Warren Commission (05 of 26): Hearings Vol. V (of 15)United States. Warren Commission
History
Warren Commission (05 of 26): Hearings Vol. V (of 15)
United States. Warren Commission
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Assassination; Oswald, Lee Harvey
Mr. RUBY. The phones were ringing off the desk calling various ads, and
they were having a turmoil in that News Building because of a person by
the name of Bernard Weissman placing that particular ad, a full page
ad. I am sure you are familiar with the ad.
Chief Justice WARREN. Yes; I am.
Mr. RUBY. Criticizing a lot of things about our beloved President. Then
John Newnam and I and another gentleman walked over to another part of
the room, and I heard John Newnam say, "I told him not to take that
ad." Something to that effect.
Then he said, "Well, you have seen him pay part cash and come back and
pay the balance."
Now everything is very vague to me as to when this transpired; after
they heard the President had been shot, or prior to that.
You know it's been a long time, and I am under a very bad mental strain
here.
Chief Justice WARREN. Yes.
Mr. RUBY. From the time that we were told that the President was shot,
35 minutes later they said he had passed away. In the meantime, I
became very emotional. I called my sister at home. She was carried
away terribly bad. And John Newnam happened to be there, and I know it
is a funny reaction you have, you want other people to feel that you
feel emotionally disturbed the same way as other people, so I let John
listen to the phone that my sister was crying hysterically.
And I said to John, I said, "John, I will have to leave Dallas." I
don't know why I said that, but it is a funny reaction that you feel;
the city is terribly let down by the tragedy that happened. And I said,
"John, I am not opening up tonight."
And I don't know what else transpired there. I know people were just
heartbroken.
I left the room. I may have left out a few things. Mr. Moore remembers
probably more, but you come back and question me and maybe I can answer
those questions.
I left the building and I went down and I got my car, and I couldn't
stop crying, because naturally when I pulled up to a stoplight and
other people would be adjacent to me, I wouldn't want them to see me
crying, because it looked kind of artificial.
And I went to the club and I came up, and I may have made a couple of
calls from there. I could have called my colored boy, Andy, down at the
club. I could have--I don't know who else I would have called, but I
could have, because it is so long now since my mind is very much warped
now.
You think that literally?
I went up to the club, and I told Andy, I said, "Call everyone and tell
them we are not opening."
We have a little girl in Fort Worth I wanted to make sure he called her.
And a fellow by the name of Bell called and wanted to know if we were
open.
And Kathy Kay called, and I said, "Definitely not."
And I called Ralph Paul, that owns the Bull Pen. He said, "Jack,
being as everyone else is open"--because he knows I was pressed for
money--and I said, "No, Ralph, I can't open."
He said, "Okay, if that is why, that is the way it's got to be."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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