Dallas County DA's office finds cache of JFK memorabilia

[Francesca Akhtar]

From The Dallas Morning News:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dw...by.3bde49f.html

[William Kelly]

From The Dallas Morning News:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dw...by.3bde49f.html

Attention Gary Mack.

PLEASEEEE, check and see if "Mary's Box" is part of this cache.

See Earl Golz articles.

Thanks,

BK

[Kathleen Collins]

Just the way the average person thinks - and the controlled media is trained to think "If that transcript is true, then history is changed because Oswald and Ruby were talking about assassinating the president." Play script my _ _ _ !

i.e. If the facts don't fit the myth, throw out the facts......

...bring on that 'changed history'.....the hour is gettin' late!

You know, Peter, I disagree with you. That transcript sounded like the phoniest thing ever. Would Oswald say someone wants to kill the Atty Gen? He'd probably say "Bobby."

I don't believe it's real. I wish they had a tape of it. We could tell in 5 seconds if it was Harvey from Russia talking or a different man's voice. It doesn't ring true. And who pieced together this conversation in the Carousel weeks later? And which Oswald was it -- Harvey or Lee? Sounds like Lee.

Kathy Collins

[William Kelly]

Attention Gary Mack

From The Dallas Morning News:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dw...by.3bde49f.html

Attention Gary Mack.

PLEASEEEE, check and see if "Mary's Box" is part of this cache.

See Earl Golz articles.

Thanks,

BK

Concerning Mary's box:

Preston told The ENQUIRER that the evidence consisted of 33 documents, packed in a cardboard container about the size of a shirtbox and included:

* The document Cash mentioned, laboriously handwritten in part-English, part-Spanish, giving accurate details of the assassination. It also recounted an earlier plan to assassinate Kennedy in Wisconsin in September 1963—which was abandoned because security around the President was too tight.

* Newspaper clippings identifying the author of the document—the third member of the assassination team—as a Texas-born gunman who had hired out repeatedly as a professional killer in Mexico.

“There were notes stating clearly that Fidel Castro had Kennedy assassination, tht the killers were doing it for Castro,” Preston stated.

“The notes also spoke about Ruby and Oswald meeting in New Orleans, about trips to Mexico City, and about visiting the Cuban and Mexican embassies.

“There was mention of an airfield across the border in Mexico, and I’ve often wondered if this could have been the planned getaway field.”

Preston said the documents included a membership card, No. 52, in the “Fair Play for Cuba Committee,” issued to Jack Ruby. The committee was a pro-Castro group, and Oswald is known to have passed out leaflets for it in New Orleans.

The papers also included a press card issued to Ruby at a Chicago address by the Daily Worker, a communist newspaper.

I think I've gotten this last item sorted. During the '40s, the Chicago correspondent for The Daily Worker was one Ruben Resnikoff aka Ruby Cooper.

If there was any press card among the papers, it probably belonged to Resnikoff. It is also possible that a deliberate attempt was being made to somehow associate or confuse JR with RR.

AND FROM GARY BUEL'S BLOG:

So just how much truth was there to the National Enquirer story quoted yesterday? Deputy Billy J. Preston and some of his associates also spoke to the Dallas Morning News in 1976. I don't have a copy of this article but found this on the web:

On March 28, 1976, the Dallas *Morning News* ran an unusual story when four Dallas deputy constables decided to come forward to relate something that had been bothering them for a very long time. Shortly after the assassination the four had examined a box of handwritten notes and assorted other papers in the Dallas County Courthouse, a number of which apparently linked Oswald and Ruby. Deputy Billy Preston, Constable Robie Love, and deputy constables Mike Callahan and Ben Cash all recalled that this box had come from the apartment of a Dallas woman (77).

Preston said, "She was really scared because she had all that stuff. She wanted me to pick it up for her. And I just wished I had made some more copies now." The men couldn't for the life of them remember the name of the woman, except Preston thought her first name was Mary. He recalled that the papers were apparently written by Lee Harvey Oswald. Ben Cash disagreed, recalling that the woman had a live-in "Latin American" boyfriend, and Cash thought the papers had been his. He told reporter Earl Golz that ". . . he mentioned Ruby and he mentioned Oswald in the writings. He didn't mention the third party but he kept referring to a third party. And the third party would have to be him." According to Preston and Love, the box was turned over to Dallas DA Henry Wade in late 1963 or early 1964; Wade told the Morning News that he had no recollection of such a box of papers (78).</SPAN>

The deputies tried to recall some of the box's contents. They named newspaper clippings from Mexico; a photocopy of a *Daily Worker* presscard issued to Jack Ruby; a motel receipt from early November 1963 withboth Ruby and Oswald's name on it, as well as references to phone callsmade to Mexico City; papers mapping out a landing strip in Mexico; references to meetings with some kind of "agents" in McAllen and Laredo, Texas (near the Mexico border); a church brochure with handwritten notations concerning a trip to Cuba; and a handwritten note detailing a plan to assassinate President Kennedy during the dedication of a lake or dam in Wisconsin. No one has seen hide nor hair of this mysterious box full of papers since the deputies transferred custody of it.

77. Dallas *Morning News,* March 28, 1976; Marrs, *Crossfire,* 410-1.

78. Ibid< http://www.acorn.net/jfkplace/03/JA/DR/.dr06.html

Notice that Dallas District Attorney Henry Wade denied all knowledge of the matter-which is not what he later told the Enquirer.

I do have one document in my files that refers to this incident. It is an FBI document, dated January 28, 1964 (RIF #180-11007710009) from agents Will Hayden Griffin and Arthur Carter

Mr. Billy J. Preston, Executive Deputy, Precinct 1, Dallas County, Dallas Dallas, Texas, advised that he is an executive deputy in Precinct 1 under ROBIE LOVE, Constable, Dallas County, Dallas, Texas, and he obtained thirty-three documents, including one 2- by4-inch spiral-bound notebook from Mrs. MARY SIMS, who resides at 4311 Cole, Apartment E, telephone LA 1-4764. He stated Mrs. SIMS is employed as a clerical secretary for the Stanley Warner Management Corporation, Dallas, Texas, telephone number RI 8-0781, Extension 28.

He said that Mrs. SIMS told him these documents were obtained by her from one BILLY LEE JONES, also known as H.L. JONES, who claimed to be a great-great, grandson of WILLIAM H. (BILLY THE KID) BONNEY. He said that Mrs. SIMS told him that JONES, a transient, stays at the City Mission on South Ervay in Dallas and allegedly resides at an unknown address in San Antonio, Texas. She told him that she wanted to check up on this man inasmuch as he claimed to be formerly connected with the office of Naval Intelligence and she recalled typing a report for him concerning JACK RUBY's going to Cuba.

Mr. PRESTON advised that the documents had been turned over by him to the District Attorney of Dallas County and believed that Assistant District Attorney FRANK WATTS had examined them and made photostats of them for any interest they might have in the trial of JACK RUBY in Dallas County for the murder of LEE HARVEY OSWALD.

He also advised that this subject called Mrs. SIMS twice on the night of January 27, 1964, advising her that he was in Myrtle, Mississippi, at Camp Zion. He said Mrs. SIMS told him that the subject told her something abouth the Marine Corps—Love Field, and mentioned Serial No. 634168.

He said that Mrs. SIMS resides with a girl whose nickname is “PUTSY”. He was unable to supply additional information concerning her roommate except her roommate was employed by the V.A., Dallas, Texas.

He advised that JONES had advised SIMS that he was in the Carlson Raiders of the U.S. Marine Corps Intelligence and called her sometime before the 23rd and claimed that he was with DAVE SCARBORO, an attorney from Abilene, Texas, and advised SIMS that he and SCARBORO were in an automobile accident and were hospitalized in a hospital at Fort Worth, Texas.

So, were Oswald and Ruby Castro agents? Not likely, in my opinion, but someone went to a lot of trouble to make it appear that that was the case. The box of documents unquestionably existed and just as unquestionably disappeared while in government custody.

[Greg Parker]

I think I've gotten this last item sorted. During the '40s, the Chicago correspondent for The Daily Worker was one Ruben Resnikoff aka Ruby Cooper.

If there was any press card among the papers, it probably belonged to Resnikoff. It is also possible that a deliberate attempt was being made to somehow associate or confuse JR with RR.

Bill,

if memory serves, according to Mary Sims, she was in a relationship with Billy Lee Jones and he never claimed to her any personal knowledge of or involvement in the assassination. The papers (again, according to her) represented the results of his own investigations.

If that is accurate, it would seem almost certain their was confusion (or "confusion") between JR and RR, and that the press card belonged to RR. It's more than possible that Jones, in his investigation, came across the Fehranbach allegations concerning Muncie, Indiana. RR was investigated in relation to those allegations and it was learned he had made several trips to Muncie in the late '40s.

Several docs at MFF in relation to RR and the Muncie episodes.

[Don Jeffries]

Although he isn't mentioned by name in the story, this alleged conversation is obviously connected to the testimony of attorney Carroll Jarnagin. While it is stated here that the FBI investigated this story and found it to be a fake, I certainly don't believe that to be the case. Penn Jones covered the Jarnagin story in great depth in his first "Forgive My Grief" book.

[William Kelly]

Although he isn't mentioned by name in the story, this alleged conversation is obviously connected to the testimony of attorney Carroll Jarnagin. While it is stated here that the FBI investigated this story and found it to be a fake, I certainly don't believe that to be the case. Penn Jones covered the Jarnagin story in great depth in his first "Forgive My Grief" book.

Thank you Don, I was thinking the same thing.

I think Jarnagin said he saw and heard Oswald at the Carousel Club on Sept. 3rd, not the 4th, which was the day LHO returned to Dallas from New Orleans/MC and did not report to the Paines but stayed at the Y.

But I don't beleive the Jarnagin "transcript" is the most important item in the cache.

If anyone locates a transcript of the Press conference I'd like to see it.

Thanks,

BK

[William Plumlee]

From The Dallas Morning News:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dw...by.3bde49f.html

This was posted earlier today and soon disappeared. You find it and the time it was posted when you look at the Plumlee postings for the day. I thought it might help.. But, ??? If I have made a mistake, then I apoligise. Perhaps I post it in another thread topic that I can't remember or find. However, it is fitting for this thread. Not sure about the other one if its there. Old men do things like that.... just ask Jack White and a few others. Ha.

Posted on: Today, 02:43 PM[/b]

I was asked some years ago by a Dallas Police Sgt. if I knew anything about this. It has been known about for a number of years. A well known Texas researcher also had information on this before he died. I believe it was first found at about the time of the famous fingerprint and palm print, one of which was found hidden behind some file boxes in the Dallas PD (or Courthouse) basement. Again, that print was not the one referenced in the recent book. (can't recall the name of the book)

When Oliver Stone was going to do a movie on JFK the transcript in question was offered to him for a rather large fee. It was turned down. I was even told that the Dallas FBI had reviewed the transcript and said it was nothing but a script for a movie. This is old stuff and it was held back so as NOT to contaminate the record or perhaps any ongoing investigations by the Dallas PD. There was one pending at the time. The FBI did not even take it for testing. That is how much they thought about it. It was put back into the vault and forgot about. The section quoted as Ruby and Oswald was something H. Wade had mention to friends and potential publishers as he was developing the script. The Dallas PD talked many times to the relatives about this find. And I think they supported the conclutions. Although, I do not speak for them. (some of this is hear say and from second parties discussed some years ago)

There is more to come on this and another find about three or four years ago, involving a fingerprint that matched Wallaces (not the one mentioned in the recent book) This print and background information was found after a water leak in a basement and a remodeling job at the DPD (Ithink I got this right on where it was found) This find is still being investigated by DPD, I have been told this by a very reliable source in the Dallas PD just before he retired. If that (the new fingerprint) is prove true then that will turn some heads in a different direction in reference to the JFK assassination. Anyway, I am sure some will run with this new find of today and try to make some bucks ($) off it. Perhaps we will see it on EBAY soon.

Note: At one point in the Dallas investigation, it was thought that Ruby killed Oswald for the reason found in the transcript and the dialouge was written later to support that theory and sell the movie. (There was nothing sinister on Wades part. He just thought it would make a good movie and because of his connection to the case would be an easy sale... my speculation )

Edited February 19, 2008 by William Plumlee

[William Plumlee]

Duplicate post... sorry... its getting late and I have been at this all day.

Edited February 19, 2008 by William Plumlee

[Nathaniel Heidenheimer]

This one ranks up there with the all time worst Times articles. This piece suggest to me that the whole release may have been just an excuse for the periodic dismissal. They need to ripple the waters a bit before the March release of David Kaiser and Morley books which, will be taken more seriously than many others ( not saying they SHOULD BE yet). This wolf-crying three weeks before, should make thirty percent more people not even take a look at these. Its the kind of public perception study that is written about in "communications" journals.

This article not only features Posner AND Mad Max, but fades out with an all time classic Times Traditional Shoulder Shrug. I dont know why I am surprised anymore but this one makes me angrier than ever. What is to be done?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/19/us/19dal...amp;oref=slogin

Edited February 19, 2008 by Nathaniel Heidenheimer

[Tim Gratz]

There is a good article re Dallas DA Craig Watkins' efforts to secure justice on the front page of the February 19, 2008 "USA Today" (re use of DNA to exonerate those wrongfully convicted). Mr. Watkins looks like an interesting fellow.

[Steve Thomas]

Bill,

If anyone locates a transcript of the Press conference I'd like to see it.

Thanks,

BK

I don't have a transcript, but if you'd like to see the press conference, you can find it here:

http://cbs11tv.com/video/?cid=7

Channel 11's video library - it's on the third page.

PS: It's kind of coincidental that on the same day that the DA holds his press conference, the Dallas Police Department's web site was hacked.

Steve Thomas

[William Kelly]

Am working on a transcript of the Press Conference.

Did anyone notice that he also said that among other documents that he hasn't looked at yet, there are FILMS they haven't heard, RECORDINGS they haven't listened to and AUTOPSTY PHOTOS?

The bogus Ruby/Oswald transcript is only the tip of the ice berg, and it call can't be bad eggs.

BK

[William Kelly]

DALLAS District Attorney Craig Watkins

Press Conference – February 18, 2008 10 am (CST)

Dallas County DA Craig Watkins (CW): Good morning. This is an interesting and historic day for Dallas County. For those of you who have not been following this story, about a year ago we were made aware of a safe on the tenth floor of this building, and in that safe contained information about the Jack Ruby trial and the Oswald assassination. We started looking at this stuff about a year ago and determined after we started looking at it that we had to catalog it, and we have been doing that for just about a year.

Now just a little history on this deal. Every District Attorney to my knowledge has been made aware of the contents of that safe, and every DA up until the new administration, had decided that they wanted to keep it secret, for whatever reason, they kept it secret. We decided this information is too important to keep secret. Our motto has always been that here, under this new administration, everything is open. We don't have anything to hide. So we are making public everything that we have found in that safe.

Now two documents that really stick out in this safe include an alleged conversation between Jack Ruby and Lee Harvey Oswald. Now we are going to make those copies available to you. And in fact this is a copy of a transcribed conversation between Mr. Ruby and Oswald at the Carousel Club.

Now we don't know if this is an actual conversation or not. But what we do know is that as a result of this find, it will open up the debate as to whether or not there was a conspiracy to assassinate the President.

Another interesting document that we found in that safe was a contract signed by the (then) current DA Henry Wade for a movie production deal. This contract was signed on April 27, 1967 and it would have made Mr. Wade a rich man. But we don't know why this movie was never produced.

And aside from the fact that we have all this historic information about the Kennedy assassination, and what went on with the trial and investigation, there are other things that are very interesting in that safe.

In fact it takes us back to 1960, and the tone and the climate, not only in the criminal justice system, but our country, as it relates to race. And in some of those documents you would be surprised at how people of color are categorized. For example, I have a letter here from the Hunt County District Attorney at the time. His name was Cameron McKinney.

And he writes a really glowing letter to Mr. Hill and says….I am sorry Mr. Wade,…

"My my my goodness, Excellent, Perfect, Congratulations, sincerely Cameron McKinney."

Now this came from Hunt County…Greenville, I think is in Hunt County. Now on that letterhead you have Hunt County on the top of that, and right under that, in 1964, one of their claims to fame in Hunt County, is on the letterhead…they have "the blackest land and whitest people."

That tells you how far we've come in criminal justice, not only in this state but this country.

Now we also have another letter, it looks like from a police officer to Mr. Wade which deals with race. This is not dated, but I would assume that this letter was sent sometime in 1964.

You know when I went through all this information, it took me back. Even though I wasn't born at this time, it did take me back because I do remember seeing all the movies, and the situations people of color had to go through just to be treated fairly. This is black history month, so I thought it appropriate for us to address these issues at the DA's office and for the public to understand how far we've come, and how far we need to go.

Now this is from a law enforcement officer, a person who arrests folk, puts them in jail and is suppose to be fair. He says, "Dear sir, That Dego Wop Melvin Beli needs a psychiatrist more than that Kite, thought he could make a million dollars on the publicity by making a grandstand and make the police look silly…. It would make Hollywood. You did a good job sir."

Now throughout every document, and which is disheartening to me, and I don't understand it, you see that racist tone that goes throughout our criminal justice system in the 1960s.

And when I was elected in 2006, and all the racist's innuendos that I had to deal with. And so I specifically want the public to pay attention to what we have done in Dallas County to make ourselves look this way. Why we have to bring credibility to the criminal justice system, when a person's color was more important than his guilt or innocence.

And so as you're district attorney of Dallas County, I implore you to look at all these documents and ask yourself a question, why? Why did we do that? And then say to yourself, thank God we are past that. Thank God we can look at individuals and not at his color but his content.

We here in the DA office, finally, are in a position to do what is right, and bring justice to this county and to hopefully it will spread down to Harris County of all places, and throughout this state.

I'm glad to take questions.

Q: Are you saying Henry Wade is racist?

CW: Well I didn't say that.

Q: Are you suggesting that?

CW: I'm not suggesting anything. All I'm saying is that you look at the documents and you take whatever suggestions you want to take, from the writings of all the DAs who wrote him letters back in the 60s, from his own writings, look at his documents you make your own conclusions.

Q: What is your conclusion?

CW: Obviously you know what it is. You look at these documents and you make your conclusions. But and at this point it is history and let's make sure it stays history.

Q: Was it ever communicated to you why these documents were kept secret all these years?

CW: It was never communicated to me why, but I have my own assumptions, but it's just an assumption. And I don't want folks to think this is the reason why they were kept secret. Now these documents don't shine a very good light on our criminal justice system.

And so all of those folks that may have been elected after Mr.Wade may have wanted to protect that. Now I was not a part of that. I'm not associated with the failed policies of the past. So I am shining a light on the past on those failures to show you how far we've come and how far we have to go.

Q: How many documents are we talking about and have you going through them all yourself?

CW: I haven't gone through them all myself. These are the documents. We have started scanning these and we are not done yet and don't expect to be done for quite a while. But you are all welcome to see these documents and to come to any conclusion you want to.

Q: For your office to acknowledge these highly suspect documents…..

CW: Well, I mean I don't appreciate that question the way you ask it. I believe these are the people's documents. They can make up their own mind as to whether they are suspect or not. I am not telling you that these documents are all true or are all fake. But I think, for historical purposes, we HAVE to make these documents public.

Q: The purported conversation between Oswald and Ruby….are highly suspect…..

CW: Well I am not lending my authority to this suspected conversation. All I am doing is providing you the information that we found. Now I didn't say it was true. I didn't say it was false. I said that it was in a file in a safe, and it needed to be look at, it needed to be open and looked at with anything else. And so we're not trying to start this whole conspiracy argument over again, all we're doing is opening up the doors, and ending the secrecy that has been going on in this office for years, and let the let the public know.

This office is not mine, it was not Bill Hill's or John Vance's or Henry Wade's. This office belongs to the people of Dallas County and they should have access to this information.

Q: What are your personal beliefs about the assassination, do you think there's more to it?

CW: Well I have my own beliefs and assumptions, but I don't really believe that is relevant to this conversation we're having today. I think the people…..

Q: Your beliefs are important. You're the DA of this county.

CW: In your mind you may think that. But I'm not making any kind of assumptions.

I am not telling you what I think about that because that's not for me to do.

There are folks who know more about this than I do, experts that can look at these documents and give you their opinions. I don't think my opinion doesn't mean anything on these documents. We are releasing them as they should have been a long time ago, and we will let the citizens of this great county and this country to decide what it all means.

Q: It sounds like these are personal documents between Henry Wade and producers. If these are personal documents why are they in a public safe? Why didn't he take them with him?

CW: They were in a public building in a public safe in a public office and as such we think these documents are public documents. I can't answer the question as to why Mr. Wade locked them away in a safe. I don't know.

Q: As for the movie deal, did he get any money?

CW: I don't know. I don't know if he did or not.

Q: Did you talk to any other DA who was here before you as to why they didn't release them?

CW: No.

Q: Were there other documents like that?

CW: That was pretty much the only one at this point that I have seen. Now those individuals who have been in the process of cataloging this may have come across other documents that I am not aware of. But that question is left best answered by those who have been doing this for the past year. Yes sir?

Q: Do you plan on turning the JFK stuff over to the Sixth Floor Museum?

CW: We are in the process of deciding which organization is best served to keep these records, to preserve them and to make them public. We haven't made that decision yet.

Q:

GW: I'm sure they will. No one knew about this until yesterday. I'm sure the phone will be ringing off the hook from people who want to view them and they will have the opportunity to view these documents.

Q: Will these documents change the conclusions about the assassination.

CW: I don't know if they will change the conclusions that have been made, but it will stimulate the debate as to whether that was the proper conclusion.

Q:

CW: I have no clue. I don't know who was doing the investigation. All I can assume is that they did, and they were put into a safe at the end of a case.

Q:

CW: I really was not surprised. This office has been shrouded in secrecy for so many years; I knew we would find ourselves in this position at some point. So I was not surprised.

Q: When did you decided to open it?

CW: It didn't come to our attention that way. Investigators explained, as they have done with subsequent officials after Mr. Wade, and other officials, that there was a safe and information in that safe contained information on the Kennedy assassination. …..And I was told by those investigators that those subsequent DAs wanted to keep it secret and didn't open the safe.

Q: When did you learn about it?

GW: A year ago.

Q: When did the safe actually open?

CW: I took office January 1^st and I guess about a week after that I found out about the safe.

Q: From who?

CW: I don't want to say,

Q: Did they work for Dallas County?

CW: Yes, they work for Dallas County.

Q:

CW: Well, I'm not making any assumptions. I'm just laying it out for you all to look out. For all you experts out there who follow this Kennedy thing, you can look at these documents and go back into your memory file and determine what all this means.

Q: Do you have any experts?

CW: No I did not. When you asked me that, I said an alleged conversation, so I don't know didn't know if it was a true conversation or not.

Q:

CW: Not yet, no. Obviously.

Q:

CW: Hey, we're talking about Kennedy now. Yea, well that conversation is best left for another day. I'm here to talk about the Kennedy assassination, not…..

Q:

CW: Well I foresee that we will have all this stuff complete and cataloged within the next month and we will decide what organization to give it to and that organization will have to make it public as a stipulation to getting it.

Q: What happened between a year ago and now?

CW: We have been looking at this for a year.

Q: When did you decide to go public?

CW: We chose the date a couple of months ago, thinking we would be done with cataloging the information…..

When we got close to got finished we chose this date thinking we would be finished cataloging by this date but unfortunately we are not.

Q: Did anybody advise you not to go public?

C.W.: No.

Q:

C.W: There are documents we need to go through that have not seen yet.

Q: How many documents would you say are JFK related in general?

CW: I would say 90% of those documents, 99% of it deals with JFK, Ruby and Oswald.

Q:

CW: Obviously we are talking about the Kennedy assassination and conspiricists have been swarming this area for years, and so we knew this would stir media attention.

Q:

CW: We don't know what we haven't seen yet. Once we look at it I can tell you what it is. But at this point we haven't seen it.

Q:

CW: About 90%,

Q: You've gone thorough 90%

CW: Yes.

Q:

C.W.: It was actually mixed in with other documents.

Q:

CW: Jack Ruby, that is the holster that held the gun he shot Oswald with, and those are brass knuckles he had on him when he was booked at Dallas County Jail.

Q: Can you describe other material……

CW: We have some film that we haven't looked at; we have some recordings we haven't listened to. We have a lot of membership cards to the Carousel Club, Jack Ruby's club. We have business cards of the Carousel Club, things of that nature.

Q: Clothing?

CW: Clothing, we have Jack Ruby's clothing. Lee Harvey Oswald, we have his clothing. Autopsy photos.

Q:

C.W.: Yes.

Q:

CW: They were in no order. The safe they were in is about six thousand pounds, six feet tall, and they were just thrown in there.

Q:

CW: Well, as for…. this is the property of the District Attorney's office and we can do with it as we please. We have not decided not to turn it over to the 6^th Floor. What we are going to do is talk to a number of several different organizations, and others will be considered. We would like to keep the possibilities open to make that determination.

Q:

CW: A whole list of them.

Q: You're not going to keep them in Dallas?

CW: We don't know that yet.

Q: You're not going to sell it?

CW: No. We're not going to sell it. (Laugh)

Q: It won't turn up on E-bay? (Laugh)

CW: No.

Q: Can you describe the group that has been looking at them and what they've been doing?

C.W.: They actually haven't had time to read the documents. Most of the time has been spent scanning, and cataloging the documents, so the majority of individuals could probably tell you very little about the content of those documents.

Q:

CW: Yes.

Q: What condition are the documents in?

CW: Still in pretty good shape, 1960s shell paper, everything is typewritten from a typewriter and handwritten. It's in pretty good shape.

Q: Other than the alleged conversation, did anything jump out and shock you?

CW: No, that's pretty much it.

Q: What shocked you more?

CW: I think what shocked me the most was the tone. I was born some years after the assassination, and saw the documentaries on civil rights issues and I was surprised at how prevalent it was in our society.

Q:

CW: You all can go downstairs and can take a look at the safe. You

When we find a place to store these documents, and make them public then you will have an opportunity to do everything.

Q:

CW: I don't know how long it will take to happen. We'll do it as soon as possible.

Q: Did it change your perception of the assassination?

CW: My perception. No it didn't. Allrighty. Thank you.

END OF TAPE

Edited February 20, 2008 by William Kelly

[John Simkin]

This seems to be the important part of Craig Watkins' statement:

Now two documents that really stick out in this safe include an alleged conversation between Jack Ruby and Lee Harvey Oswald. Now we are going to make those copies available to you. And in fact this is a copy of a transcribed conversation between Mr. Ruby and Oswald at the Carousel Club.

Now we don't know if this is an actual conversation or not. But what we do know is that as a result of this find, it will open up the debate as to whether or not there was a conspiracy to assassinate the President.

Another interesting document that we found in that safe was a contract signed by the (then) current DA Henry Wade for a movie production deal. This contract was signed on April 27, 1967 and it would have made Mr. Wade a rich man. But we don't know why this movie was never produced.

The assumption being made is that the conversation was part of a film script (Countdown to Dallas) that Henry Wade was working on. However, Michael Hogan has pointed out on another thread, that Countdown to Dallas was a proposed documentary on the assassination. If that is the case, the Oswald-Ruby conversation is not part of a script.

Craig Watkins said these documents will be available to researchers. It seems to me that researchers need to take a close look at this contract. Who signed the contract? Did they make documentaries or feature films? Watkins said the contract suggested that Wade would have become a "rich man" if the film was made. Maybe he was offered even more money that stated in the contract not to make the film.