Mr. Pappas. Well——
Mr. Griffin. Near the public elevators?
Mr. Pappas. Well, it is near the public elevators; yes.
Mr. Griffin. Or were you closer to the homicide room?
Mr. Pappas. It is in an “L” form. As you come out of the elevators, you have to turn left to go down the corridor. Well, from the elbow, let’s say, of the “L” to the homicide office, I couldn’t judge—perhaps 30 or 40 feet, roughly. I don’t know. But I was—if we are using that standard that I just described, I was approximately 30 feet from Mr. Wade, who was coming out of the office.
Mr. Griffin. And what did you do when Wade came out?
Mr. Pappas. I listened.
Mr. Griffin. And then what happened?
Mr. Pappas. Then everybody crowded around him and they said, “What do you have to say, Henry? What about this? What about that?” And he started to talk, and a lot of people protested, they said they could not hear him, the Nation was listening, they wanted to know who this fellow Oswald was. He finally agreed, I believe—he said, “Okay, let’s all go downstairs.”
I didn’t know where downstairs was, but I said to myself if that is where they are all going, that is where I am going. And I asked someone beside me, and said, “Where are we going?” and he said, “They are going to hold a press conference downstairs.” I said, “Great.” And I followed Chief Curry and District Attorney Wade downstairs, where we all jammed into the lineup room, I suppose.