National Archives Catalog on J. D. Tippit

[Douglas Caddy]

National Archives Catalog on J. D. Tippit

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/7461217

[Douglas Caddy]

Interesting that page 2 above shows the arrest report of Lee Harvey Oswald was clocked at 1:10 p.m. if I read it correctly and that he was charged with the assassination of JFK and killing of Officer Tippit as well as wounding Connally.

[Paul Brancato]

Hmm

[James DiEugenio]

Double hmm.

[Richard Price]

Not that it makes that much difference, but the time I read is 1:40.

[Steve Thomas]

Douglas,

Interesting that page 2 above shows the arrest report of Lee Harvey Oswald was clocked at 1:10 p.m. if I read it correctly and that he was charged with the assassination of JFK and killing of Officer Tippit as well as wounding Connally.

Unfortunately, the copy you are looking at was cropped off at the top.

This is actually a copy of the Arrest Report that is on file in the City of Dallas JFK Archives.

You can see a clearer copy here that gives the time of arrest as 1:40 PM.

This is in Box 1 Folder# 3, Item# 17

http://jfk.ci.dallas.tx.us/box1.htm

I have a couple of problems with this Arrest Report:

1) We don't know when it was done. It's not time stamped, and I don't think McDonald says when it was prepared.

2) Compare this Arrest Report with the Case Report prepared by Captain Fritz for Henry Wade, which you can read in

Box 15 Folder# 1, Item# 92 here:

http://jfk.ci.dallas.tx.us/box15.htm

Fritz's Case Report lists 2:00 PM as the time of arrest, and lists E.L. Cunningham and M.N. McDonald as the "investigating Officers", not the "Arresting Officers". The Arresting Officers are listed on page 2 of Fritz's Case Report.

Fritz's Case Report is bolstered by the After Action Report filed by J.B. Toney, who was traveling around with E.L. Cunningham that day.

You can read Toney's Report in Box 5, Folder# 2, Item# 82 here:

http://jfk.ci.dallas.tx.us/box5.htm

Toney says that after they got to the Texas Theater, he and Cunningham went up to the balcony and interviewed a young man sitting on the steps.

While they were interviewing him, Toney looked at his watch and it read 1:55 PM.

I think that the Arrest Report you referenced is bogus and filed long after the event - probably several days later. That's why it references JFK's murder, which Oswald wasn't even charged with until something like 11:30 Friday night.

That Arrest Report is a clumsy CYA.

Just as interesting side note, after Oswald's arrest, Cunningham took charge of the scene. He had the doors to the Theater locked, and everyone on the first floor of the Theater was interviewed. In his Report Cunningham does not say that he took down their names - which is kind of hard to believe.

Paul Bentley says in his After Action Report - Box 5, Folder# 2, Item# 71 that when he went up to the balcony, he had a patrolman named C ___ Bentley, Jr. search everyone up there and take down their names. In the copy cited, it's kind of hard to make out the middle initial of this Bentley Jr. It might be C.F. or C.P. Bentley. Paul Bentley doesn't mention that Cunningham or Toney are in the balcony at this time.

In Cunningham's Report, - Box 5, Folder# 2, Item# 74

http://jfk.ci.dallas.tx.us/box5.htm

He says that he put one of these witnesses (he doesn't say who this is) in a squad car and had J.B. Toney take him downtown to take an affidavit.

Toney, in his After Action Report - Box 5, Folder# 2, Item# 82 makes no mention of this, so I don't know who this witness is.

Steve Thomas

[David Von Pein]

This is actually a copy of the Arrest Report that is on file in the City of Dallas JFK Archives.

You can see a clearer copy here that gives the time of arrest as 1:40 PM.

This is in Box 1 Folder# 3, Item# 17...

Indeed. The report says the time of arrest was 1:40 PM (which is off by about 10 minutes; Oswald was arrested

at approx. 1:50).

jfk-archives.blogspot.com/search?q=Oswald+Arrest+Theater

Edited November 1, 2016 by David Von Pein

[Douglas Caddy]

Thanks to all for their clarification of this document. It appears that one of the lessons to be learned here is additional research and verification may be necessary even when a document is found in the National Archives.