Attorney Joe Tonahill of Jasper, lawyer for Jack Ruby; and Jasper County Museum. (original) (raw)
When Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated President John F. Kennedy in 1963, an East Texas lawyer soon found himself thrust into history.
Joe Tonahill of Jasper, who by then was already a noted attorney, became the lawyer for Jack Ruby, who shot Oswald as he was being transferred while in police custody.
National news photographers caught Oswald�s shooting at the instant it happened.
Today, Tonahill�s life and his law practice has been preserved with a display of his old office at the Jasper County Museum in Jasper.
Museum Director Nina Smith had placed with care Tonahill�s eyeglasses, his papers, a magnifying glass, and other everyday objects Tonahill used when he was alive.
But Tonahill�s daughters Anne Tonahill Smith and Susie Tonahill Hile, piled the papers and scattered other objects. �Too neat,� they said, making the office look more like the one they remembered as children.
Tonahill�s old office had a photo mural of Jack Ruby�s slaying of Oswald, but the mural had to be put on the wrong wall in the museum replica because it was too large for the replica wall.
Framed sketches from the Ruby trial are originals from the legal proceedings in Dallas. And elsewhere are dozens of other sketches by courtroom artists since photographers were not permitted in the courtroom.
Some of the original sketches, however, were destroyed when the CBS offices in New York became debris as the twin towers went down on 9/11/2001.
Ruby�s trial made Tonahill famous, but he was already respected throughout Texas legal circles.
The Jasper County Museum is open on Fridays and Saturdays, but will soon expand to include Wednesday through Saturday.
June 6, 2010 Column
A weekly column syndicated in 109 East Texas newspapers
Copyright Bob Bowman