Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, were there only two TV cameras in the basement?
Mr. BEATY. The best I remember.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Do you recall if there was a TV camera in the garage
entranceway to the garage?
Mr. BEATY. No, sir; I sure don't. There were so many of them, and guys
had them on their shoulders, and little tape recorders, and one thing
all over the joint.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, I am talking only about TV cameras, the big things
that set on a tripod as opposed to little movie cameras.
Mr. BEATY. They had some of the shoulder cameras.
Mr. GRIFFIN. I wasn't thinking of them. I am just talking about the
stationary cameras.
Mr. BEATY. I suppose I didn't pay any attention to them at all.
Mr. GRIFFIN. I am only talking now about the instructions that you
remember that came from Captain Jones. Do you have any idea as to what
you were to do when Oswald got abreast of you?
Mr. BEATY. Yes, sir. He told us we would keep this aisle clear, and at
this time the cameras were run in and out of this door and something
through this door, and around here, and then he returned in about 3 or
4 minutes later and said, "All you people from the press move back into
the driveway." And I will indicate it by a dotted line across here.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Okay.
Mr. BEATY. And over into the driveway entrance of the parking area from
the Commerce Street, Main Street ramp. Would you want a dotted line?
Mr. GRIFFIN. Yes. Let me ask you a question about that. What is your
best estimate of the number of people that were over in the garage
entrance area?
Mr. BEATY. Counting the people here behind the camera?
Mr. GRIFFIN. No; not counting the people behind the camera.
Mr. BEATY. Right along in here?
Mr. GRIFFIN. Yes; along the dotted line.
Mr. BEATY. Thirty-five or forty.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Was that congested?
Mr. BEATY. No; it wasn't. You can get that many people in. It is a
pretty wide area. Looks like it might be 50 feet across there, if this
is 15.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, across that 50-foot area, was there just a single
line across there?
Mr. BEATY. They could be doubled or tripled. They were all scattered
out, of course. But there seemed like there was some congestion right
around there and behind the cameras.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Will you draw a half circle in the area or quarter circle
in the area where the congestion was?
Mr. BEATY. Right along in here, best I remember.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, did there appear to be people standing behind the TV
cameras?
Mr. BEATY. Yes.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Were there people standing up above the TV cameras, if you
recall?
Mr. BEATY. I don't know what they would stand on. There is nothing for
them to stand on unless they had a box or something like that.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, how did the congestion in this area that you have
indicated by a half circle which runs from about the position of the
TV camera close to the Main Street side, to about the middle of the
entrance to the garage, how did the congestion in that area compare to
the congestion along the Main Street ramp or across the Main Street
ramp?
Mr. BEATY. The best I remember, most of the people that moved out of
this area moved into this area here. Then they moved over here. It
looked like there might have been as many here, or more, as there were
over here. There must have been a hundred all together all scattered
out all in the basement, and they wouldn't stay still. They would mill
around as long as they didn't get past this line here, and we weren't
too concerned with them, because they had uniform officers out here in
the basement and they brought those down earlier and shook down all the
cars a time or two, and I don't know what was going on out here.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, how many uniformed officers did you see stationed
back here in the basement area?
Mr. BEATY. Earlier?
Mr. GRIFFIN. No; at the time Oswald came out.
Mr. BEATY. I didn't see any.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Is it possible that there might not have been officers
there?
Mr. BEATY. No; there were some earlier, about 50.
Mr. GRIFFIN. About 50 in there? Did you see them search the basement?
Mr. BEATY. Yes, sir.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Did they search the basement, can you remember, before or
after you got the instructions from Captain Jones?
Mr. BEATY. I couldn't remember. I don't know.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Were you down in the basement?
Mr. BEATY. What do you call the basement now, this or this?
Mr. GRIFFIN. I am talking about the whole bottom area, all the way from
the elevators that come down from the upstairs.
Mr. BEATY. After the instructions, because I wouldn't be out here.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Were you, prior to the time that your friends planned to
go out for coffee, down in the basement at all?
Mr. BEATY. No, sir.
Mr. GRIFFIN. But you were down in the basement at the time the search
of the basement was conducted?
Mr. BEATY. This was a good hour and a half or something like that,
later on.
Mr. GRIFFIN. The basement was searched substantially after you got down
there?
Mr. BEATY. Yes. And I understand that this was the second time it
happened.
In other words, well, I heard somebody say we have swept the basement
out twice already and I don't remember who said this. This is to
indicate that they searched the cars.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Do you recall who was in charge of the search that you saw
take place?
Mr. BEATY. I would assume that since it was uniformed officers, it
would be Captain Talbert, because they were all uniform officers.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Do you remember whether or not Sergeant Dean was in charge
of that search?
Mr. BEATY. No; Sergeant Dean was there and so was Sergeant Putnam, and
I don't think you could say one was in charge or the other one was in
charge. It was a joint operation. I would say Captain Talbert was in
charge. And, actually, he wasn't down there. He would drop by and leave
a few instructions, some for Dean and some for Putnam and the like.
Mr. GRIFFIN. During the period that you were down in the basement, did
you see cars going in and out, coming up and down the ramp?
Mr. BEATY. Saw one leave, it was a squad car, and it left and went this
way.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Up the Main Street ramp. Did you see any other cars coming
in the basement? Were officers coming in on routine duty and so forth?
Mr. BEATY. I am sure there were, but I don't remember whether they
were or not. I know that they closed it from 9 o'clock on, but I can't
remember exactly what time they shut it off.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, when you first walked out in here in front of the
swinging doors toward the ramp, do you recall if the TV lights were on?
Mr. BEATY. No, sir; they weren't.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, do you recall when the armored car came in?
Mr. BEATY. Yes, sir.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Do you recall if the TV lights were on at that time?
Mr. BEATY. No, sir; I am quite sure that they took some picture of it,
but I don't remember whether, and there again which lights are you
talking about? Man, they were everywhere down there. And the armored
car backed down this ramp.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Commerce Street?
Mr. BEATY. Commerce Street ramp. And there were people with cameras on
the Main Street ramp back over here, back behind this 55-foot entrance
to the garage. They were everywhere.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Was there some sort of floodlights set up in connection
with the TV cameras?
Mr. BEATY. I am sure there were. They were awful bright. I don't know
whether they were hooked onto the cameras or something. They brought in
this material, but the best I remember, there was a bunch of them over
in this area.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Behind the camera?
Mr. BEATY. Well, not necessarily. They could have been under or over.
You couldn't hardly tell.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, at the time that the armored car came down the ramp,
did you see what happened around that armored car?
Mr. BEATY. Like what now?
Mr. GRIFFIN. Did you see anything that happened?
Mr. BEATY. No.
Mr. GRIFFIN. You saw the armored car come down?
Mr. BEATY. It took them quite a while to get the armored car down.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Did you actually see it come down?
Mr. BEATY. Not the whole time.
Mr. GRIFFIN. As you looked up toward that armored car, were you able to
see people around that armored car from where you were standing?
Mr. BEATY. Well, tell me when you are talking about?
Mr. GRIFFIN. At anytime.
Mr. BEATY. It took it about 5 minutes to back down, because it was too
tight for the ramp, and they didn't get it all the way in there. They
were very, very cautious and careful, and it parked up the ramp, and I
don't remember seeing anybody around.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Do you recall Chief Batchelor coming down into the
basement and going up to the armored car?
Mr. BEATY. No, sir; I don't.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Do you recall any police officers up in the area of the
armored car?
Mr. BEATY. No, sir; I don't.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, do you recall whether there was an officer--did you
see an officer stationed up at the top of the Main Street ramp?
Mr. BEATY. No, sir; I couldn't see that way.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Is that because of the police that were stationed that you
didn't have a straight view of the ramp?
Mr. BEATY. Yes, sir.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, as you looked over in this direction over here,
could you see any police officers over in there? The place that I am
indicating is in the direction of the Main Street ramp. Did you see any
police officers?
Mr. BEATY. Yes, sir; some of those officers I mentioned, I don't
remember exactly how they were stationed, which ones. The plainclothes
officers were standing on this side here.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Could you tell us--I am not asking you who you
subsequently learned was over there, but who you actually remember
seeing in that line?
Mr. BEATY. I don't know. I couldn't tell you. The only reason I could
on this report I made, I remember who all was down there. That I could
remember. And I remember one was on our side, and I assumed the others
were on the other side.