Mr. SMART. Being on a parking lot, you know, naturally, I didn’t think.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Was there a dog in that car?
Mr. SMART. Yes, sir.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Where was the dog when you got to the car?
Mr. SMART. The dog had crawled under a newspaper in the front seat.
Mr. GRIFFIN. And what did you do with the dog when you got in?
Mr. SMART. We had the squad come by and get it and take it to the
animal shelter.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Was there anybody else that accompanied you out to that
automobile?
Mr. SMART. Lieutenant Swain.
Mr. GRIFFIN. And that is all?
Mr. SMART. Well, we called the uniformed squad there a little bit later
and had the car put in the pound. It seems to me like there was one
more detective. I don’t remember. I believe it was Detective Watson. I
am not sure.
Mr. GRIFFIN. What was the first thing you searched?
Mr. SMART. The glove compartment.
Mr. GRIFFIN. And I understand that you found his wallet in the glove
compartment?
Mr. SMART. Right.
Mr. GRIFFIN. And a key to fit the trunk?
Mr. SMART. Right.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, did you ever find out whether Ruby had a wallet on
his person?
Mr. SMART. No, sir; I never did.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Did you ever make any inquiry?
Mr. SMART. No, sir.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, did you talk with Ruby about any of the equipment
which you found in the automobile?
Mr. SMART. No, sir.
Mr. GRIFFIN. About the property which you found in the automobile?
Mr. SMART. No, sir.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Did Lieutenant Swain?
Mr. SMART. No, sir; not in my presence.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Or that you know of?
Mr. SMART. Not that I know of.
Mr. GRIFFIN. In the normal procedure, who would be the person who would
question him about that property?
Mr. SMART. Well, I would think it would be Captain Fritz.
Mr. GRIFFIN. I see. Did you examine this billfold?
Mr. SMART. Yes, sir.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Can you tell us what you recall being in that billfold?
Mr. SMART. His driver’s license and several cards of identification
like you would normally carry in a billfold, but I don’t remember each
one, what they were or anything. Different cards with his name on it.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Social security card?
Mr. SMART. I believe his social security card was there. I am not sure.
There was just stuff--cards and papers.
Mr. GRIFFIN. I see. Do you think you would be able to identify that
wallet and contents?
Mr. SMART. I think so.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Do you remember anything else in there besides
identification cards in the wallet?
Mr. SMART. No, sir.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Was there any money in the wallet?
Mr. SMART. No, sir.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, what else did you find in the glove compartment?
Mr. SMART. A key.
Mr. GRIFFIN. A single key?
Mr. SMART. A single key.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Was this--where was this?
Mr. SMART. Just laying in the floor of the glove compartment.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Was it under some papers or anything like that?
Mr. SMART. No, sir; wasn’t much stuff in the glove compartment.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Was there anything else in the glove compartment besides
the key and the wallet?
Mr. SMART. I remember looking, but I remember there was nothing of
importance that would have any bearing on anything. There was something
there, not much, though.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Was the key on top and exposed?
Mr. SMART. No. The billfold was on top and the key was laying over on
the side.
Mr. GRIFFIN. I see.
Mr. SMART. Just a lone key, a General Motors key.
Mr. GRIFFIN. I see. Did it appear there had been any effort to conceal
it?
Mr. SMART. No, sir.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, after you searched the glove compartment, what did
you do? What did you search after the glove compartment?
Mr. SMART. Well, I sat down in the front seat to try this key, and
I put my hand down on these papers, and that is when I felt the
dog. The dog raised up. It didn’t fit the ignition keys, I mean the
ignition switch, so I knew it was a General Motors key, and I owned an
Oldsmobile, and it looked like it might be a trunk key, and I tried it,
and it worked.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, up to this point, you hadn’t searched the interior of
the car, nothing but the glove compartment?
Mr. SMART. No, sir; nothing but just look over.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, when you took this key, you were able to open the
trunk, weren’t you?
Mr. SMART. Yes, sir.
Mr. GRIFFIN. What did you see when you opened that trunk?
Mr. SMART. Well, some paper bags and some bank sacks, maybe one bank
sack, and just full of junk, almost full of junk, except there was a
set of keys laying right down in the open.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, was this a set of keys?
Mr. SMART. Well, it was a bunch of keys.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Were they on a ring?
Mr. SMART. A ring or something to hold them together; I don’t remember.
Mr. GRIFFIN. How many keys would you say were on this?
Mr. SMART. Oh, roughly four or five.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, were there any keys that looked like they might be
keys to a house or door?
Mr. SMART. Yes, sir.
Mr. GRIFFIN. And how many keys on there appeared that they would be
automobile keys?
Mr. SMART. I don’t remember now. I can tell that the other key, you
know, they were shaped a little different, one of them was the ignition
key, and I tried it, and it worked.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, if you were to see these keys, do you think that you
would recognize them?
Mr. SMART. Yes, sir; I think so.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Where did you see the keys in the car, in the trunk of the
car?
Mr. SMART. Laying right in the floorboard of the trunk.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Near the front?
Mr. SMART. Near the front.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Exposed to view?
Mr. SMART. Right.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Where were they in relationship to the paper sacks and the
money bags?
Mr. SMART. To the right. The paper bags were more in the back. He had
two or three boxes of pictures of girls, and things like that, that we
just thumbed through, maybe stacks of them that high, a lot of cards
to his club. That was mostly what the stuff was in the trunk.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, if these keys were placed where you found them and
one had been driving that car, would the motion--were they placed in
such a way that the motion of the car or bumps and whatnot would move
these about?
Mr. SMART. I would think they would probably have scooted under papers
or something, would have been my guess, possibly.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, is there anything that you saw or that you have
learned that would indicate to you how long those keys might have been
in the back of that trunk prior to the time that you opened it?
Mr. SMART. You want my thought?
Mr. GRIFFIN. Yes; I do.
Mr. SMART. My thought, when I found things like they were, that Jack
Ruby had purposely put his billfold in the glove compartment and
purposely put his keys in the trunk compartment and locked it up and
purposely left his trunk key in the glove compartment so he could get
to it. That was my thought. I wondered why he left his billfold with
all of his identification in it in his glove compartment.
Mr. GRIFFIN. I would like to have your opinion as a trained
investigator, anything else that led you to believe this or why, other
than simply the placement that we have just discussed, that would have
led you to think that he had done what you mentioned?
Mr. SMART. Because, when he left the car on the lot, there was no
attendant there, I guess was the main reason. He parked it in an odd
place and up on an incline deal on the lot.
Mr. GRIFFIN. How was it an odd place?
Mr. SMART. Well, the lot is kind of uneven, and it was pretty close out
to the center of the lot. It was where an old building had been torn
down and left some concrete in one place, you know, like this.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Yes; would you--I am going to interrupt this just one
second here while I get this exhibit marked, and I am going to ask you,
while I mark this exhibit, would you draw on this piece of paper the
intersection there, the intersection of Commerce, Main and Pearl, and
then would you draw the parking lot where Ruby’s car was found?
Mr. SMART. These are two parking lots. They are all together but
separately operated.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Would you put the two streets in there so we would know
which is Main and which is Pearl? Now, which is Commerce?
Mr. SMART. This is south.
Mr. GRIFFIN. All right, now. Let me ask you. Start over again here on
another sheet of paper. I want to get more detail on here.
Mr. SMART. Oh, I see.
Mr. GRIFFIN. It would probably he easiest if you would draw the block,
Commerce, Harwood, Pearl and Main, and indicate the location of the
police department, the Western Union office and the parking lots on the
corner of Main and Pearl, and then show us which parking lot Jack’s car
was in.
Mr. SMART. I am not a very good artist, now.
Mr. GRIFFIN. That is okay. Is that the parking lot?
Mr. SMART. Uh-huh.
Mr. GRIFFIN. All right.
Mr. SMART. Roughly about there.
Mr. GRIFFIN. All right. Now, we will go on the record. Now, you have
drawn a diagram here, which I am going to mark, “Dallas, Texas,
Lieutenant Smart, 3-25-64, Exhibit 5023,” and that appears to be a
diagram of the intersection of Main and Pearl with the Western Union
marked and parking lot designated on the northwest corner of Main and
Pearl and an automobile marked out there. Is that pencil mark of an
automobile your best estimate of where you found Ruby’s car?
Mr. SMART. That is approximately about where the car was parked.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Were there any other cars in the parking lot at that time?
Mr. SMART. At that time, the parking lot had opened officially; there
were a few more cars; I don’t recall where they were--and an attendant
there.
Mr. GRIFFIN. I see. Were there any other cars parked next to Ruby’s car?
Mr. SMART. No.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Other than--did you mention the location of these keys and
the billfold to anybody?
Mr. SMART. Yes, sir.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Who did you mention that to?
Mr. SMART. Homicide detectives.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Do you remember any particular one?
Mr. SMART. There was two of them. I think it was Montgomery and his
partner. I am not sure. There is some new men in there that I don’t
know too well. We brought all of that stuff in there, showed Captain
Fritz what we had. He said, “Turn it over to them.”
Mr. GRIFFIN. Did you write any report in connection with this search to
the police department?
Mr. SMART. No, sir.
Mr. GRIFFIN. So there is no written report in the police department of
what you just told me?
Mr. SMART. No, sir.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Would it be customary for anybody in the police department
to have written a report of what you told them?
Mr. SMART. It could be. I gave all of my information to the homicide
boys, because they were handling the case, turned the money over to
them, the keys, and turned everything over to them.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Would you do this favor to me? Inquire of Captain Fritz,
inquire and find out, if there is a report of what you told them, and,
if so, give us a copy of it so we could have it for our file?
Mr. SMART. Sure.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, did you also find in the automobile some radio
scripts or something that had to do--well, do you recall finding
anything that appeared to be radio scripts or political propaganda
materials?
Mr. SMART. No, sir; I tell you, Mr. Griffin. I was instructed to go
over there and get the money--it seemed like that is what he was
worried about, his money--and bring it over and put it in the property
room or have it put into the property room, and when I ran into the
billfold and the keys, I thought they should be over there, too, and
I told the homicide officers they should go back and make a thorough
check of the trunk and also that there might be some pertinent
information that they wanted, and I understood that they did. What they
found, now, I don’t know. I think that the FBI went, too, but I never
did go back and search anything else.
Mr. GRIFFIN. So you removed the billfold and the keys and the money?
Mr. SMART. Yes, sir; and a sack of miscellaneous stuff and the papers
that were in the front seat pertaining to the assassination. I thought
that might have some bearing. He had about four or five current----
Mr. GRIFFIN. Newspapers?
Mr. SMART. With the spreads on the front, newspapers.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Did they appear to be complete copies of a newspaper or
were articles cut out?