Tippit: The Timing

[Gil Jesus]

I'd like to give you my slant on this subject

THE TIMING EVIDENCE

The time of J.D. Tippit's shooting is crucial in proving or disproving that Oswald was the murderer. The housekeeper at Oswald's rooming house, Mrs. Earlene Roberts, said that Oswald entered the rooming house "around 1 o'clock or maybe a little after" and was in his room for "3 or 4 minutes."
( 7 H 440)

So he left the roominghouse AFTER 1:00 pm. Then he went out to the bus stop and waited for a bus.

Cecil McWatters testified that the bus transfer he gave Oswald was only good till 1pm.
If McWatters did give Oswald a transfer and it was only good till 1pm, maybe this is why he was in so much of a hurry at his rooming house: 

He was trying to get the bus before the transfer expired.

She said she last saw Oswald waiting at the corner bus stop "on the same side of the street" as the rooming house. Since the rooming house was on the east side of North Beckley St., he would have been waiting for a northbound bus.

The Tippit murder was SOUTH of the rooming house.

The Commission claimed that its re-enactments showed that it was possible to reach the Tippit murder scene on foot in 14-15 minutes from where Oswald was last seen.
 
The Commission's version of the murder of J. D. Tippit alleged that he was murdered at 1:15 pm near the intersection of Tenth and Patton Streets while confronting a man who was on foot that he had stopped. They based this on a radio transmission made by a citizen over Tippit's radio at 1:16 pm. 

It never occurred to the Commission that it may have taken several minutes for one of those witnesses, terrified and in shock, to be sure that the gunman was gone and gain their wits about them and respond to help the stricken officer.

The Commission's star witness, Helen Markham, had been walking along Patton on her way to "catch the 1:15 bus" to work at the corner of Patton and East Jefferson, one block from the shooting. She told the Commission that she had left her house a little "after 1:00", walked one block to Tenth and Patton, and placed the time of the shooting at 1:06 - 1:07 pm.

Mr. BALL. You think it was a little after 1?

Mrs. MARKHAM. I wouldn't be afraid to bet it wasn't 6 or 7 minutes after 1.

Mr. BALL. You know what time you usually get your bus, don't you?

Mrs. MARKHAM. 1:15.

Mr. BALL. So it was before 1:15?

Mrs. MARKHAM. Yes, it was.

( 3 H 306 )

Markham's sworn affidavit put the time of the murder at "approximately" 1:06 pm.

In support of Markham's estimated time of the murder, witness T. F. Bowley swore in his affidavit that he arrived at the scene of the Tippit shooting AFTER it had occurred and that he looked at his watch when he arrived and his watch said 1:10 PM.

Commission Exhibit 705 is the transcript of the Dallas Police log on the day of the assassination. At 1:08 pm, Tippit ( car 78 ) calls dispatch TWICE and dispatch does not respond. This is the last that is heard from Tippit.

Normal police procedure would be if he had encountered someone, he'd call dispatch either to run a records check on the individual or to notify them of what he had and/or to request backup.
The fact that he called dispatch TWICE and was never heard from again tells me he had encountered something.

While we're on the topic of the transcript of the radio communication that day, more proof that the shooting occurred before 1:15 comes from the Dallas Police's own transcript. Two pages after the two calls from Tippit that were never acknowledged comes evidence that the citizen ( Bowley ) using the cruiser's radio for help did so at 1:10 pm.

Dallas Police Officers Davenport and Bardin escorted the ambulance with Tippit's body to Methodist Hospital. Their report indicates that Tippit was pronounced dead at 1:15 pm. Much like Kennedy, Tippit was D.O.A. but they still tried to resuscitate him. 

The term D.O.A. means that the victim was "dead on arrival" or "dead on admission" to the hospital. A pronunciation of death results after all avenues of resuscitation are exhausted and the victim shows no signs of life.

In the case of a D.O.A., doctors at the hospital have no way of knowing when a victim actually lost his life, so the time of pronunciation of death is listed as the time of arrival at the hospital.
 

The official time of death is usually determined by a coroner during an autopsy, but even a coroner can only give an ESTIMATED time of death. They usually can't narrow it down to the exact minute or second.

Tippit couldn't have been shot at 1:15 as the Commission contended if his body was arriving D.O.A. at the hospital at 1:15.

In addition, If you look closely at the time, the original time was listed as 1:00 pm and typed over to read 1:15.

And if Oswald did get the bus outside his roominghouse it may explain the next location he was seen at.

The Texas Theater.

Perhaps the most damaging evidence to an Oswald-killed-Tippit scenario comes from the man who ran the concession stand at the Texas Theater, Warren ( Butch ) Burroughs, who said he saw Oswald enter the Texas Theater between 1:00 and 1:07 pm.

 

The evidence is strong that Tippit was killed before 1:15. 

Tippit's last broadcast was at 1:08 pm. He called dispatch twice and got no response.

Mrs. Markham was enroute to catch a 1:15 bus and hadn't gotten to her bus stop yet when she witnessed the murder. 

T.F. Bowley came upon Tippit lying in the street, looked at his watch and it said 1:10.

Tippit was pronounced dead at 1:15 pm at Methodist Hospital after doctors failed to resuscitate him.

Oswald was seen in the Texas Theater prior to the time of the murder and that fact alone makes it impossible for Oswald to have been Tippit's killer.

https://gil-jesus.com/?page_id=865

Edited August 21, 2021 by Gil Jesus

[Sean Coleman]

Were the 1.08pm broadcasts from car 78 actually vocal call requests that were unanswered or mechanical alerts ie. clicks or beeps etc. that indicated car 78 had tried to establish contact?

[David Andrews]

Does anyone recall how much cash Oswald had on him when arrested?

[James DiEugenio]

Larry Harris told me that Tippit was killed at most likely 1:08.

[Ian Lloyd]

33 minutes ago, David Andrews said:

Does anyone recall how much cash Oswald had on him when arrested?

13.87?

[Ian Lloyd]

Depending where you look, if I recall correctly, the DPD gave one figure and the WC gave another...

[David Andrews]

2 hours ago, Ian Lloyd said:

Depending where you look, if I recall correctly, the DPD gave one figure and the WC gave another...

Thanks for the memories.