Mr. Schmidt. Yes, sir.
Mr. Liebeler. It is my understanding from reviewing the FBI report, that you were the reporter that wrote that story?
Mr. Schmidt. I gathered facts for the story and gave the facts to the rewrite man who wrote the actual story, but they were from the facts that I gathered. We were checking out several, running down all clues and all possible reports at that time. Anything that might be a lead to the story, we checked out. We checked out many many things of that nature, and that was just one of the tips that I checked out.
Mr. Liebeler. Where did you first get information that Oswald had had a scope mounted on his rifle at this Irving sport shop?
Mr. Schmidt. We heard of it, I think it was around the police station somewhere. I don't remember where that exact tip came from. We heard that a gunsight had been mounted by a man named Ryder, and they thought at first it was Garland.
Mr. Liebeler. You mean Garland, Tex.?
Mr. Schmidt. Garland, Tex.; that's right. Since that was my beat, well, they gave me the tip to check it and I checked it in Garland and found out that there wasn't any Ryder listed in the city directory and so forth, so I did it by process of elimination and checked several towns, and I found, well, I came to rest on Irving, because I found the Ryder there listed as the sports shop man, and I just took it that that was the gunsmith.
Mr. Liebeler. Do you recall whether Ryder, when you checked the city directory, that Ryder was listed as being associated with a gunshop, or did you just find the name Ryder and call him?
Mr. Schmidt. I don't remember exactly what I found in the city directory then. It was a process of elimination, and apparently that looked like the only one in Irving, so I checked that.
Mr. Liebeler. Now, did there come a time when you called Mr. Ryder on the telephone?