mr. Cheatum interviewed me and all I told him were the exact words of the conversation. I also told him that the Irving caller said, "Just a minute," and that was why I was on the line. Mr. Cheatum told me the information would be given to the telephone company's investigators for the FBI.
I left the district office, escorted by Mr. Anderson. He told me to take the position with open communication from Parkland Hospital to FBI Headquarters at the White House and stay on the line and not release them - not once was there a conversation between two people. \
After I went on my break I did not take the same position.
After work I stopped at Wyatts grocery store for some kidney for our two cats. My neighbor Mrs. Norris, whom I've mentioned earlier, walked up to me and said, "Well , what do you think of your President Kennedy now?" ...........
The record of the call I took and heard part of was recorded and sealed and addressed to the FBI and placed in another envelope addressed to my attorney in case of my death. I locked the envelope in my locker at the telephone company. - I kept them there in case I was questioned again so I could easily reach it.
I talked with the Priest - Father Huber, who administered the Rite of Absolution to President Kennedy. I told him that I had information, but did not say that I had a moral obligation to society when I could talk. My attorney was told the same thing.
The telephone company, the FBI nor the Warren Commission have contacted me. I have kept this information inside of me.
The first week of July 1965, I was on vacation. Returning to work, I had no occasion to go to my locker for several days. Then I needed some training material and opened the locker (on the 5th floor) and it was empty. I asked Mrs. Smith (on the 4th floor) where my things were. She referred me that Mr. Thoru, a JFY (janitor), had ordered the lockers of those on vacation to be emptied - all of the materials were to be put into a box - so the lockers could be painted. The box was supposed to be at the end of the locker room. I searched but found no box. He told me it was probably put in one of the store rooms and he would find it the next day. I told him I had material in the locker for the FBI. (He was not in our office when the president was assassinated).
Mr. Anderson had been transferred to Arkansas, Mr. Cheatum to St. Louis. A Mr. Smith was our Traffic Manager now
The next day, they told me that everything in the box was burned. I filed a grievance and had Mr. Smith give me a letter and one to the Union stating that I was not responsible for lost company material - dated July 12, 1965. They paid me by check for my personal belongings. I had Mr. Smith call and get Mr. Anderson in Little Rock, Ark., on the line. I talked with him and asked how to get duplicates of the material for the FBI. He said that the information was given to the telephone company's attorney's or special agents, but the FBI had never asked for any information concerning President Kennedy's death and was not volunteered. WHY?
Mr. Thon was reprimanded and sent to St. Louis. Mr. Potts retired.
My attorney advised me that my position with the company was hardly enough to try to force the company to give me a copy of the information - the clock time on the toll ticket, the length of the conversation, the number called and the calling number.
He advised me to write it all down in longhand to be opened upon my death. Maybe my debt to society will be paid someday.....
[From the effects of Larry Howard of the Dallas Assassination Information Center.]
I was awakened this morning with only one thought in mind: could I afford to get excused from work to go to the parade to see the greatest man of our times, the President of the United States, John F. Kennedy.
Thinking that everyone loved him as much as I did (with the exception of a neighbor who worked in the Republican Party whom I had words with in the front yard - more on her later, and Mr. Edwin C. Clark, President of AT&T - who made a speech in Texas which was put into a pamphlet form and distributed among telephone people during the campaign trying to sway people, of which I did not appreciate.
Anyway, I decided there would be such a crowd that I could never get a glimpse of my favorite couple, much less get to shake his hand and let him know how I had fought for him in my small way.
Here are the events that happened to me, events that have caused me to count the days and hours until I became 55 years old and could retire, so I could pay a moral dept to society (as my lips have been sealed by the Federal Communications Law.)
I was on my lunch hour (12 - 1 p.m.) and Mr. Allen, Traffic Chief, District 1, 4100 Bryan Street, Dallas, Texas, was also on his lunch hour. The telephone in the cafeteria rang about 12:35-40 p.m., an emergency for Mr. Clark. "The president has been shot." (silence). You could hear your heart beat.
Mr. Allen stumbled around the cash register, hitting the rail the foot trays slide on - he's a large man, about like Lyndon Johnson and sorta favors him too. (You notice these things without moving.).
District 1 had all the connections for Kennedy's speech at the Trade Mart (going to the White House, UP, API, and the FBI.
Now hen mad frustrations of switching all the connections to District II, and Mr. J. A. Potts and Mr. Paul Cheatum (over both districts) were there. Parkland Hospital's Central Office on Melrose appeared Unit II, District II. I am on District II, a service assistant. My job is training people and moving traffic.
Someone at our lunch table said we'd better go back to work, they probably need us. I did not want to go back to work for fear that I would hear that President Kennedy was dead.
I got up to go back to work about 12:50-:55. The switchboard was lit up like a Christmas tree. Everyone went to the board to help the operators, including myself. The Assistant Chief Operators and Chief Operators took our posts. Every signal I answered, there was a radio or television in the background blaring out about shooting. Over and over customers (all but one) would put us in the know by saying, "Did you know the president was shot? Have you heard the president was shot in Dallas? I can't believe it, must be a joke about the president...." -- as always when a disaster strikes.
Then I picked up an Irving signal (Blackburn exchange) about or near 2 p.m., The radio or TV was very loud. A women placed a call to North Richland Hills (Butler Exchange) which is a fringe office of Fort Worth. I gave her the area code (817), dialed the number on a direct Fort Worth circuit and asked for her number. She evidently did not hear me for the radio was announcing the news. The number in Fort Worth answered. Again, I asked for the number.
The Irving customer said, "Just a minute." I thought she was talking to me, so I waited.
When she returned to the hone (approximately 5 - 10 seconds later) she blurted out, "Will Lee get his bonus loot?"
A man at the Fort Worth number said, "What are you calling me, and don't mention my name on the phone. Kennedy has to be dead for to get the bonus."
"He is dead," the Irving customer said. "They've just announced it on the radio."
I closed the key, stunned. I do have a witness to this, whom I did not report because I will not involved an innocent person.
I then made a call back to check on the Irving number (for the correct number charge). I monitored the connection again, not believing my ears.
"Don't you call here again. You will be contacted. They are not suspicious of him, no."
I closed the key and reported the call to the Assistant Chief Operator.
Later, I was relieved of the position and told that Mr. Anderson wanted to see me. He was behind me and walked to the district office. He had the toll ticket in his hand and told me I might be questioned by the FBI. I told him I didn't care if I lost my job, because I loved President Kennedy.
Reaching the district office, Mr. Potts was at his desk, his head lowered like he was writing. Mr. Cheatum interviewed me and all I told him were the exact words of the conversation. I also told him that the Irving caller said, "Just a minute," and that was why I was on the line. Mr. Cheatum told me the information would be given to the telephone company's investigators for the FBI.
I left the district office, escorted by Mr. Anderson. He told me to take the position with open communication from Parkland Hospital to FBI Headquarters at the White House and stay on the line and not release them - not once was there a conversation between two people. \
After I went on my break I did not take the same position.
After work I stopped at Wyatts grocery store for some kidney for our two cats. My neighbor Mrs. Norris, whom I've mentioned earlier, walked up to me and said, "Well , what do you think of your President Kennedy now?" ...........
The record of the call I took and heard part of was recorded and sealed and addressed to the FBI and placed in another envelope addressed to my attorney in case of my death. I locked the envelope in my locker at the telephone company. - I kept them there in case I was questioned again so I could easily reach it.
I talked with the Priest - Father Huber, who administered the Rite of Absolution to President Kennedy. I told him that I had information, but did not say that I had a moral obligation to society when I could talk. My attorney was told the same thing.
The telephone company, the FBI nor the Warren Commission have contacted me. I have kept this information inside of me.
The first week of July 1965, I was on vacation. Returning to work, I had no occasion to go to my locker for several days. Then I needed some training material and opened the locker (on the 5th floor) and it was empty. I asked Mrs. Smith (on the 4th floor) where my things were. She referred me that Mr. Thoru, a JFY (janitor), had ordered the lockers of those on vacation to be emptied - all of the materials were to be put into a box - so the lockers could be painted. The box was supposed to be at the end of the locker room. I searched but found no box. He told me it was probably put in one of the store rooms and he would find it the next day. I told him I had material in the locker for the FBI. (He was not in our office when the president was assassinated).
Mr. Anderson had been transferred to Arkansas, Mr. Cheatum to St. Louis. A Mr. Smith was our Traffic Manager now
The next day, they told me that everything in the box was burned. I filed a grievance and had Mr. Smith give me a letter and one to the Union stating that I was not responsible for lost company material - dated July 12, 1965. They paid me by check for my personal belongings. I had Mr. Smith call and get Mr. Anderson in Little Rock, Ark., on the line. I talked with him and asked how to get duplicates of the material for the FBI. He said that the information was given to the telephone company's attorney's or special agents, but the FBI had never asked for any information concerning President Kennedy's death and was not volunteered. WHY?
Mr. Thon was reprimanded and sent to St. Louis. Mr. Potts retired.
My attorney advised me that my position with the company was hardly enough to try to force the company to give me a copy of the information - the clock time on the toll ticket, the length of the conversation, the number called and the calling number.
He advised me to write it all down in longhand to be opened upon my death. Maybe my debt to society will be paid someday.....
[From the effects of Larry Howard of the Dallas Assassination Information Center.]
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