Mr. MONTGOMERY. I guess I did. I probably heard it out at Parkland.
Mr. GRIFFIN. I take it that what you are about to talk about is the
first rumor that you heard?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. About the only one I ever heard.
Mr. GRIFFIN. All right.
Mr. MONTGOMERY. He just walked down there as one of the officers was
backing the car out. There was a car down there that had to back out
the Main Street ramp. As they were backing it out, the officers that
were lined up here on the ramp right here [indicating] as security,
were assisting this car out, because the ramp was coming, you know, the
wrong way there. And they were assisting that car out. Evidently went
down there then.
Mr. GRIFFIN. There were a number of rumors that were circulating. Did
you ever hear the rumor that he got in with the press pass?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. No; I--not press pass.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Did you hear any rumor that he got out of a police car?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. No; I hadn’t heard that one.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Did you ever hear the rumor that he came in with some TV
cameras?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. Yes; I heard that he picked up one and brought it down
there. That’s right.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, trying to probe your memory, try to tell us exactly
as you can just what you knew, or what rumors you heard at Parkland
Hospital and if you don’t really have an accurate memory about it at
all, I would like to know when you feel most certain that you knew
something about how Ruby got into the jail.
Mr. MONTGOMERY. I don’t recall exactly when I heard the rumor; how he
got down there.
Mr. GRIFFIN. How long did you remain in Parkland Hospital?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. I guess an hour. We were there an hour.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Well, now, when you left, of course, you--you knew Ruby,
you had known him for some time, so, when you left the jail, of course
you knew who the guy was who had shot Oswald?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. Uh-huh.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, when you got out to Parkland Hospital, do you
remember anybody who was out there asking questions about any other
officers, or asking questions about who it was that shot Oswald?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. No; I don’t remember anybody asking me anything about
it.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Did you hear conversation out at Parkland Hospital that
would have identified Ruby as the person who shot Oswald?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. No; I didn’t hear anybody out there saying, you know,
that Ruby shot Oswald.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Did you talk to any reserve officers out there at Parkland
Hospital?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. No; I don’t believe I did.
Mr. GRIFFIN. As you took Oswald out to Parkland Hospital, was it
generally known among all the people who were escorting Oswald to
Parkland that Ruby had been the guy?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. Well, of course, I was in the car with Captain Fritz,
Beck, and Brown, and as far as any ambulance, where Oswald was, I don’t
know if it----
Mr. GRIFFIN. All the people in your car knew it was Ruby?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. No; Captain Fritz didn’t know who it was. They didn’t
know each other.
Mr. GRIFFIN. He knew the name of the man who had shot Oswald was Ruby
at that time, didn’t he?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. Yes, he knew that. We discussed it there in the car
that--going out to the hospital--that Jack Ruby shot him.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, you took Oswald into Parkland Hospital--were there
people asking you who shot him?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. No, because I didn’t go in with the body--I say, “the
body”--Oswald. Of course when the ambulance--beat us to the hospital.
Mr. GRIFFIN. As you people went into the hospital, were there people
asking you who shot----
Mr. MONTGOMERY. People doing a lot of talking. I don’t know if they
were asking questions or what, because we weren’t paying a lot of
attention to them.
Mr. GRIFFIN. If somebody had asked you who shot Oswald, might you have
said Ruby did it?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. No; I wouldn’t have.
Mr. GRIFFIN. I might explain to you what I am getting at. We know that
somewhere along the line somebody was out at Parkland Hospital who was
a newspaperman at----
Mr. MONTGOMERY. Uh-huh.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Learned that Ruby was the person. This started a rumor to
the effect that his informant must have had something to do with it,
and I am really asking you this question to see if it isn’t possible
that you guys, as you guys got out to Parkland, somebody had said Ruby
was the guy and just by dropping the words, you know, that would spread
like wildfire out there.
Mr. MONTGOMERY. No; I didn’t say anything about who it was that done
the shooting, out there.
Mr. GRIFFIN. What time did you arrive back at the homicide bureau?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. What time?
Mr. GRIFFIN. Yes.
Mr. MONTGOMERY. Approximately 1:30.
Mr. GRIFFIN. And when you got back to the homicide bureau, do you
remember having any conversation with anybody about how Ruby got into
the building?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. Well, no; I didn’t talk to anybody. Just, you know--I
guess we was all standing out asking each other how in the world did he
get in.
Mr. GRIFFIN. After Ruby shot Oswald on the 24th, did you see Ruby at
any time the rest of that day?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. Yes, sir; we brought him down for the captain to talk
to.
Mr. GRIFFIN. About what time was that?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. Probably around 2, because we had been there at the
hospital--I mean office, about 30 minutes, went up and brought him down.
Mr. GRIFFIN. How long did he stay down here?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. I didn’t carry him back, so, I don’t know for sure.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Were you present during any of that interrogation?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. Not with Ruby; no.
Mr. GRIFFIN. At the time you brought him down, did you know how Ruby
got into the basement or had you been told?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. I still don’t know how he got down there.
Mr. GRIFFIN. But, had you heard, put it this way, had you heard at that
point that Ruby had told somebody how he got into the basement?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. I don’t think so. I don’t think I would have been aware
of it then.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Did you remain in the office with Ruby and Fritz for any
length of time?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. No.
Mr. GRIFFIN. All right. Who brought Ruby down with you?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. Let’s see, it was Detectives Boyd and Hall. They sat in
on the interrogation there.
Mr. GRIFFIN. When you got up to see Ruby, how was Ruby dressed?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. Up in the jail?
Mr. GRIFFIN. Yes.
Mr. MONTGOMERY. He had on his shirt, and his skivvies.
Mr. GRIFFIN. And what other officers were there?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. I can’t say for sure but it seems like Archer was
there, but I couldn’t say for sure. I don’t know. There was an FBI
agent there, too.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Do you know which agent that was?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. Oh, Agent Hall?
Mr. GRIFFIN. I think--I don’t--you are giving your answer. I think you
are right.
Mr. MONTGOMERY. I think that is who it was. I don’t know if they have
got an agent named Hall, but seemed to me like that is what it was.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Was Sergeant Dean there?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. Well, there again, I couldn’t say, “yea or nay,”
because I don’t recall who was there exactly. I remember an FBI agent
there, and Archer--I believe Archer was there. Dean could have been
there. He could have been in there.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Is it your best recollection that there was more than one?
That there was somebody else in that cell there besides Hall, Ruby, and
Archer?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. I believe there was. I believe there was a jail guard
there.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Anybody else?