Mr. Griffin.

Chief BATCHELOR. I never did talk with Ruby.

Mr. Griffin.

Do you recall the rumors, stories that began to come in about how Ruby got down into the basement?
Chief BATCHELOR. In the course of the next day or two we heard lots of rumors that he had a press card. This was the prevailing rumor, that he had a press card, but there wasn't a press card found on him.

Mr. Griffin.

I am trying to direct your attention to the events fairly close after the time of, the time Oswald was shot. What did you do in connection with attempting to find out how Ruby got down in that basement?
Chief BATCHELOR. I don't know that I did anything specifically to try to find that out. We began to think in terms of an overall investigation into the matter.

Mr. Griffin.

Did Chief Curry convene any sort of meeting or gather together any of the top officers to discuss this ?
Chief BATCHELOR. He discussed it with Lumpkin and Stevenson and I. I don't recall exactly when this happened, whether it happened just--I am sure it didn't happen just immediately after it happened, because there were obvious things that would take place first, and that would be the investigation, that homicide would carry on, an interrogation of Ruby himself.

We even got some rumors the next day that some of our officers had borrowed money from a bank and Ruby was a cosigner on the note, and we ran a check at every bank in Dallas, but the banks where this--the most probable one was the Republic Bank. We ran a check there by sending the name of everybody that was in that basement over to the bank, and having them check for us and see if they had any notes on these people.
We also checked with,-I believe, the Mercantile, and we checked with the Oak Cliff Bank and Trust Co., because Ruby happened to live out in that area.
We didn't know whether he had an account, but none of them found anything to date.

Mr. Griffin.

This meeting or a little conference that you referred to that you and Curry and Lumpkin and Stevenson had, about how long after Oswald was shot did this occur?
Chief BATCHELOR. I don't remember whether that was that day or the next day, but it resulted in Chief Curry pulling some men out of the special service division with Captain Jones in charge, and we had about six men on the team besides the captain to investigate every aspect of this, which was in terms of locating all of the people that were assigned down there, locating as many of the press as they knew were down there, and getting statements from all of these people. Then also we discovered this matter of this money order, and we followed that thing out.

Mr. Griffin.

Did you personally talk with Officer Dean at any time on the Sunday that Oswald was shot? After Ruby shot Oswald, did you talk to Dean?
Chief BATCHELOR. Dean said something to me, and I don't remember whether it was Sunday or not I believe it was Sunday afternoon, sometime, or evening, to the effect that he had been up and talked to Ruby with Mr. Sorrels, I believe was present there, and that Ruby told him he came down that ramp. He told him that an officer, that a car came in, and an officer stopped and talked with the fellows in the car, and while he was talking to them, he walked down there.
There is nothing to indicate that the officer did talk to the officers that went out other than maybe to speak to them. I mean, but it appears evident now that while the officer did walk away momentarily a few feet from the entrance is when he got in.

Mr. Griffin.

When Dean made this statement to you, did you know that he had spoken to a newspaper reporter also?

Chief BATCHELOR. No, sir.

Mr. Griffin.

Do you know whether this conversation you had with Dean as before or after he spoke to the newspaper people?
Chief BATCHELOR. No, sir; I don't know.

Mr. Griffin.

Did you have an occasion to talk with an officer by the name of Newman that day?
Chief BATCHELOR. No.