Mr. HUBERT. Or was the first time you testified about that voice at the
time of the trial?
Mrs. PITTS. I told him some of it. He told me he wasn’t interested in
that. He said what he wanted to know if I’d seen a lot of people around
there. I didn’t see, because I wasn’t there every day.
Mr. HUBERT. Was it suggested to you by anyone that you should say that
his voice was strange there?
Mrs. PITTS. Yes, sir; I told him that.
Mr. HUBERT. No; did anybody suggest to you, at anytime that you should
testify that Mr. Ruby’s voice seemed odd that day?
Mrs. PITTS. No, sir; nobody didn’t tell me that, just told me to tell
how he talks to me, so, that is what I did.
Mr. HUBERT. And you had also told that to Mr. French?
Mrs. PITTS. Yes; I told him he sounded funny to me and strange, and
scare me, and there is another reason I didn’t just drop my work at
home and go ahead home, because I could have went on to the store right
there close and--but I wouldn’t do it, because he talked so funny to me.
Mr. HUBERT. You mean you decided at that time that you weren’t going
over there that day?
Mrs. PITTS. I guess when I talked to him--after I hung up I called
my daughter and told her about it, said, “He sure sounded funny to
me.” And, so, she said, “Are you going, mama?” And I said, “No.” And,
directly my little bitty granddaughter, the oldest granddaughter there,
and they says, “Is this name Jack Ruby, Rubinstein, or something?” And
I said, “No; Jack Ruby.” Says, “Well, that news is where--there he done
killed a man.” But I said, “Killed who?” So, she said--“Oswald.” Well,
it didn’t--this Oswald, I don’t know nothing about him, so, I said,
“That isn’t him, because this is Rubinstein. It’s Ruby is what he told
me.” All I ever did know was Jack Ruby, so, I called my daughter again,
and I says to her, I says, “They’ll show that on TV, and they call the
dog Sheba”--there, that’s him, and I said, “You stay there and look and
call me back.”
I still kept working, because I didn’t think it was him, so,
she--directly she called me and says, “Yes.” It is on TV and is a
little, short, heavy man kind of bald-headed, I say, “Yes.” And called
me back and said where he lived, and sure enough, and I said, I knowed
there was something wrong with that man. I didn’t go on over there--and
was glad that I didn’t go. No doubt when--went over there when he was
talking the way he was talking he would turned around there and shot me.
Mr. HUBERT. Explain that a little bit. I don’t think you have told us
much about what he told you. As I understand your testimony he seemed a
little vague, but, he told you to come on and clean but call before?
Mrs. PITTS. Yes, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. Then, he told you that he thought he would be back by 2
o’clock?
Mrs. PITTS. He told me be sure and call.
Mr. HUBERT. What was strange about that?
Mrs. PITTS. Well, see, he asked me that two or three times, now, was I
coming over, and what was I coming over there for, and I had to tell
him, and told him that I was coming to work.
Mr. HUBERT. In other words, it was several times, Mrs. Pitts?
Mrs. PITTS. Yes, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. That you had to identify yourself, as it were?
Mrs. PITTS. Yes, sir; I told him who I was and told him, says, “I’m
coming to clean.” See, I had borrowed $25 from him a while back and
paid him the money back, and I thought when he asked me did I want some
money I--and says, “Oh, no; I don’t want to borrow no money today. I am
coming to clean.” Told him coming to clean today. Is so--it’s Sunday,
you’ve always told me to wait until Tuesday and then Saturday, and back
to Sunday, and I says, “And today is Sunday.” And he says, “Oh.” And I
said----
Mr. HUBERT. He says, What?
Mrs. PITTS. He says, “Oh,”--and I says to him, I says, “If you don’t
want me to come on, if you have got somebody--company or something, I
can wait and come tomorrow. I’ll wait and come tomorrow if you say so.”