Oak Cliff Time Trials

[Bill Brown]

Author Dale Myers (With Malice - Lee Harvey Oswald and the Murder of Officer J.D. Tippit) puts forth the idea that Lee Oswald was walking east on Tenth Street toward the area of Marsalis and Jefferson.  Oswald had a bus transfer in his pocket and the only bus stop in the entire Oak Cliff area which this transfer was good for was the bus stop at the intersection of Jefferson and Marsalis.  The transfer was stamped for 1:00 making it good until 1:15 (or the next available bus).

 

Myers asks: "Had Oswald already been to the bus stop but was scared off?"

 

I have now come to believe that Oswald, when he left the rooming house on North Beckley (after grabbing his revolver and jacket), had the destination of the bus stop at Marsalis and Jefferson in his mind.  From the rooming house on North Beckley, walking east on Tenth Street toward Marsalis, Oswald was walking the most direct line to the bus stop.  Again, his transfer was good at that particular bus stop until 1:15, or the next available bus.  In With Malice, Myers states that the Lancaster Road bus was scheduled to arrive at the stop at Jefferson and Marsalis at 1:30 and "would have taken Oswald to Greyhound bus connections through Laredo, TX and on to Mexico".

 

According to Myers, it was at 1:17:41 when passerby T.F. Bowley got on Tippit's patrol car radio to report to the police dispatcher that a police officer had been shot and killed.  The Dallas County Sheriff's Department (no doubt monitoring the city police radio) put out the same information over their airwaves.  Shortly after Bowley's report, a Sheriff's Deputy (unit 109) reported to his dispatcher that he was at the intersection of Tenth and Jefferson, just one block east of the bus stop located at Marsalis and Jefferson; the same stop which for Oswald's transfer was good.

 

Back to the question put forth by Myers.  "Had Oswald already been to the bus stop but was scared off?"

 

Myers' point is that if a Deputy patrol car was near that bus stop shortly AFTER Tippit was shot, then maybe he was there BEFORE the shooting, as well.

 

Perhaps Oswald first arrived at Tenth and Patton (from the rooming house on his way to the bus stop at Marsalis and Jefferson) at 1:11.

 

The Secret Service and the FBI reconstructed Oswald's steps (with the help of bus driver Cecil McWatters and cab driver William Whaley) in an attempt to determine the absolute earliest that Oswald could have reached the rooming house.

 

Based on McWatters' statement of where it was that Oswald boarded the bus (we know Oswald boarded that bus because he had McWatters' specific bus transfer and McWatters said he issued that transfer to only one woman and only one man), Oswald walked about seven blocks east (into the downtown area) after he left the Depository within three minutes of the shooting.

 

"So I gave her a transfer and opened the door and as she was going out, the gentleman I had picked up about two blocks (back) asked for a transfer and got off at the same place in the middle of the block where the lady did.  It was the intersection near Lamar Street, it was near Poydras and Lamar Street." -- Cecil McWatters

 

They concluded, based on what McWatters told them (along with the Secret Service agents and FBI agents walking the route in an average time of six and a half minutes), that Oswald boarded the bus around 12:40 near the intersection of Field St. and Elm St. and then, after being on the bus for no more than four minutes, Oswald got off the bus near Lamar St. and Elm St. (asking for the transfer as he got off the bus).

 

So now we have Oswald leaving the bus around 12:44.

 

Oswald then walked three to four short blocks to the Greyhound station where he boarded Whaley's cab.  This has Oswald entering the cab around 12:48.

 

They then, with Whaley, reconstructed the cab ride from the Greyhound to the intersection of Beckley and Neely (Oswald got out of the cab on Beckley just north of the intersection with Neely).  They concluded (using a stopwatch) that the cab ride took five minutes and thirty seconds.

 

So now we have Oswald exiting Whaley's cab on Beckley at 12:53-12:54.

 

Still using the stopwatch, they concluded that it was a five minute and forty-five second walk from the point Oswald exited the cab back to the rooming house.

 

I think Oswald got to the rooming house at 12:59 and was back in his room just long enough to grab a jacket (per housekeeper Earlene Roberts) before hurrying out the front door, zipping up the jacket as he went out the door.

 

In March of 2020, along with Frank Badalson, Fred Litwin, Scott Maudsley and FJ James, I walked from the bus stop outside the rooming house on North Beckley to the intersection of Tenth and Patton and did it in twelve minutes.  Therefore, I believe Oswald first arrived at that intersection at 1:11.

 

About two blocks east of Tenth and Patton, Tenth Street curves drastically to the right before intersecting first with Marsalis and then with Jefferson.  If one is walking east on Tenth Street from the spot where Tippit was gunned down, one cannot see any point east of Tenth Street's curve until one actually arrives at that curve.  Point being, I believe Sheriff's Deputy unit 109 was near Tenth and Jefferson (remember, unit 109 did report from that location shortly after Tippit was shot) and Oswald, walking east along Tenth with the goal of reaching the bus stop at Marsalis and Jefferson, only notices this patrol car once he reaches the curve on Tenth Street.  Before reaching the curve on Tenth Street, Oswald cold not have seen anything east of that curve.  I believe Oswald's goal was to walk east on Tenth to Marsalis and then south on Marsalis to Jefferson where the bus stop was located.  I believe he reached this curve on Tenth and once he was able to see several blocks to the east, he sees unit 109 in the area three short blocks down on Tenth.

 

Oswald has been on foot, bus and taxi for the past forty plus minutes.  He has no idea if his face has been plastered all over television or if his name was put out over the police radio airwaves by this point (after all, he did leave his rifle behind and was missing from the building from where the President was shot).  Oswald has now reached the curve along Tenth and sees unit 109 a few blocks down.  Not wanting to chance walking any closer to this Deputy patrol car and having his face recognized, Oswald simply reverses direction, now walking west on Tenth and back to where he had just came from.  Incidentally, Oswald being worried that his face and/or name has already been put out there for the world to see most likely had a lot to do with why he was so quick to gun down Tippit once Tippit got out of the patrol car.

 

The first intersection Oswald would then come to is Tenth and Denver.  Bill Smith and Jimmy Burt were out in the front yard of the house on the northeast corner of that intersection.  Burt said he saw a man walking west along Tenth, cross over Denver and continue along Tenth (Al Chapman interview with Jimmy Burt, 1968).  Shortly after seeing this man walking, Burt said he and Smith noticed a police car pull alongside a man who was walking on the sidewalk almost down to the next intersection (Tenth and Patton).  Burt said this was the same man he had seen moments earlier walking west on Tenth.  Burt stated that they were about to go inside the house when they heard the gun shots.  Smith testified to the Warren Commission that he saw Tippit fall.

 

On Saturday May 4, 2024, I was in Oak Cliff, TX with Frank Badalson and Dave Ledbetter.  The purpose of this particular visit to Oak Cliff was to perform time trials of the movements of Lee Oswald (as well as Burt and Smith).  We wanted to try to get into Oswald's head as to where he was heading both before encountering Patrolman J.D. Tippit and after murdering Tippit.

 

With a digital stopwatch, Frank Badalson timed me walking from the spot where Oswald stood as he shot Tippit, east along Tenth Street, crossing over Denver and stopping at the point where Tenth Street makes it's drastic curve.  Walking at a pretty good clip (after all, I assume Oswald was walking with a purpose) but not running, I reached the curve in two minutes and eight seconds.  Therefore, it would take four minutes and sixteen seconds to get from the spot where Oswald was standing when he fired the shots to the curve and then back to encounter Tippit.  So, as noted earlier, if Oswald originally arrived at Tenth and Patton at 1:11:00, then he encounters Tippit at 1:15:16.

 

This explains how Oswald comes to be seen walking WEST on Tenth Street, being at the shooting scene in time to shoot Tippit without having to actually have come from Marsalis (coming from Marsalis would have made it nearly impossible to get to the shooting scene in time).

 

Allowing for a brief fifteen second conversation between Tippit and Oswald, I walked and then trotted (per Domingo Benavides' Warren Commission testimony) from the spot Oswald was standing when he fired the shots to the corner of Tenth and Patton.  This took a fraction over nineteen seconds.  So we have Oswald cutting through the front yard of the Davis house on the corner at 1:15:50.

 

From the corner, I then did a slow run down Patton (per Ted Callaway's 11/22/63 affidavit) to Jefferson.  This took fifty-nine seconds (after also noting the spot where Oswald was when Callaway hollered out to him, which took me thirty seconds to reach).  So we have Oswald reaching Patton and Jefferson at 1:16:49.

 

Next, I walked west along Jefferson (per Warren Reynolds' Warren Commission testimony) to the location of the Ballew's Texaco Station (now Santos Muffler).  It took me one minute and eleven seconds from the corner of Patton and Jefferson to the Texaco.  I went around to the back of the Texaco to the site where Oswald ditched his jacket.  This took twenty-two seconds.  So we have Oswald in the parking lot behind the Texaco ditching his jacket at 1:18:22.

 

Bowley has already reported the shooting on the patrol car radio to the police dispatcher (Murray Jackson) and the ambulance would be dispatched from the Dudley-Hughes Funeral Home directly across the street from the Texaco station in another thirty-seven seconds (1:18:59).

 

From the spot of the jacket dump, I walked west to where the alley meets Crawford.  This took nine seconds.  So Oswald is in the alley where it meets Crawford at 1:18:31.

 

Oswald is last seen in the alley behind the Texaco station by Burt and Smith.  So Badalson, Ledbetter and myself decided to do a time trial for Burt and Smith.  In the 1968 interview, Burt told Chapman that after the shooting, from the front yard of the house at Tenth and Denver, they went to the scene of the shooting, stayed momentarily (he never said just how long exactly) and then took off on foot in search of the killer.  They had seen him go to the corner of Tenth and Patton and turn south down Patton.  Burt told Chapman that they had it in their minds to go all the way down to Jefferson but when they got halfway down Patton, they looked west along the alley and noticed the man in the alley "almost down to the next street".  This puts the killer in the alley behind the Texaco at the point where the alley meets Crawford.

 

I wanted to see how the Burt/Smith timeline (which has them going from their front yard almost one block east of the shooting scene to the shooting scene and then halfway down Patton to the alley where they would see the killer in the alley almost down to the next block) compares to the Oswald timeline at the point when Oswald is in the alley behind the Texaco.

 

Remember, our time trials have Oswald behind the Texaco where the alley meets Crawford at 1:18:31.

 

From the Burt/Smith front yard at Tenth and Denver, I did a fast walk/slow trot to the spot where Tippit fell on the street.  Trying to get into the minds of Burt and Smith, I would definitely walk very fast, even trot, to the spot where the police officer was lying in the street (once I saw the killer disappear around the corner).  I continued on the Burt/Smith route to the corner of Tenth and Patton and then halfway down Patton to the alley.  Total time from the Burt/Smith front yard to where the alley meets Patton was two minutes and fourteen seconds.  Recall, our timeline has Oswald disappearing around the corner after firing the shots at 1:15:50.  If Burt and Smith left the front yard immediately, with no "hanging around time" near the shooting scene, they reach the point where the alley meets Patton at 1:18:04.  Recall, we have Oswald in the alley behind the Texaco at 1:18:31.  For this to fit, Burt and Smith hang around the shooting scene for about twenty-seven seconds before taking off after the killer.  It makes sense that they wouldn't have hung around the shooting scene for long, for once you've hung around too long, there's no sense in taking off on foot in search of the killer.

 

Next, we wanted to get into the mind of Oswald and where he would go after ditching the jacket behind the Texaco station (and how long it would take him to get there).  The point where the alley meets Crawford is halfway up Crawford between Jefferson and Tenth.  To orient ourselves, Oswald is on the sidewalk where the alley meets Crawford and he can go in three directions; up Crawford to Tenth, down Crawford to Jefferson, or west through the alley on the other side of Crawford.  We concluded that he certainly would not go back up to Tenth Street.  He had just shot a police officer on Tenth Street less than one and a half blocks back to the east.  We also decided that he wouldn't have went down to Jefferson.  It was a very busy street (certainly one of the busiest in Oak Cliff) and both Robert Brock (a mechanic) and Mary Brock (Robert's wife) had seen him run past them in front of the Texaco station right there on Jefferson moments earlier.  Also, Oswald was followed along Jefferson by both Warren Reynolds and Pat Patterson, who were at the Johnnie Reynolds Motor Co. at the corner of Jefferson and Patton.  Was Oswald aware that the two men were following him from a safe distance?  Why chance it?  So we were left to conclude that Oswald fled west through the alley that runs parallel between Jefferson and Tenth.

 

Next, from the alley's entrance with Crawford (after ditching the jacket), going west in the alley (assuming Oswald was walking fast but not running so as to not draw attention to himself), it took us one minute and forty-two seconds through the alley to reach Storey Street.  This has Oswald in the alley at Storey at 1:20:13.

 

We stayed in the alley walking west toward Cumberland Street.  It took us one minute and thirty-five seconds to reach Cumberland.  So Oswald has reached the alley's entrance with Cumberland at 1:21:48.

 

Proceeding further west along the alley for another block, we came to Beckley Avenue.  It took us forty-eight seconds to reach Beckley from Cumberland.  So we have Oswald at the alley's entrance with Beckley at 1:22:36.

 

Now, we know that at some point Oswald has to get down to Jefferson to be seen by Johnny Brewer out in front of Hardy's Shoes.  Who knows when Oswald decided to hide inside the Texas Theater.  My personal theory is that he didn't really know where he was going (more on this in a moment) as long as it was west, west and more west (further and further away from the Tippit shooting scene).  You just shot a police officer.  You headed west immediately after shooting him.  Obviously then, you're going to keep going west.  Right?

 

From the alley's entrance with Beckley, still walking west through the alley, we reached Zang Boulevard in one minute and fifty-seven seconds.  This would have Oswald at the alley's entrance with Zang at 1:24:33.

 

I don't believe Oswald considered the theater until he reached Zang.  My own personal opinion is that Oswald arrived at Zang and remembered that the theater is just a half block from Zang and Jefferson.  From the alley's entrance with Zang, we turned left (south) onto Zang to Jefferson and then right (west) onto Jefferson and then to the recessed entrance of 213 West Jefferson Boulevard, what used to be Hardy's Shoe Store.  This trek (from the alley's entrance on Zang to Hardy's Shoe Store) took us one minute and thirty-nine seconds.  This has Oswald standing in the recessed area of Hardy's Shoe Store at 1:26:12.

 

Johnny Brewer testified that Oswald ducked into the shoe store's "lobby" when one of the police cars, sirens blaring, was on Jefferson coming from the east heading west (toward the shoe store).  Brewer testified that the police car made a U-turn at Zang (before ever reaching the shoe store).  This is when Oswald left the shoe store lobby and proceeded west along Jefferson toward the theater.  Brewer said he could still hear the sirens as the police car was heading away.

 

We lingered in the shoe store "lobby" for what we considered a reasonable amount of time (to account for Oswald stepping inside to avoid the approaching police car) and then we walked from the lobby entrance of 213 West Jefferson (the shoe store, now a quinceañera/bridal dress shop) to the Texas Theater's entrance and turned off of the sidewalk into the theater's entrance.  This took us one minute and fifty-one seconds.  So, according to our time trials, Oswald enters the Texas Theater at 1:28:03.

 

Now....

 

Again, Brewer told the Warren Commission that once the police car made it's U-turn on Jefferson at Zang, that is when Oswald left the shoe store lobby to head toward the theater.  The patrol car was now heading away from Oswald's location.  So what would make the police car, with sirens blaring, make a sudden U-turn on Jefferson?  You have to remember, the Dallas Police were frantically searching for the cop-killer.  Many were about to enter the Abundant Life Temple (the backside of the building butted up against the alley located behind the Texaco Station where the killer was last seen headed; per Robert and Mary Brock).  At 1:35, the police dispatcher puts out that the suspect is cornered at the Jefferson Branch Library.  The law enforcement personnel who were about to enter the Abundant Life Temple made a beeline for the library.  This certainly would cause a patrol car cruising west on Jefferson toward Zang (the opposite direction as the library) to make an immediate U-turn and head directly to the library located on Jefferson back to the east.

 

The patrol car, cruising at a normal clip west on Jefferson, was undoubtedly looking for the cop-killer walking the streets.  This officer probably crossed the intersection with Beckley with the sirens off; he had no reason for the sirens to be blaring at this point.  It is only after he crossed Beckley that the call comes through over the police radio that the suspect is cornered at the library.  This is when the officer, having not yet reached Jefferson's intersection with Zang, turns on the sirens in order to make his U-turn at the next intersection (Zang).  Oswald, about three-quarters of a block down, suddenly hears the loud sirens and steps into the nearest store entrance, which happened to be the shoe store that Brewer was working.

 

Also, the 1:35 dispatch call to the library synchronizes up with Julia Postal (the ticket lady at the Texas Theater) hearing the announcement of JFK's death made over KLIF radio at 1:35, stepping out from the ticket booth and seeing Oswald approaching from the east.

 

It's these TWO events (the library dispatch call and the KLIF radio announcement) that pin down the time Oswald leaves Hardy's Shoe Store.

 

Getting back to my opinion that Oswald really did not have any idea where he was going as he proceeded west through the alleys.  I believe Oswald stopped at least once or twice (while in the alleys) to gather his thoughts, to think about where to go and what to do next, taking nine minutes total of "hiding out" time in the alleys.  The reason I believe this to be true is because he was in no hurry; he was not heading straight to the theater.  If Oswald headed straight for the theater (from the Tippit shooting scene) without stopping, then he would have arrived at the shoe store on Jefferson well before 1:35 when a police car, sirens blaring, had reason to make it's sudden U-turn on Jefferson just a half block from the shoe store.

 

I believe Oswald entered the Texas Theater at 1:37.  Sergeant Gerald Hill reported to the dispatcher that Oswald was arrested and they were en route to the police station at 1:52.

 

Recall that our time trials have Oswald ducking into the lobby of the shoe store at 1:26:12.  However, at 1:35/1:36, the police begin racing to the library on Jefferson.  This discrepancy suggests (to me anyway) that Oswald hid out in the alleys for nine minutes total and in reality, arrived at the shoe store "lobby" at 1:35/1:36.  Because of these time trials performed by myself, Frank Badalson and Dave Ledbetter, along with the information provided by Dale Myers regarding the 1:35 dispatch broadcast, I wholeheartedly believe that Oswald hid out in the alleys for nine minutes.

 

Edited June 12 by Bill Brown

[Michael Kalin]

You ought to tackle the critical time issues you dodged in the Ted Callaway & The 1:15 Shooting "sea lion" thread you resurrected to no effect.

The two big problems are: 1) Markham's evidence that the shooting occurred at 1:06 and 2) deducing times from the radio tapes, in this post presented as if accurate to the second.

Much speculative effort follows from the absurd 1:17:41 time assigned to Bowley's radio call, but none of it merits serious discussion until you deal honestly with the aforementioned deficiencies.

[Bill Brown]

21 minutes ago, Michael Kalin said:

You ought to tackle the critical time issues you dodged in the Ted Callaway & The 1:15 Shooting "sea lion" thread you resurrected to no effect.

The two big problems are: 1) Markham's evidence that the shooting occurred at 1:06 and 2) deducing times from the radio tapes, in this post presented as if accurate to the second.

Much speculative effort follows from the absurd 1:17:41 time assigned to Bowley's radio call, but none of it merits serious discussion until you deal honestly with the aforementioned deficiencies.

 

I'll "tackle" whatever it is you want me to just as soon as you "tackle" your comment about Bowley driving PAST the patrol car and the body in the street, parking down in the next block (300 block of East Tenth).

 

You want to argue all this Scoggins/Callaway/timeline/killer's path and yet somehow you don't know the basics.  Bowley parked BEFORE ever reaching the body in the street.  Right?

 

Edited June 12 by Bill Brown

[Greg Doudna]

Bill thank you for reporting this research and data. 

Distinguishing data from interpretation, sticking with the data for the moment, one quibble: you allow ca 0 minutes time for Oswald in the rooming house. Agree Earlene saw him acting like he was in a hurry, but it is not only the grab of a jacket. There was digging out the revolver, taking it out of its holster (since the holster also was out in the room but not on LHO’s person). There was the grabbing of all available bullets (since none remaining were found in the room), and stuffing them into a pants pocket. 

You cut out any change of shirt and pants which I suppose is possible but the weight of witness testimony seems to weigh in favor that he did change clothes, which is what he said he did in interrogation. And think about it—whatever shirt he wore that morning he had had on for two days straight. And Oswald had a reputation (per Marina) for being a very clean person. A few additional seconds to change shirts would be expected unless there was such extreme urgency that not even 10-15 seconds for that could be spared.

As a guess, if he did not change clothes, maybe 1-2 minutes in the house minimum. If he did change shirt and pants, maybe 3-4 minutes minimum. 

You also allow ca. 0 minutes from exit of the rooming house to beginning his walk from the northbound bus stop on N Beckley in the direction of the Marsalis and Jefferson bus stop hypothesized destination. 

A first question is why did Earlene say she saw him standing at that bus stop (as if waiting for a bus going in a direction he was not headed)? What is your interpretation of that? Mine is he knows Earlene will look and wants her to see him there, to mislead pursuers if she is asked which direction was he headed when he left. That would add at least a minute or so to allow for that.

Moving to interpretation of the data, on planning to take the Marsalis and Jefferson bus to another bus to Mexico (I believe Burt Griffin said something about that idea also in his recent book), do you have a comment on how he could plan to do that on less than $15 in his pocket and taking no extra clothing or supplies with him of any kind, not even soap or comb or toothbrush or spare underwear or socks or a razor to shave?

But that aside, thank you for the work you and Frank B. put into compiling the data, and reporting and publishing it (meaning as you did here), as well as some good quality analysis argument (whether or not agreement in every particular). Much appreciated.

 

3 hours ago, Bill Brown said:

Author Dale Myers (With Malice - Lee Harvey Oswald and the Murder of Officer J.D. Tippit) puts forth the idea that Lee Oswald was walking east on Tenth Street toward the area of Marsalis and Jefferson.  Oswald had a bus transfer in his pocket and the only bus stop in the entire Oak Cliff area which this transfer was good for was the bus stop at the intersection of Jefferson and Marsalis.  The transfer was stamped for 1:00 making it good until 1:15 (or the next available bus).

Myers asks: "Had Oswald already been to the bus stop but was scared off?"

I have now come to believe that Oswald, when he left the rooming house on North Beckley (after grabbing his revolver and jacket), had the destination of the bus stop at Marsalis and Jefferson in his mind.  From the rooming house on North Beckley, walking east on Tenth Street toward Marsalis, Oswald was walking the most direct line to the bus stop.  Again, his transfer was good at that particular bus stop until 1:15, or the next available bus.  In With Malice, Myers states that the Lancaster Road bus was scheduled to arrive at the stop at Jefferson and Marsalis at 1:30 and "would have taken Oswald to Greyhound bus connections through Laredo, TX and on to Mexico".

According to Myers, it was at 1:17:41 when passerby T.F. Bowley got on Tippit's patrol car radio to report to the police dispatcher that a police officer had been shot and killed.  The Dallas County Sheriff's Department (no doubt monitoring the city police radio) put out the same information over their airwaves.  Shortly after Bowley's report, a Sheriff's Deputy (unit 109) reported to his dispatcher that he was at the intersection of Tenth and Jefferson, just one block east of the bus stop located at Marsalis and Jefferson; the same stop which for Oswald's transfer was good.

Back to the question put forth by Myers.  "Had Oswald already been to the bus stop but was scared off?"

Myers' point is that if a Deputy patrol car was near that bus stop shortly AFTER Tippit was shot, then maybe he was there BEFORE the shooting, as well.

Perhaps Oswald first arrived at Tenth and Patton (from the rooming house on his way to the bus stop at Marsalis and Jefferson) at 1:11.

The Secret Service and the FBI reconstructed Oswald's steps (with the help of bus driver Cecil McWatters and cab driver William Whaley) in an attempt to determine the absolute earliest that Oswald could have reached the rooming house.

Based on McWatters' statement of where it was that Oswald boarded the bus (we know Oswald boarded that bus because he had McWatters' specific bus transfer and McWatters said he issued that transfer to only one woman and only one man), Oswald walked about seven blocks east (into the downtown area) after he left the Depository within three minutes of the shooting.

"So I gave her a transfer and opened the door and as she was going out, the gentleman I had picked up about two blocks (back) asked for a transfer and got off at the same place in the middle of the block where the lady did.  It was the intersection near Lamar Street, it was near Poydras and Lamar Street." -- Cecil McWatters

They concluded, based on what McWatters told them (along with the Secret Service agents and FBI agents walking the route in an average time of six and a half minutes), that Oswald boarded the bus around 12:40 near the intersection of Field St. and Elm St. and then, after being on the bus for no more than four minutes, Oswald got off the bus near Lamar St. and Elm St. (asking for the transfer as he got off the bus).

So now we have Oswald leaving the bus around 12:44.

Oswald then walked three to four short blocks to the Greyhound station where he boarded Whaley's cab.  This has Oswald entering the cab around 12:48.

They then, with Whaley, reconstructed the cab ride from the Greyhound to the intersection of Beckley and Neely (Oswald got out of the cab on Beckley just north of the intersection with Neely).  They concluded (using a stopwatch) that the cab ride took five minutes and thirty seconds.

So now we have Oswald exiting Whaley's cab on Beckley at 12:53-12:54.

Still using the stopwatch, they concluded that it was a five minute and forty-five second walk from the point Oswald exited the cab back to the rooming house.

I think Oswald got to the rooming house at 12:59 and was back in his room just long enough to grab a jacket (per housekeeper Earlene Roberts) before hurrying out the front door, zipping up the jacket as he went out the door.

In March of 2020, along with Frank Badalson, Fred Litwin, Scott Maudsley and FJ James, I walked from the bus stop outside the rooming house on North Beckley to the intersection of Tenth and Patton and did it in twelve minutes.  Therefore, I believe Oswald first arrived at that intersection at 1:11.

About two blocks east of Tenth and Patton, Tenth Street curves drastically to the right before intersecting first with Marsalis and then with Jefferson.  If one is walking east on Tenth Street from the spot where Tippit was gunned down, one cannot see any point east of Tenth Street's curve until one actually arrives at that curve.  Point being, I believe Sheriff's Deputy unit 109 was near Tenth and Jefferson (remember, unit 109 did report from that location shortly after Tippit was shot) and Oswald, walking east along Tenth with the goal of reaching the bus stop at Marsalis and Jefferson, only notices this patrol car once he reaches the curve on Tenth Street.  Before reaching the curve on Tenth Street, Oswald cold not have seen anything east of that curve.  I believe Oswald's goal was to walk east on Tenth to Marsalis and then south on Marsalis to Jefferson where the bus stop was located.  I believe he reached this curve on Tenth and once he was able to see several blocks to the east, he sees unit 109 in the area three short blocks down on Tenth.

Oswald has been on foot, bus and taxi for the past forty plus minutes.  He has no idea if his face has been plastered all over television or if his name was put out over the police radio airwaves by this point (after all, he did leave his rifle behind and was missing from the building from where the President was shot).  Oswald has now reached the curve along Tenth and sees unit 109 a few blocks down.  Not wanting to chance walking any closer to this Deputy patrol car and having his face recognized, Oswald simply reverses direction, now walking west on Tenth and back to where he had just came from.  Incidentally, Oswald being worried that his face and/or name has already been put out there for the world to see most likely had a lot to do with why he was so quick to gun down Tippit once Tippit got out of the patrol car.

The first intersection Oswald would then come to is Tenth and Denver.  Bill Smith and Jimmy Burt were out in the front yard of the house on the northeast corner of that intersection.  Burt said he saw a man walking west along Tenth, cross over Denver and continue along Tenth (Al Chapman interview with Jimmy Burt, 1968).  Shortly after seeing this man walking, Burt said he and Smith noticed a police car pull alongside a man who was walking on the sidewalk almost down to the next intersection (Tenth and Patton).  Burt said this was the same man he had seen moments earlier walking west on Tenth.  Burt stated that they were about to go inside the house when they heard the gun shots.  Smith testified to the Warren Commission that he saw Tippit fall.

On Saturday May 4, 2024, I was in Oak Cliff, TX with Frank Badalson and Dave Ledbetter.  The purpose of this particular visit to Oak Cliff was to perform time trials of the movements of Lee Oswald (as well as Burt and Smith).  We wanted to try to get into Oswald's head as to where he was heading both before encountering Patrolman J.D. Tippit and after murdering Tippit.

With a digital stopwatch, Frank Badalson timed me walking from the spot where Oswald stood as he shot Tippit, east along Tenth Street, crossing over Denver and stopping at the point where Tenth Street makes it's drastic curve.  Walking at a pretty good clip (after all, I assume Oswald was walking with a purpose) but not running, I reached the curve in two minutes and eight seconds.  Therefore, it would take four minutes and sixteen seconds to get from the spot where Oswald was standing when he fired the shots to the curve and then back to encounter Tippit.  So, as noted earlier, if Oswald originally arrived at Tenth and Patton at 1:11:00, then he encounters Tippit at 1:15:16.

This explains how Oswald comes to be seen walking WEST on Tenth Street, being at the shooting scene in time to shoot Tippit without having to actually have come from Marsalis (coming from Marsalis would have made it nearly impossible to get to the shooting scene in time).

Allowing for a brief fifteen second conversation between Tippit and Oswald, I walked and then trotted (per Domingo Benavides' Warren Commission testimony) from the spot Oswald was standing when he fired the shots to the corner of Tenth and Patton.  This took a fraction over nineteen seconds.  So we have Oswald cutting through the front yard of the Davis house on the corner at 1:15:50.

From the corner, I then did a slow run down Patton (per Ted Callaway's 11/22/63 affidavit) to Jefferson.  This took fifty-nine seconds (after also noting the spot where Oswald was when Callaway hollered out to him, which took me thirty seconds to reach).  So we have Oswald reaching Patton and Jefferson at 1:16:49.

Next, I walked west along Jefferson (per Warren Reynolds' Warren Commission testimony) to the location of the Ballew's Texaco Station (now Santos Muffler).  It took me one minute and eleven seconds from the corner of Patton and Jefferson to the Texaco.  I went around to the back of the Texaco to the site where Oswald ditched his jacket.  This took twenty-two seconds.  So we have Oswald in the parking lot behind the Texaco ditching his jacket at 1:18:22.

Bowley has already reported the shooting on the patrol car radio to the police dispatcher (Murray Jackson) and the ambulance would be dispatched from the Dudley-Hughes Funeral Home directly across the street from the Texaco station in another thirty-seven seconds (1:18:59).

From the spot of the jacket dump, I walked west to where the alley meets Crawford.  This took nine seconds.  So Oswald is in the alley where it meets Crawford at 1:18:31.

Oswald is last seen in the alley behind the Texaco station by Burt and Smith.  So Badalson, Ledbetter and myself decided to do a time trial for Burt and Smith.  In the 1968 interview, Burt told Chapman that after the shooting, from the front yard of the house at Tenth and Denver, they went to the scene of the shooting, stayed momentarily (he never said just how long exactly) and then took off on foot in search of the killer.  They had seen him go to the corner of Tenth and Patton and turn south down Patton.  Burt told Chapman that they had it in their minds to go all the way down to Jefferson but when they got halfway down Patton, they looked west along the alley and noticed the man in the alley "almost down to the next street".  This puts the killer in the alley behind the Texaco at the point where the alley meets Crawford.

I wanted to see how the Burt/Smith timeline (which has them going from their front yard almost one block east of the shooting scene to the shooting scene and then halfway down Patton to the alley where they would see the killer in the alley almost down to the next block) compares to the Oswald timeline at the point when Oswald is in the alley behind the Texaco.

Remember, our time trials have Oswald behind the Texaco where the alley meets Crawford at 1:18:31.

From the Burt/Smith front yard at Tenth and Denver, I did a fast walk/slow trot to the spot where Tippit fell on the street.  Trying to get into the minds of Burt and Smith, I would definitely walk very fast, even trot, to the spot where the police officer was lying in the street (once I saw the killer disappear around the corner).  I continued on the Burt/Smith route to the corner of Tenth and Patton and then halfway down Patton to the alley.  Total time from the Burt/Smith front yard to where the alley meets Patton was two minutes and fourteen seconds.  Recall, our timeline has Oswald disappearing around the corner after firing the shots at 1:15:50.  If Burt and Smith left the front yard immediately, with no "hanging around time" near the shooting scene, they reach the point where the alley meets Patton at 1:18:04.  Recall, we have Oswald in the alley behind the Texaco at 1:18:31.  For this to fit, Burt and Smith hang around the shooting scene for about twenty-seven seconds before taking off after the killer.  It makes sense that they wouldn't have hung around the shooting scene for long, for once you've hung around too long, there's no sense in taking off on foot in search of the killer.

Next, we wanted to get into the mind of Oswald and where he would go after ditching the jacket behind the Texaco station (and how long it would take him to get there).  The point where the alley meets Crawford is halfway up Crawford between Jefferson and Tenth.  To orient ourselves, Oswald is on the sidewalk where the alley meets Crawford and he can go in three directions; up Crawford to Tenth, down Crawford to Jefferson, or west through the alley on the other side of Crawford.  We concluded that he certainly would not go back up to Tenth Street.  He had just shot a police officer on Tenth Street less than one and a half blocks back to the east.  We also decided that he wouldn't have went down to Jefferson.  It was a very busy street (certainly one of the busiest in Oak Cliff) and both Robert Brock (a mechanic) and Mary Brock (Robert's wife) had seen him run past them in front of the Texaco station right there on Jefferson moments earlier.  Also, Oswald was followed along Jefferson by both Warren Reynolds and Pat Patterson, who were at the Johnnie Reynolds Motor Co. at the corner of Jefferson and Patton.  Was Oswald aware that the two men were following him from a safe distance?  Why chance it?  So we were left to conclude that Oswald fled west through the alley that runs parallel between Jefferson and Tenth.

Next, from the alley's entrance with Crawford (after ditching the jacket), going west in the alley (assuming Oswald was walking fast but not running so as to not draw attention to himself), it took us one minute and forty-two seconds through the alley to reach Storey Street.  This has Oswald in the alley at Storey at 1:20:13.

We stayed in the alley walking west toward Cumberland Street.  It took us one minute and thirty-five seconds to reach Cumberland.  So Oswald has reached the alley's entrance with Cumberland at 1:21:48.

Proceeding further west along the alley for another block, we came to Beckley Avenue.  It took us forty-eight seconds to reach Beckley from Cumberland.  So we have Oswald at the alley's entrance with Beckley at 1:22:36.

Now, we know that at some point Oswald has to get down to Jefferson to be seen by Johnny Brewer out in front of Hardy's Shoes.  Who knows when Oswald decided to hide inside the Texas Theater.  My personal theory is that he didn't really know where he was going (more on this in a moment) as long as it was west, west and more west (further and further away from the Tippit shooting scene).  You just shot a police officer.  You headed west immediately after shooting him.  Obviously then, you're going to keep going west.  Right?

From the alley's entrance with Beckley, still walking west through the alley, we reached Zang Boulevard in one minute and fifty-seven seconds.  This would have Oswald at the alley's entrance with Zang at 1:24:33.

I don't believe Oswald considered the theater until he reached Zang.  My own personal opinion is that Oswald arrived at Zang and remembered that the theater is just a half block from Zang and Jefferson.  From the alley's entrance with Zang, we turned left (south) onto Zang to Jefferson and then right (west) onto Jefferson and then to the recessed entrance of 213 West Jefferson Boulevard, what used to be Hardy's Shoe Store.  This trek (from the alley's entrance on Zang to Hardy's Shoe Store) took us one minute and thirty-nine seconds.  This has Oswald standing in the recessed area of Hardy's Shoe Store at 1:26:12.

Johnny Brewer testified that Oswald ducked into the shoe store's "lobby" when one of the police cars, sirens blaring, was on Jefferson coming from the east heading west (toward the shoe store).  Brewer testified that the police car made a U-turn at Zang (before ever reaching the shoe store).  This is when Oswald left the shoe store lobby and proceeded west along Jefferson toward the theater.  Brewer said he could still hear the sirens as the police car was heading away.

We lingered in the shoe store "lobby" for what we considered a reasonable amount of time (to account for Oswald stepping inside to avoid the approaching police car) and then we walked from the lobby entrance of 213 West Jefferson (the shoe store, now a quinceañera/bridal dress shop) to the Texas Theater's entrance and turned off of the sidewalk into the theater's entrance.  This took us one minute and fifty-one seconds.  So, according to our time trials, Oswald enters the Texas Theater at 1:28:03.

Now....

Again, Brewer told the Warren Commission that once the police car made it's U-turn on Jefferson at Zang, that is when Oswald left the shoe store lobby to head toward the theater.  The patrol car was now heading away from Oswald's location.  So what would make the police car, with sirens blaring, make a sudden U-turn on Jefferson?  You have to remember, the Dallas Police were frantically searching for the cop-killer.  Many were about to enter the Abundant Life Temple (the backside of the building butted up against the alley located behind the Texaco Station where the killer was last seen headed; per Robert and Mary Brock).  At 1:35, the police dispatcher puts out that the suspect is cornered at the Jefferson Branch Library.  The law enforcement personnel who were about to enter the Abundant Life Temple made a beeline for the library.  This certainly would cause a patrol car cruising west on Jefferson toward Zang (the opposite direction as the library) to make an immediate U-turn and head directly to the library located on Jefferson back to the east.

The patrol car, cruising at a normal clip west on Jefferson, was undoubtedly looking for the cop-killer walking the streets.  This officer probably crossed the intersection with Beckley with the sirens off; he had no reason for the sirens to be blaring at this point.  It is only after he crossed Beckley that the call comes through over the police radio that the suspect is cornered at the library.  This is when the officer, having not yet reached Jefferson's intersection with Zang, turns on the sirens in order to make his U-turn at the next intersection (Zang).  Oswald, about three-quarters of a block down, suddenly hears the loud sirens and steps into the nearest store entrance, which happened to be the shoe store that Brewer was working.

Also, the 1:35 dispatch call to the library synchronizes up with Julia Postal (the ticket lady at the Texas Theater) hearing the announcement of JFK's death made over KLIF radio at 1:35, stepping out from the ticket booth and seeing Oswald approaching from the east.

It's these TWO events (the library dispatch call and the KLIF radio announcement) that pin down the time Oswald leaves Hardy's Shoe Store.

Getting back to my opinion that Oswald really did not have any idea where he was going as he proceeded west through the alleys.  I believe Oswald stopped at least once or twice (while in the alleys) to gather his thoughts, to think about where to go and what to do next, taking nine minutes total of "hiding out" time in the alleys.  The reason I believe this to be true is because he was in no hurry; he was not heading straight to the theater.  If Oswald headed straight for the theater (from the Tippit shooting scene) without stopping, then he would have arrived at the shoe store on Jefferson well before 1:35 when a police car, sirens blaring, had reason to make it's sudden U-turn on Jefferson just a half block from the shoe store.

I believe Oswald entered the Texas Theater at 1:37.  Sergeant Gerald Hill reported to the dispatcher that Oswald was arrested and they were en route to the police station at 1:52.

Recall that our time trials have Oswald ducking into the lobby of the shoe store at 1:26:12.  However, at 1:35/1:36, the police begin racing to the library on Jefferson.  This discrepancy suggests (to me anyway) that Oswald hid out in the alleys for nine minutes total and in reality, arrived at the shoe store "lobby" at 1:35/1:36.  Because of these time trials performed by myself, Frank Badalson and Dave Ledbetter, along with the information provided by Dale Myers regarding the 1:35 dispatch broadcast, I wholeheartedly believe that Oswald hid out in the alleys for nine minutes.

 

Edited June 12 by Greg Doudna

[Michael Kalin]

I agreed long ago that I was mistaken about Bowley parking west of the murder site, having been misled by the HSCA investigative report. Your gloating masks an inability to explain why this makes a material difference in the scheme of events. His watch said 1:10 regardless of where he parked.

Now tackle the relevant time issues.

[Bill Brown]

44 minutes ago, Greg Doudna said:

Bill thank you for reporting this research and data. 

Distinguishing data from interpretation, sticking with the data for the moment, one quibble: you allow ca 0 minutes time for Oswald in the rooming house. Agree Earlene saw him acting like he was in a hurry, but it is not only the grab of a jacket. There was digging out the revolver, taking it out of its holster (since the holster also was out in the room but not on LHO’s person). There was the grabbing of all available bullets (since none remaining were found in the room), and stuffing them into a pants pocket. 

You cut out any change of shirt and pants which I suppose is possible but the weight of witness testimony seems to weigh in favor that he did change clothes, which is what he said he did in interrogation. And think about it—whatever shirt he wore that morning he had had on for two days straight. And Oswald had a reputation (per Marina) for being a very clean person. A few additional seconds to change shirts would be expected unless there was such extreme urgency that not even 10-15 seconds for that could be spared.

As a guess, if he did not change clothes, maybe 1-2 minutes in the house minimum. If he did change shirt and pants, maybe 3-4 minutes minimum. 

You also allow ca. 0 minutes from exit of the rooming house to beginning his walk from the northbound bus stop on N Beckley in the direction of the Marsalis and Jefferson bus stop hypothesized destination. 

A first question is why did Earlene say she saw him standing at that bus stop (as if waiting for a bus going in a direction he was not headed)? What is your interpretation of that? Mine is he knows Earlene will look and wants her to see him there, to mislead pursuers if she is asked which direction was he headed when he left. That would add at least a minute or so to allow for that.

Moving to interpretation of the data, on planning to take the Marsalis and Jefferson bus to another bus to Mexico (I believe Burt Griffin said something about that idea also in his recent book), do you have a comment on how he could plan to do that on less than $15 in his pocket and taking no extra clothing or supplies with him of any kind, not even soap or comb or toothbrush or spare underwear or socks or a razor to shave?

But that aside, thank you for the work you and Frank B. put into compiling the data, and reporting and publishing it (meaning as you did here), as well as some good quality analysis argument (whether or not agreement in every particular). Much appreciated.

 

 

 

Thanks Greg.  I appreciate it.

My opinion is that Oswald did not change clothes at the rooming house.  Microscopic fibers were found in a crevice between the metal butt plate and the wooden stock of the rifle which were a match to test fibers removed from Oswald's arrest shirt.  Also, Mary Bledsoe says she saw Oswald on the bus and remembered the hole in the elbow of the shirt Oswald was wearing.  Oswald's arrest shirt, in addition to it's fibers matching fibers found on the rifle, had a hole in the right sleeve at the elbow.

As for Oswald standing at the bus stop and my interpretation of it, I don't really have one, other than for some reason, he stood there momentarily.

I feel Oswald was in and out of the rooming house in less than a minute.  Roberts, once she wasn't using a figure of speech, stated that Oswald was back in his room just long enough to grab a jacket.  Grabbing his jacket and revolver is something that he could have done in 15 seconds.

You stated that Oswald was wearing the same shirt for two days.  Do you know for sure that he didn't have clothes at the Paine house in Marina's room?  Surely he did.

I start my timeline at 12:59 from the bus stop.  Oswald could have arrived at the rooming house, went back to his room, grab his jacket and revolver (including bullets), leave the rooming house and be seen standing at the bus stop outside the house by 12:59.  In fact, I believe this to be the case.

The main purpose of the article is the timeline of Oswald's movements once he reached Tenth and Patton, combined with the reason for them.

Regarding Oswald's available money that he had on him, you should know that it was just enough to get him to Mexico, for what it's worth.

Having addressed (hopefully) all of that, more than anything, I wanted to figure out just how long Oswald hid out in the alleys between the Texaco station and Zang Boulevard.  What I came up with is that he hid out (either at once or over various breaks) for nine minutes.  Secondly, I wanted to match the Oswald timeline to the alley behind the Texaco with the Burt/Smith timeline from their front yard to the alley's entrance halfway down Patton.  It matches.

 

[Matt Cloud]

While awaiting -- and looking forward to -- Michael Kalin's usually exacting and useful commentary, I'll ask: is this the same Dale Myers that says the Tippits of Connecticut were not from Texas?  

[Bill Brown]

1 hour ago, Michael Kalin said:

I agreed long ago that I was mistaken about Bowley parking west of the murder site, having been misled by the HSCA investigative report. Your gloating masks an inability to explain why this makes a material difference in the scheme of events. His watch said 1:10 regardless of where he parked.

Now tackle the relevant time issues.

 

I see that you finally did admit that you were wrong but only after first digging in for some time and arguing that you were right.

Go to the proper thread and bump whatever it is that you feel needs to be addressed.

 

[Michael Kalin]

16 hours ago, Bill Brown said:

I see that you finally did admit that you were wrong but only after first digging in for some time and arguing that you were right.

Go to the proper thread and bump whatever it is that you feel needs to be addressed.

Incessant bilderdash! You're the one who harps on the Bowley parking location issue, not me, which you abandoned months ago without disclosing the importance.

My interest in this thread was described in my first comment:

The two big problems are: 1) Markham's evidence that the shooting occurred at 1:06 and 2) deducing times from the radio tapes, in this post presented as if accurate to the second.

Much speculative effort follows from the absurd 1:17:41 time assigned to Bowley's radio call, but none of it merits serious discussion until you deal honestly with the aforementioned deficiencies.

Your lengthy scenario dissolves into the void unless you can establish a factual basis for the times when events purportedly occurred.

Care to take a crack at it? Start by addressing the two big problems described above.

[Greg Doudna]

Bill, it is just odd the idea that Tippit would pull over to the side of Tenth and call out to Oswald (after rolling down his passenger door window to be heard calling out to someone walking on a sidewalk? Or maybe he tapped his horn and hand-motioned him to come over? But no witness spoke of hearing a horn tap…and the window was rolled up again if so before Tippit left his car…).

Why would Tippit call over Oswald walking on a sidewalk over to his car? What cause? 

Then the utter brutality of the shooting of Tippit.

Then the lack of running from the scene, but the controlled walk/slow lope seen by the witnesses of the killer moving away from the scene. Like someone who had done that before. Like a professional. 

All three of these items seem to agree better on the assumption that a contract killer flagged down Tippit to draw him over to talk to him, then executed him.

You have given a scenario to account for Oswald walking west on Tenth—that he saw a police car near the Marsalis and Jefferson bus stop so backtracked on foot the other direction (now west) on Tenth.

But another scenario is a killer who witnesses mistook for Oswald coming from Ruby’s apartment walking west on Tenth.  

Two possibilities accounting for the same fact (the killer arriving on foot to the scene of the Tippit killing). 

That it was Oswald has witness identifications, the shell hulls match to Oswald’s revolver, and the fibers in the jacket agreement with Oswald’s brown shirt, plus Oswald is in Oak Cliff at that time and is spooked and evasive whether or not he shot JFK. 

But that it was someone else who resembled but wasn’t Oswald has: the factors just named on the stopping of Tippit’s patrol car; there is a serious argument that the killer’s CE 162 jacket was not Oswald’s gray jacket; there is weak chain of custody on the shell hulls; there is a known police coverup for no known good reason of another revolver which can be argued to have been the Tippit murder weapon if Oswald’s revolver wasn’t; the witnesses in the closest position to see the killer (Benavides, Markham) gave descriptions of the killer’s hair different from Oswald’s; the recent story of the grandson of Scoggins saying his grandfather had been asked to park his cab on Patton around the corner, in advance that day, by someone close to Ruby (as if lining up a getaway vehicle in advance); and the argument for another candidate for the killer who checks many if not all of the major boxes for a plausible killer of Tippit (Craford). 

What is the true truth here? It seems it is possible to see this both ways. 

[Michael Kalin]

On 6/12/2024 at 8:49 PM, Matt Cloud said:

I'll ask: is this the same Dale Myers that says the Tippits of Connecticut were not from Texas?  

Same guy. His weblog is replete with obiter dicta -- ad hoc infections -- as if With Malice were not sufficiently pestilential in and of itself.

[Matt Cloud]

Just now, Michael Kalin said:

Same guy. His weblog is replete with obiter dicta -- ad hoc infections -- as if With Malice were not sufficiently pestilential in and of itself.

Yes.  I was feigning benign ignorance.  But I appreciate your response -- almost without exception do I learn a new use of language from them.  "Pestilential."  Perfect.

[Michael Kalin]

16 hours ago, Matt Cloud said:

Yes.  I was feigning benign ignorance.  But I appreciate your response -- almost without exception do I learn a new use of language from them.  "Pestilential."  Perfect.

Matt, thanks for the compliment. Sorry I can't contribute more to your extensive commentary in other threads (pretty much limited to random drive-by quips), but I haven't yet decided to open up a second thematic research front. Scope is a problem. The Tippit mise-en-scene is relatively tight with clearly separated overlays. Other areas relative to JFK's assassination sprawl like Milton's chaos -- vague & vast.

In a holding pattern now, waiting for the OP to support his argument with evidence. Not expecting much, but he fooled me once (the Bowley parking location issue). Might have to eat some crow again, but there's nothing I can do about his attitude problem.

You remarked elsewhere on the tendency of many contributors to propose arguments consisting of their private belief systems. Two of the main practitioners are active in this thread.

The major domo was another, but happily he received a game misconduct penalty. Now I can put him on ignore. His failing was an inability to keep the moderation function separate from the expression of his personal views regarding content. They should be posted as a "member" not a "moderator." I hope site administration remedies this defect.

In the meantime what will it be -- more crow or unadulterated billingsgate?

Edited June 15 by Michael Kalin

[Matt Cloud]

38 minutes ago, Michael Kalin said:

Matt, thanks for the compliment. Sorry I can't contribute more to your extensive commentary in other threads (pretty much limited to random drive-by quips), but I haven't yet decided to open up a second thematic research front. Scope is a problem. The Tippit mise-en-scene is relatively tight with clearly separated overlays. Other areas relative to JFK's assassination sprawl like Milton's chaos -- vague & vast.

In a holding pattern now, waiting for the OP to support his argument with evidence. Not expecting much, but he fooled me once (the Bowley parking location issue). Might have to eat some crow again, but there's nothing I can do about his attitude problem.

You remarked elsewhere on the tendency of many contributors to propose arguments consisting of their private belief systems. Two of the main practitioners are active in this thread.

The major domo was another, but happily he received a game misconduct penalty. Now I can put him on ignore. His failing was an inability to keep the moderation function separate from the expression of his personal views regarding content. They should be posted as a "member" not a "moderator." I hope site administration remedies this defect.

In the meantime what will it be -- more crow or unadulterated billingsgate?

Describing reality and defending or attacking reality may not be congruent and those that wear both hats should be watched in accordance with Hannah Arendt's observation of the totalitarian proclivity to turn statements of fact into questions of motive.

Tippit meanwhile sits like grandma's ersatz china on the cupboard's top shelf -- precious and worthless both.  It is rarely be taken down and used, much less examined.  A stiff breeze through an open window threatens always to shatter.

 

ON LANGUAGE

ON LANGUAGE; Bungee Jumping

 

•  

By William Safire

• April 4, 1993

WHAT'S GOT INTO Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan -- doesn't he know how to spell? Doesn't Oxford University Press have a proofreader?

"Pandaemonium" is the title of his 16th book; this one, about the ethicity of ethnicity, argues that self-determination is undermining the harmony of mixed cultures. Pandemonium -- the word, not the Moynihan title -- is a word that takes tumult and uproar to their outer limits, a condition of all hell breaking loose. It should be spelled, of course, pandemonium, without the a before the e .

But wait: the very thought of the breaking-loose of hell gives us a clue to the author's intention. Pandaemonium is a place. Pan- is a Greek combining form meaning "all"; demon ium is a gathering of demons. John Milton, in his 1667 masterpiece, "Paradise Lost," coined the word, writing of "the walls of Pan daemonium , Citie and proud seate of Lucifer." The Devil called for "A solemn Councel forthwith to be held/At Pandaemonium, the high Capital/Of Satan and his Peers."

The ae lasted until Thomas Carlyle, in his 1831 "Sartor Resartus," wrote of those who "in this hag-ridden dream, mistake God's fair living world for a pallid, vacant Hades and extinct Pandemonium."

The senior Senator from New York is harking back to Milton's meaning -- the capital of Hell -- in his study of ethnicity in global politics, and can thus get away with the archaic spelling. The rest of us, in using the word to denote "wild disorder, noisy confusion, bedlam," should stick with the capitalization, just as we capitalize Hell when referring to the place. (I'll feel like hell when Hell freezes over.) But we should adopt the modern spelling because Carlyle was a respectable writer and ae is hard to figure out how to pronounce. Pat should remember that when he writes his encyclopaedia. 

https://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/04/magazine/on-language-bungee-jumping.html

[Greg Doudna]

Bill, a couple more comments on the data/analysis, to return to topic: 

On the 9 minutes estimate of unaccounted-for time of the Tippit killer from scene of the killing to in front of Brewer’s store and into the balcony of the Theatre, I recall a missing time gap has been noticed before but to my knowledge no one has attempted to quantify that as you and Frank did, which is where I see you advancing knowledge here with your data. (I do not agree with the brickbats thrown at your reporting of your data instead of thanking you for it). 

I recall estimates as high as 20 minutes unaccounted-for time, but no prior report of anyone actually trying to replicate and time movements on those city blocks as you have for that part of the timeline. The 9 minutes estimate, as you conclude, means the person did not go directly without letup to the Theatre but delayed ca 9 minutes somewhere. You interpret (plausibly) that as Oswald thinking or uncertain what to do. There could be other possible explanations but that is certainly an obvious and plausible one. It might be imagined he is behind a building or tree or whatever to minimize being seen while thinking what to do. Do you have an opinion on a story, I don’t recall specifics, I recall it may be from Markham family hearsay/Brownlow, of a witness claim of “Oswald” hiding out in the Life church building before leaving there? Is that a possibility of being true in your opinion? (Since there are 9 minutes needing to be accounted for in some way)

It seems you do not have in your timeline allowance for “Oswald” to have run up the back stairs of the house next to Dean’s Dairy, of Myers’ endorsement of the Mrs. Dean’ family story on that. Which is OK because it makes no sense that the killer of Tippit would have done that, and the Mrs Dean family story is better understood as reflecting a misunderstanding of the known persons who did noisily run up those stairs and banged on the door, namely the police, which would be what Mrs. Dean actually heard.

In your opinion, does your timing data exclude or permit, on timing grounds alone (never mind other issues for purpose of the question), the story of the funeral home ambulance sighting of “Oswald” running across a street around Jefferson or Crawford? 

Final comment: on Jimmy Burt, your timing data concludes there is plausibility to the timing of Jimmy Burt looking down the alley from Patton and seeing “Oswald” farther down the alley near Crawford, a point which has been questioned on timing grounds. 

However while that may be true it also could be coincidence, founded as it is on the premise that Jimmy Burt went on foot from the front yard a block away to the Tippit patrol car location. Although that is what Jimmy Burt said he did, unexplained is why Jimmy Burt told the FBI a different story, that he drove there in his car which he said he parked oddly (facing the wrong direction) next to Tippit’s. One of those two stories is untrue, and the magnitude of the discrepancy rules out error in memory, meaning one of the two stories was knowingly false, but which?

Well there is independent witness testimony of Frank Wright to seeing a similar-appearing car as Jimmy Burt’s parked the same wrong way direction, next to Tippit’s patrol car. That to me reads as of smoking-gun weight favoring that Jimmy Burt did have his car there as he told the FBI was so, which means he did not walk the route he said on other occasions and which you timed in reconstruction.

Of course in any case of a witness caught in a significant lie at a crime scene—which I think Jimmy Burt’s qualifies as—the question is why. And actually I don’t have a truly satisfying answer to propose to that. For several reasons I doubt Jimmy Burt was involved in a witting killing of a police officer, but, his being parked so oddly next to where Tippit pulled next to him (the Frank Wright account has Burt’s car there already when Tippit pulled over) is a piece of the story that I believe still calls for explanation, even if I don’t know what that explanation is. 

On your earlier on possibly Oswald had a fresh shirt from Irving rather than the same shirt two days old, fair point. Against it is Buell Frazier said Oswald was wearing the light red shirt on Thu before arriving in Irving, which is a description of the same dress shirt that was found at the rooming house which Oswald said he changed out of during his stop there. I realize witnesses can be mistaken etc so your suggestion is still possible. 

Anyway these are some further comments that come to mind re the timing data and analysis.

Edited June 15 by Greg Doudna