Senator COOPER. Did anyone ever say to you in the event there was a
charge of conspiracy who would be named other than Oswald?
Mr. WADE. No; there is no other names, there is no other name that
I know of that has ever been mentioned to me as being part of the
conspiracy.
The question we are talking about here, if I understand it, being that
Oswald, as a part of an international conspiracy, did murder John
Fitzgerald Kennedy. And there is no other names of co-conspirators, we
have had lots of leads run down upon it. Somebody at the penitentiary
down there, a colored person, at least the word to us, that he had told
the guard he had hauled Oswald away from there, you all probably got
this, but we interviewed him down there.
He was just talking and wanting to come back to Dallas. But there had
been lots of things of that kind but to my knowledge none of them have
actually been proven out.
Mr. RANKIN. Mr. Wade, I don't think you have quite finished the--all of
your--hour-by-hour description of what happened up through the killing
of Mr. Oswald.
Mr. WADE. I thought I had hit it. The only thing I can't remember now
is the Saturday night.
It seemed like I was down at the police station Saturday night. Why I
don't know and maybe for a short while and don't recall everything that
happened. That was Saturday, 23d of November, and there is nothing, the
charge had already been taken, and I think probably I was on my way
home and just stopped by to see what was going on.
At that time there wasn't anything going on and I went home.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you do anything more about the press and TV and radio
people crowding into the police station than you have already described?
Mr. WADE. No; you see--I have been in that building probably once every
2 years.
It is the other end of town from my building. I never go up there
and I don't think it is my business what goes on up there. Maybe it
should be, but I have never been considering it. I think I have enough
problems down at my end of the street.
Mr. RANKIN. In any event you didn't do anything.
Mr. WADE. I didn't tell them anything, I could see the confusion they
were getting into but I don't know of anything that I told about, but
what if I did, I had no control over it. It was one of those things I
just figured I was the one who didn't have the say in it.
Mr. RANKIN. What did you do on Sunday, the 25th?
Mr. WADE. Well, went to church.
Mr. RANKIN. The 24th.
Mr. WADE. I went to church, my family and I went to Dr. W. J. Martin's
nondenominational church. It has 27 different denominations, very
bright fellow, if you are in Dallas you ought to go and hear him.
And as I walked out somebody said they shot Oswald. So I took--turned
on the radio and took my wife and kids home, and went down to the
police station.
There were still fragments of the story coming in, and we would still
get every kind of story out of them, and we got down there at I guess
1:30. He died and then like I said, I think all I told the press, they
asked me as I left there, a few of them what we would do on Ruby and I
said we would ask the death penalty on him, and then I left and I went
home and then I followed it that night and giving them what evidence I
had.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you have anything to do with a lawyer by the name of
Tom Howard in connection with that?
Mr. WADE. No, sir; Tom Howard had filed some kind of writ of habeas
corpus, assault to murder, and I never did see him. I saw Bob Stinson,
another lawyer on a corner and he said he and Robey were going to
represent him, which, I don't think they did, but they said they were
and so I went on home, and then when he died, we had a murder case, and
we took it to the grand jury the next morning, I believe, on Monday
morning and indicted him, turned it into Judge Joe Brown's court and I
was there, and as the grand jury walked in he said, "When are you going
to hear Ruby?"
And I said, "I already have got the indictment here," and I said, then
I went right back and asked the judge to transfer it over to Judge
Henry King's court or Frank Wilson's court.
Mr. RANKIN. Do you know what happened to that habeas corpus of Tom
Howard's?
Mr. WADE. No.
Mr. RANKIN. You didn't have anything to do with it?
Mr. WADE. I understand from hearsay it disappeared or somewhere down
there but we don't have anything to do with writs. But they don't come
through our office. You see that is directed by the judge. I heard or
at least Decker or somebody told me they never could find the writ but
there was some writ for assault to murder originally issued.
And then, of course, after he died and the murder charge was filed,
well, that would actually be out of date.
Senator COOPER. Was it a writ of habeas corpus to bring Oswald before a
court?
Mr. WADE. No. Jack Ruby.
Senator COOPER. Jack Ruby.
Mr. WADE. It was actually, they have two kinds of writs, one of them is
where they set a bond on it and another one is what they have called a
dry writ which says, "You file on him or bring him before me at such
and such a time."
Which one it was I don't know. As a matter of fact, I thought there
was a bond set on it, but I told the chief, I said, "You can hold him,
we don't want to release him until you know whether the person dies or
not because then he wouldn't be a bailable case," assault to murder is
bailable.
I never saw the writ or anything. I just heard somebody say there is a
writ on him.
(At this point, Chairman Warren entered the hearing room.)
Mr. RANKIN. Did you ever help Ruby about any of his troubles of any
kind?
Mr. WADE. Not that I know of.
Mr. RANKIN. Prior to this occasion?
Mr. WADE. No; I think we have had him for a liquor violation or
something, but if we have--like I say, I never knew him. I think that
they have had some charges against him.
As a matter of fact, they had two pistol charges against him but I
don't think they ever reached my office.
Mr. RANKIN. Do you know what charges they were about pistols?
Mr. WADE. Carrying a concealed weapon and if I understand the record I
think we checked it out and they dismissed them up in the police force.
There was one liquor case that was dismissed in my office by an
assistant who is no longer there which I have read the reports on and
don't have any recollection of it either way.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you know Eva Grant?
Mr. WADE. No, sir.
Mr. RANKIN. Ruby's sister. Do you know Sam Ruby?
Mr. WADE. I knew none of them, none of the Ruby family, and didn't know
Jack Ruby. I think he claims that he had known me or something or other
but if he had, it is one of those things where you see somebody and I
didn't know his name or anything when I saw him that night or didn't
know who he was. I thought he was a member of the press, actually.
Mr. RANKIN. Did it come to your attention that there was some claim
that Oswald was an agent of one of the intelligence agencies of
Government?