Jack Ruby's police friend-H N Olsen

[Colin Crow]

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

Found this from Robin Unger on the EF from 2005. Seems my memory is not too bad after all.

 "WC Testimony of Harry Olsen.

I am very sceptical about Olsen's WC testimony, when asked about his leg Olsen says that he fell down and injured it, but doesn't tell the WC that Ruby did it.

And what is with the meeting at the garage with Ruby after the assassination. ?

Also when Olsen was gaurding a ladies house because he was off work on the 22/11/63 why did he leave his car behind, and then have to walk home 4-blocks with his leg in a plaster. ??

QUOTE:

Ian Griggs.

Joe Cody was apparently an expert ice skater (former pro player?) and he recalled occasions when he had seen Ruby skating at Fair Park. When I read this I was reminded of an interview I conducted of Shari Angel in which she described going ice skating there with Jack Ruby, Kathy Kay and Harry Olsen. Jack collided with Harry on the ice and seriously injured Harry's knee. It was as a result of this injury that Harry Olsen had a leg in plaster and was off duty on the day of the assassination.

Testimony:

Mr SPECTER. Do you recall November 22, 1963, the day President Kennedy was assassinated?

Mr OLSEN. Yes, sir.

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.

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.

Mr SPECTER. What sort of an accident did you have to injure your leg?

Mr OLSEN. I fell and broke my kneecap.

Mr SPECTER. When did that occur?

Mr OLSEN. Oh, several weeks before.

Mr SPECTER. At what hospital were you treated?

Mr OLSEN. Baylor Hospital.

Mr SPECTER. Is that in Dallas?

Mr OLSEN. Yes, sir; it's on Gaston.

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 talk to anybody else on the telephone or in person between the telephone call and the time that Kay visited you?

Mr OLSEN. Passers-by. I went outside.

Mr SPECTER. Whom did you see outside?

Mr OLSEN. No one who I knew by name They just said, "Have you heard the news?" And I said, "Yes, I had."

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.

Mr SPECTER. What time did Kay visit you on that Friday?

Mr OLSEN. In the afternoon sometime.

Mr SPECTER. How long did she stay?

Mr OLSEN. Oh, I would say an hour or two.

Mr SPECTER. Where did you have lunch on that Friday?

Mr OLSEN. There at the place that I was watching.

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.

Mr SPECTER. How far was it?

Mr OLSEN. About 4 blocks.

Mr SPECTER. Did the cast on your knee restrict your walking in any material way?

Mr OLSEN. Yes, sir.

Mr SPECTER. Were you able to walk with the cast on your knee?

Mr OLSEN. A little bit, not much.

Mr SPECTER. But you were able to walk well enough to cover those 4 blocks to Kay's house?

Mr OLSEN. Yes. And it swelled after I had walked it, though.

Mr SPECTER. What did you do after arriving at Kay's house?

Mr OLSEN. Well, going back to that, I had crutches, I believe, that I used. Now, what was the question?

Mr SPECTER. After you arrived at Kay's house, what did you do then?

Mr OLSEN. We talked about the assassination.

Mr SPECTER. How long did you stay at Kay's house?

Mr OLSEN. I would say several hours.

Mr SPECTER. And about what time did you leave Kay's house, to the best of your ability to recollect?

Mr OLSEN. What time I don't know.

Mr SPECTER. Was anybody else at Kay's house with you besides Kay?

Mr OLSEN. No, sir.

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.

Mr SPECTER. Where did you go?

Mr OLSEN. Downtown.

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. Where was that garage located?

Mr OLSEN. Jackson and Field.

Mr SPECTER. What was the purpose of going to a garage at Jackson and Field?

Mr OLSEN. We knew the man who worked there.

Mr SPECTER. What was his name?

Mr OLSEN. Johnny is all I know him by.

Mr SPECTER. What sort of work did he do at that garage?

Mr OLSEN. He was an attendant.

Mr SPECTER. Why did you want to go see him?

Mr OLSEN. To talk.

Mr SPECTER. For any special purpose?

Mr OLSEN. No, sir.

Mr SPECTER. Do you recollect about what time you arrived at that garage?

Mr OLSEN. Oh, 12, approximately.

Mr SPECTER. Did you see Johnny when you were there?

Mr OLSEN. Yes, sir.

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"

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/topic/3497-dpd-officer-harry-olsen/

[Tom Scully]

Colin, the FBI got an interview with "Johnny" into the record, just three weeks before the WR went to print. Likely they were directed to question
Johnny Simpson by an August letter under Lee Rankin's letterhead.

There is a problem. Olsen testified they went to the garage to spend time talking with Johnny. Johnny said Olsen was alone, waiting for Kay until she got off work.
Routine work days run together, as far a precise recall, so it might be understandable Olsen is more credible, in this instance. I mulled over the dicrepancy for a minute and then it dawned on me the Carousel Club was closed due to JFK's death. It could be neither Olsen or Johnny were inclined to give a truthful, complete explanation.

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=57076&search=simpson_and+olsen#relPageId=5&tab=page

.....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....

Jerry, at 425 E. 8th, a high stakes gambling operation was allegedly situated, owned by a lawfirm (Wynne, Jaffe and Tinsley,) of Morris Jaffe and Bedford Wynne. Wynne was a pre John Dean boyfriend of Mo Biner and his family owned Great Southwest Corp. which owned the Inn managed by SS keeper of Marina, WWII Navy deserter and car thief, James H Martin. (Chapter Eighteen of Peter Dale Scott’s book “Deep Politics and the Death of JFK”.)

[Colin Crow]

Colin, the FBI got an interview with "Johnny" into the record, just three weeks before the WR went to print. Likely they were directed to question
Johnny Simpson by and August letter under Lee Rankin's letterhead.

There is a problem. Olsen testified they went to the garage to spend time talking with Johnny. Johnny said Olsen was alone, waiting for Kay until she got off work.
Routine work days run together, so it might be understandable Olsen is more credible, in this instance. I mulled over the dicrepancy for a minute and then it dawned on me the Carousel Club was closed due to JFK's death. It could be neither Olsen or Johnny were inclined to give a truthful, complete explanation.

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=57076&search=simpson_and+olsen#relPageId=5&tab=page



Jerry, at 425 E. 8th, a high stakes gambling operation was allegedly situated, owned by a lawfirm (Wynne, Jaffe and Tinsley,) of Morris Jaffe and Bedford Wynne. Wynne was a pre John Dean boyfriend of Mo Biner and his family owned Great Southwest Corp. which owned the Inn managed by SS keeper of Marina, WWII Navy deserter and car thief, James H Martin. (Chapter Eighteen of Peter Dale Scott’s book “Deep Politics and the Death of JFK”.)

Just thinking off the top of my head.....

Could it be that what really happened that Olsen and Kay went to talk to Ruby. Olsen dropped her off and parked the car in the garage. She and Ruby returned and the conversation started. Would Johnny assume that she came from work and was unaware that the club was closed?

Seems important that Jack met with Olsen. The sequence of events proposed by Olsen lacks credibility.

[Tom Scully]

Just thinking off the top of my head.....

Could it be that what really happened that Olsen and Kay went to talk to Ruby. Olsen dropped her off and parked the car in the garage. She and Ruby returned and the conversation started. Would Johnny assume that she came from work and was unaware that the club was closed?

Seems important that Jack met with Olsen. The sequence of events proposed by Olsen lacks credibility.

Kay's version matches Harry's much more than Johnny's. She has Ruby driving, and we need to at least attempt to verify, anecdotally at this late date, if the
night spots described by Kay were actually reported to be closed that evening. The Texas Theatre closed for the weekend, after the show Oswald was "attending" there ended, according to accounts in trade publications.

I was working in guest services business in Manhattan, NY in the evening eight hours after the twin towers fell on 9/11. Most businesses had closed because mass transit from the boroughs was interrupted as well as surface bus schedules, no vehicles were allowed in or out and deliveries by suppliers had been partially interrupted. Most deliveries occur there in early morning hours, before the airliner attacks, though.

Most other businesses on 9/11 and the next day did not have staff or were not supplied enough to be open for business

We did record business that evening and it was creepy, even making the owner uncomfortable. People were weirdly almost festive, nervous energy and disbelief after being inside watching TV news all day, a Tuesday, and drinking more heavily than they ever did on weekend nights, despite 3,000 lying dead in the rubble one hundred blocks straight south. I've read accounts of reaction in NYC to the news of FDR's sudden death in April, 1945 and to news of JFK in 1963 and had the impression almost all businesses in NYC closed almost immediately, after both incidents. It's a much easier call for management if you are not in the business of selling perishable food. So, theaters and establishments primarily selling drinks can close almost without hesitation out of respect and out of consideration of employees and their families. Some operators will always see opportunity to stay open and fill the gap, making extra $$$. Smaller taverns with small staff best fit that description.

The FBI and WC were obviously uninterested in verifying much or noticing and reporting on discrepancies.

I have at least two more places to check on other statements by Harry, FBI interview in hospital after Dec., 1963 car accident, and maybe a Griggs interview?
 A third Harry interview is here, as I posted the other day.:
http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/T%20Disk/Turner%20William%20Weyand%20Garrison%20File/Item%2005.pdf
Interview at link above to Weisberg archivre was in September, 1967. No discussion of the garage meeting. I missed this the other day,
The "estate" Olsen was guarding is described in 1967 as a "ramshackle house."
I saw this on first reading the other day, Olsen said Ruby was closest to Gerry Hill, and the interviewer notes Hill recovered the empty shells at
the Tippit shooting scene and was not asked about Ruby in his WC testimony.

...'Olsen said that on the day of the assassination he was
guarding a ramshackle house in Oak Cliff, sitting inside. He
said an attorney had hired him to guard the property of a recent
deceased person (this is apparently where some think Olsen
was lying when he said he was guarding an "estate.") He heard the
sirens but did not see anything himself. ...
...Olsen advised that a. pttrolman named Bill Swafford
was a frequent visitor to the Carousel. The most frequent visitor, he
said, was Gerry Hill (the sergeant who found shell casings at the
Tippit shooting scene and was at the Texas Theatre), to whom Ruby
was always giving six-packs of beer. Hill escorted FBI men to
persons around the Carousel locale and told the persons, "Tell the
FBI what you.know about Ruby."' Olsen says that one of these persons
cracked, "Why don't you, you knew him best." (It is noted that Hill
was not questioned - by the Commission vis a vis Ruby.)

Okay, on 16 December, 1963 during the FBI hospital interview, Harry Olsen stated Ruby was driving by the parking garage, stopped, and they
only talked with Ruby for ten minutes.: (CE-2318)
https://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh25/pdf/WH25_CE_2318.pdf

Kay's long distance phone records:
https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=57076&search=coleman#relPageId=90&tab=page
are described in a cover letter to Lee Rankin as beginning on morning of 11/23, i'll post the cover letter link :
https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=57076&relPageId=23&search=olsen
On page following above link, 2 sentence report, Ruby roughly corroborating the general story of how the three came to meet at garage and topics discussed.
https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=57076#relPageId=24&tab=page
....and other link to Harry's L.D. call list.
Update: Report states no listing for Harry Olsen in TX, only a listing for his father, Harry. L.D. call activity of Harry begins after move to Long Beach and
can be found on a page soon following link to MF.org link to Kay's L.D. calls @ 325 Ewing....

http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/olsen_k.htm
......
Mr. SPECTER. And how long did Mr. Olsen stay there that evening?
Mrs. OLSEN. We went out. We, you know, got nervous sitting there.
Mr. SPECTER. At what time did you go out?
Mrs. OLSEN. Oh, it was ]ate; it was about 11.
Mr. SPECTER. Where did you go?
Mrs. OLSEN. We went downtown to a private club. We wanted a drink; we were kind of shook up.
Mr. SPECTER. What club did you go to?
Mrs. OLSEN. It was the Sip and Nip on Commerce Street.
Mr. SPECTER. Sip and Nip?
Mrs. OLSEN. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER. Did you see anybody there that you knew?
Mrs. OLSEN. Oh, we knew the bartender and the waitress. Because we didn't get out, you know, too often with me working all the time.
Mr. SPECTER. What was the bartender's name?
Mrs. OLSEN. I think his name was Lee. I'm pretty sure it was Lee.
Mr. SPECTER. What was the waitress' name?
Mrs. OLSEN. I can't remember.
Mr. SPECTER. Did you see anybody else you knew?
Mrs. OLSEN. No; not there.
Mr. SPECTER. How long did you stay there at the club?
Mrs. OLSEN. Well, they close at 12.
Mr. SPECTER. Did you see anybody else you knew someplace else?
Mrs. OLSEN. Well, we went--do you want to know later what happened?
Mr. SPECTER. Fine.
Mrs. OLSEN. We went to the parking lot; we used to go over there and talk to Johnny.
Mr. SPECTER. Johnny who?
Mrs. OLSEN. I don't know.
Mr. SPECTER. Where is the parking lot located?
Mrs. OLSEN. Right behind the Carousel Club; across the street on--what street would that be?
Mr. SPECTER. Akard?
Mrs. OLSEN. Akard?
Mr. SPECTER. Jackson and Akard?
Mrs. OLSEN. Jackson.
Mr. SPECTER. Was that at the intersection of Jackson and Akard?
Mrs. OLSEN. No. Jackson and the next street down. What was that? Field Jackson and Field. And we sat in there and we talked.
Mr. SPECTER. How long did you talk to Johnny?
Mrs. OLSEN. Oh, quite a while.
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. SPECTER. As nearly as you can recollect, tell me exactly what he said and what you said to him?
Mrs. OLSEN. Well, everyone was shocked, you know, and we talked about Mrs. Kennedy and the children and how terrible it was, and he told us he had been down to the police station to take the boys some sandwiches down there, and he was real upset, kind of wild-eyed, had his real stary look, and he was upset that--well, he was mad that these other clubowners hadn't closed down.
Mr. SPECTER. Which clubowners?
Mrs. OLSEN. The Theatre Lounge and the Colony Club. I hate to remember all this stuff, I really do. You know, I have such a different life now and I hate to rehash it all.
Mr. SPECTER. What else did Mr. Ruby say at that time?
Mrs. OLSEN. I think he told us he had seen Oswald transferred, if I remember right, and we asked him what he looked like and he said he looked like a little rat, real sneaky looking.
Mr. SPECTER. He saw him transferred from where to where?
Mrs. OLSEN. I don't know. He saw him down there. I think as they were moving him from one room to another.
Mr. SPECTER. He saw down where?
Mrs. OLSEN. At the police station.
Mr. SPECTER. Did he say anything more about Oswald?
Mrs. OLSEN. Oh, I guess he cussed him out a bit. He was just real upset.
Mr. SPECTER. Did he. say anything about what he intended to
Mrs. OLSEN. About his club?
Mr. SPECTER. About anything.
Mrs. OLSEN. No.
Mr. SPECTER. Did he say he intended to shoot Oswald?
Mrs. OLSEN. No.
Mr. SPECTER. Do you know whether or not Ruby knew Oswald?
Mrs. OLSEN. I don't think he did.
Mr. SPECTER. Did you ever see Oswald in the club?
Mrs. OLSEN. No.
Mr. SPECTER. Had you ever seen Oswald at all?
Mrs. OLSEN. No.
Mr. SPECTER. What else did Ruby say at that time?
Mrs. OLSEN. That's about all I can remember.....

[Tom Scully]

Posted this on the "Tippit shooting," thread.:

Quote from: Tom Scully on Today at 05:24:49 PM

Anything wrong with this picture?



Helen Markham told WC her address was at 328 East Ninth.
https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=39&relPageId=313&search=markham_and%20eighth

Harry Olsen said he was guarding an "estate" on East Eighth, describing it in 1967 as a "ramshackle" house.

FBI received a tip Oswald was not the shooter. It simply is supported by,

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=62271&relPageId=172&search=%22east_eighth%22

BTW, (but obviously published late 1962 or early 1963.):


I have to do more checking because cross streets and names of occupants differ from above image.:
BTW, (but obviously published late 1963 or early 1964.):

[Jerry Freeman]

Olsen had vanished by the time the HSCA started looking for him.
Kay Coleman said that Olsen lied about not knowing Oswald.
Olsen lied? Gee do you think?
I wonder why Olsen was ever called to testify...he was obviously contaminated.
This video mentions some other peculiarities about Olsen and the Tippit shooting.

Helen Markham told WC her address was at 328 East Ninth.

It was and she worked in central downtown Dallas.

Mr. BALL. So you were walking south toward Jefferson?
Mrs. MARKHAM. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. You think it was a little after 1?
Mrs. MARKHAM. I wouldn't be afraid to bet it wasn't 6 or 7 minutes after 1.
Mr. BALL. You know what time you usually get your bus, don't you?
Mrs. MARKHAM. 1:15.
Mr. BALL. So it was before 1:15?
Mrs. MARKHAM. Yes, it was.

Mr. BALL. Right-hand side, wouldn't it? When you came to the corner did you have to stop before you crossed 10th Street?
Mrs. MARKHAM. Yes, I did.
Mr. BALL. Why?
Mrs. MARKHAM. On account the traffic was coming.
Mr. BALL. And you stopped there on the corner?
Mrs. MARKHAM. Yes, sir.

I wonder what the drivers [she stopped for] saw at that time.