Mrs. REID. I didn't meet him in the lunchroom.
Mr. BELIN. Pardon me, when you met in the office, which direction
were you going, looking toward Exhibit 497, as you look on it, which
direction were you going toward the left or right?
Mrs. REID. You mean as I came in the office? I turned in and turned to
my left.
Mr. BELIN. That would be heading in a westerly direction is that right?
Mrs. REID. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. What direction was Oswald walking?
Mrs. REID. He was going east.
Mr. BELIN. Did you see him actually walk through or coming through the
door there?
Mrs. REID. He had just gotten to the door, was stepping in as I glanced
up.
Mr. BELIN. He was stepping in as you glanced up?
Mrs. REID. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Had you ever--you said, I will put it this way, had you ever
seen Oswald in that second floor office space before apart from the
time of getting his pay?
Mrs. REID. Well, one other time he came in, now he might have been in
to get that change for this time but I didn't see him going up there,
and he made a remark to one of the girls back there and she said,
"Well, he sure is calm." And I said, "What did he say to you?"
And she says, "I have a baby," and he stopped and I said, "Well, he
is pretty calm just having a new baby," and outside of that I never
remember seeing him other than to come in to get change.
Mr. BELIN. What about the other men in the warehouse, did they have
occasion to come into that office space?
Mrs. REID. Occasionally they come up to get change.
Mr. BELIN. Apart from getting change or getting paid?
Mrs. REID. No; very seldom unless they are sent up there to get
something. I mean they just don't come in there and wander around. It
is some business for them.
Now, I did see him in the lunchroom a few times prior to this eating
his lunch but I didn't even know his name.
Mr. BELIN. Did you know his name on the day you saw him?
Mrs. REID. No; I did not. When I saw his picture I still didn't know
his name until they told us who it was.
Mr. BELIN. How did you know the person you saw was Lee Harvey Oswald on
the second floor?
Mrs. REID. Because it looked just like him.
Mr. BELIN. You mean the picture with the name Lee Harvey Oswald?
Mrs. REID. Oh, yes.
Mr. BELIN. But you had seen him in the building?
Mrs. REID. Other than that day, sure.
Mr. BELIN. Do you remember what clothes he had on when you saw him?
Mrs. REID. What he was wearing, he had on a white T-shirt and some kind
of wash trousers. What color I couldn't tell you.
Mr. BELIN. I am going to hand you what has been marked Commission
Exhibit, first 157 and then 158, and I will ask you if either or both
look like they might have been the trousers that you saw him wear or
can you tell?
Mrs. REID. I just couldn't be positive about that. I would rather not
say, because I just cannot.
Mr. BELIN. Do you remember whether he had any shirt or jacket on over
his T-shirt?
Mrs. REID. He did not. He did not have any jacket on.
Mr. BELIN. Have you ever seen anyone working at the book depository
wearing any kind of a shirt or jacket similar to Commission Exhibit 150
or do you know?
Mrs. REID. No; I do not. I have never, so far as I know ever seen that
shirt. I have been asked about that shirt before, I have seen it once
before but not since all this happened.
Mr. BELIN. All right. Mrs. Reid, if a person were in the lunchroom
with a coke on the second floor, and then wanted to get to the front
stairway or front elevator, would there be only one route to get there
or would there be more than one?
Mrs. REID. Yes; he could either go around this hallway, or back here in
this hallway or he could have gotten through our office or----
Mr. BELIN. All right.
I wonder if in the first hallway you could mark route 1 there so we
have it on 496.
Mrs. REID. Does it matter?
Mr. BELIN. That is fine.
Mrs. REID. You said the front stairway, too?
Mr. BELIN. That is the front stairway. You have put a number 1, I am
going to put "R-1".
Mrs. REID. All right.
Mr. BELIN. And that will be one hallway to go down to get from the
lunchroom to the front stairway?
Mrs. REID. That is right.
Mr. BELIN. Now, would there be another way to get there?
Mrs. REID. He can come through the office.
Mr. BELIN. You could come through the office?
Mrs. REID. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Which is the way Lee Harvey Oswald was walking?
Mrs. REID. That is right.
Mr. BELIN. Would any one way be faster than the other or not?
Mrs. REID. It couldn't be very much faster because it is practically
the same distance here that it is here and you have got this hallway
there.
Mr. BELIN. So, either "R-1" or going through the office marked 29 would
be approximately the same?
Mrs. REID. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Now, where you saw Lee Harvey Oswald is there kind of a
pathway through there without any obstructions for desks?
Mrs. REID. Yes; there is, sort of a passageway.
Mr. BELIN. You passed at point what you have marked with an "X"?
Mrs. REID. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Is that correct?
Mrs. REID. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. With an "R" and "X" to it?
Mrs. REID. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Did Lee Harvey Oswald walk past you?
Mrs. REID. Yes; he did.
Mr. BELIN. Kept on walking in the same direction?
Mrs. REID. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. How far did you see him go?
Mrs. REID. I didn't turn around to look. He went on straight, he did
not go on past the back door because I was facing that way. What he did
after that----
Mr. BELIN. But you know he did not go out the same back door he came in?
Mrs. REID. No; he did not.
Mr. BELIN. Do you know whether or not he went into the conference room?
Mrs. REID. Well, I wouldn't think he did because this door off here was
locked and I had unlocked it for the policeman myself.
Mr. BELIN. All right, let's put an arrow here to the door that you say
was locked, and we will put--do you want to put in the word "locked" in
there, if you would, please?
Mrs. REID. All right.
Mr. DULLES. On which side was it locked or did you take the key away,
was it locked so that you----
Mrs. REID. I would go in from this way. I wasn't going in from our
office into the conference room.
Mr. DULLES. And you locked that door?
Mrs. REID. We did. They had asked me, I went in there with the
policeman into the conference room.
Mr. DULLES. Did you take the key?
Mrs. REID. Yes, sir; I did, I got it for Mr. Williams.
Mr. DULLES. No; I mean after you locked the door do you leave the key
in the lock?
Mrs. REID. No.
Mr. BELIN. What I want to know is this, Mrs. Reid. When you came
back up into the building after the shooting and you walked into the
conference room, at that time was the door which you have marked
"locked," was it locked at that time when you came in?
Mrs. REID. Yes, sir; it was to--it was locked when I got to it, I will
say that.
Mr. BELIN. Let me ask you this. Had you been the one who had locked it
before or don't you know?
Mrs. REID. Oh, no, I couldn't say that because too many people used the
conference room.
I would have no way of knowing who locked it or if it is left unlocked.
The porter locks it in the evening.
Mr. BELIN. All right.
If one is locking that door with a key do you lock the door from the
inside of the conference room?
Mrs. REID. Either way.
Mr. BELIN. Or the outside, either way?
Mrs. REID. Either way.
Mr. BELIN. Who has custody of the key?
Mrs. REID. I got that from Mr. Williams' desk, because that is where
I got it from, and then the porter has one. I could not say. They all
have the keys.
Mr. BELIN. When did you get it to unlock the door?
Mrs. REID. Well, by the time the policeman got there and started
searching our floor. I can't recall whether I had taken him into the
lounge first because they had me to go in there with him, the ladies'
lounge, or whether they went in there because there is a little stand
in here that Mr. Cason uses when we have a conference, and he jerked it
back because it would have been humanly possible for a person to have
gotten in there, but it was up against the wall and there was no one
there.
Mr. BELIN. Would this have been more or less than 5 minutes after you
got back in the building that you opened the lounge?
Mrs. REID. That is where you all get me in this time because I was not
watching the clock that day.
Mr. BELIN. That is all right.
Mrs. REID. Time really didn't mean anything to us because they, the
police officers, just came in on us and began to ask so many questions.
Mr. BELIN. When you were at point "RX" and moving, if someone would
have walked into the conference room would you have heard him in any
way?
Mrs. REID. I could have heard him open the door.
Mr. BELIN. You could hear them open the door. During the time, the
period of time you were there and saw Lee Harvey Oswald, did you hear
anyone open the door to the conference room?
Mrs. REID. I do not recall any.
Mr. BELIN. From your best judgment, if Lee Harvey Oswald didn't go
into the conference room and didn't go back to the door marked around
between 27 and 28, how would he have gotten out of the office?
Mrs. REID. Right straight out this door down this stairway and out the
front door.
Mr. BELIN. You are saying right down the hallway in the direction in
which the arrow number 29 is pointing?
Mrs. REID. That is right.
Mr. BELIN. Down through the hall and down through the front stairway.
Have you ever talked to anyone there who ever saw Lee Harvey Oswald
leave the building?
Mrs. REID. No; I haven't.
Mr. BELIN. Do you know of your own personal knowledge how he got out of
the building?
Mrs. REID. No; I do not, I do not. I have no idea.
Mr. BELIN. Mrs. Reid, did you notice whether or not the man you ran
into on the second floor whom you now identify as Lee Harvey Oswald was
carrying anything in either arm other than a coke?
Mrs. REID. No.
Mr. BELIN. Was the coke full or empty?
Mrs. REID. It was full.
Mr. BELIN. It was full.
Was there anything else you noticed about him?
Mrs. REID. No.
Mr. BELIN. Anything about the expression on his face?
Mrs. REID. No; just calm.
Mr. BELIN. Anything about whether or not his clothes were clean or
dirty?
Mrs. REID. Well, they were clean.
Mr. BELIN. Anything about whether or not his hair was combed or mussed?
Mrs. REID. No; I did not. There wasn't anything unusual.
Mr. BELIN. You say he mumbled something?
Mrs. REID. He did.
Mr. BELIN. Could you even remember one word that he mumbled?
Mrs. REID. I did not because he kept moving and I did, too, and I was
just not interested in what he was saying, it was just the excitement
of time and I didn't even say, "What did you say?" because I wasn't
interested.
Mr. DULLES. Was he moving fast?
Mrs. REID. No; because he was moving at a very slow pace, I never did
see him moving fast at any time.
Mr. BELIN. He was moving just at his normal walk?
Mrs. REID. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Do you remember whether he was wearing any pieces of jewelry
like a watch or bracelet or ring or something?
Mrs. REID. No; I do not remember that.
Mr. BELIN. Mrs. Reid, did you ever have any personal contact with Lee
Harvey Oswald about such things as his paycheck or anything like that?
Mrs. REID. No; I did not.
Mr. BELIN. Do you remember what hand he was carrying his coke in?
Mrs. REID. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. In what hand?
Mrs. REID. In his right hand.
Mr. BELIN. Mrs. Reid, we thank you very much.
Mr. DULLES. Just one moment.
Mr. BELIN. Pardon me, do you have a question, sir?
Mr. DULLES. How many times do you think you saw Mr. Oswald during the
period he was employed?
Mrs. REID. My goodness.
Mr. DULLES. Roughly.