And I said, "I want to find out." I think the President is shot.
There was a motorcycle that was parked on the corner of Houston and Elm
directly in front of the east end of the building, and I paused there
to listen to the report on the police radio, and they said that shots
had been fired which apparently came either from the second floor or
the fourth floor window, and so I panicked, as I was at the only open
window on the fourth floor.
Mr. BELIN. Did they say second floor or second floor from the top?
Miss ADAMS. It said second floor. So then I decided maybe I had better
go back into the building, and going up the stairs----
Mr. BELIN. Now at this time when you went back into the building, were
there any policemen standing in front of the building keeping people
out?
Miss ADAMS. There was an officer on the stairs itself, and he was
prohibiting people from entering the building, that is correct. But I
told him I worked there.
Mr. BELIN. Did he let you come back in?
Miss ADAMS. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Then what did you do?
Miss ADAMS. Following that, I pushed the button for the passenger
elevator, but the power had been cut off on the elevator, so I took the
stairs to the second floor.
Mr. BELIN. You then went all the way back to the northwest corner of
the building and took the same set of stairs you had previously taken
to come down, or did you take the stairs by the passenger elevator?
Miss ADAMS. By the passenger elevator.
Mr. BELIN. Do those stairs go above floor 2?
Miss ADAMS. No, sir; they didn't.
Mr. BELIN. What did you do when you got to the second floor?
Miss ADAMS. I went into the Texas School Book Depository office and
just listened for a few minutes to the people that were congregating
there, and decided there wasn't anything interesting going on, and went
out and walked around the hall to the freight elevator meaning the one
on the northwest corner.
Mr. BELIN. Would it have been the west or the east? The one nearest the
stairs or the other one?
Miss ADAMS. Yes; the one nearest the stairs.
Mr. BELIN. Then what did you do?
Miss ADAMS. I went into the elevator which was stopped on the second
floor, with two men who were dressed in suit and hats, and I assumed
they were plainclothesmen.
Mr. BELIN. What did you do then?
Miss ADAMS. I tried to get the elevator to go to the fourth floor, but
it wasn't operating, so the gentlemen lifted the elevator gate and we
went out and ran up the stairs to the fourth floor.
Mr. BELIN. Then you went back to the Scott Foresman Company offices?
Miss ADAMS. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Now trying to reconstruct your actions insofar as the time
sequence, which we haven't done, what is your best estimate of the time
between the time the shots were fired and the time you got back to the
building? How much time elapsed? If you have any estimate. Maybe you
don't have one.
Miss ADAMS. I would estimate not more than 5 minutes elapsed.
Mr. BELIN. Is there any particular reason why you make this estimation?
Miss ADAMS. Yes, sir; going down the stairs toward the back, I was
running. I ran to the railroad tracks. I moved quickly to the front of
the building, paused briefly to talk to someone, listened only to the
report of the windows from which the shot supposedly was fired, and
returned to the building.
Mr. BELIN. How long do you think it was between the time the shots were
fired and the time you left the window to start toward the stairway?
Miss ADAMS. Between 15 and 30 seconds, estimated, approximately.
Mr. BELIN. How long do you think it was, or do you think it took you to
get from the window to the top of the fourth floor stairs?
Miss ADAMS. I don't think I can answer that question accurately,
because the time approximation, without a stopwatch, would be difficult.
Mr. BELIN. How long do you think it took you to get from the window to
the bottom of the stairs on the first floor?
Miss ADAMS. I would say no longer than a minute at the most.
Mr. BELIN. So you think that from the time you left the window on the
fourth floor until the time you got to the stairs at the bottom of the
first floor, was approximately 1 minute?
Miss ADAMS. Yes, approximately.
Mr. BELIN. As I understand your testimony previously, you saw neither
Roy Truly nor any motorcycle police officer at any time?
Miss ADAMS. That's correct.
Mr. BELIN. You heard no one else running down the stairs?
Miss ADAMS. Correct.
Mr. BELIN. When you got to the first floor did you immediately proceed
to this point where you say you encountered Mr. Shelley and Mr.
Lovelady?
Well, you showed me on a diagram of the first floor that there was a
place which was south and somewhat east of the front part of the east
elevator that you encountered Truly and Lovelady?
Miss ADAMS. I saw them there.
Mr. BELIN. I mean; you saw them?
Miss ADAMS. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Would that have been a matter of seconds after you got to
the bottom of the first floor?
Miss ADAMS. Definitely.
Mr. BELIN. Less than 30 seconds?
Miss ADAMS. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Do you know, or did you know Lee Harvey Oswald either by
sight or by name?
Miss ADAMS. I didn't know Lee Harvey Oswald, per se. I didn't know his
name. I recognized him after I saw him on television, as having been
with some men, but I had no dealing with him.
Mr. BELIN. By that, you mean having been employed with some men by the
Texas School Book Depository?
Miss ADAMS. That's correct.
Mr. BELIN. During the trip down the stairs on the way down did you ever
encounter Lee Harvey Oswald?
Miss ADAMS. No, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Is there any other information that you can think of that
might be relevant to anything connected with the assassination?
Miss ADAMS. At the time I left the building on the Houston Street dock,
there was an officer standing about 2 yards from the curb, and about
from the curb across the street from the Texas School Depository,
and about 4 yards from the corner of Houston and Elm, and when we
were running out the dock, going around the building, the officer was
standing there, and he didn't encounter us or ask us what we were doing
or where we were going, and I don't know if that is pertinent.
Mr. BELIN. No one stopped you from getting out of the building when you
left?
Miss ADAMS. That's correct.
Mr. BELIN. That is helpful information. Is there any other information
that you have that could be relevant?
Miss ADAMS. There was a man that was standing on the corner of Houston
and Elm asking questions there. He was dressed in a suit and a hat, and
when I encountered Avery Davis going down, we asked who he was, because
he was questioning people as if he were a police officer, and we
noticed him take a colored boy away on a motorcycle, and this man was
asking questions very efficaciously, and we said, "I guess he is maybe
a reporter," and later on on television, there was a man that looked
very similar to him, and he was identified as Ruby.
And on questioning some police officer, they said they had witnesses
to the fact that he was in the Dallas Morning News at the time. And I
don't know whether that is relevant or what.
Mr. BELIN. That is all right, we want to get that information down. Was
this before you got back in the front door of the building that you saw
this?
Miss ADAMS. Yes, sir; while I was standing by the motorcycles.
Mr. BELIN. Is there anything else?
Miss ADAMS. That is all, I believe.
Mr. BELIN. Miss Adams, you have the opportunity if you would like, to
read this deposition and sign it before it goes to Washington, or you
can waive the signing of it and just let the court reporter send it
directly to us. Do you have any preference?
Miss ADAMS. I think I will let you use your own discretion.
Mr. BELIN. It doesn't make any difference to us. If it doesn't make any
difference, we can waive it and you won't have to make another trip
down here.
Miss ADAMS. That is all right.
Mr. BELIN. We want to thank you for your cooperation. We know that it
has taken time on your part. Would you also thank your employer?
Miss ADAMS. Yes, sir.