Mr. BELIN. By "this way" you mean the street marked Parkway?
Mr. TRULY. I assume that is the underpass that you have marked Parkway.
Mr. BELIN. The street leading to the expressway, that diagonal street?
Mr. TRULY. That is right.
And the President's car following close behind came along at an average
speed of 10 or 15 miles an hour. It wasn't that much, because they were
getting ready to turn. And the driver of the Presidential car swung out
too far to the right, and he came almost within an inch of running into
this little abutment here, between Elm and the Parkway. And he slowed
down perceptibly and pulled back to the left to get over into the
middle lane of the parkway. Not being familiar with the street, he came
too far out this way when he made his turn.
Mr. BELIN. He came too far to the north before he made his curve, and
as he curved--as he made his left turn from Houston onto the street
leading to the expressway, he almost hit this north curb?
Mr. TRULY. That is right. Just before he got to it, he had to almost
stop, to pull over to the left.
If he had maintained his speed, he would probably have hit this little
section here.
Mr. BELIN. All right.
Now, what is your best estimate of the speed as he started to go down
the street here marked Parkway?
Mr. TRULY. He picked up a little speed along here, and then seemed to
have fallen back into line, and I would say 10 or 12 miles an hour in
this area.
Mr. BELIN. All right.
Then what did you see happen?
Mr. TRULY. I heard an explosion, which I thought was a toy cannon or a
loud firecracker from west of the building. Nothing happened at this
first explosion. Everything was frozen. And immediately after two more
explosions, which I realized that I thought was a gun, a rifle of some
kind.
The President's--I saw the President's car swerve to the left and stop
somewheres down in this area. It is misleading here. And that is the
last I saw of his car, because this crowd, when the third shot rang
out--there was a large crowd all along this abutment here, this little
wall, and there was some around us in front--they began screaming
and falling to the ground. And the people in front of myself and Mr.
Campbell surged back, either in terror or panic. They must have seen
this thing. I became separated from Mr. Campbell. They just practically
bore me back to the first step on the entrance of our building.
Mr. BELIN. When you saw the President's car seem to stop, how long did
it appear to stop?
Mr. TRULY. It would be hard to say over a second or two or something
like that. I didn't see--I just saw it stop. I don't know. I didn't see
it start up.
Mr. BELIN. Then you stopped looking at it, or you were distracted by
something else?
Mr. TRULY. Yes. The crowd in front of me kind of congealed around me
and bore me back through weight of numbers, and I lost sight of it.
I think there were a lot of people trying to get out of the way of
something. They didn't know what.
Mr. BELIN. Then what did you do or see?
Mr. TRULY. I heard a policeman in this area along here make a remark,
"Oh, goddam," or something like that. I just remember that. It
wasn't a motorcycle policeman. It was one of the Dallas policeman, I
think--words to that effect.
I wouldn't know him. I just remember there was a policeman standing
along in this area about 7, 8, or 10 feet from me.
But as I came back here, and everybody was screaming and hollering,
just moments later I saw a young motorcycle policeman run up to the
building, up the steps to the entrance of our building. He ran right
by me. And he was pushing people out of the way. He pushed a number of
people out of the way before he got to me. I saw him coming through, I
believe. As he ran up the stairway--I mean up the steps, I was almost
to the steps, I ran up and caught up with him. I believe I caught up
with him inside the lobby of the building, or possibly the front steps.
I don't remember that close. But I remember it occurred to me that
this man wants on top of the building. He doesn't know the plan of the
floor. And that is--that just popped in my mind, and I ran in with him.
As we got in the lobby, almost on the inside of the first floor, this
policeman asked me where the stairway is. And I said, "This way". And I
ran diagonally across to the northwest corner of the building.
Mr. BELIN. Now, let me, if I can--turning to Exhibit 362 again, I
wonder if you would, with this--we can first do it with this pen, if
you would--trace your route inside there. Point out the place inside
the lobby where you talked to the policeman, where he said "where is
the stairway."
Mr. TRULY. I believe along right there.
Mr. BELIN. All right. Could you put a "T" on Exhibit 362, if you would.
Mr. TRULY. I could be wrong, but I am almost positive that is the place.
Mr. BELIN. All right.
Now--and this is inside the glass or plastic set of doors shown on
Exhibit 495, is that correct?
Mr. TRULY. That is correct.
Mr. BELIN. Now, he said to you what?
Mr. TRULY. Where is the stairway.
Mr. BELIN. And what did you say to him?