Mr. Rowley. If I remember that witness' testimony—and that was one of the first statements that he made—that witness was with his wife, and he happened to look up there, and I think he said, "There is a man with a rifle, it is a Secret Service man," and let it go at that. He didn't inform any of the authorities.
The Chairman. No; nobody did. But I say wouldn't an alert Secret Service man in this motorcade, who is supposed to observe such things, be more likely to observe something of that kind if he was free from any of the results of liquor or lack of sleep than he would otherwise?
Mr. Rowley. Well, yes; he would be. But then, on the other hand, Mr. Chief Justice, in some instances the men come in from a trip at 1:30 in the morning, which there have been cases on travels that I have made, and have to be up at 3:30 or 4 o'clock, and out in time for a 5 o'clock departure. Then you go all that day until 1 or 2 o'clock the next morning. This is what has happened in the past.
The Chairman. I am not talking about the past. We are talking about nine men here who were out until rather unusual hours of the morning.
Mr. Rowley. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. They were to be on duty the next day.
The next day—or if not sooner.
The next day they were supposed to be alert to anything that might occur along the line of march. Don't you think that they would have been much more alert, sharper, had they not been doing these things?
Mr. Rowley. Yes, sir; but I don't believe they could have prevented the assassination.
The Chairman. Isn't it a substantial violation of these rules to do a thing of that kind?