Mr. Kantor.

To be honest, with all the events crowded into that weekend, I don't think that I recalled the significance of my second brief trip out of the hospital to the main entranceway in front of the hospital, and then back in again. It was a very fast trip. And I think it was just a failure on my part to remember the second incident.

Mr. Griffin.

All right. As you were going back into the hospital the second time, where were you going?

Mr. Kantor.

I was returning to the makeshift press headquarters in the classroom, on the second floor.

Mr. Griffin.

As you were entering that building, did you have any expectation that there was something important going on at that pressroom that you ought to get to right away?

Mr. Kantor.

Well, I didn't know. I knew that I was not going with this pool group, and that my people in Washington were interested in knowing the logistics of the U.S. Government at that moment, where Lyndon Johnson was going and what was going to happen, and were we remaining in Dallas, and John Connally's condition, and everything at once. And this seemed to be the logical place to get whatever information there was, because information was very scanty.

Mr. Griffin.

What I want to get at is whether your concern or apprehension about getting into the building was any greater as you went in before the press conference than it was when you returned after the press conference.

Mr. Kantor.

No; I would I say this was a consistent feeling.

Mr. Griffin.

So that your reluctance to stop and talk with Ruby when you saw him wouldn't have been any greater at one time than at another?

Mr. Kantor.

Oh, no. I saw really a number of close friends on the second floor of the hospital, newspapermen who I had known intimately, been to their house, and they had been to my house quite often. And we still didn't indulge in anything resembling small talk.

Mr. Griffin.

Well, do you have any question in your mind that you did see Ruby out at Parkland Hospital?

Mr. Kantor.

If it was a matter of just seeing him, I would have long ago been full of doubt. But I did talk to the man, and he did stop me, and I just can't have any doubt about that.

Mr. Griffin.

Now.

Mr. Kantor.

As a matter of fact, I didn't give it much thought, or any thought, perhaps, again, concrete thought at least, until .the following night, Saturday night, when things quieted down enough so that I could take a walk in downtown Dallas, somewhere around 10 o'clock in the evening. And I passed by Ruby's place, the Carousel, and saw a sign on the door stating that it was closed. And I recalled this weird conversation I had had with him at the hospital.

Mr. Griffin.

Now--

Mr. Kantor.

Excuse me because a man named Barney Weinstein, who operates a strip joint a couple of doors away, had his place open.

Mr. Griffin.

When did you first think .about .this again after Saturday?

Mr. Kantor.

Well, I understood later on that Jack Ruby had been in the assembly room in the basement of the Dallas Police Station after midnight on Friday going into Saturday. I didn't see him at that time. I was in that room. It was a very crowded room. But I thought about our conversation on Saturday when I passed by his place. And earlier Saturday evening I thought of Jack Ruby because meat sandwiches, beef sandwiches, I believe .they were, had shown up in the pressroom of the Dallas Police Station, and I heard someone remark
that Jack Ruby had brought them in. I didn't see him then, either.

Mr. Griffin.

You heard this while you were at the police station?

Mr. Kantor.

Yes; Well, I was going in the room ,to get a sandwich, and they were gone, they were gone very rapidly. I heard someone either specifically say it to me or I heard someone specifically saying, to someone else that Jack Ruby was the person that brought these in.

Mr. Griffin.

Was that Friday afternoon or late Friday evening, or in the middle of Friday?