Yet another Harvey & Lee factoid that doesn't withstand scrutiny?

[Guest]

On another active thread, “Two Oswalds in the Texas Theater,” Harvey and Lee disciple Jim Hargrove chides me for failing to recognize that Lee (I think) was on his way to the Texas Theater with two halves of torn dollar bills in his wallet to use in making contact with Harvey (I think), who presumably would have had the other halves.  To be fair to Jim, he does say "apparently" - but his mentor Armstrong is not so cautious.

As some readers know, I've investigated a few Harvey & Lee conspiracy gospel factoids in the past and discovered they didn’t stand up to scrutiny.  This appears to be another.  Please, prove me wrong.  Just don't call me a bloviating mediocrity like Cliff did (twice!) or I may cry.

I could find no evidence that Oswald had two halves of torn dollar bills in his wallet when arrested, as Armstrong repeatedly states at the Harvey & Lee site and folks like Jim repeat as conspiracy gospel.  The eight $1 bills in Oswald’s wallet were inventoried by serial number (WC Exhibit No. 1149) and do not include the two serial numbers (F38355215A  and F35031413A) on the handwritten note to which Armstrong and his disciples always point (Box 7, Folder 10, Item 26 of the DPD collection, http://jfk.ci.dallas.tx.us/22/2288-001.gif).  (One of the eight bills was described as “torn,” but there is no indication it was not intact.)

Significantly, the handwritten note in the DPD collection contains nothing but the bare handwriting.  It is described as “Note - handwritten, by an unknown author.”  It does not include the prominent “Found in Oswald’s Wallet” boxed note that Armstrong or someone else has added.  It doesn't even clearly indicate the denomination of the bills unless this is what the circled 1 is intended to mean.  There is no indication it is connected to Oswald at all.

 

According to Lamar Waldron in his books The Hidden History of the JFK Assassination: The Definitive Account of the Most Controversial Crime of the Twentieth Century and Legacy of Secrecy: The Long Shadow of the JFK Assassination, the two halves were found in the rooming house at 1026 N. Beckley when it was searched a second time the day after the assassination.

Indeed, in 2015 Armstrong himself apparently believed the halves had been found in the rooming house: “The next day, after collecting HARVEY Oswald's possessions with a search warrant, the Dallas police found the left half of two dollar bills in his room at 1026 N. Beckley (see attachment).”  See http://oswaldinthedoorway.blogspot.com/2015/04/westbrooks-whereabouts-after-oswalds.html (quoting Armstrong’s then-latest work).  Now, however, the Harvey and Lee website states as conspiracy gospel that the halves were found in Oswald’s wallet.  Also that they are “described in detail on a Dallas Police inventory report.”  Where is it?  Can we see it, please?  (Armstrong now goes so far as to suggest the halves were given to Oswald at the TSBD by Shelley, along with Shelley’s “instructions” for making contact at the Texas Theater: https://harveyandlee.net/Leaving/Leaving_the_TSBD.html.)

What was actually found in Oswald’s possession when he was arrested was the lid of a little box from Cox’s Department Store in Ft. Worth.  It was described on one inventory as “Small box top bearing the name ‘Cox's, Fort Worth’” and on another as “top of a small cardboard box with ‘Cox’s Fort Worth printed on top.”  It was not “half” of a box top, as conspiracy theorists (including Waldron) love to suggest (as though the contact in the Texas Theater were going to have the matching half).

FWIW, in 2013 a clever theater critic in Ft. Worth wondered why Oswald would be carrying this odd relic: “Why, I wondered, would a man carry a Cox’s box lid in his pocket to work?  I measured the more vintage jewelry boxes in my collection—almost all of them 3 ½ inches square, a standard size even to this day. Then I had a thought:  If someone wanted to carry ammunition inconspicuously, and keep loose cartridges from rolling off a windowsill or a stack of boxes, what could be better?  I checked, and the possibility fits.  Cartridges from the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle found in the Texas School Book Depository (also found in the Bugliosi book’s photographs) measure 3 inches long and about ½–inch wide. Six would fit perfectly into a small white box 3 ½ inches square.”  See http://www.theaterjones.com/ntx/reviews/20131110192806/2013-11-11/Casa-Manana/Oswald-The-Actual-Interrogation.

Also FWIW, Marguerite Oswald had worked at Cox’s in Fort Worth.  Armstrong mentions this, and John Pic and Robert Oswald both stated they had visited her while she was working there in 1958 and 1959. This may explain how Oswald came to have this little box.  Perhaps she had kept a piece of jewelry in it, and Oswald decided it would come in handy for some purpose of his (as it apparently did on November 22, 1963).  In any event, it renders the box lid considerably less mysterious.

The use of matching portions of torn dollar bills can be certainly be used for lots of purposes, including spy work.  FWIW, I found this, which might fit nicely with Oswald’s efforts to assemble a portfolio of “loyal Marxist” articles, letters, cards and whatnot (including a fake Communist Party card) when he visited the Cuban Embassy in Mexico City.  It appears on page 157 of J. Edgar Hoover’s Masters of Deceit, published in 1958:

To join the Communist Party does not automatically mean life tenure. Memberships must be renewed every year or, in communist language, members are "reregistered.  This represents another means of control. If a member is delinquent in dues or donations, he'll have to pay a penalty, perhaps contribute ten dollars, or be disciplined. These annual registration drives are important events in Party life. Each member is personally contacted. Clubs and sections compete for speed and percentage of successful registration. The drives usually start in October and often extend well past the December 31 deadline.

A member moves. His district organization will send details concerning him to his new area: name, Party history, whether dues are paid, along with any other remarks. A member may be given half of a dollar bill and the other half forwarded to the new district. When the member arrives, the halves are matched. Identity is thus established.

"See," Oswald might have said to Sylvia Duran, "here are two halves of dollar bills they gave me when I moved to New Orleans and back to Dallas."  Pure speculation on my part, of course.

Edited April 27, 2020 by Guest

[Ron Bulman]

Factoid?  Are you the new McAdams?

[Guest]

No, perhaps McAdams was the new Norman Mailer?

Did you know that Norman Mailer coined the word factoid?

We can thank Norman Mailer for the word factoid; he coined the term in his 1973 book Marilyn, about Marilyn Monroe. In the book, Mailer explains that factoids are "facts which have no existence before appearing in a magazine or newspaper, creations which are not so much lies as a product to manipulate emotion in the Silent Majority." In creating his coinage, Mailer relied on "-oid," a suffix that traces back to the ancient Greek word eidos, meaning "appearance" or "form." Mailer followed in a long tradition when he chose "-oid"; English speakers have been making words from "-oid" since at least the late 16th century.

[W. Tracy Parnell]

30 minutes ago, Lance Payette said:

As some readers know, I've investigated a few Harvey & Lee conspiracy gospel factoids in the past and discovered they didn’t stand up to scrutiny.  This appears to be another.

There is very little if anything regarding H&L that will stand up to scrutiny. The only thing lacking is hours in the day to do the job. I've never looked into this one, but looks like you have done a lot of work on it and a nice debunking.

[Ron Bulman]

He's mentioned here too.

http://whokilledjfk.net/CTKS.HTM

[John Butler]

1 hour ago, Ron Bulman said:

Factoid?  Are you the new McAdams?

Not the new McAdams, but the new Bugliosi.  A lawyer.

"What was actually found in Oswald’s possession when he was arrested was the lid of a little box from Cox’s Department Store in Ft. Worth.  It was described on one inventory as “Small box top bearing the name ‘Cox's, Fort Worth’” and on another as “top of a small cardboard box with ‘Cox’s Fort Worth printed on top.”  It was not “half” of a box top, as conspiracy theorists (including Waldron) love to suggest (as though the contact in the Texas Theater were going to have the matching half).

 

FWIW, in 2013 a clever theater critic in Ft. Worth wondered why Oswald would be carrying this odd relic: “Why, I wondered, would a man carry a Cox’s box lid in his pocket to work?  I measured the more vintage jewelry boxes in my collection—almost all of them 3 ½ inches square, a standard size even to this day. Then I had a thought:  If someone wanted to carry ammunition inconspicuously, and keep loose cartridges from rolling off a windowsill or a stack of boxes, what could be better?  I checked, and the possibility fits.  Cartridges from the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle found in the Texas School Book Depository (also found in the Bugliosi book’s photographs) measure 3 inches long and about ½–inch wide. Six would fit perfectly into a small white box 3 ½ inches square.”  See http://www.theaterjones.com/ntx/reviews/20131110192806/2013-11-11/Casa-Manana/Oswald-The-Actual-Interrogation.

 

Also FWIW, Marguerite Oswald had worked at Cox’s in Fort Worth.  Armstrong mentions this, and John Pic and Robert Oswald both stated they had visited her while she was working there in 1958 and 1959. This may explain how Oswald came to have this little box.  Perhaps she had kept a piece of jewelry in it, and Oswald decided it would come in handy for some purpose of his (as it apparently did on November 22, 1963).  In any event, it renders the box lid considerably less mysterious."

Let's see.  A small cardboard lid becomes a cardboard jewelry box, and then turns into an ammo box capable of carrying 6 Carcano rounds.  It is suitable for keeping those 6 rounds from jingling in your pocket or rolling around on a book box in the Sniper's Nest.  It makes the object less mysterious?

What are the factoids?  3 spent rounds are found on the floor of the Sniper's Nest, and one live round was found in the Carcano rifle.

So, what's the point of having a "little cardboard lid" to carry 6 rounds of ammunition around in the cardboard lid", even if that's possible.  The rounds were carried in the rifle.  Why carry them separately?

Is this the kind of logic that wins court cases?       

 

Edited August 16, 2019 by John Butler

[Guest]

16 minutes ago, John Butler said:

Let's see.  A small cardboard lid becomes a cardboard jewelry box, and then turns into an ammo box capable of carrying 6 Carcano rounds.  It is suitable for keeping those 6 rounds from jingling in your pocket or rolling around on a book box in the Sniper's Nest.  It makes the object less mysterious?

What are the factoids?  3 spent rounds are found on the floor of the Sniper's Nest, and one live round was found in the Carcano rifle.

So, what's the point of having a "little cardboard lid" to carry 6 rounds of ammunition around in the cardboard lid", even if that's possible.  The rounds were carried in the rifle.  Why carry them separately?

Is this the kind of logic that wins court cases?   

Uh, no, it doesn't "become" anything.  I mentioned, on a "FWIW" basis, what "a clever theater critic" had suggested.  Nothing more and nothing less.

I trust that readers who are not yet in the full grip of Conspiracy Derangement Syndrome can see how assiduously the CTers are AVOIDING THE SUBSTANCE OF MY POST BECAUSE THEY CAN'T DEAL WITH IT.  When you have no substantive response, resort to irrelevancies and ad hominem attacks.  Yeah, the speculation of the theater critic was the main point (NOT) of my post.

The principal factoid, for those who are reading comprehension challenged, is that TWO HALVES OF TORN $1 BILLS WERE NOT FOUND IN OSWALD'S WALLET WHEN HE WAS ARRESTED, as Armstrong repeatedly asserts.  This bit of conspiracy gospel appears to be false.

Sub-factoids are that (1) THERE IS REALLY NOTHING TO SUGGEST THAT TWO HALVES OF TORN $1 BILLS WERE FOUND AT ALL, and (2) THERE WAS NOTHING MYSTERIOUS ABOUT THE COX'S BOX TOP, WHICH WAS NOT "HALF" OF A BOX TOP.

I won't be astonished or disappointed if someone can show that halves of torn $1 bills actually were found at 1026 N. Beckley, but the fact that they weren't found in Oswald's wallet and that there is no big mystery to the Cox's box lid does eviscerate this bit of Harvey & Lee lore.

FWIW, my copy of Harvey & Lee, which I ordered directly from Armstrong six or seven years ago, does not mention the torn $1 bills at all.  To give Armstrong credit, he does note on page 877 that the Cox's item was a box top, not half of a box top:

The second item was a small box top bearing the name "Cox's, Fort Worth."  Why was Oswald carrying this box top in his pocket on November 22?

[Guest]

1 hour ago, W. Tracy Parnell said:

There is very little if anything regarding H&L that will stand up to scrutiny. The only thing lacking is hours in the day to do the job. I've never looked into this one, but looks like you have done a lot of work on it and a nice debunking.

Yes, it is impossible even to attempt to take on the CTers on every point - although DVP makes a valiant stab at it.  With posts such as this, I'm not really talking to the wild-eyed CTers anyway.  I am talking to readers who are not yet in the full grip of Conspiracy Derangement Syndrome.  My hope is that occasionally pointing out how many conspiracy scenarios will not withstand basic common sense and logic and how many conspiracy factoids will not withstand scrutiny may cause those who are not yet a lost cause to step back and say "Hey, maybe I'd better be a little more careful before I drink the Conspiracy Kool-Aid."  But even this is exhausting and probably way more trouble than it's worth.  I do the same thing on religion, paranormal and a variety of other forums where some species of Derangement Syndrome prevails.  I'm equally popular there, too.

[Jim Hargrove]

Here is an image of “Lee Harvey Oswald’s” entire living quarters in the house on North Beckley:

Are we really to believe police missed this note in their first search of North Beckley?

Look at the room! 

We are really to believe the note was found on the second day on a second search of the room and that this is how it was introduced into evidence?  We are to believe they missed it the first time?  Are you kidding?

On the other hand, John wrote on our website, “Curiously, neither of these items were listed on the police inventory of 11/23/63, the joint FBI/DPD inventory of 11/26/63 (Oswald's so-called possessions), nor were they photographed. At the National Archives, in Adelphi, MD, I inspected and handled each item of inventory listed on the joint FBI/DPD inventory of 11/26/63. These items were not among the inventory.”

It’s easy to see why so many people are disturbed by the torn dollar bill(s) associated with “Oswald.”  Less than 5 months before the assassination, the exact same identification technique was used in another Agency project.

As David Boylan reminded us a couple of weeks ago (emphasis added by me):

AMBIDDY/1 mentioned above was Manuel Artime. Henry Hecksher was his case office and was tasked with the AMWORLD project which was the "autonomous" anti-Castro initiative that was based in Nicaragua and Costa Rica. This was just getting started at this time.  David Morales and Ted Shackley would later train Artime and Rafael Quintero on intelligence activities.

Didn't John Martino say that LHO was to meet his contact at the Texas Theater, flown out of the country and killed?

And as Larry Hancock wrote on Jefferson Morley’s website:

"The second person to whom Martino confided was a former business partner named Fred Claassen. He said Martino told him:

“The anti-Castro people put Oswald together. Oswald didn’t know who he was working for — he was just ignorant of who was really putting him together. Oswald was to meet his contact at the Texas Theater [the movie house where Oswald was arrested]. They were to meet Oswald in the theater and get him out of the country, and then eliminate him. Oswald made a mistake . . . there was no way we could get to him. They had Ruby kill him.”"

It’s easy to understand why the list of patrons from the Texas Theater had to disappear.  Oswald’s odd behavior of sitting right next to one patron and then moving to another and then another clearly suggested he was looking for a contact.  The fact that he created a scene doing so meant the probably more than one patron would have noticed that he was watching events on screen far too early to have killed Tippit or to be seen by Brewer in front of the shoe store.

As to the torn bills note Mr. Payette wants us to forget about?  Why isn’t it in evidence at the National Archives?  Why is it just sitting in a box in Dallas?  My suspicion is that it, like the police reports indicating “Oswald” was arrested in the balcony, were preserved because a couple of Dallas cops got tired of being played by Hoover and the FBI.  Just as they refused to alter their records about a certain camera when the FBI tried to call it a light meter.

When you ignore the insults and name-calling and concentrate on the facts, this issue gets really interesting!

Edited August 16, 2019 by Jim Hargrove

[Michael Clark]

4 minutes ago, Lance Payette said:

Yes, it is impossible even to attempt to take on the CTers on every point - although DVP makes a valiant stab at it.  With posts such as this, I'm not really talking to the wild-eyed CTers anyway.  I am talking to readers who are not yet in the full grip of Conspiracy Derangement Syndrome.  My hope is that occasionally pointing out how many conspiracy scenarios will not withstand basic common sense and logic and how many conspiracy factoids will not withstand scrutiny may cause those who are not yet a lost cause to step back and say "Hey, maybe I'd better be a little more careful before I drink the Conspiracy Kool-Aid."  But even this is exhausting and probably way more trouble than it's worth.  I do the same thing on religion, paranormal and a variety of other forums where some species of Derangement Syndrome prevails.  I'm equally popular there, too.

It’s a straw man argument. You are making an example of all CTers by choosing an obscure, false, story and saying that it’s something they all fell for and have all been bandying about as if it were true for decades. It’s not the case.

Lance, that’s a swing and a miss, with a fall to the ground. Dust yourself off and try again.

[Guest]

10 hours ago, Jim Hargrove said:

Are we really to believe police missed this note in their first search of North Beckley?

Look at the room! 

We are really to believe the note was found on the second day on a second search of the room and that this is how it was introduced into evidence?  We are to believe they missed it the first time?  Are you kidding?

I don't know what we are "really to believe" - I'm asking you to tell me.  WHY ARE WE TO BELIEVE SUCH BILLS WERE FOUND AT ALL?  WHY ARE WE TO BELIEVE THEY HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH OSWALD?  That's the issue - get it?  It's your deity, Armstrong, who says the two bills were found in Oswald's wallet.  WHERE IS ANY EVIDENCE FOR THAT?

10 hours ago, Jim Hargrove said:

As to the torn bills note Mr. Payette wants us to forget about?  Why isn’t it in evidence at the National Archives?

Because the bills don't exist, would that be a pretty good guess?  I DON'T WANT YOU TO FORGET ABOUT THE BILLS, YOU CLUCK - I WANT YOU TO DEMONSTRATE WHY ARMSTRONG SAYS THEY WERE FOUND IN OSWALD'S WALLET.

Come on, you're not this dense.

10 hours ago, Michael Clark said:

It’s a straw man argument. You are making an example of all CTers by choosing an obscure, false, story and saying that it’s something they all fell for and have all been bandying about as if it were true for decades. It’s not the case.

Lance, that’s a swing and a miss, with a fall to the ground. Dust yourself off and try again.

Oh, now it's an "obscure, false story," is it?  Then why is it still all over the Harvey and Lee website?  Why are their multiple threads about it on this forum?  Why does it repeatedly get thrown in the face of folks like me, who stubbornly refuse to see the Mysterious Plan at work in Oswald's attempt to "meet his contact" at the Texas Theater?

A swing and a miss?  Uh, I don't think so.  Hose yourself off and try again.

Here's a variation of the "obscure, false" story in Bill Simpich's State Secret: Wiretapping in Mexico City, Double Agents, and the Framing of Lee Oswald, https://www.maryferrell.org/pages/State_Secret_Chapter6.html#ftn13.  (Simpich is a lawyer too.  But unlike Bugliosi and Lance, he's not a "Bugliosi."  He's nuts, but in a good, conspiracy-oriented way.)

Davis stated that Oswald sat next to him and then another patron before going out to the lobby. According to author Lamar Waldron, Oswald was armed with half a box top saying “Cox’s, Fort Worth”. If Waldron is correct, Oswald was apparently trying to meet someone who had the other box top half.[ 13 ] Manuel Artime did this kind of thing – his practice was to meet AMWORLD officers with torn one dollar bills.

13 According to author Lamar Waldron, Oswald was armed with half a box top saying “Cox’s, Fort Worth”. If Waldron is correct, Oswald was apparently trying to meet someone who had the other box top half: Lamar Waldron and Thom Hartmann, Ultimate Sacrifice, p. 734.

See how this works, folks?  Oswald didn't simply have "the top of a little box from the department store where his mother used to work" in his pocket.  No, he was "armed" - ARMED, I tell you! - with "half a box top" (WRONG).  We then analogize this to Manuel Artime "doing this kind of thing" with torn dollar bills.  Voila!  WHAT IS ESSENTIALLY NOTHING IS WOVEN INTO "LEE HARVEY OSWALD, CIA GUY AND INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY"!  Not only this, but as you pile the guano higher and deeper throughout the conspiracy community, a tale woven out of thin air becomes "attested by multiple sources."

FYI, Lamar Waldron is firmly in the "Mafia Did It" camp.

Come on people,

SHOW ME THE BEEF!

[Jim Hargrove]

Wow, making your insults in large purple type really shows how smart you are, eh.?

The note you are so desperately trying to distance us from is in the JFK assassination file in Dallas.  The filename is http://jfk.ci.dallas.tx.us/22/2288-001.gif.  The very next file in the sequence is http://jfk.ci.dallas.tx.us/22/2289-001.gif.

Do you recognize it?  It is a list of some of "Oswald's possessions," possessions that were on his person when he was under arrest.

By all means, use your large purple type to explain that these two consecutive files are COMPLETELY UNRELATED!

 

Edited August 16, 2019 by Jim Hargrove

[John Butler]

Showing the Beef and Let’s pile the guano a little higher:

Payette and Parnell deny the existence of two people who have come to be known as Lee Oswald and Harvey Oswald.  It is fairly easy based on readily available evidence to show that there was a Harvey and Lee set based upon the person known as Lee Harvey Oswald.

This photo was taken at a Civil Air Patrol training session when Lee Harvey Oswald was in High School in New Orleans.

This crop from a larger photo in which some folks often identify the figure shown as Harvey Oswald.  Warren Commission folks say this is Lee Harvey Oswald.

I agree, this is the original Lee Harvey Oswald.  Lee Harvey Oswald is said to have lost upper teeth in the front of his mouth in a high school fight.  We can see this lack of teeth in this photo.

His counterpart, Harvey, in the Lee and Harvey Oswald set possessed his front upper teeth at a time later seen in this Marine Corps photo.  His upper right incisor was smaller than the left upper incisor.  This is very noticeable in this Marine Corps photo.

This is Harvey Oswald (an unknown individual), the man Jack Ruby shot at the Dallas Police Station.  He was later buried and then dug up in 1981 and this photo comes from that event.

This is the teeth of Harvey Oswald and not Lee Oswald.

Two people known as Lee Harvey Oswald were used for the purposes of the government in spying.  There was a fairly close resemblance between the two.  However, that resemblance would not hold up if both were seen at the same time and place, or by a keen observer such as Laura Kittrell.

There's probably a ton of other evidence for Harvey and Lee, but I think this works for two young men at the beginning of their career as a double spy team.

Edited August 16, 2019 by John Butler

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, Jim Hargrove said:

Wow, making your insults in large purple type really shows how smart you are, eh.?

The note you are so desperately trying to distance us from is in the JFK assassination file in Dallas.  The filename is http://jfk.ci.dallas.tx.us/22/2288-001.gif.  The very next file in the sequence is http://jfk.ci.dallas.tx.us/22/2289-001.gif.

Do you recognize it?  It is a list of some of "Oswald's possessions."

I was the one (above) who steered people to the handwritten note in the DPD records, dear.  Here are the items "in sequence," as you put it:

25. Note - handwritten, by an unknown author.  Handwritten note suggesting an investigation of Howard Spencer, (Photocopy),  date unknown. 00002286 1 page  07  10  025 2286-001.gif

26. Note - handwritten, by an unknown author.  Handwritten note, (Photocopy), date unknown. 00002288  1 page  07  10  026  2288-001.gif

27. Property Clerk's Invoice or Receipt, by W. M. Dickey.  Property  belonging to Lee Harvey Oswald, (Photocopy), 11/30/63. 00002289  1 page  07  10  027  2289-001.gif

28. Note - typed, by an unknown author.  Illegible card, possibly says "9 arrests", (Photocopy  Poor Quality), date unknown. 00002291   1 page  07  10  028  2291-001.gif

As you and presumably others can see, there is UTTERLY NO RELATIONSHIP between items "in sequence."  This is true throughout the entire 20 boxes of DPD records.  THERE IS UTTERLY NO REASON to connect item 26 with item 27.  If they were connected, Item 26, which does indeed list the items on Oswald when he was arrested, would refer to "two portions of torn $1 bills" or something such as that.  It does not.

The WC exhibit that I referenced lists the serial numbers to all bills found in Oswald's wallet.  If two torn portions with serial numbers had been found, they would be listed.  They are not.

In 2015, Armstrong himself stated "the Dallas police found the left half of two dollar bills in his room at 1026 N. Beckley (see attachment)."  EXPLAIN THAT, PLEASE.

John Butler is now attempting to derail the thread with the standard Conspiracy Derangement Syndrome ploy:  "Forget about THAT.  What about THIS?"  Between the two of you, you are turning this thread into pretty much a textbook example of what a cornered conspiracy theorist does.

[Guest]

Just a note on methodology, and then I’ll let you rest in peace:  It’s not as though I pore through the conspiracy literature, looking for factoids to ridicule.  I don’t have the time or interest for that.  Instead, when someone hits me with some unlikely golden nugget of conspiracy gospel, as Jim did on the “Two Oswalds” thread, I’m inclined to wonder “Is that true?”

My entire research career, such as it is, consists of investigating about ten such nuggets and easily determining they are fool’s gold.  They either (1) have no basis at all in fact or (2) are constructed from a skewed recitation of the actual facts and the most extreme, conspiracy-oriented speculation that could be applied to those facts (e.g., see Jim's post above).  As they are repeated ad nauseam throughout the conspiracy literature, they invariably get “better” and more "authoritative" with each retelling.

What is disturbing is the very fact that I have only looked into about ten such nuggets, yet they have all proved to be fool’s gold.  Equally disturbing is the ease with which I have been able to determine this.  Even more disturbing is the doggedness with which conspiracy theorists will cling to and defend them even after the flaws have been shown.  This is why I jocularly refer to Conspiracy Derangement Syndrome.  Well, maybe not entirely jocularly.

Here I’m simply asking “Where is the factual basis for Armstrong’s assertion that two $1 half-bills were found in Oswald’s wallet?  Where is the factual basis for Waldron’s assertion that two such bills were found in the rooming house?  Why do you attach any significance to the handwritten note in the DPD files?  Why do people like Simpich and Waldron assert that a half box top was found on Oswald when the inventories make clear that it was not a half box top?  Why do these authors insist the box top was highly mysterious when it was from the very store where Oswald’s mother had worked?”

There may be reasonable, evidence-based answers to some or all of these questions.  I have been unable to find them.