Mr. HUBERT. You got along all right?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. We got along all right.
Mr. HUBERT. There was no friction between you?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No.
Mr. HUBERT. As I understand it, most of the time when you got there he
had already been awake and at least begun to clean up, although most of
the time he had not finished and you and he finished together?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Right.
Mr. HUBERT. So, in a sense, he was helping you out?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Right.
Mr. HUBERT. So you got to the club about 11:20 and you heard the sirens
blowing and you turned on your transistor radio and you heard about the
President being shot, and I think you said you went and woke Larry up?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Well, I didn’t finish that. I woke Larry up and I--he
sat up and I went back out of the room and I went back to what I was
doing because it was necessary--absolutely necessary.
Mr. HUBERT. You mean you were on the toilet, is that right?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Yes; and then I heard further reports and I got up again
and I went and told Larry the President had been shot.
Mr. HUBERT. The first time you went there you didn’t tell him about the
President being shot?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No; I told him somebody shot at the President, and
Larry--I noticed the couple of times that I had woke him up he always
went back to sleep and he did the same thing this time, but when I told
him that the President had been shot, he jumped straight up--he got up
immediately and put his clothes on.
Mr. HUBERT. Now, what interval of time elapsed between the first time
you woke him up and then went back to the toilet and the second time
when you came back and told him the President had been shot?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. I don’t know, it couldn’t have been longer than a couple
of minutes--I don’t think.
Mr. HUBERT. All right. What did you all do then?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. We just walked around and listened to the radio, shaking
our heads and waiting on more reports.
Mr. HUBERT. Did you have a television in the place?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Yes; we had a television--I turned the television on.
Mr. HUBERT. Did you all listen to both the television and the radio?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Both the television and the radio--there wasn’t too much
on the TV, so you could get more on the radio.
Mr. HUBERT. When did you hear from Jack, after the shooting of the
President?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Oh, I would say about 15 or 20 minutes.
Mr. HUBERT. After you first heard about it?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. After I first heard about it.
Mr. HUBERT. How did you hear from him?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. On the telephone.
Mr. HUBERT. What did he say?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. He just said, “Did you hear?” and I said, “Yes.” He
said, “Ain’t it terrible?” “It’s a shame.” Just like that--real sadlike.
Mr. HUBERT. That was before the President had died?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. That was before the President had died.
Mr. HUBERT. Do you know where he was calling from?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Well, I assumed he was calling from the Morning News.
Mr. HUBERT. Why do you assume that?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Because I could always tell when he called from the
Morning News.
Mr. HUBERT. Why--because of what?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Well, usually on Saturday at the time he was at the
Morning News--that was on a Saturday, wasn’t it?
Mr. HUBERT. No; it was on Friday.
Mr. ARMSTRONG. It was on Friday--well, Friday or Saturday is the same
as--the Saturday ads----
Mr. HUBERT. Well, is it your testimony then that he was usually at the
Morning News on both Friday and Saturday attending to the ads for the
week?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Right.
Mr. HUBERT. Is there any other thing that would make you believe he was
there at the Morning News, such as some background noises that would be
peculiar to a newspaper?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Well--there was this typewriter that I always hear when
he called from down there, and I only heard it at this time--about four
clicks of it.
Mr. HUBERT. You mean on the time he called you about 20 minutes after
the President had been shot?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Yes.
Mr. HUBERT. You heard four clicks?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. On the typewriter that I usually hear it on.
Mr. HUBERT. Usually, you would hear a big clatter of it?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Right.
Mr. HUBERT. At this time you heard about four clicks and no more?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. And no more.
Mr. HUBERT. Did you place any particular significance to that?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No.
Mr. HUBERT. Do you now?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No.
Mr. HUBERT. I was curious why you mentioned that fact then.
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Well, I mentioned it to verify the reason why I thought
he was at the Morning News. He did not tell me he was at the Morning
News.
Mr. HUBERT. I understand.
Mr. ARMSTRONG. But I assumed that he was at the Morning News.
Mr. HUBERT. Now, he asked you if you had heard and you told him yes and
he said, “Wasn’t it terrible,” and so forth?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Yes.
Mr. HUBERT. What else did he say?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Well, he said if anything happens we are going to close
the club up.
Mr. HUBERT. “If anything happens,” I suppose you mean that he was
inferring, or you thought he was, that if the President would die?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Right.
Mr. HUBERT. Did he say so in so many words?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No.
Mr. HUBERT. He just said, “If anything happens.”
Mr. ARMSTRONG. “We are going to close the club.”
Mr. HUBERT. Any other conversation?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No; he said, “I’ll see you in about 30 minutes,” and I
would say he was there in about 5 minutes after they announced that the
President was dead.
Mr. HUBERT. Do you remember what time that was?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No; I don’t recall what time it was.
Mr. HUBERT. In any case, within 5 minutes after you heard that the
President was dead, Jack came in?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. He came in.
Mr. HUBERT. Did he know then that the President was dead?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. He knew.
Mr. HUBERT. Did he say so?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Well, he was--he didn’t say anything--he just got on the
telephone. No, he said something about, “It’s a shame.” He kept saying,
“It’s a shame,” like that and he got on the telephone and he was crying.
Mr. HUBERT. Do you know who he was speaking to on the telephone?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Well, he spoke to his sister, he spoke to--he made some
long-distance phone calls, I think one to his brother Earl.
Mr. HUBERT. How do you know that?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. He made one because it was--I could tell--I could
usually tell when he was usually talking to his brother Earl.
Mr. HUBERT. Did he speak to Earl very often?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Well, during that month of November he had spoken to him
quite often about some business deal he was trying to get him to go
into.
Mr. HUBERT. Do you know the nature of that business deal?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Twist boards, I think it was.
Mr. HUBERT. You overheard the conversation?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Yes, on this particular day?
Mr. HUBERT. No, I mean on the previous occasions?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Yes, some of them.
Mr. HUBERT. Did you gather from what you heard Ruby say on the Dallas
end of the line when he was talking to his brother Earl that he was
trying to interest him in investing in the twist board invention?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Well, no--not on this day. On the other days--he didn’t
say anything about the twist board this day.
Mr. HUBERT. I understand, I’m talking about the other day.
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Well, usually, I knew he was going to talk to him, he
would say, “I’m going to call Earl,” and he would ask for Earl’s phone
number which was on a pad there by the phone. He would ask me or he
would get it himself.
Mr. HUBERT. What was this twist-board business about?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. It was trying to promote a twist board, trying to get it
to go over like the hula hula or something like that.
Mr. HUBERT. Do you know if he was trying to interest anyone else in
that?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. I know he sent some brochures and things like that to
other people, but I don’t recall who.
Mr. HUBERT. From what you were able to hear during those various
conversations between Jack and Earl Ruby, during the month of November,
was Earl interested?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Well, yes and no. You could say he was interested
in--for hoping it would be a good deal for Jack’s benefit, but I don’t
think he was too interested in investing any money but if he would have
to, I believe he would.
Mr. HUBERT. Did Jack tell you all that?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. In a way he did.
Mr. HUBERT. How do you mean “in a way”?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Well, in other words, he said that Earl might invest
money.
Mr. HUBERT. So, your statement about whether Earl was interested or
not is based upon two factors, I suppose, and correct me if I am
wrong--was--one is that you could hear Jack’s end of the conversation?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Yes.
Mr. HUBERT. And the other is that Ruby told you some things about it?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Right.
Mr. HUBERT. And the net result was that Earl wasn’t too interested in
it, but might be for Jack’s sake?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Right.
Mr. HUBERT. Is that a fair statement?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Right.
Mr. HUBERT. Who else did Jack call, do you know?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Well, he called Ralph Paul.
Mr. HUBERT. Did you overhear that conversation?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. I remember it was a short conversation but Jack said he
was going to close the club up and Ralph said he was not going to close
this place up----
Mr. HUBERT. How do you know he said that?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Because he told me later on he did.
Mr. HUBERT. But, at the moment all you could hear was Jack saying to
Ralph Paul--he was going to close the place up?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Jack did say--he says, “You should close yours up too.”
Mr. HUBERT. But you didn’t hear Paul’s answer?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. I didn’t hear his answer.
Mr. HUBERT. But later you understand from Paul that he told Jack he
wasn’t going to do so?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Right.
Mr. HUBERT. Who else did he call; do you know?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No; I don’t remember who else he called--he made five or
six phone calls.