The Tippit Case in the New Millenium

[Ron Bulman]

6 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

Where is that information about Earl Crater Gene?

Is it credible?

I'm not Gene but he's noted in The Radical Right, pg. 323 regarding the same instance, breakfast at the Pig and Whistle for Ruby, Oswald and Tippit.  Referenced to Bill Pulte, memo's to the author (Livingstone),in  1996 & 96.

Very next sentence:  " A neighbor of the Oswald's in the fall of 1962, when they lived on Elsbeth, realized after he saw someone who looked very much like Ruby on TV  after shooting Oswald, that he had seen Ruby entering the Oswald's apartment".  Also via Pulte. 

[Ron Bulman]

11 minutes ago, Michael Clark said:

There is a lot of speculation and no loss for unflattering characterizations about him, but what do we really know? What is the truth? When I hear Mrs. Tippet speak, I don't see a woman who would marry the lowly man that we often think of when we read the common stories about him. I would like to see a fresh and fair evaluation of him. I think he may have been more intelligent and capable that we are told. I think it would make a good thread.

See my post in about an hour.

[Ron Bulman]

21 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

Pate is a good witness I think.

I am also beginning to think that the Livingstone book has some good info in it.  Vince P actually recommended it.

I've had reservations about referring to it.  Not to speak ill of the dead but I've read he was shall we say abrasive with other significant researchers regarding his views.  High Treason with Robert Groden was a revelatory book for me, reading it in 91 or 92, before Oliver Stone's movie JFK, but they split.  However, it appears he did establish a good relationship with some local Dallas researchers, Professor Pulte, reporter and later Dallas Mayor Wes Wise, Larry Harris among others.  The Radical Right and the Murder of John F Kennedy  is (somewhat curiously?) dedicated to Dr. Robert McClelland.  Chapter 7 at 28 pages are about the Tippit execution.

Pg. 324.  'Tippit had a close friend, officer Billy Anglin, and both had adjoining patrol areas which included Harlandale...".   (Speculation, justified?):  "It may be that the Cubans were directed to rent a house in Tippit or Anglin's patrol district to provide them with protection and a blind eye to the arms going in and out".

Pg. 342.  "Dick Loomis... had his home at 507 E. 10th, one block from the spot where J.D. Tippit as killed".  "Loomis aunt, Myrtle Mckay lived next door and was in regular contact... was extremely upset  by the fact Ruby and Oswald were with Loomis."  "corroborated by Rydell's husband and his sister to Pulte and Lowery".  "Dick Loomis was from an old Dallas family and was an attorney specializing in oil and gas law.  The Loomis family had also been in the cotton business, as was the Jaffe family.  His law office was directly above Lamar Hunt's".   Loomis, Ruby and Oswald were seen sitting on the hood of Ruby's car drinking beer"...  "Within 90 Days of the assassination Loomis bought the 5 houses on E. 10th on the side of the street where Tippit was shot, and immediately east of the driveway where the shooting occurred." ... "Loomis then had the homes razed and had an apartment complex built in their place."

More for Michael later on Tippit himself.

[Paul Brancato]

17 hours ago, Gene Kelly said:

Steve:

Ruby's role is understated in the Tippit shooting. Earl Crater of the Pig and Whistle restaurant said that Oswald, Ruby and Tippit had breakfast there on a number of occasions at 7am. Crater said that Oswald never had more than a cup of coffee. In "The Other Murder - The Death of Officer Tippit Revisited", Larry Ray Harris wrote the following:

The widespread public acceptance of Oswald's guilt is such that the Tippit murder has been virtually relegated to a historical footnote. This was borne out by the House Select Committee on Assassinations; whose 1979 final report devoted a scant three paragraphs to the policeman's death -- concurring with the 1964 Warren Report conclusion that Oswald was a cop-killer. The Report also dismisses the rumor that Oswald lived near Jack Ruby, pointing out that their residences were a mile apart. However, the Tippit shooting took place only two blocks from Ruby’s home on Marsalis St..

There are accounts that one of the men observed at the Tippit scene resembled Ruby; other rumors exist that Ruby was in the Texas Theater when Oswald was apprehended. Professor Jerry Rose asserted that Ruby’s role was to assemble a group of ‘witnesses’ to Tippit’s murder (e.g. Warren Reynolds, the Davis sisters) who would testify that Oswald was the murderer. Add DPD officer Harry Olsen to the milieu of Jack Ruby associates: Olsen was fired in December 1963 and moved hastily to California with his girlfriend, Kay Coleman, another Ruby stripper. Joe McBride's book reveals that Olsen and Coleman spent several hours in a parked car with Ruby, egging him on to kill Oswald; Olsen was also responsible for the characterization of Jack Ruby as being distraught over "poor Jacqueline" having to come back to Dallas. Then there is the mysterious Dallas Police car number 107. On April 10th, the day of the Walker shooting, Jack Ruby placed a long-distance phone call from the Carousel Club to one Clarence Rector in Sulphur Springs Texas. A week later, the Dallas Police sold a 1962 Ford patrol car (# 107) to a used-car dealer who also lived in Sulphur Springs.  This same cruiser was cited as the mysterious vehicle parked outside of N. Beckley by Oswald's landlady just after he ostensibly arrived at his boarding house.  The car seen by Earlene Roberts was possibly the same car purchased by Rector, and later seen in the alley of the boarding house ... and tied to Jack Ruby.

Gene

I think the Oswald at those breakfasts might have been Crafard. That Ruby may have been involved in the ground crew for Dealey Plaza I can see easily. And Tippit - my theory is that he was at Dealey Plaza too, maybe as a shooter. His death makes the most sense to me as being necessary because he knew too much and wasn't trusted to keep quiet. 

[Ron Bulman]

18 minutes ago, Ron Bulman said:

I've had reservations about referring to it.  Not to speak ill of the dead but I've read he was shall we say abrasive with other significant researchers regarding his views.  High Treason with Robert Groden was a revelatory book for me, reading it in 91 or 92, before Oliver Stone's movie JFK, but they split.  However, it appears he did establish a good relationship with some local Dallas researchers, Professor Pulte, reporter and later Dallas Mayor Wes Wise, Larry Harris among others.  The Radical Right and the Murder of John F Kennedy  is (somewhat curiously?) dedicated to Dr. Robert McClelland.  Chapter 7 at 28 pages are about the Tippit execution.

Pg. 324.  'Tippit had a close friend, officer Billy Anglin, and both had adjoining patrol areas which included Harlandale...".   (Speculation, justified?):  "It may be that the Cubans were directed to rent a house in Tippit or Anglin's patrol district to provide them with protection and a blind eye to the arms going in and out".

Pg. 342.  "Dick Loomis... had his home at 507 E. 10th, one block from the spot where J.D. Tippit as killed".  "Loomis aunt, Myrtle Mckay lived next door and was in regular contact... was extremely upset  by the fact Ruby and Oswald were with Loomis."  "corroborated by Rydell's husband and his sister to Pulte and Lowery".  "Dick Loomis was from an old Dallas family and was an attorney specializing in oil and gas law.  The Loomis family had also been in the cotton business, as was the Jaffe family.  His law office was directly above Lamar Hunt's".   Loomis, Ruby and Oswald were seen sitting on the hood of Ruby's car drinking beer"...  "Within 90 Days of the assassination Loomis bought the 5 houses on E. 10th on the side of the street where Tippit was shot, and immediately east of the driveway where the shooting occurred." ... "Loomis then had the homes razed and had an apartment complex built in their place."

More for Michael later on Tippit himself.

Looks like Ruby knew Oswald, and Tippit.

[James DiEugenio]

First, let me say I am gratified at how long and productive this thread has been on the Tippit case.

 I really did not expect it to go over like this.  But I guess a lot of people agree with me that it needed a new look due to new information.

But let me also add, it seems that Livingstone used some info from Pulte and Lowery concerning Loomis and Crater that McBride did not.  If you read McBride's book, and I sure hope I have convinced everyone here to do so, McBride had good relations with those Dallas researchers also.  But I could not find Crater in his index, and he goes over Loomis and his alleged ties to Ruby and Oswald in about eight words. (p. 487)  

So I am assuming Joe did not feel the info was substantiated enough to include in his book.  I hope he comments on this. 

[Steve Thomas]

5 hours ago, Paul Brancato said:

I think the Oswald at those breakfasts might have been Crafard.

Paul,

 

(19H354) (Crafard Exhibit 5226) FBI Interview of Curtis LaVerne Crafard November29, 1963.

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=1136&relPageId=372&search=%22Eat_Well%22

 

“Crafard would stay at the club and eat his meals at the Eat Well Cafe and the drug store across the street from the club. Money for these meals was taken from the cash register.”

 

Steve Thomas

[Joseph McBride]

Whatever Livingstone writes needs to be taken with a big grain of salt

and corroborated with more reliable sources, if possible. He uses a lot of gossip and speculation and was inclined to be,

shall we say, rather intemperate. He did turn up some possible good leads to be pursued elsewhere. I left out

a lot of things from various sources that I could not substantiate. Some may be tantalizing, but there's too much speculation and mere gossip in the JFK/Tippit/Ruby/Oswald case and the literature on it already.

Edited May 25, 2018 by Joseph McBride

[Joseph McBride]

It was Gladys Johnson I found guarded and suspicious, not the room itself!

I never understood why people think Dealey Plaza is small compared with

photos and films. I first visited there in 1983 and have been there frequently

since and have always found it much the way it appears on film. Maybe that

is because I saw so many films and photos of it before going there. It's good

that it has not been changed much other than in a few significant details. There

was serious talk about tearing down the TSBD, but an outcry prevented it. Too bad

the Ambassador Hotel in LA was torn down with the enthusiastic support of

the Kennedy family. A bullet lost in the ceiling space could have helped

prove that there were two gunmen -- although we already have a lot of proof of that.

The first time I went in the pantry with my brother we were milling around, and

a black kitchen worker, rather than throwing us out, smiled and said, "Do you want to see where his head fell?" He showed

us the spot, from which someone or other had gouged some of the concrete. This good man

was almost venerating the spot -- unlike the Kennedy family.

Edited May 25, 2018 by Joseph McBride

[Gene Kelly]

Jim

The Earl Crater comment comes from Harrison Livingstone's "The Radical Right and the Murder of John F. Kennedy" as well as a January 5, 2005 post by Dixie Dea in the EF thread "J. D. Tippit ... was he part of the conspiracy?"

Gene

[Robert Harper]

4 hours ago, Joseph McBride said:

It was Gladys Johnson I found guarded and suspicious, not the room itself!

Joseph--do you think Oswald would have kept a gun there? I don't. I've rented a room in a place with no lock on the room. I saw that house and it had 10 renters. I don't believe for a second that there was not snooping and I think Oswald would know that. I don't know how he got the gun he had, but I just doubt it was kept on Beckley. 

[Joe Bauer]

On 5/24/2018 at 7:20 PM, Michael Clark said:

There is a lot of speculation and no loss for unflattering characterizations about him, but what do we really know? What is the truth? 

Was Tippit sleeping with another woman or women in the months before he was killed? If so, how do we know this? And if so, were there any connections to Jack Ruby with these women?

We do know that some Dallas police officers ( married and single ) had sex with at least a few of Jack Ruby's girls.

Forget the deli sandwiches and free booze, Ruby's most powerful angle of influence over any police or other officials would clearly be the sex one.  Ruby researcher Seth Kantor bluntly described Ruby as a pimp.

One can imagine the favors certain police and officials might feel obligated to perform for Ruby in return for his providing them with the most powerful temptation known to man.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 26, 2018 by Joe Bauer

[Gene Kelly]

And if one were to write a book about Jack Ruby and all of his diverse connections and associates, I'd suggest calling it "Six Degrees of Jack Ruby"  

[James DiEugenio]

The tear down of the Ambassador and the construction of the huge RFK High School was done around a deception.

I know because I attended the public meetings at the school board office.  As did dozens of others.

Ray Romer, the superintendent, did something very clever.  He included three plans for the new high school.  All three preserved the pantry site.  

He then rammed through, with his allies on the board, the one that would preserve ONLY the pantry--none of the outside or kitchen area.

About a year later, as the construction project was beginning, I called the builder and then the board.  Romer played a real trick on everyone.  He yanked out all the materials from the pantry, and deposited them in a warehouse.  But did not include any plans for reinserting them into the new building.  And in fact the building was completed liker that.  He never wanted to use any space at all for anything except more class rooms.

[Steve Thomas]

2 hours ago, Robert Harper said:

Joseph--do you think Oswald would have kept a gun there? I don't. I've rented a room in a place with no lock on the room. I saw that house and it had 10 renters. I don't believe for a second that there was not snooping and I think Oswald would know that. I don't know how he got the gun he had, but I just doubt it was kept on Beckley. 

Robert,

 

I'm awful glad I never had to rent from Mrs. Johnson. She was perfectly willing to violate her tenants' fourth amendment rights.

Either the police lied to the Johnsons, or the Johnsons lied to the Warren Commission.

 

Mr. BALL. Did you ever know his true name was Lee Harvey Oswald?
Mrs. JOHNSON. No; not until we saw his picture flash on the television as the officers were out. Those particulars was found in his pocket after he killed Tippit, after his arrest.

 

Mr. JOHNSON. "Well, uh--after he was--uh--apprehended out there, they searched him and found my address in his pocket
Mr. BELIN. Your address of 1026 North Beckley?
Mr. JOHNSON. That's right.

 

Mr. BALL. When they came out there, did they have a search warrant?
Mrs. JOHNSON. Yes, surely.

 

Mr. BALL. Did you permit them to search his room?
Mrs. JOHNSON. Yes; they taken everything immediately out of his room.

 

“So I came from the restaurant, I guess 1 or 1:30, and these officers were there 1:30 or 2, something like that, anyway, it was after this assassination, and as I drove in, well, the officers were there and they told me that they was looking for this character and I told them I didn't think I had anyone by that name there but we went through the register carefully two or three times and there was no Oswald there and I had two new tenants, rather new tenants, so we had carried them around the house to show them and we was going to start in the new tenants' rooms...”

 

 

At 2:40 PM, W.E. Potts, B.L. Senkel and Lt. E.L. Cunningham were dispatched to 1026 N. Beckley. Potts wrote in his after-action report (Box 2, Folder# 9, Item# 32) http://jfk.ci.dallas.tx.us/box2.htm that after he finished taking some affidavits, Fritz dispatched them to the Beckely St address at 2:40 and they arrived at Beckley at 3:00PM.

Detective B.L. Senkel also said in his after action report (Dallas Police Archives Box 3, Folder# 12, Item#1) that they arrived at 1026 N. Beckley at 3:00PM.

They checked the register and found that Oswald had been living there since October 14th.

They did not search the room on Beckley until Detective Turner, David Johnston, and Deputy DA Bill Alexander arrived with a search warrant at 4:30 or 5:00PM (Potts, Dallas City Archives - JFK Collection)

 

Steve Thomas