Bill Brown

As explained in by Dale Myers in With Malice, Oswald ordered the revolver under the name of A.J. Hidell on 1/27/63 from Seaport Traders, Inc. Treasury Department handwriting expert Alwyn Cole testified that the handwriting on the order coupon belonged to Lee Oswald. The FBI's handwriting expert James Cadigan also testified that the handwriting on the coupon was Oswald's. On the order, there was the name of a D.F. Drittal, written in the section where a witness states that the person buying the weapon (Hidell) was a U.S. citizen and was not a felon. The handwriting experts, Cole and Cadigan, both testified that the name D.F. Drittal was also written in Oswald's hands. The revolver was shipped to a post office box in Dallas rented by Lee Oswald. Cole testified that the signature and the handwriting on the post office box application belonged to Oswald. Postal Inspector Harry Holmes testified that Oswald had previously rented a post office box in New Orleans, during the summer of 1963. Oswald's New Orleans application and his Dallas application were found. Unlike the Dallas post office box application, the New Orleans post office box application still had the portion which listed others who were able to receive mail at that post office box. In the New Orleans application, Oswald included the names of both Marina Oswald and A.J. Hidell as those able to receive mail in that box. Holmes spoke with Oswald on Sunday morning, the 24th. Holmes asked Oswald about the Dallas post office box. Oswald stated that he was the only one who received mail at that box and that he didn't receive any mail there that was addressed to any name other than his true name. Holmes then asked Oswald about the box that Oswald rented in New Orleans earlier that year. Oswald again stated that he was the only one permitted to receive mail at that p.o. box. Holmes reminded Oswald that he (Oswald) had listed Marina Oswald as a person eligible to receive mail in that box. Oswald's reply was basically "Well so what? She was my wife and I see nothing wrong with that." Holmes then reminded Oswald that one "A.J. Hidell" was also listed in the section on the application listing others eligible to receive mail in that post office box. Holmes said that Oswald replied "I don't recall anything about that". Oswald was caught in a lie. The handwriting which permitted A.J. Hidell to receive mail at the New Orleans post office box belonged to Lee Oswald (per experts Cole and Cadigan).

As for the revolver, Jim Leavelle briefly spoke with Oswald when Oswald was brought in from the theater. Leavelle told Oswald that they could run ballistic tests on the revolver and match the revolver to the bullets taken from the officer's body, proving that the revolver taken from Oswald was the revolver responsible for the officer's death. Oswald did not deny owning the revolver. According to Leavelle, Oswald's only reply was "Well, you're just going to have to do it."

The Secret Service and the FBI reconstructed Oswald's steps (with the help of Cecil McWatters and William Whaley) in an attempt the determine the absolute earliest that Oswald could have reached the rooming house. Based on McWatters' statement of where it was that Oswald boarded the bus (we know Oswald boarded that bus because he had McWatters' specific bus transfer and McWatters said he issued that transfer to only one woman and only one man), Oswald walked about seven blocks east (into the downtown area) after he left the Depository within three minutes of the shooting. "So I gave her a transfer and opened the door and she was going out the gentleman I had picked up about two blocks (back) asked for a transfer and got off at the same place in the middle of the block where the lady did. It was the intersection near Lamar Street, it was near Poydras and Lamar Street." -- Cecil McWatters They concluded, based on what McWatters told them (along with the Secret Service agents and FBI agents walking the route in an average time of six and a half minutes), that Oswald boarded the bus around 12:40 near the intersection of Field St. and Elm St. and then, after being on the bus for no more than four minutes, Oswald got off the bus near Lamar St. and Elm St. (asking for the transfer as he got off the bus). So now we have Oswald leaving the bus around 12:44. Oswald then walked three to four short blocks to the Greyhound station where he boarded Whaley's cab. This has Oswald entering the cab around 12:48. They then, with Whaley, reconstructed the cab ride from the Greyhound to the intersection of Beckley and Neely (Oswald got out of the cab on Beckley just north of the intersection with Neely). They concluded (using a stopwatch) that the cab ride took five minutes and thirty seconds. So now we have Oswald exiting Whaley's cab on Beckley at 12:53-12:54. Still using the stopwatch, they concluded that it was a five minute and forty-five second walk from the point Oswald exited the cab back to the rooming house. I think Oswald got to the rooming house between 12:58 and 1:00 and was back in his room just long enough to grab a jacket before hurrying out the door, zipping up the jacket as he went out the door.

I did not call you a "li@r". I only said that your statement wasn't true. Roy Vaughn said Ruby didn't go down the Main Street ramp. He wasn't lying. He was just wrong.

Simply not true.

"Either way the gun is suspicious..." What makes the gun suspicious to you, related to the murder of J.D. Tippit? If conspirators were trying to discard a weapon used in the killing of a police officer just 45 minutes after the assassination, do you really think the best way they could come up with is to simply throw it down in the street?

It's not that some don't believe Roberts when she says Oswald left in a jacket/coat. It's that many simply don't want to have to address the fact that Oswald left in a jacket and then is seen on Jefferson with no jacket. To get around having to address this very real issue, they try to argue that we can't know for sure that Oswald left in a jacket at all. Personally, I doubt Oswald owned any zip-up shirts and the shirt he was wearing when arrested was definitely not a zip-up.

I lived in Houston as a kid for about three years (during the days of Luv Ya Blue/Earl Campbell teams and the rainbow uniforms of the Astros). I saw the Reds play in the Astrodome a few times. J.R. Richard was a beast.

I heard it years ago. Someone posted the interview over at the JFK Assassination Forum. I'll see if I can find it. But, make no mistake, it was on the radio on the afternoon of the assassination and she said it was a short grey coat.

That's interesting stuff, Pat. I'm into the Manson/Tate/LaBianca story almost as much as I am interested in the Kennedy assassination (almost). I visited the top of Cielo Drive back in the summer of 2016. Coincidentally, I just visited the location of Spahn Ranch on Santa Susanna Pass about six weeks ago. Though I didn't step onto the grounds, I went by there because I just wanted to see it (though these days, there's really nothing to see unless you go hiking onto the property). I've heard about the Manson rock you're referring to and I've heard that some of the lumber from the buildings can still be found out there, bulldozed over the hillside after the place caught fire in 1971 (I believe). Once Upon A Time In Hollywood was a great movie, imo. Interesting to read your comments about Corriganville. Good stuff.

I didn't save any of the ticket stubs from Riverfront. Between the Reds and the Bengals, I must have went to Riverfront at least sixty times over the years. I prefer it over GABP (though I like the real grass over the Astroturf). P.S. There will never be another Marty & Joe.

On the afternoon of the assassination, Roberts told a radio reporter that Oswald left in a "short grey coat".

I'm with ya, David. I miss Riverfront Stadium. The blue seats, green seats, yellow seats and red seats combined with the green Astroturf made it all very colorful. Not to mention the great memories of winning teams.

Greg, you state that the paper bag was thrown from a car window. In Dale Myers' blog, he points out that this isn't said anywhere. Where did you get it from? And by the way, it was found more than just a "few blocks" away from the Carousel Club.

I agree that none of these guys should be signing these photos and still-frame copies. I find this to be in poor taste. On a side note Pat, I would love to own a piece of the house at 10050 Cielo Drive.

I think you should read my post again. Point is, the prints were fresh and completely unrelated to any prints Oswald may have left behind over the previous five weeks.

No. She did not say dark coat. She said "short coat". [edit, pointed out by David Von Pein seconds before my post]

Even if the jacket/coat that Oswald put on while back in his room was rainbow-colored, why did he ditch it by the time he was seen on Jefferson in front of the shoe store?

Do you still stand by your claim that Scoggins was actually lying in the street? You use the claim as a crutch to support your idea that he never saw the killer's face. I've never seen anything anywhere saying that Scoggins was actually lying down in the street. Since you're using it (lying in the street beside the cab) as a crutch for your claim (that he never saw the killer's face), it matters. Where did you get it from?

Of what significance is the chain of custody for Tippit's service revolver?

Sounds like a pretty fair comment by Myers. And yet he is constantly accused of having a natural bias in favor of Oswald's guilt.

Well then it must be true. 🙄

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