Mr. Kantor.

ruary 2, I believe it was, in San Francisco, was received by me then from Melvin Belli, who was Ruby's attorney at the time, thanking me for writing to Jack and saying that he had told Jack to forward on any mail that came from reporters, and that Jack had done the right tiring and that he was sure---he being Belli--that I would understand that Ruby could not comment before the trial.
Then I received a letter postmarked the next day which would have been February 3d, from Ruby, from his Dallas county jail cell, telling me he had forwarded on my letter to Belli and apologizing for having done so but he was told to do that. And in the letter he made an offhanded personal remark that he had liked to follow my stories in the Fort Worth Press, which is a Scripps-Howard paper, and was in hopes of seeing he again.

Mr. Griffin.

Had you in your letter to Ruby made any reference to the fact that you had seen him at Parkland Hospital on the 22d?

Mr. Kantor.

No; I did not.

Mr. Griffin.

Did Belli in his letter to you make any reference to your newspaper article?

Mr. Kantor.

No; he did not.

Mr. Griffin.

I take it Ruby didn't make any reference to it to you in his letter?

Mr. Kantor.

No; he did not, and one of the factors prompting my letter to him was this interview with the two FBI agents here in Washington, because one of them had told me that the FBI talked to Ruby in his jail cell and he had denied being in the hospital on the afternoon of November 22d. This is really what I was angling for, although I didn't want to write that question directly to Jack Ruby.

Mr. Hubert.

Is it not a fact that in the story that you had seen Jack at the Parkland Hospital, had been made public before you wrote to Jack Ruby, I think you said on February--

Mr. Kantor.

Late in January.

Mr. Hubert.

Late in January?

Mr. Kantor.

Yes.

Mr. Hubert.

That story had been in the press for some considerable time, isn't that correct?

Mr. Kantor.

It appeared in the press the day after Ruby killed Oswald.

Mr. Hubert.

All right. I think the record should show that Exhibit No. 8 consists of 4 pages, numbered in sequence 163 through 167.

Mr. Griffin.

I want to ask you at least one question in connection with these interviews generally. Did the FBI agent who originally interviewed you on December 3 tell you how he happened to come to interview you?

Mr. Kantor.

He had learned about my statement of Ruby being in the hospital through reading my story or through hearing about the story.

Mr. Griffin.

Now, is this something that he told you or is this an inference that you have drawn?

Mr. Kantor.

No; he told me that. I know the agent in question, Vince Drain.

Mr. Griffin.

I believe you told us yesterday that you were the only Scripps-Howard reporter at Parkland Hospital at the time that you saw Ruby and made the phone calls.

Mr. Kantor.

Yes.

Mr. Griffin.

Now, how many other Scripps-Howard reporters were there with the White House entourage that originally went down to Dallas?

Mr. Kantor.

There was none besides myself.

Mr. Griffin.

How many Scripps-Howard reporters who reported back to the Washington office ultimately were in Dallas on the 22d, 23d, and 24th?

Mr. Kantor.

There was none besides myself.

Mr. Griffin.

So the only--you were the only representative of the Scripps-Howard chain as an entity?

Mr. Kantor.

Yes.

Mr. Griffin.

And any other reporters who may have been connected with Scripps-Howard there were from newspapers affiliated with the Scripps-Howard chain?

Mr. Kantor.

Yes; that is right. Yes.