The Tippit Case in the New Millenium

[Gene Kelly]

Ron and Paul

The source for the Pena link is found in "The Gun That Didn't Smoke” Part 3 (1997) by Walter F. Graf and Richard R. Bartholomew states the following:

Two of the gun mail-order houses Dodd's subcommittee was investigating were the ones from which Oswald allegedly ordered his Smith and Wesson .38 revolver (Seaport Traders of Los Angeles) and his Mannlicher-Carcano rifle (Klein's of Chicago). Oswald ordered his pistol two days before Dodd's subcommittee began hearings on the matter on January 29, 1963. The subcommittee's sample statistics later showed a purchase in Texas made from Seaport Traders. One of the groups being investigated for firearm purchases was one whose members Oswald had in his address book, the American Nazi Party. One of the investigators looking into interstate firearms sales at this time was Manuel Pena, the Los Angeles police lieutenant who was later one of the pivotal officers investigating Robert Kennedy's assassination. It was Pena who traced Oswald's telescopic sight to a California gun shop.¹⁶³ And one of the primary culprits, robbing domestic manufacturers of profits, was the Mannlicher-Carcano.¹⁶⁴  

Reference 163 is (22H 528) which I believe is a Warren Commission Deposition Exhibit (Stovall Exhibit D)

Gene

[James DiEugenio]

Greg Parker also wanted me to post this here.  He disagrees with the Top Ten visit by Tippit:

On a separate issue, it could NOT have been Tippit at the Top 10. The witnesses said he did not have his partner with him. Which means whoever regularly used that phone, did have a partner with him. The patrolmen only had partners at night. The Top 10 would not be open at night. The only other time they have partners was if they were breaking in a rookie and Nick McDonald specifically said that Tippit was not a designated trainer. On top of that, it was outside of his area. There would have been plenty of phones who could use in his own area. Not everything that seems mysterious, actually is and not everything that seems to fit a conspiracy theory template, actually does. But you only find that out by actually looking for and trying to out, all other possibilities. In any case, even if not Tippit, it could still be "conspiratorial", although it's harder to make that case.

 

 

[Joseph McBride]

Two witnesses to the Top Ten phone call by the officer, the store owner, J. W. (Dub)

Stark, and a former employee of Stark's, Louis Cortinas, identified the officer as Tippit. They said they knew him well.

Tippit being outside his district is suspicious, although he was said by some witnesses to have frequently been

in the area where he was killed. His assigned district was four miles from where he was shot. Tippit was

shot in the district assigned to Officer William D. Mentzel; the two of them were secretly assigned

that day to hunt down Oswald after the presidential assassination, before Oswald was officially identified as a suspect and before

his name officially was known to the police. I discuss all this in detail in my book INTO THE NIGHTMARE.

Edited May 18, 2018 by Joseph McBride

[Gene Kelly]

Joe/Jim

Several researchers (e.g. Duke lane) have performed detailed analyses of the patrol car movements in and around Oak Cliff, and Mentzel's reported itinerary is suspicious ... his story could be described as "out to lunch" (literally and figuratively).  Nearly every patrol in Oak Cliff was removed or out of action. -except two - when Tippit and Nelson were ostensibly reassigned. One of those two patrols was William D. Mentzel, who normally patrolled the two districts and was allegedly at lunch in the district ... at Luby's on Jefferson Blvd, two blocks from the Top Ten Record Shop.  As the story is told, he went Code 5 (out to eat) - inexplicably within two minutes of the downtown motorcade shooting - and allegedly tried "repeatedly" to reach police headquarters.  Mentzel finally left (a half hour later) without finishing his lunch, remaining inside the cafeteria until after 1:05 pm. By coincidence, we are to believe Mentzel was the only patrol officer in the entire city who was given a lunch break within minutes of the shooting of the President, less than five miles from his patrol district. As soon as he got on the radio, he - and not Tippit - was then purportedly assigned to cover an accident at 10th & Davis, where he remained incommunicado until 1:22, not responding, either verbally or physically, to the Signal 19 "involving a police officer" in his very own district.  This is  abnormal behavior on an unusual day. The killing of a policeman that soon after the assassination would certainly be interpreted by law enforcement as related to Dealey Plaza, which would ensure a large police response to the area. 

What intrigues me about the Top Ten record shop is that the owner, J. W. "Dub" Stark, said that Oswald was waiting at the shop when Stark arrived that morning (7:30 am), bought a ticket to a Dick Clark Bandstand concert, and then left. The shop is located at 338 West Jefferson Blvd. and only a short distance (1-2 blocks) west of the Texas Theater, and within a mile of where the Oswalds lived.  As legend has it, blues legend Stevie Ray Vaughn visited the shop regularly in his youth (see the 1999 article by William Drenas).  An FBI memorandum documents a call from one John D. Whitten (who asked that his name not be revealed as it would "hurt his business") who told the FBI he'd heard that Oswald was in the Top Ten Record Shop twice on the morning of the assassination. The FBI dismissed the account of Oswald's visit to the record shop because Oswald was known to have been at work all morning (more evidence of John Armstong's premise).  On December 3, 1963 one John D. Whitten telephoned the FBI that he had “heard” that Lee Harvey Oswald was in the Top Ten Record Shop on the Morning of November 22, 1963. Oswald bought a ticket of some kind and left ... then, sometime later Oswald returned to the record shop and wanted to buy another ticket. At this time officer Tippit was in the store but it was apparently a coincidence.

More intriguing, the CIA officer initially assigned to the Oswald investigation was John Moss Whitten, a former senior officer in the Western Hemisphere division of the covert operations directorate.   However, amid some controversy (and suspicion), Richard Helms relieved him of his duties and reassigned James Angleton. In 1965 Whitten was moved sideways into an important post reviewing operations. He was awarded the Distinguished Intelligence Medal in 1970, but never received further promotion; he took early retirement and moved to Austria.  In 1978, HSCA congressional investigators found him living in self-imposed exile and interviewed him in secret session.  Whitten told the HSCA that Angleton's involvement in the investigation of the assassination was "improper" but when he complained to Helms, he was removed.  Whitten believed that Angleton's attempts to sabotage the investigation were linked to his relationship with the Mafia and felt their investigation should be left to the FBI.  When Angleton took control of the investigation, Cuba became unimportant and CIA focus was shifted to Oswald's life in the Soviet Union ... whereas Whitten claimed that he would have concentrated his attention on CIA's JM/WAVE station.  "John Scelso" - a cover name for John Whitten – was interviewed by the HSCA in May 1978 but his identity was sensitive and not released until October 2002, when the CIA finally declassified his name (see "The Good Spy" by Jefferson Morley).  Judge John Tunheim, chairman of the Assassination Records Review Board, stated that “the so-called ‘Scelso' deposition was perhaps the single most important documents we uncovered.”  According to Bill Simpich's "State Secret" (Chapter 6), Whitten was initially chosen by Richard Helms to coordinate the Agency's assassination investigation because:

The goal was to avoid investigation of the other three circles of intrigue in Mexico City that Whitten knew nothing about: The Tilton-Anderson anti-FPCC operation, the molehunt that was embedded within those very 10/10 memos, and the impersonation of Oswald himself by parties unknown. I think that Helms believed that if Whitten remained ignorant of those three events, he would be an effective advocate of the official story.

I wonder if this Whitten who called the FBI on December 3^rd was one in the same?

Gene

[Paul Brancato]

On 5/17/2018 at 3:40 AM, Gene Kelly said:

Ron and Paul

The source for the Pena link is found in "The Gun That Didn't Smoke” Part 3 (1997) by Walter F. Graf and Richard R. Bartholomew states the following:

Two of the gun mail-order houses Dodd's subcommittee was investigating were the ones from which Oswald allegedly ordered his Smith and Wesson .38 revolver (Seaport Traders of Los Angeles) and his Mannlicher-Carcano rifle (Klein's of Chicago). Oswald ordered his pistol two days before Dodd's subcommittee began hearings on the matter on January 29, 1963. The subcommittee's sample statistics later showed a purchase in Texas made from Seaport Traders. One of the groups being investigated for firearm purchases was one whose members Oswald had in his address book, the American Nazi Party. One of the investigators looking into interstate firearms sales at this time was Manuel Pena, the Los Angeles police lieutenant who was later one of the pivotal officers investigating Robert Kennedy's assassination. It was Pena who traced Oswald's telescopic sight to a California gun shop.¹⁶³ And one of the primary culprits, robbing domestic manufacturers of profits, was the Mannlicher-Carcano.¹⁶⁴  

Reference 163 is (22H 528) which I believe is a Warren Commission Deposition Exhibit (Stovall Exhibit D)

Gene

Gene - Remind me - how did LHO get the revolver? Same PO box? Did Marina or anyone else mention his possession of it?

I had not seen Helms’ reasoning for originally appointing Whitten before. Astounding.

Edited May 18, 2018 by Paul Brancato

[David Josephs]

10 minutes ago, Paul Brancato said:

Gene - Remind me - how did LHO get the revolver? Same PO box? Did Marina or anyone else mention his possession of it?

I had not seen Helms’ reasoning for originally appointing Whitten before. Astounding.

REA...

Charged shipping which was never collected and supposedly sent a postcard to Oswald's (Hidell) PO Box telling him to come get the pistol...

None of these items of evidence exist...

https://statick2k-5f2f.kxcdn.com/images/pdf/JosephsPistol.pdf

 

Edited May 18, 2018 by David Josephs

[Tom Hume]

Yo David,

I feel rejected. Clicking on your link above yields:

             403 Forbidden
The access to the resource has been denied.
 

Edited May 18, 2018 by Tom Hume

[David Josephs]

LOL

not sure why that happens...  here is my entire list of essays published on K&K...

https://kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-articles/the-evidence-is-the-conspiracy-index

https://kennedysandking.com/content/the-pistol - the pdf is contained in a frame that doesn't always make it easy to read... underneath is the pdf link...  click it there and it works fine...

Edited May 18, 2018 by David Josephs

[James DiEugenio]

I don't think Greg read Into the Nightmare.

On page 451, Joe writes that Louis Cortinas knew Tippit from outside the store.  Since he had been ticketed for drag racing near Austin's Barbecue, and also seen TIppit working at a place called Ship's and the Theater Lounge.  Cortinas said, "Tippit was an odd guy.  Some times I would come into Austin's with my girlfriend and tap him on the shoulder and he would turn around and shake hands and act like a good friend.  Other times when I did that, he turned around and gave me a look like he didn't know me and didn't want to know me." 

Cortinas is who I relied upon in my essay.

Edited May 18, 2018 by James DiEugenio

[James DiEugenio]

Bill SImpich Time Line for the TIppit Case:

Introduction

Tippit was killed so that any attempt to investigate this case would descend into chaos.   By their own admission, the cops were more upset about Tippit's death than the death of the President.

The story first hinges on Tippit's hunt for Oswald - the stakeout of his expected path on the viaduct, looking for LHO in the Andrews car and the Top Ten Record Store.  

It then turns to the wallet at the Tippit murder scene that was never reported - the report that Hidell's ID was inside Oswald's wallet, which jibed with the rifle ordered In the name of Hidell - and the other phony evidence at the Tippit scene.

Also important is a floating 15 minute block of time...  

Did Jerry Hill and his driver arrive at 12:51 - as indicated by the evidence - or after 1:00, the time of the official story?

Were the hulls on the sixth floor found at 12:55 - as indicated by the evidence - or 1:10, the time of the official story?  

Was Tippit shot at about 1:07 as indicated by the evidence, or 1:15, the time of the official story?  

Was Oswald inside the theater and buying popcorn by 1:10 pm and watching credits by 1:15 - as indicated by the evidence - or did he not get there any earlier than 1:35, the time of the official story?

The disparity of these stories provide a portrait of who was in on the cover-up of the killings of JFK and Tippit.   

Tippit outline

7:30 am   Someone who looks like Oswald goes to the Top Ten Record Store and buys tickets for the Dick Clark show at the time of  the opening of the store.   The owner, Dub Stark, knew the man he knew as Oswald from previous visits, and he also knew Tippit. CIA officer Jack Whitten himself reported the gist of this story to the FBI on 12/3/63.   

 Later am  

Frazier and his sister Linnie testified that Oswald came by the house with 24 inch bag, not 38 inches. 

LInnie could not see Oswald through a closed garage window - she had no way to see the bag at all.

Employee Jack Dougherty saw Oswald came to work with no bag at all. 

Oswald supposedly told Frazier that the bag had "curtain rods". 

Tippit was with Collins Radio employee Carl Mather that morning.  Collins Radio had a major communications contract with the CIA.  The Mather family were the ones comforting Mrs. Tippit at her home that afternoon.

12-12:30 Oswald's whereabouts.  

Seen on 1st floor in the lunchroom shortly before the shooting.  

Seen at coke machine near 2nd floor by his boss Roy Truly and Officer Baker 90 seconds after the shots.  

The women walking down the stairs said they did not hear LHO walking down with them right after the shots.

The stairs were the only route down since the elevator was not working.

The sixth floor was not a secure place to set up a real sniper's nest.  Bonnie Ray Williams was there until close to 12:30.  The HSCA found someone rearranged the sniper's nest during the 2 minutes after the shooting.

12:43  Dispatch call described the shooter as "5 foot 10, 165 pounds", called in by Inspector Sawyer. That was the ID used for Oswald by the FBI and the CIA for the last 3 years.  It was also very inaccurate.   On the day he died, his weight was 131 pounds.

Tippit stakes out the south side of the viaduct, looking for Oswald - both he and his partner Nelson lie about their location

12:45   #87 (Ronald Nelson) and #78 (J.D. Tippit) are ordered by dispatcher into central Oak Cliff.

Tippit's father told author Joe McBride that he learned from a police officer that Tippit was looking for Oswald that day.

Nelson (#87) reported his position as being on the east side of Oak Cliff, across the river from downtown Dallas:  "“I'm going north on Marsalis by R.L. Thornton”.  Nelson falsely claimed in a 11/20/63 interview (recently taken down off YouTube!) that he was in downtown Dallas from 12:30-1:15.   This false claim about being downtown all afternoon is also in a document.

Nelson may have been looking for Oswald.   If he had either of Oswald's two addresses since his return from Mexico City, it would indicate that Nelson was heading on a beeline towards Oswald's address from October 7-14  - 621 N. Marsalis, or that Nelson was about turn left on Marsalis and be directly at LHO's North Beckley place)

Meanwhile, Tippit (#78) falsely reported his position to be at Kiest and Bonnieview in Oak Cliff.  

Tippit's claim is contradicted by five witnesses, who saw him at that time at the Gloco gas station at the south end of the Houston viaduct, six miles away from Kiest and Bonnieview.  Three were Gloco gas station employees, the other two were a photographer and his wife.  Joseph McBride reports in his book Into the Nightmare that these witnesses were found by William Turner in 1966.

12:47  Deputy sheriff Billy Lee Bass (#101) says "87, I'm on south side of the houston viaduct".   Bass is backing up Tippit, having left his special assignment to traffic div to aid with protection of president  Tippit is staked out waiting for Oswald to drive by. 

Jerry Hill arrives at the book depository, and within minutes finds hulls on the Sixth Floor 

12:51  After the President was shot, Hill supposedly commandeered Jim Valentine's police cruiser and started barking orders. 

The videotape shows that Hill and Valentine and police reporter Jim Ewell arrived at the book depository at 12:51.  (to see their arrival, click here, and go to the 14 minute 53 second mark)  The real-time video has been taken off youtube, I will find another copy.

(By contrast, Hill claims he didn't reach the depository until 1:03 - Hill supposedly left the Personnel Bureau at 12:41, Valentine claims he left the Juvenile Bureau at 12:45. Judy Bonner's book says it took them 15 minutes to get from basement of police HQ to Elm and Houston.  Their passenger Ewell contradicts them - telling author Larry Sneed years later the drive took two minutes, and it was within 15 minutes after he heard on radio that shots were fired!)Jerry Hill at the book depository 

JERRY HILL at the TSBD
Neither Hill nor his boss Captain Pinky Westbrook had any business being involved in any homicide investigation. Their beat was internal affairs, employment applications, and the like. They knew more about the inside dirt at the Dallas Police Department than anyone else, and specifically the proclivities of the various officers. They knew who they could work with, and who to avoid.

12:55 Hill may have "found" the Mannlicher hulls on the 6th floor as early as this time, according to photographer Bill Allen, who photographs Hill leaning out the window at this time and announcing the discovery.  (photos in timed sequence, see p. 32)

This is contrast to 1:12 according to Warren Report,  1:15 according to reports of Boyd and Sims; 1:11 according to radio report;  but jibes with 1:00 according to Mooney, the co-founder of the hulls.

The crime lab chief Carl Day admitted during his Warren Commission testimony that he only initialed the two hulls in the unsealed envelope when he got it back at 10 that night.  No chain of custody. The third hull was held back by Fritz, not marked for days later, again, no chain of custody. Furthermore, Hill or someone else could easily have planted the hulls.

Jerry Hill's vehicle is seen beeping its horn at Oswald's home 

12:55-1:00 Oswald arrives home, changes his clothes, gets his revolver, goes to the theater, is there by 1:10 or so - he may have had a ride from Valentine or someone else driving his car #207, the car number reported by the landlady.  Valentine claims he was searching the fifth floor (where there were no discoveries).

 

Oswald's landlady Earlene Roberts testified that while Oswald was home, she heard the police car tap the horn twice softly and then head towards Zangs Blvd.  Oswald could have met the officers down the block.  I believe they drove Oswald not to downtown Oak Cliff to shoot Tippit, but to the Texas Theater.

Tippit hunts for Oswald - stops the Andrews car - calls from Top Ten

12:56 Tippit stops the Andrews car, looks inside, lets it go.

1:00-1:05 Tippit is getting very frantic.  He goes to the Top Ten Record Store, makes a phone call, can't locate his party, runs out.

Tippit is murdered - no chain of custody for the hulls evidence

1:07  Tippit is shot in Oak Cliff (McBride, Into the Nightmare)

Three shots, with a fourth "coup de grace to the head".  The job of a trained killer.  

Once again, like on the sixth floor, shells are found at the crime scene.   Shooter decided to eject the shells at the tippit crime scene, planting evidence designed to frame Oswald.  The shooter reloads on the spot, then runs.

Officer Joe Poe claimed he marked the hulls found at scene - hulls in evidence unmarked.   Poe testified under oath he could not swear that the initialed these shells.  Hence, Poe admitted his police report was false.  Now there was no chain of custody.  

Oswald arrives at the Texas Theatre

1:10-1:15 Oswald is inside the Texas Theatre, according to two witnesses, manager Butch Burroughs who sells him popcorn at 1:10, and Jack Davis, who is with him on the main floor as the credits run at 1:15.  He spends the next half hour going from person to person, changing his seat.

Oswald's wallet appears at the Tippit death scene

1:17 Tippit's body is being taken away by the ambulance.  At that time, Officer Croy arrives, and is handed a wallet by an unknown man, who says he found it at the scene.  He was there off-duty, about to meet his estranged wife at Austin's where Tippit had worked for years as security.

Croy was handed the wallet with Oswald/Hidell ID in it at the Tippit death scene by an unknown party. (Source:  Croy Interview by researcher Jones Harris) 

No documents ever report the wallet being found at scene - but can be seen on video being handed by Bud Owens (supervisor of Croy and Tippit) to Westbrook.  

1:25   The story is that Inspector Sawyer - the man who provided the inaccurate ID of Oswald - ordered Hill to the Tippit scene - but the stories of the principals doesn't match up.   

Hill's story is that he, Officer Bud Owens, and district attorney Bill Alexander arrive at Tippit scene, as well as Ewell.   

Owens said he took Westbrook with him to Oak Cliff (7 H 79)

Highly unlikely, b/c Owens was "out at destination" in Oak Cliff (23 H 861), according to the radio - while the radio also shows that as late as 1:30 Hawkins and Badgett are trying to get directions to help Westbrook get to the Tippit murder site.

In a joint document withheld from the WC volumes, a joint statement by Hill, Owens and Westbrook says that Hill and Owens rode together to the murder scene - Owens didn't sign it.  CD 87, p. 179.

In any case, Hill, Owens, DA Alexander, Westbrook and Ewell wind up at the Tippit scene - Hill testified the first man he saw told him "the shooter was 5 10, 160-170, jacket, dark trousers, brown bushy hair.  Then Poe and Jez rolled up.  I turned him over to Poe, and I didn't even get his name."  No record of any interview by anyone.  Hill used this as an Oswald ID.

1:30  Wallet is reviewed by Capt. Westbrook and FBI Agent Bob Barrett.  (See WFAA video footage of Barrett and wallet)

Barrett adamantly recalls Westbrook telling him contents include ID for Oswald and Hidell.  

Wallet is not entered into evidence as being found at the Tippit crime scene.  

Unknown that it was Oswald's wallet until revealed in 1996 by an FBI agent treated very shabby by Hoover.

Someone looking like Oswald ducks into the theatre and heads for the balcony

 1:35  Shoe store employee Johnny Brewer saw a man looking like Oswald ducking past the ticket taker and going straight up to the balcony.

There is a long history of Oswald being impersonated at the grocery, at the rifle range, at the barber shop, elsewhere.   The Warren Commission was very concerned about it, and wrote a special memo about it.

1:40 What really threw a spanner into the works was when Hill made a radio call at 1:40 pm and reported that the hulls came from a 38 automatic rather than a 38 special. The 38 special bullets were used by the Dallas police and were extremely well-known. Both 38 special and 38 automatic hulls are clearly identified at their base - Hill's misidentification cannot be passed off as a simple mistake. 

Hill then threw gasoline on the fire. In the face of a very carefully phrased question by Warren Commission attorney David Belin, Hill denied under oath that he made the radio call about the finding of 38 automatic hulls at 1:40 pm. Hill claimed that he was sharing his call number "550-2" with another officer.  In 1986, Hill admitted to researcher Dale Myers that he made the call - thus committing perjury. 

In the same conversation, when asked how he figured out that the hulls were 38 caliber, Hill said, "Thirty-eight's stamped on the bottom of it. I looked on the bottom." Hill's problem is that the bottom of the hull will spell out for you what type of 38 it is! (Dale Myers, With Malice, p. 261).

Jerry Hill finds out the suspect is in the balcony

1:46 In response to Hill's question, Dallas police dispatcher says suspect entered theater, hiding in the balcony.  Also see WC 705, pp. 29-30; see Armstrong, p. 864.

 Police arrive at the theater.  Hill and his pals charge directly charge the balcony from the rear fire escape...

While Westbrook leads the main group into the main floor.

Two of the officers sprain their ankles running from the balcony the main floor when they learn Oswald is downstairs.

1:50  Oswald is arrested, so scared that he pulls out his pistol, convinced that he is about to be killed.   Paul Bentley pulled several ligaments as he charged down from the balcony, K.E. Lyons similarly sprained his left ankle while running down the balcony steps.

There is a big brawl, Walker and Hawkins grab him from front, force him backwards into seat, Hawkins and Hill cuff him, according to Hill.  Bob Carroll gets Oswald's gun, who hands  it over to an insistent Jerry Hill.  

Jerry Hill falsely claims Oswald fired his revolver

1:51 Jerry Hill reports we caught him in the lower floor of the Texas Theater after a fight.  Hill proceeded to lie, claiming that Oswald fired his revolver, but no one was hurt because it misfired.

Hill wrote in his report that one of the shells had a hammer mark on the primer -  but the FBI expert said it simply didn't happen. 3 H 463.  Cortlandt Cunningham testified to the WC, "We found nothing to indicate that this weapon's firing pin had struck the primer of any of these cartridges."  

After the arrest, chief polygraph examiner Paul Bentley claimed he took a wallet from Oswald while in the police car, and it had the Oswald/Hidell ID in it.

The arrest wallet is now in the Archives.   There is video of the wallet at the arrest scene.  The wallets look extremely similar if not identical...

Photos of wallet at scene and wallet at Archives 

Evidence is fabricated to point to Oswald and Frazier

The wallet was supposedly found in Oswald's pants pocket after leaving the main floor of the theater.   

A second man is led from the balcony - probably the same man who went up there at 1:35.  

All of the records of the other patrons of the theater were lost by the police.   Westbrook admitted he didn't know where the records had gone.

2:00 A suspicious man - reported to resemble Oswald - was parked in a lot five blocks away from the theater.  When a local mechanic approached the car, it drove off.  The mechanic, a former police officer, took down the plates, and gave them to famed reporter Wes Wise, who later became mayor of Dallas.  When Wise checked it out - the license plates belonged to Tippit's friend Carl Mather.  Mather refused to testify to the HSCA without immunity.  (I don't believe his testimony has been released.)

2:00  Hill's former station, WBAP, an NBC affiliate, announces that the murder weapon was a Enfield 303 - the rifle owned by Buell Frazier.

(The Mannlicher rifle had been found minutes earlier, mis-identified as a Mauser).

2:15:  The rifle is identified on NBC as a 303 Enfield (Frazier's rifle), and that the hulls found were Enfield 303 as well.

3:00  The supposed "bag" is shown on television.

3:30   Buell Frazier's sister Linnie walks across the street and says to the police at the Paine house "we saw the bag", that Buell said Oswald told him had "curtain rods" in it.  It was probably a woman who dreamed up that story, unlikely that Frazier, Oswald or any man could have come up with "curtain rods" without Linnie's help.

Told Warren Commission later that it was 24 inches, too small to carry a rifle.  But that night wanted to keep Buell out of prison.  Buell can't be found until after 6 pm, at the hospital bedside of his estranged stepfather.

4:00   White House Situation Room announces there was one shooter, Oswald, and he acted alone.

J. Edgar Hoover makes a similar announcement to RFK:  He thought "we had the man who killed the President down in Dallas."

5:00   Hill interviewed on radio - goes worldwide, says the only difference in the ID is "two inches", suspect is 5 10 not 5 8, he ignored the bushy hair description given by a witness that went over the radio.   Also LHO is 131 pounds, not 165.  As described earlier, Hill lost the "bushy hair" witness.

Hill also talks at length about LHO's time in Russia, said later he learned it all from Westbrook.   In a written transcript from that day, Hill tells Bob Whitten, Sacramento radio station KCRA, hat he admitted in interrogation "he was an active Communist", and that he defected to Russia and came back with a Russian bride 

6:00   The Mannlicher is displayed to the press.

6:45   Frazier is arrested.  The police find his Enfield 303 and his ammo.  They try to force him to confess as an accomplice.

 Early evening:  Oswald arraigned for Tippit's murder.

 11:00-12:30   It is announced that the Mannlicher is the rifle, Oswald is the suspect, arraigned for JFK's killing as well.

 In the next few days ahead, the paper trail showing "Hidell" ordered the rifle and the "Hidell ID" w/Oswald's photo in the wallet convinces many Americans that the FBI got the right man.  They don't know the story of the wallet, not made public until the late 1990s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 18, 2018 by James DiEugenio

[Ron Bulman]

On ‎5‎/‎18‎/‎2018 at 5:13 PM, James DiEugenio said:

Bill SImpich Time Line for the TIppit Case:

Introduction

Tippit was killed so that any attempt to investigate this case would descend into chaos.   By their own admission, the cops were more upset about Tippit's death than the death of the President.

The story first hinges on Tippit's hunt for Oswald - the stakeout of his expected path on the viaduct, looking for LHO in the Andrews car and the Top Ten Record Store.  

It then turns to the wallet at the Tippit murder scene that was never reported - the report that Hidell's ID was inside Oswald's wallet, which jibed with the rifle ordered In the name of Hidell - and the other phony evidence at the Tippit scene.

Also important is a floating 15 minute block of time...  

Did Jerry Hill and his driver arrive at 12:51 - as indicated by the evidence - or after 1:00, the time of the official story?

Were the hulls on the sixth floor found at 12:55 - as indicated by the evidence - or 1:10, the time of the official story?  

Was Tippit shot at about 1:07 as indicated by the evidence, or 1:15, the time of the official story?  

Was Oswald inside the theater and buying popcorn by 1:10 pm and watching credits by 1:15 - as indicated by the evidence - or did he not get there any earlier than 1:35, the time of the official story?

The disparity of these stories provide a portrait of who was in on the cover-up of the killings of JFK and Tippit.   

Tippit outline

7:30 am   Someone who looks like Oswald goes to the Top Ten Record Store and buys tickets for the Dick Clark show at the time of  the opening of the store.   The owner, Dub Stark, knew the man he knew as Oswald from previous visits, and he also knew Tippit. CIA officer Jack Whitten himself reported the gist of this story to the FBI on 12/3/63.   

 Later am  

Frazier and his sister Linnie testified that Oswald came by the house with 24 inch bag, not 38 inches. 

LInnie could not see Oswald through a closed garage window - she had no way to see the bag at all.

Employee Jack Dougherty saw Oswald came to work with no bag at all. 

Oswald supposedly told Frazier that the bag had "curtain rods". 

Tippit was with Collins Radio employee Carl Mather that morning.  Collins Radio had a major communications contract with the CIA.  The Mather family were the ones comforting Mrs. Tippit at her home that afternoon.

12-12:30 Oswald's whereabouts.  

Seen on 1st floor in the lunchroom shortly before the shooting.  

Seen at coke machine near 2nd floor by his boss Roy Truly and Officer Baker 90 seconds after the shots.  

The women walking down the stairs said they did not hear LHO walking down with them right after the shots.

The stairs were the only route down since the elevator was not working.

The sixth floor was not a secure place to set up a real sniper's nest.  Bonnie Ray Williams was there until close to 12:30.  The HSCA found someone rearranged the sniper's nest during the 2 minutes after the shooting.

12:43  Dispatch call described the shooter as "5 foot 10, 165 pounds", called in by Inspector Sawyer. That was the ID used for Oswald by the FBI and the CIA for the last 3 years.  It was also very inaccurate.   On the day he died, his weight was 131 pounds.

Tippit stakes out the south side of the viaduct, looking for Oswald - both he and his partner Nelson lie about their location

12:45   #87 (Ronald Nelson) and #78 (J.D. Tippit) are ordered by dispatcher into central Oak Cliff.

Tippit's father told author Joe McBride that he learned from a police officer that Tippit was looking for Oswald that day.

Nelson (#87) reported his position as being on the east side of Oak Cliff, across the river from downtown Dallas:  "“I'm going north on Marsalis by R.L. Thornton”.  Nelson falsely claimed in a 11/20/63 interview (recently taken down off YouTube!) that he was in downtown Dallas from 12:30-1:15.   This false claim about being downtown all afternoon is also in a document.

Nelson may have been looking for Oswald.   If he had either of Oswald's two addresses since his return from Mexico City, it would indicate that Nelson was heading on a beeline towards Oswald's address from October 7-14  - 621 N. Marsalis, or that Nelson was about turn left on Marsalis and be directly at LHO's North Beckley place)

Meanwhile, Tippit (#78) falsely reported his position to be at Kiest and Bonnieview in Oak Cliff.  

Tippit's claim is contradicted by five witnesses, who saw him at that time at the Gloco gas station at the south end of the Houston viaduct, six miles away from Kiest and Bonnieview.  Three were Gloco gas station employees, the other two were a photographer and his wife.  Joseph McBride reports in his book Into the Nightmare that these witnesses were found by William Turner in 1966.

12:47  Deputy sheriff Billy Lee Bass (#101) says "87, I'm on south side of the houston viaduct".   Bass is backing up Tippit, having left his special assignment to traffic div to aid with protection of president  Tippit is staked out waiting for Oswald to drive by. 

Jerry Hill arrives at the book depository, and within minutes finds hulls on the Sixth Floor 

12:51  After the President was shot, Hill supposedly commandeered Jim Valentine's police cruiser and started barking orders. 

The videotape shows that Hill and Valentine and police reporter Jim Ewell arrived at the book depository at 12:51.  (to see their arrival, click here, and go to the 14 minute 53 second mark)  The real-time video has been taken off youtube, I will find another copy.

(By contrast, Hill claims he didn't reach the depository until 1:03 - Hill supposedly left the Personnel Bureau at 12:41, Valentine claims he left the Juvenile Bureau at 12:45. Judy Bonner's book says it took them 15 minutes to get from basement of police HQ to Elm and Houston.  Their passenger Ewell contradicts them - telling author Larry Sneed years later the drive took two minutes, and it was within 15 minutes after he heard on radio that shots were fired!)Jerry Hill at the book depository 

JERRY HILL at the TSBD
Neither Hill nor his boss Captain Pinky Westbrook had any business being involved in any homicide investigation. Their beat was internal affairs, employment applications, and the like. They knew more about the inside dirt at the Dallas Police Department than anyone else, and specifically the proclivities of the various officers. They knew who they could work with, and who to avoid.

12:55 Hill may have "found" the Mannlicher hulls on the 6th floor as early as this time, according to photographer Bill Allen, who photographs Hill leaning out the window at this time and announcing the discovery.  (photos in timed sequence, see p. 32)

This is contrast to 1:12 according to Warren Report,  1:15 according to reports of Boyd and Sims; 1:11 according to radio report;  but jibes with 1:00 according to Mooney, the co-founder of the hulls.

The crime lab chief Carl Day admitted during his Warren Commission testimony that he only initialed the two hulls in the unsealed envelope when he got it back at 10 that night.  No chain of custody. The third hull was held back by Fritz, not marked for days later, again, no chain of custody. Furthermore, Hill or someone else could easily have planted the hulls.

Jerry Hill's vehicle is seen beeping its horn at Oswald's home 

12:55-1:00 Oswald arrives home, changes his clothes, gets his revolver, goes to the theater, is there by 1:10 or so - he may have had a ride from Valentine or someone else driving his car #207, the car number reported by the landlady.  Valentine claims he was searching the fifth floor (where there were no discoveries).

 

Oswald's landlady Earlene Roberts testified that while Oswald was home, she heard the police car tap the horn twice softly and then head towards Zangs Blvd.  Oswald could have met the officers down the block.  I believe they drove Oswald not to downtown Oak Cliff to shoot Tippit, but to the Texas Theater.

Tippit hunts for Oswald - stops the Andrews car - calls from Top Ten

12:56 Tippit stops the Andrews car, looks inside, lets it go.

1:00-1:05 Tippit is getting very frantic.  He goes to the Top Ten Record Store, makes a phone call, can't locate his party, runs out.

Tippit is murdered - no chain of custody for the hulls evidence

1:07  Tippit is shot in Oak Cliff (McBride, Into the Nightmare)

Three shots, with a fourth "coup de grace to the head".  The job of a trained killer.  

Once again, like on the sixth floor, shells are found at the crime scene.   Shooter decided to eject the shells at the tippit crime scene, planting evidence designed to frame Oswald.  The shooter reloads on the spot, then runs.

Officer Joe Poe claimed he marked the hulls found at scene - hulls in evidence unmarked.   Poe testified under oath he could not swear that the initialed these shells.  Hence, Poe admitted his police report was false.  Now there was no chain of custody.  

Oswald arrives at the Texas Theatre

1:10-1:15 Oswald is inside the Texas Theatre, according to two witnesses, manager Butch Burroughs who sells him popcorn at 1:10, and Jack Davis, who is with him on the main floor as the credits run at 1:15.  He spends the next half hour going from person to person, changing his seat.

Oswald's wallet appears at the Tippit death scene

1:17 Tippit's body is being taken away by the ambulance.  At that time, Officer Croy arrives, and is handed a wallet by an unknown man, who says he found it at the scene.  He was there off-duty, about to meet his estranged wife at Austin's where Tippit had worked for years as security.

Croy was handed the wallet with Oswald/Hidell ID in it at the Tippit death scene by an unknown party. (Source:  Croy Interview by researcher Jones Harris) 

No documents ever report the wallet being found at scene - but can be seen on video being handed by Bud Owens (supervisor of Croy and Tippit) to Westbrook.  

1:25   The story is that Inspector Sawyer - the man who provided the inaccurate ID of Oswald - ordered Hill to the Tippit scene - but the stories of the principals doesn't match up.   

Hill's story is that he, Officer Bud Owens, and district attorney Bill Alexander arrive at Tippit scene, as well as Ewell.   

Owens said he took Westbrook with him to Oak Cliff (7 H 79)

Highly unlikely, b/c Owens was "out at destination" in Oak Cliff (23 H 861), according to the radio - while the radio also shows that as late as 1:30 Hawkins and Badgett are trying to get directions to help Westbrook get to the Tippit murder site.

In a joint document withheld from the WC volumes, a joint statement by Hill, Owens and Westbrook says that Hill and Owens rode together to the murder scene - Owens didn't sign it.  CD 87, p. 179.

In any case, Hill, Owens, DA Alexander, Westbrook and Ewell wind up at the Tippit scene - Hill testified the first man he saw told him "the shooter was 5 10, 160-170, jacket, dark trousers, brown bushy hair.  Then Poe and Jez rolled up.  I turned him over to Poe, and I didn't even get his name."  No record of any interview by anyone.  Hill used this as an Oswald ID.

1:30  Wallet is reviewed by Capt. Westbrook and FBI Agent Bob Barrett.  (See WFAA video footage of Barrett and wallet)

Barrett adamantly recalls Westbrook telling him contents include ID for Oswald and Hidell.  

Wallet is not entered into evidence as being found at the Tippit crime scene.  

Unknown that it was Oswald's wallet until revealed in 1996 by an FBI agent treated very shabby by Hoover.

Someone looking like Oswald ducks into the theatre and heads for the balcony

 1:35  Shoe store employee Johnny Brewer saw a man looking like Oswald ducking past the ticket taker and going straight up to the balcony.

There is a long history of Oswald being impersonated at the grocery, at the rifle range, at the barber shop, elsewhere.   The Warren Commission was very concerned about it, and wrote a special memo about it.

1:40 What really threw a spanner into the works was when Hill made a radio call at 1:40 pm and reported that the hulls came from a 38 automatic rather than a 38 special. The 38 special bullets were used by the Dallas police and were extremely well-known. Both 38 special and 38 automatic hulls are clearly identified at their base - Hill's misidentification cannot be passed off as a simple mistake. 

Hill then threw gasoline on the fire. In the face of a very carefully phrased question by Warren Commission attorney David Belin, Hill denied under oath that he made the radio call about the finding of 38 automatic hulls at 1:40 pm. Hill claimed that he was sharing his call number "550-2" with another officer.  In 1986, Hill admitted to researcher Dale Myers that he made the call - thus committing perjury. 

In the same conversation, when asked how he figured out that the hulls were 38 caliber, Hill said, "Thirty-eight's stamped on the bottom of it. I looked on the bottom." Hill's problem is that the bottom of the hull will spell out for you what type of 38 it is! (Dale Myers, With Malice, p. 261).

Jerry Hill finds out the suspect is in the balcony

1:46 In response to Hill's question, Dallas police dispatcher says suspect entered theater, hiding in the balcony.  Also see WC 705, pp. 29-30; see Armstrong, p. 864.

 Police arrive at the theater.  Hill and his pals charge directly charge the balcony from the rear fire escape...

While Westbrook leads the main group into the main floor.

Two of the officers sprain their ankles running from the balcony the main floor when they learn Oswald is downstairs.

1:50  Oswald is arrested, so scared that he pulls out his pistol, convinced that he is about to be killed.   Paul Bentley pulled several ligaments as he charged down from the balcony, K.E. Lyons similarly sprained his left ankle while running down the balcony steps.

There is a big brawl, Walker and Hawkins grab him from front, force him backwards into seat, Hawkins and Hill cuff him, according to Hill.  Bob Carroll gets Oswald's gun, who hands  it over to an insistent Jerry Hill.  

Jerry Hill falsely claims Oswald fired his revolver

1:51 Jerry Hill reports we caught him in the lower floor of the Texas Theater after a fight.  Hill proceeded to lie, claiming that Oswald fired his revolver, but no one was hurt because it misfired.

Hill wrote in his report that one of the shells had a hammer mark on the primer -  but the FBI expert said it simply didn't happen. 3 H 463.  Cortlandt Cunningham testified to the WC, "We found nothing to indicate that this weapon's firing pin had struck the primer of any of these cartridges."  

After the arrest, chief polygraph examiner Paul Bentley claimed he took a wallet from Oswald while in the police car, and it had the Oswald/Hidell ID in it.

The arrest wallet is now in the Archives.   There is video of the wallet at the arrest scene.  The wallets look extremely similar if not identical...

Photos of wallet at scene and wallet at Archives 

Evidence is fabricated to point to Oswald and Frazier

The wallet was supposedly found in Oswald's pants pocket after leaving the main floor of the theater.   

A second man is led from the balcony - probably the same man who went up there at 1:35.  

All of the records of the other patrons of the theater were lost by the police.   Westbrook admitted he didn't know where the records had gone.

2:00 A suspicious man - reported to resemble Oswald - was parked in a lot five blocks away from the theater.  When a local mechanic approached the car, it drove off.  The mechanic, a former police officer, took down the plates, and gave them to famed reporter Wes Wise, who later became mayor of Dallas.  When Wise checked it out - the license plates belonged to Tippit's friend Carl Mather.  Mather refused to testify to the HSCA without immunity.  (I don't believe his testimony has been released.)

2:00  Hill's former station, WBAP, an NBC affiliate, announces that the murder weapon was a Enfield 303 - the rifle owned by Buell Frazier.

(The Mannlicher rifle had been found minutes earlier, mis-identified as a Mauser).

2:15:  The rifle is identified on NBC as a 303 Enfield (Frazier's rifle), and that the hulls found were Enfield 303 as well.

3:00  The supposed "bag" is shown on television.

3:30   Buell Frazier's sister Linnie walks across the street and says to the police at the Paine house "we saw the bag", that Buell said Oswald told him had "curtain rods" in it.  It was probably a woman who dreamed up that story, unlikely that Frazier, Oswald or any man could have come up with "curtain rods" without Linnie's help.

Told Warren Commission later that it was 24 inches, too small to carry a rifle.  But that night wanted to keep Buell out of prison.  Buell can't be found until after 6 pm, at the hospital bedside of his estranged stepfather.

4:00   White House Situation Room announces there was one shooter, Oswald, and he acted alone.

J. Edgar Hoover makes a similar announcement to RFK:  He thought "we had the man who killed the President down in Dallas."

5:00   Hill interviewed on radio - goes worldwide, says the only difference in the ID is "two inches", suspect is 5 10 not 5 8, he ignored the bushy hair description given by a witness that went over the radio.   Also LHO is 131 pounds, not 165.  As described earlier, Hill lost the "bushy hair" witness.

Hill also talks at length about LHO's time in Russia, said later he learned it all from Westbrook.   In a written transcript from that day, Hill tells Bob Whitten, Sacramento radio station KCRA, hat he admitted in interrogation "he was an active Communist", and that he defected to Russia and came back with a Russian bride 

6:00   The Mannlicher is displayed to the press.

6:45   Frazier is arrested.  The police find his Enfield 303 and his ammo.  They try to force him to confess as an accomplice.

 Early evening:  Oswald arraigned for Tippit's murder.

 11:00-12:30   It is announced that the Mannlicher is the rifle, Oswald is the suspect, arraigned for JFK's killing as well.

 In the next few days ahead, the paper trail showing "Hidell" ordered the rifle and the "Hidell ID" w/Oswald's photo in the wallet convinces many Americans that the FBI got the right man.  They don't know the story of the wallet, not made public until the late 1990s.

Pretty excellent Mr. Simpich.  Mr. McBride may have written the book on the on the subject but this is the best time line or synopsis I've ever read, not that I'm an expert on it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[James DiEugenio]

That fifteen minutes of floating time he points out is interesting for Hill.

It means that Westbrook, Croy and Hill all have a kind of bermuda Triangle of about 15-20 minutes unaccounted for.

 

Edited May 20, 2018 by James DiEugenio

[Ron Bulman]

 

1 hour ago, James DiEugenio said:

That fifteen minutes of floating time he points out is interesting for Hill.

It means that Westbrook, Croy and Hill all have a kind of bermuda Triangle of about 15-20 minutes unaccounted for.

 

Throw Bentley in that group and all four are suspicious of having been manipulated, possibly, they willingly cooperated with whoever did so.  Kind of like Dean, Bachelor, Butler, Leavelle on Sunday regarding Ruby.  Somebody higher up in the DPD was giving orders.

Edited May 20, 2018 by Ron Bulman

[Ron Bulman]

I believe Doris Holan.  That she was ignored by the DPD, FBI and Warren Omission is perfectly understandable.  They didn't want to touch her with a ten foot pole.  If Acquilla Clemons was visited by a man wearing a gun she though might have been a policeman and told not to talk it's easy to see the same might have been done to Ms. Holan.  Clemons talked to Mark Lane and disappeared.  Holan didn't talk until shortly before her death from terminal cancer in 2000 to Dallas researcher Michael Brownlow twice, once with Professor Bill Pulte along. (The Radical Right, pg. 347)  

She was directly across the street, elevated, on the second floor.  When she heard the shots she went and looked out the front window.  Look at the pictures in Jim's article, the small one showing the house she lived in and the street layout by David Joseph's, wish I could show them again here.  

There was a driveway to the right leading to an alley behind the house as she looked out the front window.  Directly across the street was another driveway leading to the alley behind the house across the street.  Parked in front of that driveway was Tippit's car.  Parked in the driveway was another Dallas Police car.  A man got out of it and walked over and looked at Tippit (to make sure he was dead?).  Another man walked away from the scene as this happened.  The Police car in the alley began backing up, the man who got out of it and looked at Tippitt walked back beside/to it...

Partially substantiated by one other named witness and another who (smartly?) didn't want to be named.  

She had the best quickest view.  Helen Markam was two houses plus a cross street away, badgered and all over the place in her testimony which is thus unreliable.

LHO didn't shoot Tippit.  That's become, and still becoming, increasingly more clear.  Tippit was hunting but drawn into a trap where he was the target.  Reasonable speculation?

Edited May 20, 2018 by Ron Bulman

[Michael Clark]

18 minutes ago, Ron Bulman said:

Tippit was hunting but drawn into a trap where he was the target. 

If Tippit did the Tit - tit, honk, he wasn't hunting. It was a signal to Oswald, the meaning to which Tippit may not have been privy. Things may have been falling apart, perhaps Tippit was supposed to give 3 tits, or 4, or two. In any event, it seems more like he screwed-up something, or became privy to something he didn't need to know, and had to be eliminated. Maybe Ozzie was supposed to grab an ID/ wallet and/or go to a location on the number of tits. Who knows.