night down there. The records also show t A /r ,1 ,44 I 46112 ° 1974 He said he took it to Mr. that Bull was not the only Nixon's study at the pres- one to open the safe. In ad- rOsecutors yet, idential compound and left dition to Miss Woods, who it on the President's desk. evidently learned how to do "My recollection is that it it herself, the records re- was a courtesy to Miss flect, the safe was also October Weekend Woods to make a delivery , opened that weekend by a for her," Bull said. man named Dan Merryman Bull said the 10-by-14-inch of the Commu- brown envelope was sealed, nications Agency. He In Erasure Probe but from the feel of it, he opened it in Miss Woods' said if seemed to contain per- presence the night of Oct. 5. haps 10 sheets of paper. He She closed it a minute later, By George Lardner Jr, at 8:09 p.m. Washington Post Staff Writer said he was "reasonably Cer- Bull had testified that Steve Bull was asleep in rrectect tain" it did not contain a Woods Its she them tape recording. only he and Miss Woods had his room at the Key Bis- That Service had the The presidential aide in- the combination to the safe, ayne Motel when the phone safA er allOurrOilOrd, sisted that 'he could not re- which Bull said was pro- rang insistently, sometime "b far as' opening the vided by GSA. Asked , how after midnight on Oct. 5. s ull testified member whether he got the envelope from the safe in the White House Communi- It was President Nixon's "I he only per cations Agency could have T_tt Miss Woods' villa, but he persoia1 secretary, Rose See. TAPES, A15, IL.` 1 said he wouldn't quarrel opened it, Bull said: "I prob- Mary Woods, on the line. with the idea that he picked ably was in error when I Bull, who is the President's TAPES, From Al it 'up when she summoned said that GSA had installed appointments secretary and the safe. Perhaps it was the who,was helping her review bid that, quite frankly be- him from his hotel room the subpoenaed Watergate cause I was the only one around 2 a.m. Bull said he communications agency," tapes that weekend, hurried who knew how." might have brought it to Mr. St. Clair suggested that over to her villa nearby 'at But he insisted that he Nixon's study so that the Miss Woods simply needed the same hoteL couldn't recall "any dates of President could look at it someone else to help' her the tapes I handled that "first thing in the morning." open the safe again. She said she was "having weekend," not even on the According to Bull, Mr. some difficulty" with the Nixon was not in his study Miss Woods has testified safe, Bull recalled, "so I early morning errand that that she finished work on came down and opened it." woke him up. Secret Service when the delivery was records show Bull opened made. Bull said he never the erased tape in her White The safe, which Bull had the safe at 1:58 a.m. on Oct. saw the envelope again. House office a few days' ear- said was installed in Miss 5 and closed it again at 203 Q. And that is the only lier, on Oct. 1. She said she Woods' villa by the General a.m. delivery you made? might have caused a short Services Administration >'.at- A 31-year-old aide who has A. That is the only one I gap in the recording ,that his contained eight worked at the White House recollect particularly. day when she twisted reels of tape laced with Mr. since the start of the Nixon Did Mr. Nixon listen to around at her desk to an- Nixon's conversations about administration, Bull said any tapes or read any tran- swer a five-minute phone the Watergate scandal. One Fridayrii that he just couldn't scripts of the subpoenaed call. She said she reported of them included—at least reme ber whether Miss recordings that weekend? the accident to Mr. Nixon at one time—a now obliter- Woods summoned him to Bull said he couldn't remem- right away, after discovering ated strategy session be- put something back in the ber. Nor could he recall that she'd pushed the wrong tween the President and safe or \ to take something meeting with the President key on the new Uher record- then White House chief W of out. t i .hd,,,,. and White House chief of ing machine the Secret staff. H. R. (Bob) Haldeman "At 1:58 (in the morning), staff Alexander M. Haig Jr. Service had just bought for on June 20, 1972, three 1:15rs I would assume it's a de- on Oct. 6. her. after the scandal broke posit," he told Ben-Veniste- The President's , Miss Woods also said that ope E: in respense to a question. meanwhile, have insisted on she listened to the recording asu es , appear to Q. At 2:30 a.m., the safe keeping the logs of the Pesi- for "probably 2, maybe 21/2" have en deliberate, ac- was closed, so that would'be dent's comings and goings hours that day. She said she cording to a report by tech- consistent with a deposit, that weekend out of the turned off the Uher as soon nical experts who have been would it not? public record, and offered as she finished her phone anlil§iing -the tapetifor the A. That would be consist- them only for secret inspec- call and noticed her mis- last two months. Ve who- ent, I would think, at that tion by Judge Sirica. take. Then, she said she dunit 4..soyet to be resolved. time of night. Logs of the President's ac- played the tape back briefly Bu ,Watergate special prose- Q. Do you recollect what tivities have been routinely to discover a shrill buzzing cutors have been focusing happened after that? been made • public at the noise, and went to tell the on The weekend at Key Bis- A. My rceollection is that drawn-out bearings on the President of her "terrible caYne with inereasineper- I returned to my room 'and tapes before this, but newly mistake" about five minutes siiitence in their attempts to went to bed. hired White House special later. clear up the mystery. They Ben-Viste glanced at the counsel James D. St. Clair "I' would say I went 'Into suspect that this is when at Secret Service records laid down the new hard line his office around 2:15 p.m.," least some of the erasures again. Friday in a bench confer- were made. Q. Would it help your rec- ence that only participants Miss Woods testified last Flush-faced and tense in ollection if you knew that at could hear. The judge ref- November. "I was very up- apiiiaranceAefore U.S. 2:05 a.m., you opened the used to look at the Key Bis- set, as yoU can imagine." MT-MT—Court Chief Judge safe and that the safe re- cayne logs on the conditions Mr. Nixon's logs for Oct. 1 John J. Sirica last week, mained open for another six St. Clair tied to them. show him meeting with Miss Bull testified that he minutes and then you closed Woods in his suite at the couldn't remember much it? The, White Housg,.. tive Office Building at about his activities on the A. No. did stipulate, fa th4:re cord, 2:08 p.m. At that point, she, lOg Oct. 4-7 weekend. As- Q. You don't know what however, that Bull did go in hadhad the Uher recording sistant Watergate Special that was about? to see the President and machine—freshly bought at Prosecutor Richard Ben- A. No. Haig on Saturday, Oct. 6— lunchtime by the Secret Veniste jogged his memory. Asked whether he took from 11:30 to 11:35 a.m. Service on Bull's instruc- Friday with a Secret Service anything from the safe out From there, Bull appar- tions—for less than an hour. chronology of the precise of the villa, Bull said at first ently went back to Miss Miss Woods has testified times at which the safe was that he didn't recall, but Woods' villa. Secret Service that Oct. 1 was the last day opened.. xt, , then remembered picking records show he opened the she worked on the tape, Bull said IT aid Iittle .but up "an envplope containing safe once again at 11:50 a.m. making up a. rough tran- take out tapes for Miss a memorandum or some- Oct. 6 and locked it again script for the President. De- thing of that nature" one five minutes later. * /4= A ,4 -1) spite that, the recording was

one of those that Bull it was the result of at least submitted to Judge Sirica at packed and carried down to five , separate erasures, all a whispered conference Fri- Key Biscayne for her on done manually and "almost day, what happened at Key Oct. 4 in ar large carrying surely" on' the Uher record- Biscayne that weekend "is bag along with the Uher. er—but not; fiecessarily all extremely InipOrt,414-!' The technical experts who at the same tine. studied the tape have said In any event, Ben-Veniste VINNIMI■••••■ that the 181/2-minute gap on . . . reviewed tapes

- STEPHEN BULL ' opeiled safe.