(Testimony of Mrs. Earle Cabell)
Mrs. Cabell.
driver, and I went in with this man. Another thing that makes me think he had some authority was that this second time when we got to the door, this man said, "This is Mrs. Earle Cabell," and we walked right in.
Mr. Hubert.
He said that to whom?
Mrs. Cabell.
The man at the door.
Mr. Hubert.
The same man that had been at the door before?
Mrs. Cabell.
I assume it was. There was such a short time that elapsed. He took me down. You turn to the right as you went in the door down this very wide hall, and as we were going down the hall, we met my husband coming toward us going out. I looked at him and he said, "I will be back." So we walked on in to this smaller hallway which separated the emergency rooms, either side of them. Mrs. Kennedy was sitting just outside the door of Emergency Room No. 1 in a straight chair. I walked up to her----
Mr. Hubert.
She was alone?
Mrs. Cabell.
She was alone. There were, I am sure, Secret Service men. There was a group of men standing behind her, but she was sitting alone. I walked up to her and I said, "Mrs. Kennedy, I am Elizabeth Cabell. I wish there was something that I could do to help." And in a very dazed manner she said, "Yes, I remember you gave me the roses." And somebody put a chair by her for me and we sat there for just a few moments. And she said, "I would like a cigarette." My purse was on the floor behind my chair. I turned around to pick up my purse to give her a cigarette, and when I turned back around, she was-walking into Emergency Room No. 2 I judge that it was next to the President, the room the President's body was in, and her purse was on a carriage in that emergency room. She was fumbling in her purse, and I said to her, "I have a cigarette here for you." It was exactly as though she had not heard me. She didn't answer me at all, and she kept fumbling in her purse and finally she came up with a cigarette. Then she turned to me as though she had never seen me before, but said, "But I don't have a match." And I said, "I have a match here for you." I lighted her cigarette and she turned around and walked out of that emergency room. We went back to the two chairs outside of Emergency Room No. 1 and sat down.
Just at that time I looked up and saw a Catholic priest coming toward us. It was not Father Huber. It was a man I did not recognize. I later understood he was the Catholic chaplain of the hospital. I am not sure about that. I got up and walked a few steps to meet him, and I said, "Father, take my chair by Mrs. Kennedy." Which he did do. In the meantime, my husband had come back in, and I stepped back where my husband was standing, and we stood there until the casket was wheeled out.
Mr. Hubert.
Was any announcement made to Mrs. Kennedy of the death of her husband?
Mrs. Cabell.
Not while I was in there. I am under the impression--you see, I was still sitting out in the car when they brought Vice President, I guess then, and Mrs. Johnson out and put them in the car and took them away.
Mr. Hubert.
Did you know of the President's death when you went to Mrs. Kennedy?
Mrs. Cabell.
Congressman Roberts had come back to the car and said, "He is gone."
Mr. Hubert.
It is your impression that Mrs. Kennedy then knew of the death of her husband when you first came up to her?
Mrs. Cabell.
That is my impression. We did not discuss it.
Mr. Hubert.
Now I understand that there was a telephone call received by you that was of a threatening nature?
Mrs. Cabell.
Yes.
Mr. Hubert.
Would you tell us about that, please, ma'am? The time and so forth?
Mrs. Cabell.
Yes; it was New Year's Eve. Of necessity, the security had asked us not to be out, that so many people had come in for the New Year's Day game, that they were uneasy. There was the possibility that Chief Justice Warren might come. There was the rumor that he might come. There was the
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