Mr. McKINZIE. It would have been open when I went back to it. It
wouldn’t close.
Mr. HUBERT. It wouldn’t automatically close?
Mr. McKINZIE. No, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. No way to make it close from the outside?
Mr. McKINZIE. No, sir; when you’ve got it cut off. When it is on
automatic when you cut it off if you leave your doors open they stay
open. If you close them up they stay closed.
Mr. HUBERT. And you say they were closed?
Mr. McKINZIE. Yes, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. So, even pushing the button wouldn’t have opened the back
door?
Mr. McKINZIE. No, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. The key to the back door of the building that goes out to
the alleyway, was it left in the elevator when you left the elevator?
Mr. McKINZIE. I hang the keys on a ring and hang them up on the wall.
Mr. HUBERT. Those keys were there?
Mr. McKINZIE. Yes, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. So if they had managed to get the elevator door open, they
could have used that key to get the back door leading onto the alley
open?
Mr. McKINZIE. Oh, yes, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. But, you didn’t see anything like that?
Mr. McKINZIE. No, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. You didn’t see them go out Main Street?
Mr. McKINZIE. No, sir. Now, which way they went out of that, I really
do not know, but I do learn--I heard them say, myself, they believed
they would go down to the police department and watch television.
Mr. HUBERT. How would they get to the police department from the main
floor of the municipal building?
Mr. McKINZIE. They would have had, at least, to went out Commerce
Street and went down and gone down into the basement, or either--or
they would have had to went through the screen door, the door between
the two swinging, so, they had to go one of two ways. The only way to
go to the police department from the municipal building into the police
department. After they got in that alley, they had to go right down in
the stairways, as I understand is where they was, they went downstairs,
they had to go out through a gate if they went downstairs, and they
stopped them over in the police department before they even got over to
the televisions. That is where they were stopped at.
Mr. HUBERT. Your thought is that they used the staircase, the fire
stairs?
Mr. McKINZIE. No, sir; I think they must have used the door between the
two buildings.
Mr. HUBERT. You mean that door that has got two metal doors like an
accordion?
Mr. McKINZIE. Yes.
Mr. HUBERT. Did they have a key to that?
Mr. McKINZIE. I don’t know whether Riggs had keys or not. He is a
truck-driver. He might have keys of his own. He works daytime and I
work nights. I don’t know too much about it. I don’t know too much
about it, but I know he drives a truck and porter work, and those head
boys, some of them has keys.
Mr. HUBERT. Did you know this man called Jack Ruby?
Mr. McKINZIE. No, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. Never met him before in your life?
Mr. McKINZIE. No, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. Of course, you have seen pictures of him?
Mr. McKINZIE. Yes, sir; that’s all.
Mr. HUBERT. Did he come in there that day?
Mr. McKINZIE. I don’t know. I didn’t see him if he did and I don’t
think he did. I really don’t.
Mr. HUBERT. Now, you are swearing that you didn’t see him come in?
Mr. McKINZIE. That’s right; that’s right.
Mr. HUBERT. Now, since all this happened you must have stopped to think
to yourself, “Well, did that man come in through where I was supposed
to be?”
Mr. McKINZIE. Oh, yes, sir. I have thought of it, but I know he didn’t.
Mr. HUBERT. That is what I want to find out. You have put your mind to
it and you have thought about it a great deal----
Mr. McKINZIE. Yes, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. And you are prepared to tell us under oath now, Louis, that
this man did not come through, so far as you know, you didn’t see him?
Mr. McKINZIE. That’s right. That’s right. He come in there some other
way. He didn’t come through that elevator.
Mr. HUBERT. Have you anything else you want to say, Louis, that might
help the President’s Commission in finding out the truth about this
thing?
Mr. McKINZIE. Well, I don’t--other words about it, I just don’t know
anything I could say.
Mr. HUBERT. Well, we certainly don’t want you to invent anything. On
the other hand, we want you to feel free to say anything that is the
truth.
Mr. McKINZIE. Yes, sir; that’s right.
Mr. HUBERT. Because this is an important thing.
Mr. McKINZIE. Sure. I realize that.
Mr. HUBERT. Nobody blames you, or anybody. On the other hand, if we
could find out the truth it would help us to protect other people and
other Presidents in the future.
Mr. McKINZIE. Yes, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. And you have given thought to all that, and you are saying
that what you are telling us is the truth?
Mr. McKINZIE. That’s right.
Mr. HUBERT. If you should remember sometime something that you
haven’t told us here this morning, or you haven’t told the FBI or the
investigating officers, why, I would like very much for you to contact
the President’s Commission through the U.S. attorney’s office there,
Mr. Barefoot Sanders, and tell us you have something to say to us that
hasn’t been said before.
Mr. McKINZIE. Yes, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. And we’ll get in touch with you. Now, let me ask you one
more thing. Has anybody other than the Government officials, U.S.
officials talked to you about this?
Mr. McKINZIE. No.
Mr. HUBERT. The police department didn’t talk to you about it at all?
Mr. McKINZIE. No, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. They didn’t inquire of you as to whether Ruby had come that
way?
Mr. McKINZIE. No, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. Nobody from the Dallas Police Department ever talked to you?
Mr. McKINZIE. No, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. Nobody has threatened you?
Mr. McKINZIE. No, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. They haven’t told you not to tell the truth?
Mr. McKINZIE. That’s right. Nobody said anything.
Mr. HUBERT. Nobody said anything like that to you? Didn’t even speak to
you about it?
Mr. McKINZIE. No, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. Nobody ever took a statement from you?
Mr. McKINZIE. Nobody from the police department.
Mr. HUBERT. Now, the FBI, of course.
Mr. McKINZIE. Yes, FBI; that is the only one.
Mr. HUBERT. Now, prior to my speaking to you this morning and taking
this deposition, there had been no interviews between you and me, is
that correct?
Mr. McKINZIE. That’s correct.
Mr. HUBERT. I mean, we haven’t spoken about this matter until you came
into this room and took your oath?
Mr. McKINZIE. No, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. All right, Louis. Thank you very much.
Mr. McKINZIE. Okay. I thank you.