Oswald in the doorway: the blog of the Oswald Innocence Campaign, by Ralph Cinque

Now, let's look at Detective Don Archer's testimony. 

http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/archer.htm

Archer was in the garage, but he was looking the other way and only saw Ruby when he reached Oswald and was firing the shot. But, Archer was heading towards Ruby at the time. So, was he one of the Penguins? Here is what he said about it: 

Mr. HUBERT. All right, then, he was brought into the jail office immediately?
Mr. ARCHER. After the shot was fired, sir, I tried to move forward, but I was cut off by the other officers. The--I started forward, well, the struggle went to my left as I moved forward, individually worked itself way around in back of me, and just as they reached the jail office, well, I took his left arm and assisted them in walking--I went into the jail office with him. 

Amazingly, Hubert didn't need any clarification of that. But, what I gather from it is that Archer was NOT one of the Penguins that we saw, but when it reached the point that "Ruby" was being led through the door, that at that point Archer grabbed his left arm, and guided him through the door, and that we do NOT see. We do not see the process by which a mob of men who were overpowering one man get through one narrow door. As I look at it in my mind's eye, I can't imagine how more than 2 men could have crossed the threshold of that door. 

How could more than 2 guys get through that door at once? And even that would be a tight squeeze. And they definitely used that door. They only spoke of "a" door. Nobody ever said they went through "doors" as in the double doors. Plus, don't forget about the Keeper of the Door, whom we affectionately know as Fat-Face.

So, Fat-Face was the last one to pass through, and then he closed the door behind him. But, the mob of Penguins had to break up in order to go through the door. A mob cannot traverse a door. 

But, Attorney Hubert had no interest in knowing why they didn't push Ruby flat down to the ground and cuff him right there in the garage where he had fired a gun and was trying to fire again.

Mr. HUBERT. All right. What happened next? 
Mr. ARCHER. After we took him into the jail office?
Mr. HUBERT. Yes.
Mr. ARCHER. After we got the subject into the jail office I still didn't know who he was. Someone asked where the gun was. Now, I had not, up to this point, seen the gun other than just an instant after the shot was fired when I caught sight of this man again, which was Ruby. I didn't see the gun. I was interested in knowing where the gun was, or if he still had the gun and we took him on into the jail office and I assisted in keeping his left arm behind him and someone got his right. I couldn't say who it was that had his other arm. Laid him down on the floor, his head and face were away from me at that particular time. But that is when I said, "Who is he?"
I made that statement, because I didn't know who it was and Ruby then turned his face in my direction. He didn't look directly at me. His face had been turned in this manner [indicating]. He then turned in this manner [indicating], and he--that is when he said, "You all know me, I'm Jack Ruby." 

Note that in other accounts, including Ruby's, he said that in the garage during the struggle. But, what this tells me is that the struggle continued for a bit in the jail office, since Archer claims to have kept Ruby's left arm behind him (which is uncomfortable) while someone grabbed his right- inside the jail office. 

But, come to think of it, how could he grab Ruby's LEFT arm? Wasn't his left arm on the inside? In the very corner?

I could see him grabbing his RIGHT arm which was on the outside, but his LEFT? If Archer was late to the party, how could he get in such a position? Or, were they holding "Ruby" with his back to the door, dragging him backwards? That would put his left arm on the outside. But, we can't presume that. 

Mr. HUBERT. What happened next in that jail office area?
Mr. ARCHER. When we had the subject on the floor, I was reaching for my handcuffs. I reached back in this manner [indicating] to unhook my handcuffs off my belt, and Detective McMillon was astraddle and over him, over Ruby, and I believe I said, "Mac, do you need my cuffs?" About that time, "No; I have got it now." And said he placed the cuffs on Ruby. 

So, FINALLY, handcuffs enter the picture. Archer said he took his cuffs out, but McMillon already had his own cuffs out, and McMillon put his cuffs on Ruby. WHY THE HELL DIDN'T THEY DO THAT IN THE GARAGE? Why didn't they push Ruby down to the floor of the garage, and get his arms behind his back, and cuff him right there and then in the garage? Why did they wait to get inside the jail office to do that? 

Mr. HUBERT. What did you do next?
Mr. ARCHER. After he got the cuffs on him, there were still--oh, there was still lots of confusion going on, and several statements were being made or being asked. I don't know. They seemed--some of the statements seemed to come from behind me. I don't know whether it was reporters looking into the jail office or just who it was, but there were some statements made inquiring--several people were asking, "Who is he?" Did he hit him? Did he shoot him? Or things of that nature, as I recall. And he said at that particular point, "I hope I killed the son-of-a-bitch."
I think Captain King was there just a very short time. We began to get--McMillon and I and Detective Clardy, I know the three of us and perhaps one or two other officers, I couldn't say for sure, assisted Ruby to his feet, and we started toward the jail elevator with him, along with Captain King. I believe Captain King said at that point in there somewhere, "Let's get him onto the elevator and take him to the fifth floor jail." So, we then went to the elevator. They put him on the elevator, and I believe that I was either last, or near the last getting on the elevator, and then we proceeded on to the fifth floor jail. 

Note that Ruby denied, to the Warren Commissioners, ever using any swear words.  In fact, the example he gave of a term he did not use was "son of a bitch." 

So, after cuffing Ruby, who was flat on the ground as he was being cuffed, they stood him up, and then the three of them, Archer, McMillon and Clardy, walked Ruby to the elevator to ride up to the 5th floor. 

Note that that can't be what we see in the WFAA footage. How could it be? What happened to Ruby's jacket?  Archer didn't say a word about removing Ruby's jacket? And how could they once the handcuffs were applied? And why would they? Look: they dragged Ruby in, who was wearing a jacket. And jackets don't just come off. They pushed him down to the ground inside the jail office- something they should have done in the garage- and then they got his arms behind his back and cuffed him. Jackets don't come off from that either. And then they stood him up and walked him to the elevator. But, jackets don't come off from doing that either. So, how did they come up with this?

And in the above scene, Oswald is (supposedly) lying down on the floor, though we never see him. But, this obviously was later. So, what was Ruby doing back down there again, and this time, without his jacket? 

Mr. HUBERT. What did you do when you got up there?
Mr. ARCHER. After we got to the fifth floor jail we took him back to the investigative section of the jail, which is just an open section, not a cell. Just an open section of the jail, and we began to search him for any weapons. We were, at least I was mainly concerned as to whether he had any other weapons on him at all. We stripped him and stripped him of his clothing, and I wasn't interested too much in personal property, but mainly searching for weapons or bombs, or anything else he might have concealed on him. 

Damn it to hell, this doesn't make sense.  This is reported to be Ruby on 11/24/63, and he is still wearing his dress shirt. That is definitely NOT the cabana shirt they gave him. That is Boyd behind him. 

So, there is no making sense of this. But, let's consider: after a great deal of trouble, they finally got handcuffs on Ruby. Then, they took him up to the 5th floor. And then they stripped him? They don't mean that they pulled his clothes off him, do they? Don't they mean that they ordered him to remove his clothes? They didn't unbuckle his belt and pull his pants down for him, did they? But, how could he do that unless they removed his handcuffs? 

So, let me get this straight: after finally getting handcuffs on Ruby in the jail office, they took him up to the 5th floor, and the first thing they did was remove his handcuffs so that he could undress? 

Now, obviously, you don't have to strip a man to find out if he's armed. Aren't men patted down for weapons all the time? It isn't necessary to take a man's clothes off to know if he has a gun on him or not. So, the necessity for stripping Ruby right there and then seems to be elusive.  

But, if Ruby was led around the PD in his dress shirt then how could he have been stripped early-on? They didn't stripe him to search him and then have him put his same clothes back on, did they? Nobody has ever claimed that. 

And let's add that at no point did Archer or anyone else say anything about stripping Ruby out of his underwear. In fact, there was no mention of underwear in the WC testimonies of Clardy, McMillon or Archer. However, they also made statements to the FBI. 

Remember that, for the most part, all the WC witnesses were first interrogated by the FBI. And there was a reason for that: they wanted to know what they were going to say before they spoke to the Warren Commission. And from McMillon's FBI interview, there was this:

 an FBI interview with T. D. McMillon on 12/05/63 says in part:

. . . McMILLON recalled that detectives CLARDY, ARCHER, and Captain KING and possibly others, were in the elevator that took RUBY to the fifth floor. On the fifth floor RUBY was stripped and searched and left dressed only in his shorts. About this time, Mr. SORRELS of the Secret Service office came to the fifth floor to talk to RUBY. RUBY was talking freely and said that he had read in the papers that JACKIE KENNEDY might have to come to Texas to testify and that OSWALD did not deserve a trial for what he had done and that he, RUBY, thought he would save the taxpayers time, trouble, and money. RUBY said that he was not trying to be a hero and that what he did he did on his own as a spur of the moment thing.... 

Notice that it says "left dressed only in his shorts". It says nothing about having him take off his underwear. So, how do you account for this?

1 set underwear? 1 set underwear? 1 set underwear???

Didn't Oswald also wield a pistol? Didn't he also fatally shoot someone with it, according to officialdom? But, they didn't stripe Oswald at all, never mind remove his underwear. 

Then Archer said this:

Mr. HUBERT. Did you talk to Ruby then?
Mr. ARCHER. Yes, sir; we did.
Mr. HUBERT. What did he say?
Mr. ARCHER. During--after we--as I began searching him, making the general search of him, as we were standing there I said--I had seen Oswald on the floor in the jail office after he had been brought in there and I looked at him, and to me he looked like he was dead. Of course, I couldn't say he was dead, but I am saying that to me he looked like he was dead, and I said to Ruby at that time, "Jack I think you killed him," and he just looked at me right straight in the eye and said, "Well, I intended to shoot him three times." 

So, Ruby said he intended to shoot Oswald 3x? Well, in that case, why did he get so close before he started shooting? Didn't he know that they were going to grab him? The only way he could possibly have gotten off 3 shots was if there was some distance between him and the officers. And even then, couldn't an officer have shot him? So, did Ruby really say that about intending to shoot Oswald 3x? It's absolutely impossible because Ruby had no intention of shooting Oswald at all. Like so many others, Archer was a liar.


And then, the last thing discussed was the fact that in his original statement to the FBI, Archer had said nothing about Ruby expressing his intent to kill Oswald. Archer made an excuse about it, and then he stated that he definitely wanted to include it now that Ruby expressed his intent to kill Oswald. 

And that's it. Nothing else. They took it as far as Ruby being stripped and searched and saying that he intended to shoot Oswald 3x. And then it was: thank you very much.