Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. KennedyUnited States. Warren Commission
History
Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy
United States. Warren Commission
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Assassination; Oswald, Lee Harvey
TEXAS SCHOOL BOOK DEPOSITORY DIAGRAM OF SECOND FLOOR SHOWING ROUTE OF
OSWALD]
The stairway is located in the northwest corner of the Depository
Building. The stairs from one floor to the next are “=L=-shaped,”
with both legs of the “=L=” approximately the same length. Because
the stairway itself is enclosed, neither Baker nor Truly could see
anything on the second-floor hallway until they reached the landing at
the top of the stairs.[C4-337] On the second-floor landing there is a
small open area with a door at the east end. This door leads into a
small vestibule, and another door leads from the vestibule into the
second-floor lunchroom.[C4-338] (See Commission Exhibit No. 1118, p.
150.) The lunchroom door is usually open, but the first door is kept
shut by a closing mechanism on the door.[C4-339] This vestibule door
is solid except for a small glass window in the upper part of the
door.[C4-340] As Baker reached the second floor, he was about 20 feet
from the vestibule door.[C4-341] He intended to continue around to his
left toward the stairway going up but through the window in the door he
caught a fleeting glimpse of a man walking in the vestibule toward the
lunchroom.[C4-342]
Since the vestibule door is only a few feet from the lunchroom
door,[C4-343] the man must have entered the vestibule only a second
or two before Baker arrived at the top of the stairwell. Yet he must
have entered the vestibule door before Truly reached the top of the
stairwell, since Truly did not see him.[C4-344] If the man had passed
from the vestibule into the lunchroom, Baker could not have seen him.
Baker said:
He [Truly] had already started around the bend to come to the
next elevator going up, I was coming out this one on the second
floor, and I don’t know, I was kind of sweeping this area as I
come up, I was looking from right to left and as I got to this
door here I caught a glimpse of this man, just, you know, a
sudden glimpse * * * and it looked to me like he was going away
from me. * * *
I can’t say whether he had gone on through that door [the
lunchroom door] or not. All I did was catch a glance at him,
and evidently he was--this door might have been, you know,
closing and almost shut at that time.[C4-345]
With his revolver drawn, Baker opened the vestibule door and ran into
the vestibule. He saw a man walking away from him in the lunchroom.
Baker stopped at the door of the lunchroom and commanded, “Come
here.”[C4-346] The man turned and walked back toward Baker.[C4-347] He
had been proceeding toward the rear of the lunchroom.[C4-348] Along a
side wall of the lunchroom was a soft drink vending machine,[C4-349]
but at that time the man had nothing in his hands.[C4-350]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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