Steve Thomas

Cory, There was nothing in the Dallas Morning News for November 25th, unless it was buried somewhere after the first twelve pages. (that's all the farther I looked). http://digitalcollections.baylor.edu/cdm/ref/collection/po-jfk-np/id/681 Steve Thomas

Cory, "The next thing we heard there had been a shooting at the jail," Gustafson said. "The next thing we know Lee Harvey Oswald is in the emergency room, along with a couple of policemen that had been shot." What's that all about? I've never heard that before. Steve Thomas

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David, I don't know if this adds to anything, but, Commission Document 498 - SS Rowley Memorandum of 13 Mar 1964 Forwarding Reports https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=10898&search=%22Harvey_Lee+Oswald%22#relPageId=37&tab=page pp. 37-38. The Report is titled, Harvey Lee Oswald. SS Protective Research Report by Kenneth J. Weisman of an interview with Billy Joe Lord, who traveled to Europe with Oswald aboard the SS Marion Lykes. Lord constantly refers to “Harvey Lee Oswald” whom he found to be “unfriendly, standoffish, and that the two of them “didn't hit off”. (p. 38.) The Report was written by Weisman on February 28, 1964 and approved by a Jose (?)(Benavides?)(sic?) on March 2, 1964. The name, Harvey Lee Oswald is used seven times in the same document. This, by a trained agent in SS Protective Research office. Steve Thomas

Bart, If you go through the DPD Archives Index under lineups, you will find Brennan only listed once - in Box 6, Folder# 1, Item# 73 page 3. http://jfk.ci.dallas.tx.us/box6.htm When Brennan failed to identify Oswald, I think the DPD made an effort to expunge him from the record. They were forced to put him back in when Sorrels testified before the WC. This record is totally out of sequence with every lineup record in the books. Brennan and Sorrels were added after the fact. Steve Thomas

Jim, Fain's Report of May 12th was predicated on an interview he conducted with Marguerite, Oswald's mother. At that time she told Fain the Oswald was 5'10" tall, weighed 165 lbs and had blue eyes and light-brown, wavy hair. I was thinking this morning of Hoover's use of the word "imposter". He could have just said, "someone was using Oswald's birth certificate"; but instead, he used the word, "imposter". That sounds pretty close to saying, "someone was posing as Oswald". Or maybe I'm just stretching things a bit. Steve Thomas

I apologize if this has been mentioned before, but a rather concise bibliography of the QJWIN documents seem to have been gathered by C.A.A. Savastano in his book, Two Princes and a King. https://www.tpaak.com/project-zrrifle/ Steve Thomas

Bart, I think this had to be just before he is led into the "showup" room and is asked by a reporter if he shot the President, and he responds, "No, the first time I heard that is when I was "aksed" that question by a reporter out in the hall". He is also still wearing his brown shirt. He had been stripped of that shirt by Saturday. Steve Thomas

Jim, Didn't Hoover post an international alert in 1960 that somebody might be using Oswald's birth certificate? Steve Thomas

Jeff, There was a list of TSBD employees that was shown to Jack Revill when he testified. I've always referred to it as Revill's list, but it was actually drawn up by Detectives Westphal and Parks in the Special Service Bureau. Special Services were headed up by Lt. Revill and Gannaway. One of the things that Bureau investigated was subversives. This list of employees can be found in CE 2003 in vol. 24, page 259 of the Hearings and Exhibits. (24H259). https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=1140#relPageId=277&tab=page That list has three columns, and the middle column is labeled Ref.Int. For the longest time, I thought the Int. meant interview, but then I realized that it meant Intelligence File. In his book, No More Silence, Detective Westphal told Larry Sneed that he had gone home, and that Gannaway called him at home and told him to go back to the Special Services office at the Fairgrounds and cross-reference the list of TSBD employees against the Department's Intelligence files. That list has None for a record of Oswald in the DPD Intelligence files. I once did a cross-reference of those employees with the DPD police officer who interviewed them and whether that interview consisted of a full interview, or just a deposition. I personally found it kind of revealing and would be happy to share that with you if you'd like. Steve Thomas

Jeff, Your timeline is interesting. At 1:52 PM, Sgt. Jerry Hill announces on the DPD radio that "the suspect in the Tippit shooting of the police officer has been apprehended and is enroute to the station" At 2:00 Oswald arrives at the station At 2:20 as per Fritz, Fritz begins questioning Oswald. Fritz and Curry both say that they do not know who Oswald is and did not know he was living in Dallas. Revill says he had never heard of Oswald, and from what I have seen, I believe that he was not in the DPD Intelligence Files. At 2:30 PM DPD officers are dispatched to Irving. Because of the delay waiting for Sheriff's Deputies to arrive,they don't enter the premises until 3:30. At 2:40 PM DPD officers are dispatched to 1026 N. Beckley and arrive at 3:00 PM. At 3:15, Hosty arrives at the station and tells Revill that Oswald is a communist. In the "early afternoon" Robert Jones of the 112th INTC in San Antonio received a call from Region II (Dallas), that an A.J. Hidell had been arrested in Dallas. "I do not remember the exact time" Testimony of Robert Jones before the HSCA https://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/unpub_testimony/Jones_4-20-78/html/jones_0019a.htm page 19 He immediately begins searching his records. Police Officers Adamcik (7H202), Rose (7H227) and Stovall (7H186) are unanimous in saying that Captain Fritz dispatched them to Irving at 2:30 PM. They are also unanimous in saying that when they arrived at this address, they had to wait for 35-40 minutes for the Deputy Sheriffs to arrive since Irving was outside their jurisdiction. In his after-action report filed with Chief Curry (City of Dallas archives - JFK Collection) Box 3, Folder# 1, Item# 3 http://jfk.ci.dallas.tx.us/box3.htm Guy Rose wrote that after the Deputies showed up, they arrived at the front door at 3:30PM. They search the place and come up with pro-Castro material Harry Weatherford, Buddy Walthers, and J. L. Oxford were the deputies dispatched to Irving. You can find their accounts in the Supplementary Reports they filed with Sheriff Decker in volume 19 of the WC Hearings. Walthers, Weatherford and Sheriff Decker all said that Ruth Paine gave them a telephone number where Oswald could be reached and that they criss-crossed that number and came up with the Beckley St. address. At 2:40 PM, W.E. Potts, B.L. Senkel and Lt. E.L. Cunningham were dispatched to 1026 N. Beckley. Potts wrote in his after-action report (Box 2, Folder# 9, Item# 32) http://jfk.ci.dallas.tx.us/box2.htm that after he finished taking some affidavits, Fritz dispatched them to the Beckely St address at 2:40 and they arrived at Beckley at 3:00PM. Steve Thomas

Jim, Unless he considered Postal to be the "manager on duty". The "manager on duty" told the cops that the person they were looking for was in the balcony. Wasn't that the gist of the original phone call at 1:44 PM? http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/dpdtapes/tapes3.htm Dispatcher: 10-4. We have information that a suspect just went in the Texas Theater on West Jefferson. 79: 10-4 Dispather: Supposed to be hiding in the balcony. 79: 10-4 And didn't Postal say she called the police? "I said "I am going to call the police, and you and Butch go get on each of the exit doors and stay there." So, well, I called the police... " If this person had been in the balcony since 12:45, that sort of begs the question, why would you call the cops on a suspect for an event that hadn't happened yet, and call them an hour after the suspect entered the theater. Or, is this a confusion between Central and Eastern times? PS: I agree about the Theater patron list. Steve Thomas

Eddy, Thank you. That was a good tip. https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/release?page=69&new=&ref=hvper.com&sort=desc&order=Record Num These are row numbers 94 - 97 on page 2 of the Archives Records. Record# 10177 is an interesting one too. Looks like Christenson was talking about organized crime and the Cuban government. I think the MOS 203 he talks about is a Marine Corps Ground Intelligence Officer (but I could be wrong) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_Intelligence_Officer Steve Thomas

Jim, Walthers' Report: Report of Lt. Cunningham DPD Archives Box 2, Folder# 7, Item# 65 http://jfk.ci.dallas.tx.us/box2.htm Report of E. E. Taylor Box 2, Folder# 7, Item# 35 page 1 Report of J.B. Toney Box 2, Folder# 7, Item# 43 page 1 WC testimony of Julia Postal: http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/postal.htm Mr. BALL. On November 22, Friday, November 22, 1963, what time did your box office open? Mrs. POSTAL. We open daily at 12:45, sometimes may be 5, 4 minutes later or something, but that is our regular hours. Mr. BALL. On this day you opened on 12:45, November 22? Mrs. POSTAL. Uh-huh. It looks like Cunningham and Toney stopped and were questioning the man on the steps , while Taylor went on ahead and started searching the balcony. The man on the steps could not have been there since 12:05 if the Theater didn't open until 12:45. Perhaps the 12:05 is a typo. Who is the manager Toney talks about? John A. Callahan? Butch Burroughs? Mrs. POSTAL. Now, yes, sir; just about the time we opened, my employer had stayed and took the tickets because we change pictures on Thursday Mr. BALL. Who is your boss? Mrs. POSTAL. Mr. John A. Callahan. Mr. BALL. Where did you say he was? Mrs. POSTAL. Yes; I say, they bypassed each other, actually, the man ducked in this way and my employer went that-a-way, to get in his car. Mrs. POSTAL. No, sir; I was looking up, as I say, when the cars passed, as you know, they make a tremendous noise, and he ducked in as my boss went that way to get in his car. If Callahan is in his car, who is the manager Toney talks about? If Toney is right, the man on the steps had been in the Theater for a good 20 - 30 minutes before Tippit had even been shot. Steve Thomas

Eddy, Do you have a url link you can pass along? Steve Thomas

For some reason, I can't seem to edit my post on Roux and Souetre. It should read: From Bernard Fensterwald's lawsuit against the Department of State, et.al January 16, 1981 https://archive.orf/stream/nsia-SouetreJean/nsia-SouetreJean/Souetre+Jean+o63_djvu.txt Physiacally, Souetre is almost 6;tall and weighs between 175-200 pounds.” “The FBI's Michel Roux was born on August 31, 1940 at Soyaux, Charaente, France. In 1964, he was discribed as a white male, 5'8”, 148-150 pounds, black hair.” Steve Thomas

The CIA memo 632-796 suggesting that Souetre was in Dallas in November, 1963 alleged that he might have been traveling under the alias Michel Roux. France. In 1964, he was described as a white male, 5' 8", 148-150 pounds, black hair.” In 1964, he was described as a white male, 5' 8", 148-150 pounds, black hair.” Anything that suggests a 33 year old, 6' , 170 person would be traveling as a 23 year old 5'8 person weighing 148 pounds is kind of ridiculous. That's Soutre in the middle wearing army fatigues. Steve Thomas

From the book, Killing Kennedy by Phillip Coppens page no. unknown https://books.google.com/books?id=0ixYDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT170&lpg=PT170&dq=Torjmann&source=bl&ots=ISMxDTASFo&sig=xW8_lL2zSEPoSyshgLjDMHsp9Ac&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiun_yg0N3eAhUSjoMKHe-dB4g4ChDoATANegQIABAB#v=onepage&q=Torjmann&f=false More than likely, this would be Revolutionary Directory member Denis Baille https://enhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organisation_armée_secrète.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organisation_armée_secrète He was a member of the OAS – Algeria: Oranie under General Gardy along with Jean-Rene Souetre. This would be 1962. http://djazair-france-docs.blogspot.com/2008/05/loas-organisation-arme-secrte.html Histoire de l'OAS By Georges Fleury Page 71 https://books.google.com/books?id=T3asBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT530&lpg=PT530&dq=%22Denis+Baille%22+OAS&source=bl&ots=1X7kfu3mEe&sig=rfiZVJmZXCZJKwJn3aiPxlCU4WQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjvt96F4t3eAhUQOa0KHfrADQ8Q6AEwA3oECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22Denis%20Baille%22%20OAS&f=false Could this possibly be Marcel Tordjmann? I am only asking, not suggesting. Marcel Tordjmann Birth: May 22, 1907 - Miliana, Algeria Previous activity: military Point of departure to Free France: North Africa Engagement in Free France: Algeria in July 1943 Main assignment: Terre Leclerc - Africa / engineering Grade reached during the war: lieutenant https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.francaislibres.net/liste/fiche.php%3Findex%3D110686&prev=search Steve Thomas

David, WC testimony of Thomas Hutson: http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/hutson.htm Mr. HUTSON. "We pulled up to this location and I was the first out of the car to hit the ground. As I walked up to the fire exit doors, Officer Hawkins and Baggett were getting out of the car, and the door to the theatre opened, and this unknown white male was exiting. I drew my pistol and put it on him and told him to put up his hands and not to make a move, and he was real nervous and scared and said: "I am not the one. I just came back to open the door. I work up the street at the shoestore..." I've always been puzzled by this statement by Hutson: " Then Captain Westbrook came in and gave the order to get him out of here as fast as you can and don't let anybody see him, and he was rushed out of the theatre." Why was it important to Westbrook not to let anybody see who was being arrested? As far as the Church, I was curious as to whatever happened to the trainee riding with M.N. McDonald, T.R. Gregory. McDonald abandoned him at the Church and he is never heard from again. Mr. BALL - How did you happen to go to the 400 block on Jefferson? Mr. McDONALD - I was stopped by other officers there. They wanted to search a house. So I relieved my partner to go to help the supervisors search this house, in the 400 block of East Jefferson. Then I went around to the alleys, and started cruising the alley in my squad car. Mr. McDONALD - After I was satisfied that this teenager that had run into the library didn't fit the description, I went back to my squad car, put my shotgun back in the rack. Just as I got into the squad car, it was reported that a suspect was seen running into the Texas Theatre, 231 West Jefferson. So I reported to that location Code 3. This is approximately seven blocks from the library, seven blocks west. Mr. BALL - Did you go down there with your partner? Mr. McDONALD - No, sir; I had let my partner out on arrival; my first arrival in the 400 block. Mr. BALL - He was on foot? Mr. McDONALD - Yes, sir; I didn't see him any more that day. Funny way to treat your partner, I think. Steve Thomas

Paul, Take a look at this Forum thread: Old Dallas Civil Defense Emergency Operations Center http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/topic/25119-old-dallas-civil-defense-emergency-operations-center/?tab=comments#comment-383820 Notice the top right hand corner. Letter also by Boise Smith WRR transmitter building. https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qqt01 Texas State Guard. By William C. Wilkes and Mary M. Standifer "In the 1950s the Signal Corps of the Texas State Guard Reserve Corps embraced 500 radio stations statewide. These provided valuable communications assistance to civil authorities and the Red Cross in times of natural disaster." Statement by Colonel John W. Mayo, Chairman of City-County Civil Defense and Disaster Commission at the Dedication of the Emergency Operations Center at Fair Park. http://www.civildefensemuseum.com/fallout/docs/may241961a.jpg This Statement appeared on the Civil Defense and Disaster Commission letter head co-signed by Boise Smith, WRR transmitter Building at Fair Park. WRR was a city-owned radio station. In the Batchelor's Exhibit CE5002 https://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh19/pdf/WH19_Batchelor_Ex_5002.pdf , Boise Smith is listed as a Deputy Chief of Police (along with Lumpkin, Stevenson and Batchelor) and as the Director of the Civil Defense and Disaster Commission. As such, he reported directly to Curry. See this statement by Mayo decrying the artists being displayed at the Art Museum http://washingtonbabylon.com/bunker-command-center-jfk-assassination-merely-worlds-interesting-basement/ "In March of 1955, Col. John W. Mayo, commander of the Dallas Metropolitan Post No. 581 of the American Legion, sent a communication to the Trustees of the Art Museum decrying many of the Museum’s policies and saying that the Post objected ‘to the Museum patronizing and supporting artists … whose political beliefs are dedicated to destroying our way of life." In this same website, it says, " An online exhibit by the Dallas City Hall provides the following historical summary of WRR, the station-of-choice for Dallas-Fort Worth highbrows since 1964, when it switched to an all classical format. Until the departments had their own internal support, WRR supplied and maintained all radio equipment for Police, Fire, Park and Recreation, Water, Public Works, and the former Health Department. At its peak it furnished dispatching services for Dallas County, Cockrell Hill Police Department, and private ambulance services (in the days before 911). WRR discontinued these adjunct services in 1969." "In his book, Family of Secrets, veteran reporter Russ Baker notes: With this shelter in operation on November 22, 1963, it was possible for someone based there to communicate with police and other emergency services. There is no indication that the Warren Commission or any other investigative body or even JFK assassination researchers looked into this facility or the police and Army Intelligence figures associated with it." http://washingtonbabylon.com/bunker-command-center-jfk-assassination-merely-worlds-interesting-basement/ What I don't know at this point, is if the groups involved used the same physical pieces of equipment, or if they were each using their own. Steve Thomas

David, Thanks for the tip about R.D. Stringer in the Patrol Division. In his WC testimony, Westbrook talks about Stringer as being "my Sergeant", said, " so I sent the men that were in my office, which were then Sergeants Stringer and Carver, and possibly Joe Fields and McGee", and since the H.H. Stringer who signed the Report that Jim Hargrove provided signed his name as being H.H. Stringer, Sergeant in the Personnel Bureau, it's odd that the people involved would mix him up with a Patrolman in the Patrol Division. Do you think they might have been brothers? Steve Thomas

Jim, Just as a side note: Stringfellow and Biggio were working the police radio at the Fairgrounds on 11/22/63 “Army Apparently didn't tell Commission of Oswald's Alias” Dallas Morning News March 19, 1978 in the Weisberg Collection http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/F%20Disk/FBI/FBI%20Records%20Release%2012-7-77%20News%20Accounts/Item%20069.pdf “However, (Bill) Biggio, who was directing police intelligence communications at the Fair Park office the day of the assassination...,” Former Dallas police Capt. W. P. Gannaway, who commanded the special service bureau in which Biggio worked, said if Army intelligence in San Antonio or Dallas "had any information pertaining to Oswald, we didn't know about it." “Don Stringfellow, a fellow police intelligence officer working with Biggio at the Fair Park office, was named as the source of information in a secret cable the night of Nov. 22 from Army intelligence in Texas to the U.S. Strike Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida. The cable said that information "obtained from Oswald revealed that he had defected to Cuba in 1959 and is a card-carrying member of the Communist Party." THIS CABLE, containing false information, was sent to an Army-Air Force operation set up three years earlier to provide a quick-reacting strike force in case of enemy attack. “ Steve Thomas

Jim, Yes. L.D. Stringfellow was a Detective in the Special Service Bureau under Captain Gannaway. (see p. 4 of this pdf file) H.H. Stringer was a Sergeant in the Personnel Bureau under Captain Westbrook (see p. 32 of this pdf file) Batchelor Exhibit 5002 https://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh19/pdf/WH19_Batchelor_Ex_5002.pdf Steve Thomas