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Ruby had a revolver, since he always carried—or claimed that he carried—a big roll of cash. He was picked up twice for carrying a concealed weapon, and occasionally for violation of state liquor laws and of the city dance-hall ordinances. But Ruby was a real cop buff—he was always hanging around headquarters, and so became a familiar figure. Aside from all that, Ruby was a health nut. He was worried about his falling hair and sought the services of Dallas Trichologist Bruce McLean. "I've known him well since 1958," says McLean. "He's excitable. He was a bit inconsistent and unpredictable. For some time he's been going to health clubs. He called me and asked me if sweat hurt his hair. I said no, not if he washed it out. He has black hair, quite thin. There are two areas on his head which are beyond help—and I told him so."
After Kennedy's assassination, Ruby kept calling various family members in (according to them) progressive stages of emotional disarray. And in keeping with his longtime pattern, he stuck around police headquarters, even hustling sandwiches and coffee for the newsmen who were swarming about. In a way he became a recognizable but unrecognized part of the interior decoration.
The Transfer. On Sunday morning, Nov. 24, Jack Ruby got up early, took his regular morning swim (wearing a bathing cap to prevent further baldness) in the pool at his apartment house, then headed for police headquarters. Dallas Police Chief Jesse Curry, mostly bowing to the demands of television crewmen that they be allowed to set up their cameras in time to see anything and everything that might happen to Oswald, had inanely announced that Oswald would be transferred at 10 a.m. to the county jail. The publicized plan called for moving Oswald in an armored car from the basement garage at headquarters. This was a subterfuge, for Curry really intended to use the armored vehicle as a decoy, spiriting Oswald away in an unmarked police car. The police checked the garage area and the anteroom through which Oswald would be escorted. Parked cars were examined, and everybody was shooed out of the garage. Then police admitted dozens of newsmen, screening them carefully.
They were not careful enough. Somehow, presumably because he had become such a familiar part of the scenery, Jack Ruby succeeded in slipping in with the newsmen. At about 11 a.m. a knot of detectives and uniformed cops took Oswald out of his carefully guarded security cell on the fifth floor. His hands were manacled, and for extra safety Homicide Detective James Leavelle handcuffed himself to Oswald. "If anybody shoots at you," said Leavelle, "I hope that they are as good a shot as you are." Oswald "kind of laughed." Said he, "Nobody is going to shoot at me."