Mr. EBERHARDT. No.
Mr. GRIFFIN. That you want to change on that?
Mr. EBERHARDT. No.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Is there anything else that you think might be of value to
the Commission, either in connection with the Oswald killing----
Mr. EBERHARDT. Well, this part down here. I don’t know if anybody has
mentioned to you about this or not, but Officer Mullinax, he talked to
me a long time when this boy got killed.
Mr. GRIFFIN. When did that occur?
Mr. EBERHARDT. It was in the summer 2 years ago.
Mr. GRIFFIN. 1961 or 1962?
Mr. EBERHARDT. No; 1962.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Uh-huh.
Mr. EBERHARDT. An officer was shot to death in a hotel. There were no
witnesses, except the man that shot him. The man that shot him was not
indicted. There were no witnesses. I went up to Jack’s one night, and
he talked to me one night about it, and he went to the boy’s funeral. I
don’t know if that gives you any idea of how Ruby’s mind is, but it is
unusual in our profession to have a man show up at a funeral. You would
just have to draw your own conclusions as to why he would.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, Mullinax was on the vice squad?
Mr. EBERHARDT. Yes.
Mr. GRIFFIN. And Jack tried to be very friendly with all of the members
of the vice squad?
Mr. EBERHARDT. He was friendly with everybody. If he knew you, he would
say hello to you. If he didn’t know you, he was going to try to meet
you.
Mr. GRIFFIN. The vice squad would probably be one of the first to close
his place down if there was any problem?
Mr. EBERHARDT. Liquor board and the vice squad, that is right.
Mr. GRIFFIN. You feel that you know Jack well, don’t you?
Mr. EBERHARDT. Yes and no. I know the man from seeing him up there, but
I have never rode in any car with him, never had him at my home, but I
know him from seeing him time after time after time.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Have you seen people who are like Jack, enough people of
Jack’s background that you think you could judge his character?
Mr. EBERHARDT. We get around a lot of characters in this business, and
he was one of them. He was a little more unique than some of the others.
Mr. GRIFFIN. How was he more unique?
Mr. EBERHARDT. Everybody knew he had a bad temper. He had a reputation
in town as being a streetfighter.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Uh-huh.
Mr. EBERHARDT. If an officer got in trouble around his place, he would
help him.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Do you think he was the kind of a man who was capable of
being nice to people for his own benefit because, there would be some
personal interest or profit in it?
Mr. EBERHARDT. I don’t know. He--I couldn’t see what he could--he never
asked us to do anything. We arrested people out of his place. He didn’t
get mad at us, say anything to us, “Don’t arrest her.” In fact, he told
us about it. She was about to start on his show at the time that we
arrested her.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Is that the girl on the forgery charge?
Mr. EBERHARDT. Yes.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Do you think Jack was the kind of man who was capable of
keeping a secret of being engaged in activities that other people might
not know about?
Mr. EBERHARDT. Certainly. I believe, if he didn’t want us to know
something, he wasn’t going to tell us. If he did something illegal, I
wouldn’t look for him to come tell us; we would have to catch him, if
he was doing something, but most people are that way.
Mr. GRIFFIN. He was an outgoing guy, he talked about a lot of things,
but was he also the kind of guy that was capable of keeping things
pretty close to the vest if he wanted to?
Mr. EBERHARDT. Yes. Like I say, going up there to check his old place,
he knew me as well as anyone. He has walked past me and not even seen
me. He was just in another world. He would walk past and stop and say
hello and say, “I didn’t see you,” and another time he would see you
two blocks away and run you down and say hello. He liked people in his
place; he liked names to introduce you to people, and that is why he
had somebody around there. Like when he had Buddy King around there,
and after he got through telling me who he was, I thought he was a big
star, after Jack got through telling me he had been in the movies. He
is just like that. That is all.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Did you hear any reports prior to the time that he shot
Oswald that he was a homosexual?
Mr. EBERHARDT. No, I hadn’t heard anything. In fact, I thought he was a
ladies’ man, the way he talked.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Is there anything else about this Mullinax thing,
incident, that seems significant to you?
Mr. EBERHARDT. Just the fact that he went to the funeral, talked about
this fellow getting away with it, that something should be done, more
or less that we just couldn’t do anything about it.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Have there been any other police officers killed in the
line of duty, other than Tippit and Mullinax, since you have been on
the force?
Mr. EBERHARDT. No.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Did Jack--was Jack personally acquainted with Mullinax?
Mr. EBERHARDT. He knew Mullinax, had seen him. He had been up at the
place.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Would Mullinax have had an opportunity to visit Jack’s
place on a regular basis in connection with his business on the police
force?
Mr. EBERHARDT. I wouldn’t say that Jack Ruby knew him as good as he
knew some of the other officers, no, but Mullinax had been up there
several times.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Who were--at the time that Oswald was killed, who were
the officers on the force outside of yourself that Ruby knew the best,
would you say?
Mr. EBERHARDT. I don’t know who he knew the best.
Mr. GRIFFIN. From your own estimation, who did he?
Mr. EBERHARDT. I don’t know all that he knew. He knew just about
everybody.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Can you think of any ones in particular that you think he
knew quite well?
Mr. EBERHARDT. I have never seen him out any place with any officers;
I have never seen him outside of his place with any officers; I have
never seen him in a car or restaurant or anything like that with any
policemen.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Well, do you feel that there were other people on the
force who knew Ruby better than you do?
Mr. EBERHARDT. Well, I have been there 8 years. I don’t know even how
long Jack Ruby has been in Dallas. I have been in Dallas a little
longer than 8 years. I imagine that some of the older officers knew him
when he had another place here. He used to have another place down on
Ervay Street. That is before I got on the police force.
Mr. GRIFFIN. I don’t think I have any more questions. Do you have
anything else that you want to offer?
Mr. EBERHARDT. No, nothing that I can think of.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Okay.
Mr. EBERHARDT. I will bring that report down to you tomorrow and leave
it for you.
Mr. GRIFFIN. I would appreciate that. If you would, also sign this
statement.
Mr. EBERHARDT. Any place?
Mr. GRIFFIN. Any place and date it.
Mr. EBERHARDT. Have you got a card?
Mr. GRIFFIN. Pardon.
Mr. EBERHARDT. Have you got a card?
Mr. GRIFFIN. No, I don’t. I will show you my identification.
Mr. EBERHARDT. No. I was just going to write it down. In case you
weren’t here, I was going to leave it for you.