What happened to Tippit's Notebook?

[Steve Thomas]

Gerry,

See p. 31of CD 1285

See p. 65 (p. 68 of 499) for the Organizational Chart of the Criminal intelligence Division
https://maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=11680#relPageId=68

 

A Deputy Chief was in charge of a Division. The Deputy Chief for the CID was M.W. Stevenson.
A Captain was in charge of a Bureau within that Division, i.e. Will Fritz of the Homicide and Robbery Burea

 

The Duties and Responsibilities of a Lieutenant in the Criminal Investigation Division are outlined on p. 69 (p. 72 of 499) of CD 1285
https://maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=11680#relPageId=72

I' ve never understood why the Forgery people seemed to loom so large in the JFK case.
Now I understand. The scope of their responsibilities was really wide.
Everything from Dog Poisonings and Accosting a Female to Assault to Murder.
See p. 113 (p. 116 of 499)
https://maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=11680#relPageId=116

The Homicide and Robbery Bureau had two Platoons: First Platoon and Second Platoon. Each Platoon had an 8 hour shift.
 A Lieutenant supervised each Platoon.
See p. 120 (p. 123 of 499)
https://maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=11680#relPageId=123
Page 123 only says that the Duties of a Lieutenant in the H&R Bureau is to be the Supervisory Officer of a Platoon.

I can't see where the Homicide and Robbery  Bureau had a Criminal Investigation Section.

Steve Thomas

 

Edited October 11, 2023 by Steve Thomas

[Pat Speer]

FWIW, I have made presentations on the crime scene in which I used the DPD.s manuals as evidence. According to the DPD's own manuals, Lt. Day and Det. Studebaker were supposed to file reports on their crime scene investigation on the 22nd, and a number of follow-ups over the next few days. As I recall, moreover, their superiors were supposed to collate and summarize their reports for Fritz and Curry, None of these reports exist, if they were ever created. Their explanation would no doubt be that the FBI interfered in their investigation so they just didn't bother, but a defense attorney would have slashed his to pieces should Oswald have come to trial. 

[Gerry Down]

1 hour ago, Steve Thomas said:

Gerry,

See p. 31of CD 1285

See p. 65 (p. 68 of 499) for the Organizational Chart of the Criminal intelligence Division
https://maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=11680#relPageId=68

 

A Deputy Chief was in charge of a Division. The Deputy Chief for the CID was M.W. Stevenson.
A Captain was in charge of a Bureau within that Division, i.e. Will Fritz of the Homicide and Robbery Burea

 

The Duties and Responsibilities of a Lieutenant in the Criminal Investigation Division are outlined on p. 69 (p. 72 of 499) of CD 1285
https://maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=11680#relPageId=72

I' ve never understood why the Forgery people seemed to loom so large in the JFK case.
Now I understand. The scope of their responsibilities was really wide.
Everything from Dog Poisonings and Accosting a Female to Assault to Murder.
See p. 113 (p. 116 of 499)
https://maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=11680#relPageId=116

The Homicide and Robbery Bureau had two Platoons: First Platoon and Second Platoon. Each Platoon had an 8 hour shift.
 A Lieutenant supervised each Platoon.
See p. 120 (p. 123 of 499)
https://maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=11680#relPageId=123
Page 123 only says that the Duties of a Lieutenant in the H&R Bureau is to be the Supervisory Officer of a Platoon.

I can't see where the Homicide and Robbery  Bureau had a Criminal Investigation Section.

Steve Thomas

 

Thanks for that detailed response. I guess one would have to read through the various DPD testimonies to get a better idea of what each division and bureau consisted of, and who was in charge of each piece. But CD 1285 is a good place to start if one wanted to get an introductory idea. 

I guess the forgery department had to play a big role because of the fake cards in LHOs wallet. The forgery department would be able to give clues as to how those forgeries were made, such as what equipment was needed to make them. That kind of info would help paint a picture in the DPDs mind as to whether LHO was a lone wolf or if he needed others to help in the making of those cards. 

[Jean Ceulemans]

10 hours ago, Gerry Down said:

I was taking your previous statements on this page literally in which you stated:

A Bureau was defined as "An operational group organized to perform a special function." In addition to the Special Service Bureau, there was also a Personnel Bureau and a Reserve Officers Bureau.

...

e) Each Bureau had a Criminal Intelligence Section – Page 393

From this I was thinking that maybe each bureau had their own "Criminal Intelligence Section". But I guess that might be a bit odd. For example would the "Reserve Officers Bureau" really need its own "Criminal Intelligence Section"? So i'm now assuming that only some bureau's had their own "Criminal Intelligence Section". 

And was wondering if he designation of "lieutenant" within the DPD automatically signaled that that person was the head of some type of "section" in a particular bureau. I guess its possible that while a lieutenant was the head of a section, that lieutenant could have an assistant who was also designated a lieutenant. In this way, the designation of "lieutenant" did not automatically mean the person was the head of a section. 

I'm not very familiar with the structure of the DPD as its not an area i've got into. So your previous few posts above was the first time I ever gave it any real consideration. 

Criminal Intelligence had some 10 tot 14 people, they were detectives assigned  from Homicide and the other Bureaus.  So each bureau would assign a detective (at least one) to Criminal Intelligence.  In stead of having a number of different Intell Sect they grouped it that way.  I believe their offices were at a different location in the City

Jack Revill was said to be undercover in those years in the American Nazi Party

No more Silence has a number of DPD talking about their job, and the structure of the DPD is sometimes talked about, interesting book in many aspects !

[Jean Ceulemans]

13 hours ago, Gerry Down said:

Thanks

In the DPD organisation "Carl" Day was assigned to the Crime Scene Search Section / Criminal Investigations Lab, part of the Identification Bureau

[Jean Ceulemans]

This helps as a guideline, was early 1950's could be a little different 10 years later

You can see the Special Services Bureau ( headed by Captain W.P. Gannaway) way up there where Criminal Intell was part of (Lieutenant. Jack Revill).  SSB would have agents going undercover, work wit informants, often aiming at labor org., all kinds of protest groups, extremist groups (Jack Revill was said to be undercover in the American Nazi Party)

 

 

Edited October 19, 2023 by Jean Ceulemans

[Steve Thomas]

2 hours ago, Jean Ceulemans said:

Criminal Intelligence had some 10 tot 14 people, they were detectives assigned  from Homicide and the other Bureaus.  So each bureau would assign a detective (at least one) to Criminal Intelligence.  In stead of having a number of different Intell Sect they grouped it that way.  I believe their offices were at a different location in the City

Jean,

You might be thinking of the Special Service Bureau. Their offices were located at the Fairgrounds. Everybody else was located at City Hall Downtown.

Steve Thomas

[Steve Thomas]

4 hours ago, Gerry Down said:

I guess the forgery department had to play a big role because of the fake cards in LHOs wallet.

Gerry,

On November 29th, Police Chief, Jesse Curry formed a Study Commission tasked with finding out how Ruby got into the basement.

That Study Commission was headed by Captain O.A. Jones of Forgery.

Forgery Bureau Detective, William Chambers interviewed the Three Tramps.

Lt. Elmo Cunningham, Detectives John Toney and Marvin Buhk (from Forgery) and a Detective E.E. Taylor were at the Trade Mart when they received word that a Police Officer had been shot. They hopped in a car and headed towards 10th and Patton when they heard that the suspect was in the Library, so they headed over there.

Marvin Buhk later wrote that Secret Service men told him that the Library suspect was the wrong guy. Toney, Cunningham and Buhk then headed over to the Theater. Toney and Cunningham helped search the Theater. Buhk stayed in the car to monitor the radio.

Cunningham later wrote that he interviewed several occupants of the Theater. It was later claimed that the list of Theater occupants was given to Cunningham. That list has disappeared.

Steve Thomas

[Gerry Down]

9 minutes ago, Steve Thomas said:

Gerry,

On November 29th, Police Chief, Jesse Curry formed a Study Commission tasked with finding out how Ruby got into the basement.

That Study Commission was headed by Captain O.A. Jones of Forgery.

Forgery Bureau Detective, William Chambers interviewed the Three Tramps.

Lt. Elmo Cunningham, Detectives John Toney and Marvin Buhk (from Forgery) and a Detective E.E. Taylor were at the Trade Mart when they received word that a Police Officer had been shot. They hopped in a car and headed towards 10th and Patton when they heard that the suspect was in the Library, so they headed over there.

Sounds like the DPD were stretched to the limit in the days following the assassination and had to get detectives from areas like Forgery etc. to do investigating that would normally have been outside their field. 

[Gerry Down]

On 10/9/2023 at 5:45 PM, Steve Thomas said:

That's what led me to the DPD's Manual in CD 1285.

...

e) Each Bureau had a Criminal Intelligence Section – Page 393

 

I've looked at page 393 and don't see where it says that each bureau had a criminal intelligence section:

LINK: https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=11680#relPageId=393

1 hour ago, Jean Ceulemans said:

This helps as a guideline, was early 1950's could be a little different 10 years later

You can see the Special Services Bureau ( headed by Captain W.P. Gannaway) way up there where Criminal Intell was part of (Lieutenant. Jack Revill).  SSB would have agents going undercover, work wit informants, often aiming at labor org., all kinds of protest groups, extremist groups (Jack Revill was said to be undercover in the American Nazi Party)

 

That diagram is helpful. I had been thinking the DPD was divided into “Divisions”, which held “Bureaus”, which held “Sections”. But from that diagram, the Special Services Bureau was not inside a division at all.

That diagram aligns closely to the diagram on this page of CD1285 which Steve Thomas linked to:

LINK: https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=11680#relPageId=7

[Jean Ceulemans]

19 minutes ago, Gerry Down said:

I've looked at page 393 and don't see where it says that each bureau had a criminal intelligence section:

LINK: https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=11680#relPageId=393

 

I think there maybe was a typo there.  Or another way to interprete this : each bureau (Hom./Robb./Juv/etc) did have a detective (1 or more) assigned to Criminal Intelligence.

That's how I see it.  About page 393 perhaps Steve can explain

[Gerry Down]

5 minutes ago, Jean Ceulemans said:

I think there maybe was a typo there.  Or another way to interprete this : each bureau (Hom./Robb./Juv/etc) did have a detective (1 or more) assigned to Criminal Intelligence.

That's how I see it. 

That would explain it.

[Paul Jolliffe]

On 10/8/2023 at 10:00 PM, Greg Doudna said:

Probings in an attempt to crack why the Tippit notebook and clipboard went missing

What an interesting question Steve T. Joseph McBride, Into the Nightmare, pp. 258-59, says,

"Surely it [the clipboard] would have been an important piece of evidence to study for possible leads. Some (including Belin, who took Barnes' testimony) have said there is a photo of a man's head visible on the board in the police photo, and that Tippit could have been searching for that man, but close inspection of the photo shows that the shape is the clip itself, holding what appears to be an open notebook."

So there become two missing items, not one: the clipboard, and the notebook. McBride, 259, interviewed Leavelle, who was at the crime scene, who told him, "I didn't look at that [clipboard], and I didn't trace it".

According to McBride, Leavelle told him that "inspecting the car was Sergeant Barnes's job. Barnes told the commission that 'we never read his clipboard ... I couldn't tell you what was on the clipboard.' The clipboard, which was never brought forward as evidence, would have been considered part of the equipment of the car, Leavelle said, like the shotgun Tippit carried in it."

Say what?? Tippit's notebook would not have been considered "part of the equipment of the car". And even if the physical clipboard itself was, the papers on the clipboard would not have been. 

Yet those papers disappeared. 

After no Dallas Police investigating officer even was curious enough to take a look at the top page, just to, you know, see if there might be anything there that might be a lead on the murder. All those police, and nobody looked at that clipboard, which disappeared. 

That does not pass the smell test. I do not believe it--that no one looked at what was written on the top page of that clipboard, and that by a wholly unrelated coincidence those papers disappeared.

Some provisional and tentative analyses:

• the lack of curiosity to look at the top visible sheet, let alone all the sheets, of that clipboard, combined with the disappearance of all of those sheets, and Tippit's officer's notebook, from being preserved, does not sound like accident or incompetence but purposeful.
• Leavelle himself is the prime suspect for (a) looking at the top page--or the page of the notebook held open under the clip on top of the clipboard if that is the way Tippit had it in the moments before his death; (b) saw something deemed inappropriate to become part of the public record in the investigation of the murder of a fellow officer; and (c) withheld or diverted it from any other officer seeing it.

What might have been written there that would account for that response?

A name of a woman?

Or just a street address, such as the street address of a house in front of which Tippit may have pulled over to meet someone who was waiting for him on the sidewalk?

Sometimes one loose thread can clear up another loose thread, such that in the calculus of loose threads of cases, 1 + 1 can sometimes = 0, instead of 2.

In the present case, there are two other loose threads: one is a known coverup (or else sophisticated attempt to feign one), reported by Myers of high-level knowledge that there was another officer witness, name not disclosed, present at the Tippit crime scene, as a witness to the Tippit killer, who was there supposedly having an affair with a married woman. At high levels (internal to Dallas law enforcement) that was covered up so as to protect the married woman's good name, supposedly (the alleged reason told to Myers for covering up this incendiary information and highly improper failure to report if true). This coverup is not speculated, it is reported by Myers attributed to a high-level anonymous witness the identity of which Myers has never revealed.

The second loose end is the anonymous waitress at Austin's Bar B Q, where Johnnie Witherspoon, with whom Tippit had had an affair, also worked, in the anonymous waitress's filmed interview in Shattered Friday. She said Witherspoon lived on 10th Street near where Tippit was killed. That apparently was not actually true, however that waitress who worked in the same circles and knew the gossip thought it was true. Officer Tilson, one of the officers of Tippit's station, in later years told Myers he heard that from other officers and believed it, but was not speaking from personal knowledge. There are more interviews and information on the Tippit-Witherspoon saga in McBride's book than Myers'. Austin's owner, Austin Cook, told McBride, "I've heard that she lived over close to where he was [when] Oswald killed him, but I don't know". Johnnie Witherspoon told McBride that in November 1963 that "she was indeed living in Oak Cliff, but she was evasive about the address: 'It wasn't twenty miles away. Probably three to five miles. I never lived on Tenth Street or even close ... I never lived on Tenth and not within three miles, four miles, or five miles ... people have vivid imaginations" (Into the Nightmare, 292). 

Let's assume (as I do assume as most likely) that the truth is as Johnnie said, and the gossip that she lived on Tenth was not correct (certainly neither city directory information nor direct witness has ever confirmed that gossip), and that the gossip that she did live on Tenth stemmed from some urban-legend genre of story that went viral.

Leavelle himself, not as speculation but confessed fact in his own words, covered up the Tippit-Witherspoon affair, even though it came out later. The fact of the affair is completely established, such that Myers, friend of and sympathetic to the family, in his book does not dispute that there was an affair, but tells it in the most sympathetic and sensitive way possible to Mrs. Tippit, even to the point of denying unconvincingly what is pretty likely a second fact, that the Tippit-Witherspoon affair produced a child.

But back to Leavelle. McBride asked Leavelle "if he had heard the rumors about Tippit and his mistress in 1963". Leavelle's answer to McBride: "We knew about it but didn't put it out ... it was known by some of his close friends, but it wasn't known department-wise. I talked to the girl. She didn't deny it. Who gives a sh-it? It's his business, it's her business" (p. 290).

That coverup on Leavelle's part is acknowledged fact, but it also may have had nothing to do with the Tippit murder case. But the second coverup, the one reported by Myers of an officer present at the Tippit crime scene and a witness, in an affair with a different married woman, definitely has to do with the Tippit murder case, and also was covered up. By who? Myers isn't saying to the present day, even though he knows who told him. To that extent Myers, although he did not create the coverup, is now accessory to that coverup, perhaps valuing keeping his word to someone who may now be dead, over disclosing that particular information in the interests of history.

Who was Myers' secret source? Well, absent disclosure from Myers it may never be known, but I will say who I think is the most likely suspect: it sounds to me a lot like Leavelle (who is now dead). It all fits very well with Leavelle, as someone who would be in a position to know; he was interviewed by Myers as a named source on other things; Leavelle has a track record of covering up exactly this genre of secret; and even the language reported by Myers of his source sounds to me a little like the way Leavelle would talk and explain things (Myers, With Malice, 2013 edn, 374). Perhaps anticipating this very focus of suspicion as to the identity of the source, Myers adds in his footnote (note 1125) this denial that it was Leavelle, from Leavelle: "Jim Leavelle, the former homicide detective who led the investigation into Tippit's death, reported in 1996 that he was unaware of the story." I do not see Myers taking a personal position in his book on whether he believes that denial. There it stands. I don't think Leavelle's denial bears significant weight, given that that is what would be expected of him if Leavelle was the source (and I don't think Leavelle was above prevarication).  

But to conjecture how these threads might be drawn together--

I suspect what was on that Tippit clipboard and/or notebook was a street address at or near the location where Tippit was killed, with or without accompanying written information. It may not have been clear to whoever saw that clipboard why Tippit would have the address where he was killed written down on a clipboard or in his notebook prior to his being killed there. If Leavelle saw that--and perhaps it is plausible he indeed may have been the first, and in this case also the last, to look at and take possession of that notebook?--Leavelle might not himself know for sure why that address was there, but he might have suspected or figured that it might have to do with a woman even if it was unclear from what Tippit wrote, if Tippit's womanizing was otherwise known to Leavelle unrelated to the Tippit killing. If Leavelle suspected that was in the background of Tippit's stop that day it would be very much in keeping with officers' loyalty, and consideration to Tippit's bereaved family, et al, to just mercifully (as Leavelle might self-interpret it) not "go there".

Leavelle, responsible for at least one, and I think very possibly both, of the two coverups related above, then, for the good of the family, the late officer Tippit's own reputation, and that of the Dallas Police Department in the national spotlight over the JFK assassination, simply saw to it that the clipboard and notebook never were turned in as evidence and not seen again.

And although I suspect what was on the Tippit clipboard was a 10th Street address where he was killed, I do not assume that necessarily involved womanizing in this instance (even if someone seeing Tippit's notebook and clipboard might not know one way or the other).

On other grounds, I believe the circumstances of Tippit's killing are well argued to be Tippit was lured into an ambush there at Tenth and Patton where he was killed in a professional killing, by a killer there waiting for Tippit's arrival at a particular time, accounting for the back and forth on the sidewalk when the killer saw Tippit's car arriving and flagged Tippit down, not vice versa as commonly supposed. 

That's my attempt to make sense of the missing clipboard and notebook of Tippit, on the basis of highly incomplete information. 

Hmm.

I like your theory that Jim Leavelle himself was responsible for the disappearance of Tippit's clipboard and/or notebook.

However, even if (IF) Leavelle initially genuinely believed that Tippit had written an address on Tenth Street because of some affair, surely he would soon have good reason to suspect something else (larger than a mere affair) was going on.

After all, correctly or not, there were a number of witnesses who believed there were two shooters/conspirators/accomplices in Tippit's killing.

Also, the mystery of the mismatched shells and bullets may not have been immediately apparent on Friday afternoon, but certainly by the end of that weekend, Leavelle had to have known that there was a serious problem, one the Warren Commission itself could only resolve with the most weaselly language possible. 

Furthermore, while a revolver was taken off of "Oswald" at the Texas Theater, neither Leavelle nor anyone else knew for sure whether that revolver had anything to do with Tippit's murder.

My point is that Leavelle, a shrewd man, would have held on to the clipboard/notebook in case there was something there. Especially if he feared that Tippit's murderer had accomplices. If Leavelle destroyed Tippit's notebook and/or clipboard, I doubt it was because of Leavelle's determination to hide Tippit's affair. 

Greg, you and I agree that something mighty sensitive almost certainly was in/on Tippit's clipboard and/or notebook, and that is why that information had to disappear. 

 

 

[Steve Thomas]

2 hours ago, Jean Ceulemans said:

I think there maybe was a typo there.  Or another way to interprete this : each bureau (Hom./Robb./Juv/etc) did have a detective (1 or more) assigned to Criminal Intelligence.

That's how I see it.  About page 393 perhaps Steve can explain

Jean,

The way I am thinking now is:

While the DPD's Operating Manual provided for the creation and operation of a Criminal Intelligence Section within each Bureau, the only Bureau that actually had one was the Special Service Bureau.

PP 393-395 lays out the duties and responsibilities of a Criminal Intelligence Section (including the responsibilities of a Lieutenant). However, when you get to page 396 where they talk about the kinds of reports that were supposed to be submitted, the only place they talk about is the Special Service Bureau.

Steve Thomas

[Steve Thomas]

I thought it was kind of interesting. I kind of figured the Personnel Bureau would have a Criminal Investigation Section to handle  criminal background checks of police department applicants.

Turns out they did have an Investigations Section, only it was headed by a Sergeant.

See pp.403-404 of CD 1285

Just going by the Department Manual, and the number of Reports they had to write up, it seems like the heaviest load for the Dallas Police Department back then involved car theft and check forgery.

Steve Thomas