Nov. 25, 1963 - Acquaintances of Jack Ruby gave further insights into his character today. Nothing indicated any association with Lee Harvey Oswald, whom he shot yesterday apparently to avenge the assassination of President Kennedy. Ruby was said to have been friendly with a small-time Chicago gang but not directly tied to it. “Hothead” best described the trait commonly known to his acquaintances and former employees. Janet Conforto, an entertainer, recalled Ruby as “completely uncontrollable when he’s angry.” “I’m sure when he shot Oswald he thought this would make him a hero to the people in Dallas, that he was righting the wrong that Dallas had done to President Kennedy,” she told The Dallas Times Herald. “He gets something in his mind, and it just builds up and builds up.” Miss Conforto was a recent headliner at the Carousel Club, which Ruby operated. “He’s used to fighting for everything,” she said. “He carried everything to extremes. He thrived on it. He’s really two people. On the other side, he can be very, very nice — very helpful. He was very much for a cause or against it. He beat up several people of the club and threw them down the stairs. But I would like to say something good about him — he liked dogs.” The owner of a Dallas club said: “Jack was a big talker, a street brawler. But if Jack liked you, he’d do anything in the world for you. He needed love. He had some dogs up at his place and would not allow anybody to mistreat them. He was a vain person and sort of an egomaniac. He thought he was a lady-killer.”
