Mrs. Paine. Yes, some of them did. I regret that most of those that came as cash came early and I simply sent them on to Secret Service as cash. After—about the end of 1963 I began to wonder, since I had not heard directly from Marina, whether she was getting these, and I therefore decided to send any such contributions that came to me as cash on to her as checks drawn on my bank account.
Mr. Jenner. Had you talked with John Thorne, or Jim Martin in advance of delivering those checks—"yes" or "no"?
Mrs. Paine. Yes.
Mr. Jenner. All right, tell us the circumstances?
Mrs. Paine. I asked John Thorne——
Mr. Jenner. By telephone or direct inquiry face to face?
Mrs. Paine. In person, at his office, whether Marina Oswald was signing, and by this I meant—endorsing her own checks and his reply to me was that everything she can do herself she is doing. From this I assumed she could sign her name. I left a letter which enclosed such a check written by me to her.
Mr. Jenner. You left with whom? With John Thorne or with Mr. Martin?
Mrs. Paine. It does look as if I had left it—let's see—given to the hand of John Thorne.
Mr. Jenner. Excuse me, you have now turned to the second page of Ruth Paine Exhibit 277 and you are pointing to a footnote at the bottom of that page, are you not?