Ruby later followed the district attorney out of the press conference,

walked up to him and, according to Wade, said “Hi Henry * * * Don’t you

know me? * * * I am Jack Ruby, I run the Vegas Club. * * *”[C6-937]

Ruby also introduced himself to Justice of the Peace David L. Johnston,

shook his hand, gave Johnston a business card to the Carousel Club,

and, upon learning Johnston’s official position, shook Johnston’s hand

again.[C6-938] After talking with Johnston, he gave another card to

Icarus M. Pappas, a reporter for New York radio station WNEW.[C6-939]

From a representative of radio station KBOX in Dallas, Ruby obtained

the “hot line” telephone number to KLIF.[C6-940] He then called the

station and told one of the employees that he would like to come up to

distribute the sandwiches and cold drinks he had purchased.[C6-941]

Observing Pappas holding a telephone line open and attempting to get

the attention of District Attorney Wade, Ruby directed Wade to Pappas,

who proceeded to interview the district attorney.[C6-942] Ruby then

called KLIF a second time and offered to secure an interview with Wade;

he next summoned Wade to his phone, whereupon KLIF recorded a telephone

interview with the district attorney.[C6-943] A few minutes later. Ruby

encountered Russ Knight, a reporter from KLIF who had left the station

for the police department at the beginning of Ruby’s second telephone

call. Ruby directed Knight to Wade and waited a short distance away

while the reporter conducted another interview with the district

attorney.[C6-944]

_At radio station KLIF._--When Ruby left police headquarters, he

drove to radio station KLIF, arriving at approximately 1:45 a.m. and

remaining for about 45 minutes.[C6-945] After first distributing his

sandwiches and soft drinks, Ruby settled in the newsroom for the 2 a.m.

newscast in which he was credited with suggesting that Russ Knight ask

District Attorney Wade whether or not Oswald was sane.[C6-946] After

the newscast, Ruby gave a Carousel card to one KLIF employee, although

another did not recall that Ruby was promoting his club as he normally

did.[C6-947] When speaking with KLIF’s Danny Patrick McCurdy, Ruby

mentioned that he was going to close his clubs for the weekend and

that he would rather lose $1,200 or $1,500 than remain open at that

time in the Nation’s history. McCurdy remembered that Ruby “looked

rather pale to me as he was talking to me and he kept looking at the

floor.”[C6-948] To announcer Glen Duncan, Ruby expressed satisfaction

that the evidence was mounting against Oswald. Duncan said that Ruby

did not appear to be grieving but, instead, seemed pleased about the

personal contact he had had with the investigation earlier in the

evening.[C6-949]

Ruby left the radio station accompanied by Russ Knight. Engaging Knight

in a short conversation, Ruby handed him a radio script entitled

“Heroism” from a conservative radio program called “Life Line.” It was

apparently one of the scripts that had come into Ruby’s hands a few

weeks before at the Texas Products Show when Hunt Foods were including

such scripts with samples of their products.[C6-950] The script

extolled the virtues of those who embark upon risky business ventures

and stand firmly for causes they believe to be correct.[C6-951] Ruby

asked Knight’s views on the script and suggested that there was a

group of “radicals” in Dallas which hated President Kennedy and that

the owner of the radio station should editorialize against this group.

Knight could not clearly determine whether Ruby had reference to

persons who sponsored programs like “Life Line” or to those who held

leftwing views.[C6-952] Knight gained the impression that Ruby believed

such persons, whoever they might be, were partially responsible for the

assassination.[C6-953]

_Early morning of November 23._--At about 2:30 a.m., Ruby entered

his automobile and departed for the Dallas Times-Herald Building. En

route, he stopped for about an hour to speak with Kay Helen Coleman,

one of his dancers, and Harry Olsen, a member of the Dallas Police

Department, who had hailed him from a parking garage at the corner

of Jackson and Field Streets. The couple were crying and extremely

upset over the assassination. At one point, according to Ruby, the

police officer remarked that “they should cut this guy [Oswald] inch

by inch into ribbons,” and the dancer said that “in England they

would drag him through the streets and would have hung him.”[C6-954]

Although Ruby failed to mention this episode during his first two FBI

interviews,[C6-955] he later explained that his reason for failing to

do so was that he did not “want to involve them in anything, because

it was supposed to be a secret that he [the police officer] was going

with this young lady.”[C6-956] About 6 weeks after the assassination,

Olsen left the Dallas Police Department and married Miss Coleman. Both

Olsen and his wife testified that they were greatly upset during their

lengthy conversation with Ruby early Saturday morning; but Mrs. Olsen

denied and Olsen did not recall the remarks ascribed to them.[C6-957]

The Olsens claimed instead that Ruby had cursed Oswald.[C6-958] Mrs.

Olsen also mentioned that Ruby expressed sympathy for Mrs. Kennedy and

her children.[C6-959]

From Jackson and Field Streets, Ruby drove to the Dallas Times-Herald,

where he talked for about 15 minutes with composing room employee Roy

Pryor, who had just finished a shift at 4 a.m. Ruby mentioned that

he had seen Oswald earlier in the night, that he had corrected Henry

Wade in connection with the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, and that

he had set up a telephone interview with Wade. Pryor testified that

Ruby explicitly stated to him that he believed he was in good favor

with the district attorney.[C6-960] Recalling that Ruby described

Oswald as a “little weasel of a guy” and was emotionally concerned

about the President’s wife and children, Pryor also was impressed by

Ruby’s sorrowful mood and remembered that, as he talked, Ruby shook a

newspaper to emphasize his concern over the assassination.[C6-961]

When Pryor left the composing room, Ruby remained and continued

speaking with other employees, including Arthur Watherwax and the

foreman, Clyde Gadash. Ruby, who often visited the Times-Herald at

that early morning hour in connection with his ads, sought Watherwax’s

views on his decision to close his clubs and indicated he was going

to attempt to persuade other club owners to do likewise. Watherwax

described Ruby as “pretty shaken up” about the assassination and at the

same time “excited” that he had attended Oswald’s Friday night press

conference.[C6-962]

While at the Times-Herald, Ruby displayed to the composing room

employees a “twistboard” he had previously promised to Gadash.[C6-963]

The twistboard was an exercising device consisting of two pieces of

hardened materials joined together by a lazy susan bearing so that

one piece could remain stationary on the floor while a person stood

atop it and swiveled to and fro.[C6-964] Ruby had been trying to

promote sales of the board in the weeks before President Kennedy was

killed.[C6-965] Considerable merriment developed when one of the women

employees at the Times-Herald demonstrated the board, and Ruby himself,

put on a demonstration for those assembled.[C6-966] He later testified:

“* * * not that I wanted to get in with the hilarity of frolicking,

but he [Gadash] asked me to show him, and the other men gathered

around.”[C6-967] Gadash agreed that Ruby’s general mood was one of

sorrow.[C6-968]

At about 4:30 a.m., Ruby drove from the Dallas Times-Herald to his

apartment where he awakened his roommate George Senator.[C6-969] During

his visit in the composing room Ruby had expressed the view that the

Weissman advertisement was an effort to discredit the Jews.[C6-970]

Senator testified that when Ruby returned to the apartment, he began

to discuss the Weissman advertisement and also a signboard he had seen

in Dallas urging that Chief Justice Earl Warren be impeached.[C6-971]

Shortly thereafter, Ruby telephoned Larry Crafard at the Carousel

Club.[C6-972] He told Crafard to meet him and Senator at the Nichols

Garage adjacent to the Carousel Club and to bring a Polaroid camera

kept in the club.[C6-973] After Crafard joined Ruby and Senator, the

three men drove to the “Impeach Earl Warren” sign near Hall Avenue and

Central Expressway in Dallas. There Ruby instructed Crafard to take

three photographs of the billboard. Believing that the sign and the

Weissman newspaper ad might somehow be connected, Ruby noted on the

back of an envelope a name and post office box number that appeared on

the sign.[C6-974] According to George Senator:

* * * when he was looking at the sign and taking pictures of

it, and the newspaper ad, * * * this is where he really wanted

to know the whys or why these things had to be out. He is

trying to combine these two together, which I did hear him say,

“This is the work of the John Birch Society or the Communist

Party or maybe a combination of both.”[C6-975]

Pursuing a possible connection between the billboard and the newspaper

advertisement, Ruby drove to the post office and asked a postal

employee for the name of the man who had rented the box indicated on

the billboard, but the employee said that he could not provide such

information. Ruby inspected the box, however, and was upset to find it

stuffed with mail.[C6-976] The three men then drove to a coffeeshop

where Ruby continued to discuss the two advertisements. After about 30

minutes, they left the coffeeshop. Crafard was taken to the Carousel

Club; Ruby and Senator returned to their apartment,[C6-977] and Ruby

retired at about 6 a.m.[C6-978]

_The morning and afternoon of November 23._--At 8 or 8:30 a.m. Crafard,

who had been asked to feed Ruby’s dogs, telephoned Ruby at his

apartment to inquire about food for the animals.[C6-979] Ruby forgot

that he had told Crafard he did not plan to go to bed and reprimanded

Crafard for waking him.[C6-980] A few hours thereafter Crafard

assembled his few belongings, took from the Carousel cash register $5

of money due him from Ruby, left a receipt and thank-you note, and

began hitchhiking to Michigan. Later that day, Andrew Armstrong found

the note and telephoned Ruby.[C6-981]

Ruby apparently did not return to bed following Crafard’s call. During

the morning hours, he watched a rabbi deliver on television a moving

eulogy of President Kennedy.[C6-982] According to Ruby, the rabbi:

went ahead and eulogized that here is a man that fought in

every battle, went to every country, and had to come back to

his own country to be shot in the back [starts crying] * * *.

That created a tremendous emotional feeling for me, the

way he said that. Prior to all the other times, I was carried

away.[C6-983]

An employee from the Carousel Club who telephoned Ruby during the

morning remembered that his “voice was shaking” when he spoke of the

assassination.[C6-984]

Ruby has stated that, upon leaving his apartment some time between

noon and 1:30 p.m., he drove to Dealey Plaza where a police officer,

who noted Ruby’s solemnity, pointed out to him the window from which

the rifleshots had been fired the day before.[C6-985] Ruby related

that he inspected the wreaths that had been placed in memory of the

President and became filled with emotion while speaking with the

police officer.[C6-986] Ruby introduced himself to a reporter for

radio station KRLD who was working inside a mobile news unit at the

plaza; the newsman mentioned to Ruby that he had heard of Ruby’s help

to KLIF in obtaining an interview with Henry Wade, and Ruby pointed

out to the reporter that Capt. J. Will Fritz and Chief Curry were then

in the vicinity. Thereafter, the newsman interviewed and photographed

the officers.[C6-987] Ruby said that he next drove home and returned

downtown to Sol’s Turf Bar on Commerce Street.[C6-988]

The evidence indicated, however, that sometime after leaving Dealey

Plaza, Ruby went to the Nichols Parking Garage adjacent to the Carousel

Club, where he was seen by Garnett C. Hallmark, general manager of

the garage, and Tom Brown, an attendant. Brown believed that at about

1:30 p.m. he heard Ruby mention Chief Curry’s name in a telephone

conversation from the garage. Brown also recalled that, before finally

departing, Ruby asked him to inform acquaintances whom he expected to

stop by the garage that the Carousel would be closed.[C6-989] Hallmark

testified that Ruby drove into the garage at about 3 p.m., walked to

the telephone, inquired whether or not a competing burlesque club would

be closed that night, and told Hallmark that he (Ruby) was “acting

like a reporter.”[C6-990] Hallmark then heard Ruby address someone

at the other end of the telephone as “Ken” and caught portions of a

conversation concerning the transfer of Oswald.[C6-991] Hallmark said

Ruby never called Oswald by name but used the pronoun “he” and remarked

to the recipient of the call, “you know I’ll be there.”[C6-992]

Ken Dowe, a KLIF announcer, to whom Ruby made at least two telephone

calls within a short span of time Saturday afternoon, confirmed that

he was probably the person to whom Hallmark and Brown overheard Ruby

speaking. In one call to Dowe, Ruby asked whether the station knew

when Oswald would be moved; and, in another, he stated he was going to

attempt to locate Henry Wade.[C6-993] After Ruby finished his calls, he

walked onto Commerce Street, passed the Carousel Club, and returned a

few minutes later to get his car.[C6-994]

Ruby’s comment that he was “acting like a reporter” and that he would

be at the Oswald transfer suggests that Ruby may have spent part of

Saturday afternoon shuttling back and forth from the Police and Courts

Building to Dealey Plaza. Such activity would explain the fact that

Tom Brown at the Nichols Garage believed he saw Ruby at 1:30 p.m.

while Garnett Hallmark placed Ruby at the garage at 3 p.m. It would

also explain Ken Dowe’s receiving two phone calls from Ruby. The

testimony of five news reporters supports the possibility that Ruby

was at the Police and Courts Building Saturday afternoon.[C6-995]

One stated that Ruby provided sandwiches for newsmen on duty there

Saturday afternoon, although no news representative has mentioned

personally receiving such sandwiches.[C6-996] Another testified that

he received a card to the Carousel Club from Ruby about 4 p.m. that

day at the police station.[C6-997] A third believed he saw Ruby enter

an office in which Henry Wade was working, but no one else reported

a similar event.[C6-998] The remaining two witnesses mentioned no

specific activities.[C6-999] None of the persons who believed they saw

Ruby at the police department on Saturday had known him previously,

and no police officer has reported Ruby’s presence on that day. Ruby

has not mentioned such a visit. The Commission, therefore, reached no

firm conclusion as to whether or not Ruby visited the Dallas Police

Department on Saturday.

Shortly after 3 p.m. Ruby went to Sol’s Turf Bar on Commerce Street

where he remained for about 45 minutes. Ruby, a nondrinker, stated

that he visited Sol’s for the purpose of talking with his accountant,

who customarily prepared the bar’s payroll on Saturday afternoon.

The accountant testified, however, that he saw Ruby only briefly

and mentioned no business conversation with Ruby.[C6-1000] Ruby

was first noticed at the Turf Bar by jeweler Frank Bellochio, who,

after seeing Ruby, began to berate the people of Dallas for the

assassination.[C6-1001] Ruby disagreed and, when Bellochio said he

might close his jewelry business and leave Dallas, Ruby attempted to

calm him, saying that there were many good citizens in Dallas.[C6-1002]

In response, Bellochio pointed to a copy of the Bernard Weissman

advertisement.[C6-1003] To Bellochio’s bewilderment, Ruby then said

he believed that the advertisement was the work of a group attempting

to create anti-Semitic feelings in Dallas and that he had learned

from the Dallas Morning News that the ad had been paid for partly in

cash.[C6-1004] Ruby thereupon produced one of the photographs he had

taken Saturday morning of the “Impeach Earl Warren” sign and excitedly

began to rail against the sign as if he agreed with Bellochio’s

original criticism of Dallas.[C6-1005] He “seemed to be taking two

sides--he wasn’t coherent,” Bellochio testified.[C6-1006] When

Bellochio saw Ruby’s photographs, which Bellochio thought supported

his argument against Dallas, he walked to the front of the bar and

showed them to Tom Apple, with whom he had been previously arguing. In

Apple’s presence, Bellochio asked Ruby for one of the pictures but Ruby

refused, mentioning that he regarded the pictures as a scoop.[C6-1007]

Bellochio testified: “I spoke to Tom and said a few more words to

Tom, and Ruby was gone--never said ‘Goodbye’ or ‘I’ll be seeing

you.’”[C6-1008]

Ruby may have left in order to telephone Stanley Kaufman, a friend

and attorney who had represented him in civil matters.[C6-1009]

Kaufman testified that, at approximately 4 p.m., Ruby called him

about the Bernard Weissman advertisement. According to Kaufman,

“Jack was particularly impressed with the [black] border as being a

tipoff of some sort--that this man knew the President was going to

be assassinated * * *.”[C6-1010] Ruby told Kaufman that he had tried

to locate Weissman by going to the post office and said that he was

attempting to be helpful to law enforcement authorities.[C6-1011]

Considerable confusion exists as to the place from which Ruby placed

the call to Kaufman and as to his activities after leaving Sol’s Turf

Bar. Eva Grant stated that the call was made from her apartment about

4 p.m.[C6-1012] Ruby, however, believed it was made from the Turf Bar.

He stated that from the Turf Bar he went to the Carousel and then home

and has not provided additional details on his activities during the

hours from about 4 to 9:30 p.m.[C6-1013] Robert Larkin saw him downtown

at about 6 p.m.[C6-1014] and Andrew Armstrong testified that Ruby

visited the Carousel Club between 6 and 7 p.m. and remained about an

hour.[C6-1015]

_At Eva Grant’s apartment Saturday evening._--Eva Grant believed that,

for most of the period from 4 until 8 p.m., Ruby was at her apartment.

Mrs. Grant testified that her brother was still disturbed about the

Weissman advertisement when he arrived, showed her the photograph

of the Warren sign, and recounted his argument with Bellochio about

the city of Dallas. Still curious as to whether or not Weissman was

Jewish, Mrs. Grant asked her brother whether he had been able to find

the name Bernard Weissman in the Dallas city directory, and Ruby

said he had not. Their doubts about Weissman’s existence having been

confirmed, both began to speculate that the Weissman ad and the Warren

sign were the work of either “Commies or the Birchers,” and were

designed to discredit the Jews.[C6-1016] Apparently in the midst of

that conversation Ruby telephoned Russ Knight at KLIF and, according to

Knight, asked who Earl Warren was.[C6-1017]

Mrs. Grant has testified that Ruby eventually retired to her bedroom

where he made telephone calls and slept.[C6-1018] About 8:30 p.m.,

Ruby telephoned to Thomas J. O’Grady, a friend and former Dallas

police officer who had once worked for Ruby as a bouncer. To O’Grady,

Ruby mentioned closing the Carousel Club, criticized his competitors

for remaining open, and complained about the “Impeach Earl Warren”

sign.[C6-1019]

_Saturday evening at Ruby’s apartment._--By 9:30 p.m., Ruby had

apparently returned to his apartment where he received a telephone call

from one of his striptease dancers, Karen Bennett Carlin, who, together

with her husband, had been driven from Fort Worth to Dallas that

evening by another dancer, Nancy Powell.[C6-1020] All three had stopped

at the Colony Club, a burlesque nightclub which competed with the

Carousel.[C6-1021] Mrs. Carlin testified that, in need of money, she

telephoned Ruby, asked whether the Carousel would be open that night,

and requested part of her salary.[C6-1022] According to Mrs. Carlin,

Ruby became angry at the suggestion that the Carousel Club might be

open for business but told her he would come to the Carousel in about

an hour.[C6-1023]

Thereafter, in a depressed mood, Ruby telephoned his sister Eva Grant,

who suggested he visit a friend.[C6-1024] Possibly in response to that

suggestion, Ruby called Lawrence Meyers, a friend from Chicago with

whom he had visited two nights previously.[C6-1025] Meyers testified

that, during their telephone conversation, Ruby asked him what he

thought of this “terrible thing,” Ruby then began to criticize his

competitors, Abe and Barney Weinstein, for failing to close their

clubs on Saturday night. In the course of his conversation about the

Weinsteins and the assassination, Ruby said “I’ve got to do something

about this.”[C6-1026] Meyers initially understood that remark to refer

to the Weinsteins. Upon reflection after Oswald was shot, Meyers was

uncertain whether Ruby was referring to his competitors, or to the

assassination of President Kennedy; for Ruby had also spoken at length

about Mrs. Kennedy and had repeated “those poor people, those poor

people.”[C6-1027] At the conclusion of their conversation, Meyers

declined Ruby’s invitation to join him for a cup of coffee but invited

Ruby to join him at the motel. When Ruby also declined, the two agreed

to meet for dinner the following evening.[C6-1028]

Meanwhile, Karen Carlin and her husband grew anxious over Ruby’s

failure to appear with the money they had requested.[C6-1029] After a

substantial wait, they returned together to the Nichols Garage where

Mr. Carlin telephoned to Ruby.[C6-1030] Carlin testified that he told

Ruby they needed money in order to return to Fort Worth[C6-1031]

although Nancy Powell testified that she drove the Carlins home that

evening.[C6-1032] Agreeing to advance a small sum, Ruby asked to speak

to Mrs. Carlin, who claimed that Ruby told her that if she needed

more money she should call him on Sunday.[C6-1033] Thereafter, at

Ruby’s request, garage attendant Huey Reeves gave Mrs. Carlin $5, and

she signed with her stage name “Little Lynn” a receipt which Reeves

time-stamped 10:33 p.m., November 23.[C6-1034] (See Commission Exhibit

No. 1476, p. 351.)

Inconsistent testimony was developed regarding Ruby’s activities

during the next 45 minutes. Eva Grant testified that she did not see

her brother on Saturday night after 8 p.m. and has denied calling

Ralph Paul herself that night.[C6-1035] Nonetheless, telephone

company records revealed that at 10:44 p.m. a call was made to Ralph

Paul’s Bull Pen Drive-In in Arlington, Tex., from Mrs. Grant’s

apartment.[C6-1036] It was the only call to Paul from her apartment

on Friday or Saturday;[C6-1037] she recalled her brother making such

a call that weekend;[C6-1038] and Ralph Paul has testified that Ruby

telephoned him Saturday night from Eva Grant’s apartment and said he

and his sister were there crying.[C6-1039]

Nineteen-year-old Wanda Helmick, a former waitress at the Bull Pen

Drive-In, first reported in June, 1964 that some time during the

evening she saw the cashier answer the Bull Pan’s pay telephone and

heard her call out to Paul, “It is for you. It is Jack.”[C6-1040]

Mrs. Helmick claimed she overheard Paul, speaking on the telephone,

mention something about a gun which, she understood from Paul’s

conversation, the caller had in his possession. She said she also heard

Paul exclaim “Are you crazy?”[C6-1041] She provided no other details

of the conversation. Mrs. Helmick claimed that on Sunday, November 24,

after Oswald had been shot, she heard Paul repeat the substance of the

call to other employees as she had related it and that Paul said Ruby

was the caller.[C6-1042] Ralph Paul denied the allegations of Mrs.

Helmick.[C6-1043] Both Paul and Mrs. Helmick agreed that Paul went home

soon after the call, apparently about 11 p.m.[C6-1044]

Shortly after 11 p.m., Ruby arrived at the Nichols Garage where

he repaid Huey Reeves and obtained the receipt Mrs. Carlin had

signed.[C6-1045] Outside the Carousel, Ruby exchanged greetings with

Police Officer Harry Olsen and Kay Coleman, whom he had seen late

the previous night.[C6-1046] Going upstairs to the club, Ruby made a

series of five brief long-distance phone calls, the first being to the

Bull Pen Drive-In at 11:18 p.m. and lasting only 1 minute.[C6-1047]

Apparently unable to reach Paul there, Ruby telephoned Paul’s home in

Arlington, Tex., for 3 minutes.[C6-1048] A third call was placed at

11:36 p.m. for 2 minutes, again to Paul’s home.[C6-1049] At 11:44 p.m.

Ruby telephoned Breck Wall, a friend and entertainer who had gone to

Galveston, Tex., when his show in Dallas suspended its performance out

of respect to President Kennedy. The call lasted 2 minutes.[C6-1050]

Thereafter, Ruby immediately placed a 1-minute phone call to Paul’s

home.[C6-1051]

Although Ruby has mentioned those calls, he has not provided details

to the Commission; however, he has denied ever indicating to Paul or

Wall that he was going to shoot Oswald and has said he did not consider

such action until Sunday morning.[C6-1052] Ralph Paul did not mention

the late evening calls in his interview with FBI agents on November

24, 1963.[C6-1053] Later Paul testified that Ruby called him from

downtown to say that nobody was doing any business.[C6-1054] Breck Wall

testified that Ruby called him to determine whether or not the American

Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA), which represented striptease dancers

in Dallas, had met concerning a dispute Ruby was having with the

union.[C6-1055] Ruby’s major difference with AGVA during the preceding

2 weeks had involved what Ruby considered to be AGVA’s failure to

enforce against his 2 competitors, Abe and Barney Weinstein, AGVA’s

ban on “striptease contests” and performances by “amateurs.”[C6-1056]

As recently as Wednesday, November 20, Ruby had telephoned an AGVA

representative in Chicago about that complaint and earlier in

November he had unsuccessfully sought to obtain assistance from a

San Francisco gambler and a Chicagoan reputed for his heavyhanded

union activities.[C6-1057] Wall testified that Ruby “was very upset

the President was assassinated and he called Abe Weinstein or Bernie

Weinstein * * * some names for staying open * * *.” Wall added, “he was

very upset * * * that they did not have the decency to close on such a

day and he thought out of respect they should close.”[C6-1058]

_Ruby’s activities after midnight._--After completing the series of

calls to Paul and Wall at 11:48 p.m., Ruby went to the Pago Club,

about a 10-minute drive from the Carousel Club.[C6-1059] He took a

table near the middle of the club and, after ordering a Coke, asked

the waitress in a disapproving tone, “Why are you open?”[C6-1060] When

Robert Norton, the club’s manager, joined Ruby a few minutes later he

expressed to Ruby his concern as to whether or not it was proper to

operate the Pago Club that evening. Ruby indicated that the Carousel

was closed but did not criticize Norton for remaining open.[C6-1061]

Norton raised the topic of President Kennedy’s death and said, “[W]e

couldn’t do enough to the person that [did] this sort of thing.”

Norton added, however, that “Nobody has the right to take the life of

another one.”[C6-1062] Ruby expressed no strong opinion, and closed the

conversation by saying he was going home because he was tired.[C6-1063]

Later, Ruby told the Commission: “he knew something was wrong with me

in the certain mood I was in.”[C6-1064]

[Illustration: (COMMISSION EXHIBIT 1476)

COPY OF RECEIPT GIVEN BY LITTLE LYNN TO HUEY REEVES AT 10:33 P.M.,

NOVEMBER 23, 1963

(DOYLE LANE DEPOSITION 5118)

COPY OF TELEGRAM ORDER FOR MONEY SENT TO LITTLE LYNN ON NOVEMBER 24,

1963, STAMPED 11:17 A.M.

(DOYLE LANE DEPOSITION 5119)

COPY OF WESTERN UNION OFFICE COPY OF RECEIPT GIVEN TO JACK RUBY ON

NOVEMBER 24, 1963, STAMPED 11:17 A.M.

(COMMISSION EXHIBIT 2420)

COPY OF FACE OF WESTERN UNION RECEIPT GIVEN TO JACK RUBY ON NOVEMBER

24, 1963

(COMMISSION EXHIBIT 2421)

COPY OF BACK OF WESTERN UNION RECEIPT GIVEN TO JACK RUBY ON NOVEMBER

24, 1963, STAMPED 11:16 A.M.]

Ruby testified that he went home after speaking with Norton and went to

bed about 1:30 a.m.[C6-1065] By that time, George Senator claimed, he

had retired for the night and did not remember Ruby’s return.[C6-1066]

Eva Grant testified that her brother telephoned her at about 12:45 a.m.

to learn how she was feeling.[C6-1067]

_Sunday morning._--Ruby’s activities on Sunday morning are the subject

of conflicting testimony. George Senator believed that Ruby did not

rise until 9 or 9:30 a.m.;[C6-1068] both Ruby and Senator maintained

that Ruby did not leave their apartment until shortly before 11:00

a.m., and two other witnesses have provided testimony which supports

that account of Ruby’s whereabouts.[C6-1069] On the other hand, three

WBAP-TV television technicians--Warren Richey, John Smith, and Ira

Walker--believed they saw Ruby near the Police and Courts Building

at various times between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m.[C6-1070] But there are

substantial reasons to doubt the accuracy of their identifications.

None had ever seen Ruby on a prior occasion. None looked for an

extended period at the man believed to be Ruby,[C6-1071] and all were

occupied with their duties and had no reason to remember the man’s

appearance until they saw Ruby’s picture on television.[C6-1072]

Smith, for one, was not entirely positive about his identification

of Ruby as the man he saw;[C6-1073] and Richey was looking down from

atop a TV mobile unit when he observed on the sidewalk the man he

believed was Ruby.[C6-1074] In addition, Richey and Smith provided

descriptions of Ruby which differ substantially from information

about Ruby gathered from other sources. Smith described the man he

saw as being an “unkempt person that possibly could have slept with

his clothes on * * *.”[C6-1075] Ruby was characteristically clean and

well groomed.[C6-1076] In fact, Senator testified that Ruby shaved and

dressed before leaving their apartment that morning, and at the time

Ruby shot Oswald he was dressed in a hat and business suit.[C6-1077]

Richey described Ruby as wearing a grayish overcoat,[C6-1078] while

investigation indicated that Ruby did not own an overcoat and was

not wearing one at the time of the shooting.[C6-1079] (See Pappas

Deposition Exhibit No. 1, p. 356.) Although Walker’s identification

of Ruby is the most positive, his certainty must be contrasted with

the indefinite identification made by Smith, who had seen the man on

one additional occasion.[C6-1080] Both Smith and Walker saw a man

resembling Ruby when the man, on two occasions, looked through the

window of their mobile news unit and once asked whether Oswald had

been transferred. Both saw only the man’s head, and Smith was closer

to the window; yet Smith would not state positively that the man was

Ruby.[C6-1081] Finally, video tapes of scenes on Sunday morning near

the NBC van show a man close to the Commerce Street entrance who might

have been mistaken for Ruby.[C6-1082]

George Senator said that when he arose, before 9 a.m., he began to

do his laundry in the basement of the apartment building while Ruby

slept.[C6-1083] During Senator’s absence, Ruby received a telephone

call from his cleaning lady, Mrs. Elnora Pitts, who testified that she

called sometime between 8:30 and 9 a.m. to learn whether Ruby wanted

her to clean his apartment that day.[C6-1084] Mrs. Pitts remembered

that Ruby “sounded terrible strange to me.” She said that “there was

something wrong with him the way he was talking to me.”[C6-1085] Mrs.

Pitts explained that, although she had regularly been cleaning Ruby’s

apartment on Sundays, Ruby seemed not to comprehend who she was or

the reason for her call and required her to repeat herself several

times.[C6-1086] As Senator returned to the apartment after the call, he

was apparently mistaken for Ruby by a neighbor, Sidney Evans, Jr. Evans

had never seen Ruby before but recalled observing a man resembling

Ruby, clad in trousers and T-shirt, walk upstairs from the “washateria”

in the basement of their building and enter Ruby’s suite with a load

of laundry. Later in the morning, Malcolm Slaughter who shared an

apartment with Evans, saw an individual, similarly clad, on the same

floor as Ruby’s apartment.[C6-1087] Senator stated that it was not

Ruby’s custom to do his own washing and that Ruby did not do so that

morning.[C6-1088]

While Senator was in the apartment, Ruby watched television, made

himself coffee and scrambled eggs, and received, at 10:19 a.m., a

telephone call from his entertainer, Karen Carlin.[C6-1089] Mrs. Carlin

testified that in her telephone conversation she asked Ruby for $25

inasmuch as her rent was delinquent and she needed groceries.[C6-1090]

She said that Ruby, who seemed upset, mentioned that he was going

downtown anyway and that he would send the money from the Western Union

office.[C6-1091] According to George Senator, Ruby then probably took a

half hour or more to bathe and dress.[C6-1092]

Supporting the accounts given by Mrs. Carlin and Mrs. Pitts of Ruby’s

emotional state, Senator testified that during the morning Ruby:

* * * was even mumbling, which I didn’t understand. And right

after breakfast he got dressed. Then after he got dressed he

was pacing the floor from the living room to the bedroom,

from the bedroom to the living room, and his lips were

going. What he was jabbering I don’t know. But he was really

pacing.[C6-1093]

Ruby has described to the Commission his own emotions of Sunday morning

as follows:

* * * Sunday morning * * * [I] saw a letter to Caroline, two

columns about a 16-inch area. Someone had written a letter to

Caroline. The most heartbreaking letter. I don’t remember the

contents. * * * alongside that letter on the same sheet of

paper was a small comment in the newspaper that, I don’t know

how it was stated, that Mrs. Kennedy may have to come back for

the trial of Lee Harvey Oswald. * * *

I don’t know what bug got ahold of me. I don’t know what it is,

but I am going to tell the truth word for word.

I am taking a pill called Preludin. It is a harmless pill, and

it is very easy to get in the drugstore. It isn’t a highly

prescribed pill. I use it for dieting.

I don’t partake of that much food. I think that was a stimulus

to give me an emotional feeling that suddenly I felt, which was

so stupid, that I wanted to show my love for our faith, being

of the Jewish faith, and I never used the term and I don’t want

to go into that--suddenly the feeling, the emotional feeling

came within me that someone owed this debt to our beloved

President to save her the ordeal of coming back. I don’t know

why that came through my mind.[C6-1094]

(See Commission Exhibit No. 2426, p. 355.)

_Sunday morning trip to police department._--Leaving his apartment a

few minutes before 11 a.m., Ruby went to his automobile taking with him

his dachshund, Sheba, and a portable radio.[C6-1095] He placed in his

pocket a revolver which he routinely carried in a bank moneybag in the

trunk of his car.[C6-1096] Listening to the radio, he drove downtown,

according to his own testimony, by a route that took him past Dealey

Plaza where he observed the scattered wreaths. Ruby related that he

noted the crowd that had gathered outside the county jail and assumed

that Oswald had already been transferred. However, when he passed the

Main Street side of the Police and Courts Building, which is situated

on the same block as the Western Union office, he also noted the crowd

that was gathered outside that building.[C6-1097] Normal driving time

for the trip from his apartment would have been about 15 minutes, but

Ruby’s possible haste and the slow movement of traffic through Dealey

Plaza make a reliable estimate difficult.[C6-1098]

Ruby parked his car in a lot directly across the street from the

Western Union office. He apparently placed his keys and billfold in the

trunk of the car, then locked the trunk, which contained approximately

$1,000 in cash, and placed the trunk key in the glove compartment of

the car. He did not lock the car doors.[C6-1099]

With his revolver, more than $2,000 in cash, and no personal

identification, Ruby walked from the parking lot across the street to

the Western Union office where he filled out forms for sending $25 by

telegraph to Karen Carlin.[C6-1100] After waiting in line while one

other Western Union customer completed her business,[C6-1101] Ruby paid

for the telegram and retained as a receipt one of three time-stamped

documents which show that the transaction was completed at almost

exactly 11:17 a.m., c.s.t.[C6-1102] (See Commission Exhibits Nos. 1476,

2420, 2421; D. Lane Deposition Exhibits Nos. 5118, 5119, p. 351.)

The Western Union clerk who accepted Ruby’s order recalls that Ruby

promptly turned, walked out of the door onto Main Street, and proceeded

in the direction of the police department one block away.[C6-1103]

The evidence set forth in chapter V indicates that Ruby entered the

police basement through the auto ramp from Main Street and stood

behind the front rank of newsmen and police officers who were crowded

together at the base of the ramp awaiting the transfer of Oswald to

the county jail.[C6-1104] As Oswald emerged from a basement office

at approximately 11:21 a.m., Ruby moved quickly forward and, without

speaking,[C6-1105] fired one fatal shot into Oswald’s abdomen before

being subdued by a rush of police officers.[C6-1106]

[Illustration: BEDROOM OF JACK RUBY’S APARTMENT

(COMMISSION EXHIBIT 2426)

ON SUNDAY AFTERNOON NOVEMBER 24, 1963, A COPY OF THAT MORNING’S DALLAS

TIMES HERALD WAS FOUND AT THE FOOT OF JACK RUBY’S BED (B). AS REVEALED

IN THE BLOW-UP (A), THE PAPER WAS OPEN TO PAGE A-3 (A AND D). THE

FACING PAGE, 2-A, BORE A LETTER TO CAROLINE KENNEDY (C) WHICH JACK

RUBY TESTIFIED THAT HE READ THAT MORNING BEFORE SHOOTING LEE HARVEY

OSWALD.]

[Illustration: JACK RUBY MOVING TOWARD OSWALD IN FRONT OF NEWSMAN IKE

PAPPAS

PAPPAS DEPOSITION EXHIBIT 1

PAPPAS DEPOSITION EXHIBIT 2]

_Evaluation of activities._--Examination of Ruby’s activities

immediately preceding and following the death of President Kennedy

revealed no sign of any conduct which suggests that he was involved

in the assassination. Prior to the tragedy, Ruby’s activities were

routine. Though persons who saw him between November 22 and 24 disagree

as to whether or not he appeared more upset than others around him, his

response to the assassination appears to have been one of genuine shock

and grief. His indications of concern over the possible effects of the

assassination upon his businesses seem consistent with other evidence

of his character.[C6-1107] During the course of the weekend, Ruby seems

to have become obsessed with the possibility that the Impeach Earl

Warren sign and the Bernard Weissman ad were somehow connected and

related to the assassination. However, Ruby’s interest in these public

notices was openly expressed and, as discussed below, the evidence

reveals no connection between him and any political organization.

Examination of Larry Crafard’s sudden departure from Dallas shortly

before noon on November 23 does not suggest that Ruby was involved in a

conspiracy. To be sure, Crafard started hitchhiking to Michigan, where

members of his family lived, with only $7 in his pocket.[C6-1108] He

made no attempt to communicate with law enforcement officials after

Oswald’s death;[C6-1109] and a relative in Michigan recalled that

Crafard spoke very little of his association with Ruby.[C6-1110] When

finally located by the FBI 6 days later, he stated that he left Ruby’s

employ because he did not wish to be subjected to further verbal abuse

by Ruby and that he went north to see his sister, from whom he had not

heard in some time.[C6-1111]

An investigation of Crafard’s unusual behavior confirms that his

departure from Dallas was innocent. After Oswald was shot, FBI

agents obtained from the Carousel Club an unmailed letter drafted

by Crafard to a relative in Michigan at least a week before the

assassination.[C6-1112] The letter revealed that he was considering

leaving Dallas at that time.[C6-1113] On November 17, Crafard, who had

been receiving only room, board, and incidental expenses, told Ruby he

wanted to stop working for him; however, Crafard agreed to remain when

Ruby promised a salary.[C6-1114] Then on the morning of November 23,

Ruby and Crafard had a minor altercation over the telephone.[C6-1115]

Although Crafard did not voluntarily make known to the authorities his

associations with Ruby, he spoke freely and with verifiable accuracy

when questioned. The automobile driver who provided Crafard his first

ride from Dallas has been located; his statement generally conforms

with Crafard’s story; and he did not recall any unusual or troubled

behavior by Crafard during that ride.[C6-1116]

Although Crafard’s peremptory decision to leave Dallas might be unusual

for most persons, such behavior does not appear to have been uncommon

for him. His family residence had shifted frequently among California,

Michigan, and Oregon.[C6-1117] During his 22 years, he had earned his

livelihood picking crops, working in carnivals, and taking other odd

jobs throughout the country.[C6-1118] According to his testimony, he

had previously hitchhiked across the country with his then wife and

two infant children.[C6-1119] Against such a background, it is most

probable that the factors motivating Crafard’s departure from Dallas on

November 23 were dissatisfaction with his existence in Ruby’s employ,

which he had never considered more than temporary, Ruby’s decision

to close his clubs for 3 days, the argument on Saturday morning,

and his own desire to see his relatives in Michigan. There is no

evidence to suggest any connection between Crafard’s departure and the

assassination of the President or the shooting of Oswald.

The allegations of Wanda Helmick raised speculation that Ruby’s

Saturday night phone calls to Ralph Paul and Breck Wall might have

concerned the shooting of Oswald, but investigation has found nothing

to indicate that the calls had conspiratorial implications. Paul

was a close friend, business associate, and adviser to Jack Ruby.

Ruby normally kept in close telephone contact with Paul, who had a

substantial sum of money committed to the Carousel Club.[C6-1120] Paul

explained that Ruby called him Saturday evening once to point out his

ads, another time to say that nobody seemed to be doing any business in

downtown Dallas, and a third time to relate that both he and his sister

were crying over the assassination.[C6-1121] Between two of those phone

calls to Paul, Ruby telephoned to Galveston, Tex., to speak with Wall,

a friend and former business associate who was an official of the

American Guild of Variety Artists. Wall related that during that call

Ruby criticized the Weinsteins for failing to close their clubs.

Having earlier made the same complaint to Lawrence Meyers to whom

he mentioned a need “to do something about this” it would have been

characteristic for Ruby to want to direct Breck Wall’s attention,

as an AGVA official, to what he regarded as the Weinsteins’ improper

conduct. The view that the calls to Wall and Paul could have had

conspiratorial implications also is belied in large measure by the

conduct of both men before and after the events of November 22-24. A

check of long-distance telephone records reveals no suspicious activity

by either man.[C6-1122] Paul, in fact, is not known to have visited

Dallas during the weekend of the assassination except to appear openly

in an effort to arrange counsel for Ruby within a few hours of the

attack on Oswald. Neither the FBI nor the CIA has been able to provide

any information that Ralph Paul or Breck Wall ever engaged in any form

of subversive activity.[C6-1123]

Moreover, Mrs. Helmick’s reliability is undermined by her failure to

report her information to any investigative official until June 9,

1964.[C6-1124] Although a sister-in-law confirms that Mrs. Helmick

wrote her “something about a gun” shortly after the shooting,[C6-1125]

the only mention of any statement by Paul which was included in a

letter written by Mrs. Helmick after the Ruby trial was that Paul

believed Ruby was “not in his right mind.”[C6-1126] No corroborating

witness named by Mrs. Helmick has been found who remembers the

conversations she mentioned.[C6-1127] Both Ruby and Paul have denied

that anything was said, as Mrs. Helmick suggests, about a gun or an

intent to shoot Oswald, and Wall has stated that Ruby did not discuss

such matters with him.[C6-1128] Even if Mrs. Helmick is accurate the

statements ascribed to Paul indicate only that he may have heard of a

possible reference by Ruby to shooting Oswald. According to her, Paul’s

response was to exclaim “Are you crazy?” But under no circumstances

does the report of Mrs. Helmick or any other fact support a belief that

Paul or Wall was involved in the shooting of Oswald.

The Commission has conducted an investigation of the telephone call

Ruby received from Karen Carlin at 10:19 Sunday morning to determine

whether that call was prearranged for the purpose of conveying

information about the transfer of Oswald or to provide Ruby an excuse

for being near the police department. The Commission has examined the

records of long-distance telephone calls on Sunday morning for Jack

Ruby,[C6-1129] the Carlins,[C6-1130] the Dallas police,[C6-1131] and

several other persons[C6-1132] and has found no sign of any indirect

communication to Ruby through Mr. or Mrs. Carlin. No other evidence

showing any link between the Carlins and the shooting of Oswald has

been developed.

Ruby and Oswald Were Not Acquainted

The possibility of a prior acquaintanceship between Ruby and Oswald has

been suggested by some persons who viewed the shooting on television

and believed that a look of recognition appeared on Oswald’s face as

Ruby moved toward him in the jail basement. The Commission has examined

the television tapes and movie films which were made as Oswald moved

through the basement and has observed no facial expressions which can

be interpreted as signifying recognition of Ruby by Oswald. It is

doubtful even that Oswald could have seen Ruby sufficiently clearly to

discern his identity since Oswald was walking from a dark corridor into

“the flash from the many cameras” and the lights of TV cameramen which

were “blinding.”[C6-1133] In addition to such generalized suspicion,

there have been numerous specific allegations that Oswald was seen in

the company of Ruby prior to November 22, often at Ruby’s Carousel

Club. All such allegations have been investigated, but the Commission

has found none which merits credence. In all but a few instances where

the Commission was able to trace the claim to its source, the person

responsible for the report either denied making it or admitted that he

had no basis for the original allegations.[C6-1134] Frequently those

responsible for the allegations have proved to be persons of erratic

memory or dubious mental stability.[C6-1135] In a few instances, the

source of the story has remained unidentified, and no person has come

forward to substantiate the rumor.[C6-1136]

The testimony of a few witnesses who claim to have seen Ruby with a

person who they feel may have been Oswald warrants further comment. One

such witness, Robert K. Patterson, a Dallas electronics salesman, has

stated that on a date established from sales records as November 1,

1963, Ruby, accompanied by a man who resembled Oswald, purchased some

equipment at his business establishment.[C6-1137] However, Patterson

did not claim positively that the man he saw was Oswald,[C6-1138] and

two of his associates who were also present at the time could not state

that the man was Oswald.[C6-1139] Other evidence indicates that Ruby’s

companion was Larry Crafard. Crafard, who lived at the Carousel Club

while working for Ruby from mid-October until November 23, 1963, stated

that sometime in late October or early November he accompanied Ruby to

an electronics store in connection with the purchase of electronics

equipment.[C6-1140] Ruth Paine testified that Crafard’s photograph

bears a strong resemblance to Oswald; and employment records of the

Texas School Book Depository show that Oswald worked a full day on

November 1, 1963.[C6-1141]

William D. Crowe, Jr., a young nightclub master of ceremonies

who had worked for Ruby on three occasions and had begun a 4- or

5-week engagement at the Carousel Club on November 11, 1963, was

the first person who reported a possible association between Ruby

and Oswald.[C6-1142] While attempting to enter the Carousel Club on

November 24, shortly after Oswald was shot, Crowe encountered two

news media representatives who were gathering information on Jack

Ruby.[C6-1143] At that time, Crowe, who included a memory act in

his repertoire,[C6-1144] mentioned the “possibility” that he had

seen Oswald at the Carousel Club.[C6-1145] As a result he was asked

to appear on television. In Crowe’s own words, the story “started

snowballing.” He testified:

They built up the memory thing and they built up the bit of

having seen Oswald there, and I never stated definitely,

positively, and they said that I did, and all in all, what

they had in the paper was hardly even close to what I told

them.[C6-1146]

Crowe added that his memory act involved a limited system which did

not, in fact, improve his memory and that his memory might not even be

as good as that of the average person. When asked how certain he was

that the man he saw was Oswald, Crowe testified: “* * * the face seemed

familiar as some faces do, and I had associated him with a patron that

I had seen in the club a week before. That was about it.”[C6-1147]

A possible explanation for Crowe’s belief that Oswald’s face seemed

familiar was supplied by a freelance photographer, Eddie Rocco, who

had taken pictures at the Carousel Club for Ruby at about the time

Crowe was employed there. Rocco produced one of those photographs

which depicted a man who might have been mistaken for Oswald by

persons having no reason to remember the man at the time they saw

him.[C6-1148] When shown the Rocco photograph, Crowe said that there

was as strong a possibility that the man he recalled seeing was the man

in the photograph as there was that he was Oswald.[C6-1149] Crowe’s

uncertainty was further underscored by his failure initially to provide

his information about Oswald to David Hoy, a news-media friend whom

Crowe telephoned in Evansville, Ind., less than 20 minutes after Oswald

was shot.[C6-1150] By then the possible recognition had occurred to

Crowe,[C6-1151] and Hoy said he was quite surprised that Crowe had

given the information first to other news representatives instead of

telling him in that early conversation.[C6-1152]

After Crowe’s identification had been publicized, four other persons

also reported seeing Oswald at the Carousel Club. One man said he

saw Ruby and Oswald seated at a table together and recalled that the

man resembling Oswald was addressed by a blond-haired waitress as

“Bettit” or “Pettit.” The witness was unable to give any description

of “Pettit” except that he was the man who had been shot by Ruby. He

could not describe the inside of the Carousel and was unable to give

a precise location for the club.[C6-1153] Another witness, a resident

of Tennessee, related seeing a man resembling Oswald at the Carousel

Club on November 10.[C6-1154] Ruth Paine has testified, however, that

Oswald spent the entire holiday weekend of November 9, 10, and 11 at

her home in Irving, Tex.[C6-1155] Two of Ruby’s former employees, Karen

Carlin and Billy Joe Willis, also believed they had seen a person who

resembled Oswald. Willis believed he saw the man at the Carousel Club

but did not think the man was Oswald.[C6-1156] Mrs. Carlin likewise was

not certain that the man was Oswald nor was she sure where she had seen

him.[C6-1157] Neither reported any connection between the man and Ruby.

No other employees recalled seeing Oswald or a person resembling him at

the Carousel Club.[C6-1158]

Wilbryn Waldon (Robert) Litchfield II also claimed to have seen at

the Carousel Club a man resembling Oswald. Litchfield stated that

during a visit to the Carousel Club in late October or early November

1963, he saw such a man enter Ruby’s office, apparently to confer with

Ruby.[C6-1159] Although there is substantial evidence that Litchfield

did see Ruby at the Carousel Club about that time,[C6-1160] there

is strong reason to believe that Litchfield did not see Lee Harvey

Oswald. Litchfield described the man he saw as having pockmarks

on the right side of his chin;[C6-1161] Oswald did not have such

identifying marks.[C6-1162] Moreover, the Commission has substantial

doubts concerning Litchfield’s credibility. Although present at an

FBI interview of another witness on November 29, Litchfield made no

mention of his observation to public officials until December 2,

1963.[C6-1163] Litchfield, who had twice been convicted for offenses

involving forged checks,[C6-1164] testified that he first recalled

that Oswald resembled the visitor he saw at the Carousel Club while

watching a television showing on Sunday morning, November 24, of the

shooting by Ruby.[C6-1165] At that time Litchfield was playing poker

with three friends, and he testified that he promptly informed them of

the resemblance he observed.[C6-1166] However, none of the three poker

companions remembered Litchfield’s making such a remark; and two added

that Litchfield’s statements were often untrustworthy.[C6-1167]

With regard to all of the persons who claimed to have seen Ruby and

Oswald together, it is significant that none had particular reason to

pay close attention to either man, that substantial periods of time

elapsed before the events they assertedly witnessed became meaningful,

and that, unlike the eyewitnesses who claimed to have seen Oswald

on November 22, none reported their observations soon after Oswald

was arrested. In the course of its investigation, the Commission has

encountered numerous clear mistakes of identification. For example, at

least four persons, other than Crafard, are known to have been mistaken

for Oswald.[C6-1168] Other persons have been misidentified as Jack

Ruby.[C6-1169] Under all the available evidence there is no substantial

likelihood that the person the various witnesses claimed to have seen

with Ruby was in fact Oswald.

In addition to probing the reported evidence that Ruby and Oswald had

been seen together, the Commission has examined other circumstances for

signs that the two men were acquainted. From the time Oswald returned

from Mexico, both he and Jack Ruby lived in the Oak Cliff section of

Dallas, slightly more than a mile apart. Numerous neighbors of both

Oswald and Ruby were interviewed, and none knew of any association

between the two.[C6-1170] Oswald’s work began at 8 each weekday

morning and terminated at 4:45 each afternoon.[C6-1171] Jack Ruby

usually remained in his apartment until past 9 a.m. each day.[C6-1172]

Although both men worked in downtown Dallas, they normally traveled

to their places of employment by different routes. Ruby owned an

automobile, and the shortest route downtown from his home was via

a freeway adjacent to his apartment.[C6-1173] Oswald did not own a

car and had, at best, a rudimentary ability to drive.[C6-1174] From

his roominghouses on North Beckley Avenue and on Marsalis Street, he

normally took public transportation which did not bring him within six

blocks of either Ruby’s apartment or his downtown nightclub, nor did

Oswald’s route from the bus stop to home or work bring him near Ruby’s

home or business.[C6-1175] Persons at Oswald’s roominghouse testified

that he regularly came home promptly after work and remained in his

room.[C6-1176] While in Dallas, he is not known to have visited any

nightclub.[C6-1177] Ruby was generally at the Carousel Club from 9

o’clock each evening until after 1 a.m.[C6-1178] In a few instances,

Ruby and Oswald patronized the same stores, but no indication has

been found that they ever met at such stores.[C6-1179] Ruby at one

time frequented a restaurant where Oswald occasionally ate breakfast,

but the times of their patronage were widely separated and restaurant

employees knew of no acquaintance between Ruby and Oswald.[C6-1180]

Likewise, Ruby has held various memberships in the Dallas YMCA and

Oswald lived there for brief periods; however, there is no indication

that they were there at the same time.[C6-1181]

Both Ruby and Oswald maintained post office boxes at the terminal annex

of the U.S. post office in Dallas, but there is no indication that

those facts were more than coincidental. On November 1, 1963, Oswald

rented box No. 6225, his third since October 1962.[C6-1182] Oswald’s

possible purpose has been discussed previously in this chapter. On

November 7, 1963, Jack Ruby rented post office box No. 5475 because he

hoped to receive mail responses to advertisements for the twistboard

exercise device which he was then promoting.[C6-1183] Although it is

conceivable that Oswald and Ruby coincidentally encountered one another

while checking their boxes, the different daily schedules of the two

men render even this possibility unlikely. Moreover, Oswald’s withdrawn

personality makes it improbable that the two would have spoken if their

paths had crossed.

The Commission has also examined the known friends and acquaintances of

Ruby and Oswald for evidence that the two were acquainted, but it has

found very few possible links. One conceivable association was through

John Carter, a boarder at 1026 North Beckley Avenue while Oswald lived

there. Carter was friendly with Wanda Joyce Killam, who had known Jack

Ruby since shortly after he moved to Dallas in 1947 and worked for him

from July 1963 to early November 1963. Mrs. Killam, who volunteered the

information about Carter’s residence during an interview with an agent

of the FBI, has stated that she did not believe Carter ever visited the

Carousel Club and that she did not think Carter knew Ruby.[C6-1184]

Carter stated that he had not heard of Ruby until Oswald was shot, had

talked briefly with Oswald only once or twice, and had never heard

Oswald mention Ruby or the Carousel Club.[C6-1185] The Commission has

no reason to disbelieve either Mrs. Killam or Mr. Carter.

A second possible link between Oswald and Ruby was through Earlene

Roberts, the housekeeper at 1026 North Beckley Avenue. Bertha Cheek,

the sister of Mrs. Roberts, is known to have visited Jack Ruby at

the Carousel Club during the afternoon of November 18, 1963. Mrs.

Cheek testified that she had met with Ruby and a person whom Ruby

represented to be an interior decorator for the purpose of discussing

the possibility of financially backing Ruby in a new nightclub which

he planned to open. Mrs. Cheek said she had met Ruby only once, a

few years before, and that she had not heard of Oswald until he shot

President Kennedy.[C6-1186] Mr. Frank Boerder, the decorator who

was present at the November 18 meeting, confirmed the substance of

the discussion reported by Mrs. Cheek,[C6-1187] and other witnesses

establish that Ruby was, in fact, seeking an associate for a new

nightclub venture.[C6-1188] There is no evidence that Jack Ruby ever

associated with Earlene Roberts, nor is there any indication that Mrs.

Cheek knew of Lee Harvey Oswald prior to November 22.[C6-1189]

Oswald’s trips to the home of Mrs. Ruth Paine at 2115 West Fifth

Street in Irving, Tex., presented another possible link to Ruby.

While Oswald’s family resided with Mrs. Paine, William F. Simmons,

pianoplayer in the musical combo which worked at the Carousel Club

from September 17, 1963, until November 21, 1963, lived at 2539 West

Fifth Street, in Irving. Simmons has stated that his only relationship

to Ruby was as an employee, that Ruby never visited him, that he did

not know Oswald, and that he had never seen Oswald at the Carousel

Club.[C6-1190] Other persons in the neighborhood knew of no connection

between Ruby and Oswald.[C6-1191]

The Commission has investigated rumors that Jack Ruby and Lee Harvey

Oswald were both homosexuals and, thus, might have known each other

in that respect. However, no evidence has been uncovered to support

the rumors, the closest acquaintances of both men emphatically deny

them,[C6-1192] and Ruby’s nightclubs were not known to have been

frequented by homosexuals.[C6-1193]

A final suggestion of a connection between Jack Ruby and Lee Harvey

Oswald arises from the testimony of Oswald’s mother, Marguerite

Oswald. When appearing before the Commission, Mrs. Oswald related that

on November 23, 1963, before Ruby shot Oswald, FBI Agent Bardwell

D. Odum showed her a picture of a man she believed was Jack Ruby,

and asked whether the man shown was familiar to her. Odum had first

attempted to see Marina Oswald, but Marguerite refused to allow Marina

to be disturbed at that time.[C6-1194] In the course of Marguerite’s

testimony, the Commission asked the FBI for a copy of the photograph

displayed by Odum to her. When Marguerite viewed the photograph

provided the Commission, she stated that the picture was different from

the one she saw in November, in part because the “top two corners” were

cut differently and because the man depicted was not Jack Ruby.[C6-1195]

The Commission has investigated this matter and determined that Special

Agent Odum did show a picture to Marguerite Oswald for possible

identification but that the picture was not of Jack Ruby. On November

22 the CIA had provided the FBI with a photograph of a man who, it was

thought at the time, might have been associated with Oswald. To prevent

the viewer from determining precisely where the picture had been

taken, FBI Agent Odum had trimmed the background from the photograph

by making a series of straight cuts which reduced the picture to an

irregular hexagonal shape.[C6-1196] The picture which was displayed

by the Commission to Marguerite Oswald was a copy of the same picture

shown her by Agent Odum; however, in supplying a duplicate photograph

for Commission use the FBI had cropped the background by cutting

along the contours of the body of the man shown,[C6-1197] resulting

in a photograph without any background, unlike the first photograph

Marguerite viewed on November 23. Affidavits obtained from the CIA and

from the two FBI agents who trimmed the photographs established that

the one shown to Mrs. Oswald before the Commission, though trimmed

differently from the one shown her on November 23, was a copy of the

same picture. Neither picture was of Jack Ruby.[C6-1198] The original

photograph had been taken by the CIA outside of the United States

sometime between July 1, 1963, and November 22, 1963, during all of

which time Ruby was within the country.[C6-1199]

Ruby’s Background and Associations

In addition to examining in detail Jack Ruby’s activities from November

21 to November 24 and his possible acquaintanceship with Lee Harvey

Oswald, the Commission has considered whether or not Ruby had ties

with individuals or groups that might have obviated the need for any

direct contact near the time of the assassination. Study of Jack Ruby’s

background, which is set out more fully in appendix XVI, leads to the

firm conclusion that he had no such ties.

_Business activities._--Ruby’s entire life is characteristic of a

rigorously independent person. He moved from his family home soon after

leaving high school at age 16, although a “family” residence has been

maintained in Chicago throughout the years.[C6-1200] Later, in 1947,

he moved from Chicago to Dallas and maintained only sporadic contact

with most of his family.[C6-1201] For most of his working years and

continuously since 1947, Jack Ruby was self-employed.[C6-1202] Although

he had partners from time to time, the partnerships were not lasting,

and Ruby seems to have preferred to operate independently.

Ruby’s main sources of income were his two nightclubs--the Carousel

Club and the Vegas Club--although he also frequently pursued a number

of independent, short-lived business promotions. (Ruby’s business

dealings are described in greater detail in app. XVI.) At the time of

the assassination, the United States claimed approximately $44,000

in delinquent taxes, and he was in substantial debt to his brother

Earl and to his friend Ralph Paul.[C6-1203] However, there are no

indications that Earl Ruby or Ralph Paul was exerting pressure for

payment or that Ruby’s tax liabilities were not susceptible to an

acceptable settlement. Ruby operated his clubs on a cash basis,

usually carrying large amounts of cash on his person; thus there is

no particular significance to the fact that approximately $3,000 in

cash was found on his person and in his automobile when arrested. Nor

do his meager financial records reflect any suspicious activities.

He used his bank accounts only infrequently, with no unexplained

large transactions; and no entries were made to Ruby’s safe-deposit

boxes in over a year prior to the shooting of Oswald.[C6-1204] There

is no evidence that Ruby received any sums after his arrest except

royalties from a syndicated newspaper article on his life and small

contributions for his defense from friends, sympathizers, and family

members.[C6-1205]

_Ruby’s political activities._--Jack Ruby considered himself a

Democrat, perhaps in part because his brother Hyman had been active

in Democratic ward politics in Chicago.[C6-1206] When Ruby was

arrested, police officers found in his apartment, 10 political cards

urging the election of the “Conservative Democratic slate,”[C6-1207]

but the Commission has found no evidence that Ruby had distributed

that literature and he is not known ever to have campaigned for any

political candidates.[C6-1208] None of his friends or associates

expressed any knowledge that he belonged to any groups interested in

political issues, nor did they remember that he had discussed political

problems except on rare occasions.[C6-1209]

As a young man, Ruby participated in attacks upon meetings of the

German-American Bund in Chicago, but the assaults were the efforts

of poolhall associates from his predominantly Jewish neighborhood

rather than the work of any political group. His only other known

activities which had any political flavor possessed stronger overtones

of financial self-interest. In early 1942 he registered a copyright for

a placard which displayed an American flag and bore the inscription

“Remember Pearl Harbor.” The placard was never successfully promoted.

At other times, he is reported to have attempted to sell busts

of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.[C6-1210] The rabbi of Ruby’s

synagogue expressed the belief that Ruby was too unsophisticated to

grasp or have a significant interest in any political creed.[C6-1211]

Although various views have been given concerning Ruby’s attitude

toward President Kennedy prior to the assassination, the overwhelming

number of witnesses reported that Ruby had considerable respect for

the President, and there has been no report of any hostility toward

him.[C6-1212]

There is also no reliable indication that Ruby was ever associated

with any Communist or radical causes. Jack Ruby’s parents were born in

Poland in the 1870’s and his father served in the Czarist Russian army

from 1893-98. Though neither parent became a citizen after emigrating

to the United States in the early 1900’s, the evidence indicates

that neither Ruby nor his family maintained any ties with relatives

in Europe.[C6-1213] Jack Ruby has denied ever being connected with

any Communist activities. The FBI has reported that, prior to the

shooting of Oswald, its nationwide files contained no information of

any subversive activities by Ruby.[C6-1214] In addition, a Commission

staff member has personally examined all subversive activities reports

from the Dallas-Fort Worth office of the FBI for the year 1963 and

has found no reports pertaining to Jack Ruby or any of his known

acquaintances.[C6-1215]

The Commission has directed considerable attention to an allegation

that Jack Ruby was connected with Communist Party activities in Muncie,

Ind. On the day after Oswald’s death, a former resident of Muncie

claimed that between 1943 and 1947 a Chicagoan resembling Ruby and

known to him as Jack Rubenstein was in Muncie on three occasions and

associated with persons who the witness suspected were Communists.

The witness stated that the man resembling Ruby visited Muncie during

these years as a guest of the son-in-law of a now-deceased jeweler for

whom the witness worked.[C6-1216] A second son-in-law of the jewelry

store owner suggested that he may have known Ruby while the two resided

in Chicago,[C6-1217] but the son-in-law whom Ruby allegedly visited

disclaimed any acquaintanceship with Ruby.[C6-1218] Both sons-in-law

denied any Communist activities and the Commission has found no

contrary evidence other than the testimony of the witness.

On the first two occasions on which Ruby is alleged to have been in

Muncie, military records show him to have been on active military

duty in the South.[C6-1219] The witness also said that the man he

knew as Rubenstein owned or managed a nightclub when he met him, but

the Commission has no reliable evidence that Jack Ruby ever owned

or worked in any nightclubs when he lived in Chicago.[C6-1220] The

witness further stated that on one occasion he found the name of

Jack Rubenstein, or perhaps a similar name, together with the names

of others he believed were Communists, on a list which had been left

in a room above the jewelry store after a meeting held there. The

witness said he gave the list to his wife’s cousin, now deceased,

who was then the chief of detectives in Muncie.[C6-1221] However,

neither the list nor a person identifiable as Jack Ruby has been

located after a thorough search by the FBI of its own files and

those of the Muncie Police Department, the Indiana State Police,

and other agencies.[C6-1222] The witness did not recall seeing

Rubenstein in Muncie during the period of that meeting, and he had

never heard Rubenstein say anything which would indicate he was a

Communist.[C6-1223]

The FBI has interviewed all living persons who the witness stated

were involved with Ruby in Communist activities in Muncie. One person

named by the witness was known previously to have been involved in

Communist Party activities, but subversive activities files have

revealed no such activities for any of the others.[C6-1224] The

admitted former Communist denied knowing Ruby and stated that the

jewelry store owner was not known to him as a Communist and that

Communist meetings were never held above the store.[C6-1225] All

other Muncie residents named by the witness as possible associates of

Ruby denied knowing Ruby.[C6-1226] Similarly, fellow employees of the

witness whom he did not claim were Communists knew of no Communist

activities connected with the jewelry store owner or any visits of

Jack Ruby, and FBI informants familiar with Communist activities in

Indiana and Chicago did not know of any participation by Ruby.[C6-1227]

Finally, the witness testified that even though he believed as early

as 1947 that all of the persons named by him were Communists he had

never brought his information to the attention of any authority

investigating such activities, except for providing the alleged list to

his cousin.[C6-1228] The Commission finds no basis for accepting the

witness’s testimony.

The Commission has also investigated the possibility that Ruby was

associated with ultraconservative political endeavors in Dallas. Upon

his arrest, there were found in Ruby’s possession two radio scripts

of a right-wing program promoted by H. L. Hunt, whose political

views are highly conservative. Ruby had acquired the scripts a few

weeks earlier at the Texas Products Show, where they were enclosed

in bags of Hunt food products. Ruby is reported to have become

enraged when he discovered the scripts, and threatened to send one to

“Kennedy.”[C6-1229] He is not known to have done anything with them

prior to giving one to a radio announcer on Nevember 23; and on that

day he seemed to confuse organizations of the extreme right with those

of the far left.[C6-1230] On November 21, Ruby drove Connie Trammel,

a young college graduate whom he had met some months previously, to

the office of Lamar Hunt, the son of H. L. Hunt, for a job interview.

Although Ruby stated that he would like to meet Hunt, seemingly to

establish a business connection, he did not enter Hunt’s office with

her.[C6-1231]

An allegation that Ruby was a visitor at the home of Maj. Gen. Edwin A.

Walker (Resigned, U.S. Army) appears totally unfounded. The allegation

was made in late May 1964 to an agent of the U.S. Secret Service by

William McEwan Duff. Duff, who was discharged from military service

in June 1964 because of a fraudulent enlistment, disclaimed any

knowledge of Ruby or Oswald when questioned by FBI agents in January

1964.[C6-1232]

Another allegation connecting Jack Ruby with right-wing activities was

Mark Lane’s assertion, mentioned previously, that an unnamed informant

told him of a meeting lasting more than 2 hours in the Carousel Club

on November 14, 1963, between Jack Ruby, Patrolman J. D. Tippit, and

Bernard Weissman.[C6-1233] Although the name of Lane’s informant has

never been revealed to the Commission, an investigation has been

conducted in an effort to find corroboration for the claimed Tippit,

Weissman, and Ruby meeting. No employee of the Carousel Club has any

knowledge of the meeting described by Lane.[C6-1234] Ruby and Weissman

both deny that such a meeting occurred, and Officer Tippit’s widow

has no knowledge that her late husband ever went to the Carousel

Club.[C6-1235]

Some confusion has arisen, however, because early Friday afternoon,

November 22, Ruby remarked that he knew the Tippit who had been

shot by Oswald. Later Ruby stated that he did not know J. D. Tippit

but that his reference was to G. M. Tippit, a member of the special

services bureau of the Dallas Police Department who had visited

Ruby establishments occasionally in the course of his official

duties.[C6-1236] Larry Crafard was unable to recognize photographs of

J. D. Tippit and had no recollection of a Tippit, Weissman, and Ruby

meeting at any time.[C6-1237] However, uncertainty was introduced when

Crafard identified a photograph of Bernard Weissman as resembling a

man who had visited the Carousel Club and had been referred to by Ruby

as “Weissman.”[C6-1238] In a subsequent interview Crafard stated that

he believed Weissman was a detective on the Dallas Police Department,

that his first name may have been Johnny, and that he was in his late

thirties or early forties.[C6-1239] As set forth previously, Bernard

Weissman was a 26-year-old New York carpet salesman. Crafard added

“I could have my recollection of a Mr. Weissman mixed up with someone

else”.[C6-1240]

Ruby’s conduct on November 22 and 23, 1963, corroborates his denial

that he knew Bernard Weissman. Ruby expressed hostility to the November

22 full-page advertisement to many persons. To none did he give any

indication that he was familiar with the person listed as responsible

for the advertisement.[C6-1241] His attempt on November 23 to trace the

holder of the post office box shown on the “Impeach Earl Warren” sign

and to locate Weissman’s name in a Dallas city directory[C6-1242] also

tends to indicate that in fact he was not familiar with Weissman. Had

he been involved in some type of unlawful activity with Weissman, it is

highly unlikely that Ruby would have called attention to Weissman as he

did.

Investigation has disclosed no evidence that Officer J. D. Tippit was

acquainted with either Ruby or Oswald. Neither Tippit’s wife nor his

close friends knew of such an acquaintanceship.[C6-1243] Tippit was not

known to frequent nightclubs[C6-1244] and he had no reason during the

course of his police duties to enter Ruby’s clubs.[C6-1245] Although at

the time of the assassination Tippit was working weekends in a Dallas

restaurant owned by a member of the John Birch Society, the restaurant

owner stated that he never discussed politics with Tippit.[C6-1246]

Persons close to Tippit related that Tippit rarely discussed political

matters with any person and that he was a member of no political

organization.[C6-1247] Telephone records for the period following

September 26, 1963, revealed no suspicious long-distance calls from the

Tippit household.[C6-1248]

Tippit’s encounter with Oswald following the shooting of the President

is indicative of no prior association between the two men. Police radio

logs show that, as part of general directions issued to all officers

immediately after the assassination, Tippit was specifically directed

to patrol the Oak Cliff area where he came upon Oswald.[C6-1249] His

movement from the area which he had been patrolling into the central

Oak Cliff area was also in conformity with the normal procedure of the

Dallas Police Department for patrol cars to cover nearby districts when

the patrol cars in that district became otherwise engaged, as occurred

after the assassination.[C6-1250] Oswald fit the general description,

which, 15 minutes after the assassination, was broadcast to all police

cars of a suspect described by a bystander who had seen Oswald in the

sixth-floor window of the Texas School Book Depository.[C6-1251] There

is thus no basis for any inference that, in approaching Oswald, Tippit

was acting other than in the line of police duty.

_Allegations of Cuban activity._--No substantiation has been found for

rumors linking Ruby with pro- or anti-Castro Cuban activities,[C6-1252]

except for one incident in January 1959 when Ruby made preliminary

inquiries, as a middleman, concerning the possible sale to Cuba of

some surplus jeeps located in Shreveport, La., and asked about the

possible release of prisoners from a Cuban prison. No evidence has

been developed that the project ever became more than a “possibility”.

Ruby explained that in early 1959 United States sentiment toward Cuba

was still favorable and that he was merely pursuing a money-making

opportunity.[C6-1253]

During the period of the “jeep sale”, R. D. Matthews, a gambler and

a “passing acquaintance” of Ruby, returned to Dallas from Havana

where he had been living. In mid-1959, he returned to Cuba until

mid-1960.[C6-1254] On October 3, 1963, a telephone call was made from

the Carousel Club to Matthews’ former wife in Shreveport.[C6-1255] No

evidence has been uncovered that Matthews was associated with the sale

of jeeps or the release of prisoners or that he knew of Oswald prior to

the assassination.[C6-1256] Matthews’ ex-wife did not recall the phone

call in October of 1963, and she asserted that she did not know Jack

Ruby or anybody working for him.[C6-1257]

In September 1959, Ruby traveled to Havana as a guest of a close friend

and known gambler, Lewis J. McWillie. Both Ruby and McWillie state the

trip was purely social.[C6-1258] In January 1961, McWillie left Cuba

with strong feelings of hostility to the Castro regime. In early 1963,

Ruby purchased a pistol which he shipped to McWillie in Nevada, but

McWillie did not accept the package.[C6-1259] The Commission has found

no evidence that McWillie has engaged in any activities since leaving

Cuba that are related to pro- or anti-Castro political movements or

that he was involved in Ruby’s abortive jeep transaction.

The Commission has also received evidence that in April 1962, a

telegram sent to Havana, Cuba, was charged to the business telephone of

Earl Ruby, brother of Jack Ruby.[C6-1260] Earl Ruby stated that he was

unable to recall that telegram but testified that he had never traveled

to Cuba nor had any dealings with persons in Cuba.[C6-1261] Jack Ruby

is not known to have visited his brother at that time, and during that

period Earl and Jack did not maintain a close relationship.[C6-1262]

Earl Ruby is not known to have been involved in any subversive

activities.[C6-1263]

Finally, examination of FBI information relative to Cuban groups in the

Dallas-Fort Worth area for the year 1963 fails to disclose any person

who might provide a link between Ruby and such groups.[C6-1264] The

Central Intelligence Agency has no information suggesting that Jack

Ruby or any of his closest associates have been involved in any type of

revolutionary or subversive Cuban activity.[C6-1265]

_Possible underworld connections._--The Commission has investigated

Ruby’s possible criminal activities, looking with particular concern

for evidence that he engaged in illegal activities with members of the

organized underworld or that, on his own, he was a promoter of illegal

endeavors. The results of that investigation are more fully detailed in

appendix XVI. Ruby was reared in a Chicago neighborhood where he became

acquainted with local criminals and with persons who later became

criminals. Throughout his life, Ruby’s friendships with persons of that

character were limited largely to professional gamblers, although his

night club businesses brought him in contact with persons who had been

convicted of other offenses. There is no credible evidence that Ruby,

himself, gambled on other than a social basis or that he had any unpaid

gambling debts.[C6-1266] He had never been charged with a felony prior

to his attack on Oswald; his only encounters in Chicago stemmed from

ticket scalping and the unauthorized sale of copyrighted music; and, in

Dallas, his law violations, excluding traffic charges, resulted from

the operation of his clubs or outbursts of temper.[C6-1267] Ruby has

disclaimed that he was associated with organized criminal activities,

and law enforcement agencies have confirmed that denial.[C6-1268]

_Investigation of George Senator._--In addition to examining Ruby’s own

activities and background, the Commission has paid careful attention to

the activities and background of George Senator, Ruby’s roommate and

one of his closest friends in Dallas. Senator was interrogated by staff

members over a 2-day period; he provided a detailed account of his own

life and cooperated fully in all aspects of the Commission’s inquiry

into the activities of Jack Ruby.

Senator was 50 years old at the time Ruby shot Oswald. He had been born

September 4, 1913, in Gloversville, N.Y., and had received an eighth

grade education. Upon leaving school, he worked in Gloversville and

New York City until about age 25. For the next few years he worked

in various restaurants and cafeterias in New York and Florida until

enlisting in the Army in August 1941.[C6-1269] After his honorable

discharge in September 1945, Senator was employed for most of the

next 13 years selling inexpensive dresses throughout the South and

Southwest. In the course of that employment he moved to Dallas where

he met Jack Ruby while visiting Ruby’s Vegas Club in about 1955

or 1956.[C6-1270] Ruby was one of many who helped Senator when he

encountered financial difficulties during the years 1958 to 1962. For a

while in 1962, Ruby provided room and board in exchange for Senator’s

help in his clubs and apartment. In August 1963, Senator was unable to

maintain his own apartment alone following his roommate’s marriage.

Ruby again offered to help and on November 1, 1963, Senator moved into

Ruby’s apartment.[C6-1271] The Commission has found no evidence that

Senator ever engaged in any political activities.[C6-1272]

Against this background the Commission has evaluated Senator’s account

of his own activities on November 22, 23, and 24. When questioned by

Dallas and Federal authorities hours after the shooting of Oswald,

Senator omitted mention of having accompanied Ruby to photograph the

“Impeach Earl Warren” sign on Saturday morning. Senator stated to

Commission staff members that in the interviews of November 24 he

omitted the incident because of oversight.[C6-1273] However, he spoke

freely about it in his sworn testimony and no inaccuracies have been

noted in that portion of his testimony. Senator also failed to mention

to the Commission and to previous interrogators that, shortly after

Ruby left their apartment Sunday morning, he called friends, Mr. and

Mrs. William Downey, and offered to visit their apartment and make

breakfast for them.[C6-1274] Downey stated, in June 1964, that Senator

said he was alone and that, after Downey declined the offer, Senator

remarked that he would then go downtown for breakfast.[C6-1275] When

told of Downey’s account, Senator denied it and explained that the two

were not friendly by the time Senator left Dallas about six weeks after

the assassination.[C6-1276]

The Commission also experienced difficulty in ascertaining the

activities of Senator on November 22 and 23. He was unable to

account specifically for large segments of time when he was not with

Ruby.[C6-1277] And, as to places and people Senator says he visited

on those days prior to the time Oswald was shot, the Commission has

been unsuccessful in obtaining verification.[C6-1278] Senator admitted

that he had spent much of that time drinking but denied that he was

intoxicated.[C6-1279]

It is difficult to know with complete certainty whether Senator had

any foreknowledge of the shooting of Oswald. Ruby testified that at

about 10:15 a.m. on Sunday morning, November 24, he said, in Senator’s

presence, “If something happened to this person, that then Mrs.

Kennedy won’t have to come back for the trial.”[C6-1280] According

to Ruby, this is the most explicit statement he made concerning

Oswald that morning.[C6-1281] Senator denies any knowledge of Ruby’s

intentions.[C6-1282]

Senator’s general response to the shooting was not like that of a

person seeking to conceal his guilt. Shortly before it was known that

Ruby was the slayer of Oswald, Senator visited the Eatwell Restaurant

in downtown Dallas. Upon being informed that Ruby was the attacker,

Senator exclaimed, “My God,” in what appeared to be a genuinely

surprised tone.[C6-1283] He then ran to a telephone, returned to gulp

down his coffee, and quickly departed.[C6-1284] He drove promptly to

the home of James Martin, an attorney and friend. Martin recalled that

Senator’s concern was for his friend Ruby and not for himself.[C6-1285]

Martin and Senator drove to the Dallas Police Department where

Senator voluntarily submitted himself to police questioning, and

gave interviews to newspaper and television reporters.[C6-1286] The

Commission has concluded, on the basis of its investigation into

Senator’s background, activities, and reaction to the shooting, that

Senator did not aid or conspire with Jack Ruby in the killing of Oswald.

_Ruby’s activities preceding President’s trip._--In addition to the

broad investigation into Ruby’s background and associations, the

Commission delved particularly into Ruby’s pattern of activities during

the 2 months preceding President Kennedy’s visit to Dallas in order to

determine whether there was unusual conduct which might be linked to

the President’s forthcoming trip.

The Commission has been able to account specifically for Jack Ruby’s

presence in Dallas on every day after September 26, 1963, except

five--September 29, 30 and October 11, 14, and 24--and there is no

evidence that he was out of the Dallas-Fort Worth area on those

days.[C6-1287] The report of one person who saw Ruby on September 28

indicates that Ruby probably remained in Dallas on September 29 and

30,[C6-1288] when Oswald was in Mexico City. The Commission has looked

for but has found no evidence that Ruby traveled to Mexico at that

time.[C6-1289] Both Ruby and Ralph Paul have stated that Ruby did not

leave the Dallas-Fort Worth area during September, October, or November

1963.[C6-1290]

During October and November of 1963, Jack Ruby maintained his usual

vigorous pace of business activities. In particular, he directed

considerable attention to his two nightclubs and to other business

promotions.[C6-1291] During the final month before the Kennedy trip,

his time was increasingly occupied with personnel problems at both his

clubs. There is no indication that he devoted less than full attention

to these matters or that he appeared preoccupied with other affairs.

His acquaintances did feel that Ruby seemed depressed and concerned

that his friends were deserting him.[C6-1292] However, there were no

signs of secretive conduct.

Scrutiny of Ruby’s activities during the several days preceding the

President’s arrival in Dallas has revealed no indication of any

unusual activity. Ruby is remembered to have discussed the President’s

impending trip with only two persons and only briefly.[C6-1293] Two

newspapers containing a description of the expected motorcade routes

through Dallas and Fort Worth were found in Ruby’s car at the time of

this arrest. However, such papers circulated widely in Dallas, and

Ruby’s car, like his apartment, was so cluttered with other newspapers,

notebooks, brochures, cards, clothing, and personal items[C6-1294] that

there is no reason to attach any significance to the papers.

Aside from the results of the Commission’s investigation reported

above, there are other reasons to doubt that Jack Ruby would have shot

Oswald as he did if he had been involved in a conspiracy to carry out

the assassination, or that he would have been delegated to perform the

shooting of Oswald on behalf of others who were involved in the slaying

of the President. By striking in the city jail, Ruby was certain to

be apprehended. An attempt to silence Oswald by having Ruby kill him

would have presented exceptionally grave dangers to any other persons

involved in the scheme. If the attempt had failed, Oswald might have

been moved to disclose his confederates to the authorities. If it

succeeded, as it did, the additional killing might itself have produced

a trail to them. Moreover, Ruby was regarded by most persons who knew

him as moody and unstable--hardly one to have encouraged the confidence

of persons involved in a sensitive conspiracy.[C6-1295]

Since his apprehension, Jack Ruby has provided the Federal authorities

with several detailed accounts of his activities both preceding and

following the assassination of President Kennedy. Ruby has shown no

reluctance to answer any questions addressed to him. The accounts

provided by Ruby are consistent with evidence available to the

Commission from other sources.

These additional considerations are thus fully consistent with the

results of the Commission’s investigation. Rumors of a connection

between Ruby and Oswald have proved groundless, while examination

of Ruby’s background and associations, his behavior prior to the

assassination, and his activities during the November 22-24 weekend

has yielded no evidence that Ruby conspired with anyone in planning

or executing the killing of Lee Harvey Oswald. Whatever the legal

culpability of Jack Ruby for his act of November 24, the evidence is

persuasive that he acted independently in shooting Oswald.

CONCLUSION

Based upon the investigation reviewed in this chapter, the Commission

concluded that there is no credible evidence that Lee Harvey Oswald

was part of a conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy. Examination

of the facts of the assassination itself revealed no indication that

Oswald was aided in the planning or execution of his scheme. Review

of Oswald’s life and activities since 1959, although productive in

illuminating the character of Lee Harvey Oswald (which is discussed

in the next chapter), did not produce any meaningful evidence of a

conspiracy. The Commission discovered no evidence that the Soviet Union

or Cuba were involved in the assassination of President Kennedy. Nor

did the Commission’s investigation of Jack Ruby produce any grounds

for believing that Ruby’s killing of Oswald was part of a conspiracy.

The conclusion that there is no evidence of a conspiracy was also

reached independently by Dean Rusk, the Secretary of State; Robert S.

McNamara, the Secretary of Defense; C. Douglas Dillon, the Secretary of

the Treasury; Robert F. Kennedy, the Attorney General; J. Edgar Hoover,

the Director of the FBI; John A. McCone, the Director of the CIA; and

James J. Rowley, the Chief of the Secret Service, on the basis of the

information available to each of them.[C6-1296]