(c) 2001 Barb Wise (wisebarb@home.com) EXHIBIT "H" DEPOSITION TAKEN BEFORE A FIELD EXAMINER OF THE VETERANS AMDINISTRATION DATE: 16 MARCH 1954 DEPOSED BY: A. W. HENDRICKS PERSON DEPOSED: BLANCHE LAND Blanche LAND: I am white, female, age 64, widowed, being the unremarried widow of John William LAND, XC-239298, occupation, proprietor of a small grocery and filling station in a village known as Ethel, Indiana. I am not related to Inice Belle HOLLEN or James F. DAVIS, nor do I have any financial interest in any claim either of them may have against the Veterans Administration. Q: How long have you known these two persons? A: I knew DAVIS before we moved down here from Paoli 22 years ago. We had a little store up there. I got acquainted with Inice at the time we moved here. She was already married to DAVIS then, as I recall. Q: Did you know her son, Woodrow HOLLEN? A: Yes, I knew him well. He was a good boy, very civil and a good worker. He used to come into the store to trade. Q: Do you ever see the family in their home or elsewhere away from your store? A: No, they usually were in the store or we saw them passing by the store. Q: Did DAVIS support the family, including Woodrow? A: Yes, he did for years. He raised her children. He came into the store every week and sometimes twice a week and bought groceries from me. He would put them in a gunny sack, and carry them home with the sack thrown across his shoulder. They lived about 2 miles from me if you went straight across the fields to get there and that is what he did. Had he followed the roads he would have had to go 3 or 4 miles. He did this for several years. Finally he got a horse. Q: Whose house did they live in? A: I think maybe it was hers. Q: What did he earn his living at? A: He farmed some, and worked for other people as best I can recall. Q: Was he a steady worker? A: Yes - whenever he could get work. Q: Did he and she ever separate before the children were raised? A: No, I think they stayed together until that one time when they finally broke up. Q: What was his general reputation for sobriety and caring for his family? A: He was a good hard working laboring man. He didn't drink. In fact, he didn't have enough money to waste it like that if he'd wanted to. Q: Do you know, of your own knowledge, whether Woodrow lived most of the time in the home with Mr. DAVIS and his mother? That is, until he entered service? A: I feel pretty sure that he made his home there with them, at least most of the time until he entered service. I know he seemed to show up in my store pretty regularly. Q: Did DAVIS treat him as a father would a son? A: Why yes, he treated them all that way. There wasn't any trouble in the family, I heard, until the youngest boy, "Jack" or Clovie HOLLEN came back from service. There was trouble and Jim left. Q: Did Woodrow look upon, or treat DAVIS, as a boy would his father? A: I would say so. They all grew up as one family. They were poor, and got relief from their township trustee. I supplied some groceries on his order occasionally. Q: Were there many in the family? A: Nine or ten altogether, I think. Q: You are here where you hear the public sentiment. What is it, with regard to DAVIS and his relationship with Mrs. HOLLEN? A: They all said it was a dirty trick to kick Jim out like they did, but they thought it was "the best think that ever happened to him." He is remarried now to an older woman, and leads a better life. She is a better manager. Inice has a child, a boy, Charles, who is crippled. He was born to her and Mr. DAVIS. Q: I have no further questions. Do you have anything to add? A: [no response listed] I certify that I have read the foregoing and my statements are true, to the best of my knowledge and belief. /signature of Blanche LAND/ Subscribed and sworn to before me this 16 day of March 1954; and I hereby certify that the foregoing statement was read by the affiant before signing. /signature of A. W. Hendricks/ Field Examiner (c) 2001 Barb Wise (wisebarb@home.com)