Mr. HUBERT. What was he doing?
Mr. SORRELS. I don’t know what he was doing.
Mr. HUBERT. In any case, the same officer to whom you made inquiry
concerning where Captain Fritz was and where Ruby was, that officer
directed Dean, who was in Fritz’ office, to take you up?
Mr. SORRELS. That is right.
And we walked out then in the hallway to the jail elevator. Now, that
is a different one from the one I came to Fritz’ office in. And I was
taken to the fifth floor, and there I saw Ruby, whom I later found out
to be Ruby, standing there with, as I recall it, two uniformed police
officers. And I introduced myself to him, showed him my credentials,
and told him that I would like to ask him some questions.
Mr. HUBERT. Now, was this a cell, or what sort of a room was it?
Mr. SORRELS. It wasn’t what you would call a cell, but the
elevator--you had to open up a door with bars on it to get into the
area there. And----
Mr. HUBERT. How large a room was that?
Mr. SORRELS. It wasn’t very large, as I recall it.
Mr. HUBERT. Can you give us something by way of dimensions in feet?
Mr. SORRELS. I would say in width it was probably about, oh, 6 or 7
feet wide. Now, as to length, I would not be able to say exactly how
long it was, because I was not interested in the size of the room or
anything at that time, and I paid no attention to it.
Mr. HUBERT. Were there tables and furniture and chairs in it?
Mr. SORRELS. No; nothing.
Mr. HUBERT. Nothing at all?
Mr. SORRELS. No; nothing. He was standing there. He only had his shorts
on. His clothes had been removed.
Mr. HUBERT. Did Dean go into that room with you?
Mr. SORRELS. Yes.
Mr. HUBERT. So that there were you and Dean and Ruby in the room?
Mr. SORRELS. Yes.
Mr. HUBERT. And you mentioned there were two other officers?
Mr. SORRELS. As I recall it, there were two uniformed police officers
there.
Mr. HUBERT. Do you know who they were?
Mr. SORRELS. No; I do not.
Mr. HUBERT. Now, to get it clear--I do not mean if you knew who they
were at the time, but do you now know who they were?
Mr. SORRELS. No; I do not know who they are now.
Mr. HUBERT. And there were only those two?
Mr. SORRELS. There were possibly some other officers came in. I do not
recall that they were there at the time we got there, but there might
have been others came in. As I recall, there was somebody behind me. I
wasn’t interested in them. I was only interested in talking to this man
as quickly as I could.
Mr. HUBERT. Before we get into the details, can you tell us how long
this interview with Ruby lasted?
Mr. SORRELS. I would say possibly not over 5 to 7 minutes, not very
long.
Mr. HUBERT. What brought it to an end?
Mr. SORRELS. I had gotten the information that I desired at that time,
and was anxious to get it back into Washington, because I had been
asked to get as much information as I could quickly, and get it back to
them up there, something about his background, who he was and so forth.
Mr. HUBERT. So that during that interview, which lasted approximately
5 to 7 minutes, your thought is--you know that there was Dean and
yourself and Ruby, and you also know that there were two other officers
whose names you do not know even now, and you think that there might
have been one or more others who came in?
Mr. SORRELS. Yes--in plainclothes. I don’t recall any other uniformed
officers there.
Mr. HUBERT. And you do not recall, I suppose, or do not know now the
names of any of those other people who might have come in?
Mr. SORRELS. No; I could not tell you who they were at all.
Mr. HUBERT. Now, I think you have made a report of that interview, and
a later one, and we will offer that in evidence a little later.
But I would like to ask you now if Ruby made any statement to your
knowledge at that time, and that is the first interview you had with
him, concerning whether he had been in the assembly room on the night
of the 22d when Oswald was brought in so that the press could observe
him?
Mr. SORRELS. Not at that time; no, sir. He did later.
Mr. HUBERT. Did he at that time, the first interview, indicate
anything, or say anything which would indicate what his motive or
reason for his act was?
Mr. SORRELS. Yes; and I might say that it was at that time that I found
out his name was Ruby in place of Rubin, and he informed me his name
had formerly been Rubinstein, and that he had had his name changed in
Dallas.
I asked him--after I identified myself, I told him I would like to ask
him some questions.
He said, “For newspapers or magazines?”