About this time Captain Fritz and two or three more detectives from
homicide, a boy named Roy Westphal, who works for the special service
bureau, and a couple of uniformed officers, and a couple of deputy
sheriffs came up.
Now you identified them to me the other day, the two boys that were on
the sixth floor from the sheriff's office.
Mr. BELIN. I think when we chatted briefly the other day, I believe I
said Boone and Mooney. Does that sound familiar?
Mr. HILL. I wouldn't know, but I know they identified themselves to us
as deputy sheriffs, and some more people knew them.
So we went into the building, and Captain Fritz and his men said they
would start at the first floor and work up, and they asked several of
us to go to the top floor and work down.
We went up to the seventh floor on the elevator and I believe the
elevator ran to the sixth, and we cut around the stairway and got to
seven and shook it down.
At this time there were the two deputy sheriffs and I and one uniformed
officer up there.
Mr. BELIN. You went to the top floor of the building?
Mr. HILL. Right.
Mr. BELIN. Do you know whether or not the elevator went all the way up,
or did you climb?
Mr. HILL. I think we climbed a flight of stairs. In fact, I am almost
sure.
Mr. BELIN. Do you think you climbed a flight of stairs because the
elevator went no further?
Mr. HILL. I think it either went to fifth or sixth, but I am almost
positive it didn't go to seventh. I may be wrong, but I didn't
particularly take notice.
But I think they told us we were going to have to walk up a couple of
flights because the elevator didn't go all the way.
Mr. BELIN. Where did you take this elevator?
Mr. HILL. Walked in the front door of the Book Depository and turned
to the right. Took the passenger elevator. We did not take the freight
elevator. The freight elevator goes all the way, I believe.
Mr. BELIN. You took a passenger elevator?
Mr. HILL. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. When you got off the passenger elevator, what did you do?
Mr. HILL. We asked them where the stairway was to the top floor, and
if this was on the fifth, we walked through--there is a little office
section near the elevator. We walked over past it and through a large
room to the stairway, and then went all the way as high as the stairway
would take us, which would have been on seven.
In the middle of the floor on the seventh floor there was a ladder
leading up into an area they called the penthouse, which was used
mainly for storage.
Westphal went up this ladder, I know, and the uniformed officer went up
it.
The rest of us were checking around the boxes and books.
So on file we verified that there was not anyone on the seventh floor,
and we didn't find any indication that the shots had been fired from
there.
Mr. BELIN. Then what did you do?
Mr. HILL. Left the uniformed officer there, and these two deputies and
I went down to sixth.