24-05-2014, 02:45 AM
November 24 (Sunday)
12:45 AM Jack Ruby phoned his sister Eva.1:15 AM J. Edgar Hoover urges secret transfer of Lee Harvey Oswald. Parkland Hospital is warned to prepare for possible emergency.
1:30 AM Jack Ruby went to bed.
1:30 AM The Secret Service has learned that "Lieut. J. Evans" and "Sgt. Robert Hidell" are listed as references on Oswald's application for employment with the William B. Reily Company and have instituted inquiries to trace those names. As a result, Mr. David Kerr, Office of Naval Intelligence, contacts SAIC Rice by telephone, advising that a thorough search has been made of the Marine Corps records with the following results: There are only four persons on active duty by the name of J. Evans, and twelve on inactive duty ... He said that there was only one officer, Lieutenant John Stewart Evans ... who might be associated with Oswald's reference. He further advised that there is no record of a "Hidell" either on active duty or inactive; and that the only similar name is John R. Heindel, age thirty-eight, born in Louisiana, who is not active, his record being available at the Federal Records Center, St. Louis.
2:15-2:20 AM Billy Grammer, Dallas switchboard officer, took a call at 2:20am on 11/24/1963 suggesting that Oswald would be killed. He tried to contact Curry but his phone was off the hook. The caller had specifically asked for Grammer, and though he did not identify himself, he said "You know me." He described the transfer plans in detail, and advised Grammer to have the transfer changed or "We're going to kill Oswald right there in the basement." When Grammer found out that Ruby had shot Oswald, he realized that it was Ruby's voice he had heard on the phone. Grammer speculated that Ruby didn't want to shoot Oswald, and hoped that the transfer would be secretly changed. ("The Men Who Killed Kennedy" documentary) 2:15 AM An anonymous telephone call is received at the Dallas FBI office. The caller warns that Oswald will be killed during the transfer to the county jail later this morning. There is no significant change of plans. The sheriff's office and FBI officials in Dallas receive almost identical telephone warnings that Oswald will be murdered as he is transferred. The switchboard operator later identifies the caller as Jack Ruby. Dallas FBI SAC Shanklin calls the Dallas Police Department in an attempt to reach Chief Curry with news of the threat. He will not reach Curry until 8:15 AM - hours later.
2:30-3:00am: anonymous phone calls threatening Oswald's life are received by the Dallas FBI office and the county sheriff's office. (WC)
2:30 AM Night clerk Vernon Glossup at the Dallas FBI office received a call from an anonymous male; the man spoke in a calm and mature voice, and said he represented "A committee that is neither right- or left-wing, and...we are going to kill the man who killed the President. There will be no excitement and we will kill him. We wanted to be sure and tell the FBI, police department and sheriff's office that we will be there and we will kill him." (Assignment Oswald p54)
3:10 AM AP story: Dallas - Curry said photographs found in the home of Oswald's Russian-born wife link him with the rifle used in the daylight assassination. The pictures, taken before the shooting, were found in the wife's home in suburban Irving, TX. AP, AP2dn, 3:10 a.m. CST
3:15 AM (EST) Gordon Shanklin called Hoover and told him that someone had called the Dallas FBI office to warn that Oswald would be shot while being transferred. Hoover then had Shanklin call Curry, who assured him that Oswald would be protected. Curry told him he had received the same warning call.
3:20 AM Capt. Frazier receives a call from FBI Agent Milton Newsom informing him about an anonymous threat to kill Oswald.
5-6 AM Terrance W. McGarry, a UPI reporter is awakened by his wife in Dallas. She makes her husband get up. "If anyone shoots that guy and you knew ahead of time that is was going to happen, you will never forgive yourself." McGarry is convinced that someone will try to kill Oswald during the transfer today.
6-7 AM National Photographic Intelligence Center (NPIC) complete production of briefing boards and notes for Lundahl / McCone regarding Zapruder film (Horne, 1230 ff). Today Zapruder shows 8mm copy of film for Sorrels; Life Chicago send original film to Life HQ in New York; film later damaged at frames 155-6 and 207-212; Stolley told to purchase all rights to film; Secret Service make copies of film in Washington Trask, 131-2; Stolley; Wainright, "The Great Magazine", 369; Wrone, 35; Mack e-mail to author, May 26, 2010; Zavada e-mail to author, July 9, 2010
"NPIC enjoyed the well-deserved reputation within the government as the finest photo-interpretation center in the world. The center's interpretation of the film…came to two conclusions: First, the first shot at the motorcade had not come from the sixth-floor sniper's nest'…Second, there had been at least two gunmen in Dealey Plaza shooting at the motorcade. The results of NPIC's analysis of the Zapruder were suppressed." (McKnight, Breach of Trust; CIA document # 1641-450, released May 18 1982, in Weisberg's files)
6:30 AM An FBI memo to the WC said that at this time and date "an anonymous male caller telephonically advised a Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation at Dallas, Texas, that at about 5:30pm he learned from an unidentified sack boy at Wyatt's Supermarket, Plymouth Park Shopping Center, Irving, Texas, that Lee Harvey Oswald, on Thursday, November 21 1963 had his rifle sighted at the Irving Sports Shop, 221 East Irving Boulevard..." It also said that Ray John of the TV news department of WFAA-TV in Dallas told the FBI that he had gotten a call around 3:00 or 3:30pm the same day from a man who gave him the same tip.
7:00 AM Preparations begun for Oswald's transfer.
7:30 AM Stephen Alexander, a television cameraman, will tell the FBI that he is present in various parts of the police basement from this time until Oswald is shot, at about 11:30 AM; "at no time was he asked for identification by any police officer," and he doubts that any other newsmen are asked to show their credentials. Ed Haddad, a radio newscaster, says that there is "no security set up as far as he could notice" and that "Oswald could easily have been slain on Friday or Saturday, for anyone could move freely throughout the building."
8:15 AM FBI SAC Shanklin reaches Police Chief Curry by phone and informs him of the Oswald death threat.
8:30 AM 8:30-9am: Elnora Pitts, who does some housecleaning for Jack Ruby calls his house, as he does each Sunday morning, to make sure Ruby wants her to come this day. A male voice answers the phone that does not sound, to Pitts, like Jack Ruby -- even though the speaker identifies himself as Ruby. The speaker also has no knowledge of the weekly cleaning arrangement. Ruby is actually outside the Dallas Police building.
8:00 AM TV engineer Warren Richey told the WC that he saw a man who looked like Ruby outside the police station at this time and again at 10am. (H 13 255)
8:00-8:30 AM "FERRIE stated that they arose around 8:00 or 8:30 AM on November 24, 1963. After having breakfast they took the ferry across the bay to pick up the road to Port Arthur, Texas that runs along the coast." (FBI interview 11/25/1963)
8:30 - 8:45 AM Immediately after his arrival at the building on Sunday morning, Jesse Curry speaks by telephone with Sheriff J. E. Decker about the transfer. When Decker indicates that he will leave to Curry the decision on whether the sheriff's office or the police will move Oswald, Curry decides that the police will handle it because "we had so much involved here, we were the ones that were investigating the case and we had the officers set up downstairs to handle it." After talking with Decker, Curry begins to discuss plans for the transfer. With the threats against Oswald in mind, Curry suggests to Batchelor and Deputy Chief Stevenson that Oswald be transported to the county jail in an armored truck, to which they agree. While Batchelor makes arrangements to have an armored truck brought to the building, Curry and Stevenson tentatively agree on the route the armored truck would follow from the building to the county jail. WC
9:00 AM Chicago member of the American Guild of Variety Artists sent a message to Ruby: "Tell Jack not to send the letter today, it would be awkward in Chicago." He didn't receive it.
9:00 AM In Columbia, S.C., William Somersett and Joseph Milteer have breakfast together. Milteer says to Somersett: "They did not have to worry about Lee Harvey Oswald because he doesn't know anything." Milteer goes outside of the Wade Hampton Hotel to get some coffee. He returns with same and also with a quantity of change which leads FBI informant William Somersett to conclude he has made a long distance call. "Oswald has not said anything and he will not say anything." Milteer tells Somersett.
At 9:00 (CST) senior officers of the Dallas Police Dept. begin issuing detailed orders for OSWALD's transfer. While the 10:00 transfer is now off, it is obvious to all that OSWALD will be transferred within hours.
Policemen supposedly clear the Dallas Police headquarters basement of all but police personnel. Guards are stationed at the top of the Main and Commerce Streets auto ramps leading down into the basement, at each of the five doorways into the garage, and at the double doors leading to the public hallway adjacent to the jail office. Then, Sgt. Patrick T. Dean, acting under instructions from Talbert, directs 14 men in a search of the garage. Maintenance workers are directed to leave the area. The searchers examine the rafters, tops of air conditioning ducts, and every closet and room opening off the garage. They search the interior and trunk compartment of automobiles parked in the garage. The two passenger elevators in the central part of the garage are not in service and the doors are shut and locked; the service elevator is moved to the first floor, and the operator is instructed not to return it to the basement. WC
William Lord, ABC news correspondent, tells the FBI that he enters the police basement at this time by public elevator from the third floor and that no one asks him to identify himself; he does not observe that anyone is responsible for identifying those who enter the basement.
9:00-9:30am: Jack Ruby got up (WC).
9:30 AM Ray Rushing, a preacher from Plano, Texas, has a short conversation with Jack Ruby during a ride in an elevator at the Dallas Police headquarters.
9:30-11:15am Oswald interrogation in Fritz's office, with Sorrels, Kelly, Harry Holmes and homicide detectives: "After the assassination, a policeman or some man came rushing into the School Book Depository Building and said, 'Where is your telephone?' He showed me some kind of credential and identified himself, so he might not have been a police officer...'Right there' I answered, pointing to the phone...'Yes, I can eat lunch with you,' I told my co-worker, 'but I can't go right now. You go and take the elevator, but send the elevator back up.'...After all this commotion started, I just went downstairs and started to see what it was all about. A police officer and my superintendent of the place stepped up and told officers that I am one of the employees in the building...If you ask me about the shooting of Tippit, I don't know what you are talking about...The only thing I am here for is because I popped a policeman in the nose in the theater...which I readily admit I did, because I was protecting myself...I learned about the job vacancy at the Texas School Book Depository from people in Mrs Paine's neighborhood...I visited my wife Thursday night, Nov 21, whereas I normally visited her over the weekend, because Mrs Paine was giving a party for the children on the weekend...It didn't cost much to go to Mexico. It cost me some $26...I went to the Mexican Embassy to try to get this permission to go to Russia by way of Cuba... I went to the Mexican Consulate in Mexico City. I went to the Russian Embassy to go to Russia by way of Cuba. They told me to come back in thirty days...The sack [he had 11/22] was in the car, beside me, on my lap, as it always is...It was not on the back seat. Mr Frazier must have been mistaken or else thinking about the other time when he picked me up...The Fair Play for Cuba Committee was a loosely organized thing and we had no officers. Probably you can call me the secretary of it because I did collect money....If anyone else was entitled to get mail in PO Box 6525 at the Terminal Annex in New Orleans, the answer is no...The rental application said Fair Play for Cuba Committee and the American Civil Liberties Union. Maybe I put them on there...I never ordered a rifle under the name of Hidell, Oswald or any other name...I never permitted anyone else to order a rifle to be received in this box...I subscribe to two publications from Russia, one being a hometown paper published in Minsk...We moved around so much that it was more practical to simply rent post office boxes...I don't recall anything about the AJ Hidell being on the post office card...I presume you have reference to a map I had in my room with some X's on it. I have no automobile...I was seeking a job, and I would put these markings on this map so I could plan my itinerary around with less walking. [Ruth Paine later said she marked the map]...What religion am I? I have no faith, I suppose you mean, in the Bible. I have read the Bible. It is fair reading, but not very interesting. As a matter of fact, I am a student of philosophy and I don't consider the Bible as even a reasonable or intelligent philosophy...I told you I haven't shot a rifle since the Marines, possibly a small bore, maybe a .22, but not anything larger since I have left the Marine Corps..I have been a student of Marxism since the age of 14...American people will soon forget the President was shot, but I didn't shoot him...[Johnson's] views on Cuba would probably be largely the same as those of President Kennedy...I never lived on Neely Street. These people are mistaken about visiting there, because I never lived there...I do deny shooting both the President and Tippit."
Mr. FRITZ. That time here at 9:30 in the morning, one of the postal inspectors, Mr. Holmes, Mr. Sorrels, Mr. Bookhout, and I am not sure about Mr. Sorrels staying in there all the time. He was in there part of the time, and that is the time that I showed him the map, too, that morning with these markings on it.
Mr. BALL. What did he say?
Mr. FRITZ. Well, he said they didn't mean anything. Those markings were places he had gone looking for work. I asked him at that time, too, more about his religious beliefs, and Inspector Kelley asked him what he thought about religion and he said he didn't think too much of it. I believe he said of the philosophy of religion.
So he asked him two or three other questions and he was a little evasive so I asked him if he believed in a deity. He said he didn't care to discuss that with me.
Mr. BALL. What else was said?
Mr. FRITZ. I asked him, too, I believe on that same morning, I asked him more about his political beliefs and he told me he didn't belong to any political party and he told me he was-a Marxist but that he wasn't a Marxist-Leninist, that he was just a Marxist, and that he again told me that he believed in the Castro revolution. That is the morning of the transfer.
Mr. BALL. You asked him about the gun again, didn't you?
Mr. FRITZ. I asked him about a lot of things that morning, I sure did.
Mr. BALL. Tell us about it.
Mr. FRITZ. He denied anything about Alek Hidell, and again about his belief in the Fair Play for Cuba.
Mr. BALL. What about the rifle?
Mr. FRITZ. I asked him about the Neely Street address and he denied that address. He denied having a picture made over there and he even denied living there. I told him he had people who visited him over there and he said they were just wrong about visiting.
Mr. BALL. On the curtain rods story, do you remember whether you ever asked him if he told Frazier that he had curtain rods in the package?
Mr. FRITZ. If I asked him what, please, sir?
Mr. BALL. Did you ever ask Oswald whether or not he had told Frazier that he had curtain rods in the package?
Mr. FRITZ. I am sure I did but I can't remember that right now. But I am sure I asked him that because I must have asked him that because I asked him a lot of questions, I asked him if he was fixing his house, I remember asking about that, and he said he was not.
Mr. BALL. Was he questioned about post office boxes that morning?
Mr. FRITZ. Yes, sir; I did, I asked him about those post office boxes, because the postal inspector had told us about those boxes, and Mr. Holmes did most of the talking to him about the boxes, and he knew about the boxes and where they were, and he said he had, and I asked him too if he had ordered a rifle to be shipped to one of those boxes, and he said he had not, to one of those box numbers.
Mr. BALL. Did you ask him why he had the boxes?
Mr. FRITZ. He told me that he had, one of the boxes, if I remember correctly, he never admitted owning at all. The other box he told me he got his, he kept to get his mail, that he said he got some papers from Russia and correspondence with people from Russia and he used that box for his mail.
Mr. FRITZ. Someone told me he had a rifle and wrapped in a blanket and kept it in the garage and he said he didn't. It wasn't true.
Mr. BALL. Did he at any time tell you when you asked him if he owned a rifle, did he say, "How could I afford to order a rifle on my salary of a dollar and a quarter an hour," something like that?
Mr. FRITZ. I don't remember that.
Mr. BALL. Did you have any tape recorder?
Mr. FRITZ. No, sir; I don't have a tape recorder. We need one, if we had one at this time we could have handled these conversations far better.
Mr. BALL. The Dallas Police Department doesn't have one?
Mr. FRITZ. No, sir; I have requested one several times but so far they haven't gotten me one.
Mr. BALL. And you had quite a few interruptions, too, during the questioning, didn't you?
Mr. FRITZ. Yes, sir; we had quite a lot of interruptions. I wish we had had--- under the circumstances, I don't think there is much that could have been done because I saw it as it was there and I don't think there was a lot that could have been done other than move that crowd out of there, but I think it would have been more apt to get a confession out of it or get more true facts from him if I could have got him to sit down and quietly talked with him.
Mr. DULLES. You had nothing to do with the investigation of the Walker case?
Mr. FRITZ. Not at all That happened to be Captain Jones and Lieutenant Cunningham.
Mr. DULLES. Did that case come up at all in any of your interrogations of Oswald? Did you ever ask him whether he was involved or anything of that sort?
Mr. FRITZ. I don't think that I ever asked him about that. If I did, I don't remember it. I don't remember asking about that, asking him about that at all. We had a little information on it but I didn't want to mix it up in that other case and I didn't want to mix it up.
Mr. DULLES. What was Oswald's attitude toward the police and police authority?
Mr. FRITZ. You know I didn't have trouble with him. If we would just talk to him quietly like we are talking right now, we talked all right until I asked him a question that meant something, every time I asked him a question that meant something, that would produce evidence he immediately told me he wouldn't tell me about it and he seemed to anticipate what I was going to ask. In fact, he got so good at it one time, I asked him if he had had any training, if he hadn't been questioned before.
Mr. DULLES. Questioned before?
Mr. FRITZ. Questioned before, and he said that he had, he said yes, the FBI questioned him when he came back from Russia from a long time and they tried different methods. He said they tried the buddy boy method and thorough method, and let me see some other method he told me and he said, "I understand that."
Mr. DULLES. Did you ask him whether he had had any communist training or indoctrination or anything of that kind?
Mr. FRITZ. I asked him some questions about that and I asked him where he was in Russia. He told me he was in Russia, first I believe he told me, first I believe he said in Moscow, and then he said he went to Minsk, Russia, and I asked him what did you do, get some training, go to school? I suspected he had some training in sabotage from the way he talked and acted, and he said "no, I worked in a radio factory." He acted like a person who was prepared for what he was doing.
Mr. DULLES. Have you any views of your own as to motive from your talks with him? Did you get any clues as to possible motive in assassinating the President?
Mr. FRITZ. I can only tell you what little I know now. I am sure that we have people in Washington here that can tell far more than I can.
Mr. DULLES. Well, you saw the man and the others didn't see the man.
Mr. FRITZ. I got the impression, I got the impression that he was doing it because of his feeling about the Castro revolution, and I think that he felt, he had a lot of feeling about that revolution.
Mr. DULLES. Did he express any animosity against anyone, the President or the Governor or Walker or anybody?
Mr. FRITZ. No, sir; he did not. Not with me he didn't.
Mr. DULLES. Not with you?
Mr. FRITZ. No, sir. He just, the fact he just didn't talk about them much. He just didn't say hardly anything. When I asked him he didn't say much about them.
Mr. McCLOY. You knew Officer Tippit?
Mr. FRITZ. I wanted to tell you one thing before I forget. One time I asked him something about whether or not, either I asked him or someone else in there asked him, if he thought he would be better off, if he thought the country would be better off with the President killed and he said, "Well, I think that the Vice President has about the same views as the President has." He says he will probably do about the same thing that President Kennedy will do.
Mr. BALL. Captain Fritz, from being with Oswald for a couple of days what were your impressions about him? Was he afraid, scared?
Mr. FRITZ. Was he afraid?
Mr. BALL. Yes.
Mr. FRITZ. No, sir; I don't believe he was afraid at all. I think he was a person who had his mind made up what to do and I think he was like a person just dedicated to a cause. And I think he was above average for intelligence.
I know a lot of people call him a nut all the time but he didn't talk like a nut. He knew-exactly when to quit talking. He knew the kind of questions, I could talk to him as long as I wanted to if I just talked about a lot of things that didn't amount to anything. But any time I asked him a question that meant something he answered quick.
Marguerite and Marina Oswald and the two children are being "detained" by the Secret Service at the Executive Inn in Dallas. Following Lee Harvey Oswald's death, they will be moved to the Inn of the Six Flags, several miles outside of Dallas. Before this time, no protection has been afforded to the family of Lee Harvey Oswald.
10:19 AM Karen Carlin called Ruby's apartment about a loan.
10:20 AM Chief Jesse Curry tells a press conference that Oswald will be moved in an armored truck and gives a general description of other security precautions. Apparently no newsmen are informed of the transfer route, however, and the route is not disclosed to the driver of the armored truck until the truck arrives at the Commerce Street exit at about 11:07 a.m. When Chief Curry learns that the truck has arrived, he informs Captain Fritz that security controls are in effect and inquires how long the questioning of Oswald will continue. At this point, Fritz learns for the first time of the plan to convey Oswald by armored truck and immediately expresses his disapproval. He urges the use of an unmarked police car driven by a police officer, pointing out that this will be better from the standpoint of both speed and maneuverability. Curry agrees and the armored truck now becomes a decoy. WC
The morning of 11/24/1964, before Oswald was shot, Curry was asked by reporters if Oswald was right-handed. "I don't know," he replied. "I haven't seen him write....I haven't seen him do anything that would indicate whether he was right or left." (CE 2147)
10:35 AM WBAP-TV technician Ira Walker was in the news van outside City Hall awaiting Oswald's transfer. Jack Ruby walked up and asked him "Has he been brought down yet?" Though he did not know Ruby before that, he was later certain that the man who shot Oswald was the man he talked to that morning. (H 13 292-93)
Sometime this morning a reporter from WFAA-TV (Dallas) told the public that he was at the County Courthouse, where Oswald was to be moved, and after his arrival "representatives from the press will have their first opportunity for a real front to front confrontation" with Oswald.
10:47 AM (CST) Oswald's transfer begins. 11:47 AM (EST) Mass for JFK ends. (Manchester)
The Warren Commission estimates that 40 to 50 newsmen are present in the police basement when OSWALD is shot. Twenty-seven press representatives are listed as present in the police report on the so-called abortive transfer; the FBI interviews at least another 17 reporters, which brings the number to 44. The Commission states that "Many newsmen reported that they were checked on more than one occasion while they waited in the basement. A small number did not recall that their credentials were ever checked." According to Sylvia Meagher, 14 newsmen report that their credentials have not been checked, or not checked on some occasions. Fourteen is almost one-third of the total 44 newsmen - something over 31 per cent. Meagher suggests that 14 is not a "small number" but a large proportion, and that the Warren Report minimizes what is clearly inexcusable recklessness and irresponsibility on the part of the Dallas police in protecting a prisoner whose life has been threatened by unknown men. (Accessories, Meagher)
11:00 AM Deputy Chief Stevenson requests that Capt. O. A. Jones of the forgery bureau bring all available detectives from the third floor offices of Dallas Police headquarters to the basement. Jones instructs the detectives who accompany him to the basement to line the walls on either side of the passageway cleared for the transfer party. A ccording to Detective T. D. McMillon, "... Captain Jones explained to us that, when they brought the prisoner out, that he wanted two lines formed and we were to keep these two lines formed: you know, a barrier on either side of them, kind of an aisle ... for them to walk through, and when they came down this aisle, we were to keep this line intact and move along with them until the man was placed in the car. " WC
11:00 AM Armored truck arrives to pick up Oswald, but police decide to use an unmarked car. (WC) Shortly before this time, according to the WC, Ruby left his apartment.
Dallas Times Herald: "...as police prepared to transfer Oswald...to the county jail on Sunday, they indicated there was little hope at that point of obtaining a confession of the President's murder."
11:05 AM Ruby arrives at the Western Union office. Jack Ruby parks his car directly across the street from the Western Union office, places his keys and billfold in the trunk of the car, then locks the trunk which also contains approximately $1000.00 in cash. He then places the trunk key in the glove compartment of the car. He does not lock the car doors. His dog, Sheba, is left in the car. He is carrying his revolver and $2000.00 in cash and no personal identification.
11:10 AM Members of a police detail are heading to the basement in preparation for OSWALD's transfer. They see Officer William "Blackie" Harrison coming up from the subbasement. He will later say he has gone down there to get cigars. It has been suggested that Harrison, who had access to four telephones, was the one who calls Ruby and gives him the word that OSWALD is about to be transferred. (Conspiracy)
11:15 AM Capt. Fritz has completed his questioning of Oswald. A bundle of Oswald's clothes is brought in, and he is asked what he prefers to wear. "Just give me one of those sweaters," Oswald replies, and then slips into a black sweater with jagged holes in the shoulder. He is ready to go. Inspector Thomas J. Kelley of the Secret Service speaks to Oswald quietly out of earshot of everyone else. He tells Oswald that, if he is not guilty, then Kelley would be "very anxious to talk with him to make sure the correct story was developing as it related to the assassination." Oswald says he will be glad to discuss this proposition "with his attorney" but, for the moment, has "nothing more to say." Oswald , still handcuffed, is then escorted out of the small office by a phalanx of Dallas detectives.
Inspector Thomas Kelly talks with Oswald. He said he was anxious to talk with Oswald as soon as he secured counsel, since he had denied shooting the President. Oswald agreed and said, "but at the present time I have nothing more to say to you." Before being brought out he asked for a change of clothes; he was given a choice of sweaters and chose a black one. Posner claims that if Oswald had not delayed to change clothes, Ruby would have missed his transfer. Before entering the basement, he put on a black sweater, hoping to make himself look different - "There ain't nobody gonna shoot me," he told Leavelle.
Oswald was interrogated for a total of approximately 12 hours between 2:30 p.m. on Friday, November 22, 1963, and 11:15 a. m. on Sunday, November 24, 1963. There were no stenographic or tape recordings of these interviews. Along with Capt Fritz, also present during these interviews was FBI agents, James Hosty and James W. Bookhout. Also there was T.J. Nully and David B. Grant (Secret Service) Robert I. Nash (United States Marshal) and Billy L. Senkel and Fay M. Turner (Dallas Police Department). Only Fritz and Turner were talked to by the Warren Commission, and Turner was not asked about Oswald's interrogation. (There were also others present)
11:17-11:18 AM Ruby left City Hall, walked a half block to Western Union, and sent a $25 money order to Carlin in Fort Worth. From there he went straight to the police basement. (WC)
Jack Ruby is at the Western Union office located just down the street from the police station where Oswald is being prepared for transfer. He is sending a twenty-five-dollar money order to Karen Carlin in Fort Worth. Carlin is a stripper who works in his club. Ruby then goes to the police station and positions himself in a place to shoot Oswald.
Karen Bennett Carlin, who dances in Ruby's club using the name "Little Lynn" will be later interviewed by FBI Agent Roger C. Warner: "Mrs. Carlin was highly agitated and was reluctant to make any statement to me. She stated to me that she was under the impression the Lee Oswald, Jack Ruby, and other individuals unknown to her, were involved in a plot to assassinate President Kennedy and that she would be killed if she gave any information to the authorities."
Ruby's roommate, George Senator, makes a telephone call from the Eat Well Cafe to attorney Jim Martin in Dallas a few minutes before Ruby shoots OSWALD, requesting that the attorney represent Ruby for the shooting that has not yet occurred.
About this time, Jack Ruby's attorney, Tom Howard, enters the Dallas Police building. He comes through the Harwood Street entrance and walks up to the jail office window. At this time, Oswald is just being taken off the jail elevator. Tom Howard turns away from the window where he sees Oswald emerge from the elevator, waves at Detective H. L. McGee and walks back toward the Harwood Street door saying: "That's all I wanted to see."
Police Chief Jesse Curry is walking down a corridor toward the jail office when he is called to take a telephone call from Dallas Mayor Cabell in his office. Since other officers are in charge of moving Oswald, Curry stays in his office to give Cabell his report over the telephone.
A reporter in the basement seeks out Lieutenant George Butler. The reporter will later testify: Butler's former poise "appeared to have deserted him completely ... He was an extremely nervous man, so nervous that ... I noticed his lips trembling."
Sergeant Patrick Dean, who has known Jack Ruby for years, is in charge of securing the basement against intruders. Dean, who will later be allowed to write his own questions, will fail a lie-detector test. The records of Dean's test have since disappeared.
11:18 AM Jack Ruby leaves Western Union office. The time Ruby sends the twenty-five dollar money order is only four minutes from the time he shoots Oswald. Some researchers have reached the conclusion that the shooting of Oswald is not predicated on Ruby knowing the exact time of Oswald's transfer, but rather conversely that Oswald is transferred only after Ruby is in a position to shoot him.
On November 29, 1963, Police Reserve Officer Harold Holly will make a report stating that he arrives for duty about ten minutes after OSWALD is shot and that: "...then he was sent to Parkland Hospital. While at Parkland, he engaged in conversation with another reserve officer whose name is unknown to him. This reserve officer told Mr. Holly that prior to the shooting, he either observed, or himself admitted Jack Ruby to the basement. That Mr. Ruby was wearing a press identification card on his jacket. Mr. Holly states he could recognize this reserve officer if he could see him again." Subsequently, Holly identifies William J. Newman as the man he talks to. Burt Griffin, Warren Commission Counsel, will later call Newman "a damn liar" to his face as Newman is giving his testimony.
Detective Jim Leavelle, one of the men handcuffed to Oswald, has said he never understood the reason for the nearly one-hour delay in transferring Oswald, but that Capt. Will Fritz gives him the order to move just after conferring with FBI and Secret Service officials.
11:19 AM Detectives take OSWALD in an elevator from his upper floor cell to the basement of the city jail.
Note: The Dallas police force is housed in Dallas City Hall, which adjoins the Municipal Building. There are two ramps leading into the police basement - one on Main Street, normally reserved for entering vehicles, and one on Commerce Street, for departing vehicles. Officer R. E. Vaughn is stationed at the top of the Main St. ramp. Apart from the two ramps, access to the basement is possible through five doors, reached by entering City Hall or the Municipal Building in the first instance. While police witnesses will testify that all five doors to the basement are secure against unauthorized persons, the Warren Commission believes that there is some doubt about one of the doors.
UPI reporter Terrance McGarry tells the FBI that at least five minutes before Oswald is shot, he stations himself at the middle of the basement end of the Main St. ramp and that no one comes down the ramp during this period. Also, a taxi-driver, Harry Tasker, has been hired by a reporter to stand by outside the police station. He has positioned himself opposite the Main St. ramp and has kept the ramp entrance under constant observation, so that he will see the reporter as soon as he emerges and is ready to race to the county jail. Tasker tells the FBI (on Dec. 6, 1963) that he has been standing at the ramp entrance for about five minutes before the shot and that no one resembling Ruby enters the basement while he is there.
11:20 AM Lieutenant Pierce drives his car up the ramp at the police station. One version of Jack Ruby's entrance into the police station has him entering now. As a policeman guarding the ramp moves the crowd to one side to let Lieutenant Pierce's car pass by, it is alleged that Ruby starts down the ramp on the opposite side of the car. Officer R. E. Vaughn, who is stationed there, denies that Ruby enters the basement via the Main St. ramp. Other versions have members of the DPD assisting Ruby in gaining access to the building. James Turner, an employee of WBAP-TV Fort Worth, testifies that while he is standing near the railing on the east side of the Main St. ramp, perhaps 30 seconds before the shooting, he observes a man he is confident is Jack Ruby moving slowly down the Main St. ramp about ten feet away from the bottom. Two other witnesses testify that they think they have seen Ruby on the Main St. side of the ramp before the shooting. One witness, a reserve sergeant name Croy doesn't know "whether it was [Ruby] or not." Croy also fails to report this man in his written report after the shooting. Warren Commission document will eventually state: "Investigating officers have determined the Robert Huffaker, KRLD-TV newsman was in this area at the time, and his clothes were identical to the clothing described by this officer [Croy]."
Robert Kintner, an NBC executive, decides that his network should air the transfer of OSWALD instead of the services in Washington. Because of Kintner, the murder of OSWALD will be televised live on national television. Kintner will eventually join LBJ's White House staff.
Harold Weisberg, on his farm in Maryland, is watching TV coverage and complains to his wife about the transfer of Oswald. "You know, honey, this poor son-of-a-bitch is going to get killed. Everything that is happening is making it impossible to try him. Somebody wants to close his mouth." (Kelin, Praise from a Future Generation)
11:20 CST 12:20 PM (EST) Humes completes autopsy report after burning earlier draft.
11:21 AM Oswald is brought into the basement handcuffed to Detective Leavelle on the right, with Detective Graves at his left arm, preceded by Captain Fritz and Lieutenant Swain and followed by Detective Montgomery. Every one of these men except Captain Fritz knows Jack Ruby and has known him for periods of ten to twelve years. Thirty-six other officers present know Ruby. No one sees him until it is too late.
As OSWALD is led out, the assembled TV crews immediately snap on their bright lights, momentarily blinding some of the police escort. Captain Fritz has not assigned a single man to walk directly in front of the prisoner and shield him from possible attack. (In the television coverage, now preserved on tape, it is observed that Oswald appears to glance directly at Ruby as he walks out. In this split second, he seems aware of Ruby's presence. He shifts his gaze and continues to walk. Others say he was looking at a reporter, Ike Pappas, who was asking him a question.) A car horn sounds twice (in some videos, the horn is heard only once). Jack Ruby is sheltering himself behind police officer William "Blackie" Harrison. Ruby has known Harrison for eleven years.
Jack Ruby suddenly lunges through the crowd, pistol in hand --
A police officer, Detective Combest, sees Ruby stride swiftly forward. "He was bootlegging the pistol like a quarterback with a football ... I knew what he was going to do ... but I couldn't get at him." (Conspiracy)
He planted his pistol in Oswald's stomach and fired once. Oswald was pulled back into the office and began bleeding to death. It was shown live on NBC; this was the first televised murder in history. CBS's Harry Reasoner, desperately trying to sort out the commotion, finally announced, "What you saw very clearly is a man in a dark hat step out from the line and shoot Lee Harvey Oswald."
Ruby's single bullet enters OSWALD's abdomen. It ruptures two main veins carrying blood to the heart, and tears through the spleen, the pancreas, the liver, and the right kidney. Oswald cries out and crumples to the floor. He reportedly never speaks another word.
The wounded Oswald is guided to the floor by Jim Leavelle while L.C. Graves grabs Ruby. Oswald, mortally wounded, is then rushed back into the jail office where police give him artificial respiration while waiting for an ambulance to arrive. (Ruby's shot has traversed Oswald's lower abdomen, rupturing two main arteries carrying blood to the heart, and has torn through the spleen, pancreas, liver, and the right kidney. Obviously, pumping Oswald's chest is the worst possible reaction to the internal bleeding caused by his abdominal wound.) Jack Ruby is hustled out of the police basement and taken to the same jail cell that has only been vacated by Oswald earlier this morning. Oswald is placed on a stretcher and put into an ambulance and rushed to Parkland Hospital. It has been reported by the Dallas Police that they believe OSWALD actually died in the ambulance en route to the hospital. He reportedly sighed once, then grew still and ashen.
The following testimony is from Detective B. H. Combest, who is at OSWALD's left side when he is shot by Ruby:
Combest: I didn't hear him say a word hardly, after he had been shot. He was moaning at the time Jimmy Leavelle, Graves, and I laid him down on the floor and removed the handcuffs that he had on him...At the time I asked him and talked to him trying to get him to make a statement to me at the time. Especially, after I realized how serious the wound was. When we first asked him he appeared to comprehend what I was saying...I told him was there anything that he wanted me to tell anybody or was there anything he wanted to say right now before it was too late...trying to let him know if he was ever going to say anything he was going to have to say it then.
Hubert: You thought he was dying?
Combest: Yes, sir; I did.
Hubert: And do you think you used language to him to convey to him your idea that he was dying?
Combest: Yes, sir.
Hubert: Did you get any indication that he actually understood what you were trying to convey to him?
Combest: When I firt started asking him he did. He looked up at me, seemed to recognize that I - who was talking to him...
Hubert: But, he didn't say anything?
Combest: No sir, just shook his head and I said, "Do you have anything you want to tell us now," and he shook his head...I kept talking to him as long as I thought he would try to answer me, hoping that he would give a dying declaration on the shooting.
11:24 AM Ambulance arrives at City Hall. Jim Leavelle remembers the ride in the ambulance with Oswald to Parkland Hospital: "A med student was doing CPR and I was holding his wrists, trying to get blood pressure and couldn't get any. I told the doctors in the trauma room I want that bullet out. .... It just popped out in a tray, like a grape seed. I gave the nurse my pocketknife and I said, Scratch your initial in that bullet because you and I will testify that that was the bullet.' I wrapped it in a tissue and put it in the crime lab later for analysis. We both did testify several times on it."
Of twenty five detectives in the Dallas Homicide and Robbery Bureau (ten had been on duty for the motorcade), seven are on duty this day (28 percent), twelve are off (48 percent), three have taken the day off (12 percent), one is sick (4 percent), and two are on vacation (8 percent.)
Mobster John Roselli will eventually tell columnist Jack Anderson: "When Oswald was picked up, the underworld conspirators feared he would crack and disclose information that might lead to them. This almost certainly would have brought a massive U.S. crackdown on the Mafia. So Jack Ruby was ordered to eliminate Oswald ..." (Conspiracy)
LBJ aide, George Reedy, thinks the TV channel he is watching has cut away from coverage of the Kennedy funeral preparations to play an old Edward G. Robinson gangster movie when he first sees the shooting out of the corner of his eye. (Brothers)
LBJ enters the Blue Room in the White House and tells RFK of the shooting. LBJ urges the surprised attorney general "to do something...We've got to get involved. It's giving the United States a bad name around the world." RFK asks Walter Sheridan to find out all he can about Jack Ruby. (Brothers)
Desmond Fitzgerald's wife will eventually tell author Evan Thomas that the first and last time she ever saw her husband break down in tears was when Oswald was shot by Jack Ruby. Her husband has been upset from the moment of the assassination, and sits silently, watching the news along with millions of others around the globe. When Jack Ruby performs his deed, Fitzgerald begins to cry, and says, somewhat cryptically, "Now we'll never know."
The Warren Commission will state: "Although Chief Curry's estimate that approximately 25 to 50 of the 1,175 men in the Dallas Police Department knew Ruby may be too conservative, the Commission found no evidence of any suspicious relationships between Ruby and any police officer." Seth Kantor writes: "...starting with Sunday afternoon, you could no longer find a policeman in town who said that he knew Ruby ..."
On WFAA-TV, announcer Bob Walker is talking on camera about the shooting of Oswald. A man walks up and hands him a bulletin. As Walker reads it, the man starts to say, "Jack Ruby," and Walker puts his hand over the microphone on the desk. He looks very irritated and asks if it has been confirmed. Walker, looking somewhat disturbed, then announces that "Jack Ruby, owner of the Carousel, which is a bar in Dallas, did the shooting."
11:32 AM Oswald is brought into the emergency room (Trauma Room 2) at Parkland Hospital.
11:34 AM CST 12:34 PM EST Jackie and RFK enter the East Room to see the coffin opened. (Death of a President)
11:40 AM Capt. Ganoway called Hosty about any information the FBI might have on Ruby. Hosty soon found out that Ruby had been a Potential Criminal Informant for the FBI; Howe told Hosty that he would handle it and not to talk to Ganoway about it. (Assignment Oswald 57)
In a ceremonial precession, JFK's body was brought to the Capital to lay in state. A riderless black horse, carrying boots facing backwards, followed the flag-draped caisson pulled by 6 white horses.
11:44 AM Operation on Oswald begins.
Homicide and Robbery division Detective Guy F. Rose quickly obtains a search warrant for Jack Ruby's residence at the Marsala Place Apartments. The detective arrives around 1:00 PM and searches the rooms until about 2:00 PM looking through the clutter, though attempting to return items to their original positions. No photographs are made at the scene.
Within 30 minutes of his act of murder, Jack Ruby chooses to tell four police officers that he had entered the basement through the Main Street ramp, but not one of those officers reports what Ruby has said "until some days later." Having told the four policemen how he got in, Ruby then becomes uncooperative. When FBI Agent Hall begins to interrogate him at 12:40 PM, Ruby refuses to reveal his means of entry, even though two of the policemen to whom Ruby has already admitted using the Main St. ramp are present with FBI Agent Hall.
Dr. Charles A. Crenshaw, in his book Conspiracy of Silence, writes of receiving a telephone call from LBJ as the emergency surgery on Oswald is underway. LBJ tells Crenshaw: "I want a deathbed confession from the accused assassin. There's a man in the operating room who will take the statement. I will expect full cooperation in this matter."
On the phone with Bill Walton, Agnes Meyer, the aging mother of Washington Post publisher Katherine Graham, growls, "What is this - some kind of goddam banana republic?" (Brothers)
In Washington - Jacqueline Kennedy appears at the north portico of the White House, dressed all in black, to watch her husband's last departure from the presidential mansion. Caroline and John, Jr. stand on either side of her as JFK's coffin is placed in position by the pallbearers. The casket is taken to the rotunda Capitol Building.
11:45 AM AP report: Policeman P. T. Dean, who was present at the shooting, said Oswald was shot in his lowest left abdomen. ... Officer Dean said, "The man was standing among newsmen in front of one of the police patrol cars parked in the basement to escort the armored car [which was to transfer Oswald from the city to the county jail]." Dean said, "I saw the man crouch down and then jump up and fire one shot."... Oswald was shot from about five feet.
11:55 CST 12:55 EST The Kennedys meet the Johnsons in the Blue Room. (Manchester)
Noon "FERRIE stated the first stop they made after reaching Port Arthur was at the Gulf Service Station on the left hand side of the highway in Port Arthur, Texas where they purchased a new set of spark plugs for the Comet station wagon. He stated that there was a television set in this station and as he walked into the station there was a picture on the television set showing the shooting of LEE OSWALD in the basement of the Dallas City Jail. FERRIE said he presumed he was looking at the original live broadcast of the shooting and that this was in the vicinity of 12:00 Noon on that date. He said the after changing the spark plugs in the station wagon he ran the car up on the rack in order that the attendant could check the transmission and differential. FERRIE estimated that he remained at this service station for approximately 20 to 30 minutes. They then left Port Arthur and drove to Orange, Texas and after crossing the Louisiana state line they stopped at Buster's Bar and Restaurant. He stated that the operator of Buster's Bar and Restaurant is MARION JAMES JOHNSON who is a client of Attorney G. WRAY GILL. He stated that he contacted JOHNSON at the bar and restaurant and talked to JOHNSON for approximately 30 minutes discussing the status of an appeal on a perjury conviction of JOHNSON in connection with an income tax case on Sheriff REID at lake Charles, Lousiana." (FBI interview 11/25/1963)
12:08 CST 1:08 PM EST The gun carriage leaves the North Portico for the Capitol. (Manchester)
12:26 PM CST Dallas - Witnesses said Ruby got out of an automobile, quietly slipped into the crowd, jumped a three foot railing and went about six more feet before firing. "It looked just like he was going to stake hands with him - but he jammed the gun up close," said Anthony Ripley of the Detroit News. "Those persons close by saw a bit of flash but then all we could see was Stetson hats [worn by some officers] and dust." Oswald was handcuffed at the time and his wrists were crossed over each other. AP, 12:26 p.m. CST
12:40 PM Ruby interrogated by FBI agent C. Ray Hall; it lasted five hours.
12:49 PM CST Dallas -- The only motive police could think of for the shooting of Oswald was smoldering resentment over the President's assassination. AP, Arthur Everett
12:52 CST 1:52 EST Band plays "Hail to the Chief" and Navy hymn. (Manchester)
1:03 PM CST Ruby, held as Oswald's assailant, was known as a man with a quick temper. His lawyer, C. A. Droby, said about a month ago Ruby was acquitted in court of badly beating a man involved in a fight it his club. AP, 1:03 p.m. CST, 2nd add 2nd lead Oswald shooting.
1:07 PM (CST) 2:07 (EST) Oswald is pronounced dead.
1:09 PM (CST) Oswald's assailant crouched amid a crowd of onlookers outside the Dallas city hall and sent a single bullet into Oswald's abdomen at such close range that the sound [of] the shot was partly muffled by the victim's body. AP, 1:09 p.m. CST
In an interview recorded by WFAA-TV 11/24/1963 at the Dallas Police and Courts Building: Q: Captain, what excuse - letting him [Ruby] get that close -? Fritz: What excuse did he use? Q: No, what excuse do you-all have, you know, that he got that close? Fritz: I don't have an excuse. (H 24 788-89).
Carousel Club stripper, Janet Conforto -- better known as Jada -- is driving home to New Orleans when she hears of the Oswald shooting. She immediately calls a Dallas Times Herald reporter with her Ruby recollections, then heads back to Dallas for publicity. She will appear on network television this evening in an interview with Paul Good. WFAA-TV keeps a video of that interview and the Warren Commission eventually publishes a transcript. Within 10 days Jada is in New York where FBI agents James Rogers and Edmund Fanagan interview her and write: "She had no knowledge of any association between Ruby and Lee Harvey Oswald (and) had never seen Oswald in the Carousel Club, or at any place. (In an interview over thirty years later, her son confirms Jada's information and says she died in a motorcycle/bus accident in the late 1970's.)
Dallas - I was standing at a corner of the ramp as they led Lee Oswald out of the building, and then I saw Jack Ruby and I knew what he was going to do. I yelled, "Jack, you son-of-a-bitch." I tried to reach him but I couldn't get to him. He rushed right up to Oswald and put the gun just flat against his chest. And I saw a flash of fire. I think Ruby did what he was planning on doing all this time since the President was killed. He didn't say anything as he was carried out --- I think he'd already accomplished his purpose. One of his employees had called me earlier and told me Ruby felt a sense of shame for Dallas. A lot of us knew him because of the business he was in -- running a strip joint. I helped carry Oswald to the jail basement office. Someone said, "What do you want to do with him?" and I heard someone answer, "well, let's get him out of here fast." I think the city jail physician said the bullet went in at a slant but did not come out the other side ---that it entered his left side and you could feel it under the skin on the opposite side. I think the gun was a .38 caliber blue steel snub-nose. Ruby pushed it right up against him. Ruby must have climbed over the railing to get into the crowd. I didn't see him go over the railing --the first. I saw was when he rushed forward. Oswald had a powder burn as big as a fist on his sweater. Oswald Eyewitness, Detective B. H. Combest, AP
1:17 PM CST 2:17 PM (EST) Jackie and Caroline kneel by the coffin in the rotunda. (Manchester)
1:25 PM CST 2:25 PM EST NBC announces death of Oswald. (Manchester)
1:45 PM CST ... The black-haired accused assassin of the President had walked out of city hall and to his death handcuffed and with a tiny smile on his lips. However, he may have spotted his killer an instant before he was shot. Francois Pelou, a reporter for France Press, who watched the drama from very close by, said: "I'm sure he saw the man. It's my feeling he knew the gun was going to fire because he jerked his hands toward his stomach in sort of a reflex action even before I heard the shot." AP, 1:45 p.m. CST, 2nd add 4th lead Oswald shooting.
1:58 PM Jacqueline Kennedy enters the rotunda of the Capitol. She leaves twenty-two minutes later.