Mr. Johnston.

Yes, sir; all of the officers as far as I know, other than the plainclothesmen--the uniformed officers all had their sidearms on. I'm sure the majority of the detectives had their sidearms on.

Mr. Hubert.

When you first went in, was the room empty or were there people in the room?

Mr. Johnston.

No, sir; because the sequence of this was that after Oswald was charged, Chief Curry, Captain Fritz, Henry Wade, and myself went to the door--Captain Fritz was the first to speak and he advised the press that we were going to move to the detail room or the assembly room, that Oswald had been charged with the murder of President Kennedy, and that they could go to the detail room in the basement, and that Chief Curry would then give them instructions, and then Chief Curry spoke to them and then Mr. Wade spoke to them, because there were several members of the press there that wanted a statement from Henry Wade before they moved away from that door. Then the hall was vacated, I would say, to the extent that there were only maybe 15 or 20 people left standing in that hall.

Mr. Hubert.

Everybody went downstairs?

Mr. Johnston.

Everyone went downstairs, and in order to let you know this, and I'm sure that others have stated this--it was almost a human impossibility to get down the hall to the homicide office. They finally had to bring uniformed officers in and stationed two uniformed officers at each door of the forgery bureau, the homicide bureau, the auto theft bureau, and the burglary and theft bureau so that people could be maneuvered down there to get in and out of these offices for other routine business. That's how packed it was with newspaper people in that hall.

Mr. Hubert.

There were television cameras there too?

Mr. Johnston.

They had two live television cameras set up there, they had one of these portable tape deals with a sound system on it and everything, right in front of the door.

Mr. Hubert.

So what happened is that after it was announced that there would be this interview granted, they all went down to the room ?

Mr. Johnston.

They went downstairs to the room, and when I arrived there, I would say about 11:35 or 11:40, somewhere right along in there, the room was nearly full at that time with newspaper media.

Mr. Hubert.

So you don't know whether they observed any security precautions in checking people?

Mr. Johnston.

No, sir; they did not check me when I went through the door.

Mr. Hubert.

But you went in with Curry ?

Mr. Johnston.

No, sir.

Mr. Hubert.

You went in alone?

Mr. Johnston.

No, sir; I went in alone.

Mr. Hubert.

There was no one one at the door checking?

Mr. Johnston.

There was some uniformed officers there. Now, I'll say this in all fairness to them--maybe some of them knew me, I don't remember, because I can't recall the officers names that were out there.

Mr. Hubert.

You had no identification on you ?

Mr. Johnston.

No, sir. Of course, I've been an officer here a long time and also 6 years as justice of the peace.

Mr. Hubert.

YOU were a police officer prior to that time?

Mr. Johnston.

Nine and a half years as deputy sheriff of Dallas County.

Mr. Hubert.

Can you tell us what pressures, if any, were exerted by the press on Chief Curry to grant this interview? Did you hear them say anything or murmur or do anything at all?

Mr. Johnston.

Yes, sir; but as far as trying to tell you what any of them said verbatim--this was the main thing

Mr. Hubert.

I don't mean verbatim, I just want to see if I can get the atmosphere of it.

Mr. Johnston.

There were many remarks made. Each time any one of us would go out the door from the homicide bureau, "When are we going to see Oswald? When are you going to let us talk to him?" Yet, Oswald was taken in and out of that room some five or six times while I was there. He was taken to the restroom. He was taken to get a drink of water.