Mr. Rankin. Before you leave New York, did you ever tell anybody that you took Lee Oswald to New York so he could have mental tests at the Jacobi Hospital?
Mrs. Oswald. No, sir, never. My child was a normal child—and while in New York. I explained to you he had a dog with puppies. The school teachers talked well about him. He had a bicycle. There was nothing abnormal about Lee Oswald.
It has been stated also I was offered psychiatric treatment which is incorrect. This Mr. Carro I understand is a very big man. He may be supplying the files with all of this. But, sir, it is untrue.
Mr. Rankin. Then you went to New Orleans after that?
Mrs. Oswald. No. Then they assigned a big brother to Lee. This is important to the story.
So this man came out to the apartment on several occasions and saw the type person I was and my son was. And he did not see anything wrong with the child. Evidently not. Because he suggested that it might be a good idea—I had told him the way Mr. Carro was doing. Mr. Carro was pestering me, sir, at work, with just little insignificant reports that I would call the school and the principal would assure me everything was all right.
So he thought that it would be better if I would take the child away. And I didn't know I could do that. I didn't know exactly the charge.
So, I said, "Is it all right? They won't arrest us and bring us back?"
He said, "No, there is no extraditing"—that was his words.
So, I wrote Mr. Carro a letter explaining that I was taking—Lee and I were going to New Orleans, and Lee had cousins his age in New Orleans, and I thought the child would be better off amongst his own family. And the judge had recommended that if we could possibly leave New York that it would be better for Lee. And I wrote Mr. Carro the letter, sir. I did not flee New York. I had the decency to write him a letter. And the Big Brother is the one that recommended this.