Mr. BALL. Steps lead down?
Miss HINE. Yes, sir; but there is a door before the steps and the
elevator is to my left and I went past the hall that goes to my right
and I knocked on the door of Lyons and Carnahan; that's a publishing
company.
Mr. BALL. What did you do then?
Miss HINE. I tried the door, sir, and it was locked and I couldn't get
in and I called, "Lee, please let me in," because she's the girl that
had that office, Mrs. Lee Watley, and she didn't answer. I don't know
if she was there or not, then I left her door. I retraced my steps back
to where the hall turns to my left and went down it to Southwestern
Publishing Co.'s door and I tried their door and the reason for this
was because those windows face out.
Mr. BALL. On to Elm?
Miss HINE. Yes; and on to the triple underpass.
Mr. BALL. I see.
Miss HINE. And there was a girl in there talking on the telephone and I
could hear her but she didn't answer the door.
Mr. BALL. Was the door locked?
Miss HINE. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. That was which company?
Miss HINE. Southwestern Publishing Co.
Mr. BALL. Did you call to her?
Miss HINE. I called and called and shook the door and she didn't answer
me because she was talking on the telephone; I could hear her. They
have a little curtain up and I could see her form through the curtains.
I could see her talking and I knew that's what she was doing and then I
turned and went through the back hall and came through the back door.
Mr. BALL. Of your office, the second floor office?
Miss HINE. Yes; and I went straight up to the desk because the
telephones were beginning to wink; outside calls were beginning to come
in.
Mr. BALL. Did they did come in rapidly?
Miss HINE. They did come in rapidly.
Mr. BALL. When you came back in did you see Mrs. Reid?
Miss HINE. No, sir; I don't believe there was a soul in the office when
I came back in right then.
Mr. BALL. Did you see anybody else go in through there?
Miss HINE. No, sir; after I answered the telephone then there was about
four or five people that came in.
Mr. BALL. Was there anybody in that room when you came back in and went
to the telephone?
Miss HINE. No, sir; not to my knowledge.
Mr. BALL. Did you see Mrs. Reid come back in?
Miss HINE. Yes, sir; I think I felt sure that I did. I thought that
there were five or six that came in together. I thought she was one of
those.
Mr. BALL. Mrs. Reid told us she came in alone and when she came in she
didn't see anybody there.
Miss HINE. Well, it could be that she did, sir. I was talking on the
phones and then came the policemen and then came the press. Everybody
was wanting an outside line and then our vice president came in and he
said "The next one that was clear, I have to have it" and so I was busy
with the phone.
Mr. BALL. From the time you walked into the room you became immediately
busy with the phone?
Miss HINE. Yes, sir; sure was.
Mr. BALL. Did you see Oswald come in?
Miss HINE. My back would have been to the door he was supposed to have
come in at.
Mr. BALL. Were you facing the door he is supposed to have left by?
Miss HINE. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. Do you recall seeing him?
Miss HINE. No, sir.
Mr. BALL. Do you have any definite recollection of Mrs. Reid coming in?
Miss HINE. No, sir; I only saw four or five people that came by and
they all came and were all talking about how terrible it was.
Mr. BALL. Do you remember their names?
Miss HINE. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. Who were they?
Miss HINE. Mr. Williams, Mr. Molina (spelling), Miss Martha Reid, Mrs.
Reid, Mrs. Sarah Stanton, and Mr. Campbell; that's all I recall, sir.
Mr. BALL. Miss Hine, this will be written up and it will be submitted
for your signature if you wish, or you can waive signature right now;
which do you prefer? Do you have any choice?
Miss HINE. Well, I would prefer to see it.
Mr. BALL. Prefer to see it, all right, then this young lady will inform
you to come down, read it, look it over and sign it.
Miss HINE. Okay.
Mr. BALL. Thanks very much for coming in.
Miss HINE. You are very welcome.