Jack Ruby Night Clubs in Dallas

According to Morty Freedman's son, the businesses run by Morty moved to the Dal-Tex Building during the 1960's. He doesn't recall the exact year that happened, but remembers the previous location as 2135 S. Lamar St., near the Corinth Street railroad tunnels and bridges across the Trinity River, leading to Oak Cliff. The first street Corinth intersects with after passing the railroads is now called Riverfront, but in the 1960s it was still known as Industrial Blvd. At that intersection there was a night club built by Dallas real estate tycoon, O. L. Nelms in about 1950 during the heyday of "western swing" music. Called the Bob Wills Ranch House, it was built to showcase the talent of the Texas Playboys and which featured other recording artists, such as Hank Thompson and the Brazos Valley Boys (Capitol Records), who appeared at the Bob Wills Ranch House in 1952.

“Mr. Nelms originally built the Longhorn nightclub for Bob Wills,” Wisener says. “At first, it was called the Bob Wills Ranch House. Jack Ruby managed it for a short time." Jack Ruby had leased this club at one time, possibly from Ocie/Ossie Nelms, or more commonly called O.L. Nelms, and the Warren Commission heard testimony that Jack Ruby had even "dated" Nelms' ex-wife. Nelms owned a wholesale company in Dallas:

DALLAS, Tex. - (NEA) — O. L. Nelms is an appreciative millionaire who believes in letting the home town folk know it. He is not one of those suddenly rich, puffed up braggarts, either. When the subject of his millions comes up he points out an ad he runs in a local newspaper
and to billboards on the approaches to downtown that state simply:
"THANKS TO ALL OF YOU FOR HELPING O. L. NELMS MAKE ANOTHER MILLION."
Folk who read the ad or see the signs don't know exactly how they've helped Nelms, but it gives them a warm, happy feeling just to know they've helped somebody. And he insists that if
it wasn't for the people he would never have made his pile....With $30 as capital, Nelms he opened a wholesale tobacco and snuff business in Dallas in the Depression year of 1932 and parlayed this small endeavor into his far-flung real estate holdings which skyrocketed with the coming of the shopping center.
Although his money matters have been complicated through the years, it was only recently
that he needed the help of an accountant. He has acquired several corporations, but has dissolved them to "keep things simple enough for me to understand."

An obituary May 5, 1972 in the Abilene Reporter-News stated:

 Born near Palestine, Nelms often boasted of his lack of formal education He recalled that he left school after the third grade, came to Dallas when he was 17 and entered the wholesale
drug business, he liquidated a statewide drug distributorship in 1946.
With the capital from that sale, 'he invested in Dallas real estate.
In two of the largest auctions in Dallas history, Nelms again sold his holdings—for $6 million
in 1968 and $8 million in 1970. Two years ago, he estimated his personal wealth at "some
where between $15 and $25 million."

O.L. had a brother, B.B. Nelms, who also worked with him one of his wholesale companies (Joe Smith Wholesale Co.--a candy company at 2227 Bryan)  in the mid-1940s.  Some articles say Nelms gave it to Bob Wills, whose ownership was succeeded by Jack Ruby and later by Dewey Groom. However, the only way to know the ownership is to check the deed and tax records, evidence of which has not been shown. However, Vincent Bugliosi said on page 1089 of his much-maligned book, Reclaiming History:

Bugliosi says Jack Ruby was operating two clubs at the same time--the Bob Wills Ranch House and the Silver Spur and went bankrupt in 1952, at which point he moved to Chicago for several months and returned to Dallas where he soon was building up another night club called the Vegas on Oaklawn Avenue. In 1955 he added Hernando's Hideaway at 6854 Greenville Avenue to his portfolio of clubs. With his sister Eva managing the Vegas Club, by 1960 Ruby was doing well enough to go in with other investors in another hot spot at 1312-1/2 Commerce in downtown, initially called the Sovereign Club. Losing money for several months, the private club's main backers withdrew, leaving Jack Ruby, heavily in debt to his patron Ralph Paul (owner of the Bull Pen Restaurant and the Sky Club), to transform this location into his Carousel Club, a high-class strip joint.

  

Backing up, the first Dallas night club Ruby ran is mentioned in the HSCA chapter about Jack Ruby's associates in a section focused on Andrew Armstrong, Jr., who, intriguingly enough, also worked both for Morty Freedman at Marilyn Belts for a time, and for Jack Ruby's Carousel Club from June 1962 until Feb. 1964. In Andrew Armstrong's testimony this club was called the Longhorn Ranch club (or Longhorn Ballroom) on Corinth and Industrial Blvd. Associated with Jack Ruby in the Longhorn was Dewey Groom, about whom an Associated Press article in the Paris News Nov. 24, 1983 stated:

Dewey Groom, 65, who has owned the ballroom for 25 years, usually sings with the house band after the first set. "Your band is still here," reads a note tacked to a wall. "We want to see you on the bandstand." The weary Groom has lived the music. "I've been crying buckets of tears all day, and I've buckets more to cry before I'm through," he said in 1978, the day after a wife he married twice was shot and killed in another man's bedroom. Wilson Wren, the Longhorn's manager since 1974 and a janitor at the ballroom 10 years before that, says simply, "Mr. Groom is country. In his heart."... "I dressed flashy," he said. "I had all my clothes made in Fort Worth. I didn't have no money, but I had some fine clothes."
Groom sang and played with several bands over the next few years, but said he could not make a decent living at entertaining and opened a nightclub on his friends' urging. He called it the Longhorn Ranch. In 1952, he joined the late Jack Ruby and Chicagoan Hy Fader at the Longhorn Ballroom's predecessor, known as the Bob Wills Ranch House. After leaving the club over a dispute, he reopened the Longhorn Ranch, then left the business entirely for two years. He became a barber.

Whether it was the same club or another at the same intersection is hard to discern, although the Guthrey Club was also mentioned in an FBI report  was then located at that same intersection (214 Corinth). Dewey Groom was also the proprietor at this club, also called Guthrie.

Once you pass that intersection, there is a long bridge on Corinth, and the next street that intersects is Eighth, which, coincidentally, was the location of a mattress factory where the employment commission sent Lee  Oswald on an interview in 1963, the Burton-Dixie Corp. at 817 Corinth. Following 8th Street to the northwest will bring you to N. Beckley Avenue, only two blocks from Lee Oswald's rooming house at No. 1026.

Small world.

Close-Up of Abe Zapruder's Employer--Nardis of Dallas

Gregory Burnham has an article called "Amazing Web Of Abraham Zapruder, The Man Who Filmed JFK's Assassination" at John-F-Kennedy.net where we find the following excerpt:

The following may be of interest to those who would seek a glimpse at the beginning, even though it tends to raise questions about the only piece of evidence that we know is real, intact, unaltered, and 100% without blemish. Qualities that are curiously absent from the character of the one who filmed it...

Consider: 

• Abraham Zapruder-White Russian affiliation, 32nd degree Mason, active MEMBER of 2 CIA Proprietary Organizations: The Dallas Council On World Affairs and The Crusade For A Free Europe; 
• These two organizations were CIA (backed) Domestic Operations in Dallas whose membership included: 

• Abraham Zapruder,

• Clint Murchison (owner of the Dallas Cowboys at that time) ,

• Mr. Byrd, (owner of the Texas School Book Depository),

• Sarah Hughes, who swore LBJ in as the 36th President while Air Force One was still on the ground in Dallas,

• George DeMohrenschildt, (CIA contract agent AND best friend of LHO),

• George Bush (also close friend of George DeMohrenschildt),

• Neil Mallon, (mentor that Bush named his son, Neil, after),

• H.L. Hunt, &

• Demitri Von Mohrenschildt (George D's brother).

• In 1953 and 1954 a woman named, Jeanne LeGon worked SIDE by SIDE with Abraham Zapruder at a high end clothing design firm called Nardis of Dallas. Jeanne LeGon designed the clothing and Abraham Zapruder cut the patterns and the material for her.

Incidentally, Abraham Zapruder's obituary mis-states the date/year that he departed Nardis of Dallas, incorrectly citing 1949. The correct year was 1959, [the same year that his "partner in design" Jeanne LeGon became known as Jean LeGon DeMohrenschildt... She had married Lee Oswald's BEST FRIEND (to be), CIA Contract Agent, George DeMohrenschildt!]

Lyndon Baines Johnson's personal secretary, Marie Fehmer, who flew back to Washington on Air Force One with LBJ on 11-22-1963, just happens to be the daughter of Olga Fehmer, currently living in Tyler, Texas. Olga Fehmer ALSO worked at Nardis of Dallas with Abraham Zapruder and Jean LeGon DeMohrenshildt.

 Of course these little connections were all from the research of Bruce Campbell Adamson, without attribution of any kind, and without anything added. 

Len Colby did some follow up at the Education Forum, adding this:

I’m not sure how long they overlapped. Zapruder started his own company Jennifer Juniors and thus presumably left Nardis when he did, though it possible stayed with them for awhile. Some sources he started his company in 1949 others in 1954. The only one I’ve seen which provides reference is Wikipedia which cites “Business Charters", The Dallas Morning News, August 13, 1954, p. II-16”. The first reference I found to the company in the paper’s archive was “Dress Firm Moves to Larger Location”, July 17, 1956. So obviously the company was started before then. Unfortunately to have to pay to read the article ($10 for 24 hours access or more for longer periods). I also found an ad for a woman’s clothing store selling Jennifer Juniors coats in the February 27, 1952 Oelwein [Iowa] Daily Register which means they must have been a well established company to be known in a small town (current pop under 7000) 750 miles from their HQ (a lot closer to Chicago)

Not much, but at least it indicates a little research. More is added at the same thread of the Forum by Tom Scully, who quotes from Adamson's website:

......On other fronts, Marie Fehmer was top CIA senior officer while her mother Olga Fehmer had worked with, was friends with Mrs. George de Mohrenschildt and Abraham Zapruder. Marie Fehmer lives in D.C. and is a close friend of Senator Chuck Robb. Former Senator Robb of Virginia meets regularly with CIA Directors and is married LBJ's daughter. This was to my attention by JFK Assassination researcher Vincent Palmara. Vincent was kind enough to share with me the 1989 video of CIA agent Marie Fehmer on the Today Show being interviewed by Jane Pauley.

It is interesting to note that Ben Gold who owned the company Nardis of Dallas sold his home in the 1950s to the Haliburton oil family. This home Jeanne Le Gon-de Mohrenschildt lived with Gold from 1953-54. Olga Fehmer, Jeanne and Abraham Zapruder all worked at Nardis of Dallas at this time.

Scully also adds that "Jeanne Le Gon [De Mohrenschildt] was the talent, its seems she was a favorite of the Nardis owners, the Golds. Zapruder was capable enough, by 1959, to leave Nardis and to start his own successful business." He then pastes into the thread some long quotes from the Warren Commission testimony of Jeanne, wife of Lee Harvey Oswald's "friend," George De Mohrenschildt:

...Mr. JENNER. All right. Now, eventually, you reached Texas. How did that happen?
Mrs. De MOHRENSCHILDT. Well, my daughter had asthma. She is a very allergic child. And her health was really terrible. In spite of all the care given to her, she just could not stand the New York climate. And our family doctor said the only way to save her--she was getting really sick from antibiotics and penicillin--is to change the climate.
So I was very anxious to change the climate going to California, that was my aim.
But I could not reach California. Mr. Gold, of Nardis Sportswear in New York, wanted to open a suit department. And, of course, the buyers did know me all over the country--the same buyers--recommended to get in touch with me and engage me. And it was pretty good. It was $20,000 a year, plus two trips to Europe, with expenses paid, and about $7,000 to buy the models--you just cannot go in and look at the shows.
So I decided I am going to go and do it. And Texas is better climate wise than New York.
And, believe me, my daughter never had asthma since she left New York. It is a fantastic change.
Mr. JENNER. Now, when did you go to Texas?
Mrs. De MOHRENSCHILDT. I went to Texas in 1953, I believe.
Mr. JENNER. 1953. Did your husband accompany you?
Mrs. De MOHRENSCHILDT. I came in the summer, and then I had to go immediately to Europe. And he came over in the fall, when my daughter returned from camp. He came over in the fall, and then shipped all the furniture.
In the meanwhile, I stayed with the Golds. They have a very big mansion.
Mr. JENNER. Your husband left Dallas?
Mrs. De MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes; he came in the fall of 1953.
Mr. JENNER. He came in the fall from New York City?
Mrs. De MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes.
Mr. JENNER. And he was there how long did he stay?
Mrs. De MOHRENSCHILDT. He stayed there until about February of 1954.
Mr. JENNER. And then he did what?
Mrs. De MOHRENSCHILDT. Then he went to California.
Mr. JENNER. Was he working?
Mrs. De MOHRENSCHILDT. No; he went to visit my brother for holidays. We always tried to go to California instead of going to Miami, to be with my brother. [Jeanne Fomenko LeGon's brother--a Russian named Fomenko--worked in California with Robert Oppenheimer!] And he liked it so much, and we wanted so much to move to California. So we thought if he goes there, maybe he can locate something while I finish my contract. My contract was expiring in the spring of 1954.
Mr. JENNER. Your contract with Nardis?
Mrs. De MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes; then I would go there, also, also in the late spring or early summer--maybe he can locate something in the meanwhile, in California.
And then I was very lucky. It was Mr. Gold's tough luck. But it was good luck for me, because he was indicted for taxes. There was a tremendous scandal. And he had two buildings--he lost one of the buildings. In other words, he could not afford even to go into the suit operation, and go ahead with it. So he was very glad that I asked for release, and he was glad to give it to me. He thought I am going to demand money and everything, because he wants to drop the contract before. And I was very glad. It worked out very nice for me. We remained good friends. And then I went to California.
Mr. JENNER. Did you work in California?
Mrs. De MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes; I worked with Style Garments, a coat and suit firm....

....Mr. JENNER. Now, when did you meet your present husband?
Mrs. De MOHRENSCHILDT. 1956.
Mr. JENNER. When you came back to Dallas?
Mrs. De MOHRENSCHILDT. To design a collection. I was working there.
Mr. JENNER. And did his daughter as well as your daughter join you?
Mrs. De MOHRENSCHILDT. She did, but later on.
Mr. JENNER. When was that?
Mrs. De MOHRENSCHILDT. She joined us in, I think, the spring of 1959.

So, about the Golds' mansion in Dallas...We can learn from the Dallas city directory that its address was in what at that time was far north Dallas, 5811 Desco Drive, to be exact. The address no longer exists, the land around it having been divided up or combined to form palatial estates. 5909 DESCO DR, for example, a residence containing 8,500 square feet, is shown on today's tax rolls as being owned by a trust, has a value of more than $3 million. Nearby, 5914 DESCO Dr., has been owned by Theodore Strauss since 2000. Ted is the brother of the former head of the Democrat National Committee, Robert S. Strauss, and husband of former Dallas Mayor the late Annette Strauss. But 5811 is not listed on these rolls; 5809 Desco contains a house constructed in 2006, and it is adjacent to 5831, which was built in 2003. Thus we discern that Bernard L. Gold's former residence was located somewhere in between these two homes and is no longer extant. We do find, however that it would have been located within the El Parado neighborhood:

Right in the middle of original Preston Hollow is El Parado, a neighborhood of early estate homes. Preston Downs is on the south and Preston Elms is on the north. The southern boundary of El Parado is Park Lane, the eastern boundary is Preston Road, Douglas defines the western boundary and Falls Road is the northern boundary.

Hugh Windsor plotted this land in 1925 with Desco and Watson created as the east-west streets between Preston and Douglas. He then sold the land in large tracts through the 1930s. Gradually, individual acres of land were carved away from the original estates such as Lupshire and the Desco Estate. But these original estate homes still remain on the two acres or more. New homes have been built in the last decade showing a progression of architectural style and taste in this quiet neighborhood of impressive homes. The look and feel of the neighborhood, however, is still rooted in the original Preston Hollow estate homes that remain standing. Wide verandas, sweeping driveways and deep setbacks add to the mystique of these early 20th century mansions. Important families continue to call this neighborhood their home and new families are continually drawn to this delightful neighborhood.

For many years one of the closest neighbors of the Golds was a Dallas attorney named Joe E. Estes whose wife was a published writer of murder mysteries. He was appointed to be Chief United States District Judge for the Northern District of Texas before 1961 and had served on an American Bar Association committee with Supreme Court Justice Tom C. Clark, an old friend of Lyndon Johnson. In addition:

Judge Estes was born in Commerce, Tex., received his pre-law education at East Texas State Teachers College and graduated from the University of Texas School of Law in 1927. While at East Texas State Teachers College he was editor of the college newspaper and an intercollegiate debating champion, and while attending the University of Texas School of Law he was president of the junior law class, a student editor of the Texas Law Review and was selected for membership in Chancellors and The Order of the Coif, legal honor societies. After graduation he entered the general practice of law at Commerce and served there as city attorney. In 1930 he joined a Fort Worth law firm and during the years that followed acquired statewide reputation as an outstanding oil and gas lawyer. In 1945 Judge Estes moved to Dallas, his present home, where he continued in the general practice of law until his appointment as United States District Judge on August 8, 1955. During his six years on the bench Judge Estes has disposed of approximately 2,500 civil cases in addition to handling his criminal docket and keeping it in current status. Only one of his cases has been sent back from the Appellate Courts for retrial. He is married to the former Carroll Virginia Cox of Fort Worth and has two children. Carl Lewis II and Carol Estes Thometz. Judge Estes reside at 5816 Desco Drive in Dallas. [Source: Abilene Reporter-News, Aug. 8, 1961]

Click to enlarge

 Next door to the Golds--from 1941 to 1950--lived Coleman Cooper at 5809, director of the Apollo Boys Choir. often referred to as the "American version of the Vienna Boys choir." Prior to the time Cooper lived in Dallas, he took his boys choir to the Georgia White House in 1935 where President Roosevelt often spent time.

After singing at a concert for a Parent-Teacher convention, attended by the First Lady, she arranged an improptu concert for the choir to sing to the President there in Warm Springs. The event was reported over the news media, leading to celebrity of a sort for the choir, which led to numerous engagements for fees. Six years later Cooper moved to Dallas. By 1952 the choir had been relocated to Palm Beach, Fla.

Dal-Tex Building at 501 Elm in Dallas

It seems that the companies which operated within the Dal-Tex Building were part of the textile industry which was marketed through the Dallas fashion center, which periodically changed its name to reflect a broader area it encompassed.

Ian Griggs posted the following:

The photograph of Day with the plaque behind him is in Matthew Smith's "JFK: The Second Plot" and several other books. The companies listed on the plaque are as follows:

Allyn & Bacon, Inc.
American Book Co.
Gregg Publishing Division
Lyons and Carnahan
McGraw Hill Book Co.
The MacMillan Co.
Scott, Foresman & Co. [employer of Vickie Adams, Girl on the Stairs]
Southwestern Publishing Co.

I think those are the only book and publishing companies which rente premises in the building. Employees from thoswe lodger companies did not all appear on the infamous list of absentees. For example, Warren Caster was the Regional Manager of Southwestern Publishing Company but his name was not on the list despite him being away in Denton all day. They didn't seem to bother about all the employees of the above companies.

 If you get around to the Dal-Tex Building, the following companies had premises inside the building:

M & B Manufacturing Co, Inc.
Eddie Mister, Inc.
Adaptables, Unc.
Marilyn Belt Manufacturing
Dallas Uranium & Oil (aka DUO)
Edward Barry Inc.
Miller Cupaioli, Inc.
Stanlea of Dallas
McKells Sportswear, Inc.
Edwill Fashions
Cupaioli/Leeds Ltd.
Jennifer Juniors, Inc.

Hope this helps.
IAN

We have already identified some of the above companies in previous blog posts. Jennifer Juniors, Inc. was Abraham Zapruder's company, and Morty Freedman operated M & B, Marilyn Belt, and Mr. Eddie's. We can learn more about the other companies, listed in boldface above, in various news media in the 1950's. Mildred Whiteacre, fashion editor for San Antonio's  Express and News boasted in a March 1955 item:

Whoops! I'm headed Northeast again—this time to Dallas and three style-packed days as guest ot the Dallas Fashion Center. More than 30 newspaper fashion editors will be on hand for a preview of the summer collections of 23 Dallas clothing and accessory manufacturers, all members of the Fashion Center. Texas is gaining more and more prominence in the ready-to-wear manufacturing picture each season, and fashion editors on hand for this current showing will represent cities throughout the country....

A preview of three Dallas manufactured ensembles to be presented during the Dallas Fashion Center's press week beginning Monday. Left, a subtly curved, soft suit of cotton and silk with printed silk collar and cuffs by Miller-Cupaioli.

M.C. Feldman was said to be president, and Clyda Johnson the director, of the Dallas Fashion Center.

Another news article (press release?) datelined Dallas 1958 that appeared in the Tucson Daily Citizen:

Boxy blouson jackets, ribbon trim and decorative use of white buttons marked the summer collection of Miller-Cupaioli Inc. and Edward Barry, Inc. This company, which manufactures under two labels—the Miller Cupaioli and Edward Barry, Inc., specializes, in high fashion silk ensembles—with emphasis on fabrics. They are the largest users of Italian silks in America.

When we search the phrase "Dallas Fashion Center," one of the hits discusses research of both Russ Baker (Family of Secrets) and Bruce Adamson in his self-published manuscripts about George de Mohrenschildt's many relationships. Adamson, who is not a writer, did a phenomenal amount of research. Unfortunately for him, research is not something that is subject to copyright laws; only the published words writing up that research can by protected under the federal law. Baker did give Adamson credit for discovering some priceless information and paid him for Adamson's self-published "books," but for some reason Adamson still felt miffed, as we detect here:

Bruce Adamson

Many people have watch [sic] author Russ Baker being interviewed on TV and Radio about his book Family Secrets. People who have studied the JFK assassination have said to me that he has stolen my work. Without making a judgment I can only point out that Russ Baker purchased my 14 volumes and made a threat he was going to use the material that I spent 19 years working on with or without my help.

One needs to only look at my radio shows since 1992 and my books to see that Baker has used in four of his chapters are identical material. Yet, different words. One can not copyright facts. If you have to read Family Secret's [sic] I recommend checking it out of the library.

As any literate person can see from this example, reading Adamson's work is nerve shattering for anyone with even a smattering of grammar and syntax, not to mention the ability to spell. Later in his diatribe, he writes: 

Baker p. 78-79; In 1953 Jeanne and Robert LeGon moved to Dallas. Her first job there was as a designer with Nardis Sportswear, which was owned by Bernard L. "Benny" Gold a tough-talking Russian-born Jew who had started out as Brooklyn cabdriver and ended up as a titan of the Dallas fashion scene. The store shipped goods out on planes via Slick Airways, owned by the oilman and renowned explorer Tom Slick, a Dresser Industries board member and good friend of Prescott Bush. Benny Gold knew everyone he was president of the Dallas Fashion Center and the huge parties. When Jeanne first arrived in town, Benny Gold put her up in his mansion. Gold joined all the anti-Communist groups as well as Neil Mallon's Dallas Council of World Affairs. He employed... Jeanne designed clothing, her coworker Abraham Zapruder cut the patterns and material. A decade later Zapruder, by then the owner of his own company would become world famous for his breathtaking home-movie footage of the Kennedy Assassination. Adamson vol. 1 p. 77-78. Adamson's discovery on Bernard Gold was published in the Dallas Morning News twice he ran ad to locate 4 people to confirm at a cost of $1,000 dollars for a month. [my emphasis added]

Russ Baker had contacted me some weeks before he even heard of Bruce Adamson. I know because I was the one who told him about the research Adamson had done, apologizing profusely for Adamson's inability to convey his ideas articulately. Baker looked at the information and together we verified everything before it was used in the book. He insisted on purchasing the work because he found it valuable, and he offered to work with Adamson further, but was refused. Yet Adamson still complains--whines--because he doesn't like the fact that he can't write. It's like a gold miner wanting credit for a gold ring a jeweler creates.

Adamson is his own worst enemy. The information, as I say, is priceless, but if he was willing to pay $1,000 a month to run an ad, he should have forked over an equal amount to pay someone to write the data up into a well-worded narrative about what happened.

For anyone who wants to know about George Bush's possible links to the Kennedy assassination, I highly recommend Baker's book, whose limited subject was about George W. Bush and how he was molded into the man he was by his father. This is not an assassination book per se, however. For anyone who considers himself/herself to be a researcher who can wade through redundant facts stated in a way that makes you want to cringe, I also recommend Adamson's work as a resource for further research, even though many of the conclusions he drew from the facts were somewhat laughable. I cannot praise his research skills enough!

The facts and data that researchers find, by whatever means and expense it takes to get there, are the truth. Truth cannot be copyrighted. Anyone can tell a story that is true in his own words without violating anyone's copyright. When Adamson published his research by furnishing copies of it and selling the copies, he more or less provided the work to anyone else to use without additional payment for the research. All he has left are sour grapes, but that's the law.

But that's enough carping. Onward and upward!

Further investigation into the history of the Dallas Fashion Center reveals in a 1965 Marketing masters thesis written by Edward Kay Fisher, that the Center began in 1942:

The Dallas market realized its potentialities in June, 1942, when the Dallas Fashion & Sportswear Center (later the Dallas Fashion Center, and eventually Texas Fashion Creators), was bom. Later, during the war years, traveling was difficult and the Office of War Transportation issued a directive canceling all conventions and trade shows....A growing problem in 1946 was the shortage of hotel rooms for buyers wishing to attend the market, A housing committee was established to assist in finding rooms in private residences where buyers could stay during Market Week, After the war, business was booming as more goods became available and the association grew rapidly.

The Dallas Fashion Center discussed in the above thesis was referred to as one "marketing group" utilized by textile manufacturers. In March of 1951 readers of the Ogden Standard-Examiner were told: "This week's style shows, designed to place the Lone Star state firmly on the world's fashion map, are sponsored by the Dallas Fashion Center, an organization of some 40 of the city's 80 apparel manufacturers, who do a total business of $150 million a year." Dallas directories show the center to have been located in the Chamber of Commerce building in Dallas at 1101 E. Commerce St.

Texas Fashion Creators began to evolve in 1961 out of the Dallas Fashion Manufacturers Association, already rated second to New York in the number of manufacturers of clothing in the United States. The Texas State Historical Association handbook tells us:

During the 1930s such Dallas companies as Nardis, Donovan, Marcy Lee and Justin McCarty capitalized on the marketability of the low-cost cotton house dress and produced new distinctive lines of sportswear, especially ladies' slacks, for national consumption. Texas had 73 clothing factories in 1917, 102 in 1929, and 103 in 1933. The receipt of federal contracts to manufacture large quantities of military uniforms during World War II enabled Texas firms to modernize plant machinery and expand national sales contacts. In 1942 manufacturers formed the Dallas Fashion and Sportswear Center, now the Southwest Apparel Manufacturers Association. This aggressive trade organization used advertisements in national fashion magazines, sponsored elaborate style shows, expanded the size and number of apparel markets held in Dallas, and published its own magazine, Dallas Fashion and Sportswear (later Texas Fashions) from 1942 to 1972....A catalyst to the continued growth of the Texas industry was the opening of the $15 million Apparel Mart building in Dallas in 1964. By 1984 it was the nation's largest wholesale fashion market under one roof, having 2.3 million square feet of space in seven stories with 2,000 separate showrooms. The Apparel Mart attracted approximately 80,000 buyers annually.

Time Magazine also did a close-up in 1950 on the man it called Benny Gold:

Tough-talking Benny Gold often sounds like a New York cab driver, and used to be one. Born in Russia, he started a taxicab company in Brooklyn soon after World War I, went broke when he tried to buck the cab drivers during a taxi strike in 1938. Confesses Benny: "They run me out."

Corduroy Man. Benny ran all the way to Texas, where his brother Irving was part owner of Nardis, a near-bankrupt dress firm which he wanted Benny to pull out of the red. To the horror of other Dallas garment-makers, who are still only 20% unionized, Benny called on the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union for help. I.L.G.W.U. engineers taught him an assembly-line method of making dresses. Benny not only signed a union contract but became the first Dallas manufacturer to employ Negroes....

As president of the Dallas Fashion Center, formed three years ago by 40 of the biggest manufacturers, he whooped it up with a welcoming party at Pappy's Showland nightclub, got up early to greet buyers at his own shop.

Texans in the late 1940's must have really freaked out when Gold brought in the union, which David Dubinsky led, and hired blacks to work alongside white workers.

Irving Gold in 1939 was involved in incorporating the Texas Novelty Jewelry Co., Inc., Dallas; manufacturing; capital stock. $10,000. Incorporators: Irving Gold, Fred Levy, and Martin Rosenbaum. Fred Levy was listed in a Dallas 1944-46 directory at the address 912 Commerce St., and Martin Rosenbaum (novelties) at 906 Commerce. There was no listing under the manufacturers agents for Irving Gold, but the name of Irving and Celia Gold did show up in a regular listing as a venetian blind maker at 216 N. Marsalis in Oak Cliff, while Fred S. Levy and his wife Hermine lived at 6113 Vincient (possibly Vincent Ave).

Other Uranium Explorers in Texas in the 1950's

According to J. Evetts Haley's account, Morris D. Jaffe had help from LBJ's connections in Washington to get his alleged uranium field certified as "rich" by the AEC. As the grandson of real estate investors, he was then able to buy up options to purchase adjoining lands in which he optioned off prior to the uranium crash, apparently to Climax Molybdenum Company (see article below). Whether or not Karnes County mines contained an abundance of uranium or not, they were actively worked for a time by strip mining, which brought molybdenum to the surface which ranchers claimed in 1977 had poisoned their cattle.

What Haley failed to mention in his long diatribe against Jaffe was the plethora of others engaged in searching for uranium during the same time. The same producer who operated the mines in Karnes County was also engaged in production in Colorado according to Time Magazine

•  here: ("Climax Molybdenum Co., one of the nation's biggest uranium producers, bought Whitehill") and
• here: ("With a string of uranium mines and one mill already operating at capacity in Colorado's plateau country, Climax announced that it was moving its uranium subsidiary headquarters from New York to Grand Junction, Colo., to be closer to actual operations, making it easier to expand into uranium. Though the company netted only $428,248 (4.4% of total profits) from uranium in fiscal 1953, it is prospecting for more lodes, will build new ore-processing plants wherever needed. Said Climax President Arthur H. Bunker: 'Our plan is to be very active in uranium. The acquisition of property is continual.' ")

Using Haley as his source, this is what John DeLane Williams wrote:

From The Dealey Plaza Echo (2003). 7,2,30-39.

...Jaffe also found South Texas uranium deposits, which, fortunately for him, were appraised as being quite rich in uranium by the Atomic Energy Commission. Jaffe picked up options on a large amount of acreage, inducing the government to finance a giant processing plant. He then sold his leases and options at top dollar, shortly before the industry went bust. It is as if he were in training to take over Billie Sol's holdings. (14)

References
13. Haley, p.151.
14. Ibid pp. 151-152.

 Three years earlier than the above editorial, this item appeared on the Associated Press wire, citing the Dallas Times Herald:

DALLAS. June 28. (AP)—The Byrd Oil Corp. of Dallas is seeking from the Securities and Exchange Commission the registration of 380,000 shares of its common stock with a par value of 25 cents, the Times Herald learned today. Of the 180,000 shares of stock offered, 100,000 would be sold by the company and 80,000 by D. Harold Byrd, president of the company, and his wife, Mrs. Martha C. Byrd. After the sale of the shares offered by the selling stock-holders, Byrd and his wife would own in equal proportions 311,810 shares or 62.36 percent of the total outstanding shares, according to a prospectus from the company. Proceeds from the sale of the new stock would he added to the working capital of the company and would be devoted mainly to the payment of drilling expenses. (Corpus Christi Caller-Times - June 29, 1952)

By mid 1953 it was reported that Byrd Oil Corp. had purchased two other Dallas corporations--McConnell Drilling and Anco Gas--the former engaged in exploration in the Rocky Mountains, and at about that time he had admitted publicly that he planned to do extensive development work during the summer in the Uintah Basin of Utah. He was quoted as saying the Clear Creek field was a "major discovery" being produced by Three States Natural Gas Co., which had recently merged with his former company, Byrd-Frost, Inc. Utah and El Paso Natural Gas Companies had requested permits in Utah to build a pipeline from that field to Salt Lake City. Jerrell Dean Palmer writes: "In 1952 the entrepreneur [Byrd] began to phase out Byrd-Frost and organized the Three States Natural Gas Company, which was purchased by Delhi-Taylor Oil Corporation in 1961."

A University of Texas geology newsletter from 1956 stated: "Col. D. Harold Byrd is one of the most energetic and enterprising U.T. geology exes and one of the most active supporters of the University, which owes much of the Longhorn Band's appearance and activity to his assistance. He is president of the following four corporations in Dallas: Byrd Oil Corporation, Byrd Uranium Corporation, McConnell Drilling Corporation, and Colorado Carbonics, Inc. The fabulous role which Harold Byrd and Jack Frost played in discovering and developing the great East Texas Field is well known to most of the oil industry."

After incorporation, the next step was to re-incorporate in Delaware and  take the corporation public on the American Stock Exchange. The United Press reported in mid-March of 1955: "Byrd Uranium Corp. had a new charter from Delaware Thursday making it a wholly-owned subsidiary of Byrd Oil Corp., President D. Harold Byrd said. The new company, authorized to operate in Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Texas, will examine uranium prospects on the oil company's extensive holdings in the Rocky Mountain region." 

It would have been during this period of time that George De Mohrenschildt's resume reflects he worked for Three States Natural Gas in the Rocky Mountain area and in the Uintah basin.

Byrd sold his own stock in the parent corporation, controlling interest in the uranium company, to A.M. Abernethy of Toronto, Canada, and James Crisona of New York.

 And that was the last we heard of that project touted by a right-wing member of the Dallas establishment. However, Williams' article mentions yet another uranium company in Dallas listed in directories, sharing a telephone number with companies owned by Morty Freedman. What he doesn't say is that D. Harold Byrd owned the 411 Elm Building, to which the Texas School Book Depository company moved in April 1963 from just across the street at 501 Elm, often called the Dal-Tex Building.

Mort Freedman, Sam Bloom's brother in Law

Mort Freedman was a brother-in-law to Sam Bloom (30) and the owner operator of Morty Freedman Inc. at 2135 Lamar in Dallas. More importantly, he shared the telephone number with the Dallas Uranium and Oil Company on the third floor of the Dal-Tex Building (RI2-8063), with a perfect view of Dealey Plaza, unobstructed by trees. This number was also shared by Marilyn Belt Manufacturing, also in the Dal-Tex Building. (31) Freedman was apparently well connected with the powers that be in Dallas. He was friends with all members of the Dallas Crime Commission. Livingstone was told, "Concentrate on the Crime Commission... if you want to get some leads on who killed John Kennedy." (32) Freedman died in 1978 in Miami. (33)

NOTES:
30. Cole's Criss Cross Directory. (1963). Cited in Goodman, p. 243.
31. Goodman, p. 176, p. 243.
32. Livingstone, H.E. (1993). Killing the Truth: Deceit and Deception in the JFK Case. New York: Carroll & Graf, p. 477.
33. Social Security Records.
~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Morty Freedman began his career in Dallas as a manufacturer of women's belts (Marilyn Belt Mfg.) at 702-704 Main and 205 N. Record in Dallas (according to 1945 and 1948 directories of Dallas) as a dress designer (Mr. Eddie's dresses), and manufacturer of sportswear through his M&B Mfg. Company in Denton. He later owned a shoe factory in Denton named Den-Tex. He also had numerous oil properties in the Abilene area, possibly purchased from the Byrd Oil Corp., since in 1955 he was president of Dallas Uranium and Oil Corp. in Denton.

In 1958 the address of this uranium company was the 17th floor at 1309 Main Street (the Davis Building) in Dallas, TX, which had been the headquarters of the Republic National Bank for many years until 1954. For some reason, John DeLane Williams has indicated that Freedman's companies were located in the Dal-Tex Building (501 Elm St.), some 4 or 5 blocks west of the Davis Building.

It could also be mentioned here that Abraham Zapruder, who filmed the head shot of the assassination operated a business out of the Dal-Tex Building, according to a chronology compiled by Ira David Wood III:

In Dallas this year (1949), Abraham Zapruder goes into business for himself, creating “Jennifer Juniors, Inc., of Dallas,” which manufactures and markets a line of women’s and young ladies’ clothing. By 1963, Zapruder’s company will occupy the fourth and fifth floor of the brick Dal-Tex Building in Dallas, located at 501 Elm St. on the northeast corner of Elm and Houston Streets. (POTP)

Zapruder's dress making business leased the fourth and fifth floors of that building. From a google search we find this contribution, which must be verified for accuracy, but is worth exploring, even though quite over-reaching and vague:

On the issue of who ran the Dal-Tex Building and could have provided the snipers with positions, Zapruder was not the only interesting person connected to the Dal-Tex Building:

• The co-owner of the Dal-Tex Building was David Weisblat, a major financier of the Anti-Defamation League, which has ties to Israeli Intelligence and is a key part of the Israeli lobby. The Israeli lobby hated Kennedy for going after it's [sic] nuclear arms program. The Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, has close ties to the CIA.
• A number of firms in the Dal-Tex Building used the phone number of one Morty Freedman, who was active in the Zionist community and who was behind the Dallas Uranium & Oil Company, which was possibly helping Israel manufacture weapons. Freedman had other suspicious connections.

Zapruder was a Zionist and a high-degree Freemason, as well as a member of two CIA front organizations and the business partner of [Jeanne de Mohrenschildt] the wife of Oswald's best friend in Dallas (Who was also CIA). He was a friend of the mother of Lyndon Johnson's secretary [Olga Fehmer, who spent many years working at Nardis in Dallas] and he was, through his CIA front groups, linked to the owner of the Book Depository [D. Harold Byrd?], Oswald's Russian CIA friend [George de M?], the woman who swore in Lyndon Johnson [Judge Sarah T. Hughes], the host of the 11/21 "Perp Party" where Lyndon Johnson promised to kill the Kennedys [Clint Murchison Jr], the likely supervisor of the Anti-Castro Cubans operation [?] and the shooting, an oil baron with a massive amount of connections to the assassination [?], Bush's mentor [?], and other suspicious people [?].

A researcher named Richard Gilbride posted the following excerpt (which must also be verifed as to accuracy and sources) at the JFK Lancer forum:

Bravo! And isn't it more than strange, that after 47 years, hardly anything is known about the Dallas Textile Mercantile Building? As the assassination investigation played out, it worked out great to have a grassy knoll diversion to take the focus off of the Dal-Tex.

Info I've culled from a few sources is that: the 1963 owners were Morris J. Russ and David R. Weisblat.

The 3rd floor was occupied by garment manufacturers Edward-Barry and Miller-Cupaioli. LBJ crony Morris Jaffe was a board member in both companies. He had made his fortune selling the South Texas uranium deposits to the Atomic Energy Commission during the 50's.

The 4th & 5th floors were occupied by Abraham Zapruder's dress-making company, Jennifer Juniors.

The 6th floor was shared by Marilyn Belt Manufacturing, lawyer Morty Freedman, and a front company named Dallas Uranium & Oil. All three shared the same telephone.

The 2nd floor was apparently unoccupied in November 1963.

The 1st floor had been used by the Texas School Book Depository company until sometime over the winter of '62-63

The 1930 census shows that David R. Weisblat, born in Ohio in 1909 to Russian Jewish immigrants (Abraham and Frances Weisblat from Sapochow, Poland), was single and working as a salesman in Los Angeles for a dry-goods manufacturing plant and lived at the El Aro "bachelor apartments" near MacArthur Park. Death records indicate this same man died in Dallas, Texas in 1974.

The Dallas Textile Mills were purchased by the Miller family--first operated by Clarence R. Miller (of 5112 Swiss Avenue), a bond broker in Dallas in 1930, and later by his son Giles E. Miller and Bryan C. Miller. Son Connell was killed in a car accident in 1954, two years after the two brothers had created a financial syndicate to purchase a football team called the New York Yanks, changed to the Dallas Texans (later sold to the Baltimore Colts). The Miller sons had both attended SMU around 1920.

Giles Miller ran and lost a race for Congress as a Republican in 1962 and then, following the Supreme Court ruling in Reynolds v. Sims, he filed suit in Dallas County for redistricting and ran again in a special election when Rep. Robert Hughes announced his resignation.

Here's what Williams tells us about the building called the Dal-Tex (Dallas Textile):

The Dal-Tex Building as a Possible Assassination Shooting Site

The Dal-Tex building has been identified by several authors as a possible site for one of the Kennedy-Connally shooters (34) Groden (35) identifies shot #1 at Zapruder-153, or Z-153) as a miss from the Dal-Tex Building, #4 as either from the Sixth Floor of the School Book Depository or the Dal-Tex Building, at Z-224, and another probable shot from the Dal-Tex Building. Wood (36) reports that the shot that missed and hit the concrete near James Tague likely came from the Dal-Tex Building (perhaps the second floor). Curiously, the work reported in Posner (37) indirectly supports the possibility of one or more shots emanating from the Dal-Tex Building. Cones of possible places a shot may have come from are drawn on page 477 in Posner's book. In that drawing, the Dal-Tex Building is conspicuously missing. Were the Dal-Tex Building included and the cones extended, much of the western end of the Dal-Tex building would be included in the cones.

Roberts (38) said that George Bocognini and Sauveur Pironti, members of the Corsican Mafia, were shooting, one from the fire escape on the Dal-Tex Building, and the other from the roof of the Dallas County Records building; each was accompanied by a control agent with a radio. In another scenario, Braden was identified as the control agent with Bocognini, shooting from the Dal-Tex Building. Bocognini may have fired the shot that hit Kennedy in the shoulder. (39) Jim Braden is the only person known to be at both the assassination of John F. Kennedy and near the Ambassador Hotel, June 6, 1968 at the time of the assassination of Robert Kennedy. Braden claimed that at the time of the JFK assassination, he was trying to find a phone on the third floor of the Dal-Tex Building. Braden said he was in Dallas on oil business, seeing H.L. Hunt. (40) Braden was later identified as a mob connected person then on probation in California, whose actual name was Eugene Hale Brading. Braden became his legal name on September 10, 1963. (41) Much of the early legwork on Braden's underworld connections was done by Noyes (42). The only business in the Dal-Tex Building related to oil was the Dallas Uranium and Oil Company. This business was owned by Morris D. Jaffe. (43)

References:

34. For example, Benson, M.(1993).Who’s Who in the JFK Assassination: An A- to Z Encyclopedia. New York: Citadel Press; Benson, M. (2002). Encyclopedia of The JFK Assassination. New York: Checkmark Books; Goodman, 1993; Livingstone, H.E. & Groden, R.J. (1998). High Treason: The Assassination of JFK and the Case for Conspiracy. 35th Anniv. Ed. New York: Carroll & Graf.
35. Groden, pp. 20-46.

Jim Fetzer

36. Wood, I.D. (2000). 22 November, 1963: A Chronology. In Fetzer, J.H. (Ed.) (2000). Murder in Dealey Plaza: What We Know now that We didn't Know then about the Death of JFK. (pp. 17- 118).Chicago: Catfeet Press.
37. Posner, G. (1993).Case Closed. New York: Random House, p. 477.
38. Roberts, C. (1994). Kill Zone- A Sniper looks at Dealey Plaza. Tulsa, OK: Consolidated Press p. 52 & p. 55.

39. Ross, R.G. (2001). The Elite Serial Killers of Lincoln, JFK, RFK, & MLK. Spicewood, TX: RIE. Ross's account is at least confusing. On p. 105, Ross reports that Braden may have been the shooter that hit Kennedy in the shoulder; Braden was said to be with a man with a walkie-talkie. On p. 117, Bocognini is the shooter accompanied by Braden. On pp. 265- 266, both Braden and Bocognini are identified as shooters. If both were shooters, was there another person with a walkie-talkie?
40. Benson, 1993: Blakely, G.R. & Billings, R.N. (1981). The Plot to Kill the President. New York: New York Times Books; Marrs, J. (1989). Crossfire: The Plot that Killed Kennedy. New York: Carroll & Graf; Russell, 1992.
41. North, M. (1991). Act of Treason: The Role of J. Edgar Hoover in the Assassination of President Kennedy. New York: Carroll & Graf; p. 308.
42. Noyes, P. (1973). Legacy of Doubt. New York: Pinnacle Books. Noyes was the person who first broke into the public media the sordid life of Jim Braden, one Eugene Hale Brading. (pp. 24-30). He discovered that Braden/Brading was present in the cities where the assassinations took place at the time of the assassinations of both JFK and RFK. (p. 30)
43. Goodman, p. 87. [Goodman was cited by Williams earlier in his article at footnote 25, which I have relocated in my own blog: "Goodman, B. (1993). Triangle of Fire. San Jose, CA: Liquerian Publishing Company"]

 We'll pick up with Sam R. Bloom in a later blog post and will also follow up on Ian Griggs information at JFK Lancer Forum about the firms doing business in the Dal-Tex Building.

Jaffes in Old San Antonio

Wolfe Jaffe

 John Delane Williams' statement, citing Madeleine Brown, that Sam R. Bloom was the father-in-law of Morris D. Jaffe of San Antonio, was erroneous. The proof is in a study of the Jaffe genealogy.

Jaffe's grandfather was a Russian Jew named Wolfe Jaffe who arrived in Galveston from Hamburg in 1883 and initially settled into a Mexican-Catholic neighborhood in downtown San Antonio one  block west of the river. He sold dry goods, and his store was listed in San Antonio's directory at 613 W. Commerce Street. In 1915 Wolfe's plan to construct an apartment building in San Antonio at 423 Oakland Street was announced with fanfare. A large fourplex on what was then called Oakland Street (now within the right of way of IH-35) near the intersection with McCullough Avenue would be built for himself and three tenants.

Only a few doors away from these apartments lived the wealthy Irish-born  attorney, Henry Patrick Drought, with a family of four sons and five servants. Mrs. Drought took pride in the heritage of her family, the Tunstalls, who claimed their first Tunstall forebears arrived in Virginia shortly after the death of Charles I. The old half-century old Tunstall homestead at 418 Oakland was sold in  1907 to be demolished and graves in its adjoining family burial ground moved to the city cemetery. When Mrs. Drought's mother died in 1911, the obituary reflected about her life that:

Mrs. Tunstall was born in Lexington, Ky., and was the daughter of Rev. Nathan Hall, pastor of the Presbyterian church there. She remembered with great distinctness the great men of that day, knowing Andrew Jackson, who was a friend of her father's and who attended his church in Lexington when he made his periodical visits to Kentucky looking after his democratic fences in the whig stronghold of Henry Clay. She early married Warrick Tunstall, a distinguished lawyer of St. Louis, one of the founders of the St. Louis Law society and library, who died some years ago. Mrs. Tunstall taught probably the first Presbyterian Sunday school in San Antonio, having among her pupils then many who have since become the leading men and women of San Antonio. She took a great interest in politics and, in fact, in all current issues. She was extremely charitable and her heart and hand were always open to the afflicted or needy. In the early days in San Antonio her house was a center of gayety where hospitality was generously dispensed.

Despite her mother's pride in her Presbyterianism, Mrs. Drought converted to Catholicism upon her marriage to the Irishman, and she took her role as a socialite very seriously, as revealed by her own obituary in 1943:

Apparently the rent from the other units was profitable, and by 1917 Wolfe Jaffe began construction of another apartment complex at 223 4th Street for $35,000, a tidy sum in those days. He sold it in 1920, only a year before his death. His widow, however, continued managing other rental properties until her own death in 1949.

Wolfe and his Polish wife, Anna Jaffe, had two sons, Louis and Morris, and four daughters. When their son Morris died in 1958, his funeral was held in St. Mary's Catholic Church. He had married  a Catholic woman named Irene, and their son, Morris D. Jaffe, was not born until 1922, several months after Wolfe Jaffe's death. He attended St. Mary's, a Catholic university in San Antonio, at about the same time as Mrs. Roger Zeller's brother, Edwin F. Dietzel, Jr., and entered the Army air corps at about the same time as well. A notice in the local paper in 1918 indicates Morris and Irene lived at 525 E. Elmira, one street west of Oakland, that year and that he ran a loan company that helped finance his father's real estate business, further confirmed by WWI draft registration papers.

1918 notice in San Antonio newspaper

The real estate market in San Antonio had begun to take off, and the Jaffe family benefited by being involved in both the construction and loan industries. Northerners had discovered the climate in the south to be favorable and were relocating to the warmer state. One of those transplanted northerners was Clara Augusta "Gussie" Ayres, born in Ohio shortly after the end of the civil war.

Miss Ayres married James Mills Young, son of a medical doctor, Dr. Charles Glidden Young, in San Antonio in 1890, the same year his brother, Vinkler Howard Young, had died in Palestine, Texas. Dr. Young, originally from New Hampshire, had come south prior to the war that erupted between the states to build short line railroads connecting cities in Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.

One family researcher has shown that James was born in 1864 in Chappell Hill, just outside of Brenham, Texas, shortly after his father (who had married Henrietta Maria Louisa Chamberlain in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1842) finished his railroad work in Louisiana and moved on to eastern Texas.

In 1910 James M. and Gussie Ayres Young lived in San Antonio (within the present bounds of Fort Sam Houston) with their three daughters and Gussie's father, Nathan Tandy Ayres. More will be said about these families later. Suffice to say that it was this area on the outskirts of the military reservation where the Jaffe land development projects were focused.


Morris D. Jaffe
When Morris married Jeanette Elaine Herrmann, a former student at the Catholic Incarnate Word college, in April 1947, he was described as having been "a captain in the air corps." He had trained at Blackland Field in Waco and was assigned to duty posts in Utah, El Paso and Kansas. His best man was Paul Herder, son of trucking line owner, Charlie J. Herder, from Weimar, Texas, located in San Antonio at 1311 S. Flores.

His new wife's family were established in San Antonio, and their names appeared often in trivial society blips such as this one in 1932:

Mrs. Albert Hermann entertained with a party Sunday afternoon in her home in West Mulberry Avenue, complimenting her small daughter, Jeanette Elaine, on her fifth birthday anniversary.

On the occasion of the fifth birthday of Jeanette's brother, Don Albert Herrmann II two years later, the guests at his birthday party included young Ann and Travis McCrory "Mac" Moursund (frequently spelled Moursand), son of Travis and Marion Moursund, who lived on E. Mistletoe a block or two from the Herrmanns. Ann McCrory Moursund would be crowned queen of the Victory Black and White ball in 1945, long after her parents' divorce, and in 1944 Mac began his studies in New York at West Point.

Their father, Travis B. Moursund, was the son of Anton N. Moursund, an attorney who practiced for a time in Mason County, not far from Blanco and Johnson City, Texas, where his brother Albert Wadel Moursund practiced law. Their father was known as "Judge Moursund," an attorney from Norway who had settled in the Texas Hill Country near Lyndon Johnson's birthplace. Travis entertained a brief fling with politics--elected in 1926 as a state representative from San Antonio--where he served only one term. He lost his primary bid for the Texas state senate race in 1928 and was thereafter content to spend his spare time acting in local "little theater" productions and serving as local bar association president. In August 1932 he married Norma Basse of San Antonio in Nueva Laredo, Mexico. The Moursund children's mother was the former Marion McCrory, daughter of criminal judge W.W. McCrory, who later married Charles Murphy, city license and dues collector, who then ran for tax commissioner.