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. Let’s put it this way. Once you lock the door you have
to have a key to unlock it. Now, see, you shut that door, it catches,
but it is not locked. See what I mean? But in order for that door to be
locked we have to put a key in there and turn that lock and let that
come out and go into that socket, you see?
Mr. HUBERT. So, a man who is going through those doors leading from the
municipal building to the alleyway uses the key to open the door to get
out into the alleyway. Now, when he leaves and goes down the alleyway
and has taken these keys with him, is that door then open so that
somebody can come in without a key or do you need a key to get back in
again?
Mr. SERVANCE. Well, now, if--usually, if the fellow’s got the key, he
usually locks it when he goes out.
Mr. HUBERT. Now, if he locks it back when he got--when he goes out but
he didn’t lock it again----
Mr. SERVANCE. You don’t need no key.
Mr. HUBERT. The door is open?
Mr. SERVANCE. You don’t need a key.
Mr. HUBERT. Do you know from your own knowledge whether Riggs and Fuqua
went through that alley door that morning?
Mr. SERVANCE. I couldn’t say. I mean, I don’t--I mean I don’t recall
that. There is a possibility that they could have, but I don’t recall
it.
Mr. HUBERT. But you don’t know from your own knowledge?
Mr. SERVANCE. After the excitement came and hollering of the
elevators--I mean the sirens going we were watching the armored car
being backed to the entrance of that--cars coming out of there from the
basement and if they did, I didn’t know it, I mean, I can’t recall it.
There is a possibility, but actually to say, I couldn’t say it.
Mr. HUBERT. They were in uniforms, too?
Mr. SERVANCE. Yes, sir; they were in uniforms and working around there.
In fact, Riggs was in both of the buildings, you know. He was a porter
there that day for certain, and he had access of those things. What he
did--I mean, I only seen him there, and he disappeared, I didn’t notice
it.
Mr. HUBERT. There is one other way you can go down from the municipal
building to the basement, and that is through the fire escape, that is
to say, the door to the main floor of the municipal building is not
locked, and you can get to the staircase that way, can’t you?
Mr. SERVANCE. Yes, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. And the door at the bottom of the stairway, which is the
entrance of the basement is always open so that you can get into the
basement?
Mr. SERVANCE. Not the weekends. You have to--you can come out, but you
can’t go in.
Mr. HUBERT. That’s what I mean. You can go in from the municipal
building. You can go through the fire escape doors?
Mr. SERVANCE. That’s right.
Mr. HUBERT. They are not locked?
Mr. SERVANCE. They are locked; yes.
Mr. HUBERT. They are locked on Sundays?
Mr. SERVANCE. Locked on Sundays, but, you see, you can come out, you
have a big bar that you can mash and come out of but you lock it and
you can’t go in.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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