Mr. RUBY. He came down to Dallas later.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Where was that published, that story? Just tell us
generally.
Mr. RUBY. Well, they offered it for sale to foreign countries,
publications in foreign countries, and also here through the
newspapers, through a sales organization that handles that, I think,
out of New York.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Was that life story serialized in a number of newspapers
throughout the country?
Mr. RUBY. When you say serialized, I don’t understand what you mean.
Mr. GRIFFIN. It was published over a period of days.
Mr. RUBY. Yes, yes.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Did it appear in any national magazines?
Mr. RUBY. No; not in the United States. I don’t think so.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Did you have some original discussion with Woodfield that
it would appear, that he would try to sell it to a national magazine?
Mr. RUBY. Well, our agreement was that he would sell it—yes, that if he
could sell it to a national magazine that he would.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Did you have any discussions with him about selling it to
the Saturday Evening Post?
Mr. RUBY. Yes.
Mr. GRIFFIN. When did that discussion take place?
Mr. RUBY. Not until later; probably down in Dallas when we met in
Dallas later on.
Mr. GRIFFIN. How much did the Ruby defense ultimately realize from that
newspaper article?
Mr. RUBY. The net?
Mr. GRIFFIN. Yes.
Mr. RUBY. A little over $30,000.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Did you people get—did the Ruby defense also get
contributions from people?
Mr. RUBY. Yes; but very little, very little.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Can you tell us approximately what the total of the
contributions were?
Mr. RUBY. Contributions—are you speaking right up to today now or until
the trial?
Mr. GRIFFIN. Not until the exact day. But do you have some figure as
to what it was up to today? Roughly, what it is? I don’t ask you to be
accurate to the penny.
Mr. RUBY. Well now, you see there are two funds, the story fund and a
separate fund that a defense committee was trying to raise.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Well, the story fund comprises the $30,000.
Mr. RUBY. Separate; yes.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Is there anything else in that fund besides the $30,000,
or did anything else go into it?
Mr. RUBY. Well, I put in whatever donations my brother received in the
jail I deposited. It was only—I don’t think it was $500 from there.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, other monies were given for the defense, though, were
they not?
Mr. RUBY. Yes.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Did they go into the defense committee fund? Did these
other monies go into the defense committee fund?
Mr. RUBY. Well, they were used for paying the bills, if that is what
you mean.
Mr. GRIFFIN. What I am trying to get at is, you say there are two
funds, one fund is what you call the newspaper fund——
Mr. RUBY. Well, you see, that—the newspaper—was more or less Jack
Ruby’s own fund. He authorized to write the story, and that was more or
less his own fund.
Mr. GRIFFIN. I see.
Mr. RUBY. But this is a separate committee that was set up in Chicago,
and they got several hundred dollars but we spent—well, on one ad we
spent $200 for the ad and we got $205 back—to give you an idea. We kept
using the money hoping to get more money in but it didn’t work out too
well.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Can you tell us who the members of that defense committee
are?
Mr. RUBY. Oh, yes. There is Michael Levin, a lawyer in Chicago, my
brother Hyman Ruby, Rubenstein, and Barney Ross, Marty Eritt.
Then there is another one or two in there that I am not too familiar
with. But they have got stationery. I don’t have it with me.
Mr. GRIFFIN. What efforts did they make to obtain funds?
Mr. RUBY. Well, they wrote some letters and they did advertising,
as I told you. However, quite a few of the—quite a few—most of the
newspapers wouldn’t take the ad. The Chicago papers wouldn’t take it.
The Tribune, and the Sun-Times in Chicago wouldn’t take an ad for an
appeal for funds for Jack Ruby.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Were you ever given any reasons?
Mr. RUBY. No; the answers were it is not their policy, and there was
another reason, I can’t remember the exact words. I don’t recall. But
Mike Levin did most of that, you know—the lawyer—he did most of the
calling and he told me, but I don’t remember the exact words and I
would rather not say—you know, if I am not sure of the exact words.
Mr. GRIFFIN. I don’t want you to say if you didn’t hear it.
Mr. RUBY. No.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Did you keep the records for that defense committee fund?
Mr. RUBY. Yes; most—yes; I would say yes.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Do you have those records here with you today?
Mr. RUBY. No; I gave them to an agent, though. I give them to an agent
some time ago. I gave him a list of all the monies that came in, and I
think I even gave him a list of who I paid it out to.
Mr. GRIFFIN. What is your best estimate of how much money came in
altogether in the defense committee fund?
Mr. RUBY. Now you are not talking about the story—right?
Mr. GRIFFIN. That is right.
Mr. RUBY. From the defense committee fund between $1,500 and $2,000,
altogether.
Mr. GRIFFIN. What were the expenses of the fund or is this—excuse me—is
this $1,500 or $2,000—is that a net figure or a gross figure?
Mr. RUBY. That is a gross.
Mr. GRIFFIN. All right. After expenses, what was ultimately left for
the application to the defense?
Mr. RUBY. I can’t give you an exact figure because I just can’t recall
all of the expenses we had, because I just paid a bill last week,
and I just don’t have it, but I would say we spent probably close to
a thousand dollars, because one ad alone was close to $300, and the
letter was another $300—is $600 already that I can think of. There were
other, smaller expenses.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Do you know what the total expenses were that have been
for the defense of your brother so far?
Mr. RUBY. In the low thirties. Of course, you must understand we are
continually spending money, so I don’t have it.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Have you been given an estimate recently as to what the
total expenses of the defense of your brother is going to be?
Mr. RUBY. An estimate?
Mr. GRIFFIN. Yes.
Mr. RUBY. You mean if it goes to the Supreme Court and all that?
Mr. GRIFFIN. Yes; have you been given any estimate as to what the total
expenses might be.
Mr. RUBY. No; I would say no. Just said it would run into a lot of
money but no figure was ever actually quoted, except by Belli.
You see, he really didn’t, either. He just—I am trying to think what
his statement was, now. No; he didn’t either, because at that time we
weren’t talking about Supreme Court, we were only talking about—you
know—the first trial.