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. SERVANCE. Well, you see, the service elevator has the double doors,
you open both of those doors there and go out the service elevator,
you can go out now, to the service elevator; we do have a way that
will unlock--well, in fact, have a chain of keys there and that if
anyone--anybody that is working on any of those floors during the
weekends, well, they can get those keys and go in there and out the
back, if they want.
Mr. HUBERT. Now, that back door to the building, that leads to what?
Mr. SERVANCE. Oh, it leads to the alley.
Mr. HUBERT. Leads to the alley? Is there a key in the elevator that
opens the back door?
Mr. SERVANCE. They were open; that’s right.
Mr. HUBERT. Are you familiar with how that back door works?
Mr. SERVANCE. Yes, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. Can the back door be opened at any time without the key?
Mr. SERVANCE. No, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. In there--any button that you can push so you don’t need a
key?
Mr. SERVANCE. No, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. In other words, to go to that door, once it is closed, now,
coming from either way, from inside the building or from outside the
building, you have to have a key to make that door operate?
Mr. SERVANCE. Yes, sir; you really do. No, no, now, you can push shut,
you can snap the door and remain open.
Mr. HUBERT. If you want that door to stay open you’ve got to prop it
open. Once the door is closed you need a key no matter which way you
are coming?
Mr. SERVANCE. It is a door you have to lock, you know, you don’t--it
has got a catch there, but you have to lock it, you know, it is not a
turn--you know.
Mr. HUBERT. Well, you mean that you can go through that door and then
when it closes you--it is not locked unless you turn it?
Mr. SERVANCE. Well, that’s right. See, we can trip it off, you have got
a double lock, you understand. You know the doors got a night latch
like--you know, but in order to lock that door it has got another lock
in there that we turn.
Mr. HUBERT. Let me put it to you this way: Suppose a man uses the key
to get through the door from the outside of the building, now, the door
closes shut automatically, doesn’t it?
Mr. SERVANCE. Yes, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. Does it lock so that you need the key to get back inside,
or not?
Mr. SERVANCE. No, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. It does not lock?
Mr. SERVANCE. It does not lock. In order to lock it from the alleyway
side so that nobody can come in you have got to turn it. Put the key
and turn.
Mr. HUBERT. Otherwise the door is open?
Mr. SERVANCE. That’s right, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. Now, let’s go through that again, because it is very
important and I want to get it for sure. That door operates only with
a key, that is to say, from the inside. You can’t just use the door
without a key from the inside?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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