(Testimony of James W. Altgens)
Mr. Altgens.
but it didn't register on me at the time that they were looking from an area that the bullet might have come from. There was utter confusion at the time I crossed the street. The Secret Service men, uniformed policemen with drawn guns that went racing up this little incline and I thought----
Mr. Liebeler.
When you speak of "little incline" that means the area--the little incline on the grassy area here by this concrete structure across Elm Street toward the School Book Depository Building, is that part of Dealey Plaza too over in here, this concrete structure, or is Dealey Plaza only the name ascribed to this area here between Elm Street and Commerce Street?
Mr. Altgens.
I really don't know, sir--I don't know whether this is considered part of the Dealey Plaza or whether this is just something extra as you might have for dressing.
Mr. Liebeler.
The part we are referring to that we are not just sure if it is a part of Dealey Plaza lies between Elm Street and the railroad tracks that run behind it over here and from the railroad tracks that go over the triple underpass, and this little grassy area that you have just mentioned is just between the area formed by Elm Street and the street that runs directly in front of the School Book Depository Building; is that correct?
Mr. Altgens.
Yes, sir.
I started up the incline with--or, after the officers, because they were moving well ahead of me and I was moving behind them thinking perhaps if they had the assassin cornered I wanted a picture, but before I had gotten over one-quarter of the way up the incline, I met the officers coming back and I presumed that they were just chasing shadows, so to speak, because there was no assassin in the area apparently, but I didn't learn the location of the sniper's nest until I was en route out to Parkland Hospital to continue my assignment and I heard it on the radio, that the assassin's nest was in the sixth floor window of the Book Depository Building.
After that I made a good look through this area to see that no one else had been hit. I noticed the couple that were on the ground over here with their children, I saw them when they went down and they were in the area and laid there some time after the Presidential car had disappeared.
Mr. Liebeler.
They threw themselves on the ground in this grassy area that I have just described previously where you ran across after this last shot?
Mr. Altgens.
Yes; but they were not hit. I looked at them and they weren't hit by a bullet, so I took another long look around before I started my dash back to the office, and as it turned out, my report was the first that our service had on the assassination and my pictures were the only pictures we had available for a period of about 24 hours.
Mr. Liebeler.
I have a picture here which has been marked as Commission Exhibit No. 203 and I ask you if that is not the first picture that you took after you left the intersection of Main and Houston and crossed Dealey Plaza and stood on the side of Elm Street across from the Texas School Book Depository Book Building?
Mr. Altgens.
Yes, sir.
Mr. Liebeler.
Do you recognize that as the picture which you took?
Mr. Altgens.
Yes, sir.
Mr. Liebeler.
Do you know any of the individuals depicted in that picture?
Mr. Altgens.
No, sir; I do not.
Mr. Liebeler.
You testified previously, I believe, that the first shot that was fired had just been fired momentarily before you took the picture, is that right?
Mr. Altgens.
Yes, sir; it was so close you could almost say it was simultaneous because it was coincidental but nevertheless that's just the way it happened.
Mr. Liebeler.
When you first heard this shot, did you see any reaction either on the part of the President or anyone else that indicated they might have been hit by this shot?
Mr. Altgens.
No, sir; and as a matter of fact, I did not know that Governor Connally had been hit until one of our reporters got the information out at Parkland Hospital.
Mr. Liebeler.
As the Presidential car went down Elm Street, did you observe Governor Connally's movements at all, did you see what he was doing?
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