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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 4, 1967)
Ruby Died Denying Assassination Conspiracy Charges EDITOR’S NOTE — If Jack Ruby hadn’t killed Lee Harvey Oswald, there might be little or no controversy today about the assassination of John F. Kennedy. But Jack Ruby end ed any possible Oswald testi mony and, as his own death ap proached, begged the world to believe what many find it hard to believe, that he was part of no conspiracy to silence Os wald. Here is a report on Jack Ruby’s last days. By BERNARD GAYZER DALLAS, Tex. </P) — Jack Ruby denied it to the edge of death. But even his family couldn’t help asking, because so many other people seemed to be ask ing, whether he really acted alone, and not as part of a Con spiracy, to kill the accused as- sasin of President John F. Ken nedy. And so, near the end, Earl Ruby asked his brother again, as he had many time before: “Are you sure, Jack, there was nothing else?” And Jack Ruby answered, says his brother: “I’m not hiding anything. I’m not protecting anybody. There is nothing to hide, no one to pro tect. Believe me.” AS HE LAY in his guarded room in Parkland Memorial Hos pital, stricken with cancer. Jack Ruby often seemed to be beg ging the world to believe he would take no secrets to the grave. He also was tormented by hal lucinations in which he imag ined that millions of American Jews were being slain in a pro gram as punishment because he, a Jew, silenced the alleged killer of a president. Ruby could be rational on cer tain levels and wholly irrational on others, according to those closest to him. For example, he might be watching a football game on television and some thing would touch him off—like a penalty. Worse is being done to the Jews, he would say. RUBY INSISTED that he alone, without plan or prompting, shot Lee Harvey Oswald. He swore also that rumors of secret meetings relating to the President’s assassination, the killing of Dallas policeman J. D. Tippit and the slayer of Oswald, were lies invented by “mom- serem,” a Yiddish epithet. These details of Ruby’s last days came from his brother, Earl, a Detroit businessman; Elmer Gertz, a Chicago attorney prominent on the legal team which won reversal of the death sentence given to Ruby in 1964, and, through them, from other members of the family. The Ruby murder trial and the Warren Commission report sup ported conclusions that Ruby act ed alone in shooting of Oswald — a shooting that was witnessed by a television audience of millions of Americans Sunday, Nov. 24, 1963. BUT A BROILING controversy about the Warren Report has produced various theories of con spiracies — some of which give Ruby a hidden role. “He simply could not conceive that people could not see that he not only acted alone but that they could take this and twist it into a premise for giving him a role in a plot against the Presi dent, a man he worshipped,” Gertz said. Jack Ruby sought no forgive ness for shooting Oswald, Gertz explained: “I don’t think Jack mentioned his name more than a few times in the many times I saw him, and then it was as if Oswald was a figure beyond his com prehension. Jack saw himself as a kind of instrument. He did not have the delusion that God told him to do it, or that he was an instrument of any people, but that it happened without his con scious will.” JACK RUBY also complained that his cancer was induced se cretly in jail. When he experi enced difficulty breathing early in December and was taken to the hospital, it was thought that he had pneumonia. He took this proof that mustard gas was seep ed into his cell. When his con dition was diagnosed as cancer, he was certain it had been injected into him. However, his family praised the treatment Ruby received in Parkland, although they complain ed that his condition had been neglected or brushed off as “hamming it up” in jail. Jack Ruby spent his last day in a large private room which had one wall dominated by a wide window. A nurse and two deputy sheriffs were always on duty. Ruby spent hours watching tele vision, especially football games. NEAR THE END his mood — according to the family — chang ed to one of “black despair.” n’t want to die far from home. Home, for Jack Ruby, was Chi cago, the city of his birth. One daj? in December, Gertz asked Ruby: “What about Oswald? was he ever in your night club, did you And he whispered that he did- ever meet him or see him ? ” “The first time I ever saw Oswald was in the jail after he was arrested. I never saw him in my club and I never met him before in my life,” Ruby said. A few weeks after Ruby, 55, was found to have cancer, he expressed a wish to take a lie detector test to prove that all he said was true. His worsening condition precluded such a test. HE HAD RECEIVED such a test from representative of the Warren Commission on July 18, (See Ruby, Page 3) UP FOR TWO Billy Bob Barnett (40) towers over Rice’s Marty Ivey (41) and Larry Miller (33) as he pushes the ball toward the net for two points in Tuesday night’s conference win over Rice, 69-66. See story on page 4. (Battalion photo by Russell Autrey.) Aggies Recognized For Viet Heroics Former Texas A&M Corps of Cadet leaders Neil L. Keltner and Richard H. Beal are serving the United States in recognized heroic fashion in Viet Nam. Cadet Colonel of the Corps in 1964-65, First Lt. Keltner was awarded the nation’s second high est award, the Distinguished Service Cross, for action while commanding a convoy security element. Capt. Beal was executive of ficer of Company G-l in the Corps and received the Silver Star. The Dallas native organized a platoon-size force and fought down a jungle trail to link up with a mauled U. S. rifle com pany pinned down by enemy fire. The Silver Star is the third highest medal awarded by the na tion. Captain Beal fired on the corps champion intramural rifle team at A&M and majored in English. He was a member of the Ross Volunteers, Fish Drill Finance Major Receives Grant John H. Lewis, senior finance major at Texas A&M from Tenaha, was chosen for the Fred A. Randall Memorial Scholarship, announced Dr. John E. Pearson, School of Business Administra tion director. The $500 a year scholarship is awarded by the Houston Society of Insurance Management to a senior finance major in A&M’s Business Administration School. Lewis is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Homer H. Lewis and a graduate of Tenaha High School. His father is a retired teacher. H. C. Hervey, scholarship com mittee chairman of the society, presented Lewis the scholarship at an award luncheon involving 55 HSIM members, Dr. Pearson and Dr. R. M. Stevenson, profes sor of finance at A&M. Vice President Charles L. Bailey presided at the Houston presentation luncheon. R. W. White of the Gulf Oil Corp. chairs the society. Che Battalion Volume 61 COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS WEDNESDAY, JANUARW 4, 1967 Number 385 House Charges Powell With Abuse Of Credit Mrs. Powell Fired From Staff Job Team and worked in the Student Conference on National Affairs. Recipient of the best infantry unit award, Beal was scholastic sergeant of his cadet company. Keltner, in addition to com manding the 3,000-man Corps of Cadets, was on the Ross Volun teers Firing Squad, the Town Hall Staff and Honor Council. He garnered Distinguished Stu dent, Distinguished Military Stu dent and Distinguished Military Graduate honors and was award ed the Hughes Trophy, which annually goes to the outstanding ROTC student in the nation. Trophy selection was from 10,300 candidates. Keltner, of Lansing, Mich., was recipient of numerous other awards, trophies and a scholar ship from the Houston Industrial Distributors Association. Wounded when a recoilless rifle shell blasted the armored carrier, Keltner led the front element of the convey through a Viet Cong ambush and returned to the zone to carry on the fight, in which he moved to another vehicle to control his unit, direct air strikes and evacuate wounded. Both Keltner and Beal are 26 years old. By EDMOND LEBRETON WASHINGTON UP) _ Rep. Adam Clayton Powell was ac cused Tuesday of deceptively us ing official travel credit cards and his wife was ordered fired from her $20,578-a-year job on his staff. These newest shafts at the Harlem Democrat, who is under jail sentence for contempt of court in New York and faces a challenge to his seating in the new House, were launched by the House Administration Commit tee just before the old Congress expired at noon. The committee did not formally vote to send the findings and recommendations of an investi gating subcommittee to the Justice Department, but to pub lish them, with the transcript of the testimony, as a House docu ment. THIS ACTION, Chairman Omar Burleson, D-Tex., said, means that “automatically under the rules it goes to all depart ments of government, including the Justice Department.” “Anyone can take it from there Fire School Head To Make Address At National Meet Henry D. Smith, chief of Texas A&M’s Firemen’s Training School, will address a national conference Jan. 22 at Saratoga Springs, N. Y. Smith will review operations of the Texas Firemen’s Training School held each summer at A&M. Also he will discuss academic fire training programs in Texas junior colleges. Fire service leaders from all over the nation are to speak dur ing the three-day Symposium on Higher Education for the Fire Service. Post high school voca tional courses and degree pro grams are major topics for dis cussion. Engineering Majors Top List Of Enrollment By CoUeges Engineering students account for almost a third of Texas A&M Universtiy’s record enrollment, reports Registrar H. L. Heaton. Heaton said 3,457 students—32 per cent of the 10,677 total en rollment—are studying toward degrees in engineering fields. Engineering has gained 525 stu dents since the spring term. A breakdown indicates 1,979 students seek graduate degrees. Seventy-eight are classified as special students. The Liberal Arts College ranks second in number of students at A&M with 2,846—almost 27 per cent of the total enrollment. if there should be matter for a civil suit for recovery or even possible criminal action,” he said. The subcommittee cited testi mony that both Powell and Cor- rine A. Huff, an employe of the Education and Labor Committee which he heads and later of his own office, used assumed names on trips paid for by officiaL , com mittee airline credit cards, “thus deceiving the approving authority as to the number of trips made.” IT SAID Powell “favored at least one member of his staff with personal vacation trips” and provided other persons who had no connection with Congress with transportation through the use of committee credit cards. “The deceptive practice of us ing the names of staff employes on airline tickets which were not used by the named employes ap pears to be a scheme devised to conceal the actual travel of Rep. Powell, Miss Huff, and others, in some instances at least, so as to prevent questions being raised by the Committee on House Ad ministration,” the report said. CHAIRMAN WAYNE HAYS, D-Ohio, of the investigating sub committee said the dismissal of Mrs. Powell was ordered because the law requires a congressman’s employes to perform services either in his Washington office or in his home state, whereas Mrs. Powell lives in Puerto Rico. Listed in third place is the Col lege of Agriculture, with 18 per cent. Other college enrollment fig ures include: Science, with 1,201—11 per cent. Veterinary Medicine, with 871 —8 per cent. Geosciences, with 264—3 per cent. The remaining 124 are study ing at the Texas Maritime Acad emy in Galveston. Graduate enrollment includes 661 seeking the Ph.D. degree and 1,318 pursuing masters degrees. VETERANS’ FRUIT TRANSFERRED Fruit donated by Texas A&M students, facu Ity-staff and College Station school children is loaded for transportation to the Veterans Administration Center in Temple during the holidays. “Project Fruit,” organized and directed by P. L. (Pinkie) Downs Jr., sent 23 boxes of apples and oranges for the 1,000 VA Center patients’ Christmas. Three students were required to fill the ailing Downs’ shoes in presenting the fruit. They assist Ed. J. L. Hechinger, Center gift com mittee chairman, in loading the truck. Fil ling in for Pinkie are, left to right Harold Schade of San Antonio, Jim Lyle of North Highlands, Cal., and Jim Davidson of Poteet. Economic Impact Of A&M Now $38 Million Annually Spring Semester Room Application Begins Thursday Housing Manager Allan M. M^ideley has announced the sched ule for students who will live in civilian dormitories next semes ter to reserve their rooms. Madeley said students who wish to reserve the room they now occupy should report to the housing office in the YMCA be tween 8 a.m. Thursday and 5 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 11. Stu dents have been urged to accom plish this during the time indi cated to avoid losing their old rooms for the spring semester, he pointed out. Students now living in dormi tories 10 and 12 may reserve rooms in civilian dormitories not previously reserved by their oc cupants Jan 12 and 13. Made- ley explained that those dormi tories will be closed during the spring semester for air-condition ing work. Those wishing to reserve a room other than the one they now occupy may sign for rooms on a first-come, first-served basis, beginning Monday, Jan. 16, he added. Texas A&M’s economic impact on the Bryan-College Station community now totals more than $38 million annually, a recent university study revealed. The universtiy’s 1966-67 pay roll alone exceeds $20 million, notes Jim Lindsey, University Information director. Within the past six months, he pointed out, the university has added more than 250 new em ployees. “In terms of purchasing power, this is the equivalent of bringing a large new industry into the community,” Lindsey said. A&M now has 5,301 employees residing in the Bryan-College Station area. Lindsey estimated these personnel have approxi mately 8,000 dependents, for a total of more than 13,000 persons directly associated with the uni versity. Lindsey said these figures, of course, do not include the student body, which totals a record 10,706. The students themselves con tribute more than $14 million each year. Their expeditures— excluding what they pay to the universtiy—include such items as groceries and room and board (for married and graduate stu dents) , clothing, school supplies, recreation and miscellaneous ex penses. Another $2.5 million is pumped into the local economy by university visitors, who last year totaled more than 67,000. These visitors — attending football games, meetings and other uni versity - sponsored activities — spent the majority of this money on food, lodging and entertain ment, the study shows. The study also indicates the university spends almost $1 mil lion locally each year for sup plies, services and utilities. OceanographyStudentA warded First Marine Research Grant G. S. Edwards, an oceanogra phy graduate student at Texas A&M University, has been award ed the first of six new Pan Amer ican Petroleum Foundation fellow ships for marine geological and geophysical research. The award was announced jointly by Dr. Richard A. Geyer, head of Texas A&M’s Oceano graphy Department, and F. R. Yost, foundation president. In addition to Texas A&M, the new Pan American Petroleum Foundation program includes sim ilar fellowships to the University of California (Scripps Institute of Oceanography), Columbia Uni versity (Lament Geological Ob servatory), Oregon State Univer sity, the University of Washing ton and Woods Hole Oceanogra phic Institution. The fellowship, which are on a year-to-year basis, provide a grant of at least $3,500 to each school. The grants are intended to cover fellowship expenses such as stipend, tuition, and expenses allowances. A candidate for an M.S. degree in oceanography at Texas A&M, Edwards received his undergrad uate degree in geology from Tu- lane. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Banks Edwards, 2211 Quenby Road, Houston. Pan American Petroleum Foun dation’s new program is design ed to encourage advanced study by outstanding students and to promote research in geological and geophysical oceanography. The institutions alone are respon sible for selections of fellows who in turn are under no obligation of any kind to the sponsor. The foundation is supported by Pan American Petroleum Corpor ation, North American explora tion and producing subsidiary of Standard Oil Company (Indiana). First Bank & Trust now pays 5% per annum on savings cer tificates. —Adv.