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Image of jailbreaker Frank Crocker in Dealey Plaza, escorted by police
Original black and white negative on Kodak Safety Film taken by Dallas Morning News photographer Bill Winfrey. The image shows Frank Crocker, one of seven people who escaped from the County Jail during the Jack Ruby trial in 1964, being returned to the jail by law enforcement. The Texas School Book Depository Building is visible in the background.
Image of jailbreaker Frank Crocker in Dealey Plaza, escorted by police
03/07/1964
Film
2 1/4 x 2 1/4 in. (5.7 x 5.7 cm)
Bill Winfrey Collection, The Dallas Morning News/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
2004.058.0216.0001
Following two weeks of jury selection, testimony in the Jack Ruby trial began on March 4, 1964. Two days later, on the afternoon of Friday, March 6, a Dallas County jailbreak unconnected with the Ruby trial occurred on an upper floor of the Dallas County Criminal Courts building. One of the seven escapees, who had carved a fake pistol out of a bar of soap covered with shoe polish, briefly took county employee Ruth Thornton hostage on his way out of the building. She was released unharmed. Although all seven escapees were apprehended by the following day, the jailbreak--captured on film by the national news media who were covering the Ruby trial--brought further ridicule to the city of Dallas. The front page of The New York Daily News the following day read simply, "Oh, Dallas!" - Stephen Fagin, Curator
Image of jailbreaker Frank Crocker in Dealey Plaza, escorted by police
Original black and white negative on Kodak Safety Film taken by Dallas Morning News photographer Bill Winfrey. The image shows Frank Crocker, one of seven people who escaped from the County Jail during the Jack Ruby trial in 1964, being returned to the jail by law enforcement. The Texas School Book Depository Building is visible in the background.
Image of jailbreaker Frank Crocker in Dealey Plaza, escorted by police
03/07/1964
Jack Ruby trial
Photographs
Arrest
Dealey Plaza
Crocker, Frank
Winfrey, Bill
Dallas County Jail
The Dallas Morning News
Texas School Book Depository
Dallas
Film
2 1/4 x 2 1/4 in. (5.7 x 5.7 cm)
Bill Winfrey Collection, The Dallas Morning News/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
2004.058.0216.0001
Following two weeks of jury selection, testimony in the Jack Ruby trial began on March 4, 1964. Two days later, on the afternoon of Friday, March 6, a Dallas County jailbreak unconnected with the Ruby trial occurred on an upper floor of the Dallas County Criminal Courts building. One of the seven escapees, who had carved a fake pistol out of a bar of soap covered with shoe polish, briefly took county employee Ruth Thornton hostage on his way out of the building. She was released unharmed. Although all seven escapees were apprehended by the following day, the jailbreak--captured on film by the national news media who were covering the Ruby trial--brought further ridicule to the city of Dallas. The front page of The New York Daily News the following day read simply, "Oh, Dallas!" - Stephen Fagin, Curator