The testimony of Doyle E. Lane was taken at 12:05 p.m., on March 31,
1964, in the office of the U.S. attorney, 301 Post Office Building,
Bryan and Ervay Streets, Dallas, Tex., by Mr. Leon D. Hubert, Jr.,
assistant counsel of the President’s Commission.
Mr. HUBERT. Mr. Lane, my name is Leon Hubert, I am a member of the
advisory staff of the General Counsel on the President’s Commission.
Under the provisions of Executive Order 11130, dated November 29,
1963, the Joint Resolution of Congress No. 137, and the rules of
procedure adopted by the Commission in conformance with the Executive
order and the resolution, I am authorized to take a sworn deposition
from you, Mr. Lane. I state to you now that the general nature of
the Commission’s inquiry is to ascertain, evaluate, and report upon
the facts relating to the assassination of President Kennedy and the
subsequent violent death of Lee Harvey Oswald. In particular, as to
you, Mr. Lane, the nature of the inquiry today is to determine what
facts you know about the death of Oswald and any other pertinent facts
you may know about the general inquiry. Particularly the sending of the
Western Union telegram. Now, Mr. Lane, you have appeared here today by
virtue of a letter sent to you, I believe, by Mr. J. Lee Rankin.
Mr. LANE. That’s correct.
Mr. HUBERT. That letter was received by you prior to 3 days from today,
was it not?
Mr. LANE. It was.
Mr. HUBERT. All right. Now, will you stand, sir, and raise your right
hand and be sworn. Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole
truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Mr. LANE. I do.
Mr. HUBERT. State your full name, please.
Mr. LANE. Doyle E. Lane.
Mr. HUBERT. Your age?
Mr. LANE. Thirty-five.
Mr. HUBERT. Where do you live, sir?
Mr. LANE. Dallas, Tex. 6549 Lake Circle.
Mr. HUBERT. What is your occupation?
Mr. LANE. Clerk, Western Union.
Mr. HUBERT. How long have you been so occupied?
Mr. LANE. Eleven years.
Mr. HUBERT. What particular function do you have, as clerk?
Mr. LANE. Well, I’m a senior delivery clerk is what I am.
Mr. HUBERT. What particular office do you work for?
Mr. LANE. Work for the office at 2034 Main, Dallas, Tex.
Mr. HUBERT. Is that the main office of the Western Union here?
Mr. LANE. Yes; it is.
Mr. HUBERT. Were you on duty on the morning of November 24, 1963?
Mr. LANE. Yes; I was.
Mr. HUBERT. Did you see a man by the name of Jack Ruby that day?
Mr. LANE. Yes; I did.
Mr. HUBERT. Did you know him prior to that time?
Mr. LANE. I had known him through patronage.
Mr. HUBERT. In other words, when he came into the Western Union office
that day you recognized him as Jack Ruby, a man with whom you had done
Western Union telegraph business?
Mr. LANE. When he handed me the money order. I did not see him come in.
I do not know when he came in.
Mr. HUBERT. Will you just state in your own words what transpired
between you and Jack Ruby on the morning of November 24, 1963?
Mr. LANE. Well, he came to the counter and handed me the money order
to be sent. I rated the money order and put the necessary transmission
marks on it. Wrote out a receipt for the money he handed me and I
believe it was $30, to pay for the money order. I handed him back his
receipt and his change. He turned around and walked out the door.
Mr. HUBERT. The first time you saw him, therefore, is when he came
up to the counter with a completed--partially completed form for the
transmission of money by Western Union?
Mr. LANE. That is the first I had seen him that day.
Mr. HUBERT. Therefore, you don’t know how long he was in the office?
Mr. LANE. I have no idea.
Mr. HUBERT. Prior to the time he came up.
Mr. LANE. I have no idea.
Mr. HUBERT. Is there a public telephone available to anyone who is in
the lobby?
Mr. LANE. Yes, there is.
Mr. HUBERT. Did you see him use the telephone?
Mr. LANE. I did not.
Mr. HUBERT. On that morning, was there any kind of radio, or TV in the
Western Union office, whereby a person in that office could have heard
the news concerning the pending transfer of Oswald from the city hall
to the county jail?
Mr. LANE. Not in the office; no.
Mr. HUBERT. No one had a small radio or transistor?
Mr. LANE. The messenger boy had a transistor, but he was out
delivering, and he did not get back until 10 or 15 minutes after that.
Mr. HUBERT. There was no radio or television audible or visible to
anyone in the Western Union office at the time Jack Ruby was there?
Mr. LANE. No, there was not.
Mr. HUBERT. Mr. Lane, I am marking two documents, which have already
been identified by Mr. W. W. Semingsen, president--vice president
of the Western Union Telegram Co., when his deposition was taken by
Mr. Wesley J. Liebeler, a member of the staff of the President’s
Commission. On the first document I have marked “Dallas, Texas, March
31, 1964. Exhibit 5118, Deposition of Doyle Lane.” I have placed my
name under this language. It purports to be a photostatic copy of the
original which Mr. Semingsen produced at his deposition. In order that
the record may show that you and I are both talking about the same
document, I ask you to put your name below mine on this document. Now,
I am marking the other document as follows: “Dallas, Texas, March 31,
1964. Exhibit 5119, Deposition of Doyle Lane,” and signing my name on
that, and ask you to put your name on it so that the record may show
that we are talking about the same document. Now, I ask you to look at
Exhibit 5118, and state for the record what that document is.
Mr. LANE. This is a money order application filed to send money. $25.
Karen Bennett, Fort Worth, Tex., from Jack Ruby.
Mr. HUBERT. I notice that there are several handwritings on that, and,
of course, you will identify your own in a moment. Can you state for
the record what handwriting was on that, or what was on that document
at the time it was handed to you by Ruby?
Mr. LANE. “25.00 Karen Bennett. Will call. Fort Worth. Jack Ruby.”
Mr. HUBERT. That all seems to be printed?
Mr. LANE. That is printed; yes.
Mr. HUBERT. Did you see Ruby write it out?
Mr. LANE. No; I did not.
Mr. HUBERT. But he did hand it to you in that form?
Mr. LANE. He did.
Mr. HUBERT. Did he give you money at the same time?
Mr. LANE. Yes, sir; he did.
Mr. HUBERT. Do you remember how much?
Mr. LANE. $30.
Mr. HUBERT. Do you recall whether he took it out of his wallet, or a
roll of money, or what?
Mr. LANE. He took it from several bills in his hand.
Mr. HUBERT. What denominations were the bills that he handed to you?
Mr. LANE. A $20 and a $10 bill.
Mr. HUBERT. Now, would you state what you did with reference to this
transaction?
Mr. LANE. You mean my markings?
Mr. HUBERT. Your markings and your actions, yes.
Mr. LANE. Well, when he handed me this I rated the money order.
Mr. HUBERT. You did what?
Mr. LANE. The charges.
Mr. HUBERT. Rated, [spelling] R-a-t-e-d?
Mr. LANE. Yes.
Mr. HUBERT. What does “rated” mean?
Mr. LANE. It is actual money order charges that we charge to transmit
this money to its destination.
Mr. HUBERT. Is that rating process indicated by you on that Exhibit
5118?
Mr. LANE. Yes; it is.
Mr. HUBERT. Where?
Mr. LANE. In that top right-hand corner.
Mr. HUBERT. Whose handwriting is that in?
Mr. LANE. That is my handwriting.
Mr. HUBERT. What figures are you talking about?
Mr. LANE. “$25.55, the $1.20, and 12 cents tax. $26.87.”
Mr. HUBERT. So, you did give him change?
Mr. LANE. Yes; I did.
Mr. HUBERT. I notice that in the printed message there are the words,
“Fort Worth,” scratched out, and something, who wrote that?
Mr. LANE. I wrote that. It was spelled wrong to begin with, and I wrote
that for this purpose. We have to have a full destination in the body
of a money order. He just used Fort Worth.
Mr. HUBERT. So, that you scratched out the “F.” W-o-r-t-h, and then
wrote in your own handwriting Fort Worth, Tex.?
Mr. LANE. Fort Worth, Tex.
Mr. HUBERT. And you identify your own handwriting, sir?
Mr. LANE. Yes.
Mr. HUBERT. I notice in the bottom right-hand corner of Exhibit 5118,
the words and figures as follows: “1312½ Commerce.” Whose handwriting
is that?
Mr. LANE. It is mine.
Mr. HUBERT. Where did you get the information?
Mr. LANE. From Mr. Ruby.
Mr. HUBERT. You asked him?
Mr. LANE. I said, “Your address?” And he gave me his address.
Mr. HUBERT. I notice that there apparently is a time stamp on the top
of this document that says, “1963, November 24, a.m. 11:17.” Would you
explain what that is?
Mr. LANE. That is the time that money order was accepted for
transmission at the counter.
Mr. HUBERT. Now, explain when and how that stamp is placed--placed upon
that document?
Mr. LANE. This stamp was placed here when I handed Mr. Ruby back his
receipt for his money and his change, because in our language that is
the--accepting a money order for transmission at that time.
Mr. HUBERT. In other words, that was not stamped when Mr. Ruby first
came to begin the transaction?
Mr. LANE. No; it was not.
Mr. HUBERT. It was required that you do what you said you have done
concerning the document, to make the correction about “Fort Worth,” to
do the rating?
Mr. LANE. Right.
Mr. HUBERT. And did you write out the address at the bottom?
Mr. LANE. Yes.
Mr. HUBERT. And to make the change and give it to him?
Mr. LANE. Yes.
Mr. HUBERT. In other words, the 11:17, therefore, represents the moment
when the transaction was over?
Mr. LANE. When it is completed.
Mr. HUBERT. And actually, it could have begun a few moments or minutes
before?
Mr. LANE. A minute or so.
Mr. HUBERT. Now, I wish you to explain for the record what kind of a
timeclock this is. And what steps are taken by the Western Union Co.
locally and nationally to assure the accuracy of that timeclock?
Mr. LANE. This timeclock is set up on a national level. Hooked up with
the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. And at 11 a.m., each
day, all clocks stop and all time is synchronized. The timeclock we
have on the counter rotates on a minute basis. It could be 1 minute,
you know, either way. I think back----
Mr. HUBERT. Well, now, the particular timeclock that was used to stamp
this machine, is that the master clock--I mean to stamp this document,
is this the master clock?
Mr. LANE. No; it is not.
Mr. HUBERT. What clock is synchronized to Naval Observatory Time?
Mr. LANE. It is the clock in the P&R office, there for the purpose of
having somebody to check it and make sure it is accurate.
Mr. HUBERT. Is it the custom of the company to have all of the master
clocks throughout the Nation synchronized each day at 11 o’clock?
Mr. LANE. It is. It very definitely is. Our business is built on the
time basis.
Mr. HUBERT. Now, how is the particular timeclock which was used to
stamp the time on Exhibit 5118 synchronized to the master clock in
Dallas?
Mr. LANE. When the master clock is set by the Naval Observatory Time,
at the same time our master clock here synchronizes all our timeclocks.
Mr. HUBERT. Is that done automatically?
Mr. LANE. It is done automatically.
Mr. HUBERT. Are you willing to state, therefore, that from your
knowledge of how time and timeclocks throughout the Western Union
system are set, that at 11 o’clock on November 24th, the master clock
in Dallas and the particular timeclock used to stamp Exhibit 5118, were
all synchronized on Naval Observatory Time?
Mr. LANE. Yes; they were.
Mr. HUBERT. Now, I show you a document which, for the purpose of
identification, I have marked, “Dallas, Texas, Exhibit 5119,” already
identified by you, and your name appears on it, and ask you to tell me
what that is?
Mr. LANE. This is a copy of the original receipt that I wrote for Jack
Ruby.
Mr. HUBERT. That is in your handwriting?
Mr. LANE. That is my handwriting.
Mr. HUBERT. What happened to the original itself?
Mr. LANE. The original is given to the customer. It was given to Mr.
Ruby.
Mr. HUBERT. Do you remember giving it to him?
Mr. LANE. Yes; very definitely.
Mr. HUBERT. Was that document given to him when the change was given to
him?
Mr. LANE. When the change was given back, his receipt was given back at
the same time.
Mr. HUBERT. I notice that document also bears a time at the top of it.
What time does it show?
Mr. LANE. 11:17.
Mr. HUBERT. When did you say it was stamped or would you say it was
stamped at the same time as Exhibit 5118?
Mr. LANE. Yes.
Mr. HUBERT. In the normal course of business, which one would be
stamped first?
Mr. LANE. There would be no first. We stamp them at the same time.
Mr. HUBERT. But, it takes two different actions.
Mr. LANE. Not fully.