Molly Cruz Interview
In August, 2021, I conducted an interview over Zoom with a woman named Molly Cruz, whose name and comments I found in the public comments for a news article about Robert Kennedy, and how he was dissatisfied with the Warren Commission's conclusions about his brother's murder. Ms. Cruz heard over the radio, on the same day as the assassination, that Kennedy had accidentally been killed by a member of the Secret Service--which explains why Sam Pate (who was on Stemmons Freeway listening to DPD Ch-2 broadcast and reported what he heard over the public air) was fired from his K-BOX job immediately after the assassination (in his December 4, 1963 FBI interview says he "quit" his job at 6pm on the day following the assassination "due to a budget cut," although in the Gemberling linked report below, he says he was "let go because of an economy measure" and elsewhere that he was "dismissed"), why the K-BOX broadcast tapes went missing right after the assassination, why Ira David Wood might somehow have gotten a Ch-2 transcript (that does not seem to exist elsewhere) that said "there's been an accident. The President is involved," and why Sam Pate was hired to "re-create" his broadcast ("It appears that something has happened in the motorcade. I repeat, something has happened in the motorcade.") for the "Four Days" LP album "several days after he was dismissed," so within a week of the assassination. (The Mary Ferrell link to the FBI Gemberling report of 02 July, 1964 detailing Pate's assertion that it was a "re-creation" was moved to https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=11640#relPageId=6 . Incidentally, this same report identifies the man who had the epileptic seizure and explains that he had been in a car wreck that subsequently caused him to have such seizures--no "Conspiracy" there. Note that p. 13 describes "Elm and Houston" as the place where the assassination occurred, p. 15 describes Pate as having been "let go because of an economy measure," and that the original tapes [on which there "no shots were audible"--of course not! Pate was transmitting what he heard over Ch-2, not re-broadcasting the stuck mic sequence of Ch-1!] were believed to have been "lost or stolen" and elsewhere in the possession of UPI, although why UPI would have needed Sam Pate to "recreate" his broadcast if they had the original tape is only a mystery if one refuses to accept the notion of a cover-up--as I believe, a cover-up of the word "accident" being broadcast over DPD Ch-2.)
Interestingly, Ms. Cruz was not in the Dallas area when she heard the radio broadcast, but in New York. She heard the broadcast, because she was listening to a UPI client station. A poster on the Education Forum site (https://educationforum.ipbhost.com/topic/6133-radio-coverage-and-audio-of-112263/, sourced as https://www.reelradio.com/comment/comment.cgi?kbox112263~KBOX+Dallas,+November+22,+1963~../se/index.html) gives this information quoting radio announcer Karl King, and adding credence to Ms. Cruz's account of what she heard over the radio:
The KBOX 24 hour tape containing those reports disappeared, consiquently the "four days" album by UPI & Colpix, contains a "recreation" of those first reports, in fact all of the on the scene interviews and reports that passed through the KBOX microphones were lost with that tape. However, the Colpix album does contain 14 cuts including my own reports and most of the interviews that KBOX carried. To recreate the events of that day: (if I can ever get in touch with Sam he should confirm this version).
I was on the news desk at KBOX and at the half hour, I read a 30 second news break, and returned the air to the disk jocky. Sam came on the two way and very excitedly hollared "Karl, put me on, the police parade frequency is sayiing shots have been fired at the motorcade."
I signlaed the dj to kill the record he was playing and got on the air to introduce Sam with his report of shots being fired at the Presidents motorcade. I started the newsroom tape. Then, (i was stringing for UPI),called the dallas UPI buerau to report the story. I was told to look at my teletype, at that moment the machine's bell began ringing, indicating a flash bulletin. It was Merriman Smith's flash about the shooting, (having won the struggle for the car's radio phone from the AP man). Consiquently, it can be said that Sam and I were the first to broadcast the events that led to the assasanation and four days of no sleep. At this point, I called UPI audio service in new york and gave them a audio report of the event. I laid the telephone down on top of the console, thereby feeding New York everything that came across KBOX's audio news reports. This explains why Colpix had everything except the initial report by myself and Sam Pate.
A sidebar story, my mother , living in Reno, Nevada, was driving into town, with her car radio tuned to a UPI client station and her first news of the assissanation, was her son's (me) initial report about the shooting.
To wind up this correction, six hours later, the station manager came into the newsroom, where Sam and I were discussing the day's doings. He spotted the telephone on the console, and asked what was going on. I told him we had been feeding UPI audio in new york everything we had. He turned to Sam and said "both of you are fired" King, for feeding the reports and letting KLIF do a better job on this story, that goes for you to Pate." I picked up the phone and told the people in New Your I have been fired because of the feed, the said "don't worry, you have been working for us the last six hours!" I was told to report to the Dallas bureau for further instructions. Consiquently I remained in the employ of UPI through the Ruby trial, as the voice of UPI in dallas.
(Sam Pate was not so lucky as to get an immediate replacement job.)
Ms. Cruz also saw the Zapruder film as presented by a "Greer did it" theorist (which she was not convinced of at the time), and saw a "CBS film" on television, an "aerial view" apparently different from the Zapruder film. You can see that interview (unlisted YouTube video) at youtu.be/v-tSOSmmOQo . Be sure to read my comments in the video description below the video. -Denise