Bernie Laverick

Nobody male. The Top Ten pone call, had it been successful, may have been to ask "Where is he? I've lost him!" Coulda been ... but first, you've got to ask several questions to get there, and here's where the whole "Car 10 Where Are You?" scenario gets a little muddled (Bill Drenas and I have talked about this, and I won't say that he exactly agrees, but ...). First, this map, which will also answer the next question you asked: Duke is this witness testimony or Tippit's? Position "1" is where, according to Russ Shearer's DPD Channel I radio transcript (which most people who've compared it with the so-called "critics' tape" of the actual recording say is as close to accurate as can be ... and there are several reasons I can't get into here why I think it's authentic, not dummied up), is where Tippit reported being at 12:46, when he was contacted and asked his location; Kiest & Bonnieview. Position "3" is where he reported being at 12:54 when he was next contacted and asked "You are in the Oak Cliff area, are you not?" (which is sort of a strange way to ask an open-ended question, but that's neither here nor there). The red arrows mark the route that I believe he took since /a/ it's the most direct route to "3" and /b/ it takes almost exactly eight minutes to travel at about the speed limit ... which, if he was at each location as he'd said he was, when he says he was, the speed limit is about how fast he drove. Next map: The Top Ten Record Store is located at 338 W Jefferson, which is the SE corner of Jefferson & Bishop (actually, the second store in from the corner). The Gloco station was located where the Houston Street viaduct comes into Oak Cliff, in the sharp corner of the dark grey triangle. You can see where 8th & Lancaster is located as well, just six or seven blocks south of the Gloco, directly south on Lancaster (which no longer connects to the main drag there; you can see the gap on this recent map). If one believes that Tippit was at the Gloco when he said he was at Kiest & Bonnieview, then one then has to believe that he managed to stretch out that six- or seven-block trip into eight minutes, or that he'd gone somewhere else and managed to say, exactly eight minutes later, where he would have been exactly eight minutes after leaving Kiest & Bonnieview. That's too coincidental for me to swallow. As I've said, there are two candidates for being the cop at the Gloco; Tippit isn't one of them. If Tippit had only 15 minutes to live at that point (as I'm sure he didn't know), then in that time (assuming he was, in fact, at 8th & Lancaster where he said he was) he had to get to Top Ten at Jefferson & Bishop (about 1¼ miles or 4 minutes, according to Google Maps). This puts his arrival there at about 11:58. Then he had to jump out of his car, run into the store, dial the phone and let it ring a few times, then run back out and get in his car. It takes - and to my recollection, took - about 30 seconds for a phone to ring five times and time to dial it, etc., and let's give him 30 seconds in each direction from the car for an even two minutes, so it's now 12:00 noon sharp. (I'm "pushing" him here, not giving him time for anything other than rush-in, dial, 5 rings, hang up, rush-out and split.) He clearly didn't have time to get all the way back up to the Gloco almost two miles and approximately six minutes away. The most sensible route would have been Bishop north to Davis, east to Zang, north to the Gloco (1502 N Zang, according to Drenas). That's 12:06. Then down Marsalis to 9th, right on 9th past Patton and south on Crawford to 10th so he could approach 10th & Patton from the west, for another 1½ miles in 4 minutes, 12:10. Possible ... but then, our scenario above doesn't have him sitting in his car in the gas station lot, so it doesn't work. And 12:10 is already too late; he was dead by then. ... Or he could've done like I think he did, which is to have left Top Ten, crossed Jefferson, turned onto 10th and drove to Patton, about 8/10 of a mile in 3 minutes, 12:03 ... or more likely up to Davis (a wider thoroughfare than little sidestreet 10th. and with traffic lights to cross Zang and Beckley with), over to Crawford, down Crawford to 10th and a block east to his death. That's about 1.1 miles and about 5 minutes, 12:05-ish, a bit closer to the truth. If he tarried just a little bit, or if he got stuck at a long light at Zangs or Beckley in either direction to or from Top Ten, then it easily could have been a couple of minutes later. It is possible if not likely that the call at 1:03 that Tippit didn't answer occurred when he was in the record shop. Helen Markham was on the way to catch the 1:12 bus, and testified that it was about 1:08 when she reached the corner of 10th & Patton. Now I know there are lots of good reasons to consider her "an utter screwball" and totally unreliable, but the fact is that she took that bus every day to work, and knew what time to leave her house to get to the bus stop on time. A bus might be late, but one certainly doesn't plan on it being. Helen at least knew what time it was, how much time she had to get to the bus stop, and what time she'd get there ... which no seasoned bus rider would let be exactly the time the bus was supposed to arrive, because - even while it's not supposed to happen - busses can leave early, too. One does plan on that possiblity! We will also recall that T.F. Bowley arrived on the scene after the shooting - he didn't see it happen - looked at his watch and saw it was 1:10. I've elsewhere analyzed his movements from picking up his daughter at her school, and found the time to work. I've also visited with him several times, and he's quite confident of the time it was, even why he looked at his watch in the first place, and the fact that it was accurately set. So, there you have it: no Gloco station for Tippit. And very possibly an accurate accounting of how he went and got where, and when. Read the testimonies of William Scoggins and the Davis girls. Unless you posit that he was part of The Plot - Oswald's "contact" or some such nonsense - then what specifically would make anyone think he was looking for someone? The supposed incident involving James Andrews is unlikely to have occurred since Andrews claimed to have been driving west on West 10th St "a little after 1:00" - that is, in the opposite direction that Tippit ended up driving (east on East 10th) just a few minutes later. "Tippit" supposedly was also travelling west "about eight or nine blocks from where Tippit was shot minutes later," that is, two or three blocks west of Bishop, where Tippit was last seen after leaving the record shop. After supposedly stopping Andrews, Tippit again speeds off, still heading in a westerly direction. Then, inexplicably and unseen, he doubles back, crosses two busy streets (Zang and Beckley) and again starts cruising, not fast, furious and frantically like Andrews describes, but slowly down the street. Then he encounters a man (who may have resembed Oswald, but wasn't) and pulls up alongside him as the guy leans up against the side of Tippit's car as if in conversation through the closed window. The actions of a man who is trying to "escape" from Tippit and his cohorts? The actions of a man "frantically" in pursuit of none other than Lee Oswald? They don't sound that way to me. What caused Tippit's sudden change of demeanor, from "upset and agitated ... acting wild" to cool, calm and collected - and shy! Remember that he supposedly wouldn't look people in the eye, but down at the ground! - all within a matter of five minutes or less. I've explored this elsewhere here - maybe even in this thread? - and the answer to your last questions would seem to be that Tippit was predictable to those who knew him, and it was set up from the beginning. The question is, really: what had JD done to piss someone off so badly? Payback for his philandering? Just a "poor dumb cop" who wouldn't be missed? But then, we almost got to be asking that question about Nick McDonald, too. He was just a bit luckier than JD is all, but he was going to go down, too, moments before Oswald would've met his more timely demise in the theater. Once again Duke, an excellent post with a wealth of information. It's answered many questions. However I'm still a little unsure as to the fuller picture you are painting here. Firstly, if we accept that it wasn't Tippit at the Gloco, and your detailed account of his likely actions do indeed suggest that, then who was it? But more importantly what was HE doing there? Why did another cop arbitarily decide to stand guard at the viaduct and then screech off moments later? What was his brief? As with Andrews. Are we saying his testimony is somehow tainted? Did HE mistake Tippit for someone else too? But even so, then why was ANOTHER cop "frantically searching" his car? Who was it and what could HE have been looking for? You also suggest he wasn't looking for a male. Now even my limited research skills tell me that he was therefore looking for a woman. It seems odd that while one of the most world shattering events of the century was taking place down the road (an event his name would be forever linked to) Tippit was involved in his own mini drama of 'find the lady'. And how would those who had decided Tippit's fate know the outcome of this private romantic tryst? How could they be sure he'd be at the right place at the right time? That wouldn't seem consistant with a man seemingly involved in his own extra marital complications. Surely he would have been guided to the man (not Oswald) assigned to do the deed. They couldn't possibly just hope their paths would accidently cross. Someone had to have knowingly sent him there to meet his fate. I hope you can clear a few of these points up Duke. Looking forward to your reply. Best regards Bernie

Excellent post Duke. I've always enjoyed reading your contributions on this topic. But are you saying he wasn't looking for anyone? Well, first of all, there is no real indication that Tippit knew Oswald, and likewise none that he was actually looking for Oswald either. Even if he did and was, why pick that particular part of Oak Cliff, and moreover, why stop into Top 10 to call him? It's not like Lee had a cell phone with him! The phone call alone - one he didn't connect to anyone on - should be enough to prove that JD was not "looking for" Lee or anyone else on the lam. The Top Ten pone call, had it been successful, may have been to ask "Where is he? I've lost him!" The record reflects that Tippit was at Kiest & Bonnieview at 12:46 and at 8th & Lancaster at 12:54, Duke is this witness testimony or Tippit's? If you don't think he was looking for anyone, how else do you account for his known actions in the moments after the assassination? And if his murder was being set up as diversion who knew where to move him and when? And finally was this an integral part of the original conspiracy or an ad hoc attachment when other elements of the plot fell apart? Best regards Bernie

I have always been intrigued as to why Tippit was waiting at the Good Luck Oil station, or more importantly, who he was waiting for. What could have been so important that, only moments after the nearby assassination, would have required him to be there? Given his subsequent actions, described earlier in this thread as “a man frantically looking for someone”; the erratic movements; the manic search of Andrews’ car; running a stop sign; the failed telephone call at the Top Ten Records shop, and the then seemingly successful conclusion to that search at the corner of 10th and Patten surely points to only one thing: he was waiting at Gloco looking out for Oswald to pass over the Houston Street viaduct. If so, logic dictates that the original plan would be for Tippit to identify a particular vehicle crossing the viaduct, a vehicle that Tippit may have been familiar with or had at least been briefed on, and then follow it to a pre-arranged rendezvous. It either didn’t turn up, or he got there too late, or there was a forced change of plan – one of many that weekend – provoking the ensuing frantic search. Given the well documented testimonies of an Oswald sighting climbing into a Nash Rambler close to the TSBD moments after the assassination, could this be the car Tippit was anxiously waiting for? It would certainly seem logical. Many researches suggest he was waiting for Oswald’s taxi. But surely, whatever Tippit’s role was you’d have thought his handlers would have given him better odds than that! So this, in my opinion, lends credence to the sighting by Officer Craig and others of an Oswald escaping by the more conventional means of a get-away car as opposed to the risible public transport pantomime. If indeed it was Oswald in that Nash Rambler, and Tippit’s actions point further to that possibility, this means we have a major discrepancy that can only be explained by the presence of two Oswalds. That or the entire section of the WC that deals with Oswald’s journey (journey, not get-away!) from the TSBD to his room on Beckley - including the witness testimonies of all those who identified him at various points along the way, bus driver, taxi driver, former landlady etc - is a pack of lies from start to finish. We can dismiss any amount of the conclusions drawn up by the WC but can we pick and choose which group of witnesses we want to believe or disbelieve on the basis of inconvenience to a pet theory? Is it in any way likely that the above WC witnesses were complicit in the conspiracy when they described Oswald’s public transport movements? This is probably the same odds as the witnesses to the Nash Rambler get-away scenario, among others who placed ‘Oswald’ in all the ‘wrong’ locations, conspiring to create a red herring that may muddy the waters for the next half century. If just one witness from each of the alternative scenarios is correct we know for certain that there were indeed two Oswalds. Pure conjecture but I often wonder whether Tippit eventually encountered the ‘wrong’ Oswald. The one he didn’t know! That would certainly explain the initial casual nature of the meeting at 10th and Patten, only turning sinister as Tippit’s suspicions are raised during the course of the conversation, when something just didn’t quite ring right. This scenario also accounts for the impossibility of the patsy Oswald, (i.e. the one known by Tippit) by now nervously seeking his contact in the Texas Theatre, being physically capable of reaching the crime scene in the time available to do the deed. Of course this is pure speculation and tells us nothing of what the real connection was or what the ultimate outcome of the rendezvous was supposed to be. But it does underline the importance of an often overlooked aspect to this case – Tippit’s role. Who was moving him around the chessboard and why?

I intend to add a more detailed biography very soon, but I am at present bewitched by all the attachments that, until my recent registration, had been out of bounds. Having spent nearly a year reading some heated discussions on this forum, many specifically refering to attached photos or documents which, as a non member, I had no access to you can only imagine my delight at revisiting these topics with a new pair of eyes. Kid and sweet shop are words that spring to mind!