Mr. HUBERT. Well, you see, if you left just before Christmas?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. You know, come to think of it, I think it was, because
it was around the spring--so it must have been about the last of April
or the 1st of May.
Mr. HUBERT. Then, you worked for about 7 months and left around
Christmas?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Yes.
Mr. HUBERT. What was the reason for your leaving?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Discharged.
Mr. HUBERT. What caused it?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. I don’t know the cause.
Mr. HUBERT. Did you ask?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Well, I have recently, 5 or 6 days ago--Mrs. Pierson who
is not there any more, and I wanted to ask her.
Mr. HUBERT. Mrs. Pierson being the lady who had originally employed you?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Right.
Mr. HUBERT. She was the one who discharged you, too?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Yes.
Mr. HUBERT. Now, what about 5 or 6 days ago?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. I wanted to contact her to find out why I was
discharged. I have a reason--it was because of one of the maids out
there, but I’m not for sure.
Mr. HUBERT. You mean you suspect that it was on the complaint of one of
the maids?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Well, yes; something like that--something.
Mr. HUBERT. But, you did not reach Mrs. Pierson?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. So, you really don’t know even now?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. I’m still trying to find out.
Mr. HUBERT. Did you ask her at the time?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. I asked her at the time and was refused to be told why.
Mr. HUBERT. That was Christmas, 1961--what was your next employment?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Let’s see--at the Marilyn Belt Factory in January.
Mr. HUBERT. That’s the place that’s right opposite the sheriff’s office?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Right opposite the sheriff’s office.
Mr. HUBERT. How long did you work for them? Commencing in January 1962.
Mr. ARMSTRONG. I worked for them 2 months, then I got the job at the
Carousel Club with Jack and I held both of the jobs for about a month
and it got to where I had to let one go, so I let the Marilyn Belt
Factory go.
Mr. HUBERT. So that you began to work at the Carousel Club in about
February of 1962?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Right.
Mr. HUBERT. How did you get employment with the Carousel Club?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Let’s go back--it wasn’t in February--you see, I started
to work at the Marilyn Belt Factory in February, and I worked about 2
months with the Marilyn Belt Factory--that’s February and March and
April--3 months, because I started to work for Jack the 1st of May,
about the second day in May.
Mr. HUBERT. In 1962?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. In 1962.
Mr. HUBERT. Then you worked both places for about a month?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. For about a month.
Mr. HUBERT. Which would take you to June 1, 1962, and then you had to
make a choice, so you decided to go with the Carousel Club and you left
the other job?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Yes.
Mr. HUBERT. Now, coming back to the question--how did you come to be
employed in May of 1962 at the Carousel Club?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Just walked in and he was sitting down talking to some
man--I have never saw him before--yes, I have--he was a waiter over at
the Baker Hotel.
Mr. HUBERT. Did you hear that there was an opening there?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No.
Mr. HUBERT. Had you known Jack Ruby before?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No.
Mr. HUBERT. Was there any advertisements in the paper?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No.
Mr. HUBERT. Was there any sign on the door indicating that help was
needed?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No.
Mr. HUBERT. Can you help us in ascertaining why you just walked in to
get the job?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Well, it was on a Saturday morning and I decided I would
go look for me a night job some place.
Mr. HUBERT. What you wanted was a night job to supplement your income?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. What I wanted was a night job, so I decided the club
would be the best thing, so I went to three or four clubs, and when I
went to Field and Commerce, I was going to go to H. L. Green’s for a
cup of coffee or something like that and I started back up Commerce and
I saw the door open there and I just pulled over and went in.
Mr. HUBERT. In other words, you had tried three or four other places
before you went to the Carousel?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Yes.
Mr. HUBERT. On this same Saturday morning?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. On this same date.
Mr. HUBERT. And that was about the 2d of May, I think you said, in 1962?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Right--about the 2d of May, I’m pretty sure.
Mr. HUBERT. It was in the first part of May, do you think?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Pardon?
Mr. HUBERT. It was about the first part of May, you think, and it was a
Saturday morning?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Right.
Mr. HUBERT. I have a calendar for 1962 before me, and it shows the
first Saturday in May was the 5th.
Mr. ARMSTRONG. It was the 5th?
Mr. HUBERT. I’m showing you that calendar for 1962; does that help you
any?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Well, you see--why I said the 2d was later on, we tried
to figure--I was signing a couple of checks about 2 weeks later and we
were trying to figure out what date I started so I could fill out a W-2
form and we got to counting the days and we counted back to the 2d, so
this was on a Saturday--it was on a Saturday, so it must have been the
5th. You see, things always happen so fast when you was around Jack
because he was just like this--flighty.
Mr. HUBERT. The day you walked in there, he was in the Carousel--he was
in the office?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No, he was sitting down there, just sitting in the club
at a table.
Mr. HUBERT. Was he alone?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. He was talking to a waiter from across--it was a waiter
across the street which worked up there that night, that Saturday
night, and he never worked there any more, but that only one night that
I know of.
Mr. HUBERT. Well, tell us how you introduced yourself and how he came
to employ you, and so forth?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Well, I asked him if he needed any help at night and he
said as a matter of fact he did and he said, “I’ve been looking for a
clean-cut young man like you,” and so he said a few things--he asked me
had I ever been in any kind of trouble and naturally I told him, “No.”
I always tell people “No,” unless it is absolutely necessary, so he
said to come back that night, so I went back that night and worked.
Mr. HUBERT. Did you fix your salary at that time?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No, not exactly. We fixed the salary the next day, no,
the Monday--the following Monday.
Mr. HUBERT. And what was that salary?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. That salary was $40 or $45 a week.
Mr. HUBERT. Did it remain that way or did you get an increase?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Well, it remained that way.
Mr. HUBERT. You never got any more than that?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No; just plus tips.
Mr. HUBERT. What was your job around there?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Well, at first it was just bartending and then it got to
be--it was bartending, then it got to be straightening the place up a
little bit because there was another man that came in, Howard Haynes.
Mr. HUBERT. Howard Haynes?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Yes, but he always did sort of a half job, and so then
it got to be where I spent most of the afternoon there just taking
phone calls and reservations and things like that, and taking care of
all of the buying and things like that.
Mr. HUBERT. What do you mean by taking care of the buying?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Well, taking care of the buying--whatever that had to be
bought--whatever stock they needed--no food, just beer.
Mr. HUBERT. In other words, as I understand you, as you stayed on
longer, you assumed more responsibility?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Right.
Mr. HUBERT. And more duties?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Right, and they got me to where I was doing the hiring
of the waitresses and contacting different peoples about acts and
things like that.
Mr. HUBERT. Ruby delegated the authority to you to actually employ
people, both as waitresses and for acts?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Well, not actually employ them for acts, but contact
them--he already knowed who he wanted and I just contacted certain
persons.
Mr. HUBERT. In other words, you would do the legwork, shall we say,
about getting these acts?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Certainly not all of them, just some of them--when he
didn’t have time to.
Mr. HUBERT. Did you ever tell Jack, or did he ever find out you had
been in the penitentiary?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No; I never told him.
Mr. HUBERT. Do you know whether he knows to this day about it?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. I don’t know whether he knows--you see, I never told
anyone connected with him until the trial, and then I told Mr. Phil
Burleson.
Mr. HUBERT. Did you testify in the trial?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No.
Mr. HUBERT. You had been subpenaed, I think.
Mr. ARMSTRONG. I was subpenaed.
Mr. HUBERT. Did it get to the point where you handled the money of the
club?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Yes, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. How was the money handled?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Well, I was--I always had $225 in my possession. That
was for a bank every night, you know, to start things off and at the
end of the night when I checked up, I would give him the receipts for
the night and I would take what I had put in back to the safe and so,
with the buying on Thursdays, when I took care of all of the purchases,
I would give him the receipts and the total of the receipts--he would
return the money to me.
Mr. HUBERT. In other words, you always kept for making change for
beginning the night’s operation, the sum of $225.
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Right.
Mr. HUBERT. And the next day after the night’s operation, you would
turn over to him----
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No; I would always give it to him that night.
Mr. HUBERT. The same night?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Yes, sir; the same night.
Mr. HUBERT. You would give him everything but the $225.
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Right.
Mr. HUBERT. Now, what about paying for the goods that you bought?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Well, that was--happened the same way.
Mr. HUBERT. Was it a cash basis?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Yes; most everything was cash.
Mr. HUBERT. You would pay it out of the $225.
Mr. ARMSTRONG. I would pay it out of the $225, and he would give me the
money back that I had spent.
Mr. HUBERT. So, that, you began with $225 each night?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Right.
Mr. HUBERT. And usually he would put the money in the safe, that is to
say, the amount of $225?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No, I would put the $225--I kept that money.
Mr. HUBERT. You kept the $225?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Well, I put it in the safe.
Mr. HUBERT. That’s the $225 only?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Just the $225 only.
Mr. HUBERT. When did you have a safe, when did you get one?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Well, he always has had a little old safe in the office.
This was a little cabinetlike thing.
Mr. HUBERT. Was that one that had a slot on the side of it, so you
could slip the money in it?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No, not that one. He had just recently bought that
one--I would say it was in October last year.
Mr. HUBERT. Previous to the safe which was bought in October, there was
another safe?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Right.
Mr. HUBERT. And he kept that in the office?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. He kept that in the office--it was a cabinet you opened
with a key. It had little cabinet drawers in it and some little small
ones.
Mr. HUBERT. It didn’t have a combination?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No; no combination.
Mr. HUBERT. Was it a filing cabinet like--it had two file cabinet
drawers, about the size of those on the left-hand side there?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Yes, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. Let the record show that the witness is pointing to the
usual legal size four drawer steel cabinet.
Mr. ARMSTRONG. But only two of those on the left-hand side and on the
right-hand side at the top it was three or two little drawers, about
the size of one of those stacks and one about that deep, where you
could open it with a key.
Mr. HUBERT. So, it really had two keys?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No, just the one--the same key would fit the one on the
inside.
Mr. HUBERT. Did Jack keep the money that you gave him as to the profit
over the $225 in that place, too?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No, he never kept anything.
Mr. HUBERT. How did he handle that?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. I don’t know--he usually would go to the bank once or
twice a week, or, he mostly kept--usually he kept the payroll on him.
Mr. HUBERT. Did he have a checking account?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. He had an account at the Texas Bank--no, at the
Merchants State Bank on Ross Avenue.
Mr. HUBERT. Is it your impression that he would deposit this cash in
that account?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. There was always a little money in that account, but I
don’t know whether he deposited it or not--all of it in that account or
not.
Mr. HUBERT. Did he pay his bills, such as for the stripteases and the
band?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Every Sunday night.
Mr. HUBERT. In cash or check?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. In cash.
Mr. HUBERT. And he paid all the supplies and purchases in cash, too?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. In cash.
Hr. Hubert. Do you know if he paid anything by check?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. That, I don’t know.
Mr. HUBERT. What about the rent?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. What?
Mr. HUBERT. What about the rent?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. The rent was paid by cash with a cashier’s check.
Mr. HUBERT. Did you ever purchase a cashier’s check?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Yes, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. He would give you the money and you went to the bank and
got the cashier’s check for it?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Cashier’s check.
Mr. HUBERT. But when you said a little while ago that he would take the
money and go to the bank, what did you mean?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Well, he would always go two or three time--I’m sure--a
week, that he was at the bank. I don’t know whether he deposited money
or not, but he did have an account and there was an account there in
the name of the Carousel Club.
Mr. HUBERT. But do you know of your own knowledge whether he used it as
a checking account normally is used?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. It was used as a checking account, but I never--I have
seen checks that he had written, that was, you know, after they went
through and then he got them back--I had seen those.
Mr. HUBERT. Canceled checks--you mean?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No, no; checks that went through the bank already and
went through his deposit.
Mr. HUBERT. That’s what I mean by canceled checks--in other words,
after the check goes through, it is returned to the maker.
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Returned--yes--right.
Mr. HUBERT. Did he have a lot of those?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. I saw quite a few small payments on different things,
but I don’t know whether he had a whole lot of them or not.
Mr. HUBERT. What I am trying to get at, Mr. Armstrong, is whether or
not Ruby kept the income from the Carousel on his person or did he
deposit it in the bank?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Well, I believe that the biggest part of his money, he
kept it in his purse on his person.
Mr. HUBERT. Have you any idea how much he would have on his person in
that way as an average?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No, it would be hard to say, because I have seen times
when he would come in and he would have quite a bit of money in his
pocket, but it would all be, you know, rubber bands--wrapped around
with rubber bands, and he never would take it a’loose or anything like
that. A few times he would get it all mixed up in his pocket and he
would straighten out the tens and the ones--separate the ones from the
fives, you know.
Mr. HUBERT. Who made the payroll?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. He made the payroll.
Mr. HUBERT. Didn’t you ever do that?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. After the slaying.
Mr. HUBERT. No, I mean before that.
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No.
Mr. HUBERT. Did you assist him in making the payroll?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No; I didn’t work on Sunday night.
Mr. HUBERT. And that’s when he paid everybody?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. That’s when he paid everybody.
Mr. HUBERT. But you do know he paid by cash?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. He paid by cash.
Mr. HUBERT. Did you ever see him take any money to his automobile?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Yes, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. What would he do with it when he put it in his automobile?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. What would he do with it? He would put it in his
trunk--that he had in his pocket he would keep in his pocket--and that
he had in his little moneybag he would put it in his trunk.
Mr. HUBERT. He had a moneybag in the trunk?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. He had a little sack--the same one he carried his pistol
in, in a little Merchants State Bank, a little moneybag.
Mr. HUBERT. And the pistol was in that bag?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Usually it would be in one of those little money bank
bags.
Mr. HUBERT. Did you ever see him carry the pistol on his body?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No; it would always be in a little bag.
Mr. HUBERT. There was no occasion at all when you ever saw him have
that pistol in his pocket or stuck in his waist belt?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. Do you know what he kept the pistol for?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Well, I always assumed he kept it for--because he
carried the cash on him.
Mr. HUBERT. Well, the pistol wouldn’t do him much good in the trunk of
the car if he had the cash on his body, would it?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No; not much.
Mr. HUBERT. Have you any other reason then to suggest as to why he did?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Well, he would always bring it in the club at night.
Mr. HUBERT. Pistol?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. It was brought in just in case he was robbed or
something like that.
Mr. HUBERT. Now, let’s see--we have a little difference there--I had
understood you to say that the pistol was always kept in the bag which
was in the trunk of the car.
Mr. ARMSTRONG. But I said he would always bring it in when he would
come to the club.
Mr. HUBERT. I see, but when he would bring it in, he would not put it
on or keep it on his person?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. Would he bring it in in the bag?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. He would bring it in in the bag and put it in the office
back there.
Mr. HUBERT. So, there would be the money and the pistol and the bag
that were all in the office?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. All in the office.
Mr. HUBERT. And then at night he would take the money and the pistol,
which were in the bag, and bring it out to the car?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. And bring it out to the car, but most of the time the
money that he had in his bag would be left in the car, unless he was up
early in the day and was handling cash--he just left it in the office
some place because he wasn’t going back out, but if he left, and went
home to get dressed or something like that, and come back about 9:30 or
10 o’clock, he would lock the money, if he had it in the back in the
trunk.
Mr. HUBERT. Is it fair to say that almost every night he would bring
the pistol from the car to the club?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Yes; to the club.
Mr. HUBERT. And then when he left at night, he would carry the pistol
back?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Yes, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. And it was always in the bag?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Always in the bag, that I know of.
Mr. HUBERT. Where did he keep the pistol in the club?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Back in the office.
Mr. HUBERT. Did you ever see him use it?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. I don’t mean by shooting anybody, but by hitting somebody
with it?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No; I never saw him use it.
Mr. HUBERT. Can you tell us what sort of man he was?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Worried and disturbed always.
Mr. HUBERT. Now, how did that manifest itself so that you could tell
that he was worried and disturbed always?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Now, I’ll tell you this--there was always--if he was
sitting down inside the club in the daytime at one of the tables and
some people came in, he would always want to hold a conversation with
them, he would always want to talk about something, and I have seen
numbers of times when someone had said something about a certain thing,
he would get angry about it without even knowing it--he would just get
angry, just like that, but that would pass over in a matter of seconds.
Mr. HUBERT. When he got angry, how did he act?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. He would always let people know if they said anything
that he didn’t like.
Mr. HUBERT. How did he act?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Sort of like--ungentlemanlike in a nice way--let me see
if I can explain it any better?
Mr. HUBERT. I wish you would.
Mr. ARMSTRONG. It was like--I’ll give you an example, which is the best
way I can explain it.
Mr. HUBERT. All right.
Mr. ARMSTRONG. I have seen at times when he would walk up to someone
that had the feet out in the aisle and the girls couldn’t get by or
some man doing something that he didn’t have any business, like hitting
the girls when they passed by, or something like that, and they would
tell Jack--if he was in a certain mood or something was bothering him,
he wouldn’t go over and say--ask his customers who were spending money
in his club, in a nice way not to do that, he would just hit him on the
shoulder like this and say, “Watch it, Buddy, I don’t allow that in
my place”--you know--real mean like--which is something that I never
approved of.
Mr. HUBERT. He did that quite often?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Quite often, and that’s the way it would happen with any
stranger.
Now, if he knew someone, he would always hold off or get someone else
to do it. If he knew somebody and they were doing something he didn’t
like, he would always get me or one of the girls to do it.
Mr. HUBERT. We started off this sequence of questions by your statement
that he was always worried and disturbed, I think was the phrase, and
you have given me that example. Weren’t there some times when he was
not?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. There was very few times when he was not and I always
had the feeling that if he had that smile and talking and laughing, if
it lasts all night, I always had the feeling that he would still have
that worried and disturbed look and expression, later on after the club
closed, somewhere after--I don’t know--after he got in bed or the next
morning or something like that. It never lasted long.
Mr. HUBERT. You got along all right with him, didn’t you?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. We got along--we was always arguing, differences of
opinion and things like that.
Mr. HUBERT. Was he nasty with you?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Not--I wouldn’t say he was nasty. I would say if I
didn’t know him--I would say he was nasty. I would say that I would go
so far as to say that he was even cruel.
Mr. HUBERT. To you?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. To me and to a lot of the employees.
Mr. HUBERT. Give us some examples of the cruelty you are speaking of.
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Well, you could say--we had a speaker in the corner, a
high fidelity speaker over in the right-hand corner.
Mr. HUBERT. A loudspeaker?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Yes, in the right-hand corner and it had to be turned on
individually. It had to turned on or it wouldn’t come over the system
and it was my job to see that it was turned on every night, and there
was times I was too busy and had too many things to do and forgot about
it, but not that often, and if he came in--the first thing he checked
was the sound. The MC was on stage and if he couldn’t hear that box
over there, he would come straight to me and it was like I had took
half of the club away or something like that.
Mr. HUBERT. What would he say or do?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Well, he would just get all riled up about that--he
would just get all riled up about that one little incident.
Mr. HUBERT. When you say “all riled up,” that’s your own words of
description of what he was doing, but we don’t get just what his
physical acts were unless you tell us. What is “riled up”? Raising his
voice, cursing?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Raising his voice.
Mr. HUBERT. Throwing his voice--throwing his arms about, hitting
people, doing what?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No, not hitting people--he wouldn’t ever hit anyone, but
it always the impression that he might. There was always the feeling
that he might.
Mr. HUBERT. Did his facial expressions change?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Sort of like.
Mr. HUBERT. Did he curse?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No--no more than--the only curse word that he would use
more when he did use it was damn it.
Mr. HUBERT. Well, on occasions like he got all riled up, as you have
told us, would it consist of calling you a fool or threatening to fire
you or raising his voice, cursing you, what was it?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Threatening to fire me would be the thing, because he
fired me 50 times or 100 times.
Mr. HUBERT. Apparently you didn’t stay fired.
Mr. ARMSTRONG. He threatened my job every day.
Mr. HUBERT. He threatened your job every day?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Almost every day.
Mr. HUBERT. And then what would happen?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Nothing--if I left he would call me back. If I left
there fired, all I would have to do is come down and open the club up
the next day and go on back to work.
Mr. HUBERT. He wouldn’t tell you you were fired, stay away; you
wouldn’t even talk about the subject any more?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No.
Mr. HUBERT. I can understand that that would happen after you had gone
through that firing and rehiring once or twice, but first of all when
you got fired, it must have seemed odd to you to go back?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Well, the first time that it actually really happened
was one night he fired me on Saturday night. It was a Saturday night
and I usually had a ride on Saturday night because the last bus run at
1 o’clock, and if I didn’t catch that ride at 1:30, well, I would have
to get a cab, which I can’t afford to get a cab. It is $1.65. He said
something about staying a little late-something--I don’t know--it was a
meeting, I think. He was always calling meetings.
Mr. HUBERT. Meetings of whom?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Of waitresses.
Mr. HUBERT. All right, go ahead.
Mr. ARMSTRONG. And I said, “Well, I’ve got to catch my ride because I
can’t spend cab fare, and you are not going to give me cab fare,” just
like that, and I walked on out the door and he said, “Just don’t come
back no more.” I said, “Okay,” and before I got downstairs, he had
sent one of the girls downstairs to tell me that my week wasn’t up.
It was on Saturday night--I worked during the day on Sunday to clean
floors, and I worked during that day on Sunday 2½ hours cleaning the
club up, and I said, “Well, okay, tell him okay, I’ll clean the club up
tomorrow.” Just like that, and went on, because--I don’t know--you see,
I understood Jack, and I knew what his reasons for sending her on down
was--actually not to tell me to clean the floor up but to tell me I
wasn’t really fired.
Mr. HUBERT. That was the first time you had gotten fired?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. That was the first time.
Mr. HUBERT. Then, you came back the next day and cleaned the club?