Donald Willis

We seem to be getting somewhere...

I could go with "didn't" and return to my original take that McWatters took Oswald all the way to Oak Cliff, but Whaley's confusion between "Neches" and the "500 block" seems legit. All because his "advisors" wanted Oswald to have gotten to 10th & Patton about the same time as Tippit, not 7 minutes earlier, which latter phenomenon would have taken some 'splainin', or at least some LN speculation... Either way, Oswald wasn't near 10th & Patton at all that Friday...

And yet Neely was not mentioned by Whaley in his 11/23 affidavit, nor in his first 2 or 3 Commission stints. Sometime in between that last (2nd or 3rd) session & the 4/8/ final session, the word "Neely entered his mind, either from diligent research or from suggestions by Commission staff. He just, suddenly, drops the word "Neely" during the 4/8 session, without explaining where it came from or why. Or what happened to his several "Neches" references...

I have great doubts about that: Two of the men closest to the shooter & the shooting--Scoggins and Benavides--did not or would not ID Oswald in a lineup on Friday. Saturday doesn't count--Scoggins was a friend, or at least an acquaintance of Tippit's. He would surely have ID'd the killer at the first opportunity. So it wasn't Oswald...

Good question, though who at either end--the depot and Neches & Neely--would have seen them together? Did the depot lady ever come forward? I used to discount Whaley's testimony entirely, but his "front seat" and his renegade "X" won me over. That changes the whole complexion of the 10th & Patton story. Those unaccounted-for 7 minutes...

"This will do fine": Oswald sees the coast is clear, exits cab as Whaley nears 1026 N. Beckley Both the Warren Report & Dale Myers have cab driver William Whaley drop Oswald off at Neely & N. Beckley, three blocks south of his rooming house, although he told Whaley that he wanted to go to 500 N. Beckley, five blocks south. Oswald would seem to have two goals in mind here: He wants to pick up a pistol, but he also wants to make sure, first, that there are no cops or cop cars in front of 1026 N. Beckley. To achieve this latter goal, all he has to do is survey the scene from the cab as it drives south from Neches/El Dorado/Zangs, towards 1026. The cab does not even have to go as far as 1026. To this end, as Whaley describes it: "I opened the back door [of the cab]. [Oswald] shut the back door and said he wanted to sit in the front." (11/23/63 affidavit) It's pretty clear that Oswald wants--almost demands--the best, widest view of the scene before him. And he gives the 500 N. Beckley address as a drop-off point, just in case he sees activity around 1026. If there is, then Whaley just keeps driving, and, obviously, Oswald won't be going back to 1026 for a while. He will not, that is, double back, on foot, from either 500 or 700 N. Beckley (i.e., Neely & N. Beckley). "The boy got out of the cab", Whaley continues, "and walked in front of the cab at an angle south on Beckley Street." Angled across the street, that is, to 1026 N. Beckley. See CE 371: Asked to put an "X" on a map for the point at which he left Oswald off, Whaley makes a big "X" on the intersection of N. Beckley & Neches/El Dorado/Zangs, different names for streets which are in fact continuous. And in a filmed interview for "Four Days in November", Whaley says that he carried [Oswald] off across the viaduct, turned left at the 500 block of North Beckley." Neches/Zangs actually intersects with 1000 N. Beckley. But apparently Whaley assumed that the location of the new drop-off point was, as originally agreed, "500 N. Beckley". Upshot: ETA N. Beckley, 12:51 (as per "With Malice" p380). The 1000-block drop-off point for Oswald reduces the walk time (at about 2 minutes per block) from about 6 or 7 minutes to one minute. ETA rooming house, then, about 12:52. ET departure from rooming house, about 12:55. ETA 10th & Patton, after a circa 13-minute walk, 1:08. Unaccounted-for length of time between Oswald's estimated arrival time there and Tippit's: about seven minutes. Unaccounted for because Oswald was elsewhere, perhaps halfway to the Texas Theater. It's all there in Whaley's original affidavit and his "X".

Yes, I noticed that the Commission route didn't follow yours. I wonder if the differing routes account for the two-minute time discrepancy between the WC & Myers (12 minutes & 14 minutes, resp.)...

As for the shorter distance from 1026 N Beckley to 10th & Patton, the WR time is still 13 minutes...

OK. Before I get to the confusion, all this does clarify one thing: When the WR says that Beckley & Neely is "the 700 block of N. Beckley" (pp162-3), it is right, as per the city director. Weirdly, however, it goes on, anyway, to use Beckley & Neely as the destination for Whaley and the starting point for Oswald (p163). That's a block-plus shorter for the cab, a block-plus longer for Oswald. Which means added time for the whole trip since walking takes longer. At about 2 minutes per block (as per the WC), that adds about 2 minutes to Oswald's walking time, minus some 10-15 seconds for Whaley's driving time. (The distance from Neely down to 7th is about the same as the distance between Neely & 6th, & 6th & the rooming house.) Extrapolating from that, that means he gets to 10th & Patton about 1:16. Add some indeterminate figure from Whaley's observation that O began walking south after he got out of the cab, and we're at, at least, 1:17 or 1:18. Oops--gotta get another suspect for the shooting at 10th & Patton... Beautiful cartographical work, Michael! Now we get to the suspected chicanery, on the WC's part. In his affidavit, Whaley names no Beckley cross streets. Then, in his first & second stints [he seems to have made 3 or 4 separate appearances] before the Commission, he names Neches, as in "500 block at Neches and North Beckley", on March 12th. I don't see any reference yet to Neely by anyone. It seems that only during his third or 4th stint (April 8th) does he, finally, mention the "intersection of Beckley & Neely", as if, in the interim, he had been struck by a bolt of lightning which inspired him to substitute "Neely" for "Neches". And that becomes a mantra for Commission and witness. But based on your findings here, Whaley should have been saying "Beckley & 7th". The latter is two streets south of Beckley. Not exactly a close call. I believe that was an intentional "mistake". "Neely" sounds so much like "Neches". It allows folks like Hank Sienzant to see that as confusion on the part of Whaley. True, neither Neely nor Neches is the 500 block of N. Beckley--Whaley, as I've posited, took Oswald's change-of-mind "This will do fine" as meaning that he was letting him out at the 500 block. But some other influence made him testify "Neely".

He didn't just say "Neches"--he put an "X" for the WC on the intersection of Beckley and Neches/El Dorado/Zangs as the spot where he dropped Oswald off. And at least twice when he said "500" he meant "1000" block--in the "Four Days in November" film, where he said he turned left off Zangs onto the 500 block of Beckley THEN traveled down to the actual 500 block... and in his WC testimony, when he was asked if he had traveled to the 500 block, and Whaley responded, "No--I went to Neely & Beckley". For him, "500 block" and Neely & Beckley were two different things. Apparently, he did not realize that when Oswald said "This will do fine", it was ON the 1000 block. But Whaley did not realize that Oswald had changed his mind, and wanted to be dropped off near 1026.

The WC re-creation of the Whaley/Oswald route is fine as far as it goes. But as you reminded me, it doesn't go far enough. OK, so Whaley drives Oswald to Neely. Then what? As you said, or Whaley said--in his affidavit--Oswald then begins walking southwards: Yes, he is at the 500 block--in both affidavit and re-creation. But then (in the affidavit) he begins walking away from the rooming house!--the WC failed to address that problem. This conjures up two possibilities: Either Oswald did not return to the rooming house at all. (Which no one, I believe, believes.) Or he walked southwards further--for whatever reason--then turned back towards the house. In which latter case, he would have gotten to 10th & Patton too late, say 1:17 at best, for the encounter with Tippit. Speaking of "tight timing"! And don't forget that--in the re-creation--Whaley tells us that he turned left off of Zangs onto the 500 block of Beckley. Then he travels down to the actual 500 block. So there are (unaddressed) problems at the beginning and the ending of Whaley's memorable trip down Beckley. In any case, the Whaley/Oswald story is anything but cut-and-dry...

That certainly didn't fit the original, Neely scenario--he'd had to have walked north about 4 blocks to get back to 1026 N. Beckley. It does fit my scenario if Whaley lets Oswald off at the north end of the 1000 block--1026 is near the south end of the block. Thanks for asking that! Had forgotten about O's movements right after leaving the cab, according to his 11/23 affidavit. And of course he could see from the north end of the block if there were any police activity at 1026, down at the south end. I had wondered about that "south" when I first saw it. He was in a hurry. Didn't make sense for him to walk the wrong way. Now it does--he wasn't walking the wrong way. I am happy to have filled in at least one little piece of the Oak Cliff puzzle.

Michael posted a good map just above. I had to coordinate the CE 371 map with paper maps with Google Maps. I think now that Oswald must have said "This will do fine" as Whaley was turning off Zang(s) south onto Beckley, and that Whaley, consequently, parked across the street from the boarding house. Note that Zangs appears to be a sort of extension of El Dorado which, in turn, is an extension of Neches.

But what do I do about this note?

In the interests of fairness and Hank Sienzant, I should add that, yes, Oswald might have been slowed down by an unforeseen event, and arrived at 10th & Patton just in time (circa 1:15) to run into Tippit. But I think a possible restroom break, as he suggests, is covered by the three minutes he's in the rooming house. He failed to mention that debris from a falling meteorite might have hit him and disoriented him for some four minutes. Yes, any one of a hundred things might have detained him for 4 or 5 minutes. But many of those possibilities are negated by Oswald's observed, evident need for speed. He switched the slow bus for a fast taxi. And Mrs. Roberts observed, "He come in, and I said, 'Well, you sure are in a hurry', & he never answered me." At any rate, I have, I think, explained heretofore inexplicable statements by Whaley, principally his consistent inability to connect "500 block" with Neely & Beckley...

Correction above ("Oswald has..." to "Whaley has"), reflecting Michael's advisory.

Thank you for pointing out the obvious switcheroo. I hate making mistakes like that. Usually, I catch them before show time... I know that No True Flags has Hill driving Oswald around, & Roberts did offer "207" at one point. But I find that Hill is inextricable from the depository action between about 1 & 1:10. But, yes, if the beeping did happen, it could have been Mentzel. Between 12:55 & 12:58, the time I have Oswald in the house.

Why Whaley separates Neely & N. Beckley from "500 block" Q: Why does William Whaley, in the "Four Days in November" video segment, say, "So I carried [Oswald] off across the viaduct, turned left at the 500 block of North Beckley, and when I got over on N. Beckley came on the intersection of Neely, North Beckley?? The left turn onto Beckley from the viaduct is at the 1000 block, the block of Oswald's rooming house, not the 500 block. A: Because Oswald improvised a last-minute change of destination. As recorded in Whaley's manifest, Oswald initially told him to take him to the 500 block of Beckley. But while Whaley was turning left onto Beckley, Oswald saw that there were no patrol cars in front of the rooming house, hence no need for Whaley to travel five more blocks, south to Neely, the actual 500 block on N. Beckley. So he tells Whaley "This will do fine", and Whaley deposits him there, on the sidewalk opposite the rooming house. Whaley then, as noted above, thinks that the 1000 block was the 500 block, as per Oswald's *original* instruction, because the taciturn Oswald (as Whaley describes him) does not tell him otherwise. Hence, also, this exchange at the hearings: Ball: You drove until you reached the 500 block, or not? Whaley: No, sir. I didn't drive until I reached the 500 block. I drove until I reached Beckley & Neely. (4/8/64 testimony) Oswald has, no doubt, been kindly informed--probably more than once--that the 500 block and Neely are one and the same thing. But his actual experience is that he let Oswald out at N. Beckley near Neches, the 1000 block--where Oswald said, "This will do fine"--and that that location has been imprinted on his mind. Hence, the separation, in his mind of "500 block" and "Neely & Beckley". Import: Oswald did not walk back the five blocks to the rooming house from Neely. He just walked across the street, after Whaley let him out at the (in Whaley's mind) "500 block". So the timeline for his supposed walk from the rooming house to 10th & Patton is reduced by a corresponding four or five minutes, to about 1:11. By 1:15 or 1:16, then, Oswald is nearing the Texas Theatre, not arriving at 10th & Patton. dcw

Surprised there's no response yet. Very intriguing...

Whaley was right: Neches and Beckley do intersect As I have noted, the online reproduction of CE 371 is poor. But with the aid of an old-fashioned fold-up map and Google Maps, I was able to spot the "X" on 371 which Ball and Whaley said was where the latter left Oswald off in Oak Cliff. It is centered just above and a bit west of the intersection where Zang, Beckley, and El Dorado meet. That "X" is far from Neely, but near Neches. In fact, El Dorado is really a continuation of Neches, and it does intersect Beckley. And it's a short street, only three blocks long; Neches is 11 blocks long. Oswald may not have even realized that, going east, Neches becomes El Dorado two blocks before Beckley. Oswald, then, must have re-directed Whaley, en route, with an instruction like "Neches near Beckley", and Whaley dropped him off at Beckley and El Dorado, the extension of Neches. ("This will do fine.") And when Whaley says, of the "X" spot, with some certainty, "This is the intersection right there", he must be going by--not numbers or street names--but by the distinctive configuration of the intersection: Beckley is strictly north/south, but Zang comes in to Beckley at like a 30-degree angle, and El Dorado/Neches goes out from Beckley at about the same angle. Whaley recognized that particular intersection. (By contrast, the Beckley/Neely intersection is strictly north-south/east-west. *Not* the intersection.) Whaley was confused by many things, but not by "Neches". (For instance, it's apparently "Zang", not "Zangs", as Whaley had it.)

I love the subterfuge surrounding Hill's 12th & Beckley call. His testimony eliminates--or was supposed to--Hill as the one who made that call. Other names were pasted on the entry for that call on Henslee's transcription. Hill was the main subterfuger. Instead of admitting that he went to 12th & B and made the 1:26 call, he testifies that he went directly from the Tippit scene to the Texaco station, with a blow-by-blow account of each twist & turn he took to get there. This stunningly elaborate evasion means that the identity of his 1:26 witness was Top Secret. Subsequent DPD transcriptions--as well as Myers' book--rightfully restore the message to Hill. But the ID of his witness remained Top Secret. Myers pegs him as Harold Russell, but there's nothing controversial, let alone Top Secret about invoking Russell here. I myself auditioned Scoggins, then Benavides, for the role of Hill's witness. But such a revelation still wouldn't account for Hill's almost comical topographical gyrations. It wasn't until I had eliminated the Texaco "witnesses" as witnesses--Reynolds, Patterson, & the Brocks--based on the WFAA-TV footage which turned up re Reynolds directing the cops to the old house rather than to the parking lot--that I started to zero in on the Brocks, or one of them, as Hill's secret informant. Officer Walker's 1:22 transmission sealed the deal. He had a witness who saw the suspect pass the station and head down the next, 300 block of Jefferson, towards Beckley. That narrowed it down. The witness would not have been either Reynolds or Patterson, who arrived at the station area together and were pointing to the old house. A suspect running down the 300 block from the Texaco area... That would have to have been a report from one of the Brocks. And that would account for the extraordinary lengths to which Hill went to cover up his & Walker's witness--the Brocks were, in effect, the gatekeepers of the parking-lot-jacket story.

I've been thinking more about your take on Oswald's itinerary after leaving the boarding house. First, though, the main thing is that--alighting from the cab on Neches rather than Neely--he would have gotten to 10th & Patton too early to have been, credibly, Tippit's killer, would, that is, have had to hang around that block woolgathering for 4 or 5 minutes. The main thing, that is, is the path that Oswald didn't take. Whatever the path that Oswald did take after 12:58 just has to deposit him at the movie theatre by what was it 1:45. I see that, to this aim, you take into account various sightings of him. The ambulance driver, yes, good. And the 300 block of Jefferson, yes. But the parking lot & 401 E. Jefferson... Coming south on Beckley and Crawford, he would seem to have been going the wrong way through the lot (southwards) to tally with any witness. Though I have elsewhere, I must admit, completely discounted all witnesses to the parking lot--Reynolds, Patterson, Brock, and Brock. And I have to admit that I'm unfamiliar with the importance of the library, except as a false alarm... But, yes, I can entertain other post-Neches scenarios other than an Oswald beeline for the theater, as long as the bee of course gets there by 1:45-6, with the start (as Applin said) of the second feature...

Why would he be going to the library?

I'm glad to know that others have had their eyes on that "Neches", which stands out so oddly in Whaley's testimony. I had forgotten that Whaley said he was well-versed in the ways and byways of Dallas. Hoist by his own...

Thank you much, Michael. Taking another look at the Oak Cliff map, I see that the Houston St. viaduct issues directly into Beckley, no need to bring Neches into it at all IF Oswald had said "Take me to the 500 block of North Beckley." Pretty clearly, that's not what he told Whaley...