arrb

    Mrs. Porter, do you recognize the photographs placed in front of you?

                Mrs. PORTER. Yes, I do.

                Mr. McDONALD. And how do you recognize them?

                Mrs. PORTER. That is the photograph that I made of Lee on his persistent request of taking a picture of him dressed like that with rifle.

                Mr. McDONALD. Please tell us what happened? This was at the Neely Street address.

                What happened on this occasion when Lee asked you to take those photographs?

                Mrs. PORTER. Well, first of all, I refused to take picture because I did not know how to operate camera, and he told me, he insist that I will take it, and he said he will show me how, if I just push the button. So I took one picture, I think, and maybe he changed the pose, I don't recall. Maybe I took two pictures, but I was very annoyed by all the incidents.

                Mr. McDONALD. Mrs. Porter, I would like you to take a look at JFK exhibit F-381, which if the clerk would obtain from the Archives representatives. It is an Imperial reflex camera. It has a Warren Commission number, but I don't have it in front of me 750, CE-750.

                Does that camera look familiar, Mrs. Porter?

                Mrs. PORTER. I seen this camera when you show me the last time.

                Mr. McDONALD. Yes.

                Mrs. PORTER. But I do not, I cannot identify it as it belongs to me.

                Mr. McDONALD. What did he say to you regarding taking these photographs? How did he approach you?

                Mrs. PORTER. Well, he told me that he wanted me to take a picture of him, and I said I do not know how, and when he came dressed with all this thing, I was making remarks like it is a funny way to take a picture and why you want to do it, and it looks like he has some kind of newspaper in his hand.

                Mr. McDONALD. Now if you will look at the photographs as are displayed on the exhibit, he is wearing, he is holding a rifle and he has got a handgun in a holster attached to his belt.

                Had you seen the handgun before, before you took the photograph?

                Mrs. PORTER. I don't think so. Anyway I do not recall.

Page 240

240

                Mr. McDONALD. Well, do you recall if this was the first time when you were taking the photograph that you had seen him, or that you had known that he owned both the rifle and a handgun?

                Mrs. PORTER. R. It is possible.

                Mr. McDONALD. Did Lee appear to be nervous at all when you took the photograph?

                Mrs. PORTER. No. He was just angry with me because I refused. I was making fun of him.

                Mr. McDONALD. Did you use a tripod at all?

                Mrs. PORTER. Did I use what?

                Mr. McDONALD. A tripod. In other words, was the camera attached to a stand?

                Mrs. PORTER. No.

                Mr. McDONALD. OK. You held it in your hands.

                Mrs. PORTER. Yes.

                Mr. McDONALD. Was anyone else around when you took the photograph?

                Mrs. PORTER. It was quite embarrassing the way he was dressed, so I assume it was a weekend or maybe Sunday, because I recall the neighbors were gone.

                Mr. McDONALD. The neighbors were gone?

                Mrs. PORTER. I was grateful for that, yes.

                Mr. McDONALD. He waited for that?

                Mrs. PORTER. No, I was grateful for that.

                Mr. McDONALD. How long did he stay outside when you were taking these photographs?

                Mrs. PORTER. Not very long.

                Mr. McDONALD. Before the session, before you started taking these photographs, what was he doing?

                Mrs. PORTER. Well, he just show me which button to push, you know.

                Mr. McDONALD. What I meant was, what was he doing in the house?

                Mrs. PORTER. Well, I was busy doing something. Then he called me outside and he want me to do this picture taking.

                Mr. McDONALD. After you finished taking the photographs, what happened?

                Mrs. PORTER. Well, I went back to my whatever I was doing.

                Mr. McDONALD. And what did he do?

                Mrs. PORTER. I guess change his clothes, put all his ammunition back away.

                Mr. McDONALD. You took these photographs in March of 1963; is that correct?

                Mrs. PORTER. I don't recall the date, but it looked like a spring day.

                Mr. McDONALD. After the photo session was over, did he put the rifle and the handgun away?

                Mrs. PORTER. He probably did.

                Mr. McDONALD. Can you recall? Did he go out afterward?

                Mrs. PORTER. I don't remember.

                Mr. McDONALD. This was in March, so it would have been prior to the General Walker incident.

Page 241

241

                When he had these guns, the rifle in his hand, and you were taking the photograph, did he say anything to you about shooting anyone, political assassination, whatever?

                Mrs. PORTER. No.

                Mr. McDONALD. No comments at all like that?

                Mrs. PORTER. No.

                Mr. McDONALD. Now, Mrs. Porter, can you recall how many photographs you took, how many poses? What we have here are two, two poses.

                Can you recall whether you took any others?

                Mrs. PORTER. No, I don't.

                Mr. McDONALD. You don't recall?

                Mrs. PORTER. I don't recall.

                Mr. McDONALD. OK.

                Mrs. Porter, I am now going to show you a photograph which was not seen by the Warren Commission. For continuity purposes this committee has labeled it 133- C. We have up there A and B. We call it 133-C. It has no relation to the Warren Commission, since they did not see it.

                We have also marked it as exhibit, JFK exhibit F-380.

                If the clerk would please hand Mrs. Porter committee exhibit F-380, and if we could have displayed a photographic enlargement of it, marked JFK F-180.

                Have you had a chance to look at that and compare it with the other two?

                Mrs. PORTER. Pardon me?

                Mr. McDONALD. Have you had a chance to look at it and compare?

                Mrs. PORTER. Yes.

                Mr. McDONALD. Have you ever seen that photograph before?

                Mrs. PORTER. Well, I seen it in newspapers, and recently watching news I seen it, you know, on television as well.

                Mr. McDONALD. So as you look in front of you, you have three photographs, each one with a slightly different pose.

                Mrs. PORTER. Well, I never compared them before. Since you ask me, you know, I have to compare.

                Mr. McDONALD. As you will see, A has him holding a gun, holding the rifle in his right hand--left hand, B, the rifle in the right hand, and then, C, in the left hand again, slightly to the front.

                So with these to refresh your memory, can you say, can you recall if you took any additional pictures?

                Mrs. PORTER. No, I cannot remember how many exactly. To me it looks like all of them. It looks like Lee.

                Mr. McDONALD. That is correct.

                Mrs. PORTER. That is the only thing I can say, but I do not remember how many pictures I was taking.

                Mr. McDONALD. But since we have three in front of you, we know now that you at least took three; correct?

                Mrs. PORTER. Yes.

                Mr. McDONALD. Three different occasions?

                Mrs. PORTER. I mean it was one occasion.

                Mr. McDONALD. Right.

Page 242

242

                Mrs. PORTER. But I could take three pictures, I could take two pictures. I cannot be definite about how many.

                Mr. McDONALD. Let me ask you if you can remember, was there a pose? Did Lee pose holding the rifle over his head, in two hands?