Malcolm Wallace: Part 2

Introduction

When Billie Sol Estes testified to the 1984 grand jury, he named Malcolm Wallace as the actual murderer of Henry Marshall and gave a detailed description of the incident as described to him by Wallace himself. He also named Wallace as either the murderer or an accessory to the murder of President Kennedy, with apparently much less detail and that by way of conversation with Cliff Carter. Estes’ testimony in regard to Malcolm Wallace was supported by statements from U.S. Marshall Clint Peoples.

Peoples had good reason to know that Wallace was capable of murder because he himself had played a lead investigative role in support of the prosecution and conviction of Malcolm Wallace for murder in 1951. Certainly an examination of Malcolm Wallace’s capability for murder as well as his known practices in regard to actually performing a murder are very relevant to an evaluation of his possible role in both the Marshall and Kennedy deaths. Fortunately, we know a good deal about both from the investigations in 1951 and Peoples’ follow-on involvement and interest in the death of Henry Marshall.

However, a broader exploration of Wallace shows that there are actually two other sets of research – both of which point to Malcolm Wallace as being directly involved in the Kennedy assassination. One line of research actually uses forensic evidence obtained in the Texas School Book Depository during the original crime scene investigation on November 22, 1963. The other involves private research of a purported first hand witness, based on that witnesses remarks made in 1971 – over a decade before Estes ever named Malcolm Wallace or Wallace’s name appeared in the press as a suspect.

One thing that quickly becomes evident is that Malcolm Wallace was neither a “hired killer” nor much of a professional. It would be one thing to use Malcolm Wallace to kill Henry Marshall in a pasture in West Texas; it would be quite another for the Vice President to select him as a tool for the assassination of a President. And such a selection wold be even more dangerous if Malcolm Wallace himself or his first murder could in any way be associated with Lyndon Johnson. All of which takes us to a very strange murder trial in Austin, Texas.

October 25, 1951, Austin, Texas

On that date, Malcolm Wallace was bound over to a grand jury and charged with the slaying of Douglas Kinser. Kinser was the owner and manager of an Austin pitch and putt golf course which he had recently opened after coming there from New York City. During business hours, Kinser had been shot several times with a small caliber handgun.

The attack had been in view of witnesses, who had seen the attacker flee the golf course in his car. Kinser and his attacker had struggled during the shooting; however, the attacker had chased Kinser continuing to shoot six times.
Wallace was charged with the murder based on extensive circumstantial evidence. But, according to news media reports, at the time of the first hearing and throughout the trial and summation, the prosecution never introduced any connection between Kinser and Wallace nor any motive for Wallace. This lack of connection was especially significant since at the time, Wallace was employed as an Economist with the Department of Agriculture in Washington D.C., was not living in Austin and was driving a car with Virginia plates when arrested. (1)

Indeed, most of the newspaper coverage of the trial dealt with either the evidence, the search for a motive, or with Wallace himself. Wallace was a very well known figure in the Austin and especially within the University of Texas community where he had been student body president and extremely active in campus activities.

The Crime

The attacker parked his car adjacent to the course clubhouse, walked around the building passing people in an outside area and went directly to Kinser who was standing behind a cash register. He fired one shot at that point, followed Kinser into a pantry shooting him both in the entrance and inside the pantry itself. The attacker apparently got blood on himself and may have also cut his hand somehow as blood stains showed that he fled back out the entry door and around to his car in which he fled. Several shell hulls were found at the crime scene.

Circumstantial Evidence

When arrested, Wallace’s car was found to contain a bloodstained shirt and handkerchief; the tag and laundry marks were torn out of the shirt and the laundry mark was torn off the handkerchief, apparently with the thought of eliminating the ability of tracing them once discarded. (2)

A witness, Pete Edgar, gave police a general description of the man and of his car along with that of a car tag. In all, three witnesses described the car and the man and all descriptions matched Wallace. It was the witness’s description of the car and tag which led officers to stop and question him. The police gave Wallace a paraffin test which showed he had recently fired a gun. Wallace refused a polygraph test and refused to give a blood sample for matching to the crime scene or evidence. Later, blood from the crime scene was matched by general type to the blood on the clothing. The Court overruled defense counsel objection to the bloody clothing, the paraffin test and to a photo of Wallace’s car. (3)

Additional evidence included a shell found in Wallace’s pocket after his arrest, which was similar to those at the crime scene, and the fact that Wallace’s left index finger had been bleeding (per his own admission) while persons at the golf course described seeing the attacker slinging his hand as if it was hurt and blood was found on a metal chair outside the club house on the attacker’s exit route. (4)

Finally, the prosecution investigation had discovered that a friend had given Wallace a Schmeisser automatic pistol, the type a ballistics expert said was the most likely to have been used in the Kinser murder. (5)

The prosecution focused solely on evidence in its closing arguments while the defense emphasized that at no point in the trial had the prosecution presented any indication of motive. (6)

In fact, all the media summation of the case and the verdict expressed two primary issues. First, “No motive for the slaying of 33-year old Kinser was ever established by the prosecution. Second, “No information has been raised, said Cofer, that Wallace ever knew Kinser.” (7)

The Missing Motive

The press and jury were both mystified by the prosecution’s failure to present either a motive or any indication of a connection between Wallace and Kinser. This was noted in the defense’s closing arguments and universally in media coverage of the trial. Kinser’s sister was quoted years later as stating “The prosecution never told us the motive for my brother’s death.”

However, years later, former D.A. Long would talk as if the prosecution had introduced a motive and state that his assistant of the time, later a Judge, had presented in motivation in cross examination and in closing. Given that the defense’s summary remarks were reported and spoke of no motive, the memories of Long and his assistant seem questionable. The question also arises as to how the issue of motive would have come up in cross-examination since neither Wallace, his wife, his wife’s mother nor any of the prosecution’s investigators dealing with Wallace’s background offered testimony?

We now have access to records which show that the prosecution’s own investigators as well as Austin Detectives were equally mystified and frustrated since they had developed extensive evidence of both motive and association which the prosecution failed to introduce in court. The media had picked up only a minor indication of this in covering the fact that there had been marital trouble in the Wallace family and that the defense was extremely concerned about the appearance on the stand of Wallace’s wife and perhaps more importantly, of Wallace’s mother-in-law. Both were sworn in as witnesses, the wife by the defense and the mother-in-law by the prosecution.

However, the wife’s introduction was limited by the defense (and not challenged by prosecution) to that of character witness and if she had been called the prosecution was limited to cross examination only on points raised with her by the defense. In addition, after both were sworn in, defense requested and was granted a private conference with the mother-in-law. In the end, neither relative was called to the stand nor was Malcolm Wallace himself. (8)

As we will see, this legal maneuvering was actually extremely significant and reflected the fact that both legal teams knew very well not only what the Wallace-Kinser association and motive was, they also knew a good deal more about the implications of it being raised in the court room.

We know this only because of the availability of a Naval Intelligence security investigation conducted over ten years later in 1961. In an extremely thorough effort, the Naval Intelligence investigators contacted the two prosecution investigators, Ranger Clint Peoples, the prosecutor himself and other sources including Malcolm Wallace’s wife Andre, who confirmed her sexual relationship with Douglas Kinser. The prosecutor himself also disclosed an association between Kinser and Josefa Johnson, Lyndon’s sister.

The Investigation – Motive and Connections

A key piece of background developed by Naval Intelligence was something that must have been available to the prosecution and something that may well explain the reported behavior of Andre Wallace during the trial - a part of the reason she was not brought to the stand. As reported only in the local papers but disclosed to the jury, the Wallace’s had a significant history of marital problems. (9)

They had been married in Austin in 1947 when Malcolm was completing his work at the University of Texas. However, in August, 1950, one week after the birth of their second child, Andre filed for divorce in Dallas, Texas. In her filing, she stated that since 1949, her husband had subjected her to three years of cruelty, had become an obsessive drinker and had seriously affected her health.
Court records show that Malcolm accepted her filing however in November of 1950, Andre asked for the petition for divorce to be removed. We know that Wallace apparently taught economics and industrial management at North Carolina State College in 1948-49, we do not know whether Andre lived with him at that time. We also know that in 1949, the FBI conducted a background check on Wallace as an “economist appointee” with the Department of Agriculture and that he was working in an Agriculture Department Bureau of Finance position in Washington D.C. at the time of the Kinser murder. Apparently his wife and family was not living with him at the time and Andre and their children had been staying with her mother for some time at that point.

During the first two days of the February 1952 trial, Andre and their small boy were seated by Malcolm Wallace. However, the prosecution had solid evidence that Andre’s apparent cooperation was very possibly coerced - based in a November 9, 1951 Austin police report which reflectsed a traffic stop of Andre Wallace by Officer Gerald Cooper at 10:43 that morning. When questioned about her speeding, Andre stated that she was the wife of Malcolm Wallace and that “he was after her and that was the reason for her driving in this manner”.

Naval intelligence actually made contact with the following individuals actively involved in the original Kinser murder investigation, T.S. Weaver of the Austin Police, Onis Doherty the Chief Investigator, Billy Wilder and Richard Advent the assistant District Attorneys and Ranger Captain Clint Peoples. They also interviewed the District Attorney and prosecutor Bob Long and obtained Wallace’s “voluminous dossier” from the Travis County Attorney’s office. The following picture emerges from the comments and material summarized in the Naval Intelligence report:

(1) Andre Wallace was bisexual, a fact that became known to Malcolm shortly after their marriage and which was confirmed in an admission by Andre herself. Her lesbianism and a history of “deviant” sexual activities with both women and men were documented in great detail by Onis Doherty and Clint Peoples. A memo in the files describes the fact that Malcolm found out about Andre’s “perversions” just prior to their actual marriage and had her consulted with a Dr. White at the University of Texas. However, it also recounts that she practiced sexual “perversions” as well as regular sex with Malcolm himself after marriage.

(2) Malcolm Wallace was violently opposed to Andre’s first pregnancy and tried to force her into an abortion. At that point she left New York, where they had been living while he did graduate work at Columbia University and returned to Austin to stay with her mother.

(3) In the summer of 1950, she separated from Malcolm when she became pregnant for the second time and returned to live with her mother in Austin. While she was staying in Austin, she met Douglas Kinser through Grace Hewitt and did some work for him at the gold course as he was opening it.

(4) Andre Wallace submitted a statement and testimony to the District Attorney wherein she denied being sexually intimate with Kinser. However, in a 1961 interview with the Naval investigator, she admitted having a sexual relationship with Kinser and lying about it during the murder trial.

(5) Andre’s mother gave a detailed description of a visit from Malcolm Wallace upon his arrival in Austin from Washington immediately before the murder of Kinser. She described Wallace referring to Andre being a sexual pervert, of having slept with men and women both since their marriage, of continually embarrassing him and of having had an affair with a man the previous summer. There is a statement and testimony worksheet of Mrs. Robert Barton, the mother-in-law, which states, “On the night that Mac came from Washington he was raving at Andre and told me that Andre did not know it but that he was through with her. That she had dragged his good name in the dust long enough. That was on October 11, 1951. About a week after Mac was released from jail, he came by my house at about 11 p.m. and talked to me until 1 a.m. During the course of this entire conversation, Mac was talking about Andre being a homosexual and about the homosexual joints she had been seen in. I told Mac repeatedly during this conversation that everything he said about Andre was a lie.”

(6) District Attorney Bob Long related that the investigation had actually located an individual at the University of Texas who had apparently tried to establish a relationship with Andre and when rejected, had written to Malcolm Wallace in D.C. relating her affair with a local man in Austin.

Authors note: Other memoranda from Onis Doherty are even more specific and revealing. One describes an incident apparently between Andre and Malcolm. It appears to describe Wallace telling Andre that he wanted her to take him to the golf course and point out Kinser so he could “bash his face in” – this was in 1950 while she was living in Austin. Wallace then told her he would forget about the episode. Andre returned to Virginia to live with Malcolm, but while there he beat her, sending her to the hospital.

In light of this information, it is understandable that the investigators were extremely puzzled as to why neither motive nor association was introduced by D.A. Long during the trial and why the mother-in-law was never called to testify on motive. In fact, the investigators took the time to pass on rumors to the Naval investigators that there were “strange aspects” in the case, that there were political ramifications and that there was suspicion that someone had gotten to District Attorney Long and convinced (or bribed) him to keep information out of the trial and away from the media. To some extent this mystery is exacerbated by other items in the file, one of them being a letter written from Bob Long to a Mr. Kaplan in New York City stating that, “I did not prove a motive for the killing. I would like someday to know the true motive for the killing to my satisfaction and that is the only reason for this letter”. The letter was written immediately following the close of the trial and the verdict and was directed to Mr. Kaplan who Long tells was referred to him because he might know of some association between Wallace and Kinser!

Authors note: Among the rumors at the time of the trial, was one which related that Andre Wallace had met Doug Kinser in New York where they were both involved in amateur theatrical activities.

The letter from Long becomes even more confusing when compared to a separate interview of Bob Long in 1972. During the interview, Long was asked about the Wallace case and described how it had lost him re-election. He also goes into great length to how the defense planted a “sinker” on the jury which led to the suspended sentence awarded to Wallace.

However, in that interview, Long describes knowing the full story of the relationship between Andre and Kinser having witnesses and being able to offer the full motive for the murder – a motive which would have raised sexual deviation issues far beyond a simple insanely jealous husband. (10)

However, this interview did bring out the issue that may have been at the crux of the affair, something rumored during the trial but not making even a media mention at the time, something that was well documented in the investigation – an association between Douglas Kinser and Josefa Johnson.

The Johnson Connection

Former District Attorney Long knew at the time of the trial that if the personal associations of Kinser, Andre Wallace and Malcolm Wallace were introduced, it would very probably lead to the association of Douglas Kinser with Josefa Johnson. He knew that because he had heard directly from a man who knew that Kinser and Josefa had dated in Washington D.C. and he had an investigator interview Josefa and confirm the association. In his interview, Long makes it very clear that he understood the potential political impact on Johnson and implies he took great care to keep the information from coming out. e.g.: “And of course, the anti-Johnson people here. Boy, in twenty-four hours it’d have been everywhere.”

Long had been personally told by an Air Force dentist that if he would look into Josefa Johnson, he would find her “involved in this thing.”

Authors note: Long did not apparently explore what “this thing” implied, although at least one source has stated that at one time, Malcolm Wallace had dated Josefa Johnson himself. (11)

Long dispatched an investigator to Washington to talk with the FBI man they had determined had originally given Wallace a pistol which matched the caliber weapon used in the murder (he did get the confirmation). The investigator interviewed Josefa as well and was told that Josefa had indeed met Kinser, had been at a “beer joint over on the East side” in Austin and had met him there and gone out with him later. She had even gone to his mother and fathers house a time or two a year before the Kinser murder when Josefa had been working in Washington D.C.

Apparently, Josefa’s story had been that she eventually determined that Kinser was only seeing her because he wanted to use her influence with Lyndon to get a Small Business Loan for his pitch and putt. She told the investigator she broke off with Kinser and that “Lyndon wouldn’t listen to me anyway.” In the interview, Long seems less curious about the Kinser-Josefa association than about the fact that a Dentist that had been dating Josefa had known about it. He also goes to great lengths to mention that he had never discussed nor had any contact with the Johnson family in regard to the case, regardless of rumors to the contrary.

So, it seems that based on all the information gained at the time of the trial and made available to us ten years later courtesy of Naval Intelligence, certain “mysteries of the trial” may be less mysterious. First, there was a very clear motive for Malcolm Wallace to kill Douglas Kinser, a combination of jealousy aggravated by his concern about Andre’s ongoing practice of sexual perversions and the effect it would have on his own reputation and career – especially given his position in Washington D.C. in a Federal department (and possibly with career opportunities beyond that, to be explored shortly). This motive was so clear in fact that the Security Board reviewing Wallace’s clearance would determine that they did not have to consider his act of murder as a security concern since it was so obviously a normal act for an injured husband. (12)

The prosecution could certainly have introduced Wallace’s mother-in-law who would have testified both to his anger, his accusations and his knowledge that his wife had been having an affair with a local man. However, any testimony from her on Malcolm’s remarks and accusations would have raised the issues of sex and perversion leading to an exploration of both Josefa’s and Kinser’s personal lives and associations with the potential for introducing Long’s informant on Josefa Johnson, not to mention Josefa herself. District Attorney Long had the motive, the associations and extensive information to support both. He failed to introduce any of it in court, totally failed to present anything beyond the circumstantial physical evidence and failed to bring any of his potential witnesses including Malcolm’s mother-in-law to the stand. In doing so, he allowed a violent and brutal murderer to walk out of the courtroom with only a five year sentence for murder, a sentence that was suspended as of the time of sentencing without even probation.

Working for Mr. Johnson?

It seems clear, that for whatever reason, both the prosecution and defense made concerted efforts to ensure that the Wallace murder trial was limited in scope and testimony, that it did not delve into the associations of the two men which would have provided both motive and very likely brought the Johnson name into the trial and media. However, in 1984, when Estes introduced the name of Wallace into the Marshall murder, Texas reporters revisited the Kinser murder trial with questions about any possible relationship between Wallace and Johnson. They found much more than just the rumors about Wallace dating Josefa (they didn’t find the Kinser–Josefa link because the Naval Intelligence report was not available to them).

First they found that both of Wallace’s lawyers had a long legal association with LBJ himself. Lead counsel Cofer had represented Johnson well in the Box 13 election scandal and would later represent Billie Sol Estes (even over Estes’ objections and effort fire him) and do an impressive job of limiting testimony during the Estes fraud trial - including keeping Estes off the stand at that time.

More importantly perhaps, they interviewed Detective Lee, formerly with the Austin Police Department, who reported that when Wallace was arrested he told the investigators that “he was working for Mr. Johnson and (that’s why) he had to get back to Washington.” (13)

Although Wallace’s relatives in Dallas denied any knowledge of Malcolm even knowing LBJ, Wallace’s ex-wife Virginia Ledgerwood described Wallace talking about knowing both Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson. Even more importantly, the reporters found Horace Busby, a long time aide and speech writer to Lyndon Johnson. Busby said that he only knew that Malcolm Wallace was introduced to Lyndon Johnson by Clifford Carter, that Carter had taken him to the Johnson home in Washington and that one time Wallace had dated Lyndon’s sister Josefa. (14) (15)

To understand the significance of Busby’s comments, it is necessary to spend some time understanding his background and in the process understanding where and how Lyndon Johnson searched for bright young Texans to bring into his Washington clique. Fortunately, Horace Busby participated in an extensive oral history project with the Johnson library which is extremely illuminating in that regard. In addition, we have records from the University of Texas which reflect the association of classmates Busby and Wallace, and make it quite clear that Busby would very much have known who he was talking about in regard to any remarks about Malcolm Wallace.

Horace Busby and Malcolm Wallace were not just schoolmates at UT; they were campus leaders, leaders allied in the same sorts of causes. Busby was the editor of the “Daily Texan”, UT student newspaper, and a strong proponent of the liberal (for Texas in the 1940’s) President of UT, Doctor Homer Rainey. At the same time, Malcolm Wallace was Student Body President and an equally strong supporter of Doctor Rainey. Both Horace and Malcolm shared the same politics – Wallace’s Naval Security investigation describes him as an “individual of security interest as a result of suspected Communist Party associations.” This seems to have meant that there were Party members in a couple of the more liberal campus clubs/organizations which Wallace had also joined.

Busby also seems to have come in touch with the same few people at UT and according to Eric Goldman in The Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson, “Horace Busby was considered so much the campus heretic that the campus’ miniscule Communist cell tried to recruit him.” When President Rainey was dismissed by the Board of Regents for his liberal persuasions, Busby used the Daily Texan to organize a campus rally for Rainy. At this rally, the student body president, Malcolm Wallace, led a march to the state capital and then led a small group of students to the Governor’s office, forcing the Governor to leave town for a time. (16)

Authors note: When initially contacted by reporters in 1984, Busby spoke of knowing Wallace and gave information about his association with the Johnson family. By 1988, in the Johnson Library history, we find no mention of Mac Wallace - not even in Busby’s detailed description of the Rainy incident protest demonstration. 17 Busby does mention the student body president leading the march; he simply does not give a name. Busby also mentions that Lyndon Johnson always followed UT campus activities closely and paid special attention to the Rainy events and the student protest, especially since Wallace’s students had driven Governor Coke Stevenson out of his office in the capital.

In addition to their political and campus activities, Busby and Wallace also shared being fraternity brothers in an extremely exclusive campus organization. The Friars Society at the University of Texas is one of the most exclusive organizations on campus, only taking four pledges a year from Junior and Senior men who demonstrate extensive campus activity and to service organization activities. Malcolm Wallace was inducted into the Friars Society in 1944 and Horace Busby joined him in 1945.

According to Horace Busby, Lyndon Johnson paid a great deal of attention to activities and especially students at the University of Texas. Basically, he monitored UT student leadership and newspaper staff for talent.

Busby relates that Johnson was always on the lookout for very bright but quiet aides that he could bring to Washington. Some of these UT graduates such as John Connolly became highly visible; others like Jake Pickle, Walter Jenkins and Busby himself were used as a “shadow” talent pool. Johnson arranged to initially place them not on his staff but in other government jobs where he could use them as capital intelligence sources without having them highly visible as “Johnson men”. In this, Johnson seems to have shown a preference for student body presidents such as Connally and Lloyd Hand or campus newspaper editors (Busby talks about Johnson writing a number of letters to him when he was Daily Texan editor). As Busby describes it, at least when they initially came to Washington, almost none of the recruits came on Johnson’s payroll or attached to his office staff.

However, it was made clear to them that they worked for Congressman Johnson or later Senator Johnson and that their jobs and careers were tied to his success.

These remarks from Busby may give us a good deal of insight into Malcolm Wallace’s words to the Austin Detective that he “worked for Mr. Johnson and had to get back to Washington”. They may also explain his extreme concern over his wife’s activities damaging his name, not in Austin but in Washington.
When combined with Busby’s 1984 remarks about Wallace and some relevant dates they may reveal even more:

* Johnson monitored the University of Texas for talent and future aides – showed a history of recruiting student body presidents and campus newspaper editors during the 40’s and early 50’s

* Wallace and Busby were UT classmates, fellow liberals, campus activists and both were widely networked on campus – both members of exclusive Friars Society.

* Busby was recruited as a “Johnson man” in 1948 and went to Washington; Wallace did graduate work at Columbia in 1947 then taught at North Carolina State in 1948.

* Cliff Carter joined the Johnson campaign staff in Texas during the 1958 successful Johnson campaign. Busby describes Cliff Carter bringing Malcolm Wallace to Washington D.C. and a social introduction at the Johnson home; no date is given but 1948/49 seems consistent.

* In 1949, Wallace was an Agriculture Department appointee, passed an FBI background check and assumed a staff position. It would be consistent to speculate that Wallace received his appointment through Lyndon Johnson and was serving in Agriculture as a typical “Johnson man” to be developed as part of Johnson’s network in D.C.

* Josefa Johnson was working in Washington D.C. in 1950 dated Douglas Kinser whom she had first met in Austin, Texas.

* In November, 1950, Andre Wallace filed for divorce; Andre was living in Texas at the time and working in Austin. Investigation reports suggest that during 1950 she established a relationship with Douglas Kinser. A divorce petition was removed in November, 1950. Busby describes Malcolm Wallace as having dated Josefa Johnson (newspapers state unnamed Johnson family friends on the same thing); no date was given but 1950 seems consistent since both Josefa and Wallace were in D.C. and Malcolm was separated at the time.

* October, 1951, Wallace was still living in D.C.; he received gossip from Dallas that Andre had/has an affair and is continuing bisexual relations. He took a leave of absence, returned to Austin to seek custody of the children but instead ended up murdering Douglas Kinser.

Given this possible course of events, Wallace’s remark on working for Mr. Johnson seems understandable as does the fact that his defense team consisted of high profile, high dollar Texas lawyers with a history of legal service to Lyndon Johnson. It would also explain the widespread gossip of political influence being applied to the trial, the lack of introduction of a motive for Wallace or the introduction of the true relationship between Kinser and Wallace. It also appears to justify the comments of the actual investigators (if not the prosecuting attorneys) including Ranger Clint Peoples, that politics was the key to the mysteries of the Wallace trial and suspended sentence.

Wallace and the Marshall murder

It is hard not to reach the conclusion that Malcolm Wallace owed his freedom and very likely his life to the intervention of Lyndon Johnson. It is virtually impossible to avoid the conclusion that when Estes introduced the names of Johnson, Carter and Wallace he was giving the names of men who knew each other, who had a “history” and in one case a history involving murder. It is also clear why Malcolm Wallace was on Clint Peoples’ suspect list for the Henry Marshall murder. However, Wallace was long dead at the time he was named by Estes in 1984 and the D.A. passed on initiating a criminal investigation.

There is no doubt now that Henry Marshall was killed and the scene of his murder bore a great resemblance to the death scene of Douglas Kinser – evidence scattered all around, signs of a struggle, blood smears in many places, multiple gun shot wounds (in both cases the killer fired every round available in the gun), indications that the murderer hurriedly tried to eliminate evidence during his escape (tags torn out of clothing in Austin and a partially buried plastic bag away from the scene at the Marshall murder scene).

Beyond that, Peoples had a composite drawing of a suspicious man asking directions for Marshall on the day of his death, a drawing which is a very good match to photographs of Malcolm Wallace. (18)

We have the statements of Billie Sol Estes and Kyle Brown that Cliff Carter described Wallace as the murderer and we have Estes and Tom Bowden stating that the same information is contained on tape from separate conversations.
We also have the interesting circumstance that Malcolm Wallace was arrested in Dallas, Texas in January 1961, the same month that he was supposedly told by Lyndon Johnson he would have to eliminate Henry Marshall. He was arrested for being extremely drunk and disorderly and later tried to hide the arrest by not listing it on his Security survey. In February, following the drinking incident, Malcolm Wallace left his job and was unemployed during the period of the Marshall murder. He then took a new job with an associated company and moved to California before the end of the year - a move which conveniently removed him from the scene in the event that there had been a criminal investigation of Marshall’s death (or perhaps others such as Estes’ accountant who died mysteriously during the same period).

Summary

Lyndon Johnson was implicated as an accessory in the murder of Henry Wallace, President Kennedy and others by Billie Sol Estes in statement under oath to both a 1984 grand jury and in legal representations to the United States Justice Department. In doing so, Estes identified Clifford Carter as an additional accessory and Malcolm Wallace as the man directly involved in the murders. Estes’ explanation of the motivation for the murder of Marshall seems reasonable enough seeing that for Estes himself; Henry Marshall was only a minor problem and one that he had neutralized through his political connections. Marshall’s potential testimony about cotton allotments, process and very possibly who had ordered him to approve the initial set of Estes allotments was another story entirely and one that would seem to have led to Cliff Carter, Lyndon Johnson and the sale of Washington political influence in Texas.

From this distance in time, there is little doubt that Estes was connected to Carter and Johnson in the manner he describes. It also seems believable that both Carter and Johnson had a connection to Malcolm Wallace. In fact, Johnson very likely had a large claim to leverage over Malcolm Wallace and that leverage may have become became especially useful in 1961. Before that time, exposing Wallace would have led to Josefa Johnson and Lyndon’s political affairs. However, Josefa Johnson died at the close of 1961.

Of course we can never be certain Malcolm Wallace killed Henry Marshall. There were no witnesses at the scene of the crime; there was no criminal investigation, no fingerprints taken, to evidence analyzed. We are left with circumstance and speculation.

Notes

1. Mac Wallace Bound Over; Bond Placed at $10,000, Austin American, Oct. 25, 1951.

2. Ibid.

3. Court Overrules Wallace in Challenge of Evidence, Austin American, February 21, 1952

4. State Rests Testimony, Austin American, February 25, 1952

5. Verdict Probable Today in Mac Wallace’s Trial, Austin-American Statesman, February 27, 1952

6. Ibid.

7. Wallace Convicted, Sentence Suspended, Austin American, February 27, 1952

8. Wallace Trial Lines Up Kin On Opposite Sides, Austin American, February 21, 1952

9. Unless otherwise information, the information in the investigation and background section is taken from U.S. Naval Intelligence Memorandum, 19 pages, 20 July, 1961, Exhibit 24-1

10. Joe B. Frantz interview with Bob Long, April 19 1972, sourced from LBJ A Closer Look, copy 110 of 200, Lyle Sardie, Exhibit 24-2

11. Files on Wallace missing officials say, Dallas Morning News, May 13, 1984

12. Memorandum for the Director of Naval Intelligence, September 18, 1964. “In the matter of the Applicant’s conviction for the murder of Kinser, certain doubts about the case have been raised which tend to lessen the security significance thereof. These doubts are based on the fact, although she denied it to police during the trial, Applicant’s wife admitted to the investigator that she had sexual relations with Kinser.”

13. Retired officer links Estes “gunman” to LBJ, Dallas Times Herald, April 6, 1964

14. Files on Wallace missing, officials say, Dallas Morning News, May 13, 1984.

15. The Men on the Sixth Floor, Sample and Collom, p. 120

16. Horace Busby Oral History, 1988, Johnson Library (available online)

17. Wallace’s participation in the march is described in the Dallas Morning News, March 29, 1984 – the source appears to be Jerry Wallace, Malcolm’s brother.

18. The Killing of Henry Marshall, The Texas Observer, November 7, 1986

Larry, you have obviously provided enough evidence to link Mac Wallace to Lyndon Johnson. Wallace clearly murdered Douglas Kinser. The case against Wallace for the murder of Henry Marshall is probably not strong enough to win a conviction in court.

However, I have doubts whether Johnson ordered the murder of Kinser. To me, the evidence provided by you, suggests that Wallace killed Kinser in a fit of temper. It was much more likely to have been a crime of passion (Kinser was sleeping with Wallace’s wife) than the removal of a dangerous witness like Marshall.

Johnson also clearly helped Wallace by using his political influence over the judge. Maybe the reason for this was that Wallace was threatening to reveal other information he knew about Johnson.



I agree. In fact I would argue that the link between Mac Wallace (1) and the TSBD suggests that Johnson was not involved in the conspiracy to kill Kennedy (but evidence of why he needed to take part in the cover-up).

Let us imagine that in 1963 Johnson decided that it would be in his best interests to have Kennedy removed from power. How would he have done this? He would almost certainly have used someone else to organize the assassination. If I had to guess who this might be, I would have thought it was someone like Fred Black (2). This person would have used people who had no connection at all with Johnson. The last person that they would have employed would have been Malcolm Wallace, a convicted murderer, who had links to Johnson via Billie Sol Estes (3).

Josefa Johnson (4) is someone who needs further research. Josefa took a keen interest in politics and helped her brother in his successful 1948 senatorial campaign. She had a reputation for wild behaviour and was said to work for Hattie Valdez's private club. She was also an alcoholic and was admitted to hospital several times with health problems.

She was definitely unstable and could have spoken about what she knew about her brother's political career. Josefa Johnson died of a cerebral hemorrhage on 25th December, 1961. Despite state law, no autopsy was conducted. Billie Sol Estes of course claims that she was murdered by Mac Wallace on behalf of LBJ. In many ways this was the most dramatic of all Estes' claims. Although it might not have been Wallace who carried out the murder, Josefa was causing her brother problems at this stage.

I am not convinced that LBJ was actually in charge of this group. My view is that this group was led by Robert Kerr (5). I think it is much more likely that Kerr ordered these killings.

Notes

(1) http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKwallaceM.htm

(2) http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKbakerF.htm

(3) http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKestes.htm

(4) http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKjohnsonJ.htm

(5) http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKkerrR.htm

John, I would tend to agree on the Fred Black connection but my personal view is that Black may have been nothing more than a conduit for a contact from Roselli with Johnson and the leverage for Roselli's essentially blackmailing Johnson not only into supporting the plot but actually in contributing assets to the attack which could be traced to Johnson - firmly tieing him to the conspiracy and ensuring that he did not either inform or simply back out. Anyone working with Johnson surely would not have simply trusted him.

I have written further on that premise but without a fingerprint confirmation it is really all speculation. The argument beyond the fingerprint is based on Glen Sample's work with Loy Factor which is elaborated in Sample's book The Men On The Sixth Floor. I would encourage anyone seriously into the Johnson connection to read and evaluate Glen's work.

-- Lrry

Larry: There has been considerable overlap in our seminars on Lyndon Johnson, Mac Wallace and Billie Sol Estes.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=2310

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=2321

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=2326

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=2380

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=2379

I thought it might be a good idea to see if we could come to any agreement about what we can conclude about these events.

I think we can probably agree about the following:

(1) There was a group of political figures in Washington who were involved in a series of corrupt business deals in the late 1950s and early 1960s. This group included Lyndon Johnson, Robert Kerr, Cliff Carter, George Smathers and Bobby Baker. This group worked closely with several businessmen including Billie Sol Estes, Fred Korth, Fred Black, Grant Stockdale and Ralph Hill.

(2) These corrupt activities included obtaining federal agricultural subsidies (Billie Sol Estes), having vending machines placed in companies with government contracts (Robert Kerr, George Smathers, Bobby Baker, Fred Black, Grant Stockdale, Ralph Hill) and rake-offs for placing military contracts with certain companies (Lyndon Johnson, Fred Korth, Bobby Baker, Fred Black).

(3) This group were also involved in establishing and maintaining the oil depreciation allowance (Lyndon Johnson, Sam Rayburn, Robert Kerr, Richard Russell, Clint Murchison, Sid Richardson, Robert Anderson).

(4) This group managed to keep these corrupt activities as a result of Johnson’s ability to control the leadership of the important senate committees that should have been investigating these malpractices.

(5) There were times when people who discovered about these activities had to be silenced. Sometimes this involved money. On other occasions, like in the cases of Douglas Kinser and Henry Marshall, people got killed. The only name we have of the people involved in this killing is Mac Wallace.

(6) In the 1960s information began to emerge about these corrupt activities. This was mainly as a result of the private investigations being carried out by John J. Williams of Delaware. Williams was known as the "Sherlock Holmes of Capitol Hill". During a 15 year period his investigations resulted in over 200 indictments and 125 convictions. However, Johnson was able to keep Williams from membership of any of the important committees. He eventually went public with his information and therefore forced the Senate Rules Committee to start looking at the activities of certain senators.

(7) The first one to be unmasked was Grant Stockdale (Automatic Vending). As a result of this, in 1961, Stockdale was forced to resign as Ambassador to Ireland. The following year the Permanent Investigations Committee began to look into the activities of Billie Sol Estes. In 1963 others in the group were exposed as being part of other scandals. This included Capitol Vending Company (Ralph Hill) and Serv-U Corporation (Bobby Baker and Fred Black). Fred Korth was also forced to resign as Navy Secretary at the beginning of November, 1963, as a result of the TFX Scandal. On the day of the assassination of Kennedy, Don Reynolds gave evidence to the Senate Rules Committee that linked Johnson to both the TFX and the Serv-U Corporation scandals.

It is clear that after Johnson became president he was in a better place to both cover up these scandals. He was also able to hide his links with this group. Johnson also played the key role in organizing the cover up of the Kennedy assassination.

However, what has been impossible so far is to show a definite link between these individuals (Lyndon Johnson, Bobby Baker, Fred Black, Fred Korth, George Smathers, Mac Wallace, Billie Sol Estes, Cliff Carter, Grant Stockdale, Clint Murchison, Sid Richardson, Robert Anderson) with the assassination of Kennedy.

The only evidence that we have seems to be Mac Wallace’s fingerprint found on a box in the Texas School Book Depository. It is still not clear if this is indeed Wallace’s fingerprint. Even if it is, it cannot be proved that Wallace was actually on the sixth floor of the TSBD at the time of the assassination.

The other link is through Johnny Rosseli. We know that Fred Black had dealings with Rosseli. However, the evidence that Rosseli was actually involved in the assassination is not very convincing.

Therefore, I conclude, that this evidence is vitally important in establishing that in 1963 Johnson was at the centre of a network of corruption. It also gives Johnson and his network a good motivate to take part in a conspiracy to kill Kennedy. However, we have no real evidence that Johnson and his colleagues, were involved in planning the assassination.

John, I would agree with almost all your points except that there is a bit more evidence for some sort of Johnson involvement in the attack in Dallas than just the fingerprint (and by the way, given the nature of a print on cardboard, and the particular print in question it would almost have had to been made within 24 hours of discovery). There is also the entire Loy Factor story which has to be independently evaluated but which does introduce a "Wallace" into the attack totally independently of the Estes/Carter line...

The additional Estes/Carter evidence - if it were to be verified and confirmed - would consist of the meeting between Ciff Carter and Estes which has one living witness (whom Estes offered to Justice but whom was never contacted) and who was videotaped by William Remond confirming both the personal meeting and an audio tape of a call from Carter to Estes.

Their is also a second witness to the content of the audiotape who is on record in Remond's work.

Whether or not William obtained depositions or affidavits to support this is unknown to me but the independent witness to the meeting has been a matter of official record in Estes Justice Department correspondance for over two decades. He can also be proven to be an individual known to be associated with both Carter and Estes and was a money courier to Carter for Johnson "donations" in Texas.

On another note, I think the actual Baker scandal only emerged because of legal action taken by the company which Baker ousted from the contracts, that was a real key to exposing a fairly broad pattern of Johnson's influence peddling by Baker.... which could of course have also eventually reopened up the scab of the Estes scandal and Marshall murder.

I am aware of the Loy Factor confession. However, as a historian, I have problems with so-called confessions. I am especially sceptical about confessions that have been made by people serving a term of “life imprisonment”. Clearly, their confession means they will not have to suffer punishment for their crime. It is clearly very appealing for someone who knows they will never be released from prison to make a confession that they were involved in the killing of Kennedy. Not only do they create publicity, they also provide an opportunity to make money from their story (either for themselves or their family).

I have on several occasions raised questions about the value of so-called “confessions”. As I have pointed out, such confessions are common in famous murder cases. This is one of the reasons why detectives are careful about holding back information about the crime scene. This enables them to dismiss most of these crank claims. The problem with confessions about being involved in the assassination of JFK is that there is so much information that has been published that they can include in their confession.

For example, do you find Lol Factor's confession anymore convincing that the one made by James Files?

It is true that Loy Factor named Wallace before the publication of the fingerprint evidence. However, by the time Loy came forward, Wallace had already being identified as a possible gunman.

I have to say I find the fingerprint evidence unconvincing. Interestingly, so does Glen Sample, who originally wrote up Loy’s story. Is it true Nathan Darby was working with photocopies? Why has no other fingerprint expert come forward and confirmed the match?

I am also highly sceptical about Billie Sol Estes’s claims. His past record for telling the truth is not good. Why does he not publish this other evidence that he has so that it can be checked?

The main reason I do not think Wallace participated in the assassination is that it makes no sense at all. If Johnson or one of his close advisers planned the assassination, the last person they would have used was Mac Wallace. He was the one man who had a violent criminal record who could have been linked to Johnson.

I conclude from this that if there is any evidence that suggested that Wallace was at the scene of the crime, it was manufactured in order to implicate Johnson. As I have argued elsewhere, I think this was done to ensure Johnson’s participation in the cover-up. It worked. As a result, the crime has become extremely difficult to solve.

Horace Busby and Malcolm Wallace were not just schoolmates at UT; they were campus leaders, leaders allied in the same sorts of causes. Busby was the editor of the “Daily Texan”, UT student newspaper, and a strong proponent of the liberal (for Texas in the 1940’s) President of UT, Doctor Homer Rainey. At the same time, Malcolm Wallace was Student Body President and an equally strong supporter of Doctor Rainey. (Larry Hancock)

This image below shows a young Malcolm (Mac) Wallace and Molly O'Daniel. Molly was the daughter of Texas Governer W. Lee O'Daniel who was seriously opposed to Homer Rainey.

John has some terrific information on O'Daniel in his Spartacus biography.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKodaniel.htm

FWIW.

James

Doug Caddy has kindly sent me a batch of documents (letters, newspaper articles, etc.) and a video on Billie Sol Estes. Over the next couple of weeks I will make postings based on these documents. First of all I want to look at the Henry Marshall case.

Henry Marshall, the son of a farmer, was born in Robertson County, Texas, in 1909. He studied chemistry at the University of Texas before becoming the only teacher at the Nesbitt Rural School. The school was forced to close in May, 1932, a victim of the Great Depression.

Marshall managed to find work at a Franklin gin company. However, in August, 1934, Marshall became a clerk with the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA). He worked at the agency's Robertson County office. Marshall was a good worker and it eventually held a senior post in the agency.

In 1960 Marshall was asked to investigate the activities of Billie Sol Estes. Marshall discovered that over a two year period, Estes had purchased 3,200 acres of cotton allotments from 116 different farmers. Marshall wrote to his superiors in Washington on 31st August, 1960, that: "The regulations should be strengthened to support our disapproval of every case (of allotment transfers)".

When he heard the news, Billie Sol Estes sent his lawyer, John P. Dennison, to meet Marshall in Robertson County. At the meeting on 17th January, 1961, Marshall told Dennison that Estes was clearly involved in a "scheme or device to buy allotments, and will not be approved, and prosecution will follow if this operation is ever used."

Marshall was disturbed that as a result of sending a report of his meeting to Washington, he was offered a new post in Washington. He assumed that Bille Sol Estes had friends in high places and that they wanted him removed from the field office in Robertson County. Marshall refused what he considered to be a bribe.

A week after the meeting between Marshall and Dennison, A. B. Foster, manager of Billie Sol Enterprises, wrote to Cliff Carter, a close aide to Lyndon B. Johnson, telling him about the problems that Marshall was causing the company. Foster wrote that "we would sincerely appreciate your investigating this and seeing if anything can be done."

Over the next few months Marshall had meetings with eleven county committees in Texas. He pointed out that Billie Sol Estes scheme to buy cotton allotments were illegal. This information was then communicated to those farmers who had been sold their cotton allotments to Billie Sol Enterprises.

On 3rd June, 1961, Marshall was found dead on his farm by the side of his Chevy Fleetside pickup truck. His rifle lay beside him. He had been shot five times with his own rifle. Soon after County Sheriff Howard Stegall arrived, he decreed that Marshall had committed suicide. No pictures were taken of the crime scene, no blood samples were taken of the stains on the truck (the truck was washed and waxed the following day), no check for fingerprints were made on the rifle or pickup.

Marshall's wife (Sybil Marshall) and brother (Robert Marshall) refused to believe he had committed suicide and posted a $2,000 reward for information leading to a murder conviction. The undertaker, Manley Jones, also reported: "To me it looked like murder. I just do not believe a man could shoot himself like that." The undertaker's son, Raymond Jones, later told the journalist, Bill Adler in 1986: "Daddy said he told Judge Farmer there was no way Mr. Marshall could have killed himself. Daddy had seen suicides before. JPs depend on us and our judgments about such things. we see a lot more deaths than they do. But in this case, Daddy said, Judge Farmer told him he was going to put suicide on the death certificate because the sheriff told him to." As a result, Lee Farmer returned a suicide verdict: "death by gunshot, self-inflicted."

Sybil Marshall hired an attorney, W. S. Barron, in order to persuade the Robertson County authorities to change the ruling on Marshall's cause of death. One man who did believe that Marshall had been murdered was Texas Ranger Clint Peoples. He had reported to Colonel Homer Garrison, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, that it "would have been utterly impossible for Mr. Marshall to have taken his own life."

Peoples also interviewed Nolan Griffin, a gas station attendant in Robertson County. Griffin claimed that on the day of Marshall's death, he had been asked by a stranger for directions to Marshall's farm. A Texas Ranger artist, Thadd Johnson, drew a facial sketch based on a description given by Griffin. Peoples eventually came to the conclusion that this man was Mac Wallace, the convicted murderer of John Kinser.

In the spring of 1962, Bille Sol Estes was arrested by the FBI on fraud and conspiracy charges. Soon afterwards it was disclosed by the Secretary of Agriculture, Orville L. Freeman, that Henry Marshall had been a key figure in the investigation into the illegal activities of Billie Sol Estes. As a result, the Robertson County grand jury ordered that the body of Marshall should be exhumed and an autopsy performed. After eight hours of examination, Dr. Joseph A. Jachimczyk confirmed that Marshall had not committed suicide. Jachimczyk also discovered a 15 percent carbon monoxide concentration in Marshall's body. Jachimczyk calculated that it could have been as high as 30 percent at the time of death.

On 4th April, 1962, George Krutilek, Estes chief accountant, was found dead. Despite a severe bruise on Krutilek's head, the coroner decided that he had also committed suicide. The next day, Estes, and three business associates, were indicted by a federal grand jury on 57 counts of fraud. Two of these men, Harold Orr and Coleman Wade, died before the case came to court. At the time it was said they committed suicide but later Estes was to claim that both men were murdered by Mac Wallace in order to protect the political career of Lyndon B. Johnson.

The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations also began to look into the case of Billie Sol Estes. Leonard C. Williams, a former assistant to Henry Marshall, testified about the evidence the department acquired against Estes. Secretary of Agriculture Orville Freeman also admitted that Marshall was a man "who left this world under questioned circumstances."

It was eventually discovered that three officials of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration in Washington had received bribes from Billie Sol Estes. Red Jacobs, Jim Ralph and Bill Morris were eventually removed from their jobs. However, further disclosures suggested that Orville L. Freeman, might be involved in the scam. In September, 1961, Billie Sol Estes had been fined $42,000 for illegal cotton allotments. Two months later, Freeman appointed Estes to the National Cotton Advisory Board.

It was also revealed that Billie Sol Estes told Wilson C. Tucker, deputy director of the Agriculture Department's cotton division, on 1st August, 1961, that he threatened to "embarrass the Kennedy administration if the investigation were not halted". Tucker went onto testify: "Estes stated that this pooled cotton allotment matter had caused the death of one person and then asked me if I knew Henry Marshall". As Tucker pointed out, this was six months before questions about Marshall's death had been raised publicly.

However, the cover-up continued. Tommy G. McWilliams, the FBI agent in charge of the Henry Marshall investigation, came to the conclusion that Marshall had indeed committed suicide. He wrote: "My theory was that he shot himself and then realized he wasn't dead." He then claimed that he then tried to kill himself by inhaling carbon monoxide from the exhaust pipe of his truck. McWilliams claimed that Marshall had used his shirt to make a hood over the exhaust pipe. Even J. Edgar Hoover was not impressed with this theory. He wrote on 21st May, 1962: "I just can't understand how one can fire five shots at himself."

Dr. Joseph A. Jachimczyk also disagreed with the FBI report. He believed that the bruise on Marshall's forehead had been caused by a "severe blow to the head". Jachimczyk also rejected the idea that Marshall had used his shirt as a hood. He pointed out that "if this were done, soot must have necessarily been found on the shirt; no such was found."

The Robertson County grand jury continued to investigate the death of Henry Marshall. However, some observers were disturbed by the news that grand jury member, Pryse Metcalfe, was dominating proceedings. Metcalfe was County Sheriff Howard Stegall's son-in-law.

On 1st June, 1962, the Dallas News reported that President John F. Kennedy had "taken a personal interest in the mysterious death of Henry Marshall." As a result, the story said, Robert Kennedy "has ordered the FBI to step up its investigation of the case."

In June, 1962, Billie Sol Estes, appeared before the grand jury. He was accompanied by John Cofer, a lawyer who represented Lyndon B. Johnson when he was accused of ballot-rigging when elected to the Senate in 1948 and Mac Wallace when he was charged with the murder of John Kinser. Billie Sol Estes spent almost two hours before the grand jury, but he invoked the Texas version of the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer most questions on grounds that he might incriminate himself.

Tommy G. McWilliams of the FBI also appeared before the grand jury and put forward the theory that Henry Wallace had committed suicide. Dr. Joseph A. Jachimczyk also testified that "if in fact this is a suicide, it is the most unusual one I have seen during the examination of approximately 15,000 deceased persons."

McWilliams did admit that it was "hard to kill yourself with a bolt-action 22". This view was shared by John McClellan, a member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. He posed for photographs with a .22 caliber rifle similar to Marshall's. McClellan pointed out: "It doesn't take many deductions to come to the irrevocable conclusion that no man committed suicide by placing the rifle in that awkward position and then (cocking) it four times more."

Despite the evidence presented by Jachimczyk, the grand jury agreed with McWilliams. It ruled that after considering all the known evidence, the jury considers it "inconclusive to substantiate a definite decision at this time, or to overrule any decision heretofore made." Later, it was disclosed that some jury members believed that Marshall had been murdered. Ralph McKinney blamed Pryse Metcalfe for this decision. "Pryse was as strong in the support of the suicide verdict as anyone I have ever seen in my life, and I think he used every influence he possibly could against the members of the grand jury to be sure it came out with a suicide verdict."

In 1964 the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations reported that it could find no link between Marshall's death and his efforts to bring to an end Billie Sol Estes' cotton allotment scheme. The following year Estes went to prison for fraud relating to the mostly nonexistent fertilizer tanks he had put up for collateral as part of the cotton allotment scam. He was released in 1971 but he was later sent back to prison for mail fraud and non-payment of income tax.

Clint Peoples retired from the Texas Rangers in 1974 but he continued to investigate the murder of Henry Marshall. In 1979 Peoples interviewed Billie Sol Estes in prison. Estes promised that "when he was released he would solve the puzzle of Henry Marshall's death".

Billie Sol Estes was released from prison in December, 1983. Three months later he appeared before the Robertson County grand jury. He confessed that Henry Marshall was murdered because it was feared he would "blow the whistle" on the cotton allotment scam. Billie Sol Estes claimed that Marshall was murdered on the orders of Lyndon B. Johnson, who was afraid that his own role in this scam would become public knowledge. According to Estes, Clifton C. Carter, Johnson's long-term aide, had ordered Marshall to approve 138 cotton allotment transfers.

Of course, the authorities have never re-investigated the Henry Marshall case. In fact, attempts have been made to prevent these charges entering the public domain (see the way the television documentary on LBJ was banned).

I believe that Henry Marshall's death is linked to the assassination of JFK. Remember, in 1963, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations were still investigating the Henry Marshall case. We also know that JFK and RFK were taking a close interest in the case. The Marshall murder was only one of three Senate investigations that was linking LBJ with serious crimes. Bobby Baker and the TFX contract were also being investigated in 1963. When LBJ became president he was able to control the reports that came out of these investigations.

Texas Ranger Clint Peoples interviewed Nolan Griffin, a gas station attendant in Robertson County. Griffin claimed that on the day of Marshall's death, he had been asked by a stranger for directions to Marshall's farm. A Texas Ranger artist, Thadd Johnson, drew a facial sketch based on a description given by Griffin. Peoples eventually came to the conclusion that this man was Mac Wallace.

Thought members of the Forum would like to make their own judgement on this.

Larry, you might be interested in a news clipping sent to me by Doug Caddy.

The Austin American (27th February, 1952)

Thirty-year-old "Mac" Wallace stared intently at each of the 12 jurors as they filed into the still-as-a-tomb courtroom. As the solemn-faced men, weary from nine days of confinement and strain, took their seats in the jury box for the last time, bright sunlight flashed from Wallace's dark, horn rimmed glasses.

If there was tension within him when Court Clerk Pearl Smith cleared her throat to read the verdict, Wallace kept it out of sight. No trace of feeling crossed his face as the clerk read the verdict of the jury: guilty of murder with malice in the October gun slaying of Golf Professional "Doug" Kinser.

Still no expression when the sentence was read: five years in the State Penitentiary. Then came the recommendation - suspended sentence - and for a fleeting moment Wallace's mask broke. A faint smile played about the corners of his mouth.

Judge Charles O. Betts had warned that there would be no demonstration of any kind when the verdict was read. There was none; only a low "hum" in the half-filled courtroom.

Members might be interested in what J. Evetts Haley (A Texan Looks at Lyndon, 1964) had to say about the Kinser case.

At mid-afternoon on October 22, 1951, thirty-year old "Mac" Wallace drove up to the Pitch and Putt course, walked in on "Doug" Kinser at the keeper's house and shot him dead. Wallace fled, but was caught, indicted for murder with "malice aforethought," and released on $30,000 bond. Strangely, no counsel appeared for him at first; only William E. Carroll, "a university friend," who somehow arranged the bond - later reduced to $10,000; while Carroll refused to say who the counsel would be.

Strangely too, District Attorney Bob Long called in a psychiatrist. Wallace, arrogant throughout the hearing, refused to see him. Still with no attorney, but with his "University friend" contending he was being held "without cause," and with bond posted, District Judge Charles A. Betts issued a writ of habeas corpus and released him.

He was brought to trial in the 98th District Court of Travis County before Judge Betts, with John Cofer, Johnson's every ready and able lawyer in times of trouble, and Polk Shelton, as attorneys for the defense. Cofer was not unduly searching hi his examination of jurors, but qualified each on his attitude toward the "suspended sentence law".

The case went to trial. District Attorney Bob Long - notwithstanding the identity of the car, a bloody shirt and a cartridge of the same caliber as used in the shooting, found in Wallace's possession, and witnesses who heard the shots and saw the departure of a man who fit Wallace's description - described it as "a near perfect murder."

Wallace did not take the stand. No evidence was presented to suggest cause or extenuating circumstances. Cofer simply filed a brief, one-page motion for an instructed verdict, pleading that there was no evidence upon which the State could "legally base a judgment of guilt." Long said nothing whatever in rebuttal. After less than two hours of testimony which was shut off so "abruptly" that it "left the packed courtroom with jaws ajar." Long urged the jury to "punish punish Wallace in whatever degree you can agree upon."

Thus after one of the briefest and most perfunctory trials of a prominent murder case on record, even in Texas, the jury nonetheless found, March 27, 1952, that Wallace was, as charged, guilty "of murder with malice aforethought." Its penalty, a five-year suspended sentence - for murder in the first degree.

Long was on his way out of the courtroom while the verdict was being read. His staff seemed "dumbfounded," but his own comment to the press was no less strange than his action: "You win cases and you lose them... usually everything happens for the best." Somewhat understandable, therefore, was the comment of The Austin Statesman that this case, "marked from the start to finish by the unusual," had left the people of Austin shocked and "quizzical.''

After reading Clint Peoples' report on the Henry Marshall, it is clear that two men committed the murder. Mac Wallace appears to have been one of the murderers. However, could the other man have been Billie Sol Estes? See below the Texas Rangers drawing based on witness testimony and photographs of Mac Wallace and Billie Sol Estes.

Interesting, John. Even imagining Estes without the glasses, the shape of his face seems closer to that of the sketch. But it is probably impossible to reach a definitive conclusion.

I'm sorry but it's just plain wrong. Marshall was not an investigator and he never did any kind of investigation on BSE. I know that this story is wide spread but the facts and the files do not support it. Quite a contrary.



Marshall's job was to approve or not cotton allotments and he did change his position several times. Few days after his meetings, he wrote a memo stating that the deals were legitimate. And few days before his death, he did approve some allotments on Billie's behalf.