So in the meantime, I had gone with Alice Nichols for some time, and
I called her on the phone but she wasn't there, but I left the number
on the pay phone for her to return the call, because I didn't want to
keep the business phone tied up. And I hadn't spoken to her in maybe 9
months or a year. I don't know what I said to her, not many words, but
just what happened.
I still remained around the club there. I am sure I was crying pretty
bad. I think I made a long-distance call to California. This fellow had
just visited me, and I had known him in the days back in Chicago when
we were very young, in the real tough part of Chicago. His name is Al
Gruber.
He was a bad kid in those days, but he is quite reformed. He is married
and has a family, and I am sure he makes a very legitimate livelihood
at this time.
He happened to come through a couple of nights prior to that to try
to interest me, or 4 or 5 days prior to that, to interest me in a new
kind--you follow the story as I tell it?
Chief Justice WARREN. Yes.
Mr. RUBY. It is important, very important. It is on a new kind of
machine that washes cars. You pay with tokens. It is a new thing. I
don't know if it faded out or not. He tried to interest my brother,
Sammy, because Sammy sold his washateria.
And my sister was in the hospital when he first came. I am going back
a little bit. Sammy didn't go to the hospital, and we needed to tell
Sammy about this particular thing, and that is the reason Al Gruber
came into the picture, because he came to try to interest my brother,
Sammy, in this new washateria deal to wash cars.
He left and went to California, but before he went to California I
promised him my dachshund dog.
When this thing happened, I called him. He said, "Yes, we are just
watching on television." And I couldn't carry on more conversation. I
said, "Al, I have to hang up."
Then I must have called my sister, Eileen, in Chicago.
Then a fellow came over to deliver some merchandise I had ordered over
the phone, or Andy ordered. And we said, "What is the use of purchasing
any merchandise of any kind, we are not interested in business." And I
don't recall what I said, but I told him whatever money he received, to
keep the change. I am not a philanthropist, but nothing bothered me at
the time. I wasn't interested in anything.
Then I kept calling my sister, Eva, because she wanted me to come be
with her.
Eva and I have a very complex personality. Very rarely can I be with
her, but on this particular occasion, since she was carrying on so, I
felt that I wanted to be with someone that meant something to me. I
wanted to be with her.
And I kept calling her back, "I will be there." And so on. But I never
did get there until a couple of hours later.
I finally left the club. I am sure you gentlemen can brief in all the
things that happened before. A kid by the name of Larry up there, I
think I told him to send the dog they crated, to find out about the
price--very implusive about everything.
Then I left the club. And I had been dieting, but I felt I wanted some
food. I can't explain it. It would be like getting intoxicated at that
particular time. It is amusing, but it is true.
I went over to the Ritz Delicatessen a block and a half away. Must have
bought out the store, for about $10 worth of delicacies and so on. Went
out to my sister's and stayed at her apartment.
Oh, I called from the apartment--my sister knew more of my calls than I
did. I remember I think I called--I can't think of who I called.
Anyway, I am sure I made some calls of what had happened there.
Somebody will have to piece me together from the time I got to my
sister's apartment where I had partaken of the food.
Oh yes, I called Andy. This Andy Armstrong called me and said, "Don
Safran wants you to call him."
This is rare for this gentleman, because he is a columnist for the
Dallas Times Herald, because he never could get out any copy for my
club. And he said, "Don Safran wants me to call him."