[Note: Edwin Lea McGehee's name is mistakenly given as "Lea McGee" throughout this document.]

MEMORANDUM

June 26, 1967

TO: JIM GARRISON, District Attorney

FROM: ANDREW J. SCIAMBRA, Assistant District Attorney

RE: INTERVIEW WITH:

MR. LEA McGEE on JUNE 17, 1967

I talked to Mr. LEA McGEE who is a barber in the Town of Jackson, Louisiana. Mr. McGEE told me that in late August or early September 1963 (he said it was kind of cool and he remembers his air conditioner was not on) just before he closed his barber shop a person who he later found out was LEE HARVEY OSWALD walked into his barber shop and got a haircut. McGEE said that he noticed an old dark colored beat up car pull up and park a few feet past the entrance to his shop. The next thing he noticed was this man walking into his barber shop and sitting down in the chair ready to get a haircut. McGEE said the person at no time introduced himself. As McGEE started to cut his hair, the person started asking him questions about East Louisiana State Hospital and wanted primarily to find out what kind of a hospital it was. The person told McGEE that he was from New Orleans and was out of work and wanted to know how he could go about getting a job at the hospital. McGEE said that OSWALD seemed surprised when he told him that East Louisiana State Hospital was a mental hospital. OSWALD repeated "mental hospital" and then asked McGEE if there were all kinds of jobs in the hospital. McGEE said that it was his impression that OSWALD had just been out of work and drove straight up to Jackson and stopped at his barber shop. McGEE said that OSWALD gave him the impression that he was not familiar at all with the Jackson area and also he made the comment about a barber shop being a good place for information. OSWALD told McGEE that he needed a job right away and he said that he didn't know any politicians in New Orleans that could help him. McGEE then told OSWALD that Mr. MORGAN, who is a State Representative, might be able to help him get a job at the hospital. McGEE then explained to Oswald how to get to MORGAN's house. McGEE said that it was his impression that he was the first person that OSWALD had talked to in the town and that his barber shop was the first stop that OSWALD had made. McGEE then told him that it would help him if he were a registered voter in the parish. McGEE then told OSWALD that he could register with HENRY EARL PALMER who was the Registrar of Voters.

McGEE said that OSWALD was neatly dressed and did not need a haircut and that he could have gone without one. OSWALD had on a pair of slacks and a sport shirt. McGEE said that OSWALD was very nice and after he cut his hair he just got up and thanked him and walked out of the shop. McGEE said that after OSWALD had his hair cut he asked McGEE whether he had change for a 5 dollar bill and McGEE told him that he did. McGEE said that he cannot remember everything that OSWALD told him but he said that OSWALD seemed to say something to deliberately make McGEE remember him. McGEE said there was no one else in the shop at the time as he was just about to close. McGEE said that he remembers OSWALD continually staring at a big picture of MARTIN LUTHER KING at a Communist training school which McGEE had hanging on thewall. However, McGEE said that OSWALD did not comment on it. I asked McGEE to tell me everything he could remember about the automobile and he said that he really never paid much attention to it except when it passed in front of his window and he may have glanced at it about 3 or 4 times when it was parked a few feet past his door (McGEE said if he had to guess at what kind of car it was he said it was like a Nash or a Kaiser). McGEE said he does remember that it was old and beat up and that he doesn't think it was a station wagon. It was dark in color and he doesn't remember if it was a Louisiana license plate or not. McGEE said that what did attract his attention was an article on the back seat of the car that looked like a baby basinette [sic] and there was a woman sitting in the front seat of the car, more or less turned around, with her arm over the front seat as if she were paying some attention to the basinette [sic] in the back seat. McGEE said that he did not see the woman's face at all, but that from what he can remember of her appearance from the rear she did not look to be an elderly woman and would guess that she would be in her early 20's. McGEE said that he could not tell from her position in the car if she was behind the wheel of the car or on the passenger side. He said that she appeared to have dark hair. I asked McGEE. I asked McGEE if he could remember whether or not OSWALD drove the car away or whether he got in on the passenger side of the automobile. He said that he did not pay that much attention and therefore could not remember. McGEE said that MORGAN later told him that OSWALD had gone to his house seeking information about the job at East Louisiana State Hospital. OSWALD told MORGAN that MC GEE [sic] had told him about him and had given him instructions on how to get to his house. McGEE said it was the only person he had ever sent to MORGAN's house. McGEE said that when he saw OSWALD's picture on TV he told his wife that he looked very familiar to him but that he did not know his name as OSWALD had never mentioned his name to him, and MORGAN hadnot [sic] informed him that OSWALD had been to see him. McGEE said that he can remember faces but that he is not good on names. McGEE said tha [sic] he has never heard anyone mention OSWALD's name in his barber shop, and as far as he knows he does not know anyone in the area who talked to OSSWALD besides himself and MORGAN. He did say, however, that there were a lot of Cubans and Latin-Americans working at the hospital around that time and that he cut the hair of some of them. He sayd [sic] he can remember a doctor from Mexico who was a real gun fanatic. He used to cut the doctor's hair and the doctor told him that he had a firing range of his own in Mexico. McGEE said that if he can remember correctly the doctor's name was something like "RAYAS" and that he believed the doctor worked in the infirmary at the hospital. McGee [sic] said that the doctor was short, kind of heavy set and had a "butch" haircut and was in his early '40s. He said the doctor was dark and had pock marks or skin blemishes on his face. He said he can remember another Mexican who was big and dark and muscular and who sold a boat to Dr. ROBARDS. However, he says that he cannot remember his name. McGEE said his wife works at the hospital and she has never heard anyone talk about OSWALD in her department. McGEE said that he has never talked to the FBI regarding this incident.