Miss MITCHELL. It's the corner diagonally across the intersection from
the Texas School Book Depository.
Mr. BALL. The Texas School Book Depository is on the northwest corner;
that would put you on the southeast corner.
Miss MITCHELL. Yes, sir; I was thinking about which corner of the
building.
Mr. BALL. The northwest corner of the building and the southeast corner
of the intersection, is that right?
Miss MITCHELL. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. Were you near the curb when you were standing?
Miss MITCHELL. Yes; I was on the curb.
Mr. BALL. Did you see the President's car pass?
Miss MITCHELL. Yes; I did.
Mr. BALL. Tell me in your own words what you noticed and what you heard
after the President's car passed; what did you see and what did you
hear?
Miss MITCHELL. Well, the President's car passed and, of course, I
watched it as long as I could see it but, as I remember, immediately
behind it was a car full of men with the top down and quite a few of
them were standing and I assumed they were Secret Service men, so after
the car turned the corner and started down the hill, I couldn't see
over the heads of the standing men for very long, so then I turned
back to watch the other people in the caravan, whatever you call it,
and probably about the time the car in which Senator Yarborough was
riding had just passed, I heard some reports. The first one--there
were three--the second and third being closer together than the first
and second and probably on the first one my thought was that it was a
firecracker and I think on the second one I thought that some police
officer was after somebody that wasn't doing right and by the third
report Jim Crawford had said the shots came from the building and as
I looked up there then we realized that if the shots were coming from
that building there was bound to have been somebody shooting at the
people in the cars.
Mr. BALL. You heard Jim Crawford say something about if they were
shots--what were his words exactly?
Miss MITCHELL. Well, I'm not sure that he said--I think he just said,
"Those shots came from that building," just assuming that everybody
could have figured out by then that they were shots.
Mr. BALL. Did you look at the building?
Miss MITCHELL. Yes; I did.
Mr. BALL. Did you see anybody in any of the windows?
Miss MITCHELL. I don't remember. I understand there were some porters
that were leaning out of the fifth floor windows but I don't remember
whether I saw them or not. I know where I thought he was pointing and
where I was looking I couldn't see anybody so I never was sure which
window he thought he was pointing to.
Mr. BALL. Was he pointing?
Miss MITCHELL. I am almost sure that he was because I was trying to
figure out exactly where he was.
Mr. BALL. What did you do after that, if anything?
Miss MITCHELL. Well, looked back around at the crowd, I'm sure, because
I expected to see the Secret Service men and police escorts just start
pouring everywhere when we decided what the shots were and then looking
at the people that were falling on the ground and started milling
around and then I went back in the office.
Mr. BALL. And you did not come out again?
Miss MITCHELL. No; I did not come out again.
Mr. BALL. Did you, at any time, say anything like "oh, no, no" in reply
to what Mr. Crawford said?
Miss MITCHELL. Well, yes, I'm sure I did.
Mr. BALL. In reply to what remark of his?
Miss MITCHELL. Oh, I don't know. I don't know possibly it was when
he was talking about the shots coming from the building but I don't
remember if he said anything else.
Mr. BALL. Well, if you excuse me just a minute, let me look in my notes
here. These are the notes from which I refresh my memory here.
Miss MITCHELL. I can remember what I was saying and doing better than I
can what other people were.
Mr. BALL. Is there anything else that you remember that you said?
Miss MITCHELL. Besides when I said something about "oh, no, no" or "oh,
my goodness" or "oh, my God" or whatever I said?
Mr. BALL. Yes; that's right.
Miss MITCHELL. Yes; I said, "This is no place for us, let's get out of
here." I thought if we would get out of their way, the police officers
could work better.
Mr. BALL. That's when you left?
Miss MITCHELL. That's when I left and he came with me. I had locked the
office and I had the key to the office still in my hand so I could get
back in very fast.
Mr. BALL. I think that's all. Do you want to look this over and read it
and sign it or do you want to waive signature?
Miss MITCHELL. Either way. We were out of the office such a short
time because we had spotters in the building so we would know when
the parade was coming and we could run out. We had so many people in
the building who worked there upstairs and they called us when it was
coming so we could go outside.
Mr. BALL. If you wish, we can waive your signature; the young lady will
write it up and send it back to Washington, is that all right with you?
Miss MITCHELL. Yes; that's fine.
Mr. BALL. I think that's all. Thank you very much for coming up today.