Captain FRITZ. We all came down the inside jail elevator to the jail office, and through the jail office and around the back of the jail office. This brought the prisoner out of a side door that would put us near our car.
Had we gone out of the other door, we would have had to go through a hallway.

Mr. Hubert.

What was your concern about the news media being on the main ramp and not behind the rail?
Captain FRITZ. Well, they interfered with our movement upstairs each time we took Oswald to and from the jail, they would holler at him and ask questions and say things to him that would have a tendency to, I thought, aggravate him. I .think part of it he seemed to enjoy, and part of it he seemed to be irritated about.

Mr. Hubert.

Was your concern about the news media?
Captain FRITZ. My concern was to do all I could to prevent a killing or an escape.

Mr. Hubert.

Was your concern about the news media not being on the outside of the rail, or was it concerned with fear of Oswald's safety, or simply that these people were in the way?
Captain FRITZ. Both. They were in the way, and anyone that hindered us or held us up could cause something to happen there.
We wouldn't have been taking all those precautions if we hadn't been afraid something might happen.
I had even thought of the possibility of someone trying to take the prisoner. That was the reason we handcuffed him to an officer.
In a case as serious as that, we certainly didn't want to lose him after a thing as serious as having had the President shot.

Mr. Hubert.

What I had in mind was, whether your concern was that the position and closeness and mass of the news media there presented a threat insolar as single-man action was concerned?
Captain FRITZ. We didn't know many of those people. We knew very few. We knew the local people. Many people were there from foreign countries, and some of them looked unkempt. We didn't know anything about who they were.
For that reason, we wouldn't want them up there with us at all if we could avoid it, plus the fact that the camera lights were blinding, and if you couldn't see where you were going or what you were doing, anything could happen.
We didn't think we would have lights in our eyes, but we were blinded by lights. Just about .the time we left the jail office, the lights came on, and were blinding.
We got along all right with the press here in Dallas. They do what we ask. These people didn't act that way. These people were excited and acted more like a mob.

Mr. Hubert.

Did you indicate to any other officer or the chief that there were some people there that you didn't know who were unkempt and that you were concerned about who they were?
Captain FRITZ. We talked about it among ourselves; the officers. We didn't have much time for talking. Those were busy times.
We gathered all the evidence the first afternoon and the next day, and we had ample evidence to try that man the next morning if it had been necessary to try him, so the officers were busy and we were all busy, and we didn't have time for that crowd or time to make a good appraisal of them.
But I am just giving you a rough idea of how they looked. They didn't look like our local people.

Mr. Hubert.

Did you convey that information-to any superior officer of yours?
Captain FRITZ. I don't suppose that I did. We remarked about them, but I wouldn't remember what the remarks were or who they were to.
It was well known to all officers. You didn't have to tell anyone on the third floor. They could see from the front office as well as they could from my office because of the large crowd located outside my office and in the entire hallway.

Mr. Hubert.

I understand that a suggestion had been made that Oswald be moved at night, possibly Friday night or Saturday night.
Captain FRITZ. Who made the suggestion? By whom, please, air?

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