Mr. Liebeler. Did you form any impression of Lee Oswald during the time that you saw him, when his mother lived on Exchange Alley?
Miss Murret. He was just like anybody else, I guess, but he was very reserved. He was always very reserved, and he liked to be by himself. His reason for that was always that he didn't have the same interests with the other children. I mean, he liked to read, and he loved nature, and he would just go and sit out in the park and meditate, I guess. I don't know.
Mr. Liebeler. Did you talk to him about these things, or how did you learn that he had this liking for nature and would sit in the park?
Miss Murret. I remember it at that time, because he had gotten into a fight with children at Beauregard; however, this is what my mother told me, and I don't remember this, and, anyway, it seems that he was from the North, and so they ridiculed him at the school. I don't know if it was because of the way he was dressed or not, but I actually didn't see anything wrong with his appearance, and so, he was riding in the streetcar one day, I believe, and he sat next to some Negroes. Well, when he got out of the streetcar, or bus, or whatever it was, these boys ganged up on him, and hit him in the mouth, and loosened his front teeth, I believe. But this I only know from my mother.
Well, it was after that, and then another time, and I don't know if they were teasing him and they said, "Oh, Lee—" and when he turned around, they hit him. It was just actually that—even though he was in fights, I think that it wasn't always his fault because I don't think he was an agitator in any way, because he really minded his own business. That much I know, but the incidents I only know from what my mother said. So, at that time I think he made the statement also, that it wasn't his fault, that he was minding his own business and "I don't have the same interests as the other students." They didn't like him because of his accent, and because he sat next to the Negroes, which was one incident. But he was extremely quiet.
Mr. Liebeler. Was it in connection with the discussion of these various difficulties that he had, that you learned that he used to just go to the park and sit in the park and observe nature, and was fond of it, interested in that sort of thing?
Miss Murret. I don't think he told me that—my mother must have told me that, because this came up when they told me this, when that boy, or that is, when some of the students from Beauregard were on TV and said that he was always in fights, and it was then that my mother said, actually, I mean, that she didn't think it was his fault, because she remembered those particular incidents.
Mr. Liebeler. And you and your mother have had discussions about this after the assassination?
Miss Murret. Right.
Mr. Liebeler. And the occasion for that discussion was that some of his former——