Warren Commission (13 of 26): Hearings Vol. XIII (of 15)United States. Warren Commission
History
Warren Commission (13 of 26): Hearings Vol. XIII (of 15)
United States. Warren Commission
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Assassination; Oswald, Lee Harvey
Mr. BEERS. I went to the basement of the city hall, and then on through
the basement out into the police parking area in the basement of the
city hall.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Did you station yourself some place in the parking area?
Mr. BEERS. Yes; I did. I went into the parking area and was in general
conversation with various and sundry members of the press who were
there for a short while, and I discovered that there was an area along
a railing which is on the east side of the driveway that goes through
the basement of the city hall, next to some television cameras that
would permit one cameraman to be in this area without obstructing the
view of the television cameras, so I went to this railing and I stayed
there, sitting on this railing until the transfer had started.
When I stood up on the railing and made photographs as Mr. Oswald was
being transferred, which included the pictures of Mr. Ruby shooting Mr.
Oswald.
Then I remained standing on the railing and shot three or four or so
further negatives of the scuffle that was going on.
Mr. GRIFFIN. I am going to hand you--I will turn this around--I am
going to hand you what is a diagram of the basement area in the
municipal building. I have marked this diagram “Dallas, Texas, April
14, 1964, Ira J. Beers’ Exhibit 5352.”
Let me try to explain it a little bit to you. Here is Commerce Street
along the right-hand side, and Main Street along the left-hand side,
and near the bottom of the page, is a ramp which says, “down ramp
leading from Main Street into the basement area,” and following on up
towards Commerce Street you see something marked, “up ramp.”
In this area here is the parking area of the garage. Here is the Police
Department Building. Here is the jail office. This is the hallway that
comes out from the public elevators near Harwood Street so that if you
enter from Harwood you come down to this area, and you go up in the
elevators here and walk through this hallway through some double doors,
and you would be in the ramp area at the bottom of the basement floor.
Now can you, taking your pen, at the time you took your position on the
railing, would you show us where the TV cameras were placed? Can you
mark that in rectangles of some sort?
Mr. BEERS. [Marking on map.] These were live TV cameras that I have
marked on the east side of the railing, and there was a sound on-film
cameraman leaning against the railing right there [pointing].
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now this sound on-film camera, is this something that
requires a tripod of some sort?
Mr. BEERS. It may or may not.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Do you recall if that one did?
Mr. BEERS. He had a monopod or a unapod, which is a single leg support
for the camera.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Do you know who that man was?
Mr. BEERS. Mr. George Phenix with KRLD-TV.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Can you put a figure 1, at the spot on the railing where
you stationed yourself first?
Mr. BEERS. Right here. Actually on the railing [marking.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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