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

To throw someone down the stairs is attempted murder. People have died from being thrown down stairs. It is an extreme act of violence. 

And fortunately, very few people are inclined to such violence. Even among hot-headed people that you may know, who lose their temper, or have melt-downs, rages, have any of them ever thrown someone down the stairs? No one in my life has. And as I think about people that I know, I can't say that I know anybody who would do that.  

And yet, there are multiple reports of Jack Ruby throwing people down the stairs. How raging do you have to be to do that? Very, very raging. 

But, in the three years that we got to see Jack Ruby, he NEVER exhibited that kind of rage, and most of the time, he was extremely docile. 

I recall seeing footage of him trying to make a statement to reporters with his lawyer sitting next to him, and his lawyer tried to stop him, to interfere. And Ruby got very irritated. He turned to guy and told him that he was going to do this whether he liked it or not, etc.  Ruby seemed peeved, but nowhere near peeved enough to throw someone down the stairs. 

And, I'll be honest with you: I think I am more hot-headed than Jack Ruby. But, I would NEVER initiate violence against anyone. I would never lay a hand on anyone. I would tell them what I think of them. I would tell them what I am going to do, and I would tell them where they can go. But, I would NEVER lay a hand on them. Of course, if the guy got violent with me, that's another matter. I would fight back hard. But, the point is that there are different degrees of combativeness, of pugnacity, in people, and I have no doubt that mine is higher than Jack Ruby's.  Yet, I would never throw anyone down stairs or initiate any physical violence.    

Here is an article from Texas Monthly from 1975. Here, in one paragraph, there are two references to Ruby being violent. 

"Jack Ruby had come a long way from the ghettos of Chicago, or so he liked to think. He described the Carousel Club as a “f–ing classy joint” and patrons who challenged his opinion sometimes got thrown down the stairs. The Carousel was a dingy, cramped walkup in the 1300 block of Commerce, right next to Abe Weinstein’s Colony Club and close to the hotels, restaurants, and night spots that made downtown Dallas lively and respectably sinister in those times of official innocence. You can see more flesh in a high school biology class now than you could at any of the joints on The Strip in 1963, but that wasn’t the point. Jack Ruby ran what he considered a “decent” place, a “high-class” place, a place that Dallas could view with pride. “Punks” and “characters” who wandered in by mistake were as likely as not to leave with an impression of Jack Ruby’s fist where their nose used to be."

So, Jack Ruby would throw people down the stairs regularly, would he? Do you believe that? And then he would punch a guy in the nose, to where they didn't have one any more? This guy did that? Do you believe it? 

 I find it very hard to believe. 

But, let's move on:

"One night while Jada was ravaging her tiger skin, a tourist stepped up and popped a flashbulb in her face. Ruby threw the startled cameraman down the stairs." 


That sounds ridiculous. If he said he grabbed the camera and exposed the film, I might be able to believe that. But, throw the guy down the stairs? 

By the way, this article, like the others we've looked at, was written by a prominent writer. His name was Gary Cartwright. He died just last year.

Let's move on. This is from John McAdams' webpage on Jack Ruby:

"He often ended a fracas by throwing his victim down the stairs of the Carousel Club."

That makes even less sense. The bouncer (Ruby) wants to get the unruly person out of the club. He might throw him out the door or out on the street. But, he certainly wouldn't throw them down into his own basement. And then what? 

It goes on:

"Besides acting as a bouncer, Ruby on numerous other occasions severely beat people who were not club patrons, usually employing only his fists. Several of these episodes have been discussed in connection with Ruby's relationship with his employees. In 1951, Ruby attacked a man who had called him a 'kike Jew' and knocked out a tooth. At about that time Ruby is also reported to have knocked a man down from behind and then to have kicked him in the face. In about 1958, Ruby disarmed a man who had drawn a gun on him at the Vegas, beat him almost to death, put the gun back in the man's pocket, and threw him down the stairs. In 1958, Ruby reportedly knocked down a man at the Vegas who was 6'3" tall and weighed 230 pounds. Ruby was approximately 5'9" tall and weighed about 175 pounds. Ruby then made the man, who had slapped his date, crawl out of the club. In a fight at the Vegas, reportedly witnessed by policemen, Ruby severely beat a heavyweight boxer who had threatened him."

Oh, he did all that "reportedly" did he? It just reminds me how easy it is to write and claim things. You just have to hit keys on the keyboard. Again, I ask you, do you think this guy did all that?

"During 1962, several violent episodes occurred. Ruby beat a man who refusal to pay admission or leave and then shoved him down the stairs. He "jostled" a woman down the stairs of the Carousel and struck her escort, who was "much smaller" than he. On one occasion, Ruby picked up a man who was arguing with his date, knocked him to the floor, cursed him, and then removed him from the Vegas. When a cabdriver entered the Carousel and inquired about a patron who had neglected to pay his fare, Ruby struck the cabdriver."

"In February 1963, Ruby badly beat Don Tabon, who had made some remarks about Ruby's lady companion, injuring Tabon's eye. Ruby was acquitted of a charge of assault and Tabon sought no monetary relief because he believed Ruby financially incapable of satisfying any resulting judgment. A doctor who went to the Carousel several times between August and November 1963, stated that on each occasion Ruby ejected someone from the club.

Buddy Turman, a prizefighter and Ruby's friend, stated that Ruby "picked his shots." According to Turman, a bouncer at the Vegas for about a year, Ruby's victim was frequently drunk, female, or otherwise incapable of successfully resisting Ruby's attack. The evidence indicates that, unlike his youthful escapades, Ruby was often malicious. He frequently felt contrite, however, when his anger had passed or when his victim was an old acquaintance, and he would seek to make amends for his violent temper."

"With two exceptions, there is no evidence that Ruby settled disputes with firearms. Shortly before Joe Bonds' conviction in 1954, Ruby is reported to have chased Bonds with a pistol. And, Larry Crafard reported that about a week before the assassination, Ruby told him to get Ruby's gun so that an AGVA official and former employee, Earl Norman, could be ejected. Although Ruby did not often use his gun, it was frequently accessible when he was carrying large amounts of money."

I am going to need solid, material evidence before I can accept any claims of Ruby violence. So, in February 1963, Ruby was charged with assault? Let's see the legal evidence. Let's see the police record and the court record. I've looked, but I can't find a damn thing. It says he was acquitted, that he was found "not guilty."  So, does that mean that there was a trial? Then surely there is a record of it, right? Then where the hell is it?

When it comes to fearing people, I wouldn't have the slightest fear of Jack Ruby. Would you? I can think of a lot more dangerous-looking and dangerous-acting characters than him. At this point in time, I consider NONE of the reports of Jack Ruby violence to be authenticated. That's none, zero, zip, zed, nada.