Notes for a new investigation
by Sylvia Meagher
Esquire,
December 1966, pp. 211 ff.
The woman who indexed the entire twenty-six volumes of
The Warren Report emerges from her task with this advice: reopen the hearings
and finish the job. For a starter…
Pierce Allman, television newsman: Oswald had said
that someone had approached him outside the Depository after the shooting and
asked to be directed to the nearest phone. Oswald’s account corresponds with
the actual experience of Pierce Allman, and this conflicts with the
Commission’s reconstruction of Oswald’s “escape.”
Mary Dowling, waitress at Dobbs House: She told the
F.B.I. that Oswald and Tippit were in the restaurant at the same time, two days
before the assassination, and that Tippit especially noticed Oswald when he
complained about his food. The Warren Report says that the two men were not
acquainted and had never even seen each other.
John Rene Heindel, ex-Marine acquaintance of
Oswald’s: Heindel was known by the nickname “Hidell” to Oswald and to
other Marines. The Warren Report says that there is no real “Hidell” and
that it was only an alias invented by Oswald for his own purposes.
Alonzo Hudkins, reporter for the Houston Post:
He gave the Secret Service information suggesting that Oswald was being paid
$200 a month by the F.B.I. as an informant holding assigned number “S172.”
Milton Jones, bus passenger: He told the F.B.I. that
Dallas policemen had boarded the bus and searched the passengers just after
Oswald had debarked, which was before anyone noticed Oswald’s absence from the
Depository.
Sandra Styles, Depository office employee: With
Victoria Adams, she ran down the back stairs of the Depository immediately after
shots were fired but did not encounter Oswald—supposedly running down at that
time—nor Roy Truly and policeman M. L. Baker, supposedly running up.
…The Shots and Related Circumstances
James Chaney, motorcycle policeman: He rode in the
motorcade and reportedly saw Governor Connally hit by a separate bullet after
the President was first shot. This conflicts with the Commission’s
single-bullet theory.
Julia Mercer: About 75 minutes before the
assassination, while driving toward the triple underpass, she saw a man walk up
the grassy knoll carrying what appeared to be a rifle case.
Approximately 196 people known to have witnessed the
assassination at the scene who were never questioned by the commission. (Named
in Appendix to Mark Lane’s Rush to Judgment.)
…The Tippit Shooting
There is considerable confusion and contradiction about the time that Tippit was shot, the description of the killer, the movements of the suspect, and the actions of the eyewitnesses. The following people could have given important information.
T. F. Bowley, the only
witness at the Tippit scene who looked at his watch to check the time when he
saw Tippit’s body. Bowley said in an affidavit taken by the Dallas police that
Tippit was already dead at 1:10 p.m., while the commission says that he was shot
at 1:15 p.m. If Bowley was correct about the time, Oswald could not have walked
from his rooming house to East 10th Street in time to kill Tippit.
Radio-car patrolman R. C.
Nelson: Tippit drove to central Oak Cliff, supposedly on a simultaneous
instruction to him and Nelson. But Nelson went to the Depository, casting doubt
on whether either of them was really ordered to Oak Cliff.
Radio-car patrolman H. W.
Summers: He obtained a description of the Tippit suspect from an unknown
bystander—who said that the suspect had “black wavy hair,” was 5’11”
tall, and carried a .32 automatic pistol.
Marie Tippit, widow of J. D.
Tippit: She probably saw her husband about an hour before he was killed, when he
came home for lunch. Also, she could have given information on such things as
their unlisted phone and Tippit’s “work at home” in the evenings.
Frank Wright and his wife:
They lived across the street half a block from the spot where Tippit was killed.
Mr. Wright heard the shots, saw a man standing right at Tippit’s car who
“ran as fast as he could go,” got into a small old grey 1950–1951 coupe,
and “drove away as quick as you could see.” Mrs. Wright phoned the police to
report the shooting; it was her call that resulted in the dispatch of the
ambulance.
Ambulance drivers Clayton Butler
and Eddie Kinsley were never questioned either.
…Oswald’s Arrest
There are many unanswered questions as to who pointed Oswald out to the police, who drew a gun, whether Oswald tried to shoot an officer, and what was said by whom. The following witnesses present at the theatre might have thrown light on those matters:
Bob Apple, insurance
investigator.
Detective Paul Bentley: He
found a forged “Hidell” card on Oswald. Bob Barrett, F.B.I. agent. Jim
Ewell, reporter.
Detective E. E. Taylor: he
stayed behind at the theatre after the arrest to make a list of the names and
addresses of the patrons. The list is not among the Commission’s exhibits.
Police officers Baggett, Buhk,
Cunningham, Lyon, Stringer, and Toney.
…Oswald’s interrogation
Although Dallas Police Captain Fritz “kept no notes” or transcript of the interrogation of Oswald, and the reports submitted by Fritz and Federal agents (primarily from memory) were incomplete and in some vital respects contradictory—e.g., Oswald’s trip to Mexico, where he was at the time of the shooting, and his “Hidell” alias—the following persons were not asked to submit reports or to testify: Jim Allen, former Assistant District Attorney; Secret Service agents Grant, Howard, Kunkel, Patterson, and Warner; FBI agent Joe Myers; U.S. Marshall Robert Nash; Chuck Webster, Professor of Law.
…The Walker Shooting
In addition to the Kennedy-Tippit killings, the Warren Commission also “convicted” Oswald of attempting to murder General Edwin A. Walker in April, 1963. But they neglected to take testimony from:
Walter Kirk Coleman, a
teen-age neighbor of General Walker, who saw two men flee the scene by car after
the shot was heard. Oswald could not drive, and the Report said he was alone.
Detective Ira Van Cleave,
who participated in the original investigation of the Walker shooting and who
told the press at that time that the bullet had been “identified as a
30.06,” which rules out Oswald’s Carcano rifle.
…The Autopsy
In view of the conflicting descriptions of the wound in the President’s back by the F.B.I. and the autopsy surgeons, witnesses who saw the body could have given crucial information.
Admiral George Burkley,
Presidential physician. He was in the motorcade, then at Parkland Hospital, and
later at the autopsy, and he received the autopsy report submitted by the
pathologists.
Francis X. O’Neill, Jr.,
F.B.I. agent: He was present throughout the autopsy and his description of the
wound in the President’s back conflicts with the official autopsy report.
James W. Sibert, F.B.I.
agent: Same as O’Neill above.
John T. Stringer, Jr.,
medical photographer: He photographed the President’s body.
Fourteen other Armed Forces
or Federal officials named in the F.B.I. Report, and four funeral-home
workers who prepared the body for burial.
…The Stretcher-Bullet
(See Planted Bullet Theory.)
Richard E. Johnsen, Secret Service Agent: He was handed the stretcher bullet by O. P. Wright, chief of personnel, at Parkland Hospital, before the Presidential party departed. Wright was not called either.
…A Possible Conspiracy
F.B.I. agent Warren De Brueys:
Before the assassination he reported on Oswald’s activities in New Orleans; he
was present at Oswald’s interrogation; and he investigated allegations
suggesting that Oswald expected to receive a large sum of money.
Robert Adrian Taylor, a
former service-station attendant: He claimed that Oswald had given him a rifle
in lieu of payment for car repairs in the Spring of 1963. The Warren Report
mistakenly asserts that Taylor retracted his identification of Oswald.
R. W. Westphal and other
Dallas policemen prepared reports immediately after the assassination in which
Oswald’s old Elsbeth Street address was specified when the police had no known
access to that address and although they claim they had no record of Oswald
before November 22, 1963.
Information About Jack Ruby
lt.
george butler: He was present when Ruby murdered Oswald, and he gave
contradictory information to the F.B.I. and to the press about Ruby’s past
criminal associations and activities.
wanda
joyce killiam, waitress at Ruby’s Carousel Club: Her husband, Hank
Killiam, was a friend of Oswald’s fellow-roomer on Beckley Street, John
Carter. Killiam was found dead in Florida, his throat cut, in March, 1964.
ray
rushing, evangelist: He attempted to see Oswald on Sunday morning and
says that he rode up in the police elevator with Jack Ruby at nine-thirty a.m.
when, according to the Commission, Ruby was at home.
Names Unknown
About ten or more witnesses present at the Texas Theatre when Oswald was arrested, named on a list compiled by detective E. E. Taylor.
Caterer at the Depository, who sold lunches to employees and might have sold lunch to Oswald on the day of the assassination or on other occasions.
“No. 279 (Unknown)” who, according to the Dallas Police radio log, actually found the jacket discarded near the Tippit scene, although The Warren Report credits Captain Westbrook with the discovery.
Post-office employees at the main office, where Oswald maintained P.O. Box 2915, who were not questioned about specific records or recollections of the delivery of packages addressed to “A. Hidell” containing the rifle and the revolver.
Inmates, County Jail, who were permitted to watch the motorcade from a window and may have observed significant happenings at the sixth-floor window or other Depository windows.
Gunsmiths, Aberdeen Proving Grounds and Klein’s Sporting Goods, Inc., concerning the opinion by the Aberdeen gunsmith that the scope on the assassination rifle “was installed as if for a left-handed man” (Oswald was right-handed).
Witnesses we could have done without
Mrs. Anne Boudreaux knew a woman
who had been Oswald’s baby-sitter for two weeks when he was two-and-a-half
years old, but never knew Oswald or his mother (four pages or testimony).
Mrs. Viola Peterman was a neighbor
of Marguerite Oswald in 1941, when Lee was “a good little child” of two
years, but she hadn’t seen or heard from the Oswalds for twenty-three years
(seven pages).
Professor Revilo Pendleton Oliver,
called to discuss his article “Marxmanship in Dallas,” spent thirty-five
pages proving he had no information to contribute to any aspect of the
investigation.
RESTUDY THE EVIDENCE, STAGE NEW TESTS
The Commission’s failure to follow up leads, its dependence on unrealistic tests and its omission of vital evidence necessitate further research, such as:
1. Tracing and examination of
the unseen autopsy photographs and X-rays.
2. Rifle and marksmanship
tests on the basis of a reenactment of the shots from the Depository, using
dragged car and dummies, and riflemen whose capabilities correspond with
Oswald’s level of skill.) (The Warren Commission used experts.)
3. Tracing of the rifle
obtained by Robert Adrian Taylor (see above) to determine whether the weapon was
ever in the possession of Oswald or persons associated with him.
4. Tracing of laundry tag on
the jacket discarded near the Tippit scene (number “B 9738”) to determine
whether Oswald or someone else had it cleaned.
5. Reenactment of Oswald’s
taxi ride, in a metered vehicle, to determine the actual time. In reenactments
performed for the Warren Commission the estimate was progressively reduced from
eleven to nine to six minutes.
6. Re-auditing of the police
radio log to make an authoritative transcript which would resolve the conflicts
among the three transcripts made for the Warren Commission.
7. Auditing of tapes of
statements to the press by Parkland Hospital doctors describing the
President’s head wounds (tape of the first press conference is said to be
“lost”).
8. Tracing of Tippit’s
clipboard, never requested by the Warren Commission although it is visible in a
photograph of his car before it was removed from the scene of the shooting.
9. Scrutiny of all test bullets
fired in the wound-ballistics experiments with human cadavers, goats, and
gelatin blocks (260 rounds of ammunition were obtained for use in those tests
but only two of the test bullets are shown by the Warren Commission for
comparison with the stretcher bullet).
10. Examination of all unpublished
films and photographs of the assassination (i.e., the missing Zapruder frames;
the Moorman photograph encompassing the Depository; the Betzner photos showing
the fence area on the grassy knoll; the Robert Hughes film showing the
sixth-floor window; the Ralph Simpson film).
11. Investigation of the
repositioning and ultimate disappearance of the Stemmons Freeway sign which
obscured the President from Zapruder’s camera for some fifteen frames of the
film—of vital importance to the “Traffic-Sign Theory.”
12. Tests of authenticity of the
palm print lifted from the rifle barrel.
13. Examination of all withheld
F.B.I. and Secret Service reports of interviews with witnesses, including
Parkland Hospital personnel (some thirty interviews with the doctors and others,
none of which is published in the Exhibits).
14. Examination of all transcripts
of off-the-record passages of testimony.
15. Neutron activation analysis of
the bullet fragment removed from Governor Connally’s wrist and also of the
bullet found on the stretcher (exhibit No. 399). This will determine once and
for all whether the stretcher bullet actually caused Connally’s wounds (as the
Warren Report says), and thus whether the single-bullet, lone-assassin thesis is
tenable.