POSSIBLE ASSISTANCE TO JACK RUBY IN ENTERING THE BASEMENT
The killing of Lee Harvey Oswald in the basement of police headquarters in the midst of more than 70 police officers gave rise to immediate speculation that one or more members of the police department provided Jack Ruby assistance which had enabled him to enter the basement and approach within a few feet of the accused Presidential assassin. In chapter VI, the Commission has considered whether there is any evidence linking Jack Ruby with a conspiracy to kill the President. At this point, however, it is appropriate to consider whether there is evidence that Jack Ruby received assistance from Dallas policemen or others in gaining access to the basement on the morning of November 24. An affirmative answer would require that the evidence be evaluated for possible connection with the assassination itself. While the Commission has found no evidence that Ruby received assistance from any person in entering the basement, his means of entry is significant in evaluating the adequacy of the precautions taken to protect Oswald.
Commission Exhibit No. 2177
JAIL OFFICE AND IMMEDIATE VICINITY
BASEMENT, DALLAS POLICE DEPARTMENT
Commission Exhibit No. 2636
Ruby shooting Oswald (Sunday, November 24).
Although more than a hundred policemen and newsmen were present in the basement of police headquarters during the 10 minutes before the shooting of Oswald, none has been found who definitely observed Jack Ruby’s entry into the basement. After considering all the evidence, the Commission has concluded that Ruby entered the basement unaided, probably via the Main Street ramp, and no more than 3 minutes before the shooting of Oswald.
Ruby’s account of how he entered the basement by the Main Street ramp merits consideration in determining his means of entry. Three Dallas policemen testified that approximately 30 minutes after his arrest, Ruby told them that he had walked to the top of the Main Street ramp from the nearby Western Union office and that he walked down the ramp at the time the police car driven by Lieutenant Pierce emerged into Main Street.[C5-139] This information did not come to light immediately because the policemen did not report it to their superiors until some days later.[C5-140] Ruby refused to discuss his means of entry in interrogations with other investigators later on the day of his arrest.[C5-141] Thereafter, in a lengthy interview on December 21 and in a sworn deposition taken after his trial, Ruby gave the same explanation he had given to the three policemen.[C5-142]
The Commission has been able to establish with precision the time of certain events leading up to the shooting. Minutes before Oswald appeared in the basement, Ruby was in the Western Union office located on the same block of Main Street some 350 feet from the top of the Main Street ramp. The time stamp on a money order which he sent and on the receipt found in his pocket establish that the order was accepted for transmission at almost exactly 11:17 a.m. Ruby was then observed to depart the office walking in the direction of the police building.[C5-143] Video tapes taken without interruption before the shooting establish that Lieutenant Pierce’s car cleared the crowd at the foot of the ramp 55 seconds before the shooting. They also show Ruby standing at the foot of the ramp on the Main Street side before the shooting.[C5-144] (See Commission Exhibit No. 2635, [p. 220].) The shooting occurred very close to 11:21 a.m. This time has been established by observing the time on a clock appearing in motion pictures of Oswald in the basement jail office, and by records giving the time of Oswald’s departure from the city jail and the time at which an ambulance was summoned for Oswald.[C5-145]
Commission Exhibit No. 2635
Ruby in basement (extreme right) immediately before shooting (Sunday, November 24).
The Main Street ramp provided the most direct route to the basement from the Western Union office. At normal stride, it requires approximately 1 minute to walk from that office to the top of the Main Street ramp and about 20-25 seconds to descend the ramp.[C5-146] It is certain, therefore, that Ruby entered the basement no more than 2-3 minutes before the shooting. This timetable indicates that a little more than 2 of the 4 minutes between Ruby’s departure from the Western Union office and the time of the shooting are unaccounted for. Ruby could have consumed this time in loitering along the way, at the top of the ramp, or inside the basement. However, if Ruby is correct that he passed Pierce’s car at the top of the ramp, he could have been in the basement no more than 30 seconds before the shooting.[C5-147]
The testimony of two witnesses partially corroborates Ruby’s claim that he entered by the Main Street ramp. James Turner, an employee of WBAP-TV Fort Worth, testified that while he was standing near the railing on the east side of the Main Street ramp, perhaps 30 seconds before the shooting, he observed a man he is confident was Jack Ruby moving slowly down the Main Street ramp about 10 feet from the bottom.[C5-148] Two other witnesses testified that they thought they had seen Ruby on the Main Street side of the ramp before the shooting.[C5-149]
One other witness has testified regarding the purported movements of a man on the Main Street ramp, but his testimony merits little credence. A former police officer, N. J. Daniels, who was standing at the top of the ramp with the single patrolman guarding this entrance, R. E. Vaughn, testified that “3 or 4 minutes, I guess”[C5-150] before the shooting, a man walked down the Main Street ramp in full view of Vaughn but was not stopped or questioned by the officer. Daniels did not identify the man as Ruby. Moreover, he gave a description which differed in important respects from Ruby’s appearance on November 24, and he has testified that he doesn’t think the man was Ruby.[C5-151] On November 24, Vaughn telephoned Daniels to ask him if he had seen anybody walk past him on the morning of the 24th and was told that he had not; it was not until November 29 that Daniels came forward with the statement that he had seen a man enter.[C5-152]
Although the sum of this evidence tends to support Ruby’s claim that he entered by the Main Street ramp, there is other evidence not fully consistent with Ruby’s story. Patrolman Vaughn stated that he checked the credentials of all unknown persons seeking to enter the basement, and his testimony was supported by several persons.[C5-153] Vaughn denied that the emergence of Lieutenant Pierce’s car from the building distracted him long enough to allow Ruby to enter the ramp unnoticed, and neither he nor any of the three officers in Lieutenant Pierce’s car saw Ruby enter.[C5-154]
Despite Vaughn’s denial the Commission has found no credible evidence to support any other entry route. Two Dallas detectives believed they observed three men pushing a WBAP-TV camera into the basement minutes before the shooting, while only two were with the camera after Oswald had been shot.[C5-155] However, films taken in the basement show the WBAP-TV camera being pushed past the detectives by only two men.[C5-156] The suspicion of the detectives is probably explained by testimony that a third WBAP-TV employee ran to help steady the incoming camera as it entered the basement, probably just before the camera became visible on the films.[C5-157] Moreover, since the camera entered the basement close to 4 minutes before the shooting,[C5-158] it is virtually impossible that Ruby could have been in the basement at that time.
The possibility that Ruby entered the basement by some other route has been investigated, but the Commission has found no evidence to support it. Ruby could have walked from the Western Union office to the Commerce Street ramp on the other side of the building in about 2½ minutes.[C5-159] However, during the minutes preceding the shooting video tapes show the armored truck in the entranceway to this ramp with only narrow clearance on either side. (See Commission Exhibit No. 2710, [p. 223].) Several policemen were standing near the truck and a large crowd of spectators was gathered across the street.[C5-160] It is improbable that Ruby could have squeezed past the truck without having been observed. If Ruby entered by any other means, he would have had to pass first through the Police and Courts Building or the attached Municipal Building, and then secondly through one of the five doors into the basement, all of which, according to the testimony of police officers, were secured. The testimony was not completely positive about one of the doors.[C5-161]
There is no evidence to support the speculations that Ruby used a press badge to gain entry to the basement or that he concealed himself in a police car. Police found no form of press card on Ruby’s person after his apprehension, nor any discarded badges within the basement.[C5-162] There is no evidence that any police officer admitted Ruby on the pretense that he was a member of the press or any other pretense.[C5-163]
Police vehicles in the basement were inspected during the course of the search supervised by Sergeant Dean.[C5-164] According to Patrolman Vaughn, the only vehicles that entered the basement while he was at the top of the Main Street ramp were two patrol cars, one of which entered twice, and a patrol wagon which was searched by another policeman after it entered the basement. All entered on official police business and considerably more than 4 minutes before Oswald was shot.[C5-165] None of the witnesses at the top of the Main Street ramp recalled any police car entering the basement in the 4-minute period after Ruby left the Western Union office and preceding the shooting.[C5-166] The possibility that Ruby could have entered the basement in a car may therefore be completely discounted.
Commission Exhibit No. 2710
The Dallas Police Department, concerned at the failure of its security measures, conducted an extensive investigation that revealed no information indicating complicity between any police officer and Jack Ruby.[C5-167] Ruby denied to the Commission that he received any form of assistance.[C5-168] The FBI interviewed every member of the police department who was on duty in the basement on November 24, and Commission staff members took sworn depositions from many. With few exceptions, newsmen who were present in the basement at the time also gave statements and/or depositions. As the record before the Commission indicated, Ruby had had rather free access to the Dallas police quarters during the period subsequent to the assassination, but there was no evidence that implicated the police or newsmen in Ruby’s actions on that day.[C5-169]
Ruby was known to have a wide acquaintanceship with Dallas policemen and to seek their favor. According to testimony from many sources, he gave free coffee at his clubs to many policemen while they were on duty and free admittance and discounts on beverages when they were off duty.[C5-170] Although Chief Curry’s estimate that approximately 25 to 50 of the 1,175 men in the Dallas Police Department knew Ruby[C5-171] may be too conservative, the Commission found no evidence of any suspicious relationships between Ruby and any police officer.
The Commission found no substantial evidence that any member of the Dallas Police Department recognized Jack Ruby as an unauthorized person in the basement prior to the time Sgt. P. T. Dean, according to his testimony, saw Ruby dart forward toward Oswald. But Dean was then part way up the Commerce Street ramp, too far removed to act.[C5-172] Patrolman W. J. Harrison, Capt. Glen King, and reserve officers Capt. C. O. Arnett and Patrolman W. M. Croy were among those in front of Ruby at the time Dean saw him. They all faced away from Ruby, toward the jail office.[C5-173] Video tapes show that Harrison turned in the direction of the ramp at the time Lieutenant Pierce’s car passed, and once again 25 seconds later, but there is no indication that he observed or recognized Ruby.[C5-174] The policemen standing on the south side of the passageway from the jail office, who might have been looking in Ruby’s direction, had the glare of television and photographer’s lights in their eyes.[C5-175]
The Commission also considered the possibility that a member of the police department called Ruby at his apartment and informed him, either intentionally or unintentionally, of the time of the planned transfer. From at least 10:19 a.m., until close to 11 a.m., on Sunday, Ruby was at his apartment,[C5-176] where he could have received a call that the transfer was imminent. He apparently left his apartment between 10:45 and 11 a.m.[C5-177] However, the drive from Ruby’s apartment to the Western Union office takes approximately 15 minutes.[C5-178] Since the time of the contemplated transfer could not have been known to anyone until a few minutes before 11:15 a.m., a precise time could not have been conveyed to Ruby while he was at his apartment. Moreover, the television and radio publicized the transfer plans throughout the morning, obviating the need for Ruby to obtain information surreptitiously.