"Can you see who's hitting you?"

"No."  Zeigler's voice now had a troubled tone.  "I get up.  I see two men."

"Describe the men."

"I can't.  It's two blurs.  I pulled Ficke's pistol, I tried to fire.  But it jammed.  I ejected a shell and tried to fire again."

"What do you feel?"

"I threw the pistol at 'em."

"Can you see any better?"

"No, sir.  They grabbed me and threw me off the wall.  I'm being bounced around....bounced around."

But Zeigler's tone was surprisingly flat.

"What are your feelings?"

"They threw me down the hallway.  I have a .357 magnum hidden in a hallway desk.  I got the magnum and I fired.  They were on me, too close to fire again."

"Can you see them?"

"No, sir.  Just a blur."  Zeigler was still speaking slowly.  "They grabbed me and threw me into the rug rack, I hit the floor.  And another man shot me."

"Another man?  Can you see him?"

"Just a blur."

"Is this a third man?"

"I think so.  Just a blur.  He was a big man."

"How did it feel when you were shot?"

"It was awful hot.  Like somebody jamming a hot poker in me."

"Did they say anything?"

"No.  When they shot me, he said, 'We've got to dispose of Mays, he's been hit, we can't take him with us.'"

"Those are the exact words?"

"Yeah.  The third man said, 'Kill him, he's no good to us.'"

"What did his voice sound like?"

"He--I think he was a white man."

Zeigler described waking up on the floor, trying to put his hands on his glasses, but instead finding only Christmas bows.2  He tried to locate the back telephone, but could see nothing.

"Did you see or hear Edward Williams?"

"No."

"How do you feel?"

"I was cold, I was burning up, I needed a drink of water," he said: the symptoms of shock.

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2  Dozens of Christmas bows were found on the terrazzo floor, apparently having been knocked off a wrapping table in the back of the store.