Ruby, Oswald Slayer, Dies of a Blood Clot in Lungs
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will be held in Chicago on r•n- day morning, Mrs. Grant said. Ruby, Oswald Slayer, Dies Ruby was operating a night club with strip-tease dancers in Dallas when President Kennedy was assassinated on Nov. 22, Of a Blood Clot in Lungs 1963, during a political tour of Texas. Two days later Ruby walked into the heavily guarded Dallas Shot Kennedy Assassin as police station—apparently un- Watched on TV noticed—and shot Oswald in Millions the stomach with a .38-caliber In Prison 3 Years revolver as Oswald was about — to be transferred to the Dallas County Jail, a mile away. 1111/1 Millions of people watching Excerpts from the recorded television saw Ruby fire the Page 20. • shot into Oswald,. Ruby statement', - Ruby said he shot the assas- sin to spare Mrs. Kennedy the By MARTIN WALDRON pain of returning to Dallas to Special to The New York Times testily at his trial. DALLAS, Jan. 3—jack Ruby, During the following three who shot President Kennedy's years, all of which he spent in assassin before a nationwide prison until his final hospital television audience, died at stay, Ruby steadfastly denied that he was part of any con- 10:30 A.M. today at Parkland spiracy to silence Oswald. Memorial Hospital. It was the In March, 1965, Ruby was con- same hospital in which Mr. victed of murder after a sensa- Kennedy and the assassin, Lee tional trial in which he was Harvey Oswald, died. defended by Melvin Belli, a San Francisco lawyer. Ruby was Dr. Earl Rose, the Dallas sentenced to die in the Texas County medical examiner, said electric chair, at Huntsville. that Ruby, who had extensive In October, 1966, the Texas cancer, was killed by a blood Court of Criminal Appeals re- clot in the lungs. Ruby was 55 versed the conviction. The court said the trial judge, Joe B. years old. Brown, had allowed illegal tes- Dr. Rose, who performed an timony. autopsy, said the blood clot In granting a new trial, the (apparently formed in a leg this appeals court ordered that it be 'morning and traveled through held elsewhere in Texas. The second trial was set for Wich- the heart to the lungs. ita Falls, about 100 miles west The examiner said it was a Associated Press of Dallas. The case was pending massive clot that would probably Jack Ruby when Ruby died. have killed Ruby even if he had Charge to Be Dropped not been weakened by cancer. District Attorney Henry Wade But he said cancer would be since Dec. 9, said Ruby's death was not completely unexpected. said today that the murder in- listed on the death certificate dictment against Ruby would as a contributing cause of death. Dr. Frenkel said Ruby had be dismissed. It is customary Dr. Eugene P. Frenkel, head begun showing signs about 11 in Texas to dismiss criminal of a team of physicians who P.M. yesterday that he might charges when a defendant dies before coming to trial. had treated Ruby for the cancer Continued on Page 20, Column 1 Shortly after Ruby's convic- tion was reversed last fall, he began to suffer a dry, nagging cough, according to Dr. John W. Continued From Page 1, CoL 3 Callahan, a Dallas County Jail physician. have developed blood clots. He "Jack also had trouble keep- was given oxygen and appeared ing food on his stomach," Dr. to respond "well," the physician Callahan said. "I thought it was just his nerves." said. Dr. Callahan treated Ruby "This morning he was quite with penicillin and suggested comfortable," Dr. Frenkel said. that he take a cough syrup. "He went through the normal Early in December Sheriff J. hospital routine. He had his E. Decker, after returning to bath and ordered eggs for work from a stay in a hospital, breakfast, and he was quite talked to Ruby in his jail cell jovial." on the sixth floor of the county At about 9 A.M. he was jailhouse. seized with a spasm. Death Ruby told the sheriff he was came an hour and a half later not feeling welt. The sheriff despite emergency procedures, ordered Ruby taken to Park- Dr. Frenkel said. land Hospital for examination. One of Ruby's sisters, Mrs. At the hospital, doctors ad- Eva Grant, and a brother, Earl mitted him at once. His ailment R Ruby, were waiting in a hall Was diagnosed as pneumonia. outside the emergency room The next day doctors discov- when Ruby died. ered he had cancer. In the next Funeral in Chicago week they determined that the A funeral service for Ruby cancer was spreading. Dr. Frenkel said today that the autopsy did not disclose the primary site of the cancer. It had been thought that it start- crease in the size of the nodules nothing more than murder with- ed in the lungs or pancreas and in the left lung," he said. out malice, a crime that carries then spread. But he said it was "a little a maximum penalty of five "The pancreas was not in- unlikely" that Ruby would have years imprisonment," one of his volved," Dr. Frenkel said, "This recovered from the cancer. lawyers said here yesterday. leaves the lungs as the probable "There was too much involve- The lawyer, William F. Kun- primary site." ment," he said. stler, said in a statement that Dr. Frenkel said 'Ruby's can- Brain to Be Studied such a verdict—of murder with- cer was identified as an adeno out malice—"would have helped Further tissue examination carcinoma. He explained that to establish that what Ruby did will be undertaken, Dr. Rose, this type of cancer spreads in Dallas on Nov. 24, 1963, was the medical examiner, said. This through cavities and ducts in solely the result of spontaneous will include a study of brain the body. reaction to the President's as- tissue. Dr. Rose said the autopsy sassination." Dr. Rose said preliminary ex- showed "extensive" cancer in- amination -a the brain lining volvement of the lungs and the did not disclose any signs of regional lymph nodes, with a epilepsy. Ruby's lawyers dur- tentative involvement of the ing his murder trial in 1964 liver. said his slaying of Oswald could Ruby weighed 147 pounds at be linked to epilepsy. his death, about 30 pounds less Dr. Frenkel said that after than when he was admitted to Ruby's seizure at about 9 Parkland Hospital on Dec. 9. o'clock this morning he was Dr. Frenkel said some of the given external heart massage weight loss was accounted for and oxygen. by the drainage of fluid from "He was not responsive," the Ruby's chest when he was ad- physician said. mitted to the hospital. The day About 20 specialists and after he was admitted doctors curses were attending Ruby removed more than 10 pounds When he died, Dr. Frankel said. of fluid from the chest by Dr. Rose and Dr. Frankel. means of drainage tubes: who held a news conference at Dr. Frenkel and Dr. Rose 4 P.M., refukted to say that would not estimate how. long Ruby's cancer caused the blood Ruby might have lived had he clot that killed him. not suffered the blood clot. "Yes and no," Dr. Rose said. "It did and it didn't." Burial in Chicago "There is a predisposition for seeds! to The New York TImu people with tumors to develop blood clots in the legs," he said. CHICAGO. Jan. 3—Jack Ruby In addition, he said, Ruby had will be buried beside his parents been bed-ridden for almost a in Westlawn Cemetery here. month and had lost much of his Hershey Weinstein, president energy because of debilitation of the Original Weinstein & caused by the cancer. Sons Chapel, said today that Dr. Frankel said that even services and burial would be though it appeared last night held Thursday afternbon or that Ruby might have developed Friday morning. a small blood clot "because he Although Jewish law calls had trouble getting his breath," for burial as quickly as possi- medication to keep the blood ble, the undertaker said, the from clotting was not adminis- need to transport the body from tered. He said the damage that another city is considered ex- such medication might have tenuating circumstances. caused to a cancer-stricken pa- Mr. Weinstein said final tient could have been greater funeral arrangements would be than its benefits. made tornornav when one of "And we didn't know that he Ruby's brothers, Earl R.-Ruby, was throwing clots," he said. of Detroit, and two sisters, Mrs. Harold Kadminsky, of Chicago, Dr. Frenkel said the autopsy and Mrs. Eva Grant, of Dallas, disclosed that Ruby's cancer arrive here from Dallas. was just beginning to respond Other relatives of Ruby, who to treatment by a new drug, live here in his home town, are 5-flouricinal. two "An X-ray study carried out sisters, Mrs. Norman Car- roll and Mrs. Ann Volpert, and last Friday demonstrated a de- two brothers, Sam Ruby and Hyman Rubenstein. Mr. Weinstein said that in the large family plot only Ruby's parents were buried at Westlawn, which is on the northwest side at 7801 Montrose Avenue. View of Lawyer Here Jack Pcuby's death denied him the opportunity "to have a jury decide that he was guilty of THE NEW YORK TIMES, WI .Att ••,• Amodated Preis Vil.mpla AFTER DEATH OF BROTHER: Members of the family of Jack Ruby leaving Parkla, Hospital, Dallas, yesterday. From left: Earl Ruby, Mrs.