Steve Thomas

3 spent cartridges on the floor of the Texas School Book Depository.

1 live round in the rifle - that makes 4

4 cartridges recovered at the scene of Tippit's shooting - that makes 8

5 rounds found in Oswald's pocket - that makes 13

a fully loaded revolver with 6 rounds - that makes 19

On 19 bullets or cartridges, Oswald's fingerprints were not found on a single one of them?

Was anyone's prints found on any of them?

Doesn't that seem odd?

Steve Thomas

What strikes me too about the whole pistol evidence is that the pistol, the bullets allegedly found in Oswald's pocket, and the bullets recovered from Tippitt's body were all held by different policemen, some kept in their desk drawers for an extended period of time and not immediately turned over to the evidence room.

Seems odd.

Steve Thomas

I've been wondering;

if the Walker shooting in April, 1963 was "staged", as many have suggested, was there something going on in Walker's life at that time that would have required or benefited from a staged attempt on his life?

Right now, I'm not even convinced that Walker was even in the room at the time.

Steve Thomas

David,

Steve -

I think you will find the same story here as elsewhere... the Chain of evidence describes two separate and distinct paths for the pistol which finally gets entered into evidence.

http://ctka.net/2015/JosephsPistol.pdf addresses and illustrates the conflicts between the Hill to TL Baker story and the Barnes/Davenport/Doughty/Vincent Drain chain...

I hope my article helps clarify a few things about any tests that did or didn't happen and the pistol which mattered

DJ

I just wanted to congratulate you on a masterful job.

Steve Thomas

Was the revolver taken from Lee Harvey Oswald in the Texas Theater ever tested to determine that it was THE gun used to kill J.D. Tippitt?

Is such a test possible?

I apologize if this has been discussed before, if it has, I just don't remember it.

Steve Thomas

Chuck,

Thank you. You have given me lots to think about.

You wrote:

"On March 5, 1964, INS searched its files on Souetre and
said they came up with nothing on him or his aliases Roux and Mertz. However,
as of that time the CIA had both a file on and a photograph of him... The query of the FBI in Paris and New York was part of the attempt to get a line
on his whereabouts."

To me, this is no big thing. The French had also approached both the Italians and the West Germans back in 1962 requesting the same thing.

You also wrote:

"It is also known that in the late winter, presumably because of de Gaulle's upcoming visit to Mexico, the French had put out a world-wide, all-points alert for Souetre."

According to Jean Claude Perez, (in his talk with Fensterwald) there actually had been a three-man hit team dispatched to Mexico City to assassinate DeGaulle there, but the plan was scrubbed because they couldn't get their logistics together.

Do you think Souetre was involved in the attack on DeGaulle at Petit-Clamart in August, 1962? I know that for weeks afterward the police and media speculated that he was.

Steve Thomas

Chuck,

Thank you for your reply.

You wrote:

Dick Russell wrote in "The Man Who Knew Too Much":

• In March-April 1963, Souetre met with Howard Hunt (of Watergate and Bay of Pigs infamy) in Madrid.

I know Souetre met with someone from the CIA, but I've never seen any actual evidence that it was Hunt. Do you know who was the CIA Station Chief in Madrid and/or Lisbon and/or the CIA Chief of the Western Hemisphere in 1963?

• In April-May 1963, Souetre met with Gen. Edwin Walker.

I have looked for evidence of this, but have not found any. Do you know of anything in Walker's writings where he says that he met with Souetre?

• Souetre trains that summer with Alpha 66 and the 30th of November (both anti-Castro groups) in the New Orleans Mandeville region.

I know Russell claims this, but I've never seen anything from the Alpha 66 or November 30th guys that says Souetre was there.

These are not critical questions, I am actually curious.

I know that in 1963, Souetre was involved in establishing the CNR (the Conseil Nationale de Resistance) which was the successor to the OAS when it disbanded in 1962 and was aligned with, or associated with, or closely resembled, the World Anti-communist League.

Steve Thomas

I had read once that the source for the media reports came out of the Sheriff's office, but I'm sorry, I can't confirm this.

Steve Thomas

Raconteur. Soldier-of-Fortune. Centurion. Son of a naval petty officer, he was raised in a military boarding school. Decorated military hero. Winner of five military citations, including two combat medals. Developed a fast-attack, lightning strike force called “Matou” (Tomcat”) inserting paratroopers directly into front-line combat situations. One of, if not the, youngest Captain in the French Air Force. Led a company of 100 men, he would be known as Captain Souetre for the rest of his life. Beloved by his men, frowned on by his superiors. Was called charismatic, but naive. Nicknamed “Robin Hood” by his friends, he named his first-born son “Little John”. Arrested and tried for desertion, he married his second wife two weeks after arriving in a prison camp. His best man (or in French fashion, “Witness”) at his wedding was a 70-year old hippie General who once wrote that he would rather put flowers in the barrels of soldiers' guns than drop bombs on people, and organized a rock concert headlined by Pink Floyd. The “arch of sabers” at his military-style wedding was not crossed swords, but strands of barbed wire. In The Great Escape fashion, led an 18-man prison escape by digging a tunnel 35 meters long under the prison walls. Married three times. Had three children, and possibly a fourth born out of wedlock. High ranking member of the French OAS, at one time he was one of the two most wanted men in France. Suspect in not just one, but at least two assassination plots against national Heads of State. Target of an assassination plot himself. Amnestied in 1968, would later go on to serve in local government politics as a member of the right-wing Front National party. He died on June 15, 2001, but his Death Certificate would not be signed until June 18^th.

Interesting fellow this Jean-Rene.

I'm not sure about the 3rd photo but I do believe for the first two photos, the guys standing on the steps and started running were captured in the Z film.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7Hr9Lrku-CxWThRVm0zNlNBVlk

As for the "black dog" shape, I'm pretty sure there was a black couple sitting behind the concrete wall eating lunch and waiting for the motorcade to arrive. There's a photo online showing cops holding up a bag that contained their lunch that was left behind but I can't seem to find it.

Michael,

This web site has the picture you were looking for:

http://jfkfacts.org/assassination/news/calling-all-witnesses-the-african-american-couple-on-the-grassy-knoll/

Steve Thomas

I'm not sure about the 3rd photo but I do believe for the first two photos, the guys standing on the steps and started running were captured in the Z film.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7Hr9Lrku-CxWThRVm0zNlNBVlk

As for the "black dog" shape, I'm pretty sure there was a black couple sitting behind the concrete wall eating lunch and waiting for the motorcade to arrive. There's a photo online showing cops holding up a bag that contained their lunch that was left behind but I can't seem to find it.

*shrug*

Steve Thomas

I don't know. Maybe this has been explored before. If it has, and this is redundant, I apologize.

I have been mulling over the idea that the hatted figure seen in frame 413 and thereabouts of the Zapruder Film and the black dog man are the same person. The angle seems about right.

and

I'm also considering that the black dog man is also known as Shadow Man, photographed leaving Dealey Plaza by way of the Elm Street Extension.

and

I don't understand the photographic technique that would have blotted out this person and turned him all black, and to the best of my knowledge, I've never read an account of anyone seeing a figure dressed all in black walking around up there.

I have also been mulling over the idea that this person is the Secret Service Agent that Officer Joe Marshall Smith and Deputy Constable Seymour Weitzman encountered behind the retaining wall at the Elm Street Extesnion immdediately following the shots.

Steve Thomas

I don't know if this will work or not, but I think this is a composite of the black dog man leaving Dealey Plaza.

In the picture on the left, you can see him right in the center of the picture just above the corner of the retaining wall.

The picture on the right is from a Bothun picture that has been labeled Shadow man.

Maybe some of you who are better at pictures than I am can look these and tell me what you think.

In another forum I suggested that this might be the "Secret Service" man that Officer Smith ran into behind the Elm Street Extension.

Steve Thomas

Larry,

"Actually we have lots of post assassination documents and interviews showing the FBI was very well aware of many of the activist exiles and groups...we just don't have the pre-assassination equivalent. Heitman would seem to have been the guy looking into that - there is plenty of indication the FBI knew these people but finding the pre-assassination data is the open challenge."

The other day I ran across the name of another Spanish speaking guy who seems to have worked with Heitman, but I neglected to write his name down. If I run across it again, I'll let you know.

Steve

Steve, I don't think the time was quite that short....I cover the points you mentioned above in SWHT and as I recall he had been in the house longer than that and did not exit that quickly...in fact there is good evidence that he was interviewed during the following year by the FBI and had been a source for them previously....indeed he seems to have been the source who helped them write off the report of Oswald at the Harlandale house. You might want to search my blog for posts on Harlandale and on Heitman.... there is some new information there on both subjects.

Larry,

Thanks for responding. It's nice to hear from you again.

With respect to the FBI interviewing Orcarberro the following year, yes. Heitzman's report is dated in April of 1964. I got to wondering about that in light of Escalante saying that Orcarberro had moved to Puerto Rico.

In addition, I want to go back and log the addresses he lived at in Dallas.

A CIA document stamped November 24, 1963 ("WAVE traces indicate that...") has him living on Columbia

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=40314&relPageId=2

In January, 1964 Roger Warner said that INS had him living at 5310 Columbia St.

So did Agent Aragon of Miami.

In March, the SS still had him living there.

In an FBI report dated May 28, 1964 he was listed at 2311 Nicholson St.

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=28726#relPageId=4&tab=page

(Just as an aside, that FBI lists a Jose Rodriguez as one of the officers of the Dallas SNFE. I wonder if it was his brother)

On May 22, 1964 Heitman lists his address as 2311 Nicholson St. Appt. D

So, it looks like some time between March and May, Orcarberro moved.

I read through some of your blog posts on Harlandale. At one point you said, "One of the FBI’s primary subversive tasks in 1963 was cracking down on exile guy buys and we should have a large set of documents on that activity in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. What we do have from the FBI in regard to Walthers report is nothing more than a confirmation that the Cubans had been in the house and left almost immediately either before or after the assassination."

I was sort of astounded the other day when I was reading some FBI surveillance reports of Apha 66 in New York City and saw that much of their information came Jack Caulfield (of Watergate fame). He worked for the Special Service Bureau in NYC - just the same as the Special Service Bureau in Dallas. It seems that these Special Service Bureaus were patterned after each other, and Bureaus from around the country met periodically and shared information and techniques. (Both Revill and Curry reference this). Their emphasis was on criminal activity of an organized nature, like Communist and the Fair play For Cuba Committee, but not Mafia type activity. If you look at the 9 organizations that Jack Revill had under surveillance before Kennedy's visit, they included the John Birch Society and the White Citizens Council, but not any of the cuban exile organizations.

I still have to square the idea of Orcarberro living in Dallas as of May, 1964 and Escalante saying Orcarberro,

"arrives in Dallas two months before the Kennedy assassination "and he leaves afterwards at full speed."

I'll go back and spend time with SWHT.

Steve Thomas

I didn't realize until just the other day how short a period of time Manuel Rodriguez Orcarberro had been in Dallas before the assassination.

On April 24, 1964 SS Chief Rowley wrote a Memorandum to J. Lee Rankin of the Warren Commission. This memo is CD 853
http://www.maryferre...amp;relPageId=2

This memo was in response to a letter from Rankin to Rowley dated April 22, 1964. The topic was Manuel Rodriguez Orcarberro and the Cuban exile community. Some of the things in Rowley’s memo were:

1/16/64 Frank Ellsworth was interviewed about Orcarberro.
Ellsworth had been working undercover gathering evidence against John Thomas Masen.
Masen told Ellsworth that Orcarberro had been trying to buy guns and bazookas from Masen.
Masen told Ellsworth that Rodriguez and George F. Parrel were leaders of the local DRE and also members of Alpha-66
Masen told Ellsworth that George Parrel, an associate of Orcarberro, had also been trying to buy guns from him.
They had made purchases from him and that they presently have a large cache of arms located somewhere in Dallas, although he did not know the location.
Parrel was a student at Dallas City College.
Agent Ed Coyle was also contacted about Orcarberro.

On May 25, 1964, Manuel Rodriguez voluntarily appeared at the Dallas FBI offices and spoke to Wallace Heitman. He told Heitman that the members of SNFE met at bi-weekly meetings at 3126 Harlandale. (Although in his Report, Heitman spelled it Hollandale.)

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...p;relPageId=222

In his 11/26/63 follow up Report, Deputy Sheriff, Buddy Walthers wrote that the Cubans who had been at the Harlandle house had moved out between seven days before the President was shot and one day after he was shot.

See: http://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh19/html/WH_Vol19_0276b.htm

Warren CD# 1085 is a letter from the Director of the FBI to Jay Lee Rankin dated June 11, 1964 with attached memos and reports.
http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=11481&relPageId=3

See here for a list of various reports from Wallace Heitman:

http://www.maryferrell.org/search.html?q=HEITMAN%20june%2025,%201964

One of the Reports included is a memo from Dallas SA Wallace Heitman dated April 29, 1964. This Report discusses the residents of an address in Garland, Texas and the sighting of a Rambler station wagon parked in front with a bumper sticker that says, “Kill the Kennedy Klan.”

While Heitman’s memo is heavily redacted, other research has revealed the two residents of 806 E. Monica in Garland, TX were Raul Castro and Juan Quintana.

CD 913 is a March 30, 1964 Report of Robert Gemberling. Included in this Report is information relative to the "Kill the Kennedy Klan" bumper sticker and persons receiving mail at an address in Garland.

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...p;relPageId=174

Gemberling's report INCLUDES the names of the people. The mail being reported on dates from late December and early January, 1964.

Heitman's Report of April 29th is a copy of Gemberling's March 30th.

Among the people receiving mail at 806 E. Monica Dr. were Raul Castro and Juan Quintana.
Manuel Rodriguez Orcarberro had revealed that Raul Castro and Juan Quintana were members of Alpha-66 and the SNFE.

On page 6 of his memo, Heitman says this his source told him that the two unnamed subjects of the memo had been employed by him (the source) for approximately one year. He said they were Cuban citizens and who were trained as duster pilots in Mexico for the Cuban Government and later defected from the Fidel Castro Government and came to the United States.
http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=11481&relPageId=215

The two subjects were known to be violently anti-Castro and had attended the speech by Adlai Stevenson in Dallas when he got bonked on the head by a picket sign.

CD 1085

In June, 1963 Andrés Nazario Sargén wrote Orcarberro a letter and urged him to establish a chapter of Alpha 66 in Dallas. He moved to Dallas in September, 1963.

University of Miami finding aids

http://proust.library.miami.edu/findingaids/?p=creators/creator&id=430

General Secretary Andrés Nazario Sargén was a founder of Alpha 66 along with other prominent anti-communist fighters such as his older brother Aurelio Nazario, Eloy Gutiérrez Menoyo and Antonio Veciana.

Fabian Escalante

CUBAN INFORMATION ARCHIVES

http://cuban-exile.com/doc_026-050/doc0027-3.html

A third information comes from Mr. Manuel Rodriguez. Manuel Rodriguez truly, we didn't know who
he was. We heard about Manuel Rodriguez when we started to do research on Oscar Berot (ORCARBERRO?) on
account of what information was received from the __________ hotel. Oscar Berot is the second
surname of Manuel Rodriguez

(the Comodoro hotel?)

and in our organization the index is always made by the first surname not by the second one. But when
we found out that Oscar Berot was Manuel Rodriguez, then we found another interesting information.
Manuel Rodriguez, Oscar Berot told one of our agents, first of all that he was in Dallas because he
was the officer 66 [Alpha-66] delegate in Dallas. And he was the delegate for office 66 in Dallas and if anyone came to know that he and Bercian took part in the plot to kill Kennedy. They were going to be killed. He was already living in Puerto Rico or a little after that he went to live in Puerto Rico. And
another information comes from a very close person of Bercian, I think... some of you have already
interviewed. This person told us that Phillips threatened Bercian in order for him to not reveal his true identity. I'm not going to reveal his name, but I will only tell you that some of you have had interviews
with this person (don't talk about it) ?__________________ I cannot reveal this on account of an
ethics principle for the same cause, because some of you will not make such revelations.

(Is Bercian Antonio Veciana?)

FABIÁN ESCALANTE ON POSADA AND OPERATION 40

By Jean-Guy Allard interviewing Fabian Escalante in Havana. Axis of Logic

Axis of Logic

Tuesday, Jan 11, 2011

http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_62001.shtml

Escalante underlines how a Cuban, Manuel "Manolito" Rodriguez Orcarberro, arrives in Dallas two months before the Kennedy assassination "and he leaves afterwards at full speed."

(Remember what Buddy Walthers saying about the Cubans who left Harlendale shortly afterwards)

There he opens an office of Alpha 66, where Oswald will enter at one time, according to the testimony of the assistant police chief of Dallas.

"This Cuban sought asylum in 1960 in the Brazilian embassy together with two known CIA agents. Who were they? Ricardo 'El Mono' Morales Navarrete and Isidro Borgas, a figure of Mexican origin who looks a lot like one of the figures who is with Oswald handing out proclamations supposedly in favor of Cuba in New Orleans -- all of that which was a show put on where Carlos Bringuier goes to challenge them, a fight erupts, and the police arrest all of them..."

Orcarberro was a busy little guy in the short time he was in Dallas.

Steve Thomas

These are supposed to be two pictures of the same event - L.D. Montgomery bringing the bag out of the TSBD. Now, I'm no photographic expert, but, aside from the fact that the bag is bent in one picture, and not the other, it seems to me that these are two different events. The angles of the sun appear different. One picture has people in it that the other picture doesn't. Heck, are these even the same bags? Look at the creases in the two bags. Montgomery said that Studebaker dusted the bag for fingerprints.
Mr. MONTGOMERY. "Wait just a minute no; I didn't pick it up. I believe Mr. Studebaker did. We left it laying right there so they could check it for prints".
Mr. BALL. You say you dusted it?
Mr. STUDEBAKER. With that magnetic powders.

Looks like one bag has fingerprint powder on it and other doesn't.

Steve Thomas

Ron,

So can anyone think of a reason why the conspirators would leave shells that didn't match the planted murder weapon? It was certainly a screw-up, but how in the world could it happen? The planting of a weapon and shells had to be one of the simplest plans in the whole operation.

I think either:

a) somebody got their signals crossed; or,

the left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing

I think the Dallas Police Department realized early on (as early as the 22nd) that they had a problem on their hands when the shells (that had already been filmed, and guarded, and entered into evidence) didn't match the rifle that was found.

Look at these two images:

I can imagine the panic that set in.

Steve Thomas

Ron,

You wrote:

"But wasn't Oswald already linked to an MC (supposedly ordered from Klein's)? "

See Kirk's response above:

"All the news reports by all the major news outlets on Nov. 22nd reported that the murder weapon was a German Mauser. It wasn't until I believe the afternoon of the 23rd that they corrected it to MC"

That was the point of my original post. Over and above news reports (who would have gotten their information from law enforcement sources), the actual official documents drafted and filed by the law enforcement officials on the 22nd was that the rifle was of a different make and model.

Why the need for a change?

As L.D. Montgomery told the WC:

http://jfkassassination.net/russ/testimony/montgom1.htm

Mr. MONTGOMERY. Well, first I reported to Captain Fritz, my partner and I and he assigned us to this position over there where the boxes were.

Mr. BALL. Where was that?

Mr. MONTGOMERY. It would be what--the southeast corner of the building--over there from where the shooting took place.

Mr. BALL. Well, was that before the cartridges had been found or afterwards?

Mr. MONTGOMERY. No, sir; they had been found when we got there.

Mr. BALL. When you got there they had been found already?

Mr. MONTGOMERY. Yes, sir.

Mr. BALL. What about the rifle, had it been found?

Mr. MONTGOMERY. No, Sir; it hadn't.

The rifle had to match the caliber of the shells that had already been found --- and it didn't.

And another thing...

If indeed there was a paper bag found up there on the sixth floor (and Ian Griggs has been pretty convincing that there wasn't), why didn't the shooter put the rifle back in the bag before he hid the rifle? It would have only taken a second to slip the rifle back in the bag and would have given him more time to make a getaway.

Have you ever seen that photo of L.D. Montgomery taking a bag out of the TSBD, and it's standing straight up in the air? What a joke.

Steve Thomas

Robert,

"It should be noted that any witness, such as Roger Craig, who ID'ed the rifle by supposedly reading the calibre of the rifle on the base of the barrel, is likely not being truthful.

Mauser did not stamp the calibre anywhere on their rifles. In the case of the Argentine Mauser, there were several models and they were ID'ed by the year they were introduced."

Thank you. I have often wondered about that. I recently saw a YouTube video of Roger Craig, and he stated emphatically that the rifle had 7.65 Mauser stamped right on the barrel. see the 5:15 mark on this 14 minute video:

I always wanted to go back and make sure that, yes, that is exactly what is stamped on the barrel.

and Jim, yes I did mention Craig as being one of the first on the scene when the rifle was found.

Jim, you had expressed the thought that the Mockingbird and Cedar Springs incident might be an interesting story.

For a long time I had thought so too, but now I'm not so sure.

In his personnel assignments for the parade or motorcade, in 1964, Captain Purdue Lawrence wrote that personnel assigned to locations close to Love Field would then be assigned to the Trade Mart area after the motorcade passed. Mockingbird and Cedar Springs is right next to Love Field.

http://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh20/html/WH_Vol20_0259a.htm

The officers assigned to that location were:

C.E. Whitman (in car 257)

J.B. Jones

J. Jemings (or Jennings)

W. Huggins

http://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh20/html/WH_Vol20_0255b.htm

I think what happened is that after the motorcade passed, those officers left and went to the Trade Mart, but I don't find any after-action reports from them in the DPD JFK Archives to verify that.

Steve Thomas

David,

"And there was a C.E. Whitman as a "School Safety Officer" - http://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh19/pdf/WH19_Batchelor_Ex_5002.pdf

10 . Whitman, C. E. .P7-m:30 some to 4230"

Thank you.

I've seen that, but the only time I've seen Whitman referenced is in the

Dallas police tapes at about the 12:37 mark

http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/dpdtapes/index.htm

when he was routed to Mockingbird and Cedar Springs to help with a traffic snafu.

4 (Dep. Chief N.T. Fisher) "Yes, I don't know what happened to the traffic officers assigned to Cedar Springs and Mockingbird, but they're not there and the traffic is really snafued."

257 (Patrolman C.E. Whitman) Do you want us to go back to Mockingbird and Cedar Springs? Dispatcher 10-4.

Officer# 32 is also routed there: "32, on mark out, report to Cedar Springs and Mockingbird."

So, I don't think Whitman is in the Depository at 1:22.

I think Whitman and Weitzman are the same person.

Steve Thomas

Jim,

From Eugene Boone's Sheriff's Report:

http://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh19/html/WH_Vol19_0264a.htm

"Officer Whitman of Robie Love's office was with me when I found the rifle..."

In this report, Boone identifies Whitman as Officer Whitman, DPD:

In his Sheriff's Report, Eugene Boone said that an Officer Whitman, DPD was with him when the rifle was found.

http://www.history-m...Vol19_0263a.htm

From Seymour Weitzman's WC testimony:

http://jfkassassination.net/russ/testimony/weitzman.htm

Mr. WEITZMAN - I took over as general manager of the Lamont Corp. which is a discount operation and the headquarters, which was Galveston, Tex. We had stores in Dallas, Fort Worth, Louisiana, Phoenix and Tucson, Ariz. At the end of 1960, I closed up all the stores, retired from the discount operation and went to work for Robie Love in Dallas County, precinct 1.
Mr. BALL - You've been there ever since as deputy constable?
Mr. WEITZMAN - That's right.

Seymour Weitzman filed an Affidavit and said that he and Boone found the rifle at the same time and he very definitely said that the rifle was a 7.65 Mauser.

https://www.maryferr...Id=246&tab=page

So, was Officer Whitman and Seymour Weitzman the same person?

I have, in the past tried to find a collection of reports filed by the Constables in Robie Love's office, similar to the Decker reports in vol 19 of the WC Exhibits, or the after-action reports filed by the DPD officers in the Dallas City JFK archives, but to no avail.

I did run across this oral history summary of an interview with Robie Love held at Texas Tech University.

That would be interesting I think.

Oral History Collection

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE:

TAPE TWO, SIDE ONE:

Robie Love discusses his career as a bandleader in the 1930s and as a law enforcement officer for over 30 years.

Constable of Dallas for 25 years
Recalls first campaign for election
States history of office of constable

Duties of constable listed
Reasons for long stay in office

http://www.county.org/texas-county-government/texas-county-officials/Pages/Constable.aspx

Did somebody screw up and plant the wrong shells?

I've been trying to determine why a 7.65 German Mauser had to be changed to a 6.5 Mannlicher Carcano.

The first three people who were on the scene when the rifle was found, Weitzman, Boone and Craig were all Sheriff's Deputies. In one way or another, they all identified it as a German make. After the rifle was discovered, they were all ordered to stand down, turn the evidence over to the City authorities and return the Sheriff's Department. It was only after the Dallas City Department got a hold of the rifle was it changed to an Italian rifle.

Why?

Did the rifle have to match the caliber of the shells that were found? And by all accounts, it was the shells that were found first.

In his Sherifff's Report, Harry Weatherford said the he was with Luke Mooney, Eugene Boone, Ralph Walters and Sam Webster.

http://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh19/html/WH_Vol19_0260b.htm

In his Sheriff's Report, Ralph Walters said that by the time he got to the sixth floor, Officers Mooney and Grandstaff were already there and searching the floor. They told him that Webster and Victory had gone up to the seventh floor. Webster came to the head of the stairs and said they needed lights. Walters left and went back to the Sheriff's Department to get some lights. On the way back with the lights, he met up with L.C. Smith and Eugene Boone and they returned to the Depository. They took four lights up to the seventh floor and returned to the sixth floor "where Officers Mooney and Grandstaff were searching the floor".

http://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh19/html/WH_Vol19_0262a.htm

In his Sheriff's Report, Luke Mooney said that he was the only one on the sixth floor.

Officers Webster, Victory, and myself took to the building. Officers Webster and Victory took the stairs and I told them I would take the freight elevator. At the time I got on the elevator two women who work in the building got on the elevator, saying they wanted to go to their office. As the elevator started up, we went up one floor and the power to the elevator was cut off. I got out on the floor with these women and looked around in their office and I then took to the stairs and went to the 6th floor, and Officers Webster and Victory went up to the 7th floor. "I was the only person on the 6th floor when I searched it and was reasonably sure that there was no one else on this floor as I searched it" and then criss-crossed it, seeing only stacks of cartons of books.

L.C. Smith said the he was on the floor when Boone found the rifle, but he doesn't say he was right there and identified it.

http://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh19/html/WH_Vol19_0267b.htm

Seymour Weitzman filed an Affidavit and said that he and Boone found the rifle at the same time and he very definitely said that the rifle was a 7.65 Mauser.

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=1140#relPageId=246&tab=page

In his Sheriff's Report, Eugene Boone said that an Officer Whitman of the Dallas City Police Department was with him when the rifle was found.

http://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh19/html/WH_Vol19_0263a.htm

Does anyone know of a report by, or any interviews with Officers Victory, Grandstaff , Webster or Whitman?

It would be nice to know what they had to say on the matter. It appears that none of them were called by the Warren Commission.

Steve Thomas

I remember reading an account by a woman in the Justice Department who was part of the team of lawyers who were drawing up the criminal charges against Richard Nixon in the Watergate affair. (She may have been the only woman on that panel, but I'm not sure of that). She was complaining about Ford's efforts to interfere in that effort. Ford was a dangerous man.

Steve Thomas

On December 1, 1963 Detective K.L. Anderton wrote up a handwritten report of a meeting he had with prisoner "Robert" Borchgardt.
DPD Archives, Box 2, Folder# 6, Item# 9
http://jfk.ci.dallas.tx.us/box2.htm

I believe that "Robert" Borchgardt is actually Richard Borchgardt, who took part in Oswald's third line-up, which took place at 7:40 p.m. on the night of the 22nd. This is the infamous "Davis sisters" line-up,

In summary, Borchgardt said he had information about a gun running operation, stolen cars and narcotics.

Borchgardt said that he had gotten his information from 4 people both inside and outside of jail, and named them:

E. Dalrymple (the first name is hard to make out, but I believe it is Elvis.

Lawrence Miller
Perry Wydell
Marvin Fraizer

Is this the same Elvis Dalrymple who testified against William Moncrief, who burned down the Dallas Sportatorium owned by Ed McLemore in 1953?

William Theodore MONCRIEF, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas.

November 10, 1954.

http://www.leagle.com/decision/1954952274SW2d678_1850/MONCRIEF%20v.%20STATE

Elvis Dalrymple testified that he had known the appellant (Moncrief) for about two years; that early in the morning of May 1 he had gone to appellant's home in Dallas and had proceeded with the appellant to take his wife to work; that on their return they passed the charred remains of the Sportatorium and the appellant had told him that he (the appellant) had been at a beer joint nearby when it had burned. Dalrymple testified that he and the appellant then proceeded to the Travis Hotel, where the appellant placed a collect call for one Tony in Houston and reported that "everything was alright up here and that he was coming in." Dalrymple stated that after that they returned to appellant's home, where he met Roy Tatum, and that he, Tatum and the appellant left for Houston.

McCrory, an accomplice witness under the court's charge, testified that he, a woman named Alice and the appellant had come from Houston to Dallas in January, 1953, and that appellant had offered him $100 to help him burn the Sportatorium and told him that he (the appellant) was to be paid by Tony at the American Grill in Houston for the job. McCrory testified that he and the appellant had acquired two five gallon cans, that appellant had filled them with gasoline or kerosene at a filling station, and that they then proceeded to the Sportatorium late at night and placed the cans in an old automobile back of the building but that when it came time for them to ignite the fire he had lost his nerve and backed out of the venture. McCrory testified that a short while thereafter he, Ragsdale, Cook and the appellant had returned to Dallas and found that the cans had been removed and that the appellant had been unable to get anyone to help him burn the building on this occasion.

The appellant told Dalrymple that he had been near the fire at the time it burned. The appellant called Tony in Houston in the presence of Dalrymple and reported that his mission had been accomplished. Appellant had told an accomplice that the money from the job was to come from Tony in Houston.

https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/53382404/

Minimum sentences were given two men whose testimony helped convict a third on charges which grew' out of the fire which destroyed a wrestling arena here. Roy Houston Tatum. 26. former Chicagoan, received a 2-year term after saying he set the blaze which burned the Sportatorium to the ground. Tatum also pleaded guilty to conspiring last April with William Theodore Moncrief, 38, to burn the sports arena. He got two years on that charge, too, to run concurrently with the first. Alfred Huey McCrory, who was working as an aircraft mechanic in Los Angeles, Calif., when arrested last summer, pleaded guilty to conspiring w’ith Moncrief in January. 1953 , and received a 2- year probated term. Tatum testified he hacked out.

Steve Thomas