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Murray Jackson:Tippit murder was called in by phone before Bowley's radio call


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Many years ago, long before Amazon, assassination-related books could be hard to find,

and I was surprised when I finally stumbled upon a copy of Should We Now Believe The Warren Report? by Stephen White, while on vacation in Galway and trying to put everything JFK completely out of my head. The price was Irish punts 8.99 and It includes the complete transcript

of the 1967 CBS News Inquiry, a major program with 30 million viewers every night, for four consecutive nights.

I hadn't looked at the book in many years, but I picked it up today and saw that I had highlighted on page 260 an interview with Murray Jackson, one of the police dispatchers that fateful Friday.

Eddie Barker asked Jackson when he realized that TIppit was dead, and Jackson replied:

We had received a call from a citizen. They called us on the telephone and the call sheet

came to me, and there was a disturbance in the street in the 400 block of East Tenth. And I had called. I said "seventy- eight," and he didn't answer.

And almost immediately to this, a citizen came in on the police radio and said "send me some help.

There's been an officer shot out here." And knowing that J.D. was the only one who should have been in Oak Cliff, my reaction was to call seventy-eight and of J.D. didn't answer.

Of course that telephone call sheet -- presumably time-stamped -- is not in evidence, as far as I know and yes it is kinda comical that CBS did not follow up on this vital time sheet, which would

help us pinpoint the exact time of the shooting.

"I would love to know EXACTLY what Jackson meant by "immediately to this,"

Offhand I can recall one witness, she may have been found by the Nash's, who said she

called police immediately after the shooting, and since I am also re-reading Dale Myers's

book, I will probably find the name before the day is over. Also, I seem to recall one of the Davis

girls said she phoned the police, and records of that call are not in evidence either.

In the meantime, does anyone -- Gary Mack? --know more about this telephone call sheet?

Does anyone know whether it is still possible to obtain telephone records from 1963?

The exact time of that witness's call must have been recorded by the phone company.

Edited by J. Raymond Carroll
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Guest Robert Morrow

Patrick Collins 2008 Amazon review of this book: "After years of reading extensively on the JFK assassination, I recently found out that this book existed. I was not expecting anything great as I'd not seen it referenced before -it was listed in the bibliography section of Peter Knight's excellent 2007 book, The Kennedy Assassination. Stephen White's book is remarkable - the author has one of the most scholarly yet readable styles I have come across in this subject area. It is worth seeking out purely for the chapters on the timing of the shots, the Zapruder film and the single bullet theory. I have not read a better assimilation of the event in the body of work on this subject and that would include probably 90% of the available published work to date. Its out of print now, but try and seek it out.'

http://www.amazon.com/product-reviews/0024898309/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?showViewpoints=1

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the author has one of the most scholarly yet readable styles I have come across in this subject area.

http://www.amazon.com/product-reviews/0024898309/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?showViewpoints=1

White is an eloquent writer and his book is passionate about accusing Lee Oswald,

but it contains this interesting comment:

Deny it as the Commission may, the report reads as if it might be entitled “The Case Against Lee Harvey Oswald.” One does not perceive, in the report, any attempt to get at the truth, but rather an attempt to convince the reader of Oswald’s guilt.

Thank you Duncan for posting that video. That is brilliant.
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The T F Bowley report, which we have from the recordings, does have a number of Dispatchers (or Officers) calling "78" trying to get a response from Tippit. Additionally, towards the end of the report, there is a Dispatcher saying there is a "...shooting, involving a police officer, 510 E Jefferson.", which is the address of the car dealership that phoned a report in. Presumably, this phone call would have taken place a few seconds before, and the information given to the Dispatcher.

Not sure if this is the same phone report, however.

TF Bowley did volunteer the squad car number "Number 10", without being asked as Jackson recalls it.

J Raymond, I am not sure the phone company kept logs, except for long distance calls that they had to keep a record of, since they had to bill for long distance fees. Local calls were not traced, unless set up to trace the call first.

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J Raymond, I am not sure the phone company kept logs, except for long distance calls that they had to keep a record of, since they had to bill for long distance fees. Local calls were not traced, unless set up to trace the call first.

Thank you Jerry. You have put my mind at rest on that issue, at least.

But I worry about other things, like now it seems we have 3 people claiming

to have phoned the police: The one ID'd by the Nashes, the Davis girl,

plus the car dealership.

It is strange that the call sheet referred to by Jackson

is not in evidence. I have a sneaky feeling it was kept out

because it would have put the time of shooting earlier

and helped exonerate Lee Oswald.

Correct me if I am wrong, Jerry, but isn't the dealership in question

a block from the scene?

The call sheet referred to by Jackson does not refer to a shooting,

meaning this was not someone at the dealership who reported hearing shots.

that someone had to have been closer to the scene, no?

Edited by J. Raymond Carroll
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