Two Dallas cops were involved in the pre-arranged murder of Tippit...

[Gene Kelly]

His son Ralph didn't seem to know much about his father's involvement in the Tippit murder and Oswald arrest.   Nor was their any resolution to the allegation that Westbrook was a member of the 488th reserve.  Westbrook did divorce his wife, and then remarried and got back together in 1994 (two years before he passed away).  He did testify before both the Warren Commission and the HSCA, but never mentioned the wallet. For someone so central to the Tippit murder scene and DPD apprehension of Oswald, there is precious little known about Captain Westbrook.  Its strange (and stands out) ... in contrast, we know far more about the peripheral players and personalities. 

[Steve Thomas]

13 minutes ago, Gene Kelly said:

His son Ralph didn't seem to know much about his father's involvement in the Tippit murder and Oswald arrest.   Nor was their any resolution to the allegation that Westbrook was a member of the 488th reserve.  Westbrook did divorce his wife, and then remarried and got back together in 1994 (two years before he passed away).  He did testify before both the Warren Commission and the HSCA, but never mentioned the wallet. For someone so central to the Tippit murder scene and DPD apprehension of Oswald, there is precious little known about Captain Westbrook.  Its strange (and stands out) ... in contrast, we know far more about the peripheral players and personalities. 

Gene,

 

Yeah, that Brian Castle guy made a lot of claims in that Forum group, with nothing to back them up. I had the same skepticism that that other poster, Hasan had.

 

Steve Thomas

 

[Jim Hargrove]

3 hours ago, Gene Kelly said:

Jim Garrison was also on to the second Oswald:

I hesitate to use the words “second Oswald,” because they tend to lend an additional fictional quality to a case that already makes Dr. No and Goldfinger look like auditors’ reports. However, it is true that before the assassination, a calculated effort was made to implicate Oswald in the events to come. A young man approximating Oswald’s description and using Oswald’s name — we believe we have discovered his identity — engaged in a variety of activities designed to create such a strong impression of Oswald’s instability and culpability in people’s minds that they would recall him as a suspicious character after the President was murdered.

We need to always keep in mind that, prior to the murder of J.D. Tippit, a second Oswald (LEE) had already been involved for weeks in framing the historic Oswald (HARVEY).  For example,

• While one LHO was elsewhere, the other was seen at the Sports Drome Rifle Range on Oct. 26, Nov. 9, Nov. 10, and again on Nov. 17, several times creating a scene and once shooting at another guy's target. 
• A second Oswald was seen at the Downtown Lincoln Mercury dealership in Dallas on Nov. 2 where he test drove a car at recklessly high speeds saying he would soon come into enough money to buy a new car.
• While Harvey Oswald was working at the Texas Book Depository, another LHO appeared at the Irving Furniture Mart On Nov. 6 or 7 for a gun part where he was referred to the shop where Dial Ryder worked, 
• A second Oswald appeared at the Southland Hotel parking garage (Allright Parking Systems) on Nov. 15 to apply for a job and oh-so-subtly ask how high the Southland Building was and if it had a good view of downtown Dallas.
• While Harvey Oswald was still working at the Book Depository on November 20, a second LHO was hitchhiking on the R.L. Thornton Expressway while carrying a 4-foot long package wrapped in brown paper and introducing himself to Ralph Yates as “Lee Harvey Oswald.” He discussed the President's visit, wondered if you could shoot a president, and asked to be dropped across the street from the Texas School Book Depository (where Russian-speaking “Lee Harvey Oswald” was already at work).

[Jim Hargrove]

21 hours ago, Jim Hargrove said:

And since the wallet indicates that the pre-planned assassination of Tippit was designed to implicate “Lee Harvey Oswald” in the crime, would the plotters utilize someone to kill Tippit who didn’t look at all like Oswald?  Benavides, the witness closest to the crime, thought it was committed by Oswald, noting only that the killer’s hair in the back of his head “sort of went square instead of tapering off,” as Oswald’s clearly did.

Someone who looked a lot like Oswald killed Tippit?  Who could that be?

 

9 hours ago, David Josephs said:

.Benavides did not identify Oswald

 

9 hours ago, Jim Hargrove said:

Mr. BELIN - You used the name Oswald. How did you know this man was Oswald? 
Mr. BENAVIDES - From the pictures I had seen. It looked like a guy, resembled the guy. That was the reason I figured it was Oswald. 

 

7 hours ago, David Josephs said:

EXACTLY!  Benavides--the closest witness to the Tippit shooting--saw a man he thought looked like "Lee Harvey Oswald," except for the hair at the back of his neck.  Note LEE Oswald's longer hair (a toupee?) in the photo below apparently from Ruby's club.  Too bad we couldn't also see it from the back.

[Tom Neal]

On 10/12/2018 at 1:09 PM, Gene Kelly said:

It does surprise me that they would sacrifice a fellow policeman but,  given Westbrook's HR job and access to personnel files, he must have selected Tippit for special (personal) reasons. It's always stuck me as clever to insert a cop killing into the aftermath of the assassination; as Jim Garrison first pointed out in his February 1967 Playboy interview, killing a policeman energizes the entire police force.

DPD needed to be energized to find the assassin of a president they hated. I recall Detective Jim Levealle's (sp) comment they 'would have investigated JFK's murder the same way they would investigated the murder' "of any n lover." They may well have rounded up "the usual suspects" and called it a night, allowing the assassin time to escape.

For many years I have believed Tippit was not a 'random' choice for 'murder by Oswald.' Given the size of DPD and its degree of corruption,  undoubtedly there were many people that were considered a problem. Tippit may have 'dated' someone's wife/girlfriend, stepped on the wrong toes, inserted himself into someone elses 'business' or many other possibilities. It seems more likely that with the selection of Tippit they were eliminating a problem, not sacrificing a good cop.

Gene,
Do you think that his selection was Westbrook's 'personal' choice? i.e. Westbrook *himself* had something against Tippit?

[Paul Brancato]

1 hour ago, Tom Neal said:

DPD needed to be energized to find the assassin of a president they hated. I recall Detective Jim Levealle's (sp) comment they 'would have investigated JFK's murder the same way they would investigated the murder' "of any n lover." They may well have rounded up "the usual suspects" and called it a night, allowing the assassin time to escape.

For many years I have believed Tippit was not a 'random' choice for 'murder by Oswald.' Given the size of DPD and its degree of corruption,  undoubtedly there were many people that were considered a problem. Tippit may have 'dated' someone's wife/girlfriend, stepped on the wrong toes, inserted himself into someone elses 'business' or many other possibilities. It seems more likely that with the selection of Tippit they were eliminating a problem, not sacrificing a good cop.

Gene,
Do you think that his selection was Westbrook's 'personal' choice? i.e. Westbrook *himself* had something against Tippit?

Hi Tom. Haven’t seen you post in a while. I know you didn’t ask me that question. Nevertheless it’s hard to imagine Westbrook acting on his own. Also hard for me to imagine that Tippit was sacrificed solely in order to motivate the DPD to look for a cop killer. He might have played a part, known too much. He even might have been a shooter in uniform at Dealey Plaza. I think it’s likely that he was getting post assassination instructions from a source other than DPD  channel communications. The big unknown for me is the Military Intelligence angle. Many of the DP were said to have been part of the 488th Military Intelligence Detachment. The lack of corroboration of the 488th in military records either means the story had no basis in fact, or was deliberately hidden. I’ll go with the latter. P D Scott and others point out that Jack Crichton, the supposed founder of the 488th, was in charge of communications at the new bunker under the Dallas Fairgrounds. Set up as a continuity of government operation in case of national emergency, it was apparently equipped with state of the art communications. I’ve gone over the circumstantial evidence for the existence of this unusual reserve military group many times, but it doesn’t get much traction here. 

[Tom Neal]

58 minutes ago, Paul Brancato said:

Hi Tom. Haven’t seen you post in a while. I know you didn’t ask me that question. Nevertheless it’s hard to imagine Westbrook acting on his own. Also hard for me to imagine that Tippit was sacrificed solely in order to motivate the DPD to look for a cop killer. He might have played a part, known too much. He even might have been a shooter in uniform at Dealey Plaza. I think it’s likely that he was getting post assassination instructions from a source other than DPD  channel communications. The big unknown for me is the Military Intelligence angle. Many of the DP were said to have been part of the 488th Military Intelligence Detachment. The lack of corroboration of the 488th in military records either means the story had no basis in fact, or was deliberately hidden. I’ll go with the latter. P D Scott and others point out that Jack Crichton, the supposed founder of the 488th, was in charge of communications at the new bunker under the Dallas Fairgrounds. Set up as a continuity of government operation in case of national emergency, it was apparently equipped with state of the art communications. I’ve gone over the circumstantial evidence for the existence of this unusual reserve military group many times, but it doesn’t get much traction here. 

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the response!

Yeah, There wasn't much happening here, and I got tired of one poster who comes up with an idea first, and only then looks for supporting evidence. This is the reverse of the natural process, so of course weak evidence is acceptable, and strong evidence is ignored. Think Warren Commission... Naturally. he then oversells the significance of his notion to gain attention. Presenting any evidence to the contrary, you get an irate tirade, and he trolls your every post with absurd statements. This happens to all of us at one time or another, so enough whining from me... Every once in a while I check back in for something interesting enough for a response - and a question.

Presuming that Tippit was pre-selected for death, Westbrook seems the most likely candidate to pick the proper victim from a large database that he himself controlled. It's difficult to believe that JDT was the ONLY possible candidate, so it seems reasonable to believe he did *something* that singled him out. I agree with you 100%, that Westbrook required approval of his candidate from the higher-ups. However, from a list of 'equally  qualified' candidates, he *could* have advanced Tippit for personal reasons without revealing this fact. Of course, *anyone* above Westbrook could also have done this...

If true, then perhaps the question "Why JD Tippit?" could be answered - which in turn could reveal or confirm the identity of conspirators.

Tom

[Jim Hargrove]

Tippit may have had a girlfriend who lived near 10th and Patton.  John wrote that, “Officer J.D. Tippit lived with his wife and family at 238 Glencairn, 7 miles south of 10th & Patton, and patrolled area 78 in South Oak Cliff, far away from 10th & Patton.”  But many people living near 10th and Patton knew him, and Virginia Davis thought he lived at 410 E. 10th, right next to where Tippit’s squad car was parked when he was murdered.  Ms. Davis lived in the house next door.

[Gene Kelly]

Tom

Nice to see you back.   Id only be speculating if I said that Westbrook had personal reasons for using Tippit.  My logic would be that Westbrook had access to all personnel files, so he knew who could be manipulated or used, and what personal details could be exploited.   It seems that "they" (Westbrook and above) used Tippit.  I have always been drawn to the Tippit story, and especially Captain Westbrook.  We just known precious little about with of them.  Given Joseph McBride's excellent work pursuing this story (for many years), and digging deep, Id think he would have the best sense and intuition for Tippit of all.  Sylvia Meagher described Tippit as "unknown and unknowable".   It seems that Westbrook has a similar barrier constructed around his Character and background. Joseph McBride suggested that Tippit could have been a shooter, and that his father described him as a skilled marksman.  When McBride looked at Tippit's DPD files, the further  he perused Tippit’s personnel file, the more sparse the material became – the opposite of what you would expect - suggesting that it was sanitized.  A policeman who served for 11 years should have more than one firing skill evaluation yet, after about 1956, his file became thinner and thinner.  Guess who controlled the personnel files at DPD?

One thing is for sure, which has always struck me as a master stroke of the plot ... Tippit’s shooting served as a pretext for a large influx policemen and other law enforcement officials into the Oak Cliff location and to the Texas Theater.  Given the characterization of the DPD in the 1960's (i.e. The Thin Blue Line and Henry Wade's lawless reputation),  it wouldn't take much convincing to convict and execute Tippit's killer ... and tying Oswald to the scene almost guaranteed his subsequent (and immediate) death.  The only question is whether that death was supposed to happen in the theater (by the police), some other location (e.g. on the way to Cuba) or in police custody at the Police and Courts Building, the gray stone structure in downtown Dallas that housed the headquarters of the Dallas Police Department and the city jail.  But the one thing in common is ... facilitated by the police.

Larry Ray Harris did a lot of early work on the Tippit case, and called it “The Other Murder".  McBride points out that the convenient cover stories about a single “lone nut” responsible for killing both men (JFK and Tippit) were powerful psychological and public-relations maneuvers ... allowing many to believe a false story, and accept a reality that otherwise would seem truly intolerable.  Tippit researcher Greg Lowrey commented on the frustration of studying the assassination and the Tippit killing:

" ... some of the story remains tantalizingly unknown or unknowable, that we lack some of the necessary information to draw connections that may be crucial between these people and the milieu we know they inhabited. Lowrey said of Tippit, “I think he got himself involved with some real dangerous people in circumstances I don’t understand. I can’t even explain it. He might have had some dangerous knowledge.” Lowrey also speculated that Tippit may have “blundered” into that knowledge."

But in retrospect, Westbrook was at 10th and Patton awfully quickly - strange when you consider his rank, function, and that a president had been shot a few miles away - and controlling just about everything used to incriminate Oswald (including Patrolman Tippit).  Joseph McBride shows that the uncomplicated public image image of Tippit - who worked part time at  Austin's Barbecue and the Texas Theater - is not accurate, and that he could have been financially entice or blackmailed into "hunting" Oswald (or worse):

"It is worth noting that the humble Oak Cliff rib joint where he worked, Austin’s Barbecue, was not only a rowdy teenage hangout on weekends, necessitating the presence of an off-duty policeman as a security guard, but that it was run by a Bircher and was a prominent meeting place for corrupt “police characters,” mobsters, and leading far-right elements in the “City of Hate.” It is conceivable that some in that interconnecting milieu could have become aware of Tippit because he was so visible in his uniform for three years at Austin’s Barbecue. Conspirators could have realized he was financially vulnerable, since after working his fulltime job as a police officer during the daytime, he was keeping order at Austin’s from ten at night until two in the morning on Fridays and Saturdays for about ten dollars an hour while struggling to pay the mortgages on two houses (not to mention his other job as a security guard at the Stevens Park Theater).

Gene

[Steve Thomas]

Researchers of this topic might be interested in :

OSWALD-TIPPIT ASSOCIATES
Staff Report of the Select Committee on Assassinations
U.S. House of Representatives
Ninety-fifth Congress Second Session
March 1979

http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/jfkinfo4/jfk12/hscalojt.htm

 

Steve Thomas

[Steve Thomas]

And then there is:

The Incredible Story of Mike Robinson
by Walt Brown
Reprinted from "Treachery in Dallas"

http://reopenkennedycase.forumotion.net/t732-the-incredible-story-of-mike-robinson

 

Steve Thomas

[Jim Hargrove]

As we all know, minutes before Tippit was killed Earlene Roberts said she witnessed a Dallas Police car honking a horn at at her N. Beckley rooming house where LHO was staying. Although there was some confusion in her testimony, she apparently concluded she had seen car No. 207.  The fact that a Dallas Police car was honking near the residence of the putative killer of JFK and officer Tippit in the brief minutes between the murder of both men should have set off alarm bells at the FBI and the Warren Commission.   

Instead, both the FBI and the WC seemed so disinterested in this event that they were entirely happy to just accept a “letter of explanation” about car 207 from non other than Captain Westbrook.
 

Jimmy Valentine, the cop that had the car at the time in question, according to Westbrook, wasn’t even questioned by anyone.  Nothing to see here... let’s all move on.

It seems quite likely that Westbrook’s brief note was covering up the fact that he himself was in car 207, honking the horn at the N. Beckley rooming house.  He certainly demonstrated that he could not account for the majority of his time immediately after the assassination of President Kennedy.  Why would he take the considerable risk of honking a horn at the site of the patsy-to-be?  Probably because Oswald had been instructed to go to the Texas Theater directly from the Book Depository, but instead had made a detour to the rooming house.  Unlike other Dallas cops, Westbrook knew where Oswald lived and knew how important he was about to become.

[Mark Lawson]

7 hours ago, Steve Thomas said:

OSWALD-TIPPIT ASSOCIATES
Staff Report of the Select Committee on Assassinations
March 1979

http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/jfkinfo4/jfk12/hscalojt.htm

Jack Ray Tatum is listed in the above document (items 37 and 38) as a previously unacknowledged witness to the Tippett murder.

7 hours ago, Jim Hargrove said:

Tippit may have had a girlfriend who lived near 10th and Patton.  John wrote that, “Officer J.D. Tippit lived with his wife and family at 238 Glencairn, 7 miles south of 10th & Patton, and patrolled area 78 in South Oak Cliff, far away from 10th & Patton.”  But many people living near 10th and Patton knew him, and Virginia Davis thought he lived at 410 E. 10th, right next to where Tippit’s squad car was parked when he was murdered.  Ms. Davis lived in the house next door.

Jim, is there any particular reason that Jack Ray Tatum's name is not included by Mr. Armstrong on the diagrams and maps included at https://harveyandlee.net/November/TippittMurder.html and https://harveyandlee.net/Tippit/Tippit.html ?  ML

[Jim Hargrove]

4 hours ago, Mark Lawson said:

Jim, is there any particular reason that Jack Ray Tatum's name is not included by Mr. Armstrong on the diagrams and maps included at https://harveyandlee.net/November/TippittMurder.html and https://harveyandlee.net/Tippit/Tippit.html ?  ML

Maybe he should be. Tatum is one of the most important witnesses to Tippit's murder.  On my website John wrote, "As Oswald and Tippit were talking, Jack Roy Tatum was driving west on 10th St. in his new, red, Ford Galaxie 500. As he drove slowly past Tippit's squad car Tatum saw a young white male with both hands in the pockets of his zippered jacket leaning over the passenger side window of the squad car. Tatum said, 'It looked as if Oswald and Tippit were talking to each other.... It was almost as if Tippit knew Oswald.' Of course they knew each other. LEE Oswald was the same man that Tippit sat next to at the Dobbs Restaurant two days earlier, on Wednesday at 10:00 AM, while HARVEY Oswald was working at the Book Depository."

Tatum also indicated that the Oswald who shot Tippit wore "what looked like a t-shirt" under his "light colored zipper jacket," which describes LEE Oswald's attire but not HARVEY'S.  I'll try to remember to ask John about the map.  Thanks, Mark.

[Mark Lawson]

15 hours ago, Jim Hargrove said:

... Tatum is one of the most important witnesses to Tippit's murder....

It is interesting that Tatum reported: "Both the police car and the young man were heading east [emphasis added] on Tenth Street...."  That would of course be in the opposite direction of the Texas Theater.

I seem to recall that another witness also reported the "Oswald" character to be headed east at the time he was approached by Tippit.  ML