How did Ruby get into the basement?

[Michael T. Griffith]

Even if true, it doesn't mean there was a conspiracy or plan for Ruby to kill Oswald.  Ruby was a well known figure to the DPD.  Maybe they turned a blind eye to him because they didn't expect any trouble from him and had their hands full with the changing transfer plan etc.  If a DPD officer saw Ruby enter and gave him a wink because he knew him, then so be it.  What matters is whether Ruby was part of any conspiracy.  And there is no credible evidence of that.  In fact, all the circumstances lend themselves to this being a spontaneous and unplanned event.

This was a lot more than just some officers seeing Ruby enter the basement and turning a blind eye. All the doors along routes leading to the basement were supposed to be locked, and all the entrances to the basement were supposed to be guarded. The HSCA determined that Ruby almost certainly entered the basement from the alley, and that the doors along the route from the alley were, strangely enough, unlocked, and that the policemen who were guarding the alley-side interior stairwell entrance to the garage oddly left their posts shortly before Ruby entered via that entrance. All just a big, whopping "coincidence"?

There's also the fact that Ruby tried to warn the DPD not to transfer Oswald on November 24. On November 24, 1963, Billy Grammer, as a young lieutenant on the Dallas police force, was working in the communications room when he received a call from Ruby. Grammer said Ruby warned him that the police had to change the plans for Oswald's transfer or "we're going to kill Oswald right there in the basement." Ruby did not identify himself by name, but Grammer recognized his voice. In an interview for the 1988 documentary The Men Who Killed Kennedy, Grammer said he was absolutely certain Ruby was the caller. This is just part of the evidence that Ruby was trying to avoid having to carry out his assignment to shoot Oswald. Unfortunately, he did not succeed, and shortly after calling Grammer, he carried out the order to execute Oswald. Even the ultra-cautious HSCA could not ignore the compelling evidence that Ruby's killing of Oswald was not spontaneous.

[Richard Smith]

This was a lot more than just some officers seeing Ruby enter the basement and turning a blind eye. All the doors along routes leading to the basement were supposed to be locked, and all the entrances to the basement were supposed to be guarded. The HSCA determined that Ruby almost certainly entered the basement from the alley, and that the doors along the route from the alley were, strangely enough, unlocked, and that the policemen who were guarding the alley-side interior stairwell entrance to the garage oddly left their posts shortly before Ruby entered via that entrance. All just a big, whopping "coincidence"?

There's also the fact that Ruby tried to warn the DPD not to transfer Oswald on November 24. On November 24, 1963, Billy Grammer, as a young lieutenant on the Dallas police force, was working in the communications room when he received a call from Ruby. Grammer said Ruby warned him that the police had to change the plans for Oswald's transfer or "we're going to kill Oswald right there in the basement." Ruby did not identify himself by name, but Grammer recognized his voice. In an interview for the 1988 documentary The Men Who Killed Kennedy, Grammer said he was absolutely certain Ruby was the caller. This is just part of the evidence that Ruby was trying to avoid having to carry out his assignment to shoot Oswald. Unfortunately, he did not succeed, and shortly after calling Grammer, he carried out the order to execute Oswald. Even the ultra-cautious HSCA could not ignore the compelling evidence that Ruby's killing of Oswald was not spontaneous.

To put it nicely, attributing that phone call to Ruby is farfetched.   Would a planned event allow for Ruby to sleep late, go to the Western Union to send a meaningless money order thereby bringing him within just a few seconds of missing his chance, and bring his dog for the ride?  It has all the hallmarks of a spontaneous event and none of a planned event.   And all these years later there is no credible evidence that associates Ruby with any conspiracy to kill Oswald.

[Michael T. Griffith]

To put it nicely, attributing that phone call to Ruby is farfetched.   Would a planned event allow for Ruby to sleep late, go to the Western Union to send a meaningless money order thereby bringing him within just a few seconds of missing his chance, and bring his dog for the ride?  It has all the hallmarks of a spontaneous event and none of a planned event.   And all these years later there is no credible evidence that associates Ruby with any conspiracy to kill Oswald.

Gosh, that's silly. What is "farfetched" is to claim that Grammar just fabricated his account. I swear I hope none of you lone-gunman believers ever works in law enforcement, because you would never catch anyone.

The Western Union money order was clearly an attempt by Ruby to make his hit on Oswald seem like a spontaneous, compulsive act. Even the HSCA did not buy it.

If Ruby had waltzed into the basement the way the WC said he did, via the Main Street ramp, the spontaneous-act story would have a tiny bit of credibility, which of course is why the WC claimed, against all the evidence, that Ruby entered via the Main Street ramp.

But we know that's not how Ruby got into the basement. He entered via the circuitous route of taking the alley next to the Dallas Municipal Building and then using the stairway that led to the basement from that alley. And, conveniently enough, the door to the stairway was unlocked, and the entrance way at the bottom of that stairway suddenly became unguarded shortly before Ruby used it to enter the basement.

[Richard Smith]

Gosh, that's silly. What is "farfetched" is to claim that Grammar just fabricated his account. I swear I hope none of you lone-gunman believers ever works in law enforcement, because you would never catch anyone.

The Western Union money order was clearly an attempt by Ruby to make his hit on Oswald seem like a spontaneous, compulsive act. Even the HSCA did not buy it.

If Ruby had waltzed into the basement the way the WC said he did, via the Main Street ramp, the spontaneous-act story would have a tiny bit of credibility, which of course is why the WC claimed, against all the evidence, that Ruby entered via the Main Street ramp.

But we know that's not how Ruby got into the basement. He entered via the circuitous route of taking the alley next to the Dallas Municipal Building and then using the stairway that led to the basement from that alley. And, conveniently enough, the door to the stairway was unlocked, and the entrance way at the bottom of that stairway suddenly became unguarded shortly before Ruby used it to enter the basement.

Did Grammar catch Ruby and stop him from killing Oswald as an example of good law enforcement?  LOL.  The DPD received a lot of threats against Oswald.  He was the most hated man in the world at that moment.   If Grammar truly believed that one such call had come from a person who he could identify and who he knew even frequented the station (didn't he claim to even encounter Ruby that weekend) then presumably he might have done something.  But he didn't.  It is not a singular occurrence that participants in such events later embellish their stories.  So Grammar received some threatening calls, Oswald is killed by Ruby, and then he later thinks that maybe one of these calls could have come from Ruby.  Big deal.  It doesn't mean that Ruby was the caller even if Grammar came to believe that later.  We know nothing of the kind in terms of your alternative version of events as to how Ruby entered the basement. 

[Michael T. Griffith]

Did Grammar catch Ruby and stop him from killing Oswald as an example of good law enforcement?  LOL.  The DPD received a lot of threats against Oswald.  He was the most hated man in the world at that moment.   If Grammar truly believed that one such call had come from a person who he could identify and who he knew even frequented the station (didn't he claim to even encounter Ruby that weekend) then presumably he might have done something.  But he didn't.  It is not a singular occurrence that participants in such events later embellish their stories.  So Grammar received some threatening calls, Oswald is killed by Ruby, and then he later thinks that maybe one of these calls could have come from Ruby.  Big deal.  It doesn't mean that Ruby was the caller even if Grammar came to believe that later.  We know nothing of the kind in terms of your alternative version of events as to how Ruby entered the basement.

Grammar *did* do something, but his superiors ignored his account of the phone call.

You need to explain how you can rationally, actually believe that Ruby's killing of Oswald was a spontaneous act given how Ruby entered the basement and given his actions leading up to the killing.

Finally, you realize that Ruby said, on film, that Kennedy was killed by a conspiracy, right? And you realize that Ruby asked the WC to remove him from DPD custody and to question him in Washington, right?

[Bill Brown]

I'll just say this: Anyone who believes the WC's tale about how Ruby entered the basement is decades behind the information curve. This is one of the subjects that the HSCA did a very good job investigating, and the HSCA made a compelling case that the WC's story was fiction and that Ruby entered the basement with help from someone who was already in the basement.

The HSCA also concluded that Oswald fired all the shots which hit the President (only from above and behind).  So what now?

[Bill Brown]

There's also the fact that Ruby tried to warn the DPD not to transfer Oswald on November 24. On November 24, 1963, Billy Grammer, as a young lieutenant on the Dallas police force, was working in the communications room when he received a call from Ruby. Grammer said Ruby warned him that the police had to change the plans for Oswald's transfer or "we're going to kill Oswald right there in the basement." Ruby did not identify himself by name, but Grammer recognized his voice. In an interview for the 1988 documentary The Men Who Killed Kennedy, Grammer said he was absolutely certain Ruby was the caller. This is just part of the evidence that Ruby was trying to avoid having to carry out his assignment to shoot Oswald. Unfortunately, he did not succeed, and shortly after calling Grammer, he carried out the order to execute Oswald. Even the ultra-cautious HSCA could not ignore the compelling evidence that Ruby's killing of Oswald was not spontaneous.

Nonsense.

Where is the paperwork filed by Grammer telling of this mysterious phone call?

In 1964, during Ruby's trial, Wade and Alexander wanted to prove premeditation since they were going for first degree murder in the death of Oswald.  Grammer, with his whole Ruby mysterious phone call bullspombleprofglidnoctobuns, would have been one of their star witnesses.  Yet, we don't hear a single thing from Grammer until 1988, just in time for him to get his mug in front of the camera so that people like you will be talking about him still in the year 2020.

[Michael T. Griffith]

Nonsense.

Where is the paperwork filed by Grammer telling of this mysterious phone call?

In 1964, during Ruby's trial, Wade and Alexander wanted to prove premeditation since they were going for first degree murder in the death of Oswald.  Grammer, with his whole Ruby mysterious phone call bullspombleprofglidnoctobuns, would have been one of their star witnesses.  Yet, we don't hear a single thing from Grammer until 1988, just in time for him to get his mug in front of the camera so that people like you will be talking about him still in the year 2020.

Oh, gosh. You must be kidding. If Grammer had been called to testify and had said he was certain that Ruby called him, that Ruby warned him about the shooting, and that Ruby urged the DPD to change the transfer plans, all holy crap would have broken loose over the case.

No matter what, no matter how clear the evidence, you guys will always cling to the no-conspiracy fable. The DPD lied through their teeth about the Main Street ramp, and the WC repeated their lie, precisely because they both knew that that was the only scenario that even remotely supported the spontaneous-act story. But then, the HSCA came along and utterly destroyed the Main Street ramp tale and proved that Ruby must have entered via the alleyway, that the door was unlocked, and that the entrance way was cleared of security just before Ruby approached. Yet, you guys blink twice and say, "Oh, well, but it was still spontaneous!"