Mr. WADE. We went all through this at the trial, and it varied on where
Ruby was, but when I saw him he was about four rows back in the aisle
seat, standing up in the seat.
Mr. RANKIN. Were there press men around him?
Mr. WADE. All kinds of press men around him, and also press men 10 deep
between him and Oswald.
Now, one of their--you mentioned the gun awhile ago--one of their
defenses in the trial was if he had a gun, he had a gun there, he could
have killed him if he wanted to. It is the first I heard him say that
he didn't have a gun that you mentioned awhile ago. So when I got--when
they got through, they started asking him questions, the press.
Senator COOPER. Wait a minute. How close were the nearest people in the
audience to Oswald?
Mr. WADE. I would say they were that far from him.
Senator COOPER. How far is that?
Mr. WADE. Three feet.
Senator COOPER. You mean some of the reporters and photographers were
within 3 feet of him?
Mr. WADE. They were on the ground, they were on the ground, and they
were standing on top of each other, and on top of tables, and I assume
in that room there were 250 people. It was just a mob scene.
Senator COOPER. I believe I have seen the room. Isn't it correct that
at the end where the showup is held that is an elevated platform?
Mr. WADE. There is a platform up there where the microphone is.
Senator COOPER. Was he standing up on the platform?
Mr. WADE. No, he was not at the platform.
Senator COOPER. Was he on the floor level?
Mr. WADE. He was in the floor level in the middle. If I understand,
that was the first or second time I had ever been in the room.
Senator COOPER. Were there people around him, surrounding him?
Mr. WADE. People were on the floor in front of those desks.
Senator COOPER. But I mean, were they, were people on all sides of him?
Mr. WADE. No; they were all in front of him. They were all in front of
him, and you had a ring of policemen behind him, policemen on all sides
of him. It was just the front where they were, and that is the way I
recall it, but I knew they had a line of policemen behind him, and the
place was full of policemen, because they went up and it turns out
later they got all the police who were on duty that night. They were
plain clothes police, most of them, maybe they had a uniform or two, a
few of them.