Mrs. GRANT. By the way, when I say “I gave him”—that money came also
out of the $23,000.
Mr. BURLESON. Now, when the change of venue started and the picking of
the jury followed, who were the attorneys then that were sitting there
at the counsel table?
Mrs. GRANT. Well, Belli, Tonahill and yourself—I don’t remember—I think
Sam Brody was sick and went home. However, Mr. Belli brought in a young
gentleman who came and sat for a while.
Mr. BURLESON. Could that have been Mr. Bill Choulous?
Mrs. GRANT. Yes.
Mr. BURLESON. And that was out of Mr. Belli’s office?
Mrs. GRANT. That’s right.
Mr. BURLESON. Then, when it got into the actual trial of the case after
the change of venue lasted about a week, who were the attorneys then
during the picking of the jury?
Mrs. GRANT. Well, Mr. Burleson, Mr. Joe Tonahill, and Mr. Belli did all
the work from picking the jury and through the trial.
Mr. BURLESON. The three of them?
Mrs. GRANT. The three of them.
Mr. BURLESON. And they continued on through the trial?
Mrs. GRANT. Yes.
Mr. BURLESON. And they were the only ones sitting with Jack Ruby at the
time of the verdict?
Mrs. GRANT. You know, I was not in the courtroom all during the trial.
They kept me out in the lobby, but I do know—that is what I heard or
saw.
Mr. BURLESON. Now, within a week after the verdict came in, did you
write a letter to Mr. Belli dismissing him from the case or asking him
to withdraw, one or the other?
Mrs. GRANT. Yes.
Mr. BURLESON. You told him in the letter—what?
Mrs. GRANT. Well, I couldn’t reach him by telephone and since he’s
traveling around, and I’m——
Mr. BURLESON. What did you tell him in the letter?
Mrs. GRANT. Say it again?
Mr. BURLESON. Did you tell him in effect if he didn’t resign you would
fire him?
Mrs. GRANT. Well, yes; words to that effect.
Mr. BURLESON. In other words, he did resign?
Mrs. GRANT. Yes.
Mr. HUBERT. I think that letter was published in the press, was it not?
Mrs. GRANT. No—I never gave it to them. If it was, it shouldn’t be,
because we only made three copies, the original went to him and one
to Mr. Burleson and one to Tonahill. I didn’t want any more copies
around—I didn’t want that—that was one of the things that bothered me.
Mr. HUBERT. I don’t know, ma’am, I had the impression that I had seen
that letter through seeing a copy of it in the press.
Mrs. GRANT. If you did—I didn’t see it here, or we didn’t, and we would
have known it.
Mr. HUBERT. I don’t know—I may be mistaken.
Mrs. GRANT. That is one thing—that’s the whole thing—the whole case was
tried in the papers.
Mr. BURLESON. Now, after that you were feeling pretty low and sick at
that time, weren’t you?
Mrs. GRANT. Yes.
Mr. BURLESON. Did your family—Earl and Sam and sisters go down to
Houston and talk to Mr. Percy Foreman?
Mrs. GRANT. They did.
Mr. BURLESON. Was a contract drawn up at that time?
Mrs. GRANT. Yes; there was.
Mr. BURLESON. Did Mr. Foreman know you had Jack Ruby’s power of
attorney?
Mrs. GRANT. I don’t know what they told him but it was well indicated
that I was now controlling. I took over Earl Ruby’s power.
Mr. BURLESON. What did Mr. Foreman do as to whether or not he made any
announcements as to whether he was the attorney?
Mrs. GRANT. Well, he immediately called in the press. He immediately
stated what he wanted, he took pictures of my family and he said he
wanted $5,000 within 10 days and another $5,000 30 days following the
10 days.
Mr. BURLESON. Did he come to Dallas shortly thereafter?
Mrs. GRANT. The following week, I think, he came to Dallas—it wasn’t
that weekend, it was the following weekend—am I right—or was it that
week?
Mr. BURLESON. That week—I think they went down there, if I might help
you a little bit, about Monday.
Mrs. GRANT. He came down on a Saturday—I did not see him, but I spoke
with him over the phone. I thought he asked too much money. He wanted
power of attorney and I wasn’t happy about the contract, because these
contracts have a——
Mr. BURLESON. You had not signed a contract?
Mrs. GRANT. No.
Mr. BURLESON. Anyway, he went and visited Jack?
Mrs. GRANT. And he wanted Jack to come downstairs to take pictures with
him and our civil attorney, Stanley Marcus——
Mr. BURLESON. Do you mean Stanley Kaufman?
Mrs. GRANT. Stanley Kaufman, pardon me, wouldn’t permit it. He said
“This is one of the reasons Mrs. Grant and her family didn’t want Belli
in the picture. There has been too much newspaper publicity, radio,
and television. He couldn’t be hurt any worse and there is no sense of
you getting into this widespread publicity,” and Mr. Foreman and Mr.
Kaufman got into some squabble there and Mr. Kaufman left heated, I
understand, and Mr. Percy Foreman called me later that afternoon that
he was coming out to see me in the evening. He heard I had a doctor and
I was sick. He didn’t show up.
Mr. BURLESON. Did he make arrangements to meet you the next morning?
Mrs. GRANT. He did.
Mr. BURLESON. Monday morning?
Mrs. GRANT. At 9:30.
Mr. BURLESON. Where?
Mrs. GRANT. In the lobby of his hotel—the Statler.
Mr. BURLESON. Did you come down?
Mrs. GRANT. I came down.
Mr. BURLESON. With whom?
Mrs. GRANT. With my sister Eileen.
Mr. BURLESON. Did you meet him?
Mrs. GRANT. I met Mr. Burleson and Mr. Tonahill and we waited, and
we went upstairs and waited—we ordered some coffee and a roll and we
waited there about an hour and 40 minutes. The telephone rang and a
news commentator was on the phone and Mr. Burleson answered it and Mr.
Burleson was shocked from what he heard on the phone, that Mr. Percy
Foreman, instead of coming down to his own room to see us, he went to
the newspaper office somewhere or television or radio—I have no idea,
and made a public display of himself, that he is withdrawing from the
case. He indicated that he didn’t get along with the family and he
didn’t like our attorney—our civil attorney.
Mr. BURLESON. Did you at any time see him personally?
Mrs. GRANT. I never met him personally.
Mr. BURLESON. He then got out of the case and hasn’t had anything to do
with it since?
Mrs. GRANT. No.
Mr. BURLESON. Then, shortly thereafter, did you have an opportunity to
have a conference with Dr. Hubert Winston Smith?
Mrs. GRANT. Yes; I did.
Mr. BURLESON. And did you, Jack, and everybody sign a contract with Dr.
Hubert Smith?
Mrs. GRANT. Yes.
Mr. BURLESON. Employing him as chief counsel?
Mrs. GRANT. Yes—as chief counsel.
Mr. BURLESON. And keeping Mr. Tonahill and myself on?
Mrs. GRANT. Oh, yes.
Mr. BURLESON. Subsequent to that time, did your brother up in Chicago
talk to a Mr. Charles Bellows?
Mrs. GRANT. Well, Mr. Bellows knew about this case right along because
members of the family have known him for 20 or 30 years. I have never
known him—I have heard of him—they went to him, and it’s got so sick
and sickening here that Earl decided, as a friend, he could help us and
he is in the background.
Mr. BURLESON. Would you say he is in more an advisory capacity?
Mrs. GRANT. Just as a good family friend, and he is, I understand, a
very fine great criminal lawyer and he wants to help.
Mr. HUBERT. And you are speaking of the present as well as the past?
Mrs. GRANT. In the past he didn’t intercede because he figured Belli
would be capable. Not that—now, wait a minute—I don’t mean to say that
they are not—it’s just after there is so much to it and he has heard
how the case was handled, and since Earl went to him.
Mr. BURLESON. And Mr. Bellows did make one trip down to Dallas?
Mrs. GRANT. Yes; he did.
Mr. BURLESON. And stayed a matter of hours and then flew on back?
Mrs. GRANT. That’s right.
Mr. BURLESON. So that to get back to what we wanted to answer the
question he asked you earlier—who are the present attorneys now?
Mrs. GRANT. Phil Burleson, who is doing most of the work, Mr. Joe
Tonahill, Mr. Hubert Winston Smith, and Mr. Charles Bellows.
Mr. BURLESON. And Bellows is in an advisory capacity to help any way he
can?
Mrs. GRANT. That’s right. I’m sorry I forgot about some of them.
Mr. BURLESON. Now, going to this money situation—as far as you know,
recognizing that you are under oath—as far as you know, there were no
contributions of any large sum other than the one $250 that you have
talked about.
Mrs. GRANT. That was the largest and the one and only of that kind.
Mr. BURLESON. Have you heard rumors that the Ruby defense fund received
large sums?
Mrs. GRANT. I have heard they got—I think they’ve got close to a
thousand dollars—I may be wrong.
Mr. BURLESON. I mean, have you heard rumors for instance, not too long
ago I heard a rumor that Stanley Marcus gave $25,000; have you heard
rumors similar to that?
Mrs. GRANT. I have heard many of those kind by different people but we
haven’t received it.
Mr. BURLESON. You know nothing about any such large sum?