What Could Have Been Done

[Tim Gratz]

As I am sure most know the FBI certainly went to herculean measures in its unsuccessful attempt to locate a dry cleaner who had cleaned the jacket discarded by Tippit's killer.

In his article on Larry Crafard, Peter Whitney suggests the witnesses might have mistaken Larry for Lee and that it might have been Larry's jacket left at the scene because he had spent some time in California.

Since the identification of the jacket's owner would have been fairly convincing proof of the identification of the killer, why didn't the FBI run full-page ads in Life, Look, the Saturday Evening Post, etc. with a photograph of the cleaner's id and requesting the cleaner contact his local FBI office?

If the cleaner who did come forward was in a neighborhood close to where Lee once lived, it could have helped the case against him.

The ad could also have requested ordinary citizens to come forward if they recognized the mark as one their cleaner used.

Considering what was at stake, it seems like this might have been a worthwhile effort that MIGHT have worked if the ad had sufficient national distribution,

By the way, if someone had wanted to frame Lee, to have someone who looked like him wear his jacket and discard it at the scene cetainly would have been incriminating.