Mr. Johnston.

The names of the officers; yes, sir.

Mr. Hubert.

Did you take any statements from these people?

Mr. Johnston.

From the officers--no, sir.

Mr. Hubert.

You just made up a list of people?

Mr. Johnston.

Yes; now some of these officers, of course, I have talked with in regard to this at the time the investigation was being made.

Mr. Hubert.

Is this part of your function as a justice of the peace, to do this ?

Mr. Johnston.

Yes, sir.

Mr. Hubert.

Those are official records, I take it?

Mr. Johnston.

Yes, sir.

Mr. Hubert.

How long did you say you talked to Ruby altogether on this occasion on the 22d?

Mr. Johnston.

Three to five minutes.

Mr. Hubert.

After that you didn't see him any more?

Mr. Johnston.

No, sir; of course, I left the Dallas Police Department to go
to my .residence somewhere between 4 and 5 a.m. on the morning of November 23 and did not return to the Dallas police station at any subsequent period from then until the following Tuesday or Wednesday before I returned. I was called about an hour after the shooting of Oswald and put on standby notice, pending whether they could contact Judge Pierce McBride, justice of the peace, precinct 1, place 2 of Dallas County or Judge Davis, precinct 1, place 1. This man was in custody at the time he was shot, and under our rules of criminal procedure in the State of Texas, a prisoner dying while in custody--you are supposed to first try to contact the justice of the peace in whose precinct that particular death occurs. This is because he was incarcerated or in custody, and they subsequently did contact Judge McBride, who handled the inquest on Lee Harvey Oswald. I was on standby notice to handle this, but in this particular instance, they did get hold of Judge McBride.

Mr. Hubert.

I think you said that the press interview of Oswald in the assembly room at which you were present came to an end because the press seemed to be violating the condition which Chief Curry had laid down for the interview?

Mr. Johnston.

Yes, sir. Not drastically, but there was enough movement--my sincere feeling in this thing is that Chief Curry did everything that was humanly possible to do to protect Oswald, that his statement to the press before Oswald was brought in--to "get in position, stay there, do not move, do not try to stand up, when you do I'm going to remove him," and as soon as this started--the milling got a little bit too much--I mean--he didn't call their hand--there were a bunch of them kneeling and that's a pretty uncomfortable position and he held some of them there for a pretty good while before they brought Oswald in, but when they started moving an.d attempting to stand up, which I think was just merely to stretch their legs and so forth, he took Mr. Oswald immediately out of that detail room.

Mr. Hubert.

Do you know whether any security precautions were observed in searching or "frisking" as the phrase is, the people who were allowed in the assembly room ?

Mr. Johnston.

No, sir; to my knowledge there was none of that went on.
However, there were at least--in that room, there were at least 50 or 60 officers.

Mr. Hubert.

And how many newspapermen?

Mr. Johnston.

Federal agents, local police officers, possibly one or two deputy sheriffs, the district attorney, two of his assistants, there were two or three private attorneys--private practicing attorneys that were in that room, there were three or four of the police department stenographers that were in that room, and possibly other than the press there may have been one or two other . citizens couldn't say for sure.

Mr. Hubert.

How many were present?

Mr. Johnston.

I wish I could answer that.

Mr. Hubert.

I gather from what you say that there must have been nearly a hundred people in that room?

Mr. Johnston.

There was every bit of a hundred people in that room.

Mr. Hubert.

Were the policemen armed?