Post by Rob Caprio on May 8, 2022 12:57:08 GMT -5
All portions are ©️ Robert Caprio 2006-2024
cdn.primetimetale.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Image-1-7.jpg
The Warren Commission (WC) said Jack Ruby shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald (LHO) all by himself on Sunday, November 24, 1964, in the basement of the Dallas Police Department (DPD) building. This is one claim made by the WC that we all can agree on since it was captured on LIVE television for all to see. We will continue to explore Ruby’s ties to the DPD and his ease in moving around the building the whole weekend following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (JFK) and up to his murder of LHO.
[Note: This will conclude our look at Jack Ruby's whereabouts and connections on the weekend of the assassination.]
******************************************
So far we have seen Jack Ruby seemed to have easy access throughout the police station on Friday evening, night and Saturday afternoon, but the WC denied what many witnesses said—that Ruby was there. We have mentioned Detective August Eberhardt before in this look at Ruby’s whereabouts during the weekend of the assassination, but now we will revisit his testimony for a look into another side of Ruby.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, you and I talked for some time just prior to taking this deposition, is that right?
Mr. EBERHARDT. That is right.
Mr. GRIFFIN. I made some notes during our interview I want to dictate these for the record. I wish you would listen to them carefully…. . . to continue dictating what Detective Eberhardt told me, he stated that he regarded Jack Ruby as a source of information in connection with his investigatory activities. I asked him in particular whether he remembered any instances when Jack had been a source of such information, and he stated that at one time Jack reported to him a female employee of his whom he believed had been forging checks and also thought might be a source of narcotics or drugs of some sort, and as a result of the information which Ruby provided a charge was filed against this girl. Now, do you remember the name of the girl?
Mr. EBERHARDT. Not her true name. We handed her over We handed her over to the forgery bureau. She had some dangerous drugs. She was up under the name of [deletion]. She never came back. We arrested her out of the club.
Mr. GRIFFIN. How long ago was that?
Mr. EBERHARDT. That was when I was working vice. Three years.
Mr. GRIFFIN. And you also stated that he informed on a fellow by the name of [deleted], who was wanted in connection with a white slavery charge. Did you ever prosecute that?
Mr. EBERHARDT. No…He was already under indictment. He [Ruby] told us that he was in town and where he was staying, which we like to know.
This testimony shows us that Ruby worked with the DPD as an informer on occasion. The WC did NOT mention this role in their Report (WCR) as instead they wrote the following about Ruby and the Dallas Police Department (DPD).
Quote on
www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wr/pages/WCReport_0412b.gif
Although the precise nature of his relationship to members of the Dallas Police Department is not susceptible of conclusive evaluation, the evidence indicates that Ruby was keenly interested in policemen and their work….However, the reports of past and present members of the Dallas Police Department as well as Ruby’s employees and acquaintances indicate that Ruby’s police friendships were far more widespread than those of the average citizen. (WCR, pp. 800-801)
www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wr/html/WCReport_0412b.htm
Quote off
Eberhardt would mention that a former partner of his also got useful information from Ruby in the past.
Mr. GRIFFIN. I also asked Detective Eberhardt if he knew of anyone else whom he knew from the police department, and he mentioned that his partner on the vice squad, R. L. Clark, also got some useful information, but that Eberhardt hasn't worked with Clark since early 1962…Now, is there anything else that you would want to add to what I have just dictated?
Mr. EBERHARDT. No.
But when Detective Richard Clark was called by the WC you will see NO mention of Ruby at all. His testimony was limited to the lineups the DPD conducted involving LHO.
Another claim similar to Victor Robertson’s came from NBC news producer-director Frederic Rheinstein as he said he saw Ruby before 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 23, 1963 at the police station.
[Note: I have shown that Mr. Rheinstein said he saw Ruby around his truck on Sunday morning in a previous post already.]
Mr. BALL. Oh, in the corridors?
Mr. RHEINSTEIN. In the corridors…. I would say both times when we saw him he was on the third floor.
Mr. BALL. And that was during the daytime or evening?
Mr. RHEINSTEIN. That would all be during the daytime on Saturday.
Mr. BALL. And would that be in the morning or the afternoon that you saw him?
Mr. RHEINSTEIN. It would be in the morning and in the afternoon. The most pointed appearance, or the most memorable appearance of his followed an incident that took place thusly--do you want me to go ahead?
Mr. BALL. Yes; go ahead.
Mr. RHEINSTEIN. An unidentified WBAP engineer alleged that the man we had seen around the truck, subsequently identified as Ruby…This allegation was made when he was seen on the third floor going into an office in which District Attorney Henry Wade was purportedly working. The reason this was significant was that reporters had not been permitted inside that office, and this man whom the cameraman pointed out as the same one who had earlier been around the truck had gained access where newsmen had been unable to gain access.
Mr. BALL. And did you see it on your screen?
Mr. RHEINSTEIN. I saw the man who I am reasonably certain was Ruby go into a door where Henry Wade purportedly was. I did not see him come out.
Mr. BALL. He went in, but you didn't see him come out?
Mr. RHEINSTEIN. He went in. He was later reported to have come out and he was followed in about 10 minutes by District Attorney Wade who then became available for questioning by newsmen.
Mr. BALL. Was it reported or did anybody tell you, any of your men tell you why this man had gone into Wade's office?
Mr. RHEINSTEIN. The cameraman and stage manager reported to me…that this man, who was never, by the way, identified by name, always referred to as "the creep who was down at the truck," had told them that he knew Wade personally and he could get some information for us or he could get him to come out and talk to us. Both during that day and, of course, during the following days, in discussions with the newsmen around there, there seem no question about the fact that the most distinguishing thing about Ruby was his desire to be friendly with the press and also to indicate that he had an entree--not necessarily influence, but an entree into the police rooms and-premises at city hall.
So not only was Ruby seen trying to gain access to Captain Fritz’s office on Friday evening, but it seems as though he went INTO District Attorney (DA) Henry Wade’s office on Saturday afternoon as well! Of course all these media people couldn’t be trusted by the WC as they wrote this about the incident in their Report.
Quote on
www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wr/pages/WCReport_0186a.gif
A third [witness] believed he saw Ruby enter an office in which Henry Wade was working, but no one else reported a similar event. (WCR, p. 347)
www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wr/html/WCReport_0186a.htm
Quote off
What does someone else reporting the similar event have to do with anything? Is it a requirement that more than one person see something for it to have happened? Why was Ruby or Henry Wade not asked about this by the WC? Henry Wade denied knowing Jack Ruby or anyone in his family in his WC testimony.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you know Eva Grant?
Mr. WADE. No, sir.
Mr. RANKIN. Ruby's sister. Do you know Sam Ruby?
Mr. WADE. I knew none of them, none of the Ruby family, and didn't know Jack Ruby. I think he claims that he had known me or something or other but if he had, it is one of those things where you see somebody and I didn't know his name or anything when I saw him that night or didn't know who he was. I thought he was a member of the press, actually.
However, others had a different opinion. Russ Knight, a Dallas KLIF radio announcer said the following during his testimony.
Mr. GRIFFIN. It was your understanding when you left, or was it your understanding when you left the radio that Duncan had already tape-recorded an interview of Wade?
Mr. KNIGHT. No; he told me to get an interview with Wade and it wasn’t until I got back that he said he had tried earlier and got an interview but it wasn’t satisfactory. Now, another point about Ruby POINTING OUT Henry Wade to me, I had never seen Henry Wade before because I usually didn’t do the news. I was on the personality and record playing. Wade said that he didn't know Ruby, but I guess Ruby could have seen him other places. But he did point him out. He said, "This is Henry Wade. This is the Weird Beard." But he seemed to know Wade.
Reporter Seth Kantor, Scripps-Howard, told us more about this in his testimony.
Mr. KANTOR. The name of the reporter as I have it in here in these notes is Ike Pappas. And---do you want me to read to you what I have here?
Mr. GRIFFIN. If that is the most accurate thing you can give us.
Mr. KANTOR. Yes. This is what I recalled from memory as soon as I got back from Dallas and read into the tape recorder and this is the way I wrote it down from that. This describes the meeting in the assembly room, in the police assembly room, shortly after Friday night going into Saturday.
"Sunday afternoon District Attorney Henry Wade was to say to the press that Jack Ruby was present Friday night during that strange press conference. I understand or I am told.
"A New York City radio reporter, Ike Pappas, corrected Henry and said that he, Pappas, had been talking with Ruby in the assembly room…Pappas still carried the card in his wallet; said that he brought Ruby over to the District Attorney and that the D.A. seemed to know Mr. Ruby. Henry smiled but gave no answer, after first saying that Ruby was mistaken for being a reporter."
The time which I referred to here that Mr. Wade smiled was when Ike Pappas reminded Henry Wade on Sunday that he had talked to Ruby on Friday night…. This was an announcement made by Wade Sunday …to a gathering of reporters among whom I was present in which he said that he understood that Ruby had been present Friday night, and then Ike Pappas said, "You know that he was present because the three of us were talking."
Perhaps none of this shows Wade did know Ruby, but we do know Ruby was in the DA’s office on November 21, 1963, as the WC wrote this in their Report.
Quote on
www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wr/pages/WCReport_0179b.gif
…talked with Dallas County Assistant District Attorney William F. Alexander about insufficient fund checks which a friend had passed…(WCR, p. 334)
www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wr/html/WCReport_0179b.htm
Quote off
One would expect Ruby to speak with the Dallas County Assistant District Attorney in the DA’s office and this shows Ruby was there just one day before JFK was murdered. Can all of this just be a case of a small world or endless coincidences?
While the WC covered Ruby’s activities from the evening of November 21 to November 24, 1963 (WCR, pp. 333-359), they omitted a sighting of Ruby in front of the police station on Friday morning. The Report jumps from 11 p.m. on November 21 to 11:00 a.m. on November 22, but Ruby was seen earlier than that by a police officer. Dallas Police Officer Timothy Hansen, Jr., was interviewed by the FBI on December 11, 1963, and he said the following to them.
Quote on
www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh20/pages/WH_Vol20_0049a.gif
www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh20/pages/WH_Vol20_0049b.gif
During the last four years or so he has socially visited Ruby's Carousel Club but has never been there on an assignment while on duty...
As best he could recall the last time he saw Ruby was on November 22, 1963, between 9 and 9:30 a.m. He was entering the City Hall Building from the Harwood Street entrance, and Ruby was standing on the north side of the entrance directly to the side of the stairway which leads to the basement. He said there were four or five individuals standing with Ruby but he could not recall their identity and at this time was not certain whether or not they were police officers. He felt the crowd was apparently gathering at that time in anticipation of the fact that President Kennedy would be driving through the downtown section of Dallas later in the morning. As he walked by Ruby he shook his hand and said good morning but did not engage in conversation with him. (Hansen Exhibit 1)
www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh20/html/WH_Vol20_0049a.htm
www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh20/html/WH_Vol20_0049b.htm
Quote off
The WC would call Hansen before them, but it would NOT be until July 24, 1964. Why the delay? This gave Hansen an out as he by then became “not so sure” about seeing Ruby that morning.
Mr. GRIFFIN. I now direct your attention to the activities of November 22. Did you work in your official capacity as a police officer on November 22?
Mr. HANSEN. The day the President was assassinated; yes, sir.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Do you recall seeing Jack Ruby at any time on that day?
Mr. HANSEN. I am not positive. When I say I am not positive, I either saw Ruby the morning before the President came in from Love Field down Hatwood to Main---I either saw him the morning that--I was going to the city hall that morning before we went to the corner, or the morning previous to that, I just don't recall which. I have tried---in fact, I talked to an FBI man about it that interviewed me, and told him the same thing I am telling you. I don't remember whether it was the day before or the morning of the parade.
And Jack spoke to me. He was beside the city hall on Hatwood Street, and I started to go down the steps in the basement, and he hollered, "Hi, Hans" and I hollered, "Hi, Jack." It wasn't much of a conversation.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Would you be willing to say positively that it was the day of the President's motorcade?
Mr. HANSEN. No; I wouldn't just make a flat statement, because I don't feel like I can. I am not that positive. But like I say, an ordinary day, unless there is something going on, ordinarily there wouldn't be anybody sitting on that little stone railing around there.
Mr. GRIFFIN. In your mind, is there just as much chance that it could have been the day of the motorcade or is there just as much chance it could have been the day before the motorcade, as the day of the motorcade.
Mr. HANSEN. No. The fact that there were some people sitting on the rail around there would indicate, it would make me lean toward the day of the parade. But I am not going to make a fiat statement it was the day of the parade. But it would make me kind of think maybe it was that day. That is as good as I can give it to you.
While he wouldn’t positively say he saw him on November 22, it is apparent he felt that due to the large group of people it is more likely it was this day than the day before. Despite the WC’s best effort the reader still has to feel he saw Ruby on the day of the assassination in front of the police station.
Another person from NBC, cameraman Gene Barnes, told the FBI of another incident involving the police and Ruby when they interviewed him on December 1, 1963.
Quote on
www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh24/pages/WH_Vol24_0236a.gif
Barnes...heard a shot but continued on to his rented car parked nearby in order to be ready to follow the armored truck. Dallas Police Department Officer Spears was standing by the rented car and was to serve as driver. He had obtained three days off from duty and had been employed by Barnes to act as driver for Barnes for the first two of those days.
Barnes saw Sergeant Putnam, Dallas Police Department, run up to a...Lieutenant stationed at the armored truck and heard him say, "I got me a nigger." Upon seeing a microphone close by, he said, "I'm sorry. I have me a Negro." He then explained to the Lieutenant that the Negro had been climbing over the tops of the cars in the city hall basement. Oswald was brought out very shortly thereafter and taken in an ambulance to a nearby hospital at a speed approximating 90 miles per hour, with Barnes and Spears following closely in the rented car, which had no radio.
Barnes was the first newsman to arrive at the hospital from the city hall, although other newsmen were there as they had been stationed previously at the hospital. As Barnes started setting up his equipment, Officer Spears came up to him and whispered, "Do you want the name of the guy who shot Oswald?" Barnes answered, "Sure." Spears said, "You'll have to grease his palm." Because of Spears's accent, Barnes asked him to repeat what he had said and Spears did so. Barnes asked, "What does he want —$5.00?"
Spears answered, "You're the newsman—you ought to know." Barnes asked, "How good is your source?" Spears answered, "He's only the guy who was handcuffed to him." Barnes understood this to refer to an officer who was handcuffed to Oswald. Barnes answered, "I'll have to check my office," and just as he was receiving g information on the telephone from his "office," N.B.C. colleagues in WBAP-TV in Fort Worth, Texas, that Jack Ruby had shot Oswald, Spears, who had stood guard for him at the telephone booth, stuck his head in the booth and said, "It's Jack Ruby." . . .
Barnes is at a loss to understand how Officer Spears knew so quickly who had shot Oswald or what officer was handcuffed to Oswald or why he believed that officer would give out any information. Barnes noted that when he telephoned his colleagues as to paying for information as to who shot Oswald, he was advised that they had learned less than three minutes before from their technicians on the mobile truck that it was Jack Ruby; that the technicians had recognized Ruby immediately when his picture was telecast at the very moment Oswald was shot, and before Ruby's name had been announced over the air. . . .
Barnes heard rumors but cannot pinpoint any source that the man who let Ruby into the Dallas City Hall basement just before Oswald was shot was in a Dallas Police Department Reserve uniform. Barnes recalled seeing this man on guard duty at elevators in Dallas City Hall basement at some time on the day Oswald was shot and described him as being in his sixties, having white hair and a slender build. Barnes believes it possible that he might have heard this through Clyde Goodson or Godson, an off-duty Dallas Police Department officer who drove for Barnes on November 26, 27, and 28, 1963. (Commission Exhibit (CE) 2038, p. 453)
www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh24/html/WH_Vol24_0236a.htm
Quote off
How did the WC handle this story? They ignored Barnes and Spears. Neither was called or interviewed. The WC did call a number of officers who had followed the ambulance to see if one of them had spread the word that it was Ruby. For example, Detective L.D. Montgomery was asked about this in his WC testimony.
Mr. GRIFFIN. As you took Oswald out to Parkland Hospital, was it generally known among all the people who were escorting Oswald to Parkland that Ruby had been the guy?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. Well, of course, I was in the car with Captain Fritz, Beck, and Brown, and as far as any ambulance, where Oswald was, I don't know if it----
Mr. GRIFFIN. All the people in your car knew it was Ruby?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. No; Captain Fritz didn't know who it was. They didn't know each other.
Mr. GRIFFIN. He knew the name of the man who had shot Oswald was Ruby at that time, didn't he?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. Yes, he knew that. We discussed it there in the car that--going out to the hospital--that Jack Ruby shot him.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, you took Oswald into Parkland Hospital--were there people asking you who shot him?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. No, because I didn't go in with the body--I say, "the body"---Oswald. Of course when the ambulance--beat us to the hospital.
Mr. GRIFFIN. As you people went into the hospital, were there people asking you who shot----
Mr. MONTGOMERY. People doing a lot of talking. I don't know if they were asking questions or what, because we weren't paying a lot of attention to them.
Mr. GRIFFIN. If somebody had asked you who shot Oswald, might you have said Ruby did it?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. No; I wouldn't have.
Finally, when Griffin could NOT get Montgomery to say he would have told people asking him that Ruby shot LHO, he finally got to the point.
Mr. GRIFFIN. I might explain to you what I am getting at. We know that somewhere along the line somebody was out at Parkland Hospital who was a newspaperman at…Learned that Ruby was the person. This started a rumor to the effect that his informant must have had something to do with it, and I am really asking you this question to see if it isn't possible that you guys, as you guys got out to Parkland, somebody had said Ruby was the guy and just by dropping the words, you know, that would, spread like wildfire out there.
Mr. MONTGOMERY. No; I didn't say anything about who it was that done the shooting, out there.
This shows according to his testimony that Montgomery did not tell anyone, so how did this information get leaked to Barnes and the people “in the truck” that knew it was Ruby so fast? The WC should have called at least Spears, but a true search for the truth should have involved Barnes and the people in the truck that seemed to know before anyone else that Ruby shot LHO.
Finally, if we look back at CE 2038, Barnes’ FBI interview, we see him mention hearing rumors about a man letting Ruby into the basement and that this man wore a Dallas Police Reserve uniform. He also mentions seeing this man before guarding the elevators in City Hall at the basement level the day LHO was shot. He said the man was, “…in his sixties, having white hair and a slender build.” The WC NEVER investigated this or discussed it in their Report. Why NOT? Who was this man? Could he have been the one that let Ruby in the basement to shoot LHO?
Barnes said he got the information from Clyde Goodson, but when he was testifying, he was never asked about these rumors. Spears had told Barnes that the man “handcuffed to LHO” would be the one giving the information. This is Jim Leavelle, and he gave testimony twice before the WC, but he too was never asked about this incident. Why NOT? Why would the WC not ask him why Spears would say he was willing to give out the information regarding Ruby shooting LHO?
cdn.primetimetale.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Image-1-7.jpg
The Warren Commission (WC) said Jack Ruby shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald (LHO) all by himself on Sunday, November 24, 1964, in the basement of the Dallas Police Department (DPD) building. This is one claim made by the WC that we all can agree on since it was captured on LIVE television for all to see. We will continue to explore Ruby’s ties to the DPD and his ease in moving around the building the whole weekend following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (JFK) and up to his murder of LHO.
[Note: This will conclude our look at Jack Ruby's whereabouts and connections on the weekend of the assassination.]
******************************************
So far we have seen Jack Ruby seemed to have easy access throughout the police station on Friday evening, night and Saturday afternoon, but the WC denied what many witnesses said—that Ruby was there. We have mentioned Detective August Eberhardt before in this look at Ruby’s whereabouts during the weekend of the assassination, but now we will revisit his testimony for a look into another side of Ruby.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, you and I talked for some time just prior to taking this deposition, is that right?
Mr. EBERHARDT. That is right.
Mr. GRIFFIN. I made some notes during our interview I want to dictate these for the record. I wish you would listen to them carefully…. . . to continue dictating what Detective Eberhardt told me, he stated that he regarded Jack Ruby as a source of information in connection with his investigatory activities. I asked him in particular whether he remembered any instances when Jack had been a source of such information, and he stated that at one time Jack reported to him a female employee of his whom he believed had been forging checks and also thought might be a source of narcotics or drugs of some sort, and as a result of the information which Ruby provided a charge was filed against this girl. Now, do you remember the name of the girl?
Mr. EBERHARDT. Not her true name. We handed her over We handed her over to the forgery bureau. She had some dangerous drugs. She was up under the name of [deletion]. She never came back. We arrested her out of the club.
Mr. GRIFFIN. How long ago was that?
Mr. EBERHARDT. That was when I was working vice. Three years.
Mr. GRIFFIN. And you also stated that he informed on a fellow by the name of [deleted], who was wanted in connection with a white slavery charge. Did you ever prosecute that?
Mr. EBERHARDT. No…He was already under indictment. He [Ruby] told us that he was in town and where he was staying, which we like to know.
This testimony shows us that Ruby worked with the DPD as an informer on occasion. The WC did NOT mention this role in their Report (WCR) as instead they wrote the following about Ruby and the Dallas Police Department (DPD).
Quote on
www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wr/pages/WCReport_0412b.gif
Although the precise nature of his relationship to members of the Dallas Police Department is not susceptible of conclusive evaluation, the evidence indicates that Ruby was keenly interested in policemen and their work….However, the reports of past and present members of the Dallas Police Department as well as Ruby’s employees and acquaintances indicate that Ruby’s police friendships were far more widespread than those of the average citizen. (WCR, pp. 800-801)
www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wr/html/WCReport_0412b.htm
Quote off
Eberhardt would mention that a former partner of his also got useful information from Ruby in the past.
Mr. GRIFFIN. I also asked Detective Eberhardt if he knew of anyone else whom he knew from the police department, and he mentioned that his partner on the vice squad, R. L. Clark, also got some useful information, but that Eberhardt hasn't worked with Clark since early 1962…Now, is there anything else that you would want to add to what I have just dictated?
Mr. EBERHARDT. No.
But when Detective Richard Clark was called by the WC you will see NO mention of Ruby at all. His testimony was limited to the lineups the DPD conducted involving LHO.
Another claim similar to Victor Robertson’s came from NBC news producer-director Frederic Rheinstein as he said he saw Ruby before 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 23, 1963 at the police station.
[Note: I have shown that Mr. Rheinstein said he saw Ruby around his truck on Sunday morning in a previous post already.]
Mr. BALL. Oh, in the corridors?
Mr. RHEINSTEIN. In the corridors…. I would say both times when we saw him he was on the third floor.
Mr. BALL. And that was during the daytime or evening?
Mr. RHEINSTEIN. That would all be during the daytime on Saturday.
Mr. BALL. And would that be in the morning or the afternoon that you saw him?
Mr. RHEINSTEIN. It would be in the morning and in the afternoon. The most pointed appearance, or the most memorable appearance of his followed an incident that took place thusly--do you want me to go ahead?
Mr. BALL. Yes; go ahead.
Mr. RHEINSTEIN. An unidentified WBAP engineer alleged that the man we had seen around the truck, subsequently identified as Ruby…This allegation was made when he was seen on the third floor going into an office in which District Attorney Henry Wade was purportedly working. The reason this was significant was that reporters had not been permitted inside that office, and this man whom the cameraman pointed out as the same one who had earlier been around the truck had gained access where newsmen had been unable to gain access.
Mr. BALL. And did you see it on your screen?
Mr. RHEINSTEIN. I saw the man who I am reasonably certain was Ruby go into a door where Henry Wade purportedly was. I did not see him come out.
Mr. BALL. He went in, but you didn't see him come out?
Mr. RHEINSTEIN. He went in. He was later reported to have come out and he was followed in about 10 minutes by District Attorney Wade who then became available for questioning by newsmen.
Mr. BALL. Was it reported or did anybody tell you, any of your men tell you why this man had gone into Wade's office?
Mr. RHEINSTEIN. The cameraman and stage manager reported to me…that this man, who was never, by the way, identified by name, always referred to as "the creep who was down at the truck," had told them that he knew Wade personally and he could get some information for us or he could get him to come out and talk to us. Both during that day and, of course, during the following days, in discussions with the newsmen around there, there seem no question about the fact that the most distinguishing thing about Ruby was his desire to be friendly with the press and also to indicate that he had an entree--not necessarily influence, but an entree into the police rooms and-premises at city hall.
So not only was Ruby seen trying to gain access to Captain Fritz’s office on Friday evening, but it seems as though he went INTO District Attorney (DA) Henry Wade’s office on Saturday afternoon as well! Of course all these media people couldn’t be trusted by the WC as they wrote this about the incident in their Report.
Quote on
www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wr/pages/WCReport_0186a.gif
A third [witness] believed he saw Ruby enter an office in which Henry Wade was working, but no one else reported a similar event. (WCR, p. 347)
www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wr/html/WCReport_0186a.htm
Quote off
What does someone else reporting the similar event have to do with anything? Is it a requirement that more than one person see something for it to have happened? Why was Ruby or Henry Wade not asked about this by the WC? Henry Wade denied knowing Jack Ruby or anyone in his family in his WC testimony.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you know Eva Grant?
Mr. WADE. No, sir.
Mr. RANKIN. Ruby's sister. Do you know Sam Ruby?
Mr. WADE. I knew none of them, none of the Ruby family, and didn't know Jack Ruby. I think he claims that he had known me or something or other but if he had, it is one of those things where you see somebody and I didn't know his name or anything when I saw him that night or didn't know who he was. I thought he was a member of the press, actually.
However, others had a different opinion. Russ Knight, a Dallas KLIF radio announcer said the following during his testimony.
Mr. GRIFFIN. It was your understanding when you left, or was it your understanding when you left the radio that Duncan had already tape-recorded an interview of Wade?
Mr. KNIGHT. No; he told me to get an interview with Wade and it wasn’t until I got back that he said he had tried earlier and got an interview but it wasn’t satisfactory. Now, another point about Ruby POINTING OUT Henry Wade to me, I had never seen Henry Wade before because I usually didn’t do the news. I was on the personality and record playing. Wade said that he didn't know Ruby, but I guess Ruby could have seen him other places. But he did point him out. He said, "This is Henry Wade. This is the Weird Beard." But he seemed to know Wade.
Reporter Seth Kantor, Scripps-Howard, told us more about this in his testimony.
Mr. KANTOR. The name of the reporter as I have it in here in these notes is Ike Pappas. And---do you want me to read to you what I have here?
Mr. GRIFFIN. If that is the most accurate thing you can give us.
Mr. KANTOR. Yes. This is what I recalled from memory as soon as I got back from Dallas and read into the tape recorder and this is the way I wrote it down from that. This describes the meeting in the assembly room, in the police assembly room, shortly after Friday night going into Saturday.
"Sunday afternoon District Attorney Henry Wade was to say to the press that Jack Ruby was present Friday night during that strange press conference. I understand or I am told.
"A New York City radio reporter, Ike Pappas, corrected Henry and said that he, Pappas, had been talking with Ruby in the assembly room…Pappas still carried the card in his wallet; said that he brought Ruby over to the District Attorney and that the D.A. seemed to know Mr. Ruby. Henry smiled but gave no answer, after first saying that Ruby was mistaken for being a reporter."
The time which I referred to here that Mr. Wade smiled was when Ike Pappas reminded Henry Wade on Sunday that he had talked to Ruby on Friday night…. This was an announcement made by Wade Sunday …to a gathering of reporters among whom I was present in which he said that he understood that Ruby had been present Friday night, and then Ike Pappas said, "You know that he was present because the three of us were talking."
Perhaps none of this shows Wade did know Ruby, but we do know Ruby was in the DA’s office on November 21, 1963, as the WC wrote this in their Report.
Quote on
www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wr/pages/WCReport_0179b.gif
…talked with Dallas County Assistant District Attorney William F. Alexander about insufficient fund checks which a friend had passed…(WCR, p. 334)
www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wr/html/WCReport_0179b.htm
Quote off
One would expect Ruby to speak with the Dallas County Assistant District Attorney in the DA’s office and this shows Ruby was there just one day before JFK was murdered. Can all of this just be a case of a small world or endless coincidences?
While the WC covered Ruby’s activities from the evening of November 21 to November 24, 1963 (WCR, pp. 333-359), they omitted a sighting of Ruby in front of the police station on Friday morning. The Report jumps from 11 p.m. on November 21 to 11:00 a.m. on November 22, but Ruby was seen earlier than that by a police officer. Dallas Police Officer Timothy Hansen, Jr., was interviewed by the FBI on December 11, 1963, and he said the following to them.
Quote on
www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh20/pages/WH_Vol20_0049a.gif
www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh20/pages/WH_Vol20_0049b.gif
During the last four years or so he has socially visited Ruby's Carousel Club but has never been there on an assignment while on duty...
As best he could recall the last time he saw Ruby was on November 22, 1963, between 9 and 9:30 a.m. He was entering the City Hall Building from the Harwood Street entrance, and Ruby was standing on the north side of the entrance directly to the side of the stairway which leads to the basement. He said there were four or five individuals standing with Ruby but he could not recall their identity and at this time was not certain whether or not they were police officers. He felt the crowd was apparently gathering at that time in anticipation of the fact that President Kennedy would be driving through the downtown section of Dallas later in the morning. As he walked by Ruby he shook his hand and said good morning but did not engage in conversation with him. (Hansen Exhibit 1)
www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh20/html/WH_Vol20_0049a.htm
www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh20/html/WH_Vol20_0049b.htm
Quote off
The WC would call Hansen before them, but it would NOT be until July 24, 1964. Why the delay? This gave Hansen an out as he by then became “not so sure” about seeing Ruby that morning.
Mr. GRIFFIN. I now direct your attention to the activities of November 22. Did you work in your official capacity as a police officer on November 22?
Mr. HANSEN. The day the President was assassinated; yes, sir.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Do you recall seeing Jack Ruby at any time on that day?
Mr. HANSEN. I am not positive. When I say I am not positive, I either saw Ruby the morning before the President came in from Love Field down Hatwood to Main---I either saw him the morning that--I was going to the city hall that morning before we went to the corner, or the morning previous to that, I just don't recall which. I have tried---in fact, I talked to an FBI man about it that interviewed me, and told him the same thing I am telling you. I don't remember whether it was the day before or the morning of the parade.
And Jack spoke to me. He was beside the city hall on Hatwood Street, and I started to go down the steps in the basement, and he hollered, "Hi, Hans" and I hollered, "Hi, Jack." It wasn't much of a conversation.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Would you be willing to say positively that it was the day of the President's motorcade?
Mr. HANSEN. No; I wouldn't just make a flat statement, because I don't feel like I can. I am not that positive. But like I say, an ordinary day, unless there is something going on, ordinarily there wouldn't be anybody sitting on that little stone railing around there.
Mr. GRIFFIN. In your mind, is there just as much chance that it could have been the day of the motorcade or is there just as much chance it could have been the day before the motorcade, as the day of the motorcade.
Mr. HANSEN. No. The fact that there were some people sitting on the rail around there would indicate, it would make me lean toward the day of the parade. But I am not going to make a fiat statement it was the day of the parade. But it would make me kind of think maybe it was that day. That is as good as I can give it to you.
While he wouldn’t positively say he saw him on November 22, it is apparent he felt that due to the large group of people it is more likely it was this day than the day before. Despite the WC’s best effort the reader still has to feel he saw Ruby on the day of the assassination in front of the police station.
Another person from NBC, cameraman Gene Barnes, told the FBI of another incident involving the police and Ruby when they interviewed him on December 1, 1963.
Quote on
www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh24/pages/WH_Vol24_0236a.gif
Barnes...heard a shot but continued on to his rented car parked nearby in order to be ready to follow the armored truck. Dallas Police Department Officer Spears was standing by the rented car and was to serve as driver. He had obtained three days off from duty and had been employed by Barnes to act as driver for Barnes for the first two of those days.
Barnes saw Sergeant Putnam, Dallas Police Department, run up to a...Lieutenant stationed at the armored truck and heard him say, "I got me a nigger." Upon seeing a microphone close by, he said, "I'm sorry. I have me a Negro." He then explained to the Lieutenant that the Negro had been climbing over the tops of the cars in the city hall basement. Oswald was brought out very shortly thereafter and taken in an ambulance to a nearby hospital at a speed approximating 90 miles per hour, with Barnes and Spears following closely in the rented car, which had no radio.
Barnes was the first newsman to arrive at the hospital from the city hall, although other newsmen were there as they had been stationed previously at the hospital. As Barnes started setting up his equipment, Officer Spears came up to him and whispered, "Do you want the name of the guy who shot Oswald?" Barnes answered, "Sure." Spears said, "You'll have to grease his palm." Because of Spears's accent, Barnes asked him to repeat what he had said and Spears did so. Barnes asked, "What does he want —$5.00?"
Spears answered, "You're the newsman—you ought to know." Barnes asked, "How good is your source?" Spears answered, "He's only the guy who was handcuffed to him." Barnes understood this to refer to an officer who was handcuffed to Oswald. Barnes answered, "I'll have to check my office," and just as he was receiving g information on the telephone from his "office," N.B.C. colleagues in WBAP-TV in Fort Worth, Texas, that Jack Ruby had shot Oswald, Spears, who had stood guard for him at the telephone booth, stuck his head in the booth and said, "It's Jack Ruby." . . .
Barnes is at a loss to understand how Officer Spears knew so quickly who had shot Oswald or what officer was handcuffed to Oswald or why he believed that officer would give out any information. Barnes noted that when he telephoned his colleagues as to paying for information as to who shot Oswald, he was advised that they had learned less than three minutes before from their technicians on the mobile truck that it was Jack Ruby; that the technicians had recognized Ruby immediately when his picture was telecast at the very moment Oswald was shot, and before Ruby's name had been announced over the air. . . .
Barnes heard rumors but cannot pinpoint any source that the man who let Ruby into the Dallas City Hall basement just before Oswald was shot was in a Dallas Police Department Reserve uniform. Barnes recalled seeing this man on guard duty at elevators in Dallas City Hall basement at some time on the day Oswald was shot and described him as being in his sixties, having white hair and a slender build. Barnes believes it possible that he might have heard this through Clyde Goodson or Godson, an off-duty Dallas Police Department officer who drove for Barnes on November 26, 27, and 28, 1963. (Commission Exhibit (CE) 2038, p. 453)
www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh24/html/WH_Vol24_0236a.htm
Quote off
How did the WC handle this story? They ignored Barnes and Spears. Neither was called or interviewed. The WC did call a number of officers who had followed the ambulance to see if one of them had spread the word that it was Ruby. For example, Detective L.D. Montgomery was asked about this in his WC testimony.
Mr. GRIFFIN. As you took Oswald out to Parkland Hospital, was it generally known among all the people who were escorting Oswald to Parkland that Ruby had been the guy?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. Well, of course, I was in the car with Captain Fritz, Beck, and Brown, and as far as any ambulance, where Oswald was, I don't know if it----
Mr. GRIFFIN. All the people in your car knew it was Ruby?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. No; Captain Fritz didn't know who it was. They didn't know each other.
Mr. GRIFFIN. He knew the name of the man who had shot Oswald was Ruby at that time, didn't he?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. Yes, he knew that. We discussed it there in the car that--going out to the hospital--that Jack Ruby shot him.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, you took Oswald into Parkland Hospital--were there people asking you who shot him?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. No, because I didn't go in with the body--I say, "the body"---Oswald. Of course when the ambulance--beat us to the hospital.
Mr. GRIFFIN. As you people went into the hospital, were there people asking you who shot----
Mr. MONTGOMERY. People doing a lot of talking. I don't know if they were asking questions or what, because we weren't paying a lot of attention to them.
Mr. GRIFFIN. If somebody had asked you who shot Oswald, might you have said Ruby did it?
Mr. MONTGOMERY. No; I wouldn't have.
Finally, when Griffin could NOT get Montgomery to say he would have told people asking him that Ruby shot LHO, he finally got to the point.
Mr. GRIFFIN. I might explain to you what I am getting at. We know that somewhere along the line somebody was out at Parkland Hospital who was a newspaperman at…Learned that Ruby was the person. This started a rumor to the effect that his informant must have had something to do with it, and I am really asking you this question to see if it isn't possible that you guys, as you guys got out to Parkland, somebody had said Ruby was the guy and just by dropping the words, you know, that would, spread like wildfire out there.
Mr. MONTGOMERY. No; I didn't say anything about who it was that done the shooting, out there.
This shows according to his testimony that Montgomery did not tell anyone, so how did this information get leaked to Barnes and the people “in the truck” that knew it was Ruby so fast? The WC should have called at least Spears, but a true search for the truth should have involved Barnes and the people in the truck that seemed to know before anyone else that Ruby shot LHO.
Finally, if we look back at CE 2038, Barnes’ FBI interview, we see him mention hearing rumors about a man letting Ruby into the basement and that this man wore a Dallas Police Reserve uniform. He also mentions seeing this man before guarding the elevators in City Hall at the basement level the day LHO was shot. He said the man was, “…in his sixties, having white hair and a slender build.” The WC NEVER investigated this or discussed it in their Report. Why NOT? Who was this man? Could he have been the one that let Ruby in the basement to shoot LHO?
Barnes said he got the information from Clyde Goodson, but when he was testifying, he was never asked about these rumors. Spears had told Barnes that the man “handcuffed to LHO” would be the one giving the information. This is Jim Leavelle, and he gave testimony twice before the WC, but he too was never asked about this incident. Why NOT? Why would the WC not ask him why Spears would say he was willing to give out the information regarding Ruby shooting LHO?