The Handgun, Part IV

[Gil Jesus]

A nick and a click

The Commission's version of the arrest of Oswald was based entirely on the sensational account of Dallas Patrolman M.N. McDonald, who claimed that during the struggle with Oswald, the webbing of his hand between his thumb and index finger got in between the hammer's firing pin and the primer of the cartridge causing a misfire when Oswald tried to shoot him.

Even Hollywood couldn't dream that one up.


A nick

In support of this fantasy, the Dallas Police produced an unfired .38 Special round with a mark on it they claimed had been made by the weapon's firing pin.

But when the FBI examined the round with the mark, it concluded that, "There was no indication, from examination, that that nick was caused by a firing pin. First of all, it is in the wrong position, it is not in the center of the primer. And, also, a microscopic examination of that nick gave no indication that it was made by a firing pin." ( Testimony of FBI firearms expert Cortlandt Cunningham, in 3 H 460 )

In fact, Cunningham examined all eleven of the cartridges allegedly taken from Oswald, the two he received from the Secret Service and the four he had received from the Dallas Police and the five police had allegedly taken from Oswald's pants pocket.

MR. EISENBERG. Now, Officer McDonald's statement that the primer of one round was dented on misfire: as far as you can tell, could this statement be confirmed ?
MR.CUNNINGHAM. No sir; we found nothing to indicate that this weapon's firing pin had struck the primer of any of these cartridges. ( 3 H 463 )

The FBI knew that the "nick" on the cartridge was not made by the firing pin of the weapon but made no effort to find out how it got on the cartridge. The fact that the Dallas Police were promoting this as a "misfire" makes one suspect that the nick was man-made and that the man who made it had a Dallas Police badge.

Not only was the nick not made by the firing pin of the weapon, the whole "misfire" story was debunked when the FBI test fired it.

Cunningham testified:

"I personally have fired this weapon numerous times, as well as special agents Robert Frazier and Charles Killion. At no time did we ever attempt to fire this weapon that it misfired. It operated excellently and every time we tried to fire it, it fired." ( ibid. )

So the evidence indicates that the weapon did not misfire and that the "nick" on the one cartridge was made by other means.

Knowing that, one would expect that the FBI would look into what caused the nick and why the Dallas Police were claiming it was caused by the firing pin.

But they didn't.

And then, during the struggle between Oswald and McDonald, there was a "click" reportedly heard by police and several witnesses.


A click

Cunningham testified that the handgun, designated Commission Exhibit 143, was both a single and double action trigger.

This means that the hammer could be pulled back manually to the cocked position and all that was need was to pull the trigger (single action ), or by pulling the trigger the hammer would come back and then spring forward. ( double action )

During his testimony, Cunningham demonstrated how a "snapping noise" could be detected by holding the cylinder of the handgun and pulling the hammer back less than half an inch and having the weapon suddenly jerked out of one's hand. ( 3 H 461 )

If the hammer came backwards any more than a half inch, the rebound block would allow the firing pin to emerge from the hole in the hammer far enough to strike the primer on the shell and fire the cartridge when the hammer came forward. ( ibid. )

But witnesses on the scene testified that the noise they heard WAS NOT at the time the weapon was jerked from Oswald's hand, but rather during the struggle.

Dallas Officer Thomas Hutson was the original source of the "snap" sound. He testified that the sound he heard was during the struggle when "the gun waving around towards the back of the seat, up and down, and I heard a snapping sound at one time." ( 7 H 32 )

Hutson's testimony is confirmed by that of Dallas Officer C.T. Walker, who told the Commission that "I turned around and I was holding Oswald, trying to get his arm up behind him in a hammerlock, and I heard it click. I turned around and the gun was still pointing at approximately a 45 degree angle. Be pointed slightly toward the screen what I recall." ( 7 H 39 )

Theater patron John Gibson testified that he heard a click and was asked if McDonald grabbed Oswald before or after he heard the click. He told the Commission that, "possibly seconds before or a second--maybe at the precise time the gun clicked." ( 7 H 72 )

Even the first officer who challenged Oswald, M.N. McDonald, testified that the "click" he heard was during their struggle in the seats, well before the weapon was jerked from Oswald's hand. ( 3 H 300 )

These witness testimonies indicate that the "click" or "snap" heard by witnesses was not made in the manner FBI expert Cunnigham had described. In fact, the evidence indicates that it may not have been made by the weapon at all.

Another source for the click

Theater seats in those days were spring loaded. The bottom of the seat would fold up when no one was sitting in it, giving access to anyone walking across the row. When it folded up, the seat would made a "click".

This fact was addressed in the testimony of Dallas Officer Ray Hawkins:

"I heard something I thought was a snap. I didn't know if it was a snap of a pistol---I later learned that they were sure it was. I didn't know if it was a snap of the gun or if it was in the seats, someone making the noise."

Mr. BALL. There was some noise you heard ?
Mr. HAWKINS. Yes sir, there was.
Mr. BALL. You couldn't identify it ?
Mr. HAWKINS. No sir; I don't think so-- I don't think I could say for sure. ( 7 H 94 )

During his testimony, Officer Walker was asked if the click he heard could have come from the seat:

Mr. BELIN. You heard a click, what kind of click was it ?
Mr. WALKER. A real light click. Real light.
Mr. BELIN. Was it a click of the seat ?
Mr. WALKER. Well, I assume it was a click of the revolver on the shell, and that was when the gun was doing the most moving around." ( 7 H 39-40 )

These witness testimonies indicate that either they were unsure of the source of the sound they heard or they assumed the source was the revolver. The circumstances at the time they heard the "click" were not consistent with the scenario put forth by Agent Cunningham that the click was possibly made at the time Oswald was disarmed.

So the evidence shows that: a.) the "nick" was not made by a firing pin, b.) the revolver never misfired and c.) the revolver as the source of the "click" was in question.

There was one more possibility: that the click was indeed made by the revolver as it completed the firing cycle, but the weapon was planted on Oswald unloaded.


Coming in Part V: An unloaded weapon ?

[Tom Gram]

15 hours ago, Gil Jesus said:

There was one more possibility: that the click was indeed made by the revolver as it completed the firing cycle, but the weapon was planted on Oswald unloaded.

I've always wondered about this, especially since the chain of custody of the revolver is such a mess. The official story is that Hill, McDonald, and Carroll all signed their initials on the gun at the exact same time in Westbrook's office, and Hill subsequently turned the gun over to T.L. Baker of Fritz's Homicide Bureau. Basically there is no verifiable chain of custody whatsoever. 

The biggest problem though IMO is Paul Bentley. Bentley said in his report that he initialed the gun, but he never had possession of it according to the official story, so why the hell would he sign it? Nobody mentions witnessing Bentley initial the gun; the WC avoids Bentley like the plague despite him being one of the most important police witnesses; the WR states that the gun was initialed only by McDonald, Carroll, and Hill; and Carroll also testified that he thought that Bentley had already gone to get his sprained foot checked out when McDonald came in and initialed the gun. 

Bentley's initials are the only ones identifiable in the currently available archive photos, and they are on the base of the revolver; while everyone who actually testified stated that they signed the gun on the metal strip running along the outside of the pistol grip. Could Bentley's initials have been on the revolver before Oswald's arrest, i.e. the gun was a throw-down taken from the evidence room; or could Oswald's real gun have been swapped in the police station, etc.?

I doubt this will help clear anything up, but this is a formal reply from the NARA Special Access Branch regarding new photographs that I received on May 25th:

Quote

Good morning Mr. Gram - 

This is Steven Hamilton from the Special Access and FOIA program.  I am responding to your request regarding CE 143.  

I have looked at CE 143, and I have confirmed that there are markings consistent with chain-of-evidence markings around and near where you claim them to be. Having confirmed the markings, I understand your request is for additional official photography of these markings.  

To that end, we have begun the process to produce additional official photography of the markings on the revolver. We do not have a date for this as yet, but it is being coordinated with our in-house photography department.

Thank you for your request, and we appreciate your patience with our limited ability to respond earlier due to the exacting circumstances of the COVID pandemic.

Regards,

STEVEN L. HAMILTON

I'm sure everyone's initials are on there, but the photos should still be interesting to look at if NARA actually gets around to taking them. 

Great stuff by the way Gil. I'm really looking forward to your next post on this topic. As I'm sure you know, the story behind the cartridges recovered from the gun is quite a mess too. 

Edited July 6, 2022 by Tom Gram

[Gil Jesus]

8 hours ago, Tom Gram said:

I've always wondered about this, especially since the chain of custody of the revolver is such a mess. The official story is that Hill, McDonald, and Carroll all signed their initials on the gun at the exact same time in Westbrook's office, and Hill subsequently turned the gun over to T.L. Baker of Fritz's Homicide Bureau. Basically there is no verifiable chain of custody whatsoever. 

The biggest problem though IMO is Paul Bentley. Bentley said in his report that he initialed the gun, but he never had possession of it according to the official story, so why the hell would he sign it? Nobody mentions witnessing Bentley initial the gun; the WC avoids Bentley like the plague despite him being one of the most important police witnesses; the WR states that the gun was initialed only by McDonald, Carroll, and Hill; and Carroll also testified that he thought that Bentley had already gone to get his sprained foot checked out when McDonald came in and initialed the gun. 

Bentley's initials are the only ones identifiable in the currently available archive photos, and they are on the base of the revolver; while everyone who actually testified stated that they signed the gun on the metal strip running along the outside of the pistol grip. Could Bentley's initials have been on the revolver before Oswald's arrest, i.e. the gun was a throw-down taken from the evidence room; or could Oswald's real gun have been swapped in the police station, etc.?

I doubt this will help clear anything up, but this is a formal reply from the NARA Special Access Branch regarding new photographs that I received on May 25th:

I'm sure everyone's initials are on there, but the photos should still be interesting to look at if NARA actually gets around to taking them. 

Great stuff by the way Gil. I'm really looking forward to your next post on this topic. As I'm sure you know, the story behind the cartridges recovered from the gun is quite a mess too. 

Baker gave testimony on the transfer/killing of Oswald in 4 H 248. Very short, about half a page worth of testimony. He was never asked any questions about the handgun.

Hill testified that he marked the handgun and unfired cartridges before he turned them over to Baker and that he marked them at "approximately 4pm" in Westbrook's office. ( 7 H 54 ) Keep in mind that this marking and transfer of the evidence is right around the same time Elmer Boyd "finds" five unfired rounds in Oswald's pants pocket before the 4:05 lineup and 35-40 minutes after 11 unfired .38 rounds are recovered by the DPD from the possessions of JD Tippit. ( Dallas Police Box 9, pg. 8 )

Just another coincidence or did Lt. Baker take 6 of the unfired Tippit rounds to Westbrook's office and have Sgt. Hill mark them ?

Were the other 5 of these 11 Tippit bullets the same 5 "found" by Elmer Boyd in Oswald's pants pocket after Oswald had been throughly searched TWICE and his pockets were emptied ?

I'll get into it more in part V and some interesting witness accounts of who had the gun ( Oswald or McDonald ) in the Texas Theater.

Edited July 6, 2022 by Gil Jesus

[Mark Ulrik]

On 7/5/2022 at 2:08 PM, Gil Jesus said:

A nick and a click

The Commission's version of the arrest of Oswald was based entirely on the sensational account of Dallas Patrolman M.N. McDonald, who claimed that during the struggle with Oswald, the webbing of his hand between his thumb and index finger got in between the hammer's firing pin and the primer of the cartridge causing a misfire when Oswald tried to shoot him.

I don't think they relied solely on McDonald's testimony. Read the section (pp. 176-80) on Oswald's arrest again. They interviewed several police officers in addition to Johnny Brewer and two patrons of the TT.

On 7/5/2022 at 2:08 PM, Gil Jesus said:

So the evidence shows that: a.) the "nick" was not made by a firing pin, b.) the revolver never misfired and c.) the revolver as the source of the "click" was in question.

So, the firing pin didn't cause the indentation in the primer, and the "click" could've been coming from (say) a retractable seat? How does that contradict the idea that the hammer was blocked by McDonald's web space? Sounds like a nothing burger to me.

You must have missed the expert testimony section (p. 560) on the struggle for the revolver (and the parts of Cunningham's testimony it references).

Quote

Officer McDonald of the Dallas police, who arrested Oswald, stated that he had struggled with Oswald for possession of the revolver and that in the course of the struggle, "I heard the snap of the hammer, and the pistol crossed my left cheek ... the primer of one round was dented on misfire at the time of the struggle. ..." (80) However, none of the cartridges found in the revolver bore the impression of the revolver's firing pin. (81) In addition, the revolver is so constructed that, the firing pin cannot strike a cartridge unless the hammer (which bears the firing pin) has first been drawn all the way back by a complete trigger pull. (82) Had the hammer gone all the way back and then hit the cartridge, it is unlikely that the cartridge would have misfired. (83) It would be possible for a person to interject his finger between the hammer and the cartridge, but the spring driving the hammer is a very strong one and the impact of the firing pin into a finger would be clearly felt. (84) However, the cylinder and the trigger are interconnected and the trigger cannot be fully pulled back if the cylinder is grasped. (85) Therefore, if Oswald had pulled on the trigger while McDonald was firmly grasping the cylinder, the revolver would not have fired, and if the gun was grabbed away at the same time the trigger would have snapped back with an audible sound. (86)

Edited July 6, 2022 by Mark Ulrik

[Tom Gram]

1 hour ago, Mark Ulrik said:

I don't think they relied solely on McDonald's testimony. Read the section (pp. 176-80) on Oswald's arrest again. They interviewed several police officers in addition to Johnny Brewer and two patrons of the TT.

So, the firing pin didn't cause the indentation in the primer, and the "click" could've been coming from (say) a retractable seat? How does that contradict the idea that the hammer was blocked by McDonald's web space? Sounds like a nothing burger to me.

You must have missed the expert testimony section (p. 560) on the struggle for the revolver (and the parts of Cunningham's testimony it references).

Gil mentions that exact testimony from Cunningham in his post. The problem is that all the evidence, including McDonald’s own testimony, suggests that the “click” occurred during the struggle while McDonald still had ahold of the gun, not as it was being grabbed away.

Basically there is zero evidence that Oswald attempted to pull the trigger, and plenty of evidence suggesting that the DPD sold a narrative that they knew was B.S. about a misfire. That’s hardly a nothing burger in my opinion. If the incident went down the way the DPD said it did, Oswald should have been charged with attempted murder the second he got to the police station. 

The DPD proceeded to handle the revolver in a way that its chain of custody could be torn apart in court by a two-bit public defender; and the WC pretended Paul Bentley didn’t exist even though he was present at both the Tippit murder scene and the Texas Theater.  Bentley said he initialed the gun in his police report written two weeks later, but he never officially handled it and nobody ever mentioned witnessing Bentley initial it.
 

 

[Gil Jesus]

1 hour ago, Tom Gram said:

Gil mentions that exact testimony from Cunningham in his post. The problem is that all the evidence, including McDonald’s own testimony, suggests that the “click” occurred during the struggle while McDonald still had ahold of the gun, not as it was being grabbed away.

Basically there is zero evidence that Oswald attempted to pull the trigger, and plenty of evidence suggesting that the DPD sold a narrative that they knew was B.S. about a misfire. That’s hardly a nothing burger in my opinion. If the incident went down the way the DPD said it did, Oswald should have been charged with attempted murder the second he got to the police station. 

The DPD proceeded to handle the revolver in a way that its chain of custody could be torn apart in court by a two-bit public defender; and the WC pretended Paul Bentley didn’t exist even though he was present at both the Tippit murder scene and the Texas Theater.  Bentley said he initialed the gun in his police report written two weeks later, but he never officially handled it and nobody ever mentioned witnessing Bentley initial it.
 

 

And you're absolutely right. Like Lt. Baker, Bentley was never called to testify. They avoided him like the plague.

Also as an example that the Dallas Police LIED under oath to the Commission, I cite the testimony of Detective Bob Carroll, the cop who handed the revolver to Sgt. Hill in the car and the one who witnessed Hill mark the cartridges and revolver at the station: 

Mr. BALL. Did you see anybody strike Oswald with his fist ?

Mr. CARROLL. No sir I did not ( 7 H 20 )

He repeats this again:

Mr. BALL. Did you see anybody strike him ?

Mr. CARROLL. I didn't see anybody strike him---it's possible that someone did, but I didn't see it because I was trying to get him. ( 7 H 21 )

But in this video interview years later, Carroll admits that after Oswald was disarmed, HE himself "popped him one upside his head" :

That "someone" was Carroll himself.

Edited July 6, 2022 by Gil Jesus

[Gil Jesus]

1 hour ago, Tom Gram said:

Gil mentions that exact testimony from Cunningham in his post. The problem is that all the evidence, including McDonald’s own testimony, suggests that the “click” occurred during the struggle while McDonald still had ahold of the gun, not as it was being grabbed away.

Basically there is zero evidence that Oswald attempted to pull the trigger, and plenty of evidence suggesting that the DPD sold a narrative that they knew was B.S. about a misfire. That’s hardly a nothing burger in my opinion. If the incident went down the way the DPD said it did, Oswald should have been charged with attempted murder the second he got to the police station. 

The DPD proceeded to handle the revolver in a way that its chain of custody could be torn apart in court by a two-bit public defender; and the WC pretended Paul Bentley didn’t exist even though he was present at both the Tippit murder scene and the Texas Theater.  Bentley said he initialed the gun in his police report written two weeks later, but he never officially handled it and nobody ever mentioned witnessing Bentley initial it.
 

 

I dont' get Mark Ulrik's posts because I have him on ignore. As a "lone nutter" and Warren Commission apologist, he has spent years ridiculing me and insulting me on the alt.conspiracy.jfk newsgroup as a member of the McAdams' band of merry men. When I saw he was accepted on this forum I immediately put him on ignore.

I'm not surprised that every time I post something, he's ready to jump right on it.

But since you quoted him and I can see what he posted and I have a need to set the record straight:

Johnny Brewer added NOTHING to what happened in the theater.

In fact, he never even saw Oswald pull the gun. 

Mr. BELIN Did you see from where the gun came ?

Mr. Brewer. No. ( 7 H 6 )

The second "witness" referred to by Mr. Ulrik and the Commission mentioned in their Report was theater patron John Gibson, who testified that Oswald "was standing in the aisle with a gun in his hand". ( 7 H 72 ) He repeats that in his testimony when he says, "He was facing the police with a gun in his hand." ( 7 H 74 )

This account is not corroborated by any witness, police or otherwise, and at the very least calls into question Gibson's credibility.

The Commission used only a part of his testimony in their Report and avoided mentioning the above.

Mr. Ulrik's third witness is the second theater patron, George Applin, who told the FBI that "one of the two ( either Oswald or McDonald ) had a pistol in his right hand." ( CD 87, pg. 558 )

The Commission avoided mentioning this FBI interview of Applin. It didn't make it into the 26 volumes.

Not only did these witnesses have nothing to add to the police version of events, they either saw something that did not exist or cast doubt on who exactly had the gun, Oswald or McDonald.

These are the witnesses ( and all of the police officers who would never lie ) Mark Ulrik refers to in order to defend the Warren Commission's version of what happened in the Texas Theater.

 

 

Edited July 6, 2022 by Gil Jesus

[Tom Gram]

10 minutes ago, Gil Jesus said:

I dont' get Mark Ulrik's posts because I have him on ignore. As a "lone nutter" and Warren Commission apologist, he has spent years ridiculing me and insulting me on the alt.conspiracy.jfk newsgroup as a member of the McAdams' band of merry men. When I saw he was accepted on this forum I immediately put him on ignore.

I'm not surprised that every time I post something, he's ready to jump right on it.

But since you quoted him and I can see what he posted and I have a need to set the record straight:

Johnny Brewer added NOTHING to what happened in the theater.

In fact, he never even saw Oswald pull the gun. 

Mr. BELIN Did you see from where the gun came ?

Mr. Brewer. No. ( 7 H 6 )

The second "witness" referred to by Mr. Ulrik and the Commission mentioned in their Report was theater patron John Gibson, who testified that Oswald "was standing in the aisle with a gun in his hand". ( 7 H 72 ) He repeats that in his testimony when he says, "He was facing the police with a gun in his hand." ( 7 H 74 )

This account is not corroborated by any witness, police or otherwise, and at the very least calls into question Gibson's credibility.

The Commission used only a part of his testimony in their Report and avoided mentioning the above.

Mr. Ulrik's third witness is the second theater patron, George Applin, who told the FBI that "one of the two ( either Oswald or McDonald ) had a pistol in his right hand." ( CD 87, pg. 558 )

The Commission avoided mentioning this FBI interview of Applin. It didn't make it into the 26 volumes.

Not only did these witnesses have nothing to add to the police version of events, they either saw something that did not exist or cast doubt on who exactly had the gun, Oswald or McDonald.

These are the witnesses ( and all of the police officers who would never lie ) Mark Ulrik refers to in order to defend the Warren Commission's version of what happened in the Texas Theater.

 

 

Applin later told Earl Golz that he thought the gun "came out of the officer's holster":

 

 

And of course Gus Rose told Larry Sneed that Oswald claimed the revolver was planted on him in his interrogations, which is hard to believe IMO considering all of the contemporaneous reports that say the exact opposite, but it's definitely food for thought: 

"When you’re interrogating somebody, you try to establish a rapport with them, and you set about to do that without getting into the actual case. I did ask him about his arrest and he said, “Oh, I was just sitting in the theater and officers came in and planted a gun on me and accused me of shooting somebody. I don’t know nothing about that!”

I'd totally reject the idea of a planted (or later switched) gun were it not for the absolutely abysmal handling of it by the DPD; and the WC's failure to question Paul Bentley or even acknowledge that his initials were on the gun. This was the single most important item of evidence allegedly found on Oswald, and the cops botched the chain of custody so badly that a defense attorney would probably want the revolver admitted into evidence just to tear it apart. 

[Mark Ulrik]

Don't be such a drama queen, Gil. I'll give you a couple of days to calm down before I respond.

[Tom Gram]

10 hours ago, Mark Ulrik said:

How does that contradict the idea that the hammer was blocked by McDonald's web space?

Here's some more on McDonald's misfire story:

The passage you quoted from the WR, sourced from Cunningham's testimony, states:

It would be possible for a person to interject his finger between the hammer and the cartridge, but the spring driving the hammer is a very strong one and the impact of the firing pin into a finger would be clearly felt. (84) 

Based on Cunningham's testimony, "clearly felt" is an understatement:

Mr. EISENBERG. Now, if a man had put his hand between the hammer and the point at which the hammer enters, with the firing pin, into the breech face, would that stop the weapon from firing? 
Mr. CUNNINGHAM. Yes and no. It is very possible that you can do it. And it hurts, by the way, because the mainspring in this one you can see the indentation in my thumb--is a very strong mainspring. It would be possible. You could put something in there. 

Despite the fact that getting the hammer slammed on the webbing of his hand would certainly have been painful, McDonald doesn't mention such an incident in any of his reports or subsequent WC testimony. 

Gerald Hill subsequently backs up McDonald in the 90's when he tells Walt Brown that other officers observed the mark on McDonald's hand, and that that was the source of the alleged "click". Of course, neither Hill nor anyone else mentioned such a thing happening to McDonald in any of their reports or testimony; and Hill actually told the WC that he did not hear any click. 

The punchline to all of this is is that the first person to mention getting their hand stuck in the gun is none other than Paul Bentley in a TV interview from November 23, CE 2157:

Sure enough, Bentley claimed that HE got a bruised hand from getting it stuck in the gun - which makes sense based on Cunningham's testimony. 

The obvious question is this: why the hell would McDonald adopt Bentley's story as his own? 

 

 

 

 

[Gil Jesus]

11 hours ago, Tom Gram said:

Here's some more on McDonald's misfire story:

The passage you quoted from the WR, sourced from Cunningham's testimony, states:

It would be possible for a person to interject his finger between the hammer and the cartridge, but the spring driving the hammer is a very strong one and the impact of the firing pin into a finger would be clearly felt. (84) 

Based on Cunningham's testimony, "clearly felt" is an understatement:

Mr. EISENBERG. Now, if a man had put his hand between the hammer and the point at which the hammer enters, with the firing pin, into the breech face, would that stop the weapon from firing? 
Mr. CUNNINGHAM. Yes and no. It is very possible that you can do it. And it hurts, by the way, because the mainspring in this one you can see the indentation in my thumb--is a very strong mainspring. It would be possible. You could put something in there. 

Despite the fact that getting the hammer slammed on the webbing of his hand would certainly have been painful, McDonald doesn't mention such an incident in any of his reports or subsequent WC testimony. 

Gerald Hill subsequently backs up McDonald in the 90's when he tells Walt Brown that other officers observed the mark on McDonald's hand, and that that was the source of the alleged "click". Of course, neither Hill nor anyone else mentioned such a thing happening to McDonald in any of their reports or testimony; and Hill actually told the WC that he did not hear any click. 

The punchline to all of this is is that the first person to mention getting their hand stuck in the gun is none other than Paul Bentley in a TV interview from November 23, CE 2157:

Sure enough, Bentley claimed that HE got a bruised hand from getting it stuck in the gun - which makes sense based on Cunningham's testimony. 

The obvious question is this: why the hell would McDonald adopt Bentley's story as his own? 

 

Tom, you're right. And no evidence that McDonald ever received any medical treatment for such an injury. No injury report was ever made. No incident report ever mentioned it. McDonald went from the theater to the station to mark the evidence. Sound like a guy who suffered a painful injury ?

Nice Hollywood script, but it never happened.

It's all a fantasy for which there is no evidence to back it up.

 

 

 

Edited July 7, 2022 by Gil Jesus

[Denny Zartman]

20 hours ago, Tom Gram said:

If the incident went down the way the DPD said it did, Oswald should have been charged with attempted murder the second he got to the police station. 

Good point.

[Tom Gram]

5 hours ago, Gil Jesus said:

Tom, you're right. And no evidence that McDonald ever received any medical treatment for such an injury. No injury report was ever made. No incident report ever mentioned it. McDonald went from the theater to the station to mark the evidence. Sound like a guy who suffered a painful injury ?

Nice Hollywood script, but it never happened.

It's all a fantasy for which there is no evidence to back it up.

Also, Bentley never mentioned the alleged incident after that initial TV interview. It wasn’t even included in his police report, which makes me think it was likely a fantasy from the beginning. 

The implied chronology of Bentley’s report is also pretty interesting. Bentley says: 

Sgt. Jerry Hill had the S&W .38 cal pistol with six (6) shells in his possession on the way to City Hall. This pistol was initialed by me and turned over to Lt. Baker and Captain Fritz by Sgt. Hill

I turned his identification over to Lt. Baker. I then went over to Captain Westbrook’s office to make a report of this arrest. 

I then was told by Inspector Kockos to go to Baylor Hospital to receive treatment for the injured foot I received in making the arrest 

The official story has Hill, Carroll and McDonald initialing the gun in Westbrook’s office, Hill turning the gun over to Baker after Bentley left to go to the hospital, and Bentley not initialing the gun at all. 

Bentley’s version, other than Hill turning in the gun to Baker (and Fritz), fits perfectly with everyone else’s reports and testimony. The problem is this: when the hell was Bentley alone with Hill so he could initial the gun?

One explanation for Bentley initialing a revolver he never had possession of is if the officers involved in the arrest all marked the gun in Westbrook’s office together before Hill gave the gun to Baker. However, the evidence - including Bentley’s own report - very strongly suggests that Bentley initialed the gun before the signing party in Westbrook’s office. It’s more than a little suspicious, IMO. 

Bentley’s story is that he went from City Hall, to the Tippit murder scene where he lifted prints off the car, to the Texas Theater where he heads straight to the balcony, searches the bathrooms, and request that the house lights get turned on. He then makes it downstairs in time to witness Oswald drawing the gun, jump in on the scuffle, and assist with the arrest. 

It really makes you wonder why the WC pretended this guy didn’t exist.