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Python for Unix and LinuxTomcat
System ™

Administration
The Definitive Guide

NoahBrittain
Jason Gift and Jeremy
and Ian F.M. Jones
Darwin

Beijing • Cambridge • Farnham • Köln • Sebastopol • Taipei • Tokyo

Python for Unix and Linux System Administration
by Noah Gift and Jeremy M. Jones

Copyright © 2008 Noah Gift and Jeremy M. Jones. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.

Published by O’Reilly Media, Inc., 1005 Gravenstein Highway North, Sebastopol, CA 95472.

O’Reilly books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use. Online editions
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Editor: Julie Steele Cover Designer: Karen Montgomery

Production Editor: Loranah Dimant Interior Designer: David Futato
Production Services: nSight, Inc. Illustrator: Robert Romano

Printing History:
August 2008: First Edition.

Nutshell Handbook, the Nutshell Handbook logo, and the O’Reilly logo are registered trademarks of
O’Reilly Media, Inc. Python for Unix and Linux System Administration, the image of a boa constrictor,
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While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and authors assume
no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information con-
tained herein.

ISBN: 978-0-596-51582-9

[M]

1218651032
 I dedicate this book to Dr. Joseph E. Bogen,
my mom, and my wife, Leah—three people who
have loved me and believed in me when it counted
the most.
—Noah
I dedicate this book to my wife, Debra, and my
children, Zane and Justus. You encouraged me,
bore with me with great patience, and gave me
many smiles along the journey of writing this
book. This book is as much yours as it is mine.
—Jeremy
 Table of Contents

Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Why Python? 1
Motivation 6
The Basics 8
Executing Statements in Python 8
Using Functions in Python 12
Reusing Code with the Import Statement 16

2. IPython . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Installing IPython 22
Basic Concepts 23
Help with Magic Functions 30
Unix Shell 34
Information Gathering 51
Automation and Shortcuts 64
Summary 69

3. Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Python Built-ins and Modules 71
Log Parsing 110
ElementTree 116
Summary 120

4. Documentation and Reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Automated Information Gathering 123
Manual Information Gathering 126
Information Formatting 135

vii
 Information Distribution 141
Summary 145

5. Networking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Network Clients 147
Remote Procedure Call Facilities 158
SSH 164
Twisted 167
Scapy 173
Creating Scripts with Scapy 175

6. Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Introduction 177
Using the OS Module to Interact with Data 178
Copying, Moving, Renaming, and Deleting Data 179
Working with Paths, Directories, and Files 181
Comparing Data 185
Merging Data 187
Pattern Matching Files and Directories 193
Wrapping Up rsync 195
Metadata: Data About Data 197
Archiving, Compressing, Imaging, and Restoring 199
Using tarfile Module to Create TAR Archives 199
Using a tarfile Module to Examine the Contents of TAR Files 201

7. SNMP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Introduction 205
Brief Introduction to SNMP 205
IPython and Net-SNMP 208
Discovering a Data Center 211
Retrieving Multiple-Values with Net-SNMP 214
Creating Hybrid SNMP Tools 220
Extending Net-SNMP 222
SNMP Device Control 224
Enterprise SNMP Integration with Zenoss 225

8. OS Soup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Introduction 227
Cross-Platform Unix Programming in Python 228
PyInotify 238
OS X 240
Red Hat Linux Systems Administration 245
Ubuntu Administration 245

viii | Table of Contents

 Solaris Systems Administration 245
Virtualization 246
Cloud Computing 247
Using Zenoss to Manage Windows Servers from Linux 253

9. Package Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

Introduction 257
Setuptools and Python Eggs 258
Using easy_install 258
easy_install Advanced Features 261
Creating Eggs 266
Entry Points and Console Scripts 270
Registering a Package with the Python Package Index 271
Distutils 273
Buildout 275
Using Buildout 276
Developing with Buildout 279
virtualenv 279
EPM Package Manager 283

10. Processes and Concurrency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Introduction 289
Subprocess 289
Using Supervisor to Manage Processes 298
Using Screen to Manage Processes 300
Threads in Python 301
Processes 313
Processing Module 313
Scheduling Python Processes 316
daemonizer 318
Summary 321

11. Building GUIs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323

GUI Building Theory 323
Building a Simple PyGTK App 324
Building an Apache Log Viewer Using PyGTK 326
Building an Apache Log Viewer Using Curses 330
Web Applications 334
Django 335
Conclusion 354

12. Data Persistence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357

Simple Serialization 357

Table of Contents | ix
 Relational Serialization 376
Summary 385

13. Command Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387

Introduction 387
Basic Standard Input Usage 388
Introduction to Optparse 389
Simple Optparse Usage Patterns 390
Unix Mashups: Integrating Shell Commands into Python Command-Line Tools
397
Integrating Configuration Files 402
Summary 404

14. Pragmatic Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405

Managing DNS with Python 405
Using LDAP with OpenLDAP, Active Directory, and More with Python 406
Apache Log Reporting 408
FTP Mirror 415

Appendix: Callbacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423

x | Table of Contents
 Foreword

I was excited to preview this book on using Python for system administration. I
remembered how I felt when I discovered Python after many years of programming in
other languages: it was like a breath of spring air and the warmth of the sun after a long
winter indoors. Code was suddenly easy and fun to write again, and I finished programs
much more quickly than before.
As a system administrator, most of my own Python use is for system and network
management tasks. I already knew how useful a good book focusing on system ad-
ministration with Python would be. I am happy to say that this is that book. Overall,
Noah and Jeremy have created an interesting, intelligent work on Python that is planted
firmly in the system administration sphere. I found the book both very useful and en-
joyable to read.
The two opening chapters are a great introduction to Python for system administrators
(and others) who are new to Python. I consider myself an intermediate Python pro-
grammer, and I learned a lot from the book. I suspect even Python wizards will come
across a few new tricks in here. I can especially recommend the chapters on networking
and managing network services, SNMP, and management of heterogeneous systems as
particularly useful and well focused on nontrivial, real-world tasks that system admin-
istrators face every day.
—Æleen Frisch, July 2008

xi
 Preface

Conventions Used in This Book

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Constant width italic
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mined by context.

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Using Code Examples

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xiii
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xiv | Preface
Acknowledgments
Noah’s Acknowledgments
As I sit writing an acknowledgment for this book, I have to first mention Dr. Joseph E.
Bogen, because he made the single largest impact on me, at a time that it mattered the
most. I met Dr. Bogen while I was working at Caltech, and he opened my eyes to another
world giving me advice on life, psychology, neuroscience, math, the scientific study of
consciousness, and much more. He was the smartest person I ever met, and was some-
one I loved. I am going to write a book about this experience someday, and I am sad-
dened that he won’t be there to read it, his death was a big loss.
I want to thank my wife, Leah, who has been one of the best things to happen to me,
ever. Without your love and support, I never could have written this book. You have
the patience of a saint. I am looking forward to going where this journey takes us, and
I love you. I also want to thank my son, Liam, who is one and a half, for being patient
with me while I wrote this book. I had to cut many of our guitar, piano, and pushup
lessons short, so I owe you payback times two, little goat.
To my mom, I love you, and thank you for encouraging me throughout life.
Of course, I want to thank Jeremy M. Jones, my coauthor, for agreeing to write this
book with me. I think we were a great team with different, but complementary styles,
and we wrote a great book. You have taught me a lot about Python, and have been a
good partner and friend. Thanks!
Titus Brown, whom I suppose I have to call Dr. Brown now, was the person that got
me interested in Python to begin with, when I met him at Caltech. He is another ex-
ample of how one person can make a difference, and I am glad to consider him an “old”
friend, the kind money can’t buy. He kept asking me, “Why don’t you use Python?”
And then one day I did. If it wasn’t for Titus, I would certainly have continued down
the Java and Perl path. You can read his blog here: http://ivory.idyll.org/blog.
Shannon Behrens has a heart of solid gold, a mind as sharp as a razor, and a knowledge
of Python that is truly scary. I first met Shannon through Titus, ironic again, but he and
I became quick friends. Shannon is the real deal in every sense of the word, and has
taught me a tremendous amount about Python, in fact, staggering would be a better
word. His help with Python, and editing this book has been incredible, and I owe him
tremendously. I shudder to think of what it would have looked like without him. I can’t
ever imagine a company being foolish enough to let him get away, and I look forward
to helping him with his first book. Finally, he is just an incredible technical reviewer.
You can read his blog here: http://jjinux.blogspot.com/.
Doug Hellmann was our other star technical reviewer and was exceptionally productive
and helpful. Jeremy and I are extremely fortunate to get someone of his caliber to review
the book. He went above and beyond his call of duty, and is truly a force of efficiency

Preface | xv
to reckon with. He was also a great source of motivation while we worked together at
Racemi. You can read his blog here: http://blog.doughellmann.com/.
Thanks to Scott Leerseen for reviewing our book and giving us good advice along the
way. I also especially enjoyed our code review battles. Just remember, I am always right.
Thanks to Alfredo Deza for the work on making an Ubuntu virtual machine for the
book, your expertise was greatly appreciated.
A very large thanks to Liza Daly, for providing good feedback on some really early, and
rough, parts of our book. This was tremendously helpful.
Special thanks to Jeff Rush for his advice and reference material on Buildout, Eggs, and
Virtualenv.
Thanks to Aaron Hillegass who has given me some great advice and help along the way,
and who has a great training company, Big Nerd Ranch. He is a special person, who I
am lucky to have met. Thanks to Mark Lutz, who I had the pleasure of taking a Python
training course from, and who has written some great books on Python.
Thanks to the people in the Python community in Atlanta, and the members of PyAtl:
http://pyatl.org; you have all taught me a great deal. Rick Copeland, Rick Thomas,
Brandon Rhodes, Derek Richardson, Jonathan La Cour, a.k.a Mr. Metaclass, Drew
Smathers, Cary Hull, Bernard Matthews, Michael Langford, and many more I have
forgotten to mention. Brandon and Rick Copeland in particular have been very helpful
and are awesome Python programmers. You can read Brandon’s blog at http://rhodes
mill.org/brandon/.
Thanks to Grig Gheorghiu for giving us expert sysadmin and testing advice and for
giving us a kick in the butt when we needed one.
Thanks to my former employer Racemi, and the CTO/Founder, Charles Watt. I learned
a lot from you and was glad you knew which competitive buttons to push. Just re-
member I will kick your butt at writing code, a 26-mile run, or a 200-mile bike ride any
day, just tell me where and when.
Thanks to Dr. Nanda Ganesan, who was a great mentor in graduate school at CSULA.
You taught me a lot about information technology and life and encouraged me to think
big.
Thanks to Dr. Cindy Heiss, who was my professor for my undergraduate degree in
nutritional science. You got me started on web development, encouraged me to believe
in myself, and ultimately made an impact on my life, thanks!
Thanks to Sheldon Blockburger, who let me try out for Division I decathlon as a walk-
on at Cal Poly SLO. Even though I didn’t make the team, you showed me how to be a
fierce competitor and warrior, and taught me the self-discipline to run 200-meter in-
tervals by myself. I believe weekly 200-meter interval workouts make me a better soft-
ware engineer.

xvi | Preface
There were many other people who helped tremendously along the way, including
Jennifer Davis, yet another friend from Caltech, who gave us some great feedback; some
of my friends and coworkers at Turner; Doug Wake, Wayne Blanchard, Sam Allgood,
Don Voravong; some of my friends and coworkers from Disney Feature animation,
including Sean Someroff, Greg Neagle, and Bobby Lea. Greg Neagle in particular taught
me a lot about OS X. Also, thanks to J.F. Panisset, who I met at Sony Imageworks, for
teaching me quite a bit about engineering in general. Although he is now a CTO, he is
another rare catch for any company.
I would like to thank a few others who made some important contributions: Mike
Wagner, Chris McDowell, and Shaun Smoot.
Thanks to Bruce J. Bell, who I worked with at Caltech. He taught me quite a bit about
Unix and programming over the years, and I owe him greatly for it. You can read his
material here: http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~bruce/.
Also thanks to Alberto Valez, my boss at Sony Imageworks, for being possibly the best
boss I ever had and giving me the chance to completely automate my job. Thanks to
film editor Ed Fuller, who helped with advice on the book, and was a good friend during
this process.
Thanks to many people in the Python community. First, thanks to Guido van Rossum
for writing a great language, for being a great leader, and for being patient with me
when I asked for advice on the book. There are so many rock stars in the Python com-
munity who crank out useful tools that I use everyday. They include Ian Bicking, Fer-
nando Perez and Villi Vainio, Mike Bayer, Gustavo Niemeyer, etc. Thanks! Thanks to
the great book by David Beazely, and his fantastic tutorial at PyCon 2008 on Genera-
tors. Thanks to other writers about Python and systems administration as well. You
can find links to their work here: http://wiki.python.org/moin/systems_administration.
Thanks also to the Repoze crew: Tres Seaver and Chris McDonough (http://repoze.org/
index.html).
Special thanks to the great tools, advice, and tolerance from Phillip J. Eby on the
setuptools section. Also, thanks to Jim Fulton who tolerated my questions about ZODB
and buildout, with a crazy schedule. Additional thanks to Martijn Fassen, who taught
me about ZODB and Grok. If you want to see the future of Python web development,
check out Grok: http://grok.zope.org/.
Thanks to Red Hat Magazine staff, Julie Bryce, Jessica Gerber, Bascha Harris, and Ruth
Suehle, for letting me try out ideas we used in this book in the form of articles. Also,
thanks to Mike McCrary at IBM Developerworks, for letting me write articles to try out
ideas we used in this book.
I want to thank the multitudes of people who told me at one point in my life that I
couldn’t do something. At almost every step, I have met discouraging people who told
me everything from I would never get into the college I wanted to to I would never learn
to program. Thank you for giving me the extra motivation to succeed at my dreams.

Preface | xvii
Humans can create their own reality if they truly believe in themselves, and I would
encourage everyone to give themselves a chance to do what they truly want to do.
Finally, thanks to O’Reilly and Tatiana Apandi, for believing in my original pitch for a
book on Python and Systems Administration. You took a chance and believed in me
and Jeremy, and I thank you for that. Although Tatiana left O’Reilly near the end of
our book to pursue her dreams, her impact was still felt. I also want to thank our new
editor Julie Steele, who has been supportive and helpful every step of the way. You have
really provided a sea of calm that I personally appreciated greatly. I look forward to
hearing great things in the future from Julie, and I’m excited to work with her again.

Jeremy’s Acknowledgments
After reading Noah’s list of thanks, it makes me feel both ungrateful, because I know
my list won’t be that long, and at a loss, because I think he covered nearly everyone
that I wanted to thank.
First, I must thank my God, through Whom I can do all things and without Whom, I
can do nothing.
First in an earthly sense, I thank my wife, Debra. You kept the children engaged with
other activities while I worked on the book. You enforced the so-often reapeated rule
“Don’t bother Daddy while he’s working on his book.” You encouraged me when I
needed it, and you also gave me a lot of space, which is what I needed most. Thank
you. I love you. I could not have written this book without you.
I also must thank my sweet children, Zane and Justus, for their patience through the
process of my writing this book. I missed out on a lot of trips to Stone Mountain with
you both. I still put one of you to bed most nights, but I missed out on staying in there
long enough to fall asleep with you, like I used to. I missed out on the last several weeks
of Kid’s Rock on Wednesday nights. I missed out on so much, but you bore it patiently.
So, thank you for your patience. And thank you for your excitement as you hear that
I’m almost done with the book. I love you both.
I want to thank my parents, Charles and Lynda Jones, for their support through the
course of my writing this book. But more than that, I want to thank them for being a
living example of a strong work ethic, of earning everything you have, of working hard
to better yourself, and of spending money wisely. Those are lessons I hope to pass on
to Zane and Justus.
Thank you to Noah Gift, my coauthor, for getting me into this mess. It has been hard,
harder than I thought and definitely one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life.
I think it says a lot about a person when you work on something like this with him and
at the end, you can still think of him as your friend. Thanks, Noah. This book would
not have begun if not for you.

xviii | Preface
I want to thank our team of reviewers. I think that Noah has already thanked all of you,
but I want to thank everyone that I can: Doug Hellman, Jennifer Davis, Shannon JJ
Behrens, Chris McDowell, Titus Brown, and Scott Leerseen. You guys were awesome.
There were times when I thought that I had something spot-on and you readjusted my
thinking. Or you just brought a completely different perspective to the book and helped
me see my work through a different set of eyes. (That was mostly you, Jennifer. If the
text processing chapter is useful for sysadmins, it’s mostly because of you.) Thank you
all.
I also want to thank our editors, Tatiana Apandi and Julie Steele. You guys handled
the hard stuff, freeing us up to work on the book. You both eased our burden along
the way. Thank you.
I’d also like to thank Fernando Perez and Ville Vainio for your amazing feedback. I
hope I’ve done IPython justice. And thank you for IPython. I feel like I couldn’t live
without it.
Thank you Duncan McGreggor, for helping me get the Twisted code in better shape.
Your comments were extemely helpful. And thank you for working on Twisted. It is
an amazing framework. I hope to use it more, real soon now.
I thank Bram Moolenaar and everyone who has ever worked on the Vim editor. Almost
every word and XML tag that I wrote flowed through capabilities Vim. I picked up a
few tricks along the way that I’ll incorporate into my daily editing habits. Vim made
me more productive. Thank you.
I also want to thank Linus Torvalds, the Debian folks, the Ubuntu folks, and anyone
else who has ever worked on Linux. Almost every word that I typed was done on Linux.
You made it incredibly simple to set up new environments and test different things.
Thank you.
Finally, but by no means least, I want to thank Guido van Rossum and everyone who
has ever done any work on Python. I have been benefitting from your work for a number
of years now. I was hired for my last two jobs because of Python. Python, the language,
and Python, the community, have been both a great joy for me since I started working
with it sometime around 2001–2002. Thank you. Python has been very good to me.

Preface | xix
 CHAPTER 1
Introduction

Why Python?
If you are a system administrator, it is likely that you have encountered Perl, Bash, ksh,
or some other scripting language. You may have even used one or more yourself.
Scripting languages are often used to do repetitive, tedious work at a rate and with an
accuracy that far surpass what you could accomplish without them. All languages are
tools. They are simply a means to get work done. They have value only insofar as they
help you get your job done better. We believe that Python is a valuable tool, specifically
because it enables you to get your work done efficiently.
So is Python better than Perl, Bash, Ruby, or any other language? It’s really difficult to
put that sort of qualitative label on a programming language, since the tool is so closely
tied to the thought process of the programmer who is using it. Programming is a sub-
jective, deeply personal activity. For the language to be excellent, it must fit the person
using it. So we’re not going to argue that Python is better, but we will explain the reasons
that we believe Python can be an excellent choice. We’ll also explain why it is a great
fit for performing sysadmin tasks.
The first reason that we think that Python is excellent is that it is easy to learn. If a
language can’t help you become productive pretty quickly, the lure of that language is
severely diminished. Why would you want to spend weeks or months studying a lan-
guage before you are able to write a program that does something useful? This is espe-
cially the case for sysadmins. If you are a sysadmin, your work can pile up faster than
you can unpile it. With Python, you can start writing useful scripts literally in hours
rather than in days or weeks. If you can’t learn a language quickly enough to start
writing scripts with it almost immediately, you should strongly question whether you
should be learning it.
However, a language that is easy to learn but doesn’t allow you to do fairly complex
tasks isn’t worth much either. So the second reason that we consider Python to be an
excellent programming language is that, while it lets you start simply, it also allows you
to perform tasks that are as complex as you can imagine. Do you need to read through
a logfile line by line and pull out some pretty basic information? Python can handle

1
that. Or do you need to parse through a logfile, extract every piece of information that
it provides, compare usage from each IP address in this logfile to usage in each logfile
(which are stored in a relational database, by the way) from the past three months, and
then store the results to a relational database? Sure, Python can do that as well. Python
is being used on some pretty complex problems, such as analysis of genomic sequences,
multithreaded web servers, and heavy duty statistical analysis. You may never have to
work on anything like that, but it’s nice to know that when you need to do complex
things, the language is able to work with you.
Additionally, if you are able to perform complex operations, but the maintainability of
your code suffers along the way, that isn’t a good thing. Python doesn’t prevent code
maintenance problems, but it does allow you to express complex ideas with simple
language constructs. Simplicity is a huge factor in writing code that is easy to maintain
later. Python has made it pretty simple for us to go back over our own code and work
on it after we haven’t touched it in months. It has also been pretty simple for us to work
on code that we haven’t seen before. So the language, that is the language’s syntax and
common idioms, are clear and concise and easy to work with over long periods of time.
The next reason we consider Python to be an excellent language is its readability.
Python relies on whitespace to determine where code blocks begin and end. The in-
dentation helps your eyes quickly follow the flow of a program. Python also tends to
be “word-based.” By that we mean that while Python uses its share of special characters,
features are often implemented as keywords or with libraries. The emphasis on words
rather than special characters helps the reading and comprehension of code.
Now that we’ve outlined a few of Python’s benefits, we’ll show some comparisons of
code examples in Python, Perl, and Bash. Along the way, we’ll also look at a few more
of Python’s benefits. Here is a simple example, in Bash, of showing all the combinations
of 1, 2 and a, b:
#!/bin/bash

for a in 1 2; do
for b in a b; do
echo "$a $b"
done
done

And here is a comparable piece of Perl:

#!/usr/bin/perl

foreach $a ('1', '2') {

foreach $b ('a', 'b') {
print "$a $b\n";
}
}

This is a pretty simple nested loop. Let’s compare these looping mechanisms with a
for loop in Python:

2 | Chapter 1: Introduction
 #!/usr/bin/env python

for a in [1, 2]:

for b in ['a', 'b']:
print a, b

Next, we’ll demonstrate using conditionals in Bash, Perl, and Python. We have a simple
if/else condition check here. We’re just checking to see whether a certain file path is
a directory:
#!/bin/bash

if [ -d "/tmp" ] ; then
echo "/tmp is a directory"
else
echo "/tmp is not a directory"
fi

Here is the Perl equivalent of the same script:

#!/usr/bin/perl

if (-d "/tmp") {
print "/tmp is a directory\n";
}
else {
print "/tmp is not a directory\n";
}

And here is the Python equivalent of the script:

#!/usr/bin/env python

import os

if os.path.isdir("/tmp"):
print "/tmp is a directory"
else:
print "/tmp is not a directory"

Another point in favor of Python’s excellence is its simple support for object-oriented
programming (OOP). And, actually, the converse of that is that you don’t have to do
OOP if you don’t want to. But if you do, it’s dead simple in Python. OOP allows you
to easily and cleanly break problems apart and bundle pieces of functionality together
into single “things” or “objects.” Bash doesn’t support OOP, but both Perl and Python
do. Here is a module in Perl that defines a class:
package Server;
use strict;

sub new {
my $class = shift;
my $self = {};
$self->{IP} = shift;
$self->{HOSTNAME} = shift;
bless($self);

Why Python? | 3
 return $self;
}

sub set_ip {
my $self = shift;
$self->{IP} = shift;
return $self->{IP};
}

sub set_hostname {
my $self = shift;
$self->{HOSTNAME} = shift;
return $self->{HOSTNAME};
}

sub ping {
my $self = shift;
my $external_ip = shift;
my $self_ip = $self->{IP};
my $self_host = $self->{HOSTNAME};
print "Pinging $external_ip from $self_ip ($self_host)\n";
return 0;
}

1;

And here is a piece of code that uses it:

#!/usr/bin/perl

use Server;

$server = Server->new('192.168.1.15', 'grumbly');

$server->ping('192.168.1.20');

The code that makes use of the OO module is straightforward and simple. The OO
module may take a bit more mental parsing if you’re not familiar with OOP or with
the way that Perl tackles OOP.
A comparable Python class and use of the class looks something like this:
#!/usr/bin/env python

class Server(object):
def __init__(self, ip, hostname):
self.ip = ip
self.hostname = hostname
def set_ip(self, ip):
self.ip = ip
def set_hostname(self, hostname):
self.hostname = hostname
def ping(self, ip_addr):
print "Pinging %s from %s (%s)" % (ip_addr, self.ip, self.hostname)

if __name__ == '__main__':

4 | Chapter 1: Introduction
 Another Random Document on
Scribd Without Any Related Topics
 Mrs. Peterman. No; I am a person like that myself. I don't bother
much with the neighbors.
Mr. Jenner. I take it from what you have told me, Mrs. Peterman,
that Marguerite Oswald was unmarried at the time, that she had just
divorced her husband, or been divorced by him, is that right?
Mrs. Peterman. Well, the first one I don't know, but the second
one was dead. He died and left her a widow. She told me that
herself when she moved there. Now, her first husband, I didn't know
whether he was dead, living, or what. She never mentioned him.
Mr. Jenner. When did you say you moved into that house?
Mrs. Peterman. In 1941.
Mr. Jenner. You moved there in 1941?
Mrs. Peterman. Yes.
Mr. Jenner. All right. Well, in any event she was unmarried at that
time, is that right?
Mrs. Peterman. Yes.
Mr. Jenner. Do you know how she supported herself?
Mrs. Peterman. Well, at first I don't. I know she told me that she
sold her house, where they came from, but how much that was or
anything I don't know. She might have had insurance from him; I
don't know. Then later she opened a little dry goods store.
Mr. Jenner. A dry goods store?
Mrs. Peterman. I won't say a dry goods store—more like a grocery
store, I guess you would say—just a small place there in the front
room. She sold bread, milk, candy, and things like that.
Mr. Jenner. Where was that?
Mrs. Peterman. In her front room.
Mr. Jenner. The front room of her house?
Mrs. Peterman. Yes; it was a little grocery store.
 Mr. Jenner. Would the local city ordinances permit that?
Mrs. Peterman. I don't know about that, but she did operate it for
a short time—not too long. Finally she gave that up, but as far as I
know that was the only money she had coming in at that time.
Mr. Jenner. Give me your impression of Mrs. Oswald, would you
please; what kind of person she was.
Mrs. Peterman. Well, like I said—I don't know how to explain it,
but she was a person who was not overfriendly, and she wasn't no
snob either. I can't say that, but I don't know. She was the kind of a
person that—I don't know how to say it. I mean, I had no trouble
with her, and she was a good mother to her children.
Mr. Jenner. She was?
Mrs. Peterman. That she was, and she would always keep, like I
say, to herself. She didn't do much talking, that is, to me; but now
whether she did to the other neighbors, I don't know.
Mr. Jenner. You didn't regard her conduct as strange?
Mrs. Peterman. No; nothing like that. Like I told you, I am the
kind of person who keeps to myself too. I have been right now 23
years in that neighborhood, I—there are some people living around
there right now that I couldn't tell you their name. I am always
inside. I never go out, you know, but I have nothing to say against
her in any kind of way.
Mr. Jenner. She seemed to be industrious and a good mother, is
that right?
Mrs. Peterman. Yes, sir; she was good to her children, and she
kept them all, you know, nice and clean, but I don't know anything
about her business at all.
Mr. Jenner. What was your reaction to the two older boys, John
and Robert?
Mrs. Peterman. Well, they were like all kids, I guess, you know,
having a good time, but I will say that they were not running like the
kids do today.
Mr. Jenner. What do you mean by that?
Mrs. Peterman. I mean children back in those days were not like
children are today, and I know, because I have grandchildren now,
and they are altogether different now. Even Lee, he was a good little
child, and he didn't do things like the boys do today. That's why I
just can't see how this all came about. I can't understand it. We
didn't even know anything about it until the man found me, you
know. We all thought maybe it was Lee, but we just, you know,
couldn't believe it.
Mr. Jenner. Do you recall the names of any other children in the
neighborhood who were about the ages of Robert and John?
Mrs. Peterman. No; I don't think so.
Mr. Jenner. Would your daughter Cecelia still have a recollection
of those boys, do you think?
Mrs. Peterman. I doubt it, because she was only 8 then. She was
small. My older ones might remember them.
Mr. Jenner. That would be Myra and Emile?
Mrs. Peterman. Yes; Myra and Emile.
Mr. Jenner. All right. Is there anything else that occurs to you that
might be helpful to the Commission that I haven't asked you about,
either because I don't know about it or I have neglected to ask you
about it, or anything you might want to contribute?
Mrs. Peterman. No; if there was anything else, I would be glad to
tell you about it. Like I say, he was such a little bitty fellow, and after
she moved away we lost track of them.
Mr. Jenner. After they moved away from there, you never heard
of them and you never saw them until this tragic event occurred, is
that right?
Mrs. Peterman. Yes, sir.
 Mr. Jenner. And even then you didn't believe it was them until, as
you said, the man found you?
Mrs. Peterman. I really didn't. Lee was a good little child, and
Marguerite took good care of him.
Mr. Jenner. All right. I very much appreciate your coming down
with your husband to talk to us.
Now, these depositions that we are taking will be sent by the
U.S. attorney back to Washington, and you have the privilege, if you
wish, to read over your deposition and to sign it.
You don't have to do that unless you wish, but I would
appreciate knowing what you prefer to do, because if you wish to
read your deposition and to sign it, then we will have to have the
reporter write it out promptly and have the U.S. attorney call you in
and then you may come down and read your deposition and sign it.
Mrs. Peterman. Well, as far as I can; I have told the truth about
everything, you know, as much as I remember. Like I said, about the
ages of the children and all, I am not positive. This was so long ago.
Mr. Jenner. Well, I think you were pretty close.
Mrs. Peterman. After 23 years you can't remember like just
yesterday, or the day before.
Mr. Jenner. Well, all right then, as far as you are concerned, you
would just as soon waive the signing of the deposition, is that right?
You don't want to read it over and sign it?
Mrs. Peterman. Yes, sir; I waive it.
Mr. Jenner. Very well, and thank you again for coming down, Mrs.
Peterman.
 TESTIMONY OF MRS. MYRTLE
EVANS
The testimony of Mrs. Myrtle Evans was taken on April 7, 1964,
at the Old Civil Courts Building, Royal and Conti Streets, New
Orleans, La., by Mr. Albert E. Jenner, Jr., assistant counsel of the
President's Commission.

Mrs. Myrtle Evans, 1910 Prytania Street, New Orleans, La., after
first being duly sworn, testified as follows:
Mr. Jenner. You are Mrs. Myrtle Evans, is that right?
Mrs. Evans. Yes, sir.
Mr. Jenner. And your husband is Julian Evans, and he
accompanied you here today, is that right?
Mrs. Evans. Yes, sir.
Mr. Jenner. He is waiting outside until you complete your
deposition?
Mrs. Evans. Yes.
Mr. Jenner. Mrs. Evans, are you a native of New Orleans?
Mrs. Evans. Yes, sir.
Mr. Jenner. And your husband?
Mrs. Evans. Yes; he was born in New York, but he was raised in
New Orleans.
Mr. Jenner. And you were born here?
 Mrs. Evans. Yes; I was.
Mr. Jenner. And you have no family, is that right?
Mrs. Evans. That's right. Well, I have no immediate family. I have
brothers and sisters, but I don't have any children.
Mr. Jenner. All right. Are you acquainted with a person named
Marguerite Oswald?
Mrs. Evans. Yes; she was a very good friend of mine.
Mr. Jenner. When did you first become acquainted with her?
Mrs. Evans. In about 1930.
Mr. Jenner. About 1930?
Mrs. Evans. Something like that.
Mr. Jenner. She was then about 26 or 27 years old, is that right?
Mrs. Evans. Well, I guess that's about right.
Mr. Jenner. She is either 56 or 57 right now.
Mrs. Evans. Well, yes; she was about that then, I guess. I had
met her between 1925 and 1930, about that time. I played cards
with her.
Mr. Jenner. What kind of cards? Bridge?
Mrs. Evans. We played bridge, yes.
Mr. Jenner. How did you become acquainted with her?
Mrs. Evans. Well, through a friend, a mutual friend—hers and
mine, and we used to play bridge together.
Mr. Jenner. Was she married then?
Mrs. Evans. She was separated from her first husband.
Mr. Jenner. Where did she live then, do you know?
Mrs. Evans. I think at that particular time she had a little
apartment on North Carrollton. I never did visit her residence, so I
don't know much about that. At that time she was living with her
sister that lived right off of City Park, but it seems she had a
basement apartment on North Carrollton. I don't think she was living
there at that particular time. She did move in with her sister later,
and from time to time she was with her, but at that particular time I
don't think she was.
Mr. Jenner. What's her sister's name?
Mrs. Evans. Oh, I forget.
Mr. Jenner. Murret?
Mrs. Evans. Yes; Mrs. Murret.
Mr. Jenner. Lillian Murret?
Mrs. Evans. Yes; her first name is Lillian; yes, that's right.
Mr. Jenner. Did that acquaintance continue for some years?
Mrs. Evans. Well, I sort of quit playing cards, and I went and took
an accounting course and went back to work, and I had not seen
her for a while, and she remarried—to Oswald.
Mr. Jenner. You learned of that, did you?
Mrs. Evans. Yes; to Oswald.
Mr. Jenner. Did you see her from time to time in that interim?
Mrs. Evans. Well, I wasn't playing cards during that time or
anything, but I might have run into her—I imagine I did, on the
street, but I lost contact with her, sort of, and then—it was either
just before Lee's birth or just after his birth; I can't remember; it has
been so many years, but I met her on the corner of Canal and St.
Charles. I think that was after Lee's birth. I think her husband had
died, and I think she had just taken the baby to the doctor, or
something. I think she told me they had wanted to have a little girl,
but I can't remember all of that just the way it happened, you know.
That's been such a long time ago, but I can remember meeting her;
I just can't remember though if it was after her husband died, or if
she was expecting a baby, or if she was the one that wanted a little
girl. I can't remember if that was after the child was born. Most
likely it was that she hoped they would have a little girl. Now, a lot
of this was told to me after we became friends again, as to what
happened.
I didn't attend her husband's funeral or anything, and I didn't
start seeing a good deal of her again until—let's see; she finally went
to work downtown, and I happened to run into her, or something
like that. She was working for, I think, Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co.,
and I was a widow and she was a widow, and we again sort of
regained our friendship.
Mr. Jenner. Your husband in the meantime had died?
Mrs. Evans. Yes; I am married now to Mr. Evans.
Mr. Jenner. Your first husband, was he also a native-born
American?
Mrs. Evans. Oh, yes; now, I met Lee's aunt one day at a card
party.
Mr. Jenner. That's Mrs. Murret?
Mrs. Evans. Yes, Lillian Murret, and I hadn't seen her in years. I
am Catholic and she is Catholic, you see, and so they had this card
party or some kind of an affair over at the Fontainebleau Motel, and
a number of ladies were present, and it was for charity, and we
played bingo and canasta and things, and she was selling aprons,
and so she said, "Oh, Myrtle, did you hear about Lee; he gave up his
American citizenship and went to Russia, behind the iron curtain,"
and I said "My God, no," and she said, "Yes."
Well, after that I didn't hear any more about it. I lost contact.
Mr. Jenner. When was this, 1959, 1960?
Mrs. Evans. Well, I would say 2 to 3 years ago, about 3 years
ago, because I have been to those affairs, I think, twice since.
 Mr. Jenner. Was that the first you knew or had become aware of
the fact that Lee Harvey Oswald was living in Russia?
Mrs. Evans. Yes; now, it was undoubtedly in the newspapers and
on TV, but I sometimes get to doing a million things, and I don't get
a chance to read the newspaper. I just skip it. And if I don't get
around to it, I skip the news on TV too, even the late news. So a lot
of times I don't know what's going on, but she said, "Did you hear
about Lee?" and I said, "No, what about Lee?" and she said, "You
didn't see it in the paper? Lee has done gone and given up his
United States citizenship," and I said, "Poor Marguerite; that's
terrible; I feel so sorry for her."
Mr. Jenner. You knew Lee Harvey Oswald?
Mrs. Evans. Yes; I knew him very well. I knew his mother before
he was born, and I knew him since he was a little tyke. Lillian took
care of him for a while, you see. She had two boys, one by her first
marriage, and it wasn't her fault that they got a divorce. He didn't
want the child, and he wanted her to destroy the child.
Mr. Jenner. When you say she had two boys, you are talking
about Marguerite Oswald, is that right?
Mrs. Evans. Yes; Marguerite had a terrificly sad life, and she was
just a wonderful, gorgeous wife. She married this John Pic and had
his boy, and he didn't want any children at all, and so she left him
and went to live with her sister, and Oswald, I think, was a Virginia
Life Insurance salesman. He collected insurance from the sister. They
lived right off of City Park, and so one day Margie was strolling with
Robert in front of City Park, and Oswald bumped into them, and he
asked them how about him riding them home.
Mr. Jenner. What did she say to him?
Mrs. Evans. Well, she let him. You see, he had been collecting
insurance at the house, and had spoken to Margie.
Mr. Jenner. At whose house?
 Mrs. Evans. At the Murret house, and he had played with the
baby. No, let's see, John was the baby at that time, and she was
separated or divorced from her husband. I forget which now. But he
supported John.
Mr. Jenner. You mean Mr. Pic supported John? You are talking
about John Pic now?
Mrs. Evans. Yes; he continued to support him and he sent a baby
crib, and he did everything like that, but he didn't want to live with
her because of the child, so John never did see his father until he
was, oh, about 18 years old, or something like that, so that's why
those two boys were so close in age, you see, because she met
Oswald, and he started taking her out. He asked her if she would go
out to dinner with him, and she had been away from her husband
for a year and a half or 2 years, and so she did, and then she
married him, and she had this baby right away, which is Robert, and
they bought a home out around Alvar somewhere. She never told
me all this now; some of it I heard from other sources, like her sister
and others, but she did tell me a lot of it, because we got to be real
good friends.
She bought that home, and they had the two boys, and they
were very happy, and then one day he was out mowing the lawn,
and he had this terrific pain, and she was several months pregnant
with Lee. She called the doctor right away, but before the doctor
could get there, the man was dead. He had a blood clot, so he left
her with two babies and one on the way.
Now, he left her with $10,000, I think, in insurance, so she sold
her home, and by that time her two boys were old enough, so she
put them in this home—Evangeline, I think it is, but I'm not sure
about that, and she bought a home over on—what's the name of
that street back off of St. Claude?
Mr. Jenner. Bartholomew?
Mrs. Evans. Yes; I guess that's it. Now, she put the boys in this
home.
 Mr. Jenner. The Bethlehem home?
Mrs. Evans. Yes, Bethlehem; that's it. That's when I became
friendly with her again. She was living with her sister for a while,
and Lee was with her, and the two older boys were at the home. She
was paying her sister board. But now after her husband died, she
went to work, and she had a woman taking care of the little boy.
Mr. Jenner. You mean Lee?
Mrs. Evans. Yes.
Mr. Jenner. Why did she live there, do you know?
Mrs. Evans. You mean on Bartholomew Street?
Mr. Jenner. Yes.
Mrs. Evans. Well, it was cheaper. She bought a cheaper home.
She had lived on Alvar after she married Oswald. But after Oswald's
death she moved to Bartholomew. Wait a minute—I might be getting
those streets confused. No, I guess that's right. Anyway, when
Oswald died he left her this $10,000 in insurance, and now I don't
know whether the home was completely paid for or not, but she
immediately put these boys in that home and went to work.
Mr. Jenner. Is it your information that she immediately went to
work rather than try to live for a while without working?
Mrs. Evans. She might have lived for a month or two, or
something, without working, because I wasn't in contact with her,
you see, but she had got this couple to come and stay with Lee, and
someone said——
Mr. Jenner. What couple was that?
Mrs. Evans. I don't know what couple it was—somebody; she had
put an ad in the paper or something—some young couple. I don't
know their names. She said people told her that when Lee was in
the high chair, that he used to cry a lot, and they thought they were
whipping little Lee, so she came home unexpectedly one night, and
the child had welts on his legs, and she told them to get out and get
out now.
So then from there she bought another house and sold that, and
—now, this is what she told me; she told me that she bought this
little double house, and she ran a sweet shop for a while in the front
room there.
Mr. Jenner. She told you that she sold that house and bought a
double?
Mrs. Evans. Yes, as I recall, she did.
Mr. Jenner. What's a "double"?
Mrs. Evans. That's really two houses, side by side; you have a
door here and a door here, two entrances. They call them flats or
duplexes some places, but we call them doubles.
Mr. Jenner. O.K. I just wanted to make sure the record is clear on
that.
Mrs. Evans. She bought that little house, and they moved in there
with her three children.
Mr. Jenner. Was that over at 831 Pauline Street?
Mrs. Evans. Well, that sounds like the address. I never went there
myself. I don't even know where Pauline Street is, to tell you the
truth. It's downtown some place. Then she left there, and Lee, I
think, still was with the aunt, and the two boys were down at the
other place—that home, and she got this job managing the hosiery
store on Canal Street, and that's when I started seeing her again,
and that was between 1939 and 1940, somewhere in there; around
in there—the early 1940's, I would say.
Mr. Jenner. At that time she was living where now?
Mrs. Evans. She was living with her sister then, I think, and Lee
was with her, and the two boys were boarding at the Bethlehem
Home. She would go down on Sundays to see her two boys.
 Mr. Jenner. How long did she remain with her sister?
Mrs. Evans. Well, I don't know how long she had been with her
sister, but after she took this position, she finally went to Texas, and
I don't know—I couldn't tell you how long, because I just started
seeing her, well, we would see each other on Saturday afternoon or
Sunday, something like that, you know, just go around a bit
together.
Mr. Jenner. How old was Lee at about that time, about 3 or 2, or
what?
Mrs. Evans. He was 3 or 4 years old then.
Mr. Jenner. He eventually was placed in the Bethlehem Home
also, wasn't he?
Mrs. Evans. Well, she might have finally got him in, because her
sister, as you know, had a big family of her own, and I think maybe
she might have finally put him in there too.
You see, they only take them at these places after a certain age,
generally about three, I think. They have to be trained and all, and
that's why Lee was always with her before that, and all her love, I
think, she dumped on Lee after her husband died.
You know, she felt awful sorry for Lee, because he never knew
his father. He was born after his father died, and he was his baby,
and she always sort of felt sorry for Lee for that reason, I think, and
sort of leaned toward Lee. She felt sorry for Lee because he never
knew his father, I think, just as any mother would.
Mr. Jenner. Now, we have information that from sometime in
1939 to 1941, she resided on Alvar Street in New Orleans; does that
square with your recollection?
Mrs. Evans. Well, Alvar, that was where she had her home, wasn't
it, on Alvar?
Mr. Jenner. Yes.
Mrs. Evans. I was told it was in that subdivision.
 Mr. Jenner. And do you recall her selling that house?
Mrs. Evans. No; she told me she sold it, but I wasn't too friendly
with her at the time, and I didn't know anything about that. I was
working, and I didn't play cards then, you see.
She was a friend of a friend of mine actually, that I played cards
with, and I wasn't too friendly with the girl at first, but only through
cards, but at the time I was sorry for her when I first learned what
her husband had done to her, but later on I lost contact with her all
the way up till just about the time she went to Texas, or maybe it
was about a year before she went to Texas. It's hard to recall those
dates, to tell what year this happened and what year that happened.
Mr. Jenner. That would have been around 1945, or 1944,
somewhere in there?
Mrs. Evans. Yes; along in there.
Mr. Jenner. Do you recall her living on Atlantic Avenue in Algiers,
La.?
Mrs. Evans. Atlantic Avenue?
Mr. Jenner. Yes.
Mrs. Evans. No; I don't.
Mr. Jenner. But you do recall a period when her two older boys,
John and Robert, were in the Bethlehem Orphans School?
Mrs. Evans. Oh, yes; I went there once with her, in fact.
Mr. Jenner. At that time she was with the Murrets, is that right,
Mrs. Evans?
Mrs. Evans. That's right.
Mr. Jenner. Then she moved to Texas?
Mrs. Evans. Yes.
Mr. Jenner. With her children, of course?
Mrs. Evans. That's right.
 Mr. Jenner. What occurred about that time?
Mrs. Evans. She married again.
Mr. Jenner. She married, and was that why she moved to Texas?
Mrs. Evans. That's why. She married a very, very fine man.
Mr. Jenner. Do you recall what his name was?
Mrs. Evans. You know it; I will give it to you—Ekdahl.
Mr. Jenner. Do you know how to spell that, Ekdahl?
Mrs. Evans. I don't remember, but I knew her during that period
all right.
Mr. Jenner. Did you become acquainted with him, Mr. Ekdahl?
Mrs. Evans. Yes.
Mr. Jenner. What kind of man was he, Mrs. Evans?
Mrs. Evans. He was very high caliber, a very fine man, and he
had a very fine position. The papers said she was dragged from
pillar to post, but that wasn't true. It was his work that took them to
places. That's why she went to New York, because of his position.
He didn't drag her from pillar to post at all. I don't know what
happened to them then, because I didn't see them again. He died,
and that's when she moved back to New Orleans, and they stayed in
my apartment building. Now, I visited her in Dallas, and I knew
Eddie Ekdahl.
Mr. Jenner. Did you know Mr. Ekdahl before he married her?
Mrs. Evans. I did.
Mr. Jenner. That was his second marriage, isn't that right?
Mrs. Evans. Yes; so she said. He had been separated from his
wife for many years, but had never gotten a divorce, I don't think,
so then he did get a divorce and married Margie.
Mr. Jenner. Do you remember where he was from originally?
 Mrs. Evans. Boston, I think.
Mr. Jenner. Is it your recollection that they moved to Dallas, Tex.?
Mrs. Evans. They did.
Mr. Jenner. Did you visit them in Dallas?
Mrs. Evans. I did.
Mr. Jenner. Was that address 4801 Victor?
Mrs. Evans. I don't remember that, because I went there with a
friend of mine, to the Baker Hotel, I think it was. I used to go
around with this friend of mine. She was with Mary Douglas
Perfumes, and Margie was living there with her husband at the time,
and the two children, when I visited her.
Mr. Jenner. Her husband and her two children?
Mrs. Evans. Well, her three children, I mean, were with her.
Mr. Jenner. Including Lee?
Mrs. Evans. Yes; I went and stayed a few days with her, but the
address I don't remember. We didn't correspond during those years,
but that could have been the address. It was a duplex, I know, and
she lived downstairs, and she rented out the upstairs.
Mr. Jenner. At that time Lee was around 6 years old, is that right?
Mrs. Evans. Yes; just about at the kindergarten stage. Let's see—
yes, she lived downstairs, and she rented out the upstairs.
Mr. Jenner. When you visited there, were the two boys, John and
Robert, living at the home?
Mrs. Evans. Yes; they all lived together.
Mr. Jenner. And Lee, too?
Mrs. Evans. Yes.
Mr. Jenner. The nature of Mr. Ekdahl's work was such that he had
to travel, you say?
 Mrs. Evans. Oh, yes; he had to do a lot of traveling. I think he
was a geologist; that's what my husband said he was. He was with
some big company that he was top man with, and he was a good
deal older than Margie, and a very fine, handsome, big man, but he
had a blood clot, and that's how they got to be married as quick as
they did, because of that. You see, he was at the Roosevelt Hotel,
and he had nobody, and he had this blood clot and everything, and
at that time he was taking Margie out, and he wasn't too well a man
because of this blood clot and all, but he wanted to marry Margie,
and so she married him, and they went from Dallas to, I think, San
Antonio, and then I think they went to New York, and sometime
after that, of course, Margie came down here, and she took an
apartment with me.
Mr. Jenner. Before we get into that, Mrs. Evans, if you don't mind,
let's go back a bit and see if I have this clear in my mind. You say
you visited them once in Texas, is that right?
Mrs. Evans. Yes.
Mr. Jenner. Other than that visit, you had no contact with her,
that is, visually, in person, while she was in Texas?
Mrs. Evans. No; I didn't. Now, after she was married to Ekdahl
and went to Covington, she had her other two boys with her. This
was in the summertime, of course. She had them in the boarding
school over there, even after she married Ekdahl, this was. She kept
Lee with her all the time she was married to Ekdahl, of course, so
that they would all three be together on these business trips he had
to take, and they would stay in the best hotels, of course, and they
had the best of everything, but that didn't seem to work out too
well, having Lee with them all the time like that.
Mr. Jenner. This was when she was married to Mr. Ekdahl, that
she had the boys over at Covington?
Mrs. Evans. Yes. Her two older sons were in boarding school, and
in the summer they would all be together over at this place in
Covington.
 Mr. Jenner. Was this in 1946?
Mrs. Evans. Well, I don't know just what year that would have
been, but I would say it was around there. I don't remember the
exact years for a lot of this stuff, but I can just tell you the way I
remember it happening.
Mr. Jenner. That's all right. Just go on the way you have been.
The pieces will all fit together eventually, and that's what the
Commission wants before it brings this investigation to its
conclusion.
Mrs. Evans. I have had so many people pass through my life, it
would take something to remember all of those details.
Mr. Jenner. Did you see the boys during that period?
Mrs. Evans. Oh, yes; she would visit me for about 3 or 4 days, I
remember one time, and Lee was about 7 years old then. He was a
little fellow.
Mr. Jenner. What was your impression of Lee as of that time, Mrs.
Evans?
Mrs. Evans. Well, I would say Lee was a spoiled little boy,
because naturally his mother kept him, and I think Margie would
have had a better life if she had put him in boarding school with the
other two boys, because then she would have lived with Ekdahl. I
understand they were separated and divorced before he died, but
you know how a mother can throw her entire life on a child and spoil
that child and let the child ruin her life for her, and Margie clung to
Lee regardless, but in that respect she was a wonderful mother. You
couldn't find a better woman. Of course, when she married Ekdahl,
she didn't want him to support her children. She tried to support
them herself.
Mr. Jenner. That was her own decision?
Mrs. Evans. Oh, yes; it was her decision. She wanted Ekdahl to
take her and Lee, and she kept Lee with them all the time, and I
think that's one of the things that contributed to their divorce. She
was too close to Lee all the time, and I don't guess Ekdahl liked that
too much.
Now, when Margie lived in Dallas, she kept her three boys with
her, but after she married Ekdahl, she put the two boys in boarding
school, and she still kept Lee with them. Of course, they had to
leave Dallas on these trips that Mr. Ekdahl made in connection with
his work, but Lee would be with them every time, and like I said, it
hurt their marriage because they never could be alone. Lee was
spoiled. He was just a spoiled boy. I'll put it this way: He was her
baby, and she loved him to death, and she spoiled him to death.
One of the older boys, or maybe both of them—I don't remember,
but I think they both went into the Marines——
Mr. Jenner. Well, one of them went into the Coast Guard.
Mrs. Evans. Well, they went into the service, and both of her
older boys were very, very fine boys. John Pic was a lovely boy, but
of course he never did see his father. His father never did care to see
the child, the way I understand it, and at 18 I think he quit
supporting him, or something like that. Now, when Margie decided
to come back to New Orleans, I think she came here from San
Antonio or Fort Worth, one of those places, and she went to her
sister's——
Mr. Jenner. Would you wait a minute now, ma'am? Was
Marguerite working at that time, either in Texas, or did she go to
work after she came back to New Orleans?
Mrs. Evans. Well, she might have tried her hand at real estate at
one time, and of course she had worked in different department
stores, and at the time I caught up with her and ran into her, I think
she said she was working then for the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co. She
said she answered a blind ad in the paper, and she got this job, and
she opened Jean's Hoisery Shop, and that's when we would meet
and go to lunch on a Saturday afternoon, and we got to be friendly.
Mr. Jenner. And you were working at that time also?
 Mrs. Evans. Yes, sir; I was in the government then. I am an
accountant, and I was with the government. We would meet, like on
Thursday evenings and have dinner, and shop around, and on
Saturday afternoon, usually at those times, and we became pretty
friendly again, but then of course she went back to Texas.
I used to travel with this friend of mine who was with Mary
Douglas Perfumes, and she traveled out of California, and she was
going to be in Dallas for a show—some kind of display show, I guess
it was, and I went with her, and during that trip I guess I stayed
about a week with Margie.
Mr. Jenner. What kind of housekeeper was Margie?
Mrs. Evans. A very good housekeeper, very tasty; she could take
anything and make something out of it, and something beautiful.
She had a lot of natural talent that way, and she was not lazy. She
would work with things by the hour for her children, and she kept a
very neat house, and she was always so lovely herself. That's why,
when I saw her on TV, after all of this happened, she looked so old
and haggard, and I said, "That couldn't be Margie," but of course it
was, but if you had known Margie before all this happened, you
would see what I mean. She was beautiful. She had beautiful wavy
hair.
Mr. Jenner. What about Lee?
Mrs. Evans. Well, Lee was a smart boy. He was no dummy. He
was a bit of a bookworm, I would say.
Mr. Jenner. Tell me more about that.
Mrs. Evans. Well, he had hair like his mother for example, but he
was a loner. That's what the children all said, but of course, I didn't
pay too much attention to that, but he didn't bring boys in the
house, I mean, and he would always seem to prefer being by
himself.
Mr. Jenner. He wouldn't bring boys into the house?
 Mrs. Evans. No; he never did, that I know of. He would come
home, and he would get his books and his music, and then when he
wanted supper, or something to eat, he would scream like a bull. He
would holler, "Maw, where's my supper?" Some of the time Margie
would be downstairs talking to me or something, and when he
would holler at her, she would jump up right away and go and get
him something to eat. Her whole life was wrapped up in that boy,
and she spoiled him to death. Lee was about 13 about that time, I
think, along in there.
Mr. Jenner. Was this while he was living with his mother at one of
your apartments?
Mrs. Evans. Yes, this was the last time I knew anything about
Lee, when they lived at my apartment.
Mr. Jenner. Was this after or before she had gone to New York
City?
Mrs. Evans. Oh, this was all after her trip to New York. She wasn't
with Ekdahl any more when she came back here.
Mr. Jenner. I wonder if you would hold that for a minute now. I
would like to have you give me your impression of Lee up to the
time they returned from New York?
Mrs. Evans. Well, I couldn't give you too much about the child,
because I didn't know him too much. He seemed just like a normal
boy. I mean, he didn't seem to be any different than his brothers, as
far as that goes, but the way he kept to himself just wasn't normal, I
don't think. I guess that's why they called him a loner, because he
was alone so much. He didn't seem to want to be with any other
children. Now, when she was over in Covington in the summer
months, she would be there the full 3 months, I think, and they
seemed to be a very happy family. They would go swimming and eat
watermelon, and they had a couple of dogs, I think, in the backyard,
and they would just have a good time. I would say they were really
a happy family in those days.
Mr. Jenner. They were a happy family?
 Mrs. Evans. As far as I could see, they were very happy, very
closely knit, very much in love with each other, and these boys knew
that their mother was putting them through school, and giving them
what they needed, as best she could. She was a very good provider
for her children, and a very decent woman. I mean, she wasn't a
loose woman at all. She was very decent, a very fine woman.
Mr. Jenner. Well, that squares with everything we have found. I
don't think any mother could do more than she did for them, as far
as we have been able to find out.
Mrs. Evans. That's right. Nobody could have done any more for
their children than she did, I mean, with what she had to work with.
She was never well off, I mean, financially. She always worked and
saved and made do the best she could.
Mr. Jenner. When she moved to New York City, did you lose touch
with Margie then?
Mrs. Evans. Yes; I lost complete touch with Margie.
Mr. Jenner. Did you hear from her while she was in New York?
Mrs. Evans. No; I don't think so. She might have written me a
postal card or something, but I don't think so.
Mr. Jenner. Then the first time that you again began seeing her
was when she came back to New Orleans, is that right?
Mrs. Evans. Yes.
Mr. Jenner. Did you hear from her or hear about her while she
was living in Texas, before she went to New York?
Mrs. Evans. Oh, yes; like I said, I was over there in Dallas with
her for a week, and I kept pretty well in touch with what she was
doing. For a time she lived—what's the name of that little town?
Mr. Jenner. Do you mean Benbrook?
Mrs. Evans. It could have been that. Anyway, I heard from her
again, that she was traveling a lot with her husband. She was still
living with Ekdahl then. They were living in hotels and traveling, and
Lee was right with them all the time.
Mr. Jenner. She kept Lee with her on all these trips with Mr.
Ekdahl?
Mrs. Evans. As far as I know, she did, yes.
Mr. Jenner. As far as you know, did she have Lee with her all the
time?
Mrs. Evans. I don't think that she ever parted with Lee for a
minute. If she did, I don't know about it, but when she came back,
the way she talked, I figured that Lee was with them the whole
time, and they had lived in hotels and things like that while Mr.
Ekdahl was traveling.
Mr. Jenner. Do you recall when her marriage to Ekdahl took
place, Mrs. Evans?
Mrs. Evans. Well, it was when she went to Texas, just about at
that time.
Mr. Jenner. Around 1945, would that have been, in maybe 1944?
Mrs. Evans. Along in there; yes. She married him, I think, in
Dallas, Tex., or maybe it was Fort Worth. I can't recall that for sure.
Mr. Jenner. But he had been here in New Orleans, and that's
when they struck up this acquaintanceship, here in New Orleans, is
that right?
Mrs. Evans. That's right.
Mr. Jenner. She said that he had had a heart attack, is that right?
Mrs. Evans. Yes; she did.
Mr. Jenner. And he was courting her during this time?
Mrs. Evans. Yes, sir.
Mr. Jenner. His sister came down from Boston, is that right, to
sort of see how he was getting along here, is that correct?
 Mrs. Evans. That's right. I guess that's what prompted her to
come down here, because he had had this trouble, and I guess she
was concerned about him.
Mr. Jenner. And that courtship between him and Marguerite
ripened into marriage then; is that right?
Mrs. Evans. Yes.
Mr. Jenner. Did Ekdahl's sister approve of Marguerite?
Mrs. Evans. Oh, yes; she wanted her to marry Ekdahl, and before
she went back to Boston, Margie made her a promise that she would
look after him.
Mr. Jenner. Then Margie moved to Texas with Mr. Ekdahl; is that
right?
Mrs. Evans. Yes, sir.
Mr. Jenner. And you say you visited them over there, in Dallas; is
that right?
Mrs. Evans. Yes, sir; I did.
Mr. Jenner. And you think you might have heard from her at
different times when she was traveling with her husband?
Mrs. Evans. That's right—you know, postal cards and such.
Mr. Jenner. And then you didn't hear from her for a while; is that
right?
Mrs. Evans. That's right.
Mr. Jenner. And then you said you heard from her again?
Mrs. Evans. Yes.
Mr. Jenner. Would you give me the circumstances of that now,
please?
Mrs. Evans. Well, she called me, most likely. She was at her
sister's. She was looking for an apartment.
 Mr. Jenner. Excuse me, but when you say "her sister's," who do
you mean?
Mrs. Evans. Lillian Murret. She had only that one sister here. She
was a good many years older than Margie. Margie was the baby of
the family. She took care of her father, that is, until his death, and
she kept house for her father, too. I guess there is about 10 years
difference between the two. That's why I guess they have not been
too close. But anyway, she called me and asked about an apartment,
and I told her I could give her an apartment, and that I would let
her have it cheaper than I would somebody else that I didn't know.
Now, they didn't have any furniture, but there were a few pieces left
in the apartment, and her sister provided some things and I found a
few things for her, so she made out with that.
Mr. Jenner. Do you remember what year that was?
Mrs. Evans. Well, I remodeled that apartment about 10 years
ago, so I would say that that was around 1954, along in there, in the
early spring, I think it was.
Mr. Jenner. In the early spring?
Mrs. Evans. Well, it might have been a little later. It could have
been in May or June of 1954, but possibly a little earlier than that. I
can't remember that well enough to be definite on the month.
Mr. Jenner. Where was this apartment?
Mrs. Evans. 1454 St. Mary Street, apartment 6, but now finally
Margie decided that she couldn't afford that apartment, and moved,
despite the fact that I was renting it to her for less than I would
have anybody else, and I told her that.
She came in one day and told me, "Myrtle, I am going to give
the apartment up." She told me that she had seen a house out
around St. Bernard that would be cheaper. She said she had rode
around and looked at the house, and she thought that she would
take it.
Mr. Jenner. She had an automobile?
 Mrs. Evans. No; she rode the bus out there.
Mr. Jenner. She had no complaints about your apartment, did
she? She just had found a cheaper place to move to?
Mrs. Evans. Oh, she was perfectly happy in the apartment. She
said she liked it, but that she just couldn't afford it.
Mr. Jenner. Who else was in the apartment besides Marguerite?
Mrs. Evans. Just her and Lee.
Mr. Jenner. You did see Lee after they returned from New York?
Mrs. Evans. Oh, yes; they lived at my house for, oh, I guess
about 6 months.
Mr. Jenner. Including Lee?
Mrs. Evans. Oh, yes.
Mr. Jenner. She and Lee lived in your home for 6 months?
Mrs. Evans. In this apartment, yes.
Mr. Jenner. In the No. 6 apartment?
Mrs. Evans. Yes; you see, I had this great big house with about
27 rooms or more.
Mr. Jenner. It was just one big building; is that right?
Mrs. Evans. Yes; but it was converted into modern apartments,
and they took one of them, you see—one of the smaller apartments.
I had had one tenant prior to her, so she was the second tenant in
this little apartment.
Mr. Jenner. And that was at 1454 St. Mary Street?
Mrs. Evans. Correct.
Mr. Jenner. So she and her son Lee occupied that apartment for
approximately 6 months, is that right?
Mrs. Evans. Yes.
 Mr. Jenner. And that was in 1954, you say?
Mrs. Evans. Yes; maybe not exactly that year, but along about
there.
Mr. Jenner. Did you get to see both of them frequently?
Mrs. Evans. Practically every day.
Mr. Jenner. All right. Now, tell me about this period while they
lived at your home. Just transport yourself back to 10 years ago.
What did Lee Oswald look like?
Mrs. Evans. What did he look like?
Mr. Jenner. Yes; and what did he do? What impression did he
make on you then, not what you heard, but what you remember
now about him?
Mrs. Evans. Well, he was more spoiled.
Mr. Jenner. More than before?
Mrs. Evans. Yes; he had gotten older, and he wanted his way, and
he was a teenager then, and like all teenagers, he was very difficult.
Of course, I guess all teenagers are that way, because they are not
yet grown and they are not a child either. The best of them are very
trying, and it is hard to keep them in line. In that respect Lee wasn't
any different than any other teenaged boy, I guess.
Mr. Jenner. Now, this was the period after which Lee returned
from New York; is that right?
Mrs. Evans. Yes; after they came here from New York.
Mr. Jenner. With his mother?
Mrs. Evans. Yes.
Mr. Jenner. What did they say to you as to why they returned
from New York and came to New Orleans?
Mrs. Evans. Well, I don't know that they said anything, but it
seems to me now that they came right from Texas over to New
Orleans then, not right from New York. I could be mistaken there,
but I think they went back to Texas from New York.
Maybe they did come right from New York, but I can't remember
that far back. I know that they had divorced, and although no one
told me, I just put two and two together, and it was my opinion that
Lee evidently was just so spoiled and demanded so much of his
mother's attention that they didn't get along—I mean, her and
Ekdahl, because of Lee. Now, that's my opinion. She never told me
why.
Mr. Jenner. That's just your surmise?
Mrs. Evans. Yes, sir; I can't help feeling that if she had put Lee in
a boarding school, she might have hung onto her meal ticket, and
considering Mr. Ekdahl's condition and everything, if all that hadn't
happened, she would have been sitting on top of the world. She
wouldn't have had another worry in her life, as far as money goes,
but instead her children came first, I mean, Lee. She just poured out
all her love on him, it seemed like.
Mr. Jenner. Did she ever say anything to you about her
experiences in New York City?
Mrs. Evans. No.
Mr. Jenner. She never said anything to you that would have given
you an indication as to whether she had come from New York rather
than Texas, or vice versa?
Mrs. Evans. No; not that I recall, but it is my distinct feeling that
she stayed in New York awhile and then moved to Texas again, and
then over to New Orleans—Fort Worth, I think, but I can't say that
for sure.
Mr. Jenner. Did she say anything to you about any trouble that
Lee had had in school in New York City?
Mrs. Evans. No; she never did. But I knew Ekdahl, and I knew he
was a man that was set in his ways. He was older than Margie, and
he wanted, evidently, a wife. He wanted her to be with him
evidently, and if you've got a kid dragging behind, you know it
makes a difference, but now whether that caused the break or not, I
don't know. I couldn't tell you that.
Mr. Jenner. The point I am getting at is, she didn't say anything
to you about any problem or difficulties she had had with Lee in New
York City?
Mrs. Evans. None whatever.
Mr. Jenner. You were aware that she had been in New York City,
of course?
Mrs. Evans. Yes.
Mr. Jenner. But she didn't say anything to you about it?
Mrs. Evans. No.
Mr. Jenner. Now, at that time Lee was about 15 years old; is that
right?
Mrs. Evans. He was, somewhere around there—maybe 13 or 14.
I don't know exactly.
Mr. Jenner. At any rate, you had a period here of several years
between the time you saw him and he lived in your apartment with
his mother, and the time you had previously seen him, so could you
compare what he was like and how he acted when you saw him in
1954, as against when you had seen him before that?
Mrs. Evans. Well, like I said, he was more spoiled than he was
when he was younger. He was just a little boy when I first saw him,
and this time he was quite grown up, a teenager, like I said, so I
would say he was a lot more difficult this time to understand or
control than he was when he was younger.
The main thing that seems to stand out in his conduct was the
way he demanded to be fed when he would come from school.
Margie would be downstairs maybe, talking to me or something, and
he would come to the head of the stairs and yell for her to come up
and fix him something to eat. He would just stand up there and yell,
"Maw, how about fixing me something to eat?" and she would jump
up right away and go running upstairs to get something for him.
Now, he liked records. He didn't want to see any television, but
he would lock himself up in his bedroom sometimes and play these
records, and listen to the radio, and read. He was a hard one to try
to figure out. But other than that, he was, I would say, just an
average, spoiled teenage kid that wanted what he wanted. There are
very few of them that aren't that way.
Mr. Jenner. Would you say he was more spoiled than the average
teenager?
Mrs. Evans. Well, he was spoiled maybe more because he didn't
have a father to pull him down a bit. When you are raising a child
alone, it's a hard row—I mean, with just the mother, because, you
know, they are getting bigger all the time, and a woman can't keep
control over them like a man can.
Mr. Jenner. You mean physically?
Mrs. Evans. Yes; physically.
Mr. Jenner. Did she register him in school here in New Orleans
when they came to live in your apartment?
Mrs. Evans. Well, I don't know who registered him. That I don't
know.
Mr. Jenner. But he did go to school?
Mrs. Evans. Oh, yes; he went to school.
Mr. Jenner. Which school was that?
Mrs. Evans. That was Beauregard, and I might say that she used
her sister's address so she could get him in that school. It's a good
school, and she wanted him to go there, and also at that time I
believe she was living with her sister, so that was in that school
district. That's the way I understand it anyway. I think there has
been some confusion about that address that was given at the
school, but it is my understanding that that's why she used it. If she
hadn't used her sister's address, he couldn't have gone to
Beauregard probably, I mean, if she had moved to another district.
So since she wanted him in Beauregard, that was the easiest way to
do it.
Mr. Jenner. In order to get him in Beauregard, she used her
sister's address, and that was the reason, as you understand it; is
that right?
Mrs. Evans. Yes; that was a good school. I guess it still is, but she
wanted him in there. Otherwise he would have had to go to another
school.
Mr. Jenner. That's Beauregard Junior High School; is that right?
Mrs. Evans. Yes; and, like I said, a good school; a very fine
school.
Mr. Jenner. Was Lee a good student, according to information you
received in that regard, if you did receive any such information?
Mrs. Evans. Well, I never saw his report cards, but I think he was
a pretty good student. I really couldn't tell you that.
Mr. Jenner. Did you notice during this period that you had this
recent, close acquaintanceship with him, that he was still retiring,
and that he was inclined to be by himself?
Mrs. Evans. Yes; he liked books, and he liked music, and he
would come home from school, of course, a couple of hours before
Margie, and he would have crossword puzzles and books and music,
and he seemed to entertain himself very well.
Mr. Jenner. He didn't go out and play with the other children?
Mrs. Evans. No; he didn't.
Mr. Jenner. Now, they had this change in 1955 from 1454 to 1452
St. Mary. Was that in the same building?
Mrs. Evans. Yes.
Mr. Jenner. Was that a different apartment, then?
 Mrs. Evans. I will tell you what happened there. There was this
young couple that wanted that apartment, and I still hear from
them. She sold them her furniture. They were the tenants after her,
and she sold them some of the things in the apartment, because at
that time she told me she was going to take this house way up on
the other side of town, and she came back the next day and told me
that she changed her mind and wanted her apartment back, but I
told her that I had already rented her apartment to this young
couple. I said, "Margie, what happened to the house you were going
to get?" and she said, "I looked it over," and she said, "It's too far
from a grocery store. I have no way of getting my groceries; too
many blocks to walk, and it's too inconvenient."
I told her, "Well, I've already rented the apartment to this young
couple," and she said, "I want to keep my apartment," and I said,
"But, Margie, I have rented the apartment already, and you even
sold them some furniture," and she said, "Well, they can have the
furniture," but she said, "Just tell them you can't let them have the
apartment; that I have got to keep it."
Well, that was how we sort of fell out, was over this deal. I told
her, I said, "Margie, I just can't do that." To tell you the truth, the
way Lee was acting up and all—he was very noisy, I didn't
particularly want to do it. I knew, in the first place, that the girl
simply couldn't afford it, and it would be just a matter of months
until she would be behind in her rent and everything. I think she
was already about a month in arrears on the rent, and I just figured
it would be better if I didn't give her the apartment back, so I told
her that I couldn't do it, because I had already rented it to this
couple. I knew that, even if she could pay the rent for that month, it
would be just a matter of time until she couldn't make it, and she
would be struggling all the time and trying to make it, and it would
maybe be more hard feelings if I let it go on that way, so I decided
that it would be better to let it go the way it was going. It seemed to
be the best way out of it. I thought we would be better friends
maybe if they would go ahead and move now, rather than later, so I
told her, I said, "Margie, if you want, you can move next door, and it
will be a little cheaper," and so, they did move next door. Now, I had
told her that I was going to fix up that little apartment she had
occupied, just to sort of let her down easy—you know, have it
painted, and so forth, so she went ahead and moved next door for a
while.
Mr. Jenner. Was that 1452 St. Mary; this place next door?
Mrs. Evans. Yes; right next door. You see—I think I have skipped
something. I told her that I wanted to get the apartment that she
had been in fixed up, and that's how I talked her into taking the
place next door, but then she started complaining and saying I was
charging her too much rent for this place next door, and I wasn't
getting the apartment fixed up that she had been in, and in the
meantime Lee had gotten to the point where he was noisier and
more determined with his mother, and it was getting a little
unbearable.
Mr. Jenner. What do you mean, he was getting "more
determined?" In what respects was he more determined?
Mrs. Evans. Well, he would yell, "Maw, come and fix my supper,"
and he had a loud voice, and I could hear him more and more up
there, and it got to be quite disturbing, actually. It seemed to be a
situation that was getting worse all the time; so I thought maybe it
would be better if I didn't have them around; so, since the
apartment wasn't fixed up anyway, and she wasn't very happy next
door, she up and moved, and that's when she went to Exchange
Alley.
Mr. Jenner. O.K. That was in April of 1955; is that right?
Mrs. Evans. Yes, and I never saw her after that.
Mr. Jenner. You never saw her again?
Mrs. Evans. No; I didn't.
Mr. Jenner. You didn't see her at Exchange Alley?
Mrs. Evans. No.
 Mr. Jenner. She never came to visit you?
Mrs. Evans. No; she was angry about the apartment, because I
made her give it up. I mean I wouldn't give it back to her after she
moved away. I don't think she ever got over that.
Mr. Jenner. She didn't come to visit you any more at all?
Mrs. Evans. No; she didn't.
Mr. Jenner. She didn't get in touch with you at all?
Mrs. Evans. No.
Mr. Jenner. When was the next time you heard from or heard
about, Margie or Lee?
Mrs. Evans. The next thing I heard, they had moved back to
Texas. They had left town.
Mr. Jenner. Where did you hear that?
Mrs. Evans. Well, her sister, Lillian, I saw her in Holmes or—let's
see, maybe it was at the Fontainbleau, at a card party we were
having—yes; I think that was it; she asked me if I had seen Margie,
and I said, "No; I haven't seen or heard from Margie," and that's
when she told me that she had heard Margie had moved back to
Texas. I didn't know that at all. I had heard from several people that
they had seen Margie downtown. She worked at three or four
different places—you know, hosiery, and so forth, and someone
would run into me every once in a while that I knew, and would say
they had seen Margie downtown at some store or other, but I didn't
see her, and then the next thing I knew she was supposed to be
back in Texas, and then I ran into Lillian again later and she told me
—this was at the Fontainbleau. Now, I have that straight. She told
me then about the trouble Lee was in.
Mr. Jenner. Where did you run into Lillian at that time?
Mrs. Evans. At a benefit card party.
Mr. Jenner. At the Fontainbleau?
 Mrs. Evans. That's right.
Mr. Jenner. And what did Lillian tell you about Lee on that
occasion?
Mrs. Evans. She told me that Lee was in Russia.
Mr. Jenner. That Lee had defected to Russia?
Mrs. Evans. That's right.
Mr. Jenner. Then, when was the next thing you heard about any
of the Oswald family?
Mrs. Evans. Well, that was when Lee came to town, and they
took an apartment up on Magazine Street. I can't remember that
date now, but Lee got here a day or two before his wife came in.
Mr. Jenner. Would that have been in May of 1963?
Mrs. Evans. Well, I don't remember the date, but it seems like it
was about the middle of May; maybe about May 16, or somewhere
close to that.
Mr. Jenner. Was that when he took the apartment at 4905
Magazine Street?
Mrs. Evans. Yes. Was that May 16?
Mr. Jenner. No; I think it was a little earlier than that, according
to our information.
Mrs. Evans. Well, whatever date that was, that was the next time
I saw him. I don't know if it was April or May, or even March; I don't
know what date it was, but I got the apartment for him, and he
moved in on the day he rented it, or the next day, I think.
Mr. Jenner. He moved in on the 10th; would that be about right;
the day after he rented the apartment?
Mrs. Evans. Well, if he rented it on the 9th, then that would be
about right. He moved in the day after, I think it was.
Mr. Jenner. On the 9th of May?
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