Mr. PIERCE. No; it was locked.
Mr. HUBERT. Was it ever open in your presence?
Mr. PIERCE. I opened it myself one time.
Mr. HUBERT. Did Servance open it one time, too?
Mr. PIERCE. He was there, but I opened it.
Mr. HUBERT. I understand that you all stood in the vestibule?
Mr. PIERCE. The other doors stay open for the convenience of people who
want to make payments of their water bill. There is a bill drop there.
Mr. HUBERT. So, you opened the door and stood in the vestibule and
sometime afterward you locked the door back again, is that correct?
Mr. PIERCE. Sometime afterward I did, but there was a whole lot which
took place in between before I locked it back.
Mr. HUBERT. What I am interested in, did anyone come in the building?
Mr. PIERCE. No one came in the building. That, I can safely swear to.
The reason I opened those two or three doors there which lock the
vestibule there from the entrance to the building that allows people at
night, or any hour of the day to come in and make payments, drop their
water bill there, and this is the reason I refer to it as a vestibule,
foyer.
Now, we are making 45 minutes, I would think or an hour’s change in
time with relation to this particular occasion when I opened up. This
happened after we had been told we couldn’t remain in the basement area.
Mr. HUBERT. Did you come up from the basement area?
Mr. PIERCE. We came up from the basement area and porters asked me why
they couldn’t stand----
Mr. HUBERT. When you came up from the basement area, who was operating
the elevator?
Mr. PIERCE. McKinzie was operating the elevator.
Mr. HUBERT. Who came up with you?
Mr. PIERCE. I and Servance and Riggs and the telephone operator named
Ruth.
Mr. HUBERT. And Kelly?
Mr. PIERCE. Who?