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I KNOW HELEN MARKHAM [ HM ] WAS NOT A GOOD WITNESS FOR THE WC. IN FACT, SHE SOUNDED

TOTALLY INSANE TO ME. SHE WAS ALMOST AS BAD AS HENRY WADE.

HOWEVER, SHE DID HAVE A JOB AND DID RIDE THE BUS EVERY DAY THAT SHE WORKED SO SHE HAD TO BE FAMILIAR WITH THE BUS SCHEDULE AND WHAT TIME SHE WOULD HAVE TO LEAVE HER APT. IN ORDER TO ARRIVE AT THE BUS STOP TO CATCH HER BUS EACH DAY.

{ VOL.lll, WC HEARINGS, PAGE 305 ]

[ IN REGARDS TO THE TIME SHE LEFT FOR WORK ]

MR. BALL: YOU THINK IT WAS A LITTLE AFTER 1 ?

HM : I WOULDN'T BE AFRAID TO BET IT WASN'T 6 OR 7 MINUTES AFTER 1 .

MR. BALL: YOU KNOW WHAT TIME YOU USUALLY GET YOUR BUS DON'T YOU?

HM : 1:15

MR. BALL : SO IT WAS BEFORE 1:15?

HM : YES IT WAS. [ END QUOTE ]

SO FROM HER ADDRESS AT 328 E. 9 TH ST. SHE WOULD HAVE HAD TO WALK 2/3 OF A BLOCK

TO PATTON, CROSS PATTON, WALK A FULL BLOCK TO PATTON AND EAST 10 TH. AND UNDER NORMAL CIRCUMSTANCES STILL WALK A FULL BLOCK FURTHER TO BE STANDING , WAITING FOR HER BUS TO ARRIVE AT 1:15. IF NO ONE IS AT THE BUS STOP THE BUS DOSN'T STOP.

EVERYONE IS PRETTY FAMILIAR WITH WHAT HM SAID OCCURRED THAT DAY AT THE INTERSECTION OF PATTON AND E. 10 TH. ST. TRAFFIC WAS HEAVY, SHE HAD TO WAIT TO CROSS, A POLICEMAN GOING SLOW , A MAN TURNING AND COMING BACK TO THE SQUAD CAR, RESTING HIS ARMS ON THE WINDOW AND TALKING TO THE POLICEMAN [ FOR A FEW MINUTES ? }, THE POLICEMAN GETTING OUT, THE MAN SHOOTING THE COP, THE MAN RUNS OFF, SHE COVERS HER EYES, SHE'S IN SHOCK, AFTER THE MAN LEAVES SHE GOES OVER TO THE COP.....

HERE"S MY POINT.

WHAT WAS THE OFFICAL TIME OF THE CITIZEN"S CALL ABOUT THE SHOOTING AND COULD IT HAVE TAKEN PLACE IN THE TIME ALLOTTED?

IN ORDER TO GRADUATE FROM BOOT CAMP WE HAD TO RUN THE MILE IN 8 MINUTES. AFTER 8 WEEKS OF TRAINING ALMOST EVERYBODY WAS ABLE TO DO THIS. IF YOU DOUBLE THIS TIME FOR WALKING EVEN AT A FAST PACE ITS GONNA TAKE 16 MINUTES.

OSWALD WAS NOT AT THE TIPPIT MURDER SCENE !

CASE CLOSED !!!!!!!!!

JIM FEEMSTER

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I KNOW HELEN MARKHAM [ HM ] WAS NOT A GOOD WITNESS FOR THE WC. IN FACT, SHE SOUNDED

TOTALLY INSANE TO ME. SHE WAS ALMOST AS BAD AS HENRY WADE.

HOWEVER, SHE DID HAVE A JOB AND DID RIDE THE BUS EVERY DAY THAT SHE WORKED SO SHE HAD TO BE FAMILIAR WITH THE BUS SCHEDULE AND WHAT TIME SHE WOULD HAVE TO LEAVE HER APT. IN ORDER TO ARRIVE AT THE BUS STOP TO CATCH HER BUS EACH DAY.

{ VOL.lll, WC HEARINGS, PAGE 305 ]

[ IN REGARDS TO THE TIME SHE LEFT FOR WORK ]

MR. BALL: YOU THINK IT WAS A LITTLE AFTER 1 ?

HM : I WOULDN'T BE AFRAID TO BET IT WASN'T 6 OR 7 MINUTES AFTER 1 .

MR. BALL: YOU KNOW WHAT TIME YOU USUALLY GET YOUR BUS DON'T YOU?

HM : 1:15

MR. BALL : SO IT WAS BEFORE 1:15?

HM : YES IT WAS. [ END QUOTE ]

SO FROM HER ADDRESS AT 328 E. 9 TH ST. SHE WOULD HAVE HAD TO WALK 2/3 OF A BLOCK

TO PATTON, CROSS PATTON, WALK A FULL BLOCK TO PATTON AND EAST 10 TH. AND UNDER NORMAL CIRCUMSTANCES STILL WALK A FULL BLOCK FURTHER TO BE STANDING , WAITING FOR HER BUS TO ARRIVE AT 1:15. IF NO ONE IS AT THE BUS STOP THE BUS DOSN'T STOP.

EVERYONE IS PRETTY FAMILIAR WITH WHAT HM SAID OCCURRED THAT DAY AT THE INTERSECTION OF PATTON AND E. 10 TH. ST. TRAFFIC WAS HEAVY, SHE HAD TO WAIT TO CROSS, A POLICEMAN GOING SLOW , A MAN TURNING AND COMING BACK TO THE SQUAD CAR, RESTING HIS ARMS ON THE WINDOW AND TALKING TO THE POLICEMAN [ FOR A FEW MINUTES ? }, THE POLICEMAN GETTING OUT, THE MAN SHOOTING THE COP, THE MAN RUNS OFF, SHE COVERS HER EYES, SHE'S IN SHOCK, AFTER THE MAN LEAVES SHE GOES OVER TO THE COP.....

HERE"S MY POINT.

WHAT WAS THE OFFICAL TIME OF THE CITIZEN"S CALL ABOUT THE SHOOTING AND COULD IT HAVE TAKEN PLACE IN THE TIME ALLOTTED?

IN ORDER TO GRADUATE FROM BOOT CAMP WE HAD TO RUN THE MILE IN 8 MINUTES. AFTER 8 WEEKS OF TRAINING ALMOST EVERYBODY WAS ABLE TO DO THIS. IF YOU DOUBLE THIS TIME FOR WALKING EVEN AT A FAST PACE ITS GONNA TAKE 16 MINUTES.

OSWALD WAS NOT AT THE TIPPIT MURDER SCENE !

CASE CLOSED !!!!!!!!!

JIM FEEMSTER

Jim

According to the WC Report, "At approximately 1:15 p.m., Tippit, who was cruising

east on 10th Street, passed the intersection of 10th and Patton, about eight blocks from where

he reported at 12:54 p.m. About 100 feet past the intersectiion Tippit stopped a man walking

east along the south side of Patton. The man's general description was similar to to the one

broadcast over the police radio. Tippit stopped the man and called him to his car. He approached

the car and apparently exchanged words with Tippit through the right front or vent window. As

Tippit reached the left front wheel the man pulled out a revolver and fired several shots. Four

bullets hit Tippit and killed him instantly." (WCR, p. 165).

According to the WC Report, a witness named Domingo Benavides used Tippit's radio

to report the shooting, "at about 1:16 p.m." (WCR, p. 166)

Bill C

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I KNOW HELEN MARKHAM [ HM ] WAS NOT A GOOD WITNESS FOR THE WC. IN FACT, SHE SOUNDED

TOTALLY INSANE TO ME. SHE WAS ALMOST AS BAD AS HENRY WADE.

HOWEVER, SHE DID HAVE A JOB AND DID RIDE THE BUS EVERY DAY THAT SHE WORKED SO SHE HAD TO BE FAMILIAR WITH THE BUS SCHEDULE AND WHAT TIME SHE WOULD HAVE TO LEAVE HER APT. IN ORDER TO ARRIVE AT THE BUS STOP TO CATCH HER BUS EACH DAY.

{ VOL.lll, WC HEARINGS, PAGE 305 ]

[ IN REGARDS TO THE TIME SHE LEFT FOR WORK ]

MR. BALL: YOU THINK IT WAS A LITTLE AFTER 1 ?

HM : I WOULDN'T BE AFRAID TO BET IT WASN'T 6 OR 7 MINUTES AFTER 1 .

MR. BALL: YOU KNOW WHAT TIME YOU USUALLY GET YOUR BUS DON'T YOU?

HM : 1:15

MR. BALL : SO IT WAS BEFORE 1:15?

HM : YES IT WAS. [ END QUOTE ]

SO FROM HER ADDRESS AT 328 E. 9 TH ST. SHE WOULD HAVE HAD TO WALK 2/3 OF A BLOCK

TO PATTON, CROSS PATTON, WALK A FULL BLOCK TO PATTON AND EAST 10 TH. AND UNDER NORMAL CIRCUMSTANCES STILL WALK A FULL BLOCK FURTHER TO BE STANDING , WAITING FOR HER BUS TO ARRIVE AT 1:15. IF NO ONE IS AT THE BUS STOP THE BUS DOSN'T STOP.

EVERYONE IS PRETTY FAMILIAR WITH WHAT HM SAID OCCURRED THAT DAY AT THE INTERSECTION OF PATTON AND E. 10 TH. ST. TRAFFIC WAS HEAVY, SHE HAD TO WAIT TO CROSS, A POLICEMAN GOING SLOW , A MAN TURNING AND COMING BACK TO THE SQUAD CAR, RESTING HIS ARMS ON THE WINDOW AND TALKING TO THE POLICEMAN [ FOR A FEW MINUTES ? }, THE POLICEMAN GETTING OUT, THE MAN SHOOTING THE COP, THE MAN RUNS OFF, SHE COVERS HER EYES, SHE'S IN SHOCK, AFTER THE MAN LEAVES SHE GOES OVER TO THE COP.....

HERE"S MY POINT.

WHAT WAS THE OFFICAL TIME OF THE CITIZEN"S CALL ABOUT THE SHOOTING AND COULD IT HAVE TAKEN PLACE IN THE TIME ALLOTTED?

IN ORDER TO GRADUATE FROM BOOT CAMP WE HAD TO RUN THE MILE IN 8 MINUTES. AFTER 8 WEEKS OF TRAINING ALMOST EVERYBODY WAS ABLE TO DO THIS. IF YOU DOUBLE THIS TIME FOR WALKING EVEN AT A FAST PACE ITS GONNA TAKE 16 MINUTES.

OSWALD WAS NOT AT THE TIPPIT MURDER SCENE !

CASE CLOSED !!!!!!!!!

JIM FEEMSTER

Jim

According to the WC Report, "At approximately 1:15 p.m., Tippit, who was cruising

east on 10th Street, passed the intersection of 10th and Patton, about eight blocks from where

he reported at 12:54 p.m. About 100 feet past the intersectiion Tippit stopped a man walking

east along the south side of Patton. The man's general description was similar to to the one

broadcast over the police radio. Tippit stopped the man and called him to his car. He approached

the car and apparently exchanged words with Tippit through the right front or vent window. As

Tippit reached the left front wheel the man pulled out a revolver and fired several shots. Four

bullets hit Tippit and killed him instantly." (WCR, p. 165).

According to the WC Report, a witness named Domingo Benavides used Tippit's radio

to report the shooting, "at about 1:16 p.m." (WCR, p. 166)

Bill C

Bill, I wouldn't put a whole lot of stock in the Warren Report's conclusion as to the time of the shooting. Roger Craig said that the bullets at the TSBD were discovered simultaneously as a man rushed up the stairs to the sixth floor, announcing that Tippit had been shot. He looked at his watch and it was 1:06. Also, despite Mrs. Markham's general ditziness, I think it is fair to assume she was clear on when the bus arrived each day, and she claimed it was before 1:15, and if I'm not mistaken, she gave a time closer to 1:10. Finally, when T.F. Bowley used the police radio to phone in the Tippit murder from 10th and Patton, it was 1:10, he said. So the weight of the evidence is that the shooting occurred several minutes prior to 1:15 or 1:16. Richard Bartholomew and Walter Graf's multi-part article, "The Gun That Didn't Smoke" explains that Bartholomew used photogrammetry to verify Craig's truthfulness in this instance. Bartholomew used the position of shadows and astronomical tables to confirm that in this case at least, Craig wasn't lying. The shadows examined I believe, were shown on a picture of Gerald Hill yelling from a sixth floor window down to officers congregated below him on Elm, informing them of the discovery of the shells.

Seeya later,

Roy Bierma

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I KNOW HELEN MARKHAM [ HM ] WAS NOT A GOOD WITNESS FOR THE WC. IN FACT, SHE SOUNDED

TOTALLY INSANE TO ME. SHE WAS ALMOST AS BAD AS HENRY WADE.

HOWEVER, SHE DID HAVE A JOB AND DID RIDE THE BUS EVERY DAY THAT SHE WORKED SO SHE HAD TO BE FAMILIAR WITH THE BUS SCHEDULE AND WHAT TIME SHE WOULD HAVE TO LEAVE HER APT. IN ORDER TO ARRIVE AT THE BUS STOP TO CATCH HER BUS EACH DAY.

{ VOL.lll, WC HEARINGS, PAGE 305 ]

[ IN REGARDS TO THE TIME SHE LEFT FOR WORK ]

[ QUOTE ]

MR. BALL: YOU THINK IT WAS A LITTLE AFTER 1 ?

HM : I WOULDN'T BE AFRAID TO BET IT WASN'T 6 OR 7 MINUTES AFTER 1 .

MR. BALL: YOU KNOW WHAT TIME YOU USUALLY GET YOUR BUS DON'T YOU?

HM : 1:15

MR. BALL : SO IT WAS BEFORE 1:15?

HM : YES IT WAS. [ END QUOTE ]

SO FROM HER ADDRESS AT 328 E. 9 TH ST. SHE WOULD HAVE HAD TO WALK 2/3 OF A BLOCK TO PATTON, CROSS PATTON, WALK A FULL BLOCK TO PATTON AND EAST 10 TH. AND UNDER NORMAL CIRCUMSTANCES STILL WALK A FULL BLOCK FURTHER TO BE STANDING , WAITING FOR HER BUS TO ARRIVE AT 1:15. IF NO ONE IS AT THE BUS STOP THE BUS DOSN'T STOP.

EVERYONE IS PRETTY FAMILIAR WITH WHAT HM SAID OCCURRED THAT DAY AT THE INTERSECTION OF PATTON AND E. 10 TH. ST. TRAFFIC WAS HEAVY, SHE HAD TO WAIT TO CROSS, A POLICEMAN GOING SLOW , A MAN TURNING AND COMING BACK TO THE SQUAD CAR, RESTING HIS ARMS ON THE WINDOW AND TALKING TO THE POLICEMAN [ FOR A FEW MINUTES ? }, THE POLICEMAN GETTING OUT, THE MAN SHOOTING THE COP, THE MAN RUNS OFF, SHE COVERS HER EYES, SHE'S IN SHOCK, AFTER THE MAN LEAVES SHE GOES OVER TO THE COP.....

HERE"S MY POINT.

WHAT WAS THE OFFICAL TIME OF THE CITIZEN"S CALL ABOUT THE SHOOTING AND COULD IT HAVE TAKEN PLACE IN THE TIME ALLOTTED?

IN ORDER TO GRADUATE FROM BOOT CAMP WE HAD TO RUN THE MILE IN 8 MINUTES. AFTER 8 WEEKS OF TRAINING ALMOST EVERYBODY WAS ABLE TO DO THIS. IF YOU DOUBLE THIS TIME FOR WALKING EVEN AT A FAST PACE ITS GONNA TAKE 16 MINUTES.

OSWALD WAS NOT AT THE TIPPIT MURDER SCENE ! CASE CLOSED !!!!!!!!!

JIM FEEMSTER

While I agree with your conclusion, I don't agree with how you reached it.

First, traffic on these side streets is never "heavy," nor even close to anything you would so describe. Maybe four cars in a row rushing to lunch, tops, or six cars turning off of Jefferson to get home at the end of the day, but nothing much more than that. "Traffic" does not necessarily mean "heavy traffic," especially on a side street where several if not many minutes can pass without a single vehicle travelling it. I've been there often enough to know this to be the case today, when there are many more cars and trucks on the roads than there were in 1963.

Part of the problem is in "assuming." You can't assume that when Markham said she was waiting for "traffic" to pass that she meant that the City really should have put a crossing-light in there, or that there was a long line of cars and trucks coming. In fact, we can only state unequivocably that this "traffic" consisted of Tippit's patrol car, Donnie Benavides' pickup truck, Jack Tatum's car, and Tom Bowley's car a block away. Scoggins' cab was parked, and hardly could be counted as "traffic" of any sort.

That she had to wait to cross the street necessarily only means that she had to wait for a couple of cars to pass (Tippit's and Tatum's, and maybe Benavides' if he hadn't put on his signal), not very long at all.

Likewise, the "official time" of the report of the shooting is essentially meaningless because you don't know exactly where Bowley's car was parked, exactly how long it took him to get from there to the scene of the shooting, or exactly how long he had to wait for Benavides to get out of the car so he could use the mike himself.

Bowley checked his watch as he got out of the car because he was going to pick up his wife at the phone company where she worked to go on vacation, at 1:15, and he wanted to know the time relative to that (this from a recent conversation I had with him at his home). It read 1:10. There is no way to know how accurate it was since there were no such things as quartz watches back then, nor ones that synchronize themselves with satellites as there are today.

He also did not travel the route regularly, and did so that day only because of the planned family vacation, and did not regularly pick up his wife at any particular time, so we can't surmise whether his watch was even close to the time on the phone company's clocks, which we might reasonably presume to be accurate since most phone companies provided dial-in "time of day" services at the time, and people - and companies and police departments and radio stations and bus companies - routinely set their own clocks by those.

Also, when he arrived the phone company to pick up his wife, she did not get off as planned because she was a phone operator and the phones "went crazy" after the assassination ... so if he was late, she was even later. We don't even have a reference of his wife berating him for being ten minutes late (she didn't get off until after 4:00 p.m.) since there was no reason for him to notice or remember, much less to actually report it.

It could have taken him six minutes to get from the car to talking on the radio, but maybe it took less ... or more. That it was Bowley on the radio is beyond question no matter whether or not Benavides thinks he made the call or not, or whether the WC credited him with having done so, simply on account of the fact that there are not TWO calls reporting the shooting, and even Benavides said that the PD acknowledged Bowley's transmission. (I could spend an awful lot more time on this, but won't.)

Likewise, Markham's movements are open to some question inasmuch as there is no guessing how fast or slow she typically walked. We can assume that she usually if not always caught her regularly scheduled bus, and that she left her home in enough time to get to the bus that took her downtown to work. How much time is that? How much longer did she need to get to her bus stop from the corner where she watched the shooting take place to catch the bus?

If she walked "deliberately," it could have been a minute, give or take. If she was more of a "dawdler," a "meanderer," a "mosey-er" or a "slow-poke," then it could have been any amount of time longer. No matter what time she normally left her house for her regular bus, all one can state is that, however fast or slow she went, she got to the bus stop before the bus did, and that's all. Maybe she got there five minutes ahead of it, or maybe just seconds ahead of it, but in any case she got there in time to board the bus on a regular and routine basis.

We can reasonably presume the bus company's clocks to be accurate - and their drivers' watches to be synchronized reasonably often to them - although once again, we cannot presume that Markham's clock at home (or her watch, which she did not indicate that she wore) was as well.

All of that said, your final "proof" of the eight-minute boot-camp mile being "doubled" when walking is without basis. There are 63,360 inches per mile, and the average male's stride is about 30 inches, thus taking 2112 paces to cover a mile. To do that in 16 minutes, one would have to take 132 strides a minute or 2.2 strides per second; in other words, a bit less than one second from the time the left foot first strikes the pavement until the next time it does and the right foot starts forward. Not a very brisk pace ... in fact, pretty leisurely, so why double the time?

Even if you do double the time and estimate 16 minutes to travel a mile, first of all it is only 9/10 of a mile to 10th and Patton from the rooming house (16 x .9 = 14.4 or 14 minutes, 24 seconds), and second and more importantly, starting when? Was there a clock on the wall that Earlene Roberts happened to look at, or did she check her watch if she wore one? Why would she have if she didn't know "O.H. Lee" had done something wrong and she'd have to remember the time; if she did look, why make any note of the time in the first place ... and in any event, how can we assume that the clock/watch was accurate?

If the Beckley clock - even assuming that there was one (nobody mentioned one, and even Earlene Roberts did no more than "guesstimate" what time it was that LHO - presuming it was even him - arrived and left again) - was off by as much as five minutes, and if Bowley went almost instantaneously from car to cruiser (did I mention that there is no record of where he stopped, no photos of it or testimony about it, and he has no memory himself?) and his watch was spot-on accurate, there's 15 minutes for someone to make the supposed 14 minute, 24 second trip, shoot and flee, more (or less) if Bowley's watch was NOT accurate, if he walked rather than ran from one place to the next, if Benavides spent one minute or five trying to use the radio in Tippit's car, or ...?

I think it's fair to say that DPD's dispatch time clock was accurate, as were the phone company's (not that it came into direct play here) and the bus company's (to meet schedules). Those are the only absolutes when it comes to what happened and when. I believe anyone could have walked the distance from Beckley to 10th and Patton in 14.4 minutes or less (one of these days, I'll actually do it myself ... and I'm older than David Belin or Oswald was back then!) ...

... But the fact that someone could have done something is far from proving that they did do it.

Likewise, dealing with Oswald's supposed timings and an unfounded and vaguely estimated belief of whether or not someone could cover a specific distance in a specific time does not disprove anything either. You are, however, absolutely correct about the bus: if nobody was there, it wasn't going to stop. Markham was, however, mistaken about the time of the bus: it was only "1:15" by her own reckoning, not by its schedule. If she and the WC were both correct, Markham's bus was already going by while she was still a block-and-change from where she needed to be ... and there's absolutely no reason to suspect that that was true.

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I think it's fair to say that DPD's dispatch time clock was accurate, as were the phone company's (not that it came into direct play here) and the bus company's (to meet schedules).

At least two people (Divies & anr) claim to have phoned in reports of the officer's shooting. Unless I missed it, the Warren Commission did not seek these time-stamped records, though I imagine they would have been easy to obtain.

Markham was mistaken about the time of the bus: it was only "1:15" by her own reckoning, not by its schedule. If she and the WC were both correct, Markham's bus was already going by while she was still a block-and-change from where she needed to be ... and there's absolutely no reason to suspect that that was true.

Duke, can you provide a link to the schedule of Helen Markham's bus? What time was Helen's "1.15" actually scheduled for?

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THANKS DUKE,

YOU MADE ALL GOOD POINTS.

I DIDN'T MEAN TO IMPLY THAT E. 10 TH WAS A MAJOR ROAD WITH LOTS OF TRAFFIC. I WAS JUST QUOTING FROM HM MOST ALL OF THE THINGS SHE SAID SHE DID BEFORE THE EVENT. IF THERE HADN'T BEEN AT LEAST A COUPLE OF CARS COMING SHE MIGHT HAVE CROSSED PATTON AT HER NORMAL PACE AND NOT WITNESSED ANYTHING BUT A MAN GOING IN FRONT OF HER AS HE HEADED FOR JEFFERSON.

AS A SIDE NOTE BENEVEDES WAS COMING FROM THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION SO HE WOULDN'T HAVE MADE UP ANY TRAFFIC THAT EMPEDED HM ANYWAY.

I LIVE IN THE DALLAS AREA AND HAVE BEEN TO THIS LOCATION SEVERAL TIMES. HOWEVER, BEING 6' 1 '

I COULD HARDLY DUPLICATE HM 'S PACE FROM HER APT. TO THE INTERSECTION. THANKS FOR THE CALCULATIONS. THEY ARE OF INTEREST TO ME.

AFTER READING MCWATTER'S TESTIMONY IT SEEMS THE BUS COMPANY WAS VERY PUNCTUAL AS WELL AS BEING STICKLERS FOR DRIVERS BEING LATE AS WELL AS EARLY TO THEIR DESIGNATED STOPS ON THEIR ROUTES.

JIM FEEMSTER

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I think it's fair to say that DPD's dispatch time clock was accurate, as were the phone company's (not that it came into direct play here) and the bus company's (to meet schedules).
At least two people (Divies & anr) claim to have phoned in reports of the officer's shooting. Unless I missed it, the Warren Commission did not seek these time-stamped records, though I imagine they would have been easy to obtain.

Who?!? "Divies & anr????"

Something I forgot to mention: Down at 10th & Denver lived the Wrights. They were sitting in the living room when they heard shots. Mister went outside, Missus called the cops. The cops sent an ambulance, identified on the DPD tapes as '602' from Dudley Hughes Funeral Home at Crawford and Jefferson, about 2 blocks from the scene. The ambulance was sent to 501 W Patton, which was the Wrights' home. The time stamp on the DPD tapes was 1:19, and the time stamp on the Hughes dispatch sheet read 1:18.

Markham was mistaken about the time of the bus: it was only "1:15" by her own reckoning, not by its schedule. If she and the WC were both correct, Markham's bus was already going by while she was still a block-and-change from where she needed to be ... and there's absolutely no reason to suspect that that was true.

Duke, can you provide a link to the schedule of Helen Markham's bus? What time was Helen's "1.15" actually scheduled for?

It is found on CD630-H which I don't have immediately at hand, nor do I have a link for it. As I recall, however, the bus ran every ten minutes, including at 1:12 and 1:22. Markham estimated being at the corner of 10th & Patton "[wouldn't be afraid to bet it wasn't] six or seven minutes after one." She had about 475 feet to travel, or 5700 inches or about 190 paces. To make it there by 1:11 - thus being there a minute before the bus was scheduled to depart - she had to take just under 50 paces per minute, or a little ... less ... than ... one ... step ... per ... second, even slower if it was six minutes past the hour rather than seven.

Okay, so she was "an utter screwball," but does anyone think she really walked that slow? Or that she didn't know what time - by her clock, anyway - she had to catch her bus? Even if she thought it was the 1:22 bus that came at "1:15," she still was 8-9 minutes ahead of the bus by her reckoning - based on her daily routine - with only a couple of minutes left to walk, so we're looking at around 1:13-1:14 for the shooting even based on the latest estimate possible.

(Unfortunately, to my knowledge, her routine after getting downtown was not explored: what time did she get to work, how long before she was actually "on the floor" taking orders, what time did she get off off the bus at what bus stop downtown to walk how far to work? She was still alive a few years ago - she was only in her mid-30s in 1963 - and, I heard then, actually still living on 9th, tho' I don't know for certain.)

... AS A SIDE NOTE BENEVEDES WAS COMING FROM THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION SO HE WOULDN'T HAVE MADE UP ANY TRAFFIC THAT EMPEDED HM ANYWAY.
Au contraire, mon ami! Donnie B was travelling west on 10th toward Patton (did I mix up Patton for 10th in my previous post? Oops!) and thus would have been "traffic" to Mrs Markham crossing 10th, especially if he hadn't given any indication (signal) that he was actually going to turn onto Patton, thus - and only thus - not impeding Markham's crossing the street. He was "traffic."
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Duke, Markham is 88 years old now, so would have been about 46 in 1963. She is listed as having most recently resided at Toldedo, Ohio, and Tyler, Texas. She's probably in a nursing home or staying with one of her five children.

Cheers,

Roy Bierma

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Down at 10th & Denver lived the Wrights. They were sitting in the living room when they heard shots. Mister went outside, Missus called the cops. The cops sent an ambulance, identified on the DPD tapes as '602' from Dudley Hughes Funeral Home at Crawford and Jefferson, about 2 blocks from the scene. The ambulance was sent to 501 W Patton, which was the Wrights' home. The time stamp on the DPD tapes was 1:19, and the time stamp on the Hughes dispatch sheet read 1:18.

Mrs. Wright was one of those who called the cops. Also, the Warren Report states (WR349) that Barbara Jeannette Davis called the police. Ms. Davis's testimony is at 3H345. Ball asked: "After the man left, what did you do....?"

Mrs. Davis: "I went back in and phoned the police..."

A few minutes later (3H346) Allen Dulles asked: "Do you have any way of fixing the time of when the man ran accross your lawn, approximately?"

Mrs. Davis: "No, sir..."

As far as I know -- and please correct me if this is wrong_-- the Commission never established the time of Barbara Davis's phone call, nor even confirmed whether Barbara Davis did in fact call the police, although this information should have been readily available.

I have not had time to check the testimony of cabdriver Scoggins, but I seem to recall that he called his dispatcher at some point after the shooting. Was the time of this call ever established?

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... All of that said, your final "proof" of the eight-minute boot-camp mile being "doubled" when walking is without basis. There are 63,360 inches per mile, and the average male's stride is about 30 inches, thus taking 2112 paces to cover a mile. To do that in 16 minutes, one would have to take 132 strides a minute or 2.2 strides per second; in other words, a bit less than one second from the time the left foot first strikes the pavement until the next time it does and the right foot starts forward. ....
Something to add to this:

"Quick step" (normal-speed marching) in the America Armed Forces is 120 thirty inch paces per minute; "double time" is 180. 120 steps per minute is two steps per second, just a wee tad slower than my estimate above. To take 2112 paces at that rate of speed, no faster and no slower, would require 17.6 minutes, or 17 minutes and 36 seconds. At "double time," it would require 11 minutes and 45 seconds.

If you were ever in the military, you marched ... and if you marched, you know it is slower than the average person walks "at ease." "Double time" is pretty brisk, and can be quite taxing after only a couple of minutes at that pace on anyone not used to it. It's three steps per second ... you can try this at home (!) to see what it's like.

Putting the 9/10 mile from 1026 to 10&P back onto this equation, you get:

5280 feet x 12 inches = 63,360 inches

63,360 inches x .9 miles = 57,024 inches

57,024 inches ÷ 30" steps = 1900 paces

1900 paces ÷ 120 steps/min = 15.83 mins or 15 minutes, 49.8 seconds or roughly 16 minutes.

1900 paces ÷ 150 steps/min = 12.66 mins or 12 minutes, 40 seconds.

Again, what is not at issue is whether LHO could have made that trip in time to kill Tippit, but both (1) exactly when "in time" had to have been, and (2) whether he did make the trip at all. I submit that none of these data - or much else related to his having gone from TSBD to Oak Cliff (other than being in the theater in time to be arrested) - can be demonstrated with more than barely reasonable certainty, and certainly not "beyond a reasonable doubt."

Of course, what doubts are "reasonable" to one are not necessarily reasonable to another! :ice

Edited by Duke Lane
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