Walker '57 Chevy photo

[Larry Hancock]

Because of the interesting dicussion on another thread, I've spent some time preparing a short background document on this. Gary Mack was of major assistance and his factual input (not necessarily his judgements or conclusions) was key in getting this laid out as were the two web sites referenced below. I hope everyone will comment at will. Seems to me there are still a couple of interesting open issues but they are not the fundamental ones we discussed earlier.

The Walker 57 Chevy Photo / Background

A great deal has been written in regard to a photo of a 57 Chevy in the driveway of General Walker’s house. Most of the attention comes from the fact that the license plate of the car was scratched out on the photograph which was turned over as evidence to the Warren Commission. The general assumption has been that the photo was tampered with after it was in the custody of the Dallas Police and before being handed off to the FBI and hence the Warren Commission.

The belief that the photograph was had been tampered with after being taken into evidence by the DPD arose from the appearance of the photo in another photograph of an evidence lay out which appears in Chief Currey’s book. In that evidence photo there appears to have been no tampering with the plate as of the first weekend after the assassination (the Oswald property of which this photo was a part, was turned over to the FBI on November 26). However, John McAdams presents a convincing case that the image was tampered before it was taken into custody.

http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/plate.htm

The Warren Commission gives us corroboration of this point because this photo was the subject of an inquiry by the Commission in May of 1964 - essentially asking when, how and why evidence recorded as coming directly from Lee Harvey Oswald had been subjected to such obvious tampering. This prompted the FBI to investigate and their inquiry is summarized in a Commission document, which may be viewed at:

http://www.history-atters.com/archive/jfk/...Vol22_0306b.htm

The gist of the report is that the FBI verified the photo as being on an inventory list of Oswald property taken by the DPD. Two officers (Stovall and Guy Rose) were willing to state that they had noted the photo (and the damage to it) during their recovery of material from the Paine’s house. The FBI also confirmed that the photo was indeed from the Walker residence and managed to date it as being taken March 8-12, 1963 based on adjacent construction and an inspectors log. Apparently they had some help in this effort because the DPD (Detective Hart) also was able to tell them that the car itself was owned by a Mr. Klihr from Irving; the FBI verified his ownership of a 57 Chevy and listed the 1964 tag as NM2893.

We do know that Klihr and his wife were Walker volunteers, Klihr had been interviewed by a local newspaper after the shooting in 1963. A ‘57 Chevy and an individual who appears to be Klihr can be seen in WBAP-TV footage taken at the Walker house shortly after the shooting. It may be that this coverage led the DPD to Klihr, there appear to be no DPD memos on this in their Walker file and the FBI does not provide any further reference to tell us whether the DPD even interviewed Klihr. The FBI itself certainly did not interview him.

All of which leads to the impression that:

1) Oswald himself tampered with the photo for some reason.

2) Oswald was concerned about the car being identified yet did not just destroy the photo.

3) Oswald took the Walker photos shortly before ordering a rifle.

4) Oswald had a real habit of keeping incriminating evidence. Walker “stalking”

photos, a Walker related note to Marina, back yard photos with weapons.

And open questions about the DPD investigation of the photo, including whether or not Mr. Klihr verified that it was his car on that date and whether or not he might have seen anyone taking photos in the area or otherwise skulking around.

[Shanet Clark]

So I am too understand Oswald framed himself because the evidence photo was missing Siewell MI's (or Klihr"s) actual licence plate number. Nothing on either thread shake the unstated premise of the question I asked in first place to Harry.

Im saying that Edwin Walker was part of plot to make oswald look like a guy who shot at political leaders. Listen, Oswald's wife and girlfriends' testimony is worthless especially Marina, she was programmed like a car radio by George baron De Morenschildt

If a super crazy doctor strangelove general - like the seven days in may dudes - if General Edwin Walker called in a lame attempted shooting and it got pinned on lee oswald and the picture of the area was "sanitized" come on..... that's just too convenient by half, now isn't it? Nothing is shaking that at all, guys.

Shanet

[Larry Hancock]

Shanet, I'm trying to deliver the background so that we can all be in the same place discussing it.

For myself I too think it a little convenient that Oswald kept building an evidence trail against himself - yet was pretty sophisticated in using PO boxes, aliases, fake ID etc. Did he bury the rifle and dig it up later, was in a panic over the photos and tampered with one yet saved them all....

I also have a healthy skepticism about at least two other instances where the WC sent the fBI back to the drawing board and they came up with neat answers which later proved to have holes in them e.g. the Odio incident and the unidentified box prints.

However I think we still have to be straight about the history of the photo and when it was tampered with and there is a factual trail here. Where you go from there is another story, I was not offering conclusions only "impressions" which are suggested by the record.

-- Larry

[Shanet Clark]

Shanet,  I'm trying to deliver the background so that we can all be in the

same place discussing it.

For myself I too think it a little convenient that Oswald kept building an

evidence trail against himself - yet was pretty sophisticated in using PO boxes,

aliases,  fake ID etc.  Did he bury the rifle and dig it up later,  was in a panic over the photos and tampered with one yet saved them all....

However I think we still have to be straight about the history of the photo

and when it was tampered with and there is a factual trail here.  Where you go from there is another story,  I was not offering conclusions only "impressions" which are suggested by the record.

-- Larry

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Obviously, Oswald was acting like what he was a low level military intelligence asset who was all mixed up in counter-intelligence work as a defector-and a counter-defector to the USSR, and then after they got him to jump through so many hoops, counter-intelligence program-wise, posing, meeting people, joining demonstrations they could put him up as both an anti-communist and a communist.......when they needed a patsy, for a big job. The photo is just the entry into the murky world of the Edwin Walker story and the only evidence that Oswald was a political assassin is the report tied to that bunk photo...........what do you got on the backyard series of pictures?

Shanet