Missing First Day Documents in the Tippit Case

[Ron Bulman]

1 hour ago, Steve Thomas said:

Michael,

Here's another one, although this call was not from the public.

In his Warren Commission testimony, Motorcycle Officer, Thomas Hutson testified that he was riding with Officers Ray Hawkins and another Officer named Baggett, responding to the Tippitt shooting. Hutson testified that the clutch on his cycle was burned out.

His testimony is In Vol VII, page 29. https://www.jfk-assassination.eu/warren/wch/vol7/page29.php

While they were cruising around, Hawkins, who was driving, stopped at a Mobil gas station at 10th and Beckley to make a phone call.

Hutson wasn't positive, but he thought the station had told them to call in.

There is no record in the Dispatch tapes instructing Hawkins to call in. No record of Hawkins reporting in that he was temporarily out of his car, and no record of him reporting that he was back in service. Hutson had to beep the horn to get Hawkins' and Baggett's attention when an announcement was broadcast that the subject was seen running into the Library.

Hawkins made no mention of that phone call in his WC testimony.

To me that phone call is every bit as mysterious and suspicious as Tippit's call from the Top Ten Record Store.

Steve Thomas

 

Wow Steve.  Hawkins at TENTH and BECKLEY to make a phone call.  Tippit calling from the Top TEN record store.  I know, not the point, but an interesting coincidence.

[Steve Thomas]

7 hours ago, Ron Bulman said:

Wow Steve.  Hawkins at TENTH and BECKLEY to make a phone call.  Tippit calling from the Top TEN record store.  I know, not the point, but an interesting coincidence.

Ron,

It gets weirder.

Sometime between the search of the houses and the sighting of a suspect at the Library, Hawkins and Hutson make a stop at a Mobile Gas Station at 10th and Beckley to make a phone call, supposedly in response from a request from Dispatch to call in.

I do not find any reference to this phone call in the Dispatch tapes.

Is it odd that Tippit and Hawkins are making phone calls on a landline telephone right around this same time period?

 

Mr. BALL. Did you go to 10th and Patton?
Mr. HAWKINS. We drove by 10th and Patton--we didn't stop at the location.
Mr. BALL. Where did you go then?
Mr. HAWKINS. We circled the vicinity around Jefferson and Marsalis

The last known reports were that the suspect was headed west, why is Hawkins circling Jefferson and Marsalis, which is about six blocks east of the shooting?

 

WC testimony of Kenneth Croy:

Mr. GRIFFIN. Where do you live?
Mr. CROY. 1658 Glenfield Dallas, Tex.

“Mr. GRIFFIN. What is your occupation?
Mr. CROY. I have several.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Let's have them in order.
Mr. CROY. I am in the real estate business. I have a Mobil service station...”

1658 Glenfield is roughly a mile southwest of the Texas Theater

posting by an unknown author in the ReopenKennedyCase Forum 1/29/2014

 

“Croy’s home by the way was 1658 Glenfield. This was the same street that J. D. Tippit lived on until 1961. Glenfield was also the same street that Carl Amos Mather used to live on a few blocks from Tippit’s house when they first became friends. For those unfamiliar with Mather he is connected to proceedings because a license plate number was taken down by garage mechanic T. F. White close to the Texas Theater immediately after Oswald’s arrest that was traced back to Carl Amos Mather’s car. The occupant of the car seen by White bore an uncanny resemblance to Lee Harvey Oswald and Carl Mather, when interviewed, told of his friendship with J. D. Tippit. Tippit's old house of 1919 Glenfield, even though he and his family no longer lived there in 1963, was still in his possession and the property was rented out As far as I'm aware it was never investigated who it was rented out to. Croy’s house was three blocks from the house Tippit owned. During his Warren Commission testimony it is interesting to note that Croy was not asked if he knew Officer Tippit”.

 

The Dallas Police Officers' handcuffs were their personal property. Hawkins' handcuffs were used to handcuff Lee Harvey Oswald upon his arrest.After the assassination, Hawkins did not donate these to a museum or the National Archives. He kept them and later, he, or his estate, sold them at auction.

$250,000 in 2016 would be worth $327,000 today.

Lee Harvey Oswald handcuffs valued at $250,000

http://www.paulfrasercollectibles.com/news/memorabilia/lee-harvey-oswald-handcuffs-valued-at-250-000/22042.page

November 30, 2016

"The Dallas Police Department made its officers and detectives buy their own handcuffs, thus allowing Hawkins to retain his private property after the assassination."

The lot is estimated to bring in $250,000 ahead of the December 3 close date.

 

https://goldinauctions.com/Lee_Harvey_Oswald_Handcuffs_Used_to_Arrest_Oswald_-lot27299.aspx

 

“Oswald was bundled into a patrol car and taken downtown. Hawkins followed and then went about fulfilling the routine written reports and pertinent interviews. The handcuffs, no longer needed once Oswald was secure in the Dallas Police holding cells, were returned to Officer Hawkins. These are the handcuffs that captured President Kennedy’s assassin. The Smith & Wesson cuffs were originally issued to Officer Hawkins when he joined the Dallas Police Department in 1953. Bearing the serial number “38468”, Hawkins used these rare and iconic cuffs throughout his entire career and retained them after he left the force. The Smith & Wesson handcuffs remain a silent reminder of that fateful day in Dallas when the Nation changed forever. The handcuffs are accompanied by a signed and notarized affidavit from Ray Hawkins describing his actions on November 22, 1963 and the role these handcuffs played the capture of Lee Harvey Oswald. It is also noteworthy to mention that this is one of the very few significant JFK-Oswald items that is not in the National Archives. The Dallas Police Department made its officers and detectives buy their own handcuffs, thus allowing Hawkins to retain his private property after the assassination. ,”

Ray Hawkins:

 

 

Are ivory-handled revolvers standard issue for a traffic cop?

 

Steve Thomas

[Gene Kelly]

12 hours ago, Michael Kalin said:

Thanks, Gene, for the summary, but the Crafard angle is strictly speculative. I am not aware of associated first day documents, missing or otherwise.

Michael

I acknowledge that Curtis LeVerne Crafard as a decoy is speculative, but he's certainly a suspicious character who was associated with many of the principals in this case (see the 1989 article by Peter Whitmey).  And Crafard left Dallas the next day (hitchhiked to northern Michigan with only seven dollars in his pocket).  WC Judge Burt Griffin later told Whitmey at a Chicago conference in 1993 that he and Leon Hubert felt that Crafard was holding back and not being honest about himself and his activities while in Dallas during his three-day Warren Commission “interrogation”.  In an interview conducted by the HSCA in November 1978, Griffin stated that “one of the most important issues we never resolved …is why Larry Crafard split town like he did.” Researcher Walt Brown pointed out that Crafard was asked the second highest number of questions (3,972) by the Warren Commission out of all witnesses who were called to testify.  Also, Crafard apparently pretended to be Oswald during an interview with an employment counselor in Dallas named Laura Kittrell (see interview with Gaeton Fonzi ). The Warren Commission’s staff did consider the possibility that Craford might have been posing as Oswald. Some even speculate that it was Crafard who was living at the rooming house at 1026 North Beckley Avenue as “O.H. Lee”.

Joan Mellen later wrote that Jim Garrison suspected Crafard of being a professional killer. Last, Penn Jones believed that Larry Crafard was one of the two gunmen who shot Officer Tippit, and he (Crafard)fit the description given by most of the witnesses. The light gray jacket discarded in the parking lot by Tippit’s killer and the jacket Crafard was wearing when he was photographed by the FBI on November 28, 1963, were both made by the same manufacturer (i.e., Maurice Holman).   Another good read is a 2014 article by Hasan Yusuf entitled “Did Larry Crafard kill J.D. Tippit?” 

So ... somebody shot Officer Tippit.  Do you have any thoughts about who did the shooting? (perhaps Croy).

Gene

[Gene Kelly]

Michael

I should add that another valuable source of information is from the April 2024 article "The Tippit Tapes: A Re-examination" by John Washburn in Kennedys and King.   Washburn wrote that:

Domingo Benavides, a witness at the Tippit murder scene, was asked to identify Oswald in a police line-up. He said that Oswald had a tapered cut neckline, whilst the assailant he saw had a square cut neckline. Crafard had a square cut neckline in photographs. Benavides knew hair ... as well as being a mechanic, he worked as a barber at the Dudley Hughes Funeral Home that had supplied the ambulance to take Tippit to the hospital. Tippit was shot two blocks from where Benavides worked, and  Benavides later refused to identify Oswald as the assailant.   

Gene

[Gene Kelly]

Michael:

Its telling that Crafard only lived at the Carousel Club while working for Ruby from mid-October until the day after the assassination when he left. The time when Crafard worked for Ruby closely coincides with the time Oswald was planted at the Texas School Book Depository.  I know this is circumstantial, but its a coincidence that's difficult to ignore.  

Gene

[Michael Kalin]

15 hours ago, Steve Thomas said:

While they were cruising around, Hawkins, who was driving, stopped at a Mobil gas station at 10th and Beckley to make a phone call.

Hutson wasn't positive, but he thought the station had told them to call in.

There is no record in the Dispatch tapes instructing Hawkins to call in. No record of Hawkins reporting in that he was temporarily out of his car, and no record of him reporting that he was back in service. Hutson had to beep the horn to get Hawkins' and Baggett's attention when an announcement was broadcast that the subject was seen running into the Library.

Steve, as always you go down interesting avenues, particularly this one that leads to the Mobil Station at 10th and Beckley. Nice if it could be positively connected to Croy, but I'm not seeing a missing first day document in this, only missing content from the radio tapes. Am I splitting hairs? Probably, but I'm hoping to avoid discussion of the radio tapes' defects in this thread.

[Michael Kalin]

7 hours ago, Gene Kelly said:

I acknowledge that Curtis LeVerne Crafard as a decoy is speculative, but he's certainly a suspicious character who was associated with many of the principals in this case (see the 1989 article by Peter Whitmey).  And Crafard left Dallas the next day (hitchhiked to northern Michigan with only seven dollars in his pocket).  WC Judge Burt Griffin later told Whitmey at a Chicago conference in 1993 that he and Leon Hubert felt that Crafard was holding back and not being honest about himself and his activities while in Dallas during his three-day Warren Commission “interrogation”.  In an interview conducted by the HSCA in November 1978, Griffin stated that “one of the most important issues we never resolved …is why Larry Crafard split town like he did.” Researcher Walt Brown pointed out that Crafard was asked the second highest number of questions (3,972) by the Warren Commission out of all witnesses who were called to testify.  Also, Crafard apparently pretended to be Oswald during an interview with an employment counselor in Dallas named Laura Kittrell (see interview with Gaeton Fonzi ). The Warren Commission’s staff did consider the possibility that Craford might have been posing as Oswald. Some even speculate that it was Crafard who was living at the rooming house at 1026 North Beckley Avenue as “O.H. Lee”.

Joan Mellen later wrote that Jim Garrison suspected Crafard of being a professional killer. Last, Penn Jones believed that Larry Crafard was one of the two gunmen who shot Officer Tippit, and he (Crafard)fit the description given by most of the witnesses. The light gray jacket discarded in the parking lot by Tippit’s killer and the jacket Crafard was wearing when he was photographed by the FBI on November 28, 1963, were both made by the same manufacturer (i.e., Maurice Holman).   Another good read is a 2014 article by Hasan Yusuf entitled “Did Larry Crafard kill J.D. Tippit?” 

So ... somebody shot Officer Tippit.  Do you have any thoughts about who did the shooting? (perhaps Croy).

Gene, I'm replying to points you raise in all three of your preceding posts.  Crafard's involvement is a vexed topic mainly because it suffers from a dearth of evidentiary support, resting entirely on coincidence & speculation.

The WC attorneys indeed questioned Crafard at length, but after reading it all the most polite single word description I can come with up is "fatuous." This was because the FBI had failed to provide WC with evidentiary leverage that might have been applied to force him to open up. For example, slow to develop information, the Detroit division's creepy interviews with Crafard's cousin & aunt were not conducted until June of 64, long after Crafard's WC sessions.

My take on Benavides is that he was describing Belin whose coiffure had a square cut neckline. Domingo was in a pawky mood that day and enjoyed teasing Belin during his testimony. Belin actually lost his composure.

Perhaps Croy did the shooting? Can't say, but speculation will undo us. If forced to cough up a conjecture as to the identity of a Tippit murder participant it would be Vaganov for whom there is a smattering of evidence (at best). Hmm -- come to think of it, wasn't he interviewed by the FBI on 11/22/63? The report could be another missing document.

Research continues...

 

Edited September 9 by Michael Kalin
spelling error correction

[Steve Thomas]

18 minutes ago, Michael Kalin said:

Steve, as always you go down interesting avenues, particularly this one that leads to the Mobil Station at 10th and Beckley. Nice if it could be positively connected to Croy, but I'm not seeing a missing first day document in this, only missing content from the radio tapes. Am I splitting hairs? Probably, but I'm hoping to avoid discussion of the radio tapes' defects in this thread.

Michael,

I spent some time trying to research Mobil Gas stations in Dallas in 1963 - asking questions in the Dallas Historical Society forum, trying to do property records research on the 4 corners of that intersection, trying investigative techniques on people who are interested in the history of gas stations, etc., but I was unsuccessful.

My skills are limited.

Mostly. I was interested in that missing phone call.

I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hijack your thread. I won't say any more.

Steve

 

[David Josephs]

19 hours ago, Benjamin Cole said:

DJ--

go here and follow instructions 

https://postimages.org/

you can post images! 

thanks Ben...

@Michael Kalin  I see what you mean...  thought I was fortunate there for a moment... 

Old eyes... 🙂

 

[Michael Kalin]

1 hour ago, Michael Kalin said:

Perhaps Croy did the shooting? Can't say, but speculation will undue us. If forced to cough up a conjecture as to the identity of a Tippit murder participant it would be Vaganov for whom there is a smattering of evidence (at best). Hmm -- come to think of it, wasn't he interviewed by the FBI on 11/22/63? The report could be another missing document.

Research continues...

According to Mark Bridger's article in Daily Plaza Echo, Volume 2, Issue 2, "...the continuing story of the Russian rover: Ivan Vaganov," SAs Hall & Abernathy interviewed Vaganov on 11/22/63, reported in FBI Memorandum 23.11.63, SA C. Ray Hall to SAC Dallas.

So far no luck finding the memo (NARA does not have a Vaganov key person file), but it was not destroyed. Bridger was familiar with the contents. It does not refer to the Tippit murder even though Vaganov resided in Oak Cliff.

[Michael Kalin]

1 hour ago, Steve Thomas said:

Michael,

I spent some time trying to research Mobil Gas stations in Dallas in 1963 - asking questions in the Dallas Historical Society forum, trying to do property records research on the 4 corners of that intersection, trying investigative techniques on people who are interested in the history of gas stations, etc., but I was unsuccessful.

My skills are limited.

Mostly. I was interested in that missing phone call.

I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hijack your thread. I won't say any more.

Steve

 

Steve, stay a while. Threads always get hijacked. It's the way of message boards.

Think of this by William Blake:

Quote

Improvement makes strait roads, but the crooked roads without Improvement, are roads of Genius.

Bugger strait roads -- let's go down roads of genius!

Edited September 9 by Michael Kalin

[Gene Kelly]

2 hours ago, Michael Kalin said:

Gene, I'm replying to points you raise in all three of your preceding posts.  Crafard's involvement is a vexed topic mainly because it suffers from a dearth of evidentiary support, resting entirely on coincidence & speculation.

The WC attorneys indeed questioned Crafard at length, but after reading it all the most polite single word description I can come with up is "fatuous." This was because the FBI had failed to provide WC with evidentiary leverage that might have been applied to force him to open up. For example, slow to develop information, the Detroit division's creepy interviews with Crafard's cousin & aunt were not conducted until June of 64, long after Crafard's WC sessions.

My take on Benavides is that he was describing Belin whose coiffure had a square cut neckline. Domingo was in a pawky mood that day and enjoyed teasing Belin during his testimony. Belin actually lost his composure.

Perhaps Croy did the shooting? Can't say, but speculation will undue us. If forced to cough up a conjecture as to the identity of a Tippit murder participant it would be Vaganov for whom there is a smattering of evidence (at best). Hmm -- come to think of it, wasn't he interviewed by the FBI on 11/22/63? The report could be another missing document.

Research continues...

 

Thanks Michael, and I agree that Crafard's role rests on coincidence & speculation.  But somebody shot Tippit, and I doubt it was Oswald.  

The later Craford interviews are curious, especially with his relatives ... and admitting that he was a "hit man" seems a bit incredulous at best.  

Vaganov seems to be a diversionary character served up for misdirection... plus he was pretty tall when one compares various witness descriptions.  

[Michael Kalin]

39 minutes ago, Gene Kelly said:

Vaganov seems to be a diversionary character served up for misdirection... plus he was pretty tall when one compares various witness descriptions.  

An exception is Clemmons' description of someone at the scene immediately after the murder wearing light khaki trousers and a white shirt. He was tall & thin. It fits Vaganov as far as it goes.

[Greg Doudna]

4 minutes ago, Michael Kalin said:

An exception is Clemmons' description of someone at the scene immediately after the murder wearing light khaki trousers and a white shirt. He was tall & thin. It fits Vaganov as far as it goes.

But Michael, Clemons’ tall man you just noted was not the ONE gunman she saw, who she said was short. Her tall man across the street going the other direction from the ONE GUNMAN was not the gunman, not a gunman, but corresponds to Callaway shouting back and forth at the gunman and going in the opposite direction. And Callaway was tall. 

Bill B says that killer/Callaway “(what’s) going on?!” interaction that Clemons heard and Callaway said he shouted (same words if you notice: Clemons heard “go on!”) in the exchange with the killer, was too far down the block on Patton for Clemmons, who was standing at the corner of 10th and Patton with a view down Patton, to have heard. 

But there is no other killer/other man interchange known from the witnesses than the known Callaway/killer one.

i don’t understand why the intense desire of so many to imagine phantom others, or multiple gunmen, or Vaganov, etc when Clemmons is simply describing seeing what the known witnesses saw happen. 

[Michael Kalin]

42 minutes ago, Greg Doudna said:

But Michael, Clemons’ tall man you just noted was not the ONE gunman she saw, who she said was short. Her tall man across the street going the other direction from the ONE GUNMAN was not the gunman, not a gunman, but corresponds to Callaway shouting back and forth at the gunman and going in the opposite direction. And Callaway was tall. 

Bill B says that killer/Callaway “(what’s) going on?!” interaction that Clemons heard and Callaway said he shouted (same words if you notice: Clemons heard “go on!”) in the exchange with the killer, was too far down the block on Patton for Clemmons, who was standing at the corner of 10th and Patton with a view down Patton, to have heard. 

But there is no other killer/other man interchange known from the witnesses than the known Callaway/killer one.

i don’t understand why the intense desire of so many to imagine phantom others, or multiple gunmen, or Vaganov, etc when Clemmons is simply describing seeing what the known witnesses saw happen. 

Ah, here we go down a crooked road.

Greg, Callaway was tall but not thin, and he did not wear khakis. Per Greg Lowrey Clemmons' version of events has the support of various other people at the scene who remain anonymous. Exclusion from the official investigation does not invalidate them as witnesses. This is discussed in McBride's Into the Nightmare. [490-4]

To my mind this version has the ring of truth because I am certain Tippit was decoyed by a second person as he stepped out of his car. He was a tough customer, a WW2 paratrooper who knew how to defend himself.

On the other hand I believe almost nothing Callaway said about anything. What a gasbag!