Mr. BELIN. Were you inside or outside the building?
Miss ADAMS. I was inside the building.
Mr. BELIN. What floor?
Miss ADAMS. Fourth floor.
Mr. BELIN. Did you watch the motorcade through a window?
Miss ADAMS. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Sometimes that is kind of complicated to try and pick out
which window if you are counting from the right or left, so I am going
to count from the east side of the building to the west side of the
building.
Now the windows are separate windows, but they are kind of in pairs, so
to speak. Were you standing on the first pair of windows, either one of
those two windows?
Miss ADAMS. No, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Counting from the east side, were you standing in the second
pair of windows?
Miss ADAMS. No, sir.
Mr. BELIN. From the east side, were you standing in the third pair, of
either of those windows?
Miss ADAMS. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Now of that third pair, from the east side, would it have
been the east window or the west window?
Miss ADAMS. The west window.
Mr. BELIN. So another way, if you don't count in pairs, but count in
single units from the east side, you would have been in the sixth
window from your left as you were facing out the window, is that
correct?
Miss ADAMS. That's right.
Mr. BELIN. Were you standing with anyone?
Miss ADAMS. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. With whom?
Miss ADAMS. I was standing with Sandra Styles, Elsie Dorman, and
Dorothy May Garner.
Mr. BELIN. Will you state what you saw, what you did, and what you
heard?
Miss ADAMS. I watched the motorcade come down Main, as it turned from
Main onto Houston, and watched it proceed around the corner on Elm, and
apparently somebody in the crowd called to the late President, because
he and his wife both turned abruptly and faced the building, so we had
a very good view of both of them.
Mr. BELIN. Where was their car as you got this good view, had it come
directly opposite your window? Had it come to that point on Elm, or
not, if you can remember?
Miss ADAMS. I believe it was prior, just a second or so prior to that.
Mr. BELIN. All right.
Miss ADAMS. And from our vantage point we were able to see what the
President's wife was wearing, the roses in the car, and things that
would attract women's attention. Then we heard--then we were obstructed
from the view.
Mr. BELIN. By what?
Miss ADAMS. A tree. And we heard a shot, and it was a pause, and then a
second shot, and then a third shot.
It sounded like a firecracker or a cannon at a football game, it seemed
as if it came from the right below rather than from the left above.
Possibly because of the report.
And after the third shot, following that, the third shot, I went to the
back of the building down the back stairs, and encountered Bill Shelley
and Bill Lovelady on the first floor on the way out to the Houston
Street dock.
Mr. BELIN. When you say on the way out to the Houston Street dock, you
mean now you were on the way out?
Miss ADAMS. While I was on the way out.
Mr. BELIN. Was anyone going along with you?
Miss ADAMS. Yes, sir; Sandra Styles.
Mr. BELIN. Sometime after the third shot, and I don't want to get into
the actual period of time yet, you went back into the stockroom which
would be to the north of where your offices are located on the fourth
floor, is that correct?
Miss ADAMS. Yes, sir; that's correct.
Mr. BELIN. When you got into the stockroom, where did you go?
Miss ADAMS. I went to the back stairs.
Mr. BELIN. Are there any other stairs that lead down from the fourth
floor other than those back stairs in the rear of the stockroom?
Miss ADAMS. No, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Those stairs would be in the northwest corner of the
building, is that correct?
Miss ADAMS. That's correct.
Mr. BELIN. You took those stairs. Were you walking or running as you
went down the stairs?
Miss. ADAMS. I was running. We were running.
Mr. BELIN. What kind of shoes did you have on?
Miss ADAMS. Three-inch heels.
Mr. BELIN. You had heels. Now, as you were running down the stairs, did
you encounter anyone?
Miss ADAMS. Not during the actual running down the stairs; no, sir.
Mr. BELIN. After you left the Scott Foresman office and went into the
stockroom, did you see anyone until you got to the stairs on the fourth
floor other than the person you were with?
Miss ADAMS. Outside of our office employees; no.
Mr. BELIN. Would these office employees that you might have seen, all
be women?
Miss ADAMS. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Then you got to the stairs and you started going down the
stairs. You went from the fourth floor to the third floor?
Miss ADAMS. That's correct?
Mr. BELIN. Anyone on the stairs then?
Miss ADAMS. No, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Let me ask you this. As you got to the stairs on the fourth
floor, did you notice whether or not the elevator was running?
Miss ADAMS. The elevator was not moving.
Mr. BELIN. How do you know it was not moving on some other floor?
Miss ADAMS. Because the cables move when the elevator is moved, and
this is evidenced because of a wooden grate.
Mr. BELIN. By that you mean a wooden door with slats in it that you
have to lift up to get on the elevator?
Miss ADAMS. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Did you look to see if the elevator was moving?
Miss ADAMS. It was not; no, sir.
Mr. BELIN. It was not moving?
Miss ADAMS. No.
Mr. BELIN. Did you happen to see where the elevator might have been
located?
Miss ADAMS. No, sir.
Mr. BELIN. As you got to the third door, did you take a look at the
elevator again at all, or not, if you remember?
Miss ADAMS. I can't recall.
Mr. BELIN. As you got off the stairs on the third floor, did you see
anyone on the third floor?
Miss ADAMS. No, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Then you immediately went to the stairs going down from the
third to the second?
Miss ADAMS. That's correct.
Mr. BELIN. As you ran down the stairs, did you see anyone on the stairs?
Miss ADAMS. No, sir.
Mr. BELIN. All right. You got down to the second floor. Did you see
anyone by the second floor?
Miss ADAMS. No, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Did you immediately turn and run and keep on running down
the stairs towards the first floor?
Miss ADAMS. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. When you got to the bottom of the first floor, did you see
anyone there as you entered the first floor from the stairway?
Miss ADAMS. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Who did you see?
Miss ADAMS. Mr. Bill Shelley and Billy Lovelady.
Mr. BELIN. Where did you see them on the first floor?
Miss ADAMS. Well, this is the stairs, and this is the Houston Street
dock that I went out. They were approximately in this position here,
so I don't know how you would describe that.
Mr. BELIN. You are looking now at a first floor plan or diagram of the
Texas School Book Depository, and you have pointed to a position where
you encountered Bill Lovelady and Mr. Bill Shelley?
Miss ADAMS. That's correct.
Mr. BELIN. It would be slightly east of the front of the east elevator,
and probably as far south as the length of the elevator, is that
correct?
Miss ADAMS. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. I have a document here called Commission's Exhibit No.
496, which includes a diagram of the first door, and there is a No. 7
and a circle on it, and I have pointed to a place marked No. 7 on the
diagram. Is that correct?
Miss ADAMS. That is approximate.
Mr. BELIN. Between the time you got off the stairs and the time you got
to this point when you say you encountered them, which was somewhat to
the south and a little bit east of the front of the east elevator, did
you see any other employees there?
Miss ADAMS. No, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Any other people prior to the time you saw them?
Miss ADAMS. No, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Now when you were running down the stairs on your trip down
the stairs, did you hear anyone using the stairs?
Miss ADAMS. No, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Did you hear anyone calling for an elevator?
Miss ADAMS. No, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Did you see the foreman, Roy Truly? Did you see the
superintendent of the warehouse, Roy S. Truly?
Miss ADAMS. No, sir; I did not.
Mr. BELIN. What about any motorcycle police officers?
Miss ADAMS. No, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Now what did you do after you encountered Mr. Shelley and
Mr. Lovelady?
Miss ADAMS. I said I believed the President was shot.
Mr. BELIN. Do you remember what they said?
Miss ADAMS. Nothing.
Mr. BELIN. Then what did you do?
Miss ADAMS. I proceeded out to the Houston Street dock.
Mr. BELIN. That would be on this same diagram? It is marked Houston
Street dock, and you went through what would be the north door, which
is towards the rear of the first floor, is that correct?
And down some stairs towards the rear of the dock?
Miss ADAMS. That's correct.
Mr. BELIN. Where did you go from there?
Miss ADAMS. I proceeded--which way is east and west?
Mr. BELIN. East is here. East is towards Houston, and west is towards
the railroad tracks.
You went east or west? Towards the railroad tracks or towards Houston
Street?
Miss ADAMS. I went west towards the tracks.
Mr. BELIN. How far west did you go?
Miss ADAMS. I went approximately 2 yards within the tracks and there
was an officer standing there, and he said, "Get back to the building."
And I said, "But I work here."