Mr. Knight. No.

Mr. Griffin. Do you have any information at all as to how Ruby got into that basement when he shot Oswald?

Mr. Knight. None whatsoever; I just know that they weren’t checking very closely.

Mr. Griffin. How do you know that?

Mr. Knight. Because I walked in there Friday night myself.

Mr. Griffin. Did anybody attempt to check you?

Mr. Knight. No. Let me see. This was right before I went on my air shift at 7. I walked in with some sandwiches for our reporter over there, Gary De Laune. I walked around the scene and so forth. I couldn’t find him. So I just took the sandwiches back to the station.

Mr. Griffin. Where did you go just before 7 o’clock? Where did you walk? Did you walk up on the third floor?

Mr. Knight. Yes.

Mr. Griffin. Did you walk on any other floors?

Mr. Knight. No. I think the third floor—is that where Oswald was being held now?

Mr. Griffin. Yes.

Mr. Knight. Okay. I went up to there and stood around with the battery of camera and press photographers waiting, trying to find our reporter. Then I went down in the basement, couldn’t find him, then I left.

Mr. Griffin. How long before 7 o’clock was that?

Mr. Knight. I was supposed to go on at 7. I guess I was about maybe 20 minutes late. About 5 minutes till 7.

Mr. Griffin. You were up at the police department till 5 minutes of 7?

Mr. Knight. Yes. We had continuous news coverage. I actually didn’t go on my own camera.

Mr. Griffin. If Jack Ruby had been up in the hallway at that time, would you have seen him as a result of your walking around?

Mr. Knight. I’m sure I would have.

Mr. Griffin. Do you think you would have remembered it now?

Mr. Knight. Yes, but I did not see him.

Mr. Griffin. Do you know a fellow by the name of Jenkins from KBOX?

Mr. Knight. Yes, not personally but I have met him.

Mr. Griffin. Would you recognize him?

Mr. Knight. Yes and no. I met so many. I think he was a short fellow but I’m not quite sure.

Mr. Griffin. Do you have any information that Ruby received any assistance from anybody in connection with the shooting of Oswald?

Mr. Knight. No, no. I have another little item here you might be interested in. His sister, Eva Grant.

Mr. Griffin. Yes. Tell us about that.

Mr. Knight. She wouldn’t make a statement through the press until, she wanted to contact me, or Joe Long or Gordon McLendon or somebody with KLIF. So she did get a hold of me through the station and they gave me or gave her, and I don’t know, this was a bonehead play on our receptionist’s part, the receptionist gave her my home number, and since I didn’t get back in town, naturally after the killing, until Monday night, I didn’t get it until I went in to work at 7 o’clock Monday night. And I had a little message on the phone, “Eva Grant is trying to get hold of you, would you please call this number” and so forth. So evidently our receptionist at the station didn’t know who Eva Grant was. And I had met Eva Grant with Jack. I think she was out at the Cotton Bowling Palace a couple of times. And I had been in the place that she had. She had another nightclub. It was just a dance place, male and female clientele. I had been in there with two other diskjockeys one night we met her originally. I can’t think of the name of it.

But anyway, she wanted to make a statement so I called this number on the spindle that she had given me. Somebody answered and said “She’s not here” and hung up. So I tried it again and the same thing. The voice seemed very distraught. “She’s not here” and hung up.

So I did my shift that night and the next morning I tried again because I thought this might be a very important news item. I called my boss, Gordon McLendon, about it. But I did get through to her and talked to her. And she wanted me to come over or somebody to come over. Actually didn’t want us to come over because she didn’t realize what she was talking about at that time or how she wanted to do it. But she wanted to make a press release over KLIF because reporters from all over the world had tried to get in touch with her and she didn’t want to talk to any of them. At this point I said we would send somebody over. I remember her saying that Jack didn’t know what he was doing. She believed it because it was a sincere thing. She was out of her mind, hysterical. She said the same thing on our interview tape that we have in our file, “Jack didn’t know what he was doing.” And she also said, “Please come down, the Dallas police are coming.” So, “And bring Joe Long.” And he took Gary DeLaune over and they both went over and got the interview through Eva Grant.

Mr. Griffin. I want to hand you what I have marked as Russell Knight deposition July 24, 1964, Exhibit No. 1—this purports to be a copy of an interview report prepared by two FBI agents, Alfred D. Neeley and J. Calvin Rice. The interview took place with you on November 29, 1963. I would like you to look it over, read it carefully, and then tell me whether or not there are any corrections that you would make in that, any inaccuracies in there. Let me clarify this for you. What I am really directing your attention to is whether that is an accurate report of what you told them at that time, not if as a result of further reflection you think there are things wrong in it.

Mr. Knight. Yes; I saw it.

Mr. Griffin. Let me try to clear up then by one or two questions what appears to be a discrepancy between what the FBI have reported and what we have been talking about here today. The FBI says in here that you stated that Glenn Duncan told you “he received a telephone call from Jack Ruby who asked him if he was interested in an interview with District Attorney Henry Wade and indicated that he was calling from the police department * * * Moore stated he immediately departed for the police department in an effort to contact Henry Wade.”

I believe when we were talking earlier it was your recollection you went over independently. Do you recall I asked you?

Mr. Knight. No. I meant to say Duncan had told me to go over. This is right.

Mr. Griffin. Did Duncan tell you that he received a call from Jack Ruby?

Mr. Knight. Yes; and I mentioned it in our interview, but I mentioned it with the sandwiches that he received a call asking to bring sandwiches up to the station, but he did mention “How would you like to have an interview with Henry Wade.”

Mr. Griffin. Duncan said that to you?

Mr. Knight. Yes.

Mr. Griffin. At that point do you know that Ruby had made a telephone call to set this thing up?

Mr. Knight. Let’s get the time straight. Duncan didn’t mention before I left for the courthouse. He mentioned the fact that a guy by the name of Jack Ruby called about an interview. And I don’t think Duncan ever met Ruby before. And he said, “Go over there and get the interview at the courthouse.”

Mr. Griffin. Well, then, when you went to the courthouse you were actually looking for Ruby, weren’t you?

Mr. Knight. No, no. Why would I be? No. Wade.

Mr. Griffin. But Ruby was going to set the interview up?

Mr. Knight. No, no.

Mr. Griffin. What was your understanding?

Mr. Knight. Here’s your confusing point. Ruby had called Duncan about the telephone interview that I told you that Wade had given Duncan earlier, in which, well, it was all right, but it wasn’t what they really wanted. That was with the telephone interview and I didn’t know Ruby would even be at the police station when I was going over there.

Mr. Griffin. Is it your understanding that you went over to the police station after Duncan had tape-recorded the telephone interview?

Mr. Knight. Yes. Well, that’s a fact.

Mr. Griffin. Is this something that you have a clear recollection of, that Duncan said he had already tried to record the telephone interview?

Mr. Knight. It had to be because I was—I didn’t get back to the station till about 1:45. He had already had, he might have got it in the meantime but he already had the other on tape.

Mr. Griffin. Is there, possibly there was a sequence something like that, that Ruby called Duncan and said “How would you like an interview with Henry Wade,” that Duncan told you “Go over there and get an interview with Henry Wade,” in the meantime Ruby himself got Wade to the phone and while you were in transit to the police station Duncan recorded the interview?

Mr. Knight. That could have been.

Mr. Griffin. Are there any facts that you can think of which would indicate one way or another that that happened or did not happen?

Mr. Knight. No; all I know is that Duncan had the interview with Wade but he wanted me to get another one.

Mr. Griffin. It was your understanding when you left, or was it your understanding when you left the radio station that Duncan had already tape-recorded an interview of Wade?

Mr. Knight. No; he told me to get an interview with Wade and it wasn’t until I got back that he said he had tried earlier and got an interview but it wasn’t satisfactory. Now, another point about Ruby pointing out Henry Wade to me, I had never seen Henry Wade before because I usually didn’t do news. I was on the personality and record playing. Wade said that he didn’t know Ruby but I guess Ruby could have seen him other places. But he did point him out. He said, “This is Henry Wade. This is the Weird Beard.” But he seemed to know Wade.

Mr. Griffin. In your interview here, Agents Neeley and Rice report that after you interviewed Wade “when he got through Ruby was gone.” You testified here today, you recall, that you actually walked out with Ruby, that you saw Ruby a few feet away. Now, which would be the most accurate?

Mr. Knight. As I say, this is what probably happened on that. When I got through with the interview he wasn’t around but when I started to walk out I encountered him again so this would be more accurate.

Mr. Griffin. Now, you also mentioned in your interview report or the FBI mentions that you recalled Ruby was grieving for the Kennedy family. Do you have any recollection that he mentioned the Kennedy family in any way?

Mr. Knight. Yes. I’m almost sure that he said “That poor family.”

Mr. Griffin. Do you recall where that would have taken place?

Mr. Knight. That would have been around the radio station.

Mr. Griffin. Would it have been downstairs or upstairs?

Mr. Knight. No; that would have been with everybody around there.

Mr. Griffin. I haven’t any more questions and I will just throw in one general one. Is there anything else that you can think of we haven’t covered that you think we ought to know?

Mr. Knight. No. I’m trying to go back in my mind, too, and think of the insanity thing. I don’t think I mentioned before, that is, Oswald’s sanity, and the Heroism thing. And I can’t think of anything that would be significant except my own again speculation about the whole thing which I am sure you don’t want to hear.

Mr. Griffin. I think we have probably speculated on everything that could be based on facts here. You have speculated some and it’s been helpful. Of course, we are interested in speculations only to the extent that they might suggest some facts.

Mr. Knight. One big speculation that I told you, who could have given Ruby the speech of Heroism. That’s it. How could he, where did he obtain a copy. And again, well, go ahead.

Mr. Griffin. I don’t know if it’s reassuring to you, but we speculated about this, too, and we made an effort to find out.

Mr. Knight. In the trial that Ruby just sort of said, “This is it, we have had it,” it was just a very fast job and ended the trial like they just wanted to get him in there and convict him.

Mr. Griffin. You mean the defense was conducted that way or that the prosecution——

Mr. Knight. No; the prosecution—don’t use the word railroad. Strike that out.

Mr. Griffin. Yes.

Mr. Knight. But it seemed like they just put the poor guy in there and nobody would listen to anything. They just wanted to get him convicted for it and maybe ease the conscience or something like that. It really wasn’t an example of American justice. That’s not fact. That’s my speculation.

Mr. Griffin. We thank you for coming here all the way from Detroit and we appreciate people who cooperate as fully as you have here and realize it’s a sacrifice for you to do this. I don’t know whether my secretary indicated over the phone but the Commission, of course, pays mileage and out-of-pocket expenses. And the way we have been handling this with people who haven’t come to Washington is that we have asked them to send to us in Washington a list of expenses they have had in connection with this, and we will see that the proper people in Washington check it out.

Mr. Knight. Should I send like the gas receipts and hotel bills?

Mr. Griffin. They won’t pay you the gas receipts. They will pay you mileage, so many cents a mile, and will pay your out-of-pocket hotel expenses.

Mr. Knight. Will they pay for my wife?

Mr. Griffin. I don’t think so.