Steve Thomas

Hello Jack,

Very good reasoning, Steve. One correction I think. Bowers from his elevated

position saw the tramps in a GONDOLA car, not a BOXCAR. A gondola car has

no doors, but an OPEN TOP and bottom trapdoor; it is used for carring grain, dirt,

gravel, etc. Check it out. Now this poses a problem with Holt's story, since he

claimed he and the other two were in a BOXCAR.

Also...the false tramps were arrested far south of Dealey Plaza in a boxcar, according

to the record. (IN THE VICINITY OF TODAY'S HYATT REGENCY HOTEL) Therefore it

makes no sense that cops would MARCH THEM ACROSS THE TRIPLE UNDERPASS

AND THROUGH THE PLAZA! A direct route would be north on Houston Street.

All the fans of Holt and the false tramps overlook these details. Check it out.

Jack

Yes, the accounts are inconsistent - which is why I think individuals confused details of the different arrests. Once upon a time I had started assembling notes on the arrest accounts and comparing them. I did this in the form of questions, one of which was:

WHAT KIND OF RAILROAD CAR WERE YOU ON WHEN YOU WERE ARRESTED?

Bill Bass (FBI) 6/15/92: “a grain car.”

Marvin Wise 3/6/92: Wise was told that the three men climbed into a coal car.

John Gedney FBI 2/26/92 “Gedney said that he thought they were lying on big sheets of steel on a flatbed railroad car when the police came over with guns, said don’t move and then arrested them and took them over to the Dallas City jail.

Harold Doyle FBI 2/20/92 “They then got on a gondola, also known as a coal car, and were heading towards Fort Worth, when the train was stopped.”

Doyle and Gedney’s arrest record: "These men were taken off a train boxcar in the rail yards right after President Kennedy as shot,"

William Chambers: When questioned the three individuals said they were “on a freight car sleeping.”

Another question related to the timing of the arrest:

Lee Bowers in his testimony before the Warren Commission, vol VI, p. 288:

Between 50 and a hundred policemen came up the slope within 5 minutes. “That’s right. Sealed off the area and I held off the trains until they could be examined, and there were some transients taken on at least one train.”

From their arrest records:

“These men were taken off a train box car in the rail yards right after President Kennedy was shot. These men are passing through town. They have no jobs or any means of making a living”.

(According to the Dispatch Tapes of Channel 1, Marvin Wise reported his location at 12:38pm)

12:38 DIS: 71, robbery of an individual, 2205 Cockrell. 12:38.

At approximately 12:42pm, 71 reported his location as Corinth and Harwood:

DIS: 71.

71: Corinth and Harwood.

DIS: Code 3.

Many squads were being instructed at this point to proceed to Elm and Houston Code 3.

He arrived and parked near the railroad tracks. He went to the TSBD and was assigned to the west side of the TSBD. . “He was sitting in his car and a man working in the railroad building waved at him. Wise and another officer (name forgotten) were told by the man that three men got into a boxcar about four or five hundred yards down the track. Wise, in company with Bill Bass, Roy Vaughn and Middleton (although Middleton denies that he was there) went to the boxcars and took the men of the boxcar”.

Wise took the men over to the Sheriff’s Office, and while waiting to turn them over, asked the men for identification. Wise stated that he believes that two of the men had documented ID’s.

He turned the men over to the Sheriff’s Office (Deputy name unknown), and went back to his radio”. He heard over the police radio that a policeman had been shot, and a little later heard that it was J.D. Tippit”.

Notice the timing. The tramps have been picked up and are in the station when Wise hears about Tippit. (Tippit was shot at approximately 1:16pm)

And yet, there is this transmission on the Dispatch tapes at 1:57 pm:

1:57 Dallas Police Tapes

1579. 61: 61.

1580. DIS: 61.

1581. 61: We have information from the agent out here at the T&P.

Said that the train is stopped on the overpass, the

Triple Overpass; that there was a person jump in the

ninth box car from the front engine. Said he's hiding in

the car.

1582. DIS: Is the train stopped there now?

1583. 61: I'm in behind the Texas Shool Depository. He has the

train stopped. (voices) He said it is the ninth car from

the engine, a gondola-type car; said he is hankered down

inside.

There is no way, of course to know if this person jumping into the ninth car from the front engine is one of those people supposedly sleeping in a gondola car or a freight car (see above).

DID THE ARRESTING OFFICERS HAVE SHOTGUNS, OR JUST PISTOLS?

When Wise reported to the sergeant in charge at the TSBD, “Wise was told to stop anyone who came out of the building and that he should get his [bOLD]shotgun[/bOLD] out of his vehicle”.

“Wise exited the control tower; he and the four other officers ran to a coal car which was identified by an individual driving a locomotive engine alongside an adjacent track. Wise and Vaughn were the two officers who actually climbed up and then down into the car where they located three individuals. Pointing their [bOLD]shotguns[/bOLD] at the three individuals, Wise and Vaughn ordered the three to exit the car.

FBI interview with Gedney 3/6/92

“Gedney said that the officers that arrested them in the railroad yard had revolvers and he did not recall any of them having rifles or shotguns at the time of arrest. Gedney said that he was not sure if these were the same officers that arrested them in the railroad yard or not”.

There are many other questions surrounding these men, such as, If they were told they were free to go, what were they doing in jail four days later?

Were they, or were they not fingerprinted?

“During the book-in, a thumbprint of the prisoner would be placed on each of the three copies”.

(The Arrest Report on Investigative Prisoner contains no thumbprints)

(Doyle says they were fingerprinted)!

Gedney said that they were taken to the basement of the jail, and “may have been fingerprinted”

It goes on and on.

Steve Thomas

Stephen,

Steve, thanks for the information, its all new to me. can I ask where you found this.  Steve.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Denis Morissette has assembled an impressive collection of documents relating to the Three Tramps here:

http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Senat.../Documents.html

Read the FBI interviews of William Chambers, Marvin Wise, David Harkness, Bill Bass, etc.

Steve Thomas

Stephen,

This leads into a third problem, the tramps are discovered well over an hour after the assassination holed up, as I said, in a boxcar, what on earth are these proto assassins playing at, surely once the job is done you get the hell out, once again I am forced to think that a car should have formed a part of their escape plans.

I believe that the tramps were, in fact, arrested twice - once by the Dallas County Sheriff's Department, and later by the Dallas City Police Department.

William Earl Chambers was interviewed on 3/3/92 by SA Gary Gerszewski of the FBI and Lieutenant Kenneth Lybrand, City of Dallas Police Department. William Chambers worked for the City of Dallas Police Department from October, 1954 until January, 1992.

He was a Detective in the Forgery Division. He was at the Trade Mart when Kennedy was shot. Approximately 40 minutes later, he drove down to City Hall.

In his FBI interview, it says, "After watching the individuals for a period of time, Captain Jones approached Chambers and told him, “take them into my office”. Once inside Captain Jones office, Captain Jones told Chambers, “find out which one shot the President”.

“When questioned regarding the circumstances of their arrest, the three individuals indicated that they were on a freight car sleeping when they were wakened by officers with different colored uniforms than the ones worn by the officers who drove them down to the station."

“They were briefly questioned by those officers who then told them that they better leave town. The three then boarded another boxcar and were shortly thereafter arrested by the City of Dallas Police Department”.

(They were arrested twice. The first time, they were driven down to the station).

“Chambers believes that the Officers who first interviewed the hobos were members of the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department, who at that time had uniforms of a different color than that of the City of Dallas Police Department. The hobos were then brought down to the station.

Steve Thomas

Gerry,

Steve:

The last time I met with "the illustrious" Tosh was at the hotel in Miami Beach, along with Gus Russo -- while doing the interviews for the ABC/Jennings/Sy Hersh "Darkside of Camelot" production. 

Thank you.

Steve Thomas

Gerry,

Did you ever meet Tosh Plumlee?

Steve Thomas

Tim, Steve, et.al.,

I encountered an Internet post on this gentleman by a Steven Uanna (his son).  The post refers to a website, www.securitysuperchief.com (administered by Steven Uanna) and states that the website contains an "important clue to the Kennedy assassination"--but, unfortunately, the  the website does not work!

Try this website:

http://web.archive.org/web/20040701200251/...superchief.com/

He feels the same people who murdered JFK, murdered his father.

Steve Thomas

Ron,

My back button also no longer works on this site. (I use Mozilla Firefox browser.)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I use Mozilla too, and my back button doesn't work anymore either.

This problem appeared at the same time as hyperlinked advertisements started showing up within the body of members' postings. I figured the two issues were related somehow.

Steve Thomas

Lee,

The man assisting Oswald, as well as the Asian looking individual seen at left - to the best of my knowledge have never been identified -

From the WC testimony of Carlos Bringuer:

Mr. BRINGUIER. [indicating.] See this guy, see this Japanese? He is from the Kasuga Co. here in New Orleans. He had the office in International Trade Mart.

Mr. LIEBELER. And you pointed to the person standing immediately behind and

to Oswald's right with his hands up behind his head?

Mr. BRINGUIER. [Demonstrating.] That is right.

RIF: 124-10167-10150

FBI: 89-69-1609

To: SAC, NEW ORLEANS (89-69) Date: 2/24/67

From: SA Stephen R. Callender

Subject: Assassination of JOHN F. KENNEDY

AFO

J. EHARA

--------

The above person appeared in photographs of OSWALD

taken 8/16/63 taken in front of the International

Trade Mart while OSWALD was handing out literature.

89-69-1051 This reference is a 302 interview with

JUNICHI EHARA of the Kasuga and Co. which was on

12/2/63. He informed that on 8/16/63 he was leaving

the building with John Alice and observed at least

two persons passing out leaflets. One of these persons

was later known to him to be Oswald and the other person

he described as in his early 20's, 6', 200 lbs., (this

second person is obviously STEELE), EHARA lokked [sic]

at the photographs of persons in the front of the trade

mart and identified himself, Alice and OSWALD in these

photographs. He did not know any of the other persons.

Steve Thomas

I ran across a research tool I hadn't heard of, so I thought I would pass it along.

(Sorry if this is old news)

It's called Singingfish and it searches out MP3's, videos, real and quicktime movies, etc.

I did a search on John F. Kennedy and got 130 pages of press conferences, speeches, and dictabelt recordings.

You can find it here:

http://search.singingfish.com/sfw/home.jsp

Steve Thomas

Tim,

Once more Pat comes along with a post causing me to rethink my original carte blanche dismissal of Morrow.

There was one aspect to Morrow's story that has given me pause - and that is the conterfeiting operation that he was involved in.

In her WC testimony, Marina went to great lengths talking about a Mexican peso that LHO was supposed to have brought back from Mexico that had been drilled to accomodate a necklace or something.

I have often wondered if the Mexican currency piece had something to do with the counterfeiting operation that Morrow talked about in his book.

Steve Thomas

In case any members of this forum may not know, Chauncey Holt  identified himself as the third of the "three tramps" who were photographed being escorted through Dealey Plaza in the aftermath of the assassination.  Although some researchers have disputed his claim, I have investigated him thoroughly and am convinced he is "the real deal".  His review of CASE CLOSED, which is included in this issue of ASSASSINATION RESEARCH, should therefore be of special interest to everyone with a serious interest in this case.

I was interested to read that Holt said he had been turned over to Deputy Sheriff Elkins.

This coincides with what Elkins wrote in his after-action report - that a Dallas City Policeman turned three tramps over to him who had been picked up in the railroad yards.

See Decker's Exhibit 5323

Steve Thomas

Tim,

Also is there any truth to the rumor that Ruby was gay?

Over December 4 - 6, 1963 Lt.Jack Revill and Lt. F.I Cornwall traveled to Fort Hood, Austin and Houston to interview some people. One of the people they talked to was Helen K. Smith aka exotic dancer, Pixie Lynn. On December 6th, she signed a sworn affidavit denying that she had been to any parties at which either LHO or Ruby had been present. She also denied knowing an alleged lesbian attorney named Barbara Welz.

Her affidavit can be found in the DPD Archives, Box 5, Folder# 7, Item# 27. http://jfk.ci.dallas.tx.us/box5.htm

However, two months later, on February 5, 1964 a man named Travis Benkendorfer, a bartender at the Midnight Lounge in Houston, also signed a sworn affidavit saying that Pixie Lynn had told him on the night of the 22nd that she had been to several "swinging" i.e. gay parties at Jack Ruby's. Somehow the name of Barbara Welz, whome he described as a "popular lesbian in Dallas" came up and Benkendorfer was left with the idea that she had also been to some of Ruby's parties.

His affidavit can be found in Box 18, Folder# 11, Item# 3

http://jfk.ci.dallas.tx.us/box18.htm

I guess Benkendorfer was the original source of information that led Revill and Cornwall to travel to Houston to talk to Pixie Lynn two months earlier.

Then, you have the statement from Rose Charamie that Ruby and Oswald knew each other and that they were bedmates.

Steve Thomas

Ryan,

Does anyone know any history on Jim Rose??

You might want to read this article:

http://www.penmarin.com/excerpts/Hepburn327.pdf

Steve Thomas

Carrie,

[

I really just got on here to find someone to give all of my research materials too. I don't need them anymore.

I don't have room for 5,000 books, but if you can't find anyone to take your interview notes, I would take them.

Steve Thomas

Carrie,

Or do you have a specific organization that you would suggest? It has to be non-profit. I am always open to suggestions!

No, I didn't have a specific organization in mind, but one that does come to mind right now---

Do you know where Mary Ferrell's papers are going?

Perhaps Debra Conway at JFK Lancer would know.

Steve Thomas

Just curious as to what everyone would be curious about.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I would like to ask Jack Revill for his memoirs. (Not that he's written any to my knowledge).

Steve Thomas

Carrie,

What I do have is 17 years worth of interview notes, about 5,000 books, Lord knows how many magazines and newspapers.

Would you be interested in having any of these things that I mentioned? All I ask is that they aren't sold or misused.

You've touched hisdtory in a way that not everyone can.

Have you considered donating your material to an assassination information center?

Steve Thomas

John,

This is what Harry D. Holmes had to say about the interview he was part of before Oswald was shot.

      When he came into the room, he was just matter of fact; he didn’t know why he was there. He said, “I presume I’m here because I resisted arrest and tried to shoot a policeman there in that theater.

I'm sorry, I just don't believe this exchange. Oswald had already been arraigned for the murder of Tippit at 7:30 on Friday night and the murder of JFK in the wee hours of Saurday morning.

For him to walk into an interrogation room at 10:00 or so on Sunday morning and say, "I don't know why I am here..." just stretches credulity.

Steve thomas

Greg,

the testimony suggests Oswald did not swing a punch until McDonald put his hand on Oswald's waist

I have always taken it on faith that during his arrest at the Texas Theater, Lee Harvey Oswald took out his gun and attempted to shoot arresting Officer M.N. McDonald. This is based on accounts of an audible "snap" that was heard. Later, we read accounts that the only reason Oswald's attempted murder of McDonald didn't succeed because of a bent primer or a "misfire"

I would like to contend that perhaps the "snap" that was heard was either the sound of something else, or was accidently caused by the officers seeing the gun and immediately reacting to take it away from Oswald and that Oswald did not attempt to shoot Officer McDonald.

I say this for the following three reasons:

1)

Here are the after action reports of the arresting officers filed with Police Chief Curry on Decembers 2 - 5, 1963.

They can be found in the Dallas Police Archives, Box 2, Folder# 7

http://jfk.ci.dallas.tx.us/box2.htm

E.L. Cunningham: "When I reached the seating area on the main floor, several officers were in the process of disarming and handcuffing the suspect. ...I did not see anything that indicated that any more force was used than was absolutely necessary to effect the arrest".

Paul Bentley: "Just as I entered the lower floor, I saw Patrolman McDonald fighting with this suspect. I saw this suspect pull a pistol from his shirt, so I went to Patrolman McDonald's aid immediately"

Bob Carroll: "When I arrived at the lower floor, Lee Harvey Oswald was resisting vigorously"...At this time I observed a pistol with the muzzle pointed in my direction. I grabbed the pistol and stuck it in my belt..."

Ray Hawkins: "The subject stood up and as Officer McDonald started to search him, he struck Officer McDonald in the face. The subject and Officer McDonald began to fight and both fell down in the seats. Officer Walker and I ran toward the subject and grabbed him by his left arm. The subject had reached in his belt for a gun and Officer McDonald was holding his right hand with the gun in it".

T.A. Hutson: "As I entered the row of seats behind the suspect he jumped up and hit Officer McDonald in the face with his fist, Officer McDonald was in the seat next to the one in which the suspect was originally sitting, and the suspect was up out of his seat struggling with Officer McDonald. I reached over the back of the seats and placed my right arm around the suspect's neck and pulled him up on back of the seat. Officer C.T. WAlker came up and was struggling with the suspect's left hand, and as Officer McDonald struggled with with the suspect's right hand, he moved it to his waist and drew a pistol and as Officer McDonald tried to disarm the suspect, I heard the pistol snap".

K.E. Lyon: "Enroute to the City Hall, Oswald refused to answer all questions. and he kept repeating, "Why am I being arrested? I know I was carrying a gun, but why else am I being arrested"?

M.N. McDonald: "When I got within a foot of him, I told the suspect to get to his feet. He stood up immediately, bringing his hands up about shoulder high and saying, "Well it's over now". I was reaching for his waist and he struck me on the nose with his left hand. With his right hand, he reached for his waist and both our hands were on a pistol that was stuck in his belt under his shirt. We both fell into the seats struggling for the pistol. ... I managed to get my right hand on the pistol over the suspect's hand. I could feel his hand on the trigger. I then got a secure grip on the butt of the pistol. I jerked the pistol and as it was clearing the suspect's clothing and grip I heard the snap of the hammer and the pistol crossed over my left cheek, causing a four inch scratch".

As you can see from reading these reports, at no time in the first 10 to 12 days following the assassination, did any of the arresting officers on the scene claim that Oswald tried to shoot M.N. McDonald. If the pistol did go off and cause a "snap" of the hammer falling into place, it was because McDonald jerked it out of Oswald's pants.

2)

When questioned by Captain Fritz on the afternoon of November 22nd, Fritz did not accuse Oswald of trying to shoot Officer McDonald.

Fritz (4H214)

Mr. FRITZ. He told me he went over and caught a bus and rode the bus to North Beckley near where he lived and went by home and changed clothes and got his pistol and went to the show. I asked him why he took his pistol and he said, "Well, you know about a pistol; I just carried it." Let's see if I asked him anything else right that minute. That is just about it.

Mr. BALL. Did you ask him if he killed Tippit?

Mr. FRITZ. Sir?

Mr. BALL. Did you ask him if he shot Tippit?

Mr. FRITZ. Oh, yes.

Mr. BALL. What did he say.

Mr. FRITZ. He denied it---that he did not. The only thing he said he had done wrong, "The only law I violated was in the show; I hit the officer in the show; he hit me in the eye and I guess I deserved it." He said, "That is the only law I violated." He said, "That is the only thing I have done wrong."

3)

If Oswald had attempted to shoot Officer McDonald, why were no charges of attempted murder filed as they were in the case of Governor Connally?

I believe that the account of Oswald trying to shoot McDonald was invented after the fact.

Steve Thomas

Ron,

[

According to the FBI, Osborne's Canadian passport was issued on October 10, 1963, through the Canadian Consulate in New Orleans (CE 2195, p. 31, in WC v. 25).

According to Mary Ferrell's database:

LAST LAWRENCE FIRST JACK ALAN MID/AKA CARROLL

ADDRESS 1964: 204 Ninth Ave., South Charleston, W. VA

'PHONE (304) 744-3168; RE 4-0857

SOURCES WC 26, pp. 452-453, 686-688, 704; CE 2970; CE 3080, CE 3089, CE 3093; CD

85, pp. 373-377; CD 205, pp. 211-213, 222-223; CD 329, pp. 61-78; CD

1546, p. 118; Forgive My Grief, Vol. 11, Jones, p. 124; The Third

Decade, July 1991, pp. 1-17, "Jack Lawrence, Assassin or Fall Guy," by

Sheldon Inkol; The Third Decade, September 1992, pp. 1-17, "Jack

Lawrence Responds," by Sheldon Inkol.

COMMENT DOB: 9/14/38; SS # 236-58-6645. Wife: Linda. Salesman at Downtown

Lincoln Mercury, Dallas, TX at time LHO allegedly took demonstration

ride. Lawrence allegedly left demonstrator car behind the picket fence

at Dealey Plaza at 12:30 p.m., 11/22, when he was unable to drive

through the Dealey Plaza area to the dealership. He was fired by

Downtown Lincoln on 11/23/63. Lawrence came to Dallas in late October

1963 and stayed at YMCA on Ervay St. He came from West Virginia but

claimed to have worked for a New Orleans car dealer on Carondolet.

Checked out of Dallas YMCA (Room 811) on November 30, 1963 (Saturday),

leaving address: 144 10th Ave., South Charleston, West Virginia (304) RI

4-0857. On 11/27/63, Lawrence told Gene Barnes of NBC that he was going

to San Diego to get job similar to position he had held with NASA

previously (CD 85, p. 376).

I thought that last line about NASA was interesting. Didn't several former Reilly Coffee Company employees go to work for NASA?

Steve Thomas

Robert,

The date of the report was December 3, or two weeks after the event, itself a rather disquieting delay in filing a report that itself stipulates he went to Westbrook's office to file a report immediately after the arrest.

This would have fallen right in that time period when the DPD was conducting an internal investigation into how Ruby got into the basement - an investigation that broadened out into a number of side investigations, including the shooting of J.D. Tippit.

Steve Thomas

David,

I just re-read Westbrook's interview with Sneed and he acknowledges they went to the Texas Theater assuming the man who shot Tippit also killed the President. He says he went directly to the Tippit shooting from the TSBD. (In retrospect, I suppose it makes sense for an FBI agent to go over there as well, just in case.)

dgh01: makes sense if he had nothing else to do, perhaps. I suspect at the moment, every FBI agent west of Washington, D.C. had things to do. Primarily, listening for commandments issued from JEdna's office...

I wonder if Bob Barrett was one of the FBI Agents BILL DECKER sent over:

From his after-action report:

"At approximately 1:30 PM, I received word on Inspector Sawyer's car radio that a Dallas Police Officer had been shot on Jefferson St. in Oak Cliff and that the suspect was supposedly at large in the area on foot. I immediately got ahold of officers who were present, including Deputy Sheriffs, Dallas Police Department Officers and FBI officers who were at the scene (the TSBD) advising them of the shooting, and dispatched them to Oak Cliff to assist in the search."

http://history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/...Vol19_0239b.htm

Decker must have carried a lot of weight in those days.

Steve Thomas

Antti,

I know Chief Curry wrote a book, but have the other "higher ups" of the Dallas Police Department and/or the Sheriff's office spoken about their views of the investigation?

There's an interesting story involving Audie Murphy, Decker, and a man named Gary Wean.

Gary Wean

Gary Wean and the JFK Assassination

Sun Nov 16 23:23:33 2003

64.140.159.29

Gary Wean and the JFK Assassination

http://home1.gte.net/res0k62m/cover-up.htm#wean

You can read an excerpt from Wean's book here:

http://www.apfn.net/messageboard/11-17-03/...ion.cgi.10.html

It's ummm... interesting.

Kind of interesting too that he identified the mysterious "John" as Senator John Tower.

Steve Thomas

Mark,

I've read accounts that Oswald's wallet, with the Hidell ID card, was found at the Tippitt murder site; and I've seen accounts that state that Oswald had his wallet on his person when arrested in the Texas Theater.

So...where was the wallet found?  At 10th and Patton, or in Oswald's possession?

Or were two wallets actually found, and the matter intentionally made confusing so as to make investigation all the more difficult?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Here is an excerpt from John Armstrong's "Harvey and Lee"

http://home.wi.rr.com/harveyandlee/November/November_22.htm

"In his book Assignment: Oswald, James P. Hosty wrote that Dallas Police Captain W.R. Westbrook found a wallet with the identification of both Lee Harvey Oswald and Alek Hidell at the Tippit murder scene and showed it to FBI Agent Bob Barrett. Since Dallas Police Detective Paul Bentley removed Harvey's wallet, which also included the Hidell identification, from his left rear pocket in a squad car after his arrest at the Texas Theater, little was made of that claim. Recently, however, footage from WFAA-TV newsreel film was discovered and published in Dale Myers' book With Malice supporting Hosty's claim that Oswald's wallet was discovered at the sight of the Tippit murder. Here is a still from that footage:

John Armstrong believes that "Lee" killed Tippit and left his wallet at the murder scene as a final act of setting up "Harvey" for the assassination of John Kennedy. The wallet deliberately left at the murder scene probably contained "Lee's" Texas driver's license. "Harvey" could not drive and did not have a license. In his speeches and writings, John has shown how Lee spent months establishing the groundwork to set up his look-alike as a patsy for the murder."

On the other hand, Dale Myers in comments on his book, "With Malice" says,

http://www.jdtippit.com/html/intro_faq.htm

"Did Dallas police find Oswald's wallet at the Tippit murder scene?

No. I first wrote about this allegation in my 1998 book With Malice: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Murder of Officer J.D. Tippit. The story has since been distorted by conspiracy theorists peddling the theory that Oswald was framed for the Tippit murder by unseen forces.

While my investigation into the allegation that Oswald's wallet was found at the Tippit murder scene is too detailed to repeat in this limited format (see With Malice, pp.287-304), the essential elements are this:

FBI agent Robert M. Barrett observed Dallas police handling a wallet at the Tippit murder scene shortly before Oswald's arrest. WFAA-TV news footage shot at the scene supports this basic fact. Barrett recalled that Dallas police Captain W.R. Westbrook asked him at the scene whether he knew a "Lee Harvey Oswald" or an "Alek Hidell?" While Barrett assumed the names were taken from identification in the wallet, he never saw the identification or handled the wallet.

Despite Barrett's credibilty, his account runs counter to the documented version of events which show that Oswald's wallet was removed from his pants pocket following his arrest at the Texas Theater. Identification in the names "Oswald" and "Hidell" were discovered at that time.

A comparison of the wallet filmed at the Tippit murder scene by WFAA-TV and the wallet removed from Oswald's pocket shows the two wallets to be similar in style, but not identical. The only thing connecting Oswald to the wallet filmed by WFAA-TV is Barrett's recollection that Captain Westbrook asked him about the names "Oswald" and "Hidell" while at the shooting scene. Yet the circumstances surrounding the discovery of the Oswald/Hidell identification suggests that Barrett was asked the questions at City Hall, long after Oswald's arrest, not at the shooting scene. (See With Malice)

Conspiracy critics have since taken the facts I presented in With Malice and spun them into a series of distortions and half-truths that have transformed the wallet filmed by WFAA-TV as a "plant," designed to frame Oswald for Tippit's murder. The suggestion is preposterous and flies in the face of an avalanche of indisputable facts that prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Oswald murdered Tippit."

So, I guess it's a tossup whether you want to believe that Barrett was told that at the scene, or not until later at the station.

Steve Thomas

Recently, someone made a reference to something called Operation Tumbleweed (in reference to LHO's trip to Mexico I think).

Can you fille me in on what Operation Tumbleweed was?

Thanks,

Steve Thomas