Jack Ruby's police friend-H N Olsen

[Jerry Freeman]

Mr SPECTER. When were you and Mrs. Kay Olsen married?
Mr OLSEN. I believe it was December. It could have been January.

So begins the sketchy memory of patrolman Harry Neal Olsen. I wonder what his wife thought of that memorably forgetful day of their marriage

Mr SPECTER. Did you ever have any disputes with Ruby?
Mr OLSEN. Sometimes.
Mr SPECTER. What was the cause of the disputes?
Mr OLSEN. He would get mad with some of his help...And he was erratic and hotheaded.
Mr SPECTER. What would cause him to get that mad?
Mr OLSEN. Anything. I mean, he would Just fly off the handle about anything.
Mr SPECTER. Can you give me a specific illustration of what caused him on any occasion to become that angry?
Mr OLSEN. Mostly with his help.....................
Mr SPECTER. What was your relationship with Kay in the fall of 1963?
Mr OLSEN. We were going together.
Mr SPECTER. What was your relationship with Kay in the fall of 1963?
Mr OLSEN. We were going together.
------------------------------------------
Mr SPECTER. Was she unmarried at that time?
Mr OLSEN. Yes, sir.
Mr SPECTER. Had she been married previously?
Mr OLSEN. Yes, sir.
Mr SPECTER. When was her divorce final, if you know?
Mr OLSEN. I don't know.
Mr SPECTER. Can you give me an approximate date as to when it was final?
Mr OLSEN. No, sir.
Mr SPECTER. Can you tell me if it was a few months or a few years before 1963?
Mr OLSEN. I just don't know. She might know.
 

Why did Specter press Olsen on that? Also, I understand that Olsen was still married.

Mr SPECTER. Do you know whether or not Jack Ruby knew Officer J. D. Tippit?
Mr OLSEN. I heard that he did................
Mr SPECTER. Could you recall specifically who it was who said that Ruby knew Officer Tippit?
Mr OLSEN. No, sir.
 --------------------------------
Mr SPECTER. Do you recall November 22, 1963, the day President Kennedy was assassinated?
Mr OLSEN. Yes, sir. [at least Olsen could recall that]
Mr SPECTER. Tell me, as specifically as you can recollect, exactly what your activities were on that day.
Mr OLSEN. I was employed by the Dallas Police Department and I was working at an extra job guarding an estate.
Mr SPECTER. Whose estate was that?
Mr OLSEN. I don't remember the name.
Mr SPECTER. How did you happen to get that extra job?
Mr OLSEN. A motorcycle officer was related to this elderly woman and he was doing work, but he was in the motor----
Mr SPECTER. Cade?
Mr OLSEN. Motorcade of the President, and I was off that day and able to work it.
Mr SPECTER. Do you recall the name of the motorcycle officer?
Mr OLSEN. No.

Olsen didn't remember the owner of the 'estate' or the name of the cop who got him the gig
Also no one was 'off' that day. Every policeman on the force was called to duty that day.
So Olsen came up with a his leg was broken story.

Mr SPECTER. Where was that estate located?
Mr OLSEN. On 8th Street in Dallas.
Mr SPECTER. Do you recall the specific address or the cross street on which it was located?
Mr OLSEN. It's in the Oak Cliff area, it's approximately two blocks off of Stemmons.
Mr SPECTER. How did it happen that you were not on duty with the police department on the day President Kennedy was in town?
Mr OLSEN. I had my leg in a cast and I was doing light duty, which was working in the office, patrol office, and I had asked them if they needed me to work that day and they said no.

What a crock! For one thing there were no mansions [that you would call an estate] anywhere on 8th street.
It was just a regular central Oak Cliff neighborhood.
After some digging I located one idea that the 'estate' that Olsen [who was a gambler] was guarding was an undergound gambling house located somewhere in the vicinity. Also that Jack Ruby was involved in the operation.

Mr SPECTER. What time did you start to guard the estate on that particular Friday?
Mr OLSEN. About 7 a.m.
Mr SPECTER. And how long did that guard duty last?
Mr OLSEN. Until about 8.
Mr SPECTER. Eight p.m.?
Mr OLSEN. P.m., yes, sir.
Mr SPECTER. Did you have any visitors while you were guarding the estate on that day?
Mr OLSEN. Yes, sir.
Mr SPECTER. And who was the visitor or visitors?
Mr OLSEN. Kay.
Mr SPECTER. What time did she visit you?
Mr OLSEN. Right after the President was shot.
Mr SPECTER. How did you learn of the assassination of the President?
Mr OLSEN. A woman called me on the phone who was a friend of the person who had lived there.
Mr SPECTER. Do you know who that woman was?
Mr OLSEN. No, sir.- And she wanted to know if I had heard the news, and I said no and she said, "The President has been shot."
Mr SPECTER. What time did that telephone call occur?
Mr OLSEN. Right after he was shot. I don't know exactly what time it was.
Mr SPECTER. Did you have any other telephone calls while you were guarding that house?
Mr OLSEN. I called the police department and asked them if they needed me to work.
Mr SPECTER. To whom did you talk at the police department?
Mr OLSEN. I don't recall.
Mr SPECTER. What response did you get?
Mr OLSEN. They said no. 

Unbelievable. Simply unbelievable!

Mr SPECTER. Where did you have supper that day?
Mr OLSEN. At her house.
Mr SPECTER. What time did you go to her house? And by "her" I take it you mean Kay's house?
Mr OLSEN. Yes.
Mr SPECTER. Then what time did you go to Kay's house?
Mr OLSEN. When I got--when the motorcycle officer came and relieved me.
Mr SPECTER. About what time was that?
Mr OLSEN. Oh, 8; about 8.
Mr SPECTER. Did you have an automobile?
Mr OLSEN. No, sir.
Mr SPECTER. How did you get from the house which you were guarding to Kay's house?
Mr OLSEN. Walked.

OK so the motorcycle officer who got Olsen this job...and who Olsen could not recall his name came to relieve a man with a broken leg and offers no assistance in transporting him the short few blocks to his girlfriends house
...........to be continued

[Colin Crow]

Do you know who "broke" Olsen's leg Jerry?

[Jerry Freeman]

Do you know who "broke" Olsen's leg Jerry?

Supposedly...Jack Ruby 'accidentally' ran into Olsen with his car. Exactly if/when this may have happened is anyone's guess.
Mr Ruby was a turbulent guy and everybody who knew him knew it.

[Jerry Freeman]

Continued....

Mr SPECTER. In what manner did you travel away from Kay's house, by foot, by car?
Mr OLSEN. By car.
Mr SPECTER. Whose car was that?
Mr OLSEN. Mine.
Mr SPECTER. How was it that you didn't have your car at the house which you were guarding?
Mr OLSEN. I didn't want to drive it, I don't remember why. I think I left it for her to use.
Mr SPECTER. Did Kay go with you when you drove away from her house?
Mr OLSEN. Yes, sir.

Scratch your head on that one. It seems Olsen could drive OK with a broken leg..his girlfriend who had his car [evidently] didn't come pick him up after his guard duty so he had to walk.

Mr SPECTER. What was the purpose of your trip to town?
Mr OLSEN. To see where the President was shot.
Mr SPECTER. Did you go then to Dealey Plaza?
Mr OLSEN. Yes, we drove by there.
Mr SPECTER. Did you go anyplace else?
Mr OLSEN. We went to a garage. ....................
Mr SPECTER. Did you see anybody else while you were at that garage?
Mr OLSEN. Yes, sir.
Mr SPECTER. Who else did you see?
Mr OLSEN. Jack Ruby.

Mr SPECTER. Did he say anything at that time about whether or not he knew Oswald?
Mr OLSEN. No, sir.
Mr SPECTER. Did he say anything at that time about whether or not he knew Officer J. D. Tippit?
Mr OLSEN. It seemed that he did know Officer Tippit.
Mr SPECTER. Why do you say, "It seemed that he did know Officer Tippit?
Mr OLSEN. I believe he said that Tippit had been to his club.
Mr SPECTER. Recollect as specifically as you can exactly what he said about that, if you can, Mr. Olsen.
Mr OLSEN. Something about Oswald shooting the President and Officer Tippit and leaving the wife and children, and he kept referring to Jaequeline.

Mr SPECTER. Did you discuss with Ruby the fact that he closed his club that night?
Mr OLSEN. Yes.
Mr SPECTER. What did you say to him, if you recall?
Mr OLSEN. I said that it should be closed.
Mr SPECTER. Did you congratulate him for having closed it?
Mr OLSEN. I believe I did.
Mr SPECTER. Did you shake his hand?
Mr OLSEN. I don't recall.

Why did Specter ask him that? Why can't Olsen seem to recall anything?

Mr SPECTER. When did that car accident occur?
Mr OLSEN. December 7.
Mr SPECTER. How long were you in the hospital?
Mr OLSEN. Two weeks, two and a half weeks.
Mr SPECTER. What injuries did you sustain in that automobile collision?
Mr OLSEN. I rebroke my leg.
Mr SPECTER. In the same place?
Mr OLSEN. The same place and some more breaks. And I cracked my chest bone.
Mr SPECTER. Indicating your sternum?
Mr OLSEN. Yes, sir. And I broke some ribs.

This has led to theories that Olsen originally broke his leg in this accident and that it was not broken before the assassination.

Mr SPECTER. Do you know a Bertha Cheek? Does that name ring a bell with you?
Mr OLSEN. Yes, sir.
Mr SPECTER. Who is she?
Mr OLSEN. I have heard the name. Can you help me a little bit with it?
Mr SPECTER. Well, do you recollect anything about her at this moment?
Mr OLSEN. No, sir; I have heard the name, though.
Mr SPECTER. Did you tell Bertha Cheek that Ruby was looking for a partner?
Mr OLSEN. Well, who is Bertha Cheek?
Mr SPECTER. You just don't recollect?
Mr OLSEN. Did I tell Bertha Cheek that Ruby was looking for a partner?
Mr SPECTER. Yes.
Mr OLSEN. Not that I remember.

Olsen knew perfectly well who Bertha Cheek was.

Mr SPECTER. What was the reason for leaving the Dallas Police Department?
Mr OLSEN. I wanted to come to California.
Mr SPECTER. Nobody at the Dallas Police Department asked you to leave?
Mr OLSEN. Yes, sir.
Mr SPECTER. Who asked you to leave the Police Department?
Mr OLSEN. Chief Curry.
Mr SPECTER. What was the reason for that?
Mr OLSEN. I was out of sick time; in other words, you are allotted so much sick time a year, and he didn't want to extend me any more.
Mr SPECTER. Was that the only reason why he asked you to terminate your employment with the police department?
Mr OLSEN. That was one of the reasons.
Mr SPECTER. Was there any other reason?
(Long pause.)
Mr OLSEN. I don't remember exactly what was said.

A policeman would never be dismissed simply because he was out of sick days.
Arlen Specter made a special trip out to sunny California just to speak with Harry Olsen. Olsen had been difficult to find but the FBI can locate anyone.

[Colin Crow]

Supposedly...Jack Ruby 'accidentally' ran into Olsen with his car. Exactly if/when this may have happened is anyone's guess.
Mr Ruby was a turbulent guy and everybody who knew him knew it.

I thought there was something about an ice skating accident......going from memory here.

[Jerry Freeman]

Kay Helen Olsen.....

Mr. SPECTER. Tell me as precisely as you can recollect what you did on Friday, November 22.
Mrs. OLSEN. Harry was guarding an estate on 8th Street just a ways from where I lived, and I fixed a lunch for him and stopped off at the 7-11 store to get him some milk, and that's when I heard that there had been some trouble downtown;

Why didn't Specter try and get the address [or some kind of location] of that 'estate'? He didn't ask..she didn't tell.

Mr. SPECTER. You told Mr. Olsen that day that you did not intend to go back to work for Mr. Ruby
Mrs. OLSEN. Well, business, the whole business, I was through.
Mr. SPECTER. And you made a telephone call from the house that Mr. Olsen was guarding?
Mrs. OLSEN. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER. What did you do after that?
Mrs. OLSEN. I went home.

Mr. SPECTER. And what did you do later in the afternoon, if anything?
Mrs. OLSEN. I fixed supper for Harry and the girls. I think he got off about 4 that day.
Mr. SPECTER. Well, he was guarding the house that day. Did he finish guarding the house at 4?
Mrs. OLSEN. I think the man relieved him--it was 6. The other Policeman relieved him. at 6.
Mr. SPECTER. What policeman was that?
Mrs. OLSEN. I don't know.

There was never any attempt to identify this 'other policeman'.

Mr. SPECTER. Did anybody call you that evening?
Mrs. OLSEN. No. This is as far as I can recollect. I mean I can't be positive. I just can't remember that day too well.
Mr. SPECTER. And how long did Mr. Olsen stay there that evening?

Mr. SPECTER. Was anybody else there at that time?
Mrs. OLSEN. Not that I remember; no. And we were sitting there; it was late, and that's when Jack Ruby drove by.
Mr. SPECTER. What time did he drive by?
Mrs. OLSEN. Oh, I can't be positive on these times.
Mr. SPECTER. About what time?
Mrs. OLSEN. I guess around 1.
Mr. SPECTER. Did he stop?
Mrs. OLSEN. Yes. We waved, and he stopped. He stopped at a red light and pulled in and he came in and sat in the car and talked to us for quite a while.
Mr. SPECTER. How long did that conversation last?
Mrs. OLSEN. Oh, I guess an hour or so at least.

Mr Olsen said it was three hours. That is a pretty long visit.

Mr. SPECTER. Do you know Bertha Cheek?
Mrs. OLSEN. Is this who they call Aunt Bertha, the one that works at the Colony Club?
Mr. SPECTER. I am not able to say.
Mrs. OLSEN. Well, that's the only Bertha I know. I have worked with her.

How many Berthas are there anyway? Of course Kay knew Bertha Cheek...she was romantically involved with Jack Ruby [it was said]

[Jerry Freeman]

I thought there was something about an ice skating accident......going from memory here.

Specter didn't ask. Kay Olsen did mention that he was injured 'again' in Oklahoma City...totaling his car. But she did not speak of a broken leg on the day he stood guard at this estate and Specter didn't ask about it. Of course--the testimony was all rehearsed.

[Tom Scully]

So begins the sketchy memory of patrolman Harry Neal Olsen. I wonder what his wife thought of that memorably forgetful day of their marriage

Why did Specter press Olsen on that? Also, I understand that Olsen was still married.Olsen didn't remember the owner of the 'estate' or the name of the cop who got him the gig
Also no one was 'off' that day. Every policeman on the force was called to duty that day.
So Olsen came up with a his leg was broken story. What a crock! For one thing there were no mansions [that you would call an estate] anywhere on 8th street.
It was just a regular central Oak Cliff neighborhood.
After some digging I located one idea that the 'estate' that Olsen [who was a gambler] was guarding was an undergound gambling house located somewhere in the vicinity. Also that Jack Ruby was involved in the operation.Unbelievable. Simply unbelievable!OK so the motorcycle officer who got Olsen this job...and who Olsen could not recall his name came to relieve a man with a broken leg and offers no assistance in transporting him the short few blocks to his girlfriends house
...........to be continued

Jerry, I agree about 8th Street. Using the Dallas City Directory from the mid 1940s to 1963, I found what you described.
I've been on this, off and on, since Robert Howard, a Dallas native, pointed out more than seven years ago the knowledge gap of the unidentified DPD motor officer described by Olsen.

I interpret "estate" to simply mean the major asset of the estate of the elederly deceased woman the lawyer who hired Olsen was handling. In the early 90s I moved to an NYC suburb and a bookkeeper from Queens, NY alerted me to her observation that in that area, newspapers had stopped publishing the addresses of those who died because thos details in obits and funeral announcements were being used to burglarize the homes, especially of widows or widowers, or because burglars took advantage of knowing the small window in time when occupants of an address would be attending furneral related services.

So, I strongly suspect "the estate" could be merely a house in close distance to Kay's apartment as she described, and the lawyer handling the affairs of the deceased woman was temporarily securing the contents of her house.

Kay began every reply with "Oh," and she claimed she put up with seven day workweeks Ruby insisted upon, for 2 years and 4 months. She must have really loved her two daughters and struggled to provide for them, or Ruby offered other incentive for her to put up with that, besides "tips, sometimes". I also noticed she was not questioned about Nancy Perrin's claims to bartend for Ruby. The 1962 and 1963 city directory lists Kay as a Carousel club "Entertainer" living on W. Jefferson. There is no listing in 1961 - 1963 of Nancy or Robert Perrin.

I started this just last night, using Ancestry dot com and google maps. I'm still searching November deaths of elderly Dallas widow residents. The number of infant death certificates and outsized number of "negro" and "colored" I've eliminated is disturbing to be subjected to. There was a lot more misery in Dallas that November than solely the shooting deaths of JFK, Tippit, and Oswald. The 22nd seemed a particularly busy day for the grim reaper.

This is the only one I've saved, and it is only being considered, so far, due to the lack of curiousity and precision of the recall of the Olsen couple.... I could use some help, if anyone has interest, Ancestry access, and would be willing to wade through the month of October. I could then search September, next.

BTW, here is a link to an equally vague, Harry Olsen interview two years later. He mentioned a business partner of Bertha Cheek, "O.L Nelms".
http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/T%20Disk/Turner%20William%20Weyand%20Garrison%20File/Item%2005.pdf



Still "crickets" in response to R.D. Matthews and Mary Bledsoe having the same aunt. Love to knit that together, somehow, with this.