Mr. Ryder. All I know is that we had the ticket laying on the workbench back there and I had written it up and completed the work on it and the gun had been picked up. Now, as to whether it was Lee Oswald, I couldn't positively identify him or if there was another one out there right now I could not identify anybody if they said they did bring it in.
Mr. Liebeler. And to the best of your recollection, you wrote that gun ticket sometime in the early part of November; is that right?
Mr. Ryder. Yes.
Mr. Liebeler. And you are certain that you wrote it up before November 22?
Mr. Ryder. Right.
Mr. Liebeler. But you are not able to associate that particular ticket with any particular gun in your own mind?
Mr. Ryder. That's right.
Mr. Liebeler. I also recall that when I asked you questions about this before, you indicated that possibly we could fix the date on which this ticket had been written because you had written it with a pencil and you said you remembered you had gone to Dallas on that particular day, and that you used a pencil to get some materials from a wholesale shop. Of course, the FBI, as you now know, has gone and has found out every day that you ever went to Dallas to get gun materials and asked you if you could identify the time and the date by reviewing this list of materials that you got from the wholesale house in Dallas and you weren't able to associate it with any particular day you used a pencil.
Mr. Ryder. Right; he had 2 or 3 days there that he showed me some copies—actually, he gave me some dates that I came to town and signed and there were 2 or 3 days there in that period that I had signed with a pencil, and it could have been that some of those days I had a pencil laying handy and I just picked it up rather than taking my pen out of my shirt.
Mr. Liebeler. Would you be surprised if the Commission concluded, after this investigation that the FBI conducted and the questioning that we have done, that there was never any man in there by the name of Oswald with any gun at all?