Baker testified that he entered the lobby of the building and “spoke out and asked where the stairs or elevator was * * * and this man, Mr. Truly, spoke up and says, it seems to me like he says, ‘I am a building manager. Follow me, officer, and I will show you.’”[C4-330] Baker and building superintendent Roy Truly went through a second set of doors[C4-331] and stopped at a swinging door where Baker bumped into Truly’s back.[C4-332] They went through the swinging door and continued at “a good trot” to the northwest corner of the floor where Truly hoped to find one of the two freight elevators. (See Commission Exhibit No. 1061, p. 148.) Neither elevator was there.[C4-333] Truly pushed the button for the west elevator which operates automatically if the gate is closed.[C4-334] He shouted twice, “Turn loose the elevator.”[C4-335] When the elevator failed to come, Baker said, “let’s take the stairs,” and he followed Truly up the stairway, which is to the west of the elevator.[C4-336]
[Illustration: COMMISSION EXHIBIT NO. 1118
TEXAS SCHOOL BOOK DEPOSITORY DIAGRAM OF SECOND FLOOR SHOWING ROUTE OF OSWALD]
The stairway is located in the northwest corner of the Depository Building. The stairs from one floor to the next are “=L=-shaped,” with both legs of the “=L=” approximately the same length. Because the stairway itself is enclosed, neither Baker nor Truly could see anything on the second-floor hallway until they reached the landing at the top of the stairs.[C4-337] On the second-floor landing there is a small open area with a door at the east end. This door leads into a small vestibule, and another door leads from the vestibule into the second-floor lunchroom.[C4-338] (See Commission Exhibit No. 1118, p. 150.) The lunchroom door is usually open, but the first door is kept shut by a closing mechanism on the door.[C4-339] This vestibule door is solid except for a small glass window in the upper part of the door.[C4-340] As Baker reached the second floor, he was about 20 feet from the vestibule door.[C4-341] He intended to continue around to his left toward the stairway going up but through the window in the door he caught a fleeting glimpse of a man walking in the vestibule toward the lunchroom.[C4-342]