The Smell of Gun Powder

Warren Commission Report – Findings of the Warren Commission Report (WCR) indicate multiple eye witnesses smelled gun powder at street level on Elm Street at the western end of the pergola area. Other witness in the motorcade, in both the third and fourth car behind the President’s vehicle, reported a  gunpowder odor.  This odor could not be present or emanate drifting from the the sixth floor of the Texas Book Depository located behind the presidential motorcade.  A gunpowder odor drifts upwind, not down.

The evidence is straight-forward regarding the assassination of President Kennedy:

• The Warren Report knowingly included false information and deliberately omitted incriminating evidence
• The Secret Service serving on President Kennedy’s detail conducted themselves in a  grossly negligent fashion, moreover, they covered up their many failures
• The United States government and its agents pervasively covered up and misrepresented the facts associated with the assassination
• Our government deliberately lied to the American people about the facts associated directly and indirectly with the assassination
• Our government deliberately destroyed evidence related to the assassination for the purpose of secreting the underlying facts associated with the assassination
• Witnesses were pressured to change their representations of the facts as they knew them and originally reported them
• These acts are and were unlawful
• The Secret Service destroyed all records two weeks before the federal law became effective which required the retention of all records regarding the investigation

Howard Donahue’s theory, based upon ballistics, is that a JFK Secret Service agent located in the car directly behind the President was responsible for accidentally firing the fatal shot. Sounds of three shots over a period of 5.8 seconds are recorded on the Zapruder film.

Multiple recreations of the rifle discharge have indicated Lee Harvey Oswald could not have gotten off three shots over 5.8 seconds considering the rifle used, a 6.5×52mm Carcano Model 91/38 infantry rifle.

One theory suggests an expert shooter got off two shots – meaning Oswald never fired a shot.

The railroad yard watchman at his elevated post observed a man running from the side of the Book Depository shortly after the shots were fired.  He was located high in an elevated tower observing the train yard.  He died in a single car accident shortly after the assassination, as did multiple other significant parties.  See the New York Times bestseller, Hit List by Richard Belcher, which reviews the multiple deaths of parties with key information regarding the assassination.

The smell of gun powder is not a smoking gun though it is an important clue (and pretty close to a smoking gun).  This points to the fact that Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone if he fired a gun at all. The “smell of gun powder” permeates the testimony of witnesses in the Warren Report.  Additionally, this testimony is found in sheriff interviews taken the day of the assassination and in individual witness interviews.

Seven witnesses reported they smelled gun powder located in both the motorcade and the grassy knoll area.   These statements were taken the day of the shooting.

Three shots are heard on the Zapruder film within 5.8 seconds.  The question are from where were they fired and how many shooters were involved?  Did Lee Harvey Oswald fire any of the shots?

Patrolman on Overpass Smells Gunpowder

Earl Brown, a Dallas City Police Force Patrolman, was stationed on the overpass roughly 100 yards from the point of impact of what is considered to be the deadly shot killing President Kennedy. He testified he heard shots and he, too, smelled gun powder as the presidential motorcade raced to Parkland Hospital. Patrolman Brown was was thirty feet above Elm Street stood on the overpass as the motorcade accelerated to a high rate of speed heading to Parkland Hospital. (Earl Brown, WCR Volume VI, page 233, April 7, 1964.)

Brown stated to the Warren Commission that for him to have smelled gunpowder from his position the smell would have had to have drifted up from the motorcade below. The wind was blowing 15 mph southwest. (WCR Volume XIII, page 767.)

Earl Cabel and wife, Elizabeth, were located four cars to the rear of the Presidential Limousine. Mrs. Cabel indicated she also smelled gunpowder. (Elizabeth Cabel. WCR Volume VII, page 486.)

A voluntary statement made the same date at the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department indicated one witness observed a flash of pink simultaneously as a Secret Service Agent stood up in the follow up car to President Kennedy’s car. The witness stated a man could be seen in either the President’s car or the car behind his as he stood up in the open top vehicle.  The claim was this same person elevated what appeared to be rifle. See: Voluntary Statement Dallas County Sheriff’s Department. November 23, 1963. (WCR Volume XXIV, Exhibit 2003, Page 200.)

Report of Gunpowder Odor Third and Fourth Cars Back

Senator Yarborough, riding with LBJ, stated he smelled gunpowder seconds after the bullets were fired. The Senator was located three cars behind the President. As a WWII veteran with fifty years of weapon experience he believed it strange and improbable that he would smell gunpowder from the Texas Book Depository six floors up.  He was located fifteen feet below the Book Depository ground floor which was a significant distance to his rear, with the wind blowing southwest – downwind. “You don’t smell gunpowder unless you’re upwind of it.” (WCR Volume VII, page 439, July 10, 1964.) 

Senator Yarborough stated he witnessed a secret service agent in the car before him pull out a rifle. The secret service agent looked backward and to the right at the sound of a shot. See also, Chicago Sun Times, November 23, 1967. Earl Warren requested Yarborough be called as a witness, however, he was not called to testify before the Warren Commission.

The FBI analysis of the bullet strike to the Main Street curb that wounded eyewitness James Tague indicated the curb bullet strike originated from a weapon that did not fire full metal jacketed ammunition, rather the bullet was frangible.  A frangible bullet explodes upon contact.  It is believed President Kennedy’s fatal shot was with a frangible bullet based upon the nature of the explosive injury to his head.

Source of the Gun Powder Smell

It possible the gun powder smell could have come from either the motorcade or the grassy knoll. Essentially, all parties agree, the smell of gun powder could not and did not emanate from the sixth floor of the Texas Book Depository.  Factors impacting the smell are the source of the gun shot, the caliber of the weapon and the wind speed and direction. The wind speed was ten to fifteen miles per hour blowing in a southwesterly direction.  (Gun powder odor flows upwind, not downwind.)

Agent George Hickey, four months on the job, is pictured with an AR 15 at the Plaza as agents scramble to protect the President. Eleven witnesses noted this in the ACR. Two witnesses noted this at the time of the third shot. (See: Appendix Item 221.)

George Hickey’s testimony is that he heard gun shots, picked up the AR15 and held it as the motorcade proceeded through the underpass. Other witnesses indicated Hickey had held the rifle at the time of the third shot, at Dealey Plaza. (WCR Volume XVIII, Exhibit 1024, page 763. November 30, 1963.) One witness indicated Hickey rose up at time of first shot with the rifle and then dropped back down. George Hickey died in 2005.

Howard Donahue surmises that the force of the acceleration of the Secret Service vehicle pulled Hickey back down in the car.  It is his belief that it was at this time the gun accidentally discharged fatally wounding the president.

Secret Service Agents Partied with Strippers until Five a.m.

Secret Service Agents admitted to drinking and partying with strippers until five a.m. the morning of November 22, 1963.  There is a good account of these events in Cheever’s book, Drinking in America, reviewed below.

The head of the Secret Service when questioned about the conduct responded that whether his men had a good night’s sleep or were partying until five a.m. would have made no difference in the outcome.  This has been disputed by multiple experts.

In a short film by Errol Morris, Josiah “Tink” Thompson, who has been investigating the Kennedy assassination for nearly 50 years, looks to the photographic evidence. Will we ever know the truth?

The Bronsons stood atop a concrete pedestal in Dealey Plaza at the southwest corner of Main and Houston streets. When an ambulance arrived in the plaza to pick up an epileptic seizure victim a few minutes before the motorcade reached the area, Bronson filmed a short sequence “to capture that little bit of excitement,” not realizing that he also captured a portion of the Texas School Book Depository building on film.

Secret Service Vehicle Directly Behind President

Paul Landis – Secret Service Agent

Statement:  My reaction at this time was that the [fatal] shot came from somewhere towards the front. (Warren Commission Hearings, vol.18, p.759, 17 November 1963.)

Kenneth O’Donnel and David Powers

Statement:  Two members of the White House staff, Kenneth O’Donnell and David Powers, were travelling in the Secret Service car immediately behind President Kennedy’s car.  O’Donnell testified that the shots came from the rear. (Warren Commission Hearings, vol.7, p.448.)

Powers agreed, but added that “I also had a fleeting impression that the noise appeared to come from the front in the area of the triple overpass,” (ibid., p.473).

Tip O’Neill Memoir Shots from Grassy Knoll

Tip O’Neill, claimed in his memoirs that two of the president’s assistants located in the Secret Service car directly behind the President’s car had heard shots from the grassy knoll:

I was never one of those people who had doubts or suspicions about the Warren Commission’s report on the president’s death. But five years after Jack died, I was having dinner with Kenny O’Donnell and a few other people at Jimmy’s Harborside Restaurant in Boston, and we got to talking about the assassination.

I was surprised to hear O’Donnell say that he was sure he had heard two shots that came from behind the fence.  “That’s not what you told the Warren Commission,” I said.

“You’re right, ” he replied. “I told the FBI what I had heard, but they said it couldn’t have happened that way and that I must have been imagining things. So I testified the way they wanted me to.”

“I just didn’t want to stir up any more pain and trouble for the family.”

“I can’t believe it,” O’Donnell said.

”I wouldn’t have done that in a million years. I would have told them the truth.”

“Tip, you have to understand. The family — everybody wanted this thing behind them.”

Dave Powers was with us at dinner that night, and his recollection of the shots was the same as O’Donnell’s. Kenny O’Donnell is no longer alive, but during the writing of this book I checked with Dave Powers. As they say in the news business, he stands by his story.

(Thomas P. O’Neill, Jr., Man of the House: The Life and Political Memoirs of Speaker Tip O’Neill, Random House, 1987, p.178.)

Tip O’Neill Memoir

Man of the House: The Life and Political Memoirs of Speaker Tip O’Neill
Mortal Error: The Shot That Killed JFK by Bonar Menninger (1992-03-05)

Bonar Menninger Theory of Second Shooter

Mortal Error by Bonar Menninger, published by St. Martin’s Press in 1992, named George Hickey as the second shooter who accidentally shot and killed the president.  The contention is that a rifle was located in the floor board of the car.  The safety was not on when Hickey picked up the rifle.  The fatal discharge was an accident.

Menninger based his premise upon reviews of ballistics expert, Howard Donahue, who examined the Warren Commission evidence, the Zapruder film, depositions, and interviews, concluding the fatal head shot was accidentally fired by special agent George Hickey.  Hickey was located in the car behind Kennedy’s.

Donahue finds the ballistic information not credible believing Robert Kennedy, among others, did not want this tragic accidental misfiring to become known. Donahue’s findings were published in the Baltimore Sun in 1977, but engendered no follow-up studies by government officials.

George Hickey filed a slander suit shortly after the book was first published. The lawsuit was barred by the statute of limitation. Upon the issuance of the paperback version of the book, which created a second statutory publishing, the slander suit was settled. It is claimed a small amount was paid in order to settle the suit and continue with the publication of the book.

Motorcade Route

The motorcade  route had been set two days before the trip.  Lee Harvey Oswald had been hired on October 15, only 32 days prior to November 23, 1963.   He was randomly assigned to one of two buildings owned by the Texas Book Depository.  This makes a long term, grand plan involving Oswald unlikely.

Neither George Warren Hickey nor any of the former agents in the follow-up vehicle were called to testify before a Congressional committee. David Powers, personal aide to JFK, was sitting in the follow up car with Agent Hickey. Powers has never spoken of a shot fired from the Secret Service Agent’s vehicle, nor was he called to testify.

Dr. Robert N. McClelland, gives his first-hand account of the dramatic scene inside the Parkland Hospital trauma room after President John F. Kennedy had been shot.

The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza presented “Parkland Hospital: Trauma Room One Reunion” on September 24, 2013. The program featured Dr. Ronald C. Jones and Dr. Robert N. McClelland, two of the physicians who contributed to President John F. Kennedy’s treatment in Trauma Room One, and—less than 48 hours later—tried to save the life of the accused assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. Dr. Jones was the chief surgery resident in Parkland Memorial Hospital’s emergency room on November 22, 1963.

Chief of Anesthesiology Dr. M. T. Pepper Jenkins led the team to resuscitate President Kennedy at Parkland Hospital, Nov. 22, 1963.  Shared are  Mrs. Kennedy’s second-by-second efforts done to save the President – excerpts are from a formal presentation to an invited audience in Beverly Hills in 1993. There is a larger, one hour DVD being made by Christie Jenkins.

Red Duke was a fourth-year surgery resident at Parkland Hospital the day President John F. Kennedy and Texas Gov. Connally were shot and rushed to that hospital. Upon their arrival, Duke says, “It didn’t take long to appreciate the gravity of the situation.” Jeff Glor reports.

Parkland Medical Personnel Testimony at Odds with Warren Commission Theory

Parkland medical personnel testimony is at odds with the theory that President Kennedy was shot from the rear by Lee Harvey Oswald and there were no other shooters. This testimony indicates that the massive exit wound in President Kennedy’s head was in the right, rear, parieto-occipital area of the skull and that the entrance wound was in the front. The “throat wound” actually was a throat wound from the front and not a “rear neck wound” slightly to the right of the T3 to T4 vertebral level. These wounds indicate sniper teams, both in front and rear.

A Parkland physician involved in the trauma care of President Kennedy stated publicly that there was a front wound.  His life was threatened and he moved from Dallas shortly thereafter.

The Warren Commission theory is Oswald fired a 31/98 6.5 millimeter Mannlicher-Carsano bolt action rifle firing three shots in 5.6 seconds, the third shot causing the fatal head wound. There were three ejected shells in the Texas Book Depository, but one lay separately from the rest, meaning Oswald also would have had to change position during that same time frame.

Parkland Surgeon Believes at Least Two Shooters Participated in Assassination

Dr. Robert N. McClelland was an assistant professor of surgery Southwestern Medical School on duty at Parkland Hospital on November 22, 1963. He assisted in a tracheotomy in the unsuccessful attempt to save the president’s life. McClelland believes that the hole in the back of Kennedy’s head was an exit wound, not an entrance wound as the Warren Commission asserted, and that there were at least two shooters in Dealey Plaza.

The Zapruder film shows Kennedy’s head exploding with a portion of his skull falling to the right while blood and tissue spreads out to the left. Oswald’s shells were full metal jacket which do not explode on contact. The bullet removed from Conally’s leg showed little to no damage.

A two-second film taken by Charles Bronson from Main Street shows the Secret Service follow-up car just before the head shot, and enhanced frames show that no one in the car is standing. The source of these wounds would also be consistent with a sniper team on the ‘grassy knoll’ area. This film can be seen on YouTube.

Mr. Bronson was holding his Leica camera, ready to take another still, when the first shot was fired and he snapped a photograph. As the shooting continued, Bronson raised his home movie camera capturing two seconds of the headshot to President Kennedy and the Secret Service follow-up car tailgating JFK’s parade car when it was fired. The film also gives a good indication of the crowd in the area during the passing of the motorcade. See: JFK Assassination – Bronson Film. YouTube, below.

Zapruder Film.  Caution advised.

Secret Service Agents

Oliver Stone’s JFK makes many references to organized crime’s involvement in the assassination.  These are less vague and more relevant with an understanding of their factual foundation.

Movie Clip:  JFK

Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) repeatedly shows the Zapruder film in court to demonstrate the impossibility of the magic bullet theory, and cement the notion of multiple gunmen out at Daley Plaza.

Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) meets with a mysterious man called X (Donald Sutherland), who gives him confidential information about President Kennedy’s assassination.

New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison’s Grand Jury Records

The Orleans Parish Grand Jury transcripts consist of testimony taken during 1967, 1968, and early 1969, as part of the Garrison investigation into the murder of President John F. Kennedy. These transcripts were ordered destroyed in the early 1970’s by Garrison’s successor as District Attorney, Harry Connick. The man ordered to remove and to destroy the transcripts, Gary Raymond, instead hid them in a garage for over two decades. In 1995, Raymond arranged for journalist Richard Angelico to pass these grand jury transcripts to the Assassination Records Review Board. Connick, still the DA, convicted both men of contempt of court, and demanded that the ARRB return the transcripts.  (Harry Connick’s father.) The ARRB continued litigation to obtain the records (five drawers of files) of Garrison investigation files held by Connick. The ARRB won; both the grand jury transcripts and the investigation files are now part of the JFK Collection at the National Archives.

Oliver Stone’s Movie:  JFK

JFK

The connections between Oswald, the Chicago Mafia and New Orleans participants is examined in the film, JRK.    This film represents great place to begin to understand the role organized crime played in the assassination.  Much of the movie, JFK, references these events.  However, without a background and understanding of these relationships their significance can be vague and wholly missed. Most people have seen this Oliver Stone movie with Sissy Spacek and Kevin Costner.  At the time released it was considered extreme.  Jack Valenti announced it to be a “hoax”, a “smear”, a work of “pure fiction.”  He claimed it rivaled the Nazi propaganda films of Leni Reifenstahl.  In the seven-page statement, Mr. Valenti said Mr. Stone’s film was “a monstrous charade” based on “the hallucinatory bleatings of an author named Jim Garrison, a discredited former district attorney in New Orleans.” His protestations gave credence to the film rather than his hoped for discreditation.

Link Here:  Assassination Archives and Research Center:  Grand Jury Records New Orleans Garrison Investigation

Secret Service Follow Up Car

Earl Warren when questioning the agents affirmed some citizens along the route of the motorcade had seen a gun barrel pointed out of the sixth-floor window of the Texas School Book Depository. None of the Secret Service agents had noticed it.  It is likely that had President Kennedy’s Secret Service detail  not been drinking and partying with strippers until five a.m. the preceding night, they might have noticed it.

“Some people saw a rifle up in that building  … Wouldn’t a Secret Service man in this motorcade, who is supposed to observe such things, be more likely to observe something of that kind if he was free from any of the results of liquor or lack of sleep than he would otherwise? Don’t you think that they would have been more alert, sharper?”  (Warren Commission Hearings, volume 5, page 459. July 1964.)

The follow up car behind the President included four agents and two members of the President’s staff with and additional four agents alongside the vehicle. Only one agent in the follow up car gave evidence to the Warren Commission. Agents were issued 38 caliber revolvers though none were fired.

The prior evening it was reported that Secret Service Agents partied until five a.m. drinking with strippers. (Warren Commission Hearings, volume 5, page 459. July 1964.)

Drinking in America: Our Secret History

Cheever shares the information that Secret Service agents had been drinking in Fort Worth at a local establishment that did not OFFICIALLY serve liquor, because Fort Worth was dry.  However, unofficially liquor was available.   It was a column in The Washington Post by Drew Pearson the revealed the Secret Service agents had visited the Fort Worth Press Club after midnight.  Six agents continued  to Cellar Coffee House, out until nearly three a.m. and “one of them was reported to have been inebriated.”

Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy

Jim Marrs’ gets to the heart of the Secret Service issue in his book, “Crossfire:  The Plot that Killed Kennedy.”  The Secret Service agents of the night before at the Cellar, a coffeehouse, tell the story that they drank mostly grapefruit juice.  Two agents referred to drinking a “Salty Dick.”

It took Pat Kirkwood, The Cellar Coffee House owner, owner twenty years later tells a different story.  Pat Kirkwood had previously claimed in letters 1963, none of the Secret Service agents had been drinking at The Cellar.  Kirkwood was fatally ill in in 1984.  Consequently, he was more candid in his recounting of the night before the Kennedy assassination.

Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy includes his admission he often served liquor to the Dallas elite, politicians and professionals.  His manager, Jimmy Hill, corroborated his story of the night before.   He said after the agents were there, we got a call from the White House asking us not to say anything about them drinking because their image had suffered enough as it was. We didn’t say anything, but…they were drinking pure Everclear.” Everclear is 190 proof clear liquor.

Nine of the twenty-eight member detail went for food after one a.m. where they had beer and scotch.  There would report to duty at eight a.m. the next morning to protect the president.

Spy Saga: Lee Harvey Oswald and U.S. Intelligence

Six members went on the The Cellar.  CBS newsman Bob Schieffer began his career as a young night police reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.  He recounts, “I went to the club when I got off at two a.m..  The Cellar was an all-night San Francisco-style coffee house down the street and some of the visiting reporters had heard about it and wanted to see it. So we all went over there and some of the agents came along. The place didn’t have a liquor license, but they did serve liquor to friends—usually grain alcohol.”

Mrs. Kennedy and Me

Clint Hill was the United States Secret Service agent assigned to guard Jacqueline Kennedy for four years.  This charming book reveals the personable woman and their rich relationship.  In “Mrs. Kennedy and Me,” he shares candid moments

George Hickey

George Hickey had been with the Secret Service for four months. He was hired as a driver and to care for the cars checking the oil and gas. Eleven witnesses put the rifle in Hickey’s hand, seven of them are Secret Service agents. George Hickey was after these events, ordered to protect Vice-President Johnson at Parkland Hospital with this same rifle. (Appendix Exhibit 228-293.)

The AR-15 was fitted with a flash suppressor and loaded with a frangible bullet which is a thin-jacketed, hollow-nosed bullet which disintegrates when it hits something solid. This type of bullet creates an explosion of flesh and bone.

Autopsy Interference

The Secret Service prevented an autopsy at Parkland Hospital in Dallas. At the Bethesda autopsy of the President, the Secret Service took 11all autopsy records, photographs, film and FBI notes. The x-ray technician was asked to falsify an x-ray which he did.

Jerrel Custer stated during his sworn deposition that he was asked to place fragments on x-ray taken in the autopsy at Bethesda after his boss returned to the hospital from a White House meeting. In essence he was asked to falsify an x-ray by the Secret Service. Custer informed Arlen Specter of this fact.  Mr. Custer was never called as a witness by the Warren Commission. (AARB Deposition.)

A four star general and a civilian gave directions during the Bethesda autopsy suggesting the pathology not be further pursued. The sentiment was described as the autopsy had to be performed, it did not have to be performed correctly.

Dr. Hume completed the autopsy dissatisfied with the interference.  There were continued claims of the Secret Service interfering with the autopsy work and with the photography of the autopsy.  The President’s brain and slides were stored for further analysis, never to be seen again.  The President’s brain was delivered to Hume’s direct supervisor, George Berkley, at the request of Robert Kennedy.

Recommendation for JFK Assassination Literature

Autopsy Report

The autopsy noted a bullet penetrated lower region of neck. 6.5 with a full jacket wound. This neck wound was determined to be different type of wound from the headshot. The bullet that penetrated the President’s head exploded within the brain. One of these bullets was found on the Governor’s trolley at Parkland.

The deposition of Albert Reibe, a photographer at the autopsy, indicated he was asked to take the film out of his camera he used to film the autopsy and give it to a Secret Service agent. (ARRB Page 50, 1997.)

The Secret Service took all the film including an unused 35mm film role in his pocket.

FBI records show 22 color rolls and film were handed to Roy Kellerman. While the Secret Service made promises to forward the film to the FBI this was never done. The Secret Service took possession of all FBI notes promising the notes would be made available to the FBI, this was never done either. Officer Seibert and O’Neal from the FBI recorded the confiscated notes during the autopsy but were never called by the Warren Commission.

The Motorcade Route Announced Two Days Prior

The motorcade route was not announced until two days prior or November 21, 2014. The unanswered question remains, how would Oswald have known the route would pass by his place of employment when he applied for and received the job at the Texas Book Depository two months earlier.

The number of shots fired at 12:30 p.m. is in dispute but three are heard on the Zapruder film.

Oswald Exits through Front Doors

After the shots Lee Harvey Oswald moved from the sixth floor to the second floor where he bought a Coca Cola from a vending machine. He then exited the building through the front doors. He chose to walk due east down Elm Street roughly seven blocks to ultimately arrive at the Greyhound Bus Station.

Oswald could have retraced the route of the motorcade for a more direct route to the Greyhound station. It is possible he felt the parade route continued to contain too many observers. The shortest route would have been one block alongside the Criminal Courts Building turn left past the Old Red Court House and Dallas County Records Building. The route he chose instead, to catch a bus for a few blocks exiting in four blocks makes it appear that Oswald was panicking from one random location to the next.

The most direct route to the Greyhound Bus Station was south down Houston Street, alongside the Criminal Courts Building, turn at the Old Red Court house, pass the Records building travel for two more blocks and then a right to the Greyhound Bus Terminal. This had been the path of the motorcade. Possibly Oswald wanted to avoid the crowd as much as possible, or possibly he was randomly moving from point to point.

Oswald Takes a Taxi from the Bus Station to Oak Cliff

From the sixth floor corner window of the Texas Book Depository, Lee Harvey Oswald made it down to the second floor lunch room where Officer Baker sees him buying a Coke from a machine two minutes after the gunshots. It is likely Oswald would have passed two women also on the stair case, though they do not remember seeing him. It has been theorized that Oswald did not fire the rifle. He was the ‘patsy’ who took the rifle in to the Book Depository to be fired by a professional assassin.

Oswald was a temporary employee of the Texas Book Depository, hired five weeks early on October 15, 1963. The his employer owned two buildings; Oswald was randomly assigned to the Elm Street facility.

It is difficult to understand Oswald’s trek if you believe this was a man with a plan. Oswald’s supervisor stated to the FBI he could have just as easily been assigned to the second building.

There was no one waiting to aid Oswald in his ‘get away.’ He finds himself at the Greyhound Bus Station, gateway to the world, and takes a cab west returning to the east side Oak Cliff, just across the Trinity River.

Lee Harvey Oswald walked three blocks to the city bus stop and took the city bus another three blocks to the Grey Hound bus station.  There took a cab to the Oak Cliff neighborhood.

Theory of the Case

Oswald returned to Oak Cliff to meet Officer Tippit.  Officer Tippit frequented Jack Ruby’s strip club, as did many law enforcement officers and local politicians.

Jack Ruby was an associate of Sam Giancano, head of the Chicago Crime Family.  Tippit may have been assigned to murder Oswald.  In fact, the meeting turned bad and it was Oswald that murdered Tippit.  Ultimately, Jack Ruby murdered Oswald.  He had been diagnosed with stage four cancer at the time of the shooting.

Oswald Time Line To Bus 

12:30 P.M. – Shots Fired – Texas Book Depository
Before Dallas Police sealed off the Texas Book Depository from which the shots were fired at 12:30 p.m. Oswald left the building by the front door and walked three quarters of a mile to the bus station to catch a bus to Oak Cliff, a west Dallas neighborhood just across the Trinity River.

Oswald chose to travel east on Elm Street catching a City Bus four blocks south to the Greyhound Bus Station where he exited the bus.

He then took a taxi to the approximately two miles to the Oak Cliff section of Dallas. Here Oswald lived in a boarding house apart from his wife Marina and their child. On November 22, 1963, he was one of 17 boarders in the house.

12:40 P.M. – Seven Blocks Away Oswald Boards a City Bus

Only ten minutes from the time of the shots, Oswald walked to Elm and Griffith and boarded a city bus driven by Cecil J. McWatters at 12:40 p.m. A former landlady of Oswald, Mary Bledsoe, was also on the city bus and observed, “He looks like a maniac.”

Cab Ride and Drop Off

12:47 P.M. Oswald Hails Taxi at Greyhound Bus Station Four Blocks Away

He exited the city bus at the Greyhound bus station. Here he hailed a taxi driven by William Wayne Whaley, thirteen minutes after the shots.  At 12:47 p.m. Oswald requested to be driven to the five hundred block of North Beckley.

1:03 Oswald Exits at Beckley and Neeley to Rooming House Five Blocks Away

The cab driver passed the boarding house on Beckley to drop Oswald at Beckley and Neeley, a ten-minute walk west of his boarding house. This would have given Oswald the opportunity to evaluate whether law enforcement were at the boarding house as they passed and allow him to appear as though he were walking from a direction opposite of downtown Texas.

Beckley and Neeley: The corner of Beckley and Neeley is one third of a mile (four blocks) due west of the Oswald boarding house at the corner of property owned by the Dallas Independent School District.

Boarding House

Once at the boarding house he walked in to his room, put on a white windbreaker jacket, placed a gun in his pant’s waist and left the boarding house at 1:03 p.m. The boarding house is located in the eastern section of Oak Cliff, not far from downtown Dallas which can be seen on the horizon.

it was headed in with the suspect in the murder of Officer Tippit.

Officer Tippit Murder

Patton Street Murder: Oswald then traveled 8/10ths of a mile (nine blocks) to 10th and Patton Street, another property owned by the Dallas Independent School District.  It was at this location he shot Dallas Patrol Officer Tippit.

Commercial Area Oak Cliff: Oswald walked one block from the scene of the shooting to Jefferson Boulevard, turning right travelling on foot six blocks to the shopping district which included the Texas Theater in the local shopping area of Jefferson Street in Oak Cliff.  The distance from the scene shooting to the theater is the 6/10th of a mile (7 blocks).

1:08 to 1:14 Officer Tippit Shot at Tenth and Patton in Oak Cliff

From the rooming house on 1026 North Beckley Avenue, Oswald proceeded about a mile to W.H. Adamson High School. Police Officer Tippit had parked his car at the back side of the high school, out of his assigned district. At the corner of 10th Street and Patton Avenue Officer Tippit hailed Oswald who spoke to the patrolman through the passenger side window.  When asked his location by the dispatcher Tippit misrepresented the area in which he was located.

Tippit exited his patrol car, walking in front of it to speak further to Oswald.  At this time Tippit was shot three times in the chest with Oswald’s .29 caliber revolver at approximately 1:14 p.m.

Officer Tippit fell to the ground, Oswald stood over him and shot him a fourth time in the head. At least a dozen people saw the verbal interchange followed by the shooting.  They were able to identify Oswald in a lineup. In 2012 a Memorial to J.D. Tippit was dedicated to the Officer at 10th and Patton in Oak Cliff.

Tippit’s death plays a prominent role in the book.

Hit List: An In-Depth Investigation into the Mysterious Deaths of Witnesses to the JFK AssassinationJ.D. Tippit was out of his patrol area at the time Oswald returned to Oak Cliff.  Tippit lied to his dispatcher about his location.  He parked at the end of the viaduct watching cars entering Oak Cliff.  Tippit was known to be friends with both Jack Ruby and Lee Harvey Oswald.  The three were seen having breakfast together on multiple occasions.  Oswald’s rooming house land lady said that while Oswald was there a police car stopped in front of the rooming house honked twice and drove away.  Tippit’s police cruiser was the ONLY police cruiser in the area at the time.  Oswald immediately left the rooming house after the horn honks.   While the book, Hit List, may go too far in including deaths directly associated with the JFK cover up, clearly it is right on many of the stated deaths in theories.

Momo: The Sam Giancana Story

If you like movies the Momo movie, the story of Sam Giancana looks into Office Tippit’s relationship with Jack Ruby.  Information has since come to light that the FBI agent watching Sam Giancana actually reported to Giancana.  This makes the FBI records more important and explains why the FBI has 21 reviewers looking to protect the records due to become public.  Access your film review at the 1:15 mark if you focus is only the Kennedy assassination.

Texas Theater Apprehension

1:51 Oswald Apprehended at Texas Theater in Oak Cliff

From the scene of the shooting Oswald proceeded to Jefferson Boulevard having discarded his coat. As police cars buzzed by he ducked into store fronts. Johnny Calvin Brewer, a shoe store manager on Jefferson Avenue, observed Oswald behaving strangely in his store. He phoned the police as Oswald moved on to the Texas Theater next door entering without purchasing a ticket when the ticket agent was distracted. It was the shoe store employee, Brewer, who hailed police officer Nick McDonald who first entered the theater in pursuit of Oswald.

The film was paused, the lights were brightened and 45 minutes after shooting Officer Tippit, Lee Oswald was pointed out by the theater manager. A fight ensued with one of the arresting officers and Oswald received a black eye.

Mrs. Julia Postal, selling tickets at the box office of the Texas Theatre, heard police sirens and then saw a man as he ‘ducked into’ the outer lobby space of the theater near the ticket office. Attracted by the sound of the sirens, Mrs. Postal stepped out of the box office and walked to the curb.

Johnny Brewer walked to the theater and asked Ms. Postal if the man in the white jacket had purchased a ticket. She asked Brewer to go into the theater to find him. Based upon his suspicious activity they phoned the police. Oswald was sitting alone in the rear of the main floor of the theatre near the right center aisle.

After searching two other theater patrons, Patrolman M.N. McDonald reached Oswald and told him to get on his feet. Oswald rose from his seat, raising his hands. McDonald started to search Oswald, at that time Oswald struck McDonald between the eyes with his left fist; with his right hand he drew a gun from his waist. McDonald struck Oswald with his right hand while grabbing Oswald’s gun with his left hand. They both fell into the theater seats.

Three other officers arrived an entered the theater. Quickly, they grabbed Oswald from the front, rear and side. McDonald wrenched the gun away from Oswald. Detective Bob K. Carroll, who was standing beside McDonald, seized the gun from him. Oswald was handcuffed and led from the theatre claiming police brutality.

At 1:51 p.m. police car number two reported by radio that it was headed in with the suspect in the murder of Officer Tippit.

Officer J.D. Tippit

J.D. Tippit’s final message over the police radio occurred at 12:54 p.m. He informed the dispatcher that he was at “Lancaster and 8th” in Oak Cliff, just a few blocks from where he would be killed. (Warren Commission Hearings, vol.23, pp.849–50.)

The dispatcher called Tippit again at 1:03, but there was no reply (ibid., p.853).

Domingo Benavides, the closest eye–witness: watched the gunman walk away from the scene, waited “a few minutes” for his own safety, inspected Tippit, and tried unsuccessfully to use the car radio. (Warren Commission Hearings, vol.6, p.448.)

A more detailed transcript claims that these calls were made not by Tippit, but by two other officers. (Warren Commission Hearings, vol.23, p.855.)

According to one version of the police radio log, Tippit sent two garbled messages at 1:07 and 1:08.  (Warren Commission Hearings, vol.17, p.406 [Commission Exhibit 705], which identifies Tippit by the number of his patrol district: 78.)

Route of Oswald to Texas Theater

How was it possible for Oswald to walk eight blocks and shoot Officer Tippit in from what can be estimated to be five to seven minutes?

Departs Boarding House at 1:03 – Tippit Shot before 1:10 pm.

Tippit’s murder was reported to the police by a witness who used the radio in Tippit’s car. The two witnesses who were involved in making the call stated that they did so several minutes after the shooting. According to the Dallas police radio log, the call was made between 1:15 and 1:16pm. (Warren Commission Hearings, vol.23, p.857 [Commission Exhibit 1974].)

In an affidavit, T.F. Bowley described the sequence of his actions: he drove up to the scene, and noticed Tippit’s body laying in the road; he parked his car; “I looked at my watch and it said 1:10pm;” he tried to assist Tippit; and finally he took over the car radio from Benavides. (Warren Commission Hearings, vol.24, p.202.)

Cab to Oak Cliff

Oswald took a cab 2.1 miles to Oak Cliff. The cab passed his rooming house on Beckley and dropped him at the corner of Beckley and Neely, property owned by the Dallas Independent School District.

He walked back the five blocks to the rooming house where he puts on a white windbreaker and takes a gun.

A car horn is heard before he leaves. He walks to the corner of 10th and Patton. Here Officer Tippit lowered the passenger side window to speak with Oswald.

The patrolman exited the vehicle and is shot three times in the chest. Oswald stands over the officer and shoots him a fourth time in the head. There are multiple witnesses to this event.

Oswald proceeds from the high school campus through a few residential blocks to a shopping center area.

Oswald entered a shoe store adjacent to the theater where he in an erratic manner.   He then entered the Texas Theater without purchasing a ticket. The shoe store salesman alerted to the ticket seller to his questionable conduct.  Law enforcement was contacted.

Oswald is apprehended at 1:51 p.m. at the Texas Theater.

The Warren Commission

President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed members of the Warren Commission to investigate the Kennedy setting a limit of 75 years for the public release of its investigatory documents and findings, the year 2039.   The House Select Committee on Assassinations accepted the conspiracy thesis sealing those documents until 2029.  These restrictions were modified in 1992 with JFK Assassination Records Collection Act, requiring the release of the contents in 24 years.

Assassination Review Board Declassifies Some Information

In order to evade the mandate of The JFK Records Act of 1992 that also required all assassination related material be housed in a single collection in the National Archives and Records Administration.  The Secret Service destroyed all their records one week prior to the effective date of the law.

Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992

Congress created the Kennedy Collection when it passed the Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992. This statute directed all Federal agencies to transmit to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) all records relating to the assassination in their custody. The Kennedy Act also created a temporary agency, the Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB), to ensure that the agencies complied with the Act.

In addition to records already open at NARA prior to the passing the Kennedy Act, the Collection now consists of previously withheld records of the Warren Commission, records of the Office of the Archivist, and newly released materials from the Kennedy, Johnson, and Ford Presidential Libraries. Other agency records in the Collection include records of the House Select Committee on Assassinations, records of the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and a small amount of material from a variety of other agencies, including the Office of Naval Intelligence. The Collection now includes over five million pages of records.

New Release of Information Summer 2017

The United States archives contain 3,600 sealed assassination related files from the CIA and FBI.  The documents support the limited review by the Warren Commission.  The public’s sense of betrayal by the independent panel led by Chief Justice Earl Warren the assassination continues today.  The conclusion of The Commission that there was no evidence of a conspiracy in Kennedy’s death is almost universally disputed.

Both the CIA and FBI had extensive information about Oswald’s danger and much of it was not shared with the Commission in an attempt to protect the CIA and FBI’s negligence.

In 2021, President Joe Biden postponed the release of remaining records, citing the Covid Pandemic as the reason. Future releases of documents were scheduled for December 15, 2021, and December 15, 2022. Agencies that object to releasing records before then will have to provide unclassified information detailing why the information is withheld, and a date when the information might be declassified. The initial response to the 2021 release was that it provided little new information.

See National Archive Frequently Asked Questions here:  https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/faqs.html#warren

June Cobb CIA Operative

June Cobb is considered to be a modern day Mata Hari who infiltrated Castro’s Cuba with a position on his staff for the CIA and then moved on to Mexico where she crossed paths with Lee Harvey Oswarld just weeks before the assassination in Dallas.  June was from Ponca City, Oklahoma, born in 1927.

The National Archives indicates that it is about to release a 221 page CIA file pertaining to Ms. Cobb.  The CIA has admitted that it did not advise the Warren Commission that that CIA had been engaged in repeated attempts to assassinate Castro.  Castro knew about the plots.  CIA operatives located in Mexico City were in charge of the plots for Castro assassination.  Oswald visited Mexico City in 1963 and in the late 1970s,.

The CIA denied their cooperation with House Select Committee on Assassinations in locating June Cobb who had disappeared during that time.

Read more here … http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/05/20/what-could-a-mysterious-us-spy-know-about-the-jfk-assassination-215143