Image of Ruby trial jurors going to dinner escorted by bailiffs

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Original black and white negative on Kodak Safety Film taken by Dallas Morning News photographer Bill Winfrey. Image shows eight of the selected jurors for the Jack Ruby trial walking down Main Street from the Dallas County Criminal Courts Building by the Mullendore Cafeteria. Old Red Courthouse is visible in the upper left corner of the image; Dealey Plaza is visible in the background. The individuals walking down the sidewalk from left to right in the front row are: Robert Flechtner, Luther Dickerson, Nell Tyler (the female bailiff), Gwen English, and Mildred McCollum. From left to right in the next row are: Max Causey, [man not visible but may be Douglas Sowell], [likely Bo Mabra in the hat], Glen Holton, and Allen McCoy. Mr. Mabra and Ms. Tyler were in attendance with this group to escort the selected jurors to their meal because once selected, the Ruby trial jurors were sequestered until the end of the trial.

Object Details

Object title:

Image of Ruby trial jurors going to dinner escorted by bailiffs

Date:

02/26/1964 - 03/03/1964

Medium:

Film

Dimensions:

2 1/4 x 2 1/4 in. (5.7 x 5.7 cm)

Credit line:

Bill Winfrey Collection, The Dallas Morning News/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

Object number:

2004.058.0225.0001

Curatorial Note:

Jurors selected for the Jack Ruby trial were sequestered in cramped conditions on an upper floor of the Dallas County Criminal Courts Building. One of the only highlights of their day was the opportunity to go out to a restaurant for dinner. In this photograph, taken during jury selection, the jurors walked to a nearby cafeteria. Once juror #10, traveling salesman J. Waymon Rose, was selected, the group had someone with them who did lots of local entertaining and "knew of every restaurant...in town at that time." In his oral history, Rose recalled, "So I pretty much dictated or suggested restaurants where we'd go for meals and so on. So at night, they'd take us out and put us in two or three cars and drive us to whatever restaurant we had decided to eat in." Driving to a restaurant had the added benefit of avoiding photographers and reporters lingering outside the Courts building. - Stephen Fagin, Curator

This image, along with materials from the DA's Ruby file (which is on loan to the Museum) and from the Museum's permanent collection, briefly appeared in a temporary display on the Museum's seventh floor in 2017. - Lindsey Richardson, Curator of Collections

To learn more about the experiences shared by those who served on the jury of the Jack Ruby trial, please see the following records: 2002.052.0155 (Juror Waymon Rose's journal from the trial); 2002.052.0156 (trial journal of Ann Rose, wife to juror Waymon Rose); 2002.051.0094 (journal of Max Causey, jury foreman); and 2002.050.0005 (handwritten notes of juror Allen McCoy). - Lindsey Richardson, Curator of Collections