Warren Commission (15 of 26): Hearings Vol. XV (of 15)United States. Warren Commission
History
Warren Commission (15 of 26): Hearings Vol. XV (of 15)
United States. Warren Commission
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Assassination; Oswald, Lee Harvey
Mr. GRIFFIN. All right.
Mr. KANTOR. Upon talking with Combest upstairs, he told me, he told two
or three reporters there that that was what was said, and I used that
in my story.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, tell us what you saw happen after you saw Ruby down
on the floor.
Mr. KANTOR. Well, when the shot was fired, and I was still watching
Oswald, and heard him groan, and slump--watched him slump. For no good
reason at all, I moved in his direction. A man standing next to me from
the Dallas Times Herald, a reporter, moved with me. There was a car
located approximately right in front of us as we moved. Then we saw a
detective come bounding over the roof of the car and onto the hood and
landing here, just in front of this melee.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Where you marked the X on the map?
Mr. KANTOR. That is correct.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Who was that officer?
Mr. KANTOR. I believe it was Detective Captain Jones.
Mr. GRIFFIN. And then what did you see happen?
Mr. KANTOR. I became painfully aware as I moved into this area which
was becoming very crowded and there was a lot of shoving and pushing
going on--there was a man down on the pavement, and I could not see who
it was. I heard one of the detectives, and I believe it was Captain
Jones, holler up to a police officer standing here something to the
effect that--shoot the first man who tries to move out, or something
like that. And I saw this officer swivel around, pointing his revolver
down into the ramp. And I became painfully aware that we were all
going to get shot and killed in another moment or two, and I tried
to back off this way. And the reporter from the Dallas Times Herald,
Bob Fenley, knew one of the detectives in this area, as Ruby was
being dragged off towards the jail office. The detective was weeping,
for one reason or another. And we were being pushed back. However,
Fenley crouched down low and moved towards his friend and asked him a
question, and came back and said to me very clearly, “The man who shot
Oswald is named Jack Ruby.” And I was surprised that Bob apparently
didn’t know Jack Ruby, because I thought everybody on the paper knew
Jack.
Mr. GRIFFIN. What did you do at that point?
Mr. KANTOR. I was mightily surprised and could not believe what I had
heard for a moment. And then I asked Bob if he knew Jack, and he said
no. I felt that--I guess my inclinations were as a newspaperman, and
I felt I wanted to get to Ruby as fast as possible and question him.
And I tried to get through to the jail office area, but there was no
chance. We were held there until Oswald was placed in the ambulance
right in front of where we were standing, and taken out. Then we were
allowed to proceed up to the third floor, and there we waited for close
to 2 hours outside of Curry’s office without any word of any sort.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Did you interview anybody in the 2 hours that you were
standing outside of Curry’s office?
Mr. KANTOR. Yes; I spoke to Billy Combest.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Anybody else?
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