Jack Ruby at the DPD

[Jim Root]

I brought back this post to go along with the Dallas City Manager info being discussed at this time. I attempted to incorporate it into that thread but was unable to accomplish that task successfully. Hopefully this works.

A few weeks ago I began a Topic about the two "reporters" with Jack Ruby

at the DPD the night of the assassination. As of this time I have had no response but thought I would provide this additional information.

What are your thoughts about these portions of the Warren Report. I heard a great deal of the newsreel tape was distroyed but I have never seen the two men with "badges," such as are discribed by John Rutledge.

"At 9:00 p.m. he (Ruby) telphoned Ralph Paul but was unable to persuade Paul to join him at synagogue services." (WC Report, Pg 338)

"From his apartment, Ruby drove to Temple Shearith Israel, arriving near the end of a 2-hour service which had begun at 8 p.m." (WC Report, Pg 339)

"Ruby is known to have made his way, by about 11:30 p.m., to the third floor of the Dallas Police Department..." (WC Report, Pg 339)

'I saw Jack and two out-of-state reporters, whom I did not know, leave the elevator door and proceed toward those television cameras, to go around the corner where Captain Fritz's office was. Jack walked between them. these two out-of-state reporters had big press cards pinned on their coats, great big red ones, I think they said "President Kennedy's Visit to Dallas-Press", or something like that. And Jack didn't have one, but the man on either side of him did. and they walked pretty rapidly from the elevator area past the policeman, and Jack was bent over like this-writting on a piece of paper, and talking to one of the reporters, and pointing to something on the peice of paper, he was kind of hynched over." Newsman John Rutledge (WC Report Pg 340)

"Detective Augustus M. Eberhardt, who also recalled that he first saw Ruby earlier in the evening, said Ruby carried a note pad and professed to be a translator for the Israeli press." (WC Report Pg. 342)

He accompanied the newsmen to the basement to observe Oswald. His presence at the midnight news conference is established by television tapes and by at least 12 witnesses." (WC Report Pg. 342)

When questioned about his (Ruby) lie detector test this information is gleaned from the administrator of the test:

(Testimony of Bell P. Herndon)

Mr. Specter.

Will movement or speaking cause a variation in the tracings ordinarily, Mr. Herndon?

Mr. Herndon.

Yes. Body movements or speaking any phrase or sentence would certainly cause changes in the physiological patterns as displayed on the polygraph. <span style='color:red'>I made notation of that, however, and that explains the changes On question No. 2, Mr. Ruby did show a significant drop in the relative blood pressure. This question pertained to: "Did you go to the Dallas police station at any time on Friday November 22, 1963, before you went to the synagogue? I asked him about this question later when he responded "No," and I noticed a physiological change. He advised that there was some man by the name of John Rutledge, and he made an association with proceedings at the trial which I have reason to believe this gentleman, John Rutledge, differed with what Ruby stated as to when he went to the synagogue.</span><span style='color:blue'>Due to the nature of this change, however, it is possible that it was caused by a body motion that I failed to detect during the actual response.</span>

I notice that the cardio pen dropped all the way down and hit what we call the limit screws. This frequently is caused by a sudden rapid shift in his body position, and this change could have been caused by a body movement.

With regard to the other relevant questions in this series, question 4, question 6, and question 8, there was no significant deviation from his normal physiological patterns. (Warren Commission Hearings: Vol. XIV - Page 594)

It seems Jack Ruby may have been nervous about answering questions that delt with Rutledge's, who identified him with the "two out of state" newsmen, testimony and his trip to the synagogue. This particular question created a "a physiological change" or was it just body motion that Herndon, " failed to detect during the actual response"?

Jim Root

Edited March 24, 2007 by Jim Root

[Shanet Clark]

Good description of Ruby's escorts.

Jim, wasn't there an unusually long blast of a car horn caught on the television newsreels? Some think this blast signalled Ruby that Oswald was coming.

Is this true?

[Nic Martin]

Good description of Ruby's escorts.

Jim, wasn't there an unusually long blast of a car horn caught on the television newsreels? Some think this blast signalled Ruby that Oswald was coming.

Is this true?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I seem to recall hearing or seeing something about that, someone was suggesting a Manchurian Candidate-esque scenario where the audio horn was Ruby's "trigger," and that Oswald recognized Ruby and then looked away to protect Ruby from being connected to Oswald in a later date.

EDIT: Found a better quality audio, and there was clearly a car horn sounded, about 6 seconds before the shot.

Hear it courtesy of HistoryBuff here.

Edited December 14, 2004 by Nic Martin

[Jim Root]

Brought back to connect with the Dallas City Manager Thread

[Bernice Moore]

Jim:

Here are a couple of photos of Ruby in the hall at the PDP, on the friday..with reporters, or so I have been led to believe..

.......as well as at the press conference.

For interest....

B....

Edited March 24, 2007 by Bernice Moore

[James Richards]

Jim,

I have always wondered about John Rutledge. During Ruby's trial, Rutledge was a prosecution witness. When asked what he thought about Ruby, he said, "a loud-mouthed extrovert who wanted to get up there in the middle of things."

Melvin Belli asked Rutledge if he thought Ruby was unstable. Rutledge said Ruby was just 'plain mean'. Mmm.

Rutledge was the police reporter who worked the Reginald Miller and Donnell Whitter arrest and also the Jim Koethe murder.

As to the mysterious reporters, were any of them allegedly in that photograph Bernice posted do you know?

James

[Jim Root]

Thank you for adding the pictures Bernice. I am stumped because we find that in all of the pictures that I have seen I cannot identify the "big press cards pinned on their coats, great big red ones." I do understand that the "press cards" were common and that several are at the 6th Floor Museum.

More importantly though is the fact that within one and a half hours of arriving at "Temple Shearith Israel" Ruby is at the DPD with two men that he seems to identify as members of the Israeli Press.

Is this significant? I believe so.

Read again:

When Ruby was asked, "Did you go to the Dallas police station at any time on Friday November 22, 1963, before you went to the synagogue? I asked him about this question later when he responded "No," and I noticed a physiological change. He advised that there was some man by the name of John Rutledge, and he made an association with proceedings at the trial which I have reason to believe this gentleman, John Rutledge, differed with what Ruby stated as to when he went to the synagogue. Due to the nature of this change, however, it is possible that it was caused by a body motion that I failed to detect during the actual response," Ruby attempted to explain why the "the cardio pen dropped all the way down and hit what we call the limit screws" but Herndon gave Arlen Specter an even better reason to not pursue this avenue further.

Was it "caused by a body motion that I (Herndon) failed to detect" or did Ruby fear questions about the synagogue and what (or whom) Rutledge saw Ruby with? If so these two associates of Ruby's may be key to why Ruby silenced Oswald.

During Ruby's confinement he repeatedly spoke about the Jewish people and the trials and tribulations that they had endured.

I know it is popular to believe that it is Ruby's connections to the criminal underworld that best explains his actions. An open mind to the possibility of a Ruby religious epiphany may shed light on a different motive and upon others who may have been behind his actions.

Jim Root

"

[Bernice Moore]

Here is the print out . As you can see there is a signifigant drop.....upon mention of the name

Rutledge ...as you state...

""One of the first prosecution witnesses, Police Reporter John Rutledge of the Dallas Morning News, testified that Ruby was "a loudmouthed extravert" who loved to strut wherever there was big action. Rutledge said that he saw Ruby at police headquarters at least three times on the night of Nov. 22, after Oswald had been arrested. Ruby was familiar with the place; he always liked to hang around with cops. Wielding pad and pencil, he had slipped past a police guard among surging newsmen. "He was explaining to members of the press from out of state who everybody was," said Rutledge. "Somebody would come out and say something to the press and a newsman would say, 'Who's that? Sheriff Decker?' and Ruby would say, 'No, that's Captain Will Fritz.' He'd spell out the names. He was making all the identifications, shouting them out." Once, testified Rutledge, an officer spotted Ruby in the crowd at headquarters and said, "Hey, Jack, what are you doing here?" Ruby had replied: "I'm helping out these reporters here.""

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/...,828230,00.html

B......

Edited March 25, 2007 by Bernice Moore

[Bernice Moore]

TIMED SIGHTINGS OF JACK RUBY BASED ON TESTIMONY

by M.A Moyer & Betty Windsor

(If a time was not given—it is not listed here. ALL sightings are presented on attached annotated Timeline)

See link......

As this will not print out as shown on site.....

http://karws.gso.uri.edu/jfk/issues_and_ev...ne_of_Ruby.html

B..........

Edited March 25, 2007 by Bernice Moore

[Bernice Moore]

Just a thought....Jim....

Jim Garrison's Playboy Interview 1967...

""PLAYBOY: You've claimed that many of the people involved in the conspiracy were "neo-Nazi" in their political orientation. What would motivate Ruby, a Jew, to work with such people?

GARRISON: Money. As far as my office has been able to determine, Jack Ruby had no strong political views of his own. Historically, of course, there have been a number of self-hating Jews who abetted their own tormentors: Adolf Hitler's mentor in Vienna, Karl Lueger, was born a Jew, and I understand that one of the leading pro-Nazis in New York City, a retired millionaire who finances anti-Jewish activity across the country, is the son of a rabbi.

But I don't believe Jack Ruby falls into this category; he was just a hoodlum out for a buck. I will say --- with the understanding that it's pure speculation --- it's not impossible that Jack Ruby developed certain guilt feelings in prison over his role in the plot. Remember his repeated lament, "Now there will be pogroms. They will kill all the Jews."? Most people assumed this was just the fantasy of a crumbling mind. But maybe Jack Ruby knew better than the rest of us what the master-racist authors of the assassination had in mind for the country.""

http://www.jfklancer.com/Garrison4.html

B......

Edited March 25, 2007 by Bernice Moore

[Sid Walker]

Jim,

I have always wondered about John Rutledge. During Ruby's trial, Rutledge was a prosecution witness. When asked what he thought about Ruby, he said, "a loud-mouthed extrovert who wanted to get up there in the middle of things."

Melvin Belli asked Rutledge if he thought Ruby was unstable. Rutledge said Ruby was just 'plain mean'. Mmm.

Rutledge was the police reporter who worked the Reginald Miller and Donnell Whitter arrest and also the Jim Koethe murder.

As to the mysterious reporters, were any of them allegedly in that photograph Bernice posted do you know?

James

I woindered the same thing.

The first photo of the three posted by Bernice seems to show Ruby quite clearly in the back row, wearing glasses with a dark frame.

Three men are shown in immediate proximity. Anyone know who they were?

As for the second and third photos posted by Benrice, it's not clear to me that Ruby is in any of them (Not that I make any claims to expertise in photographic analysis). The guy in the center of each photo, with his back to the camera, doesn't seem the same as 'Ruby' in pic no 1. Perhaps I'm wrong?

In 1999, Barry Chamish, an Israeli 'alternative' journalist whom I personally suspect mixes fact and fiction, made a remarkable allegation.

Chamish claimed that Rabin's wife Leah wrote in her diary that Yitzhak Rabin was in Dallas at the time of JFKs murder - and alleges Rabin may have been one of the "journalists" mentioned in this thread.

Here's a photo of Rabin taken some years before the killing in Dallas.

Here's Rabin in later years.

There's a passing similarity, IMO, between Rabin and the man standing in front of Ruby in photo 1 (he's roughly central in the photo). What do others think?

The idea that such a senior Israeli would be posted to Dallas to pose as a journalist seems unlikely to me... and I've always suspected Chamish is pulling our leg, ever since I first read his 1999 article.

Can anyone confirm (or refute) Chamish's claim that "Leah Rabin's biography... notes that her husband Yitzhak was in Dallas on November 22, 1963"?

[Mark Stapleton]

TIMED SIGHTINGS OF JACK RUBY BASED ON TESTIMONY

by M.A Moyer & Betty Windsor

(If a time was not given—it is not listed here. ALL sightings are presented on attached annotated Timeline)

See link......

As this will not print out as shown on site.....

http://karws.gso.uri.edu/jfk/issues_and_ev...ne_of_Ruby.html

B..........

Bernice,

That Moyer and Windsor timeline for Ruby is a very comprehensive record. In the past I've spent hours reading it without getting to the end.

It's interesting that in addition to the other eyewitness statements placing Ruby in the DPD on Saturday night, Ronald Jenkins (KBOX news editor) saw him standing outside Fritz's office and Vic Robertson (WFAA-TV) saw him trying to enter Fritz's office.

Particularly interesting, imo, is the 1AM Saturday timeline entry in which James Gilmour (DPD) says he saw Ruby in the basement of the DPD and asked him what he was doing there. Of course, Ruby replied with his usual excuse (or cover story), "I'm passing out sandwiches".

Maybe, just a guess of course, there's a connection here with the interesting point raised by Steve Thomas in the 'Dallas City Manager' thread that the original records state that LHO was placed in the Sheriffs custody about that same time on Saturday morning and that Ruby learned of this before the change in plans regarding LHO's tranfer was made.

[Jim Root]

Brought this back for some that are reading the posts dealing with Jack Ruby int he "New Book" topic.

I find Ruby's Jewish background to be more important than any connections to organized crime.

Jim Root

[Robert Howard]

July 21, 1998 Amarillo Globe

Longtime Dallas police reporter dies

The Associated Press

DALLAS (AP) - Johnny Rutledge, a longtime police reporter for The Dallas Morning News whose white Stetson often caused others to mistake him for a lawman himself, died Sunday. He was 74 and had battled emphysema and throat cancer for five years, The News reported.

Rutledge covered Jack Ruby's killing of Lee Harvey Oswald, the man suspected of assassinating President Kennedy, in 1963. He was called to testify as a prosecution witness at Ruby's trial, said his son, Daniel M. Rutledge of Bryan, because he had seen Ruby hanging around the police station just before the killing.

Ruby shot Oswald in the basement of Dallas police headquarters as he was being transferred to the county jail two days after the assassination.

Known for his thorough, consistent crime coverage, Rutledge was held up as a model for new police reporters.

Warren Bosworth, former city editor at the Dallas Times Herald, said he told his reporters, "You watch every single move that Johnny Rutledge makes. He is like a college of journalism right there in front of you."

Serving the readers was what drove Rutledge, said Daniel Rutledge, who remembers his father as a loyal supporter of Dallas and its residents.

"This was his city, his town," Daniel Rutledge said.

Johnny Rutledge, a Dallas native, graduated from Baylor University, where he received a degree in journalism after a college career interrupted by service in the Navy during World War II.

He started at The Fort Worth Press in 1948 as a copy editor and a police reporter. Three years later, he moved to The News as a rewrite clerk and later became the night police reporter, the job he kept until his retirement in 1992.

Johnny Rutledge went into journalism, his son said, because "he loved action, being around excitement, adventure."

His funeral will be at noon Wednesday at Restland Funeral Home.

In addition to his son, Johnny Rutledge is survived by his wife of 49 years, Marjorie Moreland Rutledge of Dallas; another son, John Moreland Rutledge of Dallas; two daughters, Amy Louise McMullen of College Station and Sally Ann Scott of El Paso; and seven grandchildren.

© 1998

[Steve Thomas]

Robert,

On 15 September 2015, you wrote:

"Rutledge covered Jack Ruby's killing of Lee Harvey Oswald, the man suspected of assassinating President Kennedy, in 1963. He was called to testify as a prosecution witness at Ruby's trial, said his son, Daniel M. Rutledge of Bryan, because he had seen Ruby hanging around the police station just before the killing."

In those boxed files of Henry Wade's there are these three accounts in pdf 2108 of Group 44:

pdf 2108. Warrren Ritchey, engineer for WBAP-TV says he saw Ruby on the Commerce St. sidewalk outside of the police station at about 9:00 AM on 11/24/63.

John Smith, video reporter for WBAP-TV saw Ruby at about 8:00 AM on 11/24 standing on the Commerce St. sidewalk. WBAB-TV truck parked on Commerce St. about 25' from the basement ramp. Smith spoke to Ruby. Saw him again about 10:00 AM next to the ramp. Ruby looked like a person who was "just killing time."

Ira Walker, employee WBAB-TV saw Ruby between 7:30 and 8:00 AM near WBAB-TV truck. Walker said he first saw Ruby shortly after the armored truck was backed into the basement of the Police Department. Ruby came up to the WBAP-TV truck and asked if Oswald had been brought down yet. Walker told him "no". uby came up to truck and asked this question on two occasions.

Have these ever been disproven?

Steve Thomas