[Untitled]

News media

On September 11, I was working in the Rayburn Building on Capitol Hill, just a few short yards from the Capitol. In the cafeteria people were talking about the plane that hit the Pentagon, and we could see the smoke, but it seemed to me another Air Florida crash -- a freak accident. Then minutes later I went back to my office and saw on television that CNN was reporting a bomb in the Capitol. This turned out to be untrue, but it was what made me realize that I should leave the building. I walked outside and there was widespread panic. People were running around and crying. The Capitol police told us that another plane was in the air and we should run. "Where should we run?" I asked one cop. He said, "Just run from the buildings." And of course buildings were everywhere. I ended up helping a disabled elevator operator named Fifene. I rapped on windshields of cars to see if anyone could take her to her halfway house. She was very scared and could not get home. Finally one car driver agreed to let her in her car. I never knew what happened to her until a year later when I read in the Washington Post two years later that she froze to death one wintry night while trying to get home.