At the time, I had been up for quite awhile, and it was not my instructions to her to take it off the hook. She took it off sometime on her own initiative, she said, so we could get some sleep. That was the trouble with the phone.
Mr. Hubert. Chief, is it possible to comment upon this? To what extent was the failure of security caused by the presence of news media in the basement?
Chief Curry. Well, in my opinion, it afforded some concealment for Ruby after he entered the basement, the presence of these news media people.
Mr. Hubert. You mean by that, that it was difficult to distinguish him from news people?
Chief Curry. Yes; looking back now, I can see that, had they all been excluded, that he would have immediately been seen as an unauthorized person in the basement, and that some action would have been taken to remove him.
Mr. Hubert. Was any consideration given to the action of the single individual in the security precautions discussed?
Chief Curry. Was what?
Mr. Hubert. Was any consideration given to the possible action of a single man in setting up the security measures that you did, as opposed to mob action, as I understand it?
Chief Curry. Oh, no.
Mr. Hubert. Your security was really directed toward mob action more than to a single-man action?