George Senator - Jack Ruby's roommate

[Michael Clark]

Here is George Senator's testimony about their middle-of-the-night jaunt. It seems all but obvious that he is talking about the Southland Center. I don't get why it says that he said it is on Commerce.

George Senator: "Then from there we we went to the Southland Hotel Coffee Shop"

Mr Hubert: "Where is that located."

George Senator: "That is on the corner, on Commerce, and I don't know what the little side street is, but it is just below the Adolphus Hotel, on Commerce."

[Michael Clark]

On January 4, 2009 at 3:26 PM, Guest Tom Scully said:

George Senator testified he still kept an apartment next door to Jack Ruby's during July and August, 1963. There were a total of three calls made on that July 21 date from Ruby's apartment. I am willing to wager that neither the records of the WC nor the HSAC has ever yielded in a publicly available record, who in Gloversville, NY, recieved the July 21, 1963 call from Ruby's aparment.

George Senator was born in Gloversville, but the official record is that he last resided there in 1934, and his testimony below, offered the best opportunity to ask him if he made that call from Ruby's apartment, and to whom. Instead, Senator makes a great argument for the idea that he had no contacts in Gloversville, due to the length of time his ties to the place had been severed.

If the goal is to "leave no stone unturned", this is a stone I can find no closing of as a possible area of futher inquiry....

One of three calls on July 21, 1963:

I went to Gloversville, NY. yesterday. I went to 8 Church St. where it appears that the Senators opened a confectionary shop. I also went to 56 N. Main st. where, I think, they operated Senators Restaurant. It is a bit confusing as to which addresses were residences, and which were the business establishments. The Senators are listed through the 1920's as glovers (glove makers, the city is rich with visible historical clues to that trade). In 1934, 8 Chuch St is listed as the Paradise Grill; later it will be the Senator's Confectionary.  George's name does not appear until the late 1930's and then indicates him as "rem" ( removed to?) NYC in the early 1940's, along with his sister. 56 N Main becomes Senators Restaurant from about 1946 to about 1970.

The library did not have phone directory info so I could not check the phone number quoted from WC testimony. The only phone number I could find was from the early 1920's. I looked at microfiche from 1963, looking for advertisements that would show a phone number. I found no advertising through that period for the restaurant.

I had thought that taking pics of pages from the city directories would allow me to, here, give a complete and accurate timeline but that is not the case. I'll be going back to track down phone numbers and will revisit these city directories with a pen and pad to get a more complete picture. 

[Michael Clark]

Following up on the question of which cafe George Senator, Jack Ruby, and Larry Crafard went to, before dawn, on 11-23-63.

Recalling that Seanor said it was the Southland Hotel Cafe, but claimed that it was on Commerce St.....

Mr. SENATOR. Then from there we went to the Southland Hotel coffeeshop.
Mr. HUBERT. Where is that located?
Mr. SENATOR. That is on the corner, on Commerce, and I don't know what the little side street is, but it is just below the Adolphus Hotel on Commerce Street. I don't know what the side street is.

 

Larry Crafard does not recall the name of the cafe but also placed it on or near Commerce St. WC's Mr Hubert can be seen as leading Mr. Crafard in his testimony.

Mr. CRAFARD. I don't remember the name of the cafe. I could take a person right to it, but I can't tell you the name. Mr. HUBERT. How far away was it from the Carousel? 
Mr. CRAFARD. About 2 1/2 blocks. 
Mr. HUBERT. Which way? 
Mr. CRAFARD. I believe it would be south. 
Mr. HUBERT. What was it, on Commerce Street? 
Mr. CRAFARD. It was half a block off Commerce, two blocks down Commerce and half a block off. 
 

Still curious as to where Senator came up with the "Southland Hotel Coffeeshop" identification.

 

Edited January 9, 2017 by Michael Clark