Tag: WARREN DEFENDERS

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The following is a review of the 2013 Kindle edition of Dale Myers’ book With Malice.

Commonly used abbreviations throughout this review:

DPD = Dallas Police department
WCD = Warren Commission document
FBI = Federal Bureau of Investigation
Sgt. = Seargent
USSS = United States Secret Service
Lt. = Lieutenant
WCE = Warren Commission exhibit

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For the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the murder of Dallas Policeman J.D. Tippit, Dale Myers decided to publish an updated version of his book on Tippit’s murder entitled, With Malice. The updated book contains new text, photographs and maps pertaining to Tippit’s death. I had never read With Malice before, and it was only at the insistence of Jim DiEugenio that I decided to review the updated book. As anyone who is familiar with Myers knows, his contention is that Lee Harvey Oswald murdered Tippit in cold blood, after allegedly assassinating the President. As I hope to explain throughout this review, the notion that Oswald shot Tippit is utterly absurd. But before getting to the book itself, it is first important to outline some of the reasons why Dale Myers is not to be trusted when it comes to both Tippit’s murder and President Kennedy’s assassination.

As most researchers of the JFK assassination are probably aware, Myers has claimed to have proven through his 3-D animation of President Kennedy’s assassination that the single bullet theory is actually true. However, as researchers such as Milicent Cranor, Bob Harris, and Pat Speer have shown, Myers’ work is highly deceptive. Speer’s comprehensive analysis of the statements of the ear/eye witnesses to the assassination has demonstrated beyond a reasonable doubt that the majority of ear/eye witnesses didn’t hear the so-called single bullet shot, and that the shot(s) to Governor Connally did not originate from the sixth floor of the Texas School book depository. Myers is also known for his support of the ludicrous notion that the first shot missed the President’s limousine, and caused the injury to bystander James Tague. Contrary to this belief, Tague always denied that the first shot was responsible for the cut to his left cheek. In fact, following the airing of Max Holland’s utterly fallacious documentary, The Lost Bullet, in which Holland claimed Tague’s injury was caused by the first shot, Tague indignantly exclaimed; “Holland is full of crap. One thing I know for sure is that the first shot was not the missed curb shot. Another thing I am positive about is that the last shot was the missed shot. You may not want to believe the Warren Commission’s final findings, but you can believe the 11 witnesses who state it was the last shot that missed.” (Read Tague’s remark). Although Tague was not always certain whether it was the second or third shot he heard which caused his injury, his confusion is understandable given that like the majority of ear/eye witnesses, he claimed that the next two shots he heard were fired in rapid succession (WCD 205, page 31). The fact that Myers pretends this theory is true in spite of Tague’s adamant denial, speaks poorly for his credibility as a researcher.

Then there is Myers’ interview with John Kelin in 1982. During that interview, Kelin asked Myers what he thought about Oswald, to which Myers responded with the following remark; “…First off, I don’t think Lee Harvey Oswald pulled the trigger.” Myers also said that as far as saying Oswald is guilty, “…I find that extremely hard to believe”. However, most revealing of all was his denial that Oswald had shot Tippit; namely that “I think I will be able to show, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Oswald was not the killer of J.D. Tippit.” Researcher and author Jim DiEugenio once asked what had caused Myers to suddenly believe that Oswald hard murdered Tippit? Although we may never know the real answer to that question, it hardly matters. However, in this reviewer’s opinion, it was most likely due to Myers fondness for many of the DPD Officers he had interviewed, such as former DPD dispatcher Murray James Jackson. In fact, as this reviewer demonstrates below, Myers shows favouritism towards these very same officers.

Although there are some people who believe that With Malice is the definitive book on Tippit’s murder, nothing could be further from the truth. Myers omits many facts and pieces of evidence which tend to exonerate Oswald as Tippit’s killer. Myers also shows favouritism towards witnesses who support Oswald’s guilt (even though, as I will explain, they lack credibility). In the introduction to his book, Myers also quotes many of Tippit’s family members and friends who dismiss the notion that Tippit was somehow involved in a conspiracy to murder either President Kennedy or Oswald. For example, Myers quotes Marie Frances Gasway, Tippit’s widow, who said the following during an interview in 2003: “The conspiracy stuff is so untrue, so totally unfounded.” (With Malice, Introduction). Quoting Tippit’s youngest son, Curtis Tippit, Myers writes: “People want sensationalism. Mom’s been abused by conspiracy theories and tabloid publications… Too many people want to cling to a false history, believing my father was in on something with Jack Ruby… Really it’s all kind of silly and funny” (ibid).

Although it is perfectly understandable that Tippit’s family and friends want to feel a sense of closure by believing that the man who allegedly murdered Tippit was arrested by the DPD, it is nevertheless important that an honest analysis of the evidence and facts pertaining to his murder be presented to current and future researchers of that case. Furthermore, given the shame and embarrassment any allegation that Tippit was somehow involved in a conspiracy would bring to his family members and friends, it is also perfectly understandable that they would vehemently deny any such allegations. Readers should keep in mind that since writing several articles on Tippit’s murder on my blog, I have since changed my mind on a number of issues, and have come to realize that I had also made a number of mistakes and misjudgements.

I: The search begins

Myers begins his above titled Chapter 1 with the following sentences: “Lee Harvey Oswald murdered J.D. Tippit. The Dallas Cops believed it. The newspapers reported it. The Warren Commission made it official and the House Select Committee on Assassinations reaffirmed it.” (With Malice, Chapter 1). Myers and his fellow Warren Commission defenders scoff at the idea that the DPD and the Dallas district attorney’s Office could have helped frame Oswald for the murders of President Kennedy and J.D. Tippit. In fact, Myers snidely writes the following: “It was claimed [by Warren Commission critics] that Oswald was framed by a zealous Police force” (ibid). Thanks to Dallas district attorney Craig Watkins, we now know that with Henry Wade as District Attorney of Dallas, the DPD was one of the most corrupt Police departments in the entire United States; something which Myers and his ilk want to pretend isn’t true. To give the reader one example of just how bad the DA’s Office and the DPD were, let’s take the case of James Lee Woodard. Woodard was an African American man who spent twenty seven years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit. As it turned out, Henry Wade’s Office had withheld evidence from Woodard’s defence attorney which exonerated him as the killer. According to Michelle Moore, the President of the Innocence Project of Texas’ “…we’re finding lots of places where detectives in those cases, they kind of trimmed the corners to just get the case done”. She also added; “Whether that’s the fault of the detectives or the DA’s, I don’t know.” (Readers are strongly encouraged to read through this article, to see for themselves just how corrupt Wade’s Office and the DPD were).

As for why the DA’s Office and the DPD would want to frame Oswald, just consider the following. The president of the United States of America (the most powerful man in the world) was gunned down in broad daylight and in full public view. Naturally, the entire United States, including the leaders of foreign countries, were anxiously waiting to learn who was responsible for the crime. Since the assassination of a sitting President was not a federal crime in 1963, the DPD had jurisdiction, and were undoubtedly under a tremendous amount of pressure to find those responsible, in order to avoid embarrassment for not being able to identify those responsible. Naturally, the DPD also had to find those responsible for the murder of one of their own policemen. As many researchers of the assassination have pointed out, a wallet bearing identification for Oswald and his alleged alias, Alek James Hidell, was discovered in the vicinity of the Tippit murder scene. This allegation first appeared in the book by former FBI agent James Hosty entitled Assignment Oswald. Myers dismisses the idea such a wallet was left behind to incriminate Oswald. But as this reviewer explains later on in this review, there is very good reason to believe that this was the case.

It’s important to keep in mind that with a wallet left behind to incriminate Oswald, the DPD had a viable suspect for Tippit’s murder. The DPD could then use Tippit’s murder to portray Oswald as a violent man who was capable of assassinating the President. In fact, Warren Commission counsel David Belin once remarked that: “Once the hypothesis is admitted that Oswald killed patrolman Tippit, there can be no doubt that the overall evidence shows that Lee Harvey Oswald was the assassin of John F. Kennedy”. (ibid). To say that such a belief is narrow-minded would be an understatement. Myers also makes several demeaning comments against those who refuse to believe that Oswald shot Tippit. For example, Myers writes that; “Many eyewitness accounts of the [Tippit] shooting were twisted to exonerate Oswald” (ibid). The readers of this review can make up their own minds on whether or not this is the case. Myers also writes that; “Lee Harvey Oswald murdered Officer J.D. Tippit. There can no longer be any doubt about that”, and that no matter what role Oswald had in the President’s assassination “…Oswald’s guilt in the Tippit shooting must be hereafter considered a historic truth.” (ibid). In light of all the evidence to the contrary, to say that Oswald’s guilt in the Tippit murder must be considered a historic truth is almost absurd. However, Myers can make that claim, because he omits a lot of the evidence which tends to exonerate Oswald.

II: The quiet cop

In this chapter, Myers discusses Tippit’s life from his childhood, his high school years, his service in the United States Army as a paratrooper, on to his career as a DPD Officer. Myers portrays Tippit as a good and honest cop, killed in the line of duty. In his discussion of Tippit’s Army experiences, Myers explains that it had “…made deep impressions…” Namely that Tippit’s friends recalled that he would be startled by any loud noise and that he was “…still a little nervous…” (With Malice, Chapter 2). What Myers omits however, is that Tippit’s DPD personnel files contain evidence that he may possibly have been unstable. (Reopen Kennedy case forum, thread entitled: J.D Tippit: the perfect DPD recruit). In his discussion of Tippit’s career as a DPD Officer, Myers explains that since joining the DPD as an apprentice Policeman in July, 1952, Tippit was an “exemplary” Police Officer (With Malice, Chapter 2). However, Myers also mentions that in 1955, Tippit had received several reprimands for not appearing in court as ordered (ibid). In order to bolster his claim that Tippit was a good and honest Police Officer, Myers quotes several of Tippit’s fellow Police Officers, such as Tippit’s supervisor, Calvin “Bud” Owens, who vouched for this (ibid). Even if these claims are true, it has little bearing on whether Tippit was lured to Tenth Street to be shot and killed. The evidence for that lies in the fact that a wallet was left behind to incriminate Oswald for his murder. Furthermore, the DPD would naturally want to avoid making claims to the contrary, as any such claims could lead to speculation that Tippit was somehow involved in a conspiracy; and bring about embarrassment to the DPD.

III: The final hours

In this chapter, Myers relates to the readers the final hours of Tippit’s life; from the time he left his home at 6:15 am, to the time he was shot and killed on Tenth Street in the central Oak Cliff area of Dallas (With Malice, Chapter 3). The issues which Myers deals with here include why Tippit was in central Oak Cliff when he was killed, the sighting of Tippit at the Gloco Service station located at 1502 North Zangs blvd., the sighting of a DPD squad car which Earlene Roberts, the house keeper at 1026 North Beckley where Oswald was allegedly living at the time of the assassination, a car she claimed was outside the rooming house when “Oswald” was inside following the assassination, and finally, Tippit’s alleged presence at the Top Ten records store a few minutes prior to his death. Myers writes that; “Tippit wished he could have seen the President, whom he had voted for and admired.” (ibid) Whilst that may be true, it is this reviewer’s belief that it has little (if any) bearing on his death. Myers also relates to his readers the all too familiar tale that Howard Brennan was sitting directly across from the TSBD on Elm Street, when he allegedly observed Oswald firing the shots at President Kennedy (ibid). But what Myers doesn’t tell his readers is that the Zapruder film shows beyond any doubt that Brennan was sitting directly across Houston Street, and that Brennan was lying when he said he sitting directly across from the TSBD.

In his discussion of whether or not Earlene Roberts had really seen a DPD squad car outside of the rooming house, Myers does everything he can to discredit her story. When Roberts was interviewed by the FBI on November 29, 1963, she told them that the number of the car she observed outside the rooming house was 207 (WCE 2781). As Myers explains, that particular car was assigned to DPD Officer Jim M. Valentine, and which took DPD Sgt. Gerald Hill and Dallas Morning News reporter Jim Ewell to Dealey Plaza from Police headquarters. As this reviewer will explain in an upcoming essay on Gerald Hill, Hill had by all likelihood commandeered car 207 from Officer Valentine, and was one of the two Officers inside the car when it was seen by Roberts outside of the rooming house. In that same essay, this reviewer will discuss Myers’ narrow minded attempt to discredit Roberts.

On the day of the assassination, Tippit was assigned to patrol district 78 (testimony of Calvin Bud Owens, WC Volume VII, page 80). However, the patrol district in which Tippit was killed (district 91) was assigned to a DPD Officer named William Duane Mentzel (WCE 2645). Tippit and another Officer named Ronald C. Nelson were allegedly ordered to move into the central Oak Cliff by DPD dispatcher Murray Jackson at approximately 12:45 pm (WCE 705/1974). According to DPD chief Jesse Curry, the central Oak Cliff area included patrol district 91 (WCD 1259, page 3). According to the map of the DPD patrol districts, it stands to reason that districts 92, 93, 94, 108, and 109 which were adjacent to district 91 were also part of the central Oak Cliff area (Dallas Municipal archives, Box 7, Folder 10, Item 2). Although Jackson was never called to testify before the Warren Commission, during a filmed interview with Eddie Barker from CBS, he explained that he had ordered Tippit into the central Oak Cliff area because “We [the dispatchers] were draining the Oak Cliff area of available Police Officers….” (See the interview). Myers accepts that this was the case, and writes that Jackson told him during an interview that he had ordered Tippit into the central Oak Cliff area because Tippit had once helped him out during an incident with seven drunk teenagers, and that allegedly feeling that he could once again rely on Tippit, Jackson ordered Tippit into the Oak Cliff area to “help him [Jackson] again…. to cover Oak Cliff” (With Malice, Chapter 3).

But contrary to Jackson’s claim, there is very good reason to believe that he never ordered Tippit and Nelson to move into the central Oak Cliff area. In the first transcript of channel one of the DPD radio recordings (Sawyer exhibit B), the order to send Tippit and Nelson into the central Oak Cliff area is curiously missing. Myers doesn’t mention this to his readers. In that very same transcript, the channel one dispatchers (Jackson and Clifford Hulse), allegedly broadcast the following message over the DPD radio at approximately 12:43 pm; “Attention all squads in the downtown area code three [lights on and sirens blazing] to Elm and Houston with caution.” (Sawyer exhibit B, page 398). Myers acknowledges this in his timetable of the events which occurred on the day of the assassination, but hides from his readers the fact that according to the next transcript which the DPD had provided to the FBI on March 20, 1964, the dispatchers had actually broadcast the following message: “Attention all squads, report to [the] downtown area code 3 to Elm and Houston, with caution.” (WCE 705).

Whilst it certainly makes more sense that only the squads in the downtown area would be dispatched to the assassination scene, thereby leaving all the “outer” area squads in their assigned districts in the event a crime such as a robbery were to occur, the exact same transmission appears in the next transcript on the DPD channel one and two radio recordings (WCE 1974). On July 21, 1964, DPD chief Jesse Curry furnished the FBI a copy of the “original” tape recordings of the DPD radio traffic, which were reviewed by an agent of the FBI at the DPD (ibid). If the transmission “Attention all squads, report to [the] downtown area code 3 to Elm and Houston, with caution” was not recorded on the tapes, then the FBI would surely not have allowed it to be placed into the new transcript. Confirmation that the dispatchers had actually ordered all squads and not only the squads in the downtown area to proceed to Elm and Houston comes from DPD chief Curry himself. In a letter to the Warren Commission on July 17, 1964, Curry wrote; “…between 12:37 p.m. and 12:45 p.m., the dispatcher requested all squads to report to Elm and Houston in the downtown area, code 3” (WCD 1259, page 3). Curry then added; “It might further be pointed out that Officer Tippit remained on his district until the dispatcher had requested all squads to report to Elm and Houston…” (ibid). But perhaps most significantly of all, Jackson himself confirmed that all squads had been dispatched to Elm and Houston Streets in his filmed interview with Eddie Barker in 1967. According to Jackson; “…we immediately dispatched every available unit [squad] to the triple underpass where the shot was reported to have come from.” Myers mentions none of this to his readers.

In light of all of the above, the notion that Jackson was only concerned that the Oak Cliff area was being “drained’ of available DPD Officers when all squads had been ordered to Elm and Houston seems strained. Jackson’s next transmission to Tippit was at approximately 12:54 pm, when he asked Tippit if he was in the Oak Cliff area (WCE 705/1974). Tippit allegedly responded that he was at Lancaster and Eighth. Jackson then allegedly instructed Tippit; “You will be at large for any emergency that comes in.” Keep in mind that the alleged order to Tippit and Nelson was to move into the central Oak Cliff area. On the day of the assassination, districts 93 and 94 were assigned to Officer Holley M. Ashcraft, and districts 108 and 109 were assigned to Officer Owen H. Ludwig (WCE 2645). Although the tape recordings of channel one of the DPD radio reveal that the dispatchers sent Ashcraft to Inwood road and Stemmons expressway to cut traffic (Listen to the recording), and although Ludwig was allegedly guarding the front of the Sheraton-Dallas-Hotel, Jackson never bothered to try and contact William Mentzel on the radio, who was on a lunch break at approximately the time of the assassination (ibid). None of the transcripts of the DPD radio communications show that Jackson had attempted to contact Mentzel; and the notion that Jackson would order Tippit and Nelson to move into the central Oak Cliff without even once bothering to contact Mentzel to ensure that Mentzel was patrolling his assigned districts (91 and 92) is also strained (ibid). Again, Myers does not mention to his readers that Jackson never bothered to contact Mentzel by the DPD radio.

Finally, there is the fact that despite being allegedly ordered to move into the central Oak Cliff area, Ronald Nelson proceeded to Dealey Plaza, and even told the dispatcher that he had gone there at approximately 12:52 pm (WCE 705/1974). But despite disobeying Jackson’s order, we are supposed to believe that he had the audacity to then ask the dispatchers if they wanted him to go over to the Tippit murder scene (ibid). Myers explains that after Jackson allegedly ordered Tippit and Nelson to move into the central Oak Cliff area, Tippit responded; “I’m at Kiest and Bonnieview”, and Nelson allegedly responded that he is “…going North of Marsalis, on R.L. Thornton” (With Malice, Chapter 3). What Myers doesn’t mention is that the aforementioned alleged responses by Tippit and Nelson do not appear in either WCE 705 or Sawyer exhibit B. They first appear in WCE 1974. Myers also writes that Nelson told the dispatchers that he was at the South end of the Houston Street Viaduct (ibid). However, according to both WCE 705 and WCE 1974, the Officer who made the transmission was actually B.L. Bass; and that Bass had identified himself to the dispatchers by his radio number (101).

When author Henry Hurt interviewed Nelson in 1984, he asked him; “Did you get the call to go to central Oak Cliff” (Hurt, Reasonable Doubt, page 162). After first telling Hurt that he wasn’t sure what he meant by his question, he then said “I had rather not talk about that” (ibid). According to Hurt, Nelson apparently considered that information to be worth some money (ibid). Myers explains that Nelson had declined a request for an interview with him (With Malice, Chapter 3). Nelson’s reluctance to be interviewed may have been due to the fact that he actually wasn’t ordered to move into the central Oak Cliff area, and that his explanation to Hurt that it was worth some money was just an excuse to discourage Hurt from talking about it with him. Suffice it to say, the notion that Tippit and Nelson were ordered to move into the central Oak Cliff area is dubious, and the transcripts and tape recordings of the DPD radio communications were in all likelihood altered to make it appear as though they actually were sent into the central Oak Cliff area.

Obviously, the DPD had to provide an explanation for what Tippit was doing there; hence Jackson was coerced into claiming that he had sent them into central Oak Cliff. In this reviewer’s opinion, the DPD claimed that Nelson was also sent into central Oak Cliff so that they wouldn’t make it appear obvious that they were covering up for Tippit’s singular presence there. But did Jackson also have a personal reason for lying about Tippit’s presence in central Oak Cliff? As it turns out, there is. Jackson told Henry Hurt during an interview with him that he was a very close personal friend of both Tippit and his family (Hurt, Reasonable doubt, page 162). As any reasonable person would be able to understand, Tippit’s unauthorised presence in central Oak Cliff would have led to rumours which would probably be upsetting for his family members. Jackson may have thought that by claiming he had ordered Tippit to move into the central Oak Cliff area, he would be sparing Tippit’s family members of these upsetting rumours.

In his timetable of events which occurred on the day of the assassination, Myers writes that Tippit was at the GLOCO (Good luck Oil Company) service station, located on 1502 North Zangs Blvd., apparently watching traffic “coming out of downtown.”, from about 12:56 pm to 1:06 pm (With Malice, Timetable of events). In the endnotes, Myers cites David Lifton’s interview with a photographer named Al Volkland, who told him that he was well acquainted with Tippit, and that he had seen him at the service station. Volkland’s claim of seeing Tippit there was allegedly confirmed by his wife; and both claimed that they observed Tippit at the service station 10 or 20 minutes following the assassination. Furthermore, J.B. “Shorty” Lewis and Emmett Hollingshead, who were employed at the service station, and Tom Mullins who was the owner of the station at the time of the assassination, also claimed they had seen Tippit there (With Malice, Chapter 3).

In his endnotes, Myers also cites the Ramparts magazine article by David Welsh, in which Welsh wrote that Lewis, Hollingshead, and Mullins claimed Tippit was at the service station for about ten minutes, between 12:45 pm and 1:00 pm. However, Myers explains that in an interview with him in 1983, Hollingshead claimed that he had seen Tippit at the service station before the President was assassinated. Myers also claims that in an interview with him in 1983, Lewis said that other employees of the service station had seen Tippit there, and not him. Myers offers no source for why he believes Tippit arrived at the service station at 12:56 pm, and as this reviewer explains below, there is compelling evidence that Tippit was actually shot at about 1:06 pm. If Tippit really was at the service station, his presence there is a mystery. Whilst Myers doesn’t believe that Tippit was at the service station by 12:45 pm, and that he only moved into the central Oak Cliff area following the alleged order by Murray Jackson to do so, he nevertheless ignores all of the compelling evidence that Jackson didn’t order Tippit to move into the central Oak Cliff area.

According to the DPD radio transmission transcripts, Murray Jackson asked Tippit for his location at approximately 1:03 pm, but received no response (WCE 705/1974). However, Myers writes that as the dispatchers were trying to determine the location of Officer A.D. Duncan, a garbled transmission was made that had the tonal characteristics of other “known” transmissions made by Tippit (With Malice, Chapter 3). In his endnotes, Myers explains that the transcripts describe the alleged transmission by Tippit as “more interference”, which is true (WCE 705/1974). In fact, according to the transcripts of the DPD radio communications, the interference was due to “…intermodulation similar, according to [the] Dallas Police Department, to that most often originating from the Dallas Power and light company” (ibid). Given Myers skewed conclusion driven agenda , as demonstrated throughout this review, readers are cautioned against believing much of what Myers writes. According to Myers, Tippit was at the Tip Top Records store at 1:11 pm, where he was allegedly trying to place a phone call to someone (With Malice, Chapter 3). However, given that Tippit didn’t respond to Jackson at 1:03 pm, Tippit was probably in the store at this point in time. If Tippit really was in the store trying to call someone, it remains a mystery as to who it was, and why he was trying to call him/her.

IV: Murder on Tenth Street

Myers now discusses Tippit’s murder on Tenth Street, and the events that followed. It is Myers contention that Tippit was shot at approximately 1:14.30 pm (With Malice, Chapter 4). Myers writes that the tape recordings of the DPD radio communications show that Domingo Benavides had attempted to inform the DPD dispatchers of Tippit’s death at 1:16 pm, as the tape recordings show that he began “keying” Tippit’s microphone at that time; and had been doing so for about one minute and forty one seconds. Based on the eyewitness account of Ted Callaway , Myers then speculates that Tippit was probably shot ninety seconds prior to Benavides attempt to contact the dispatcher (ibid). However, let’s look at all the evidence that Myers ignores to reach his conclusion that Tippit was shot at about 1:14.30 pm. To begin with, Myers never informs his readers that according to WCE 705, T.F. Bowley, who had arrived at the murder scene shortly following Tippit’s death, reported Tippit’s death just prior to 1:10 pm! In WCE 1974 however, the time of Bowley’s transmission was noted as being made at about 1:19 pm.

Bowley claimed in his affidavit to the DPD that when he arrived at the Tippit murder scene, he looked at his watch and it read 1:10 pm. He also claimed that the first thing he did was to try and help Tippit, and then informed the DPD dispatchers that Tippit was shot (Dallas municipal archives, Box 2, Folder 3, Item 14). Assuming that Bowley took no more than a minute to try and help Tippit before informing the dispatchers of the shooting, the actual time of Bowley’s arrival would have been approximately 1:09 pm. Nevertheless, both WCE 705 and Bowley’s watch place Tippit’s death sooner than Myers time of 1:14.30. Myers deals with Bowley’s watch reading 1:10 pm in his endnotes, where he writes that no one determined whether Bowley’s watch was accurate on the day of the assassination. Whilst we will probably never know just how accurate Bowley’s watch was, WCE 705 places Bowley’s transmission at about 1:10 pm, which is fairly consistent with Bowley’s claim his watch read 1:10 pm after he arrived.

In his endnotes, Myers also deals with the allegation by Mrs. Margie Higgins, who lived 150 feet east of and across the street from where Tippit was shot. As Myers writes, Mrs. Higgins told author Barry Ernest that she was watching the news, when the announcer stated that the time was 1:06 pm (Ernest, The Girl On The Stairs, page 90). Mrs Higgins told Ernest that she then checked the clock on top of the TV, which confirmed that the time was 1:06 pm, and that it was at that point when she heard the shooting. Myers tries to discredit Mrs Higgins’ claim by telling his readers that, “A review of archival recordings of all three networks broadcasting that afternoon in Dallas failed to verify her [Mrs Higgins’] recollection.” Myers then adds “In fact, none of the networks broadcast a time check at 1:06 p.m. as she claimed.” Although this review cannot verify whether this is true or not, readers are once again cautioned against taking Myers word for it, for this reviewer demonstrates throughout this review that Myers is not a candid or balanced researcher. Readers should also keep in mind that Mrs. Higgins’ claim is consistent with Helen Markham’s claim in her affidavit that she was standing on the corner of Tenth and Patton Streets at approximately 1:06 pm when Tippit was shot (Dallas Municipal archives, Box 2, Folder 1, Item 18).

Both Markham’s and Mrs Higgins’ claims are also consistent with the fact that Markham told FBI agent Robert M. Barrett that when she left the Washateria of her apartment to catch her bus, she noticed the time shown on the clock of the Washateria was 1:04 pm (WCD 630). Markham explained to Barrett that she was attempting to call her daughter on the Washateria phone (ibid). The FBI determined that it would have taken Markham about two and a half minutes to reach the intersection of Tenth and Patton Streets, which means Markham would have arrived at the intersection close to 1:07 pm (ibid). Myers acknowledges in his book that Markham reportedly left the Washateria at 1:04 pm, but claims that Markham “probably” didn’t leave the Washateria before 1:11 pm, and speculates that this was perhaps the case because of her “eagerness” to contact her daughter by phone (With Malice, Chapter 4). In his endnotes, Myers snidely writes that in order to believe the statements by Markham, Higgins, and Bowley of when Tippit was killed; “…one would have to believe that Tippit lay dead in the Street for eight to twelve minutes before anyone notified [the] Police.” But only by ignoring the fact that WCE 705 places the time of Bowley’s radio transmission at approximately 1:10 pm can Myers make this claim and think that he can get away with it.

Myers writes that the Dudley Hughes Funeral home, which had dispatched the ambulance which took Tippit’s body to Methodist hospital, was informed of the shooting at 1:18 pm by the DPD, and that Dudley M. Hughes Junior, who took the call from the DPD at the funeral home, allegedly filled out an ambulance call slip which was time stamped 1:18 pm (With Malice, Chapter 5). Myers references this call slip to an essay by researchers George and Patricia Nash in The New Leader entitled: The Other Witnesses (John Armstrong Baylor collection, tab entitled: George & Patricia Nash). However, the call slip itself doesn’t appear to be amongst the Dallas Municipal archives collection, and taking into account all of the evidence which contradicts the notion that the funeral home received the call at 1:18 pm, this piece of evidence should be considered unreliable. Of course, it is entirely likely that if the ambulance call slip actually exists, the DPD had falsified it in order to bolster the notion that Tippit was shot close to 1:18 pm; and thereby allowing Oswald plenty of time to reach Tenth and Patton in order to shoot Tippit after he allegedly left the rooming house at 1026 North Beckley.

Readers should keep in mind that justice of the peace, Joe B. Brown, filled out an authorisation permit for an autopsy to be performed on Tippit’s body, and in that permit, Brown noted that Tippit was pronounced dead on arrival at Methodist hospital, and noted the time of death as 1:15 pm (Dallas Municipal archives, Box 3, Folder 24, Item 2). Although there is conflicting evidence for the time Tippit was pronounced dead at Methodist hospital, researcher Martin Hay discovered that in a supplementary offense report by DPD Officers R.A. Davenport and W.R. Bardin, Dr. Richard Liguori pronounced Tippit dead at Methodist Hospital at 1:15 pm (ReopenKennedycase forum, thread entitled: Question Concerning Time). Given the fact that (according to WCE 705) T.F. Bowley’s transmission to the DPD dispatchers was at approximately 1:10 pm, and given all of the aforementioned evidence which supports the notion that Tippit was shot prior to 1:10 pm and then taken to Methodist Hospital where he was most likely pronounced dead at 1:15 pm, Myers assertion that Tippit was shot at 1:14.30 pm is simply not tenable.

According to WCE 705, Tippit allegedly tried to contact the DPD dispatchers twice at approximately 1:08 pm. However, these alleged transmissions are curiously missing from WCE 1974; and instead, there appears to be two garbled transmission from DPD Officers with the radio numbers 58 and 488. Although some researchers believe that the alleged call by Tippit at circa 1:08 pm is proof that Tippit was still alive at that time, and that he was attempting to report that he had just encountered a suspect, there is good reason to believe that this alleged call was added into the transcript by the DPD. Consider that with Helen Markham’s first day affidavit, the DPD would have realised that Tippit was killed at approximately 1:06 pm. It is this reviewer’s opinion that the DPD took advantage of the fact that there were two garbled transmissions at about 1:08 pm, and claimed that it was Tippit to make it appear as though he was alive after 1:06 pm.

As far as Tippit’s alleged attempts to report that he had just encountered a suspect are concerned, the discovery of the wallet containing identification for Oswald and Hidell in the vicinity of the Tippit murder scene strongly implies that Tippit was lured to Tenth Street to be shot. With this in mind, the last thing the conspirators would surely have wanted was for Tippit to become suspicious. Therefore, it seems very unlikely that Tippit actually attempted to report that he had encountered a suspect. Myers never mentions that WCE 705 shows that Tippit attempted to contact the dispatchers, writing instead that: “A check of the Dallas Police tapes revealed that Tippit did not notify the dispatcher that he was stopping to question the man on Tenth Street” (With Malice, Chapter 4). It is this reviewer’s belief that Myers never mentions Tippit’s alleged attempts to contact the dispatchers, because he was probably concerned that his readers would think that Tippit had stopped “Oswald” at about 1:08 pm; and by implication, was also shot at this time.

This reviewer would also like to point out that when T.F. Bowley reported the shooting to the DPD dispatchers, Murray Jackson allegedly responded by calling out Tippit’s radio number (78), because according to Myers, Tippit was “…thought to be the only available patrol unit in the Oak Cliff area.” (ibid) By ignoring all the evidence that the DPD radio traffic tape recordings have been altered, Myers can pretend that Jackson really did call for Tippit.

Furthermore, in an apparent attempt to explain why Jackson immediately thought of calling for Tippit instead of William Mentzel, Myers writes in his endnotes that Mentzel, and another officer named Vernon R. Nolan, were sent to a traffic accident at about 1:11 pm. Curiously, there is nothing within WCE 705 and WCE 1974 that Mentzel was sent to a traffic accident.

Another issue which Myers discusses in this chapter is the direction in which the killer was walking when he was spotted by Tippit. Based on the observations by William Lawrence Smith, Jimmy Burt, Jimmy Brewer, and William Scoggins, Myers concludes that Tippit’s killer was initially walking west (ibid). This reviewer agrees. However, readers should keep in mind that in his interview with the FBI on December 15, 1963, Burt made no mention of seeing Tippit’s killer at all (WCD 194, page 29). Based on the statements of witnesses Helen Markham and Jack Ray Tatum, Myers speculates that Tippit’s killer then turned around and was walking east when he observed Tippit’s squad car approaching, and that this is what caused Tippit to pull over to the curb and question his soon to be killer (ibid). According to Myers: “The eyewitness accounts depict the suspect traveling in two conflicting directions, with the key moment of change occurring just east of Tenth and Patton” (ibid). But as even Myers ironically notes at the end of this chapter, Helen Markham told the USSS on December 2, 1963, that she first observed Tippit’s killer on the sidewalk after Tippit had pulled his squad car to the curb (ibid). Myers also notes that on March 17, 1964, Markham told FBI agent Robert M. Barrett that she had first seen Tippit’s killer as Tippit passed the intersection of Tenth and Patton (ibid). When Markham testified before the Warren Commission, she claimed that she saw Tippit’s killer crossing Patton street (heading east), and about to step up onto the curb (WC Volume III, page 307).

Not only do Markham’s statements directly contradict Myers assertion that the killer changed direction just east of Tenth and Patton, but given her overall unreliability as a witness, her claim that she had observed Tippit’s killer walking east should not be considered credible. Also, consider that in her affidavit to the DPD, she made no mention of which direction Tippit’s killer was walking when she first observed him (Dallas Municipal archives, Box 2, Folder 1, Item 18). According to researcher John Armstrong, a barber named Mr Clark claimed he had also seen Tippit’s killer walking west along Tenth Street, and that he would bet his life that the man he saw was Oswald However, Clark does not count as a witness to seeing Tippit’s killer walking west along Tenth Street, because he claimed he saw the man in the morning, whereas Tippit was most certainly there after 1:00 pm in the afternoon (John Armstrong Baylor research collection, tab entitled: 10th St. Barber shop).

Myers also explains to his readers that a Mrs Ann McCravey (believed to be Mrs Ann McRavin who allegedly lived at 404 east Tenth Street) claimed that she had seen Tippit’s killer running (With Malice, Chapter 4). Although McRavin didn’t specify which direction she had seen Tippit’s killer running, Myers writes that given her vantage point; “…Tippit’s killer could only have been running in a westerly direction [when she saw him]…” (ibid). But contrary to McRavin’s claim, no other witness is on record saying that Tippit’s killer was running, and given the evidence that Tippit was lured to Tenth Street to be shot, it seems highly unlikely that his killer would have been running and making himself appear suspicious to Tippit. Therefore, if she really did see Tippit’s killer, her claim that he was running should not be considered credible.

As far as Jack Tatum is concerned, there is good reason to believe that he may be a phony witness used not only to help incriminate Oswald for Tippit’s murder, but to also help explain the presence of a suspicious red Ford at the Tippit murder scene. When Tatum was interviewed by HSCA investigators on February 1, 1978, he claimed that after he witnessed Tippit being shot in the head, he sped off in his car, and made no mention of having returned to the murder scene (HSCA report, Volume XII, page 41). In fact, when Tatum was asked if there was anything he wished to add to the statement he made to investigators Jack Moriarty and Joe Bastori, he replied; “At this time I can’t think of anything.” (John Armstrong Baylor research collection, tab entitled: Jack Tatum). However, when Myers interviewed Tatum in 1983/84, Tatum now began to aggrandize his story and his importance in it. He now claimed that he had gone back to the Tippit murder scene, and had taken Helen Markham to a policeman (With Malice, Chapter 4). Evidently, by the time Myers had interviewed him, Tatum had experienced a case of memory improvement. It is also noteworthy that during a telephone interview on March 18, 1986, Tatum allegedly stated that he had taken Markham to the police station to give evidence (John Armstrong Baylor research collection, tab entitled: Jack Tatum). However, this allegation is dubious. As Myers acknowledges in his book, Markham was taken to DPD headquarters by an officer named George W. Hammer (With Malice, Chapter 7). According to the transcripts of the DPD radio communications, Hammer was indeed the officer who took Markham to DPD headquarters (WCE 705/1974).

Whilst Myers and his ilk will probably argue that the interviewer was in error, the truth is that no intellectually honest researcher should assume that this was the case, and then argue that Tatum definitely didn’t make such a claim. Readers should also bear in mind that Tatum didn’t come forward as a witness shortly following Tippit’s murder because he allegedly thought that there were enough witnesses, and that he didn’t think he could “add anything” (John Armstrong Baylor research collection, tab entitled: Jack Tatum). During his aforementioned telephone interview, Tatum also claimed that he was concerned about rumors of a conspiracy, and in particular a Mafia one; and that this may have been another reason for him remaining quiet (ibid). Perhaps the most significant detail about Tatum is that he was employed by the Baylor Medical Centre in Dallas, which, according to researcher William Kelly, had received funds from both the U.S. Army and the CIA for the heinous MK/ULTRA research, between the years 1963 and 1965 (John Simkin’s education forum, thread entitled: Frank Kaiser). As many researchers have pointed out, the CIA has been involved in the cover-up of Oswald as President Kennedy’s assassin. Therefore, the possibility exists that the CIA may have been involved in coercing Tatum into identifying Oswald as Tippit’s killer in order to bolster the notion that he was President Kennedy’s assassin. Whilst this reviewer feels certain that Myers will dismiss this as ridiculous, it nevertheless remains a possibility.

When Domingo Benavides testified before the Warren Commission, he claimed that a man in a red colored Ford had stopped and pulled over following the shooting, and that he never saw him get out of his car (WC Volume VI, page 463). During his interview with John Berendt from Esquire magazine, Benavides claimed that the car he had seen was red colored Ford with a white top, and that it came back to the Tippit murder scene a few minutes following the shooting (John Armstrong Baylor research collection, tab entitled: Igor Vaganov). Jack Tatum claimed that the car he was driving in when he arrived at the Tippit murder scene was a red colored 1964 model Ford Galaxie 500 (With Malice, Chapter 10). Whilst Myers readily accepts that the car Benavides had seen belonged to Jack Tatum, several researchers are of the opinion that it actually belonged to Igor Vaganov, who quite possibly played a role in Tippit’s murder (see the thread entitled Igor Vaganov on John Simkin’s Education Forum). Whilst this reviewer believes that the driver of the red Ford was quite possibly Igor Vaganov, it is also this reviewer’s opinion that Tatum was quite likely pushed into saying that he was the man driving the red Ford to help dispel the notion that the car belonged to Vaganov. As for why Tatum wasn’t coerced into coming forward sooner with his tale, this reviewer cannot offer an explanation. On a final note, Tatum may have been coerced into saying that Oswald was walking east to make it appear as though Tippit had stopped “Oswald” because he had turned around after seeing Tippit approaching in his squad car; just as Myers contends.

V: Search for a killer

Myers now explains to the readers the search for Tippit’s killer by the DPD, beginning with the discovery of the spent shell casings on the sixth floor of the TSBD by Dallas County deputy Sheriff, Luke Mooney (With Malice, Chapter 5). Myers believes that DPD Sgt. Gerald Hill was on the sixth floor when Mooney discovered the spent shell casings. But as this reviewer will explain in an upcoming essay on Hill, there is very good reason to believe that Hill was on the sixth floor of the TSBD before Mooney discovered the spent shell casings. Myers writes that the first officer to arrive at the Tippit murder scene was Kenneth Hudson Croy, who was a sergeant in the DPD reserves (With Malice, Chapter 5). According to Myers, the next Officer to arrive at the scene was Howell W. Summers, arriving about one minute after Kenneth Croy, circa 1:20 pm. However, according to the transcripts of channel one of the DPD radio transmissions, Officer Summers informs the dispatchers that he is at the murder scene after 1:25 pm, and after Officers Joe M. Poe, Leonard E. Jez, and Sgt. Calvin “Bud” Owens report that they have arrived at the murder scene (WCE 705/1974).

Now if Summers was the second Officer to arrive, he waited for over five minutes before telling the dispatchers he arrived, which seems ridiculous. Although this reviewer doesn’t know why Myers doesn’t point this out to his readers, the fact that he doesn’t speaks poorly for his credibility. But in order to bolster the notion that Summers was the second Officer to arrive, Myers writes in his endnotes that Officer Roy W. Walker, who broadcast the first description of Tippit’s killer at about 1:22 pm, told him during an interview in 1983 that when he (Walker) arrived at the murder scene, there were two Officers already there. One of the Officers would undoubtedly have been reserve Sgt. Kenneth Croy. However, the identity of the second Officer to arrive (if Walker’s recollection was accurate) remains an open question.

According to both WCE 705 and 1974, at approximately 1:32 pm, DPD Officer Jerry Pollard informs the dispatchers on channel one of the DPD radio that; “They [witnesses] say he [the killer] is running west in the alley between Jefferson and Tenth [Streets]”. Myers explains that the two witnesses who gave this information to the DPD Officers were Jimmy Burt and William Arthur Smith (With Malice, chapter 5). In his endnotes, Myers sources this claim to Burt’s interview with Al Chapman in 1968. According to Burt’s interview with the FBI on December 16, 1963, Burt claimed that “…he ran to the intersection of 10th and Patton and when he [Burt] was close enough to Patton Street to see to the south he saw the man running into an alley located between 10th and Jefferson Avenue on Patton Street. The man ran in the alley to the right would be running west at this point.” (WCD 194, page 29). However, Burt was most certainly lying, as no less than four witnesses; Warren Reynolds, B.M. “Pat” Patterson, L.J. Lewis, and Harold Russell, claimed they observed the gunman turn west from Patton Street onto Jefferson Blvd. (With Malice, Chapter 4). When Burt was interviewed by Al Chapman in 1968, he claimed that he and William Arthur Smith “…got to the alley [between Tenth and Jefferson] and we kind of come to a stop and looked down the alley and we saw this guy down there. He was down almost to the next street.” (With Malice, Chapter 4). Myers then writes that Burt and Smith may have been the last two witnesses to see Tippit’s killer fleeing west along the alley behind the Texaco Service station located on Jefferson Blvd. (ibid).

In his endnotes, Myers acknowledges the discrepancies between Burt’s remarks to the FBI and his remarks to Al Chapman, but tries to explain the discrepancy by stating that because of his police record, his trouble with the U.S. Military, and his alleged desire to withhold his identity from the DPD, Burt possibly “altered” his 1963 interview with the FBI to avoid “deeper” involvement in the case. However, this appears to be nothing but a pathetic attempt at trying to conceal the fact that Burt lied during his interview with Al Chapman, and that the so-called radio transmission by Officer Pollard was probably added into the recordings/transcripts of the DPD radio transmissions to dismiss the possibility that Tippit’s real killer was hiding inside the Abundant Life Temple, located on the corner of Tenth and Crawford Streets (this reviewer will elaborate on this in the upcoming essay on Gerald Hill). Now if Burt really was concerned about all of the above as Myers claims, then why the heck would he lie to the FBI when he surely would have realized that he would be getting himself into more trouble? Myers also acknowledges in his endnotes that William Arthur Smith informed both the FBI and the Warren Commission that he and Burt did not follow the gunman, and also acknowledges that when he (Myers) interviewed Smith in 1997, Smith was unable to recall if they had followed the killer or not. Given all of the above, and despite what Myers wants his readers to believe, Burt should not be considered a credible witness.

VI: Closing in

Myers begins this chapter with a discussion of the false alarm at the Jefferson branch Library located on Marsalis and Jefferson streets, and concludes the chapter with Oswald’s arrest inside the Texas Theater. The person who triggered the false alarm at the library was Adrian Hamby, who worked there as a page (With Malice, Chapter 6). Hamby was approached by two plainclothes DPD “detectives”, and was allegedly told to go into the Library and inform management that a Police Officer was shot, and to have them lock all the doors and to not let anyone enter the Library until they secured the area (ibid). As Hamby was entering the Library, he was allegedly spotted by DPD Officer Charles T. Walker, after which Walker put a broadcast on the DPD radio that the suspect was in the library (WCE 705/1974). In his report to DPD Chief Jesse Curry, detective Marvin Buhk wrote that there were “Secret Service” men at the Jefferson Branch Library who informed DPD Officers at the Library that after Adrian Hamby came out of the Library, one of them claimed that Hamby was not the suspect (Dallas Municipal archives, Box 2, Folder 7, Item 56).

In his endnotes, Myers writes that detective Buhk was the only officer to mention Secret Service agents being at the Library. As far as this reviewer in concerned, Myers is correct. Myers also writes that the “Secret Service” man referred to by Buhk in his report was actually one of the two “lawmen” who instructed Hamby to go into the library and have all the doors locked. The fact of the matter is that there is no known evidence that any genuine Secret Service agents were present at the Jefferson Branch Library on the day of the assassination. Furthermore, the identity of the two men who spoke to Hamby has never been determined, and if they were DPD detectives, then surely their identity would be known to Buhk and others, and surely Buhk would not have referred to them as Secret Service agents. One alternative explanation is that the so-called Secret Service men may have been conspirators, who may have deliberately triggered the false alarm at the Library to pull the DPD Officers away from the Abundant Life Temple, where Tippit’s actual killer was perhaps hiding (this reviewer will be discussing this theory in the upcoming essay on Gerald Hill). The possibility that these “Secret Service” men were conspirators is bolstered by the fact that several men who identified themselves as Secret Service men were present in Dealey Plaza shortly following President Kennedy’s assassination (readers are encouraged to read through this article on this reviewer’s blog). In his dismissal of the “Secret Service” men at the Library as being nothing sinister, Myers never mentions the fact that men identifying themselves as Secret Service men were present in Dealey Plaza.

As perhaps every researcher of the JFK assassination is aware, Oswald was apprehended inside the Texas Theater after he allegedly tried to shoot Officer M. Nick McDonald with the revolver he supposedly used to murder Tippit. Myers’ discussion of the scuffle inside the theater with Oswald is perhaps the low point of his book, a considerable negative achievement. The author deliberately ignores evidence which contradicts the notion that Oswald had pulled out the revolver and tried to shoot Officer McDonald. Before entering the theater, Oswald was allegedly spotted by shoe store owner Johnny Calvin Brewer outside the lobby of his store on Jefferson Blvd., as he was allegedly trying to avoid the DPD (With Malice, Chapter 6). Brewer then allegedly observed Oswald duck into the theater behind Julia Elizabeth Postal, who was the cashier at the theater (ibid). Myers explains that Oswald had not paid for a ticket, and that Postal had seen Oswald “out of the corner of her eye” as he was coming towards the theater from the east (ibid). During her testimony before the Warren Commission, Postal claimed that she informed the DPD over the telephone that she hadn’t heard of Oswald’s description, but then described him as “ruddy looking.” (WC Volume VII, page 11).

Towards the end of her testimony, counsel Joseph Ball showed Postal the shirt Oswald was wearing (WCE 150), when he was arrested inside the theatre. He asked her; “when he went in [to the Theater] was it [the shirt] tucked into his pants when he went in?” to which Postal responded; “No, sir; because I remember he came flying around the corner, because his hair was and his shirt was waving.”, and that “It [the shirt] was hanging out”! (ibid). So if Postal had merely seen “Oswald” out of the corner of her eye, how on Earth was she able to describe all of the above? The simple answer is that she did not see “Oswald” out of the corner of her eye, but actually got a good view of him. But, ironically, she also testified that she did not see him enter the theatre.

Another pertinent piece of information which Myers omits is that when researcher Jones Harris allegedly interviewed Postal in 1963, Harris asked her if she had sold Oswald a ticket for the theater. Upon hearing the question, Postal burst into tears. When Harris asked her again if she had sold him a ticket, he received the same response. The obvious implication of Postal’s reaction is that she did sell a ticket to Oswald. Although this reviewer discusses evidence further on in this review which casts doubt on Harris’s credibility as far as the wallet containing identification for Oswald and Hidell is concerned, Postal’s own testimony as described above suggests that she did in fact sell Oswald a ticket. In fact, in both her affidavit to the DPD and in her interview with the FBI on February 29, 1964, she claimed that she had seen/noticed Oswald duck into the Theater (WCD 735, page 264), (Dallas Municipal archives, Box 2, Folder 3, Item 21) . As the reader can see, Postal is a problematic witness. And it appears to be that she did sell Oswald a ticket.

Which makes Johnny Brewer problematic. Brewer testified that he had seen Oswald duck into the theater without paying for a ticket (WC Volume VII, page 4). However, he also testified that he had asked Postal if she sold him a ticket (ibid). When Counsel Joseph Ball enquired why Brewer had asked Postal if she sold Oswald a ticket, he said that he didn’t know! (ibid, page 5). The notion that Brewer would have to ask Postal if she had sold a ticket to Oswald, when he already knew the answer is far fetched. Brewer, along with Warren “Butch” Burroughs, who worked behind the concession stand inside the theater, then allegedly searched the theater to find Oswald (With Malice, Chapter 6). After they were unable to find him, Postal called the police (ibid). One important detail which Myers never mentions in his book is that Brewer told author Ian Griggs during an interview in 1996 that when he allegedly observed Oswald standing outside his store, there were two men from IBM in the store with him (Griggs, No Case to Answer, page 58). According to researcher Lee Farley, one of the two so-called “IBM men” was quite possibly Igor Vaganov (see the thread entitled Igor Vaganov on John Simkin’s education forum). This reviewer believes that Vaganov was likely one of the two “IBM” men in the store, and that the purpose of these two men was to alert Brewer that they had seen a man enter the theater with a gun looking like he was trying to hide from the police, so that Brewer would then alert the theater staff to call the DPD in order for Oswald to be arrested.

Readers should keep in mind that when Warren Commission counsel David Belin asked Brewer how he found out about President Kennedy’s assassination, he testified that; “We were listening to a transistor radio there in the store…” (WC Volume VII, page 2). Belin however, didn’t both to ask Brewer who was in the store with him. Although Postal and Brewer were the two people who purportedly led the DPD to the Theater, the DPD never bothered to take affidavits from them on the day of the assassination. In fact, Postal and Brewer provided their affidavits to the DPD on December 4 and 6, 1963, respectively (Dallas Municipal archives, Box 2, Folder 3, Items 16 and 21). On the other hand, George Applin, who witnessed Oswald’s arrest inside the Texas Theater, provided the DPD an affidavit on the day of the assassination (Ibid, Folder 2, Item 3). Similarly, many of the people who witnessed the President’s assassination provided affidavits on the day of the assassination. Yet, incredibly, Postal and Brewer provided affidavits to the DPD over a week following the assassination. Curiously, there doesn’t appear to be an affidavit from Warren “Butch” Burroughs amongst the Dallas Municipal archives. Furthermore, according to both Warren Burroughs and a theater patron named Jack Davis, Oswald may have been inside the theater much sooner than when Brewer allegedly saw him outside his store at about 1:36 pm looking “funny/scared”

After the police arrived at the Theater, the first Officer to approach Oswald as he was sitting down was Nick McDonald. Although Johnny Brewer was credited with pointing Oswald out to the DPD Officers inside the theater, Myers writes in his endnotes that the Dallas Morning News and the Dallas Times Herald published an article two days after the assassination, in which McDonald was quoted as saying; “A man sitting near the front, and I still don’t know who it was, tipped me [that] the man I wanted was sitting on the third row from the rear on the ground floor and not the balcony.” However, Brewer testified that he pointed Oswald out to the officers as he was standing on the stage of the theater (WC Volume VII, page 6) If McDonald’s account is true, then the obvious implication is that Brewer wasn’t the man who pointed Oswald out to the police. Myers evidently wants his readers to believe that the man was in fact Johnny Brewer, but doesn’t mention that Brewer was standing on the stage when he allegedly pointed Oswald out to the Officers.

When Officer McDonald testified before the Warren Commission, he claimed he ordered Oswald to stand up, after which Oswald raised both of his hands and then allegedly yelled out “Well, it is all over now” (WC Volume III, page 300). Although McDonald also wrote in his arrest report to DPD Chief Jesse Curry that Oswald said “Well, it’s all over now”, this is not what McDonald initially claimed Oswald had said to him (Dallas Municipal archives, Box 2, Folder 7, Item 32). When McDonald was interviewed by WFAA-TV on the day following the assassination, he explained that Oswald said “This is it” (See the video). What’s most telling about the interview is that McDonald looks down to the table and sounds nervous (both of which are indications of lying) as he explains that Oswald said “This is it”. Myers doesn’t mention this discrepancy to his readers. Furthermore, when McDonald was interviewed by Lloyd Shearer, he told Shearer that he heard Oswald say “Now, it’s all over” (Oakland Tribune Parade, March 8, 1964). When Gerald Hill testified before the Warren Commission, he informed Counsel David Belin that he thought McDonald and Officer Thomas Hutson (who was also involved in Oswald’s arrest), said that they heard Oswald say “This is it”; but that he didn’t hear this himself (WC Volume VII, page 51). However, when Hutson was asked by Counsel David Belin if he remembered hearing Oswald say anything, Hutson said that he didn’t (WC Volume VII, page 32). It would therefore seem that Hill may have been embellishing.

When Ian Griggs interviewed Johnny Brewer in 1996, Brewer told him that he heard Oswald shout out “It’s all over”; or words to that effect (Griggs, No Case to Answer, page 64). But when Brewer testified before the Warren Commission, Brewer merely claimed that he heard some hollering, and that he couldn’t make out exactly what Oswald said (WC Volume VII, page 6). Contained within the John Armstrong Baylor collection is an interview with a little known witness named David. According to David, he was with a friend named Bob in the theater when Oswald was arrested (John Armstrong Baylor collection, tab entitled: ‘David’). Evidently, David and Bob are the two young boys spotted by Officer Thomas Hutson sitting at the rear of the theater (WC Volume VII, page 31). David claimed that when McDonald approached Oswald and asked him to stand-up, the only thing he recalled Oswald saying was words similar to “All right”, and made no mention of him saying anything else The reader should bear in mind that there doesn’t appear to be any direct corroboration for the presence of Bob and David in the theater when Oswald was arrested. Yet, none of the above is even mentioned by Myers.

In his report to Dallas Sheriff Bill Decker, Deputy Sheriff Buddy Walthers, who also allegedly witnessed Oswald’s arrest, wrote that the only thing he heard Oswald say was “It’s all over” (WC Volume XIX, Decker exhibit 5323). However, after reading through Walther’s report, it isn’t clear whether Walthers was saying Oswald said “it’s all over” before or after he was arrested; and as this reviewer will explain in the upcoming essay on Gerald Hill, former Dallas deputy sheriffs Bill Courson and Roger Craig have disputed Walther’s claim that he was inside the theater when Oswald was arrested. Readers should keep in mind that none of the other officers involved in Oswald’s arrest, or theater patrons John Gibson and George Applin who witnessed his arrest, claimed they heard Oswald shout out either “This is it” or “Well, it’s all over now” as McDonald claimed.

As Myers writes in his book, FBI agent Robert M. Barrett, who also witnessed Oswald’s arrest, claimed in the report he wrote out on the day of the assassination that Oswald shouted in a loud voice; “Kill all the sons of bitches!” (With Malice, Chapter 6). But what Myers doesn’t tell his readers is that no other witness to Oswald’s arrest said that they heard him shout out words similar to what Barrett claimed he did; and that Barrett was almost certainly lying. In conclusion, it is readily apparent that McDonald was lying when he claimed that Oswald said; “This is it” or “Well, it’s all over now”. It is utterly inconceivable that McDonald could have confused the expressions “This is it” with “Well, it’s all over now” as they sound nothing alike. But Myers cannot admit that McDonald (and Barrett for that matter) were lying; as their agenda is to convince researchers that Oswald was guilty of killing Tippit beyond any doubt. Readers are encouraged to read through this article on this reviewer’s blog, which further demonstrates that McDonald was a liar.

We now come to the question of whether or not Oswald tried to shoot Officer McDonald after McDonald ordered him to stand up; and whether Oswald did in fact have a gun when he was arrested. Although Myers admits in his endnotes that McDonald told Eddie Barker from CBS that he prevented “Oswald’s” gun from firing when his hand was allegedly jammed between the primer of the gun and the hammer, he nevertheless omits that when detective Paul Bentley was interviewed by reporters on the day following the assassination, he claimed that he prevented it from firing! (WCE 2157). However, Bentley also claimed that “…we [evidently referring to McDonald] got a thumb or something in between the hammer and the firing pin so that it mashed the firing [of the gun]…” and that the hammer of the gun “just snapped slightly” (ibid). But despite being allegedly confused about who had prevented the gun from firing, Bentley then almost humorously said; “…my hand was across to prevent it from firing…we don’t know if it was my thumb, finger or hand. I got a bruised hand from it. I don’t know if it was the thumb or the finger.” (ibid). Even though a photograph taken inside the Texas theater shows Bentley standing to the right of Oswald as he is apparently being handcuffed, there is no corroboration from McDonald or anyone else that Bentley prevented the gun from firing as he described (see Gerald Hill Exhibit A). It is therefore probable that Bentley was lying.

Myers writes in his endnotes that WFAA-TV cameraman, Tom Alyea, claimed that he had seen a bandaged wound on McDonald’s hand during a filmed interview, but that when Alyea wanted to film it, McDonald objected. Although this would seem to corroborate McDonald’s claim that his hand had been jammed between the hammer and the firing pin of the revolver, Alyea described it as looking like someone had jabbed an ice-pick into it. In other words, it didn’t appear as though it was caused by the hammer of a revolver. If McDonald already had this injury before the scuffle with Oswald, then perhaps this is what gave him the idea later on to claim that the hammer of the gun had struck the fleshy part of his hand. Also, given that McDonald made no mention of his hand preventing the gun from firing in either his report to DPD chief Jesse Curry or during his testimony before the Warren Commission, it is apparent he has a credibility problem. McDonald also testified that the four inch scar on his left cheek was made by “Oswald’s” revolver during the scuffle inside the theater (WC Volume III, page 300). However, according to FBI agent Robert M. Barrett, McDonald told him that the graze on his left cheek was caused by Oswald punching him in the face, and knocking him against the seat; and not by the gun (WCD 5, page 84). Myers does not mention this contradiction in his book.

Although McDonald implies in his report to DPD Chief Jesse Curry that officers Ray Hawkins, Charles Walker, and Thomas Hutson were with him when Oswald allegedly pulled out the revolver from his belt, during his testimony before the Warren Commission, he claimed that he had already disarmed Oswald by the time the aforementioned Officers had arrived to assist him (Dallas Municipal archives, Box 2, Folder 7, Item 32, WC Volume III, page 300). However, Hawkins, Walker, and Hutson all testified that Oswald had pulled the revolver out of his belt after they had arrived (WC Volume VII, pages 32, 39, and 94). Although McDonald took full credit for disarming Oswald, officer Hutson testified that McDonald and “somebody else” had taken the gun out of Oswald’s hand, but added that he “couldn’t say exactly” (ibid, page 32). Walker also testified that as several hands were on the gun, a detective “…reached over and pulled the gun away from everybody, pulled it away from everyone, best I can recall” (WC Volume VII, page 40). However, McDonald told the Warren Commission that after he had disarmed Oswald, he handed the gun to detective Bob Carroll (WC Volume III, page 301). When Carroll testified before the Warren Commission, he claimed that he saw a gun pointing at him (towards the south aisle of the theater) and then grabbed it and jerked it away from whoever had it (WC Volume VII, page 20).

Myers selectively quotes from the testimony of Officer Charles Walker before the Warren Commission, during which Walker claimed that after Oswald pulled the revolver from under his shirt, it was about waist high and pointed at about a forty-five degree angle (With Malice, Chapter 6). Walker also wrote in his report to Chief Curry that the gun was being waved around approximately waist high (Dallas Municipal archives, Box 2, Folder 7, Item 47). Although Walker also testified that one the Officers had commanded Oswald to “let go of the gun”, to which Oswald allegedly responded “I can’t” (With Malice, Chapter 6). Whilst Myers has no problem using this claim by Walker, he nevertheless neglects to tell his readers that there is no corroboration for Walker’s claim; let alone that no officer is on record claiming that he had ordered Oswald to let go of the gun. Officer Hutson told the Warren Commission that Oswald was pointing the gun towards the theater screen when he allegedly heard the snap of the gun’s hammer, and that Oswald wasn’t aiming the gun at any Officer in particular (WC Volume VII, page 32). However, when McDonald was interviewed by Eddie Barker from CBS in 1964, he demonstrated to Barker that Oswald had allegedly aimed the gun at him (towards the south aisle of the theatre), and then the gun allegedly snapped as he and Oswald were down in the theater seats scuffling (See the footage).

Hutson also testified that the only officer who could have come between the line of fire of the gun as it was allegedly aimed towards the screen was Ray Hawkins (ibid). Although Charles Walker testified that; “…Hawkins was in the general direction of the gun”, and that the gun was pointing slightly towards the theater screen, this is not what Hawkins claimed during his own testimony (WC Volume VII, page 39). Hawkins, who had approached Oswald and McDonald from the row of seats in front of them, testified that when the gun came out of Oswald’s belt “…it was pulled across to their right, or toward the south aisle of the theatre” and made no mention of the gun being aimed in the direction of the theater screen or towards him (WC Volume VII, page 94).

When Johnny Brewer testified before the Warren Commission, he claimed that he observed a gun in Oswald’s hand aimed “up in the air” (WC Volume VII, page 6). During his interview with Ian Griggs in 1996, he now claimed that Oswald was trying to shoot McDonald in the head (Griggs, No Case to Answer, page 64). Yet, none of the other witnesses and the arresting Officers, let alone Nick McDonald, claimed that this is what they had seen during the scuffle. Moreover, Brewer’s claim is directly contradicted by Charles Walker, who stated that the gun was pointed about waist high. In his report to Chief Curry, detective John B. Toney wrote that Oswald had a pistol in his right hand, with his right arm “pinioned” across McDonald’s left shoulder (Dallas Municipal archives, Box 2, Folder 7, Item 43). It is also worth noting that Toney told author Larry Sneed many years later that he had seen a gun in “…someone’s hand over someone’s shoulder, and someone was holding the arm.” (Sneed, No More Silence, page 308). Not only do Toney’s remarks contradict what McDonald demonstrated to Eddie Barker in the aforementioned film footage, but none of Toney’s fellow officers offered corroboration for this claim.

John Gibson, who was a witness to Oswald’s arrest, testified before the Warren Commission that as the DPD Officers walking along the aisles of the theatre, Oswald was standing in the aisle with a gun in his hand! (WC Volume VII, pages 71 and 72). When Counsel Joseph Ball asked him if any of the DPD Officers had a hold of it that time, Gibson testified that he didn’t believe so (ibid, page 72). Gibson’s account of what he allegedly witnessed is bizarre, for not one DPD Officer or any other witness claimed that Oswald was standing in the aisle with the gun in his hand as the Officers were walking along the aisles! Readers should keep in mind that the aforementioned self-proclaimed witness named David, claimed that Oswald pulled a gun, but didn’t see it until it was “taken away from him” It would therefore seem that David had merely assumed that Oswald pulled a gun, and as this reviewer will explain in the upcoming essay on Gerald Hill, this was by all likelihood the case. As for Dallas deputy Sheriff Buddy Walthers, he wrote in his report to Sheriff Bill Decker that when he reached the scuffle with Oswald; “…I could see a gun on the floor with 2 or 3 hands on it…” (WC Volume XIX, Decker exhibit 5323). Walthers also wrote that he thought it was detective Bob Carroll who reached down to the floor and got the gun. But when Walthers testified before the Warren Commission, he was now “real sure” that it was Carroll who got the gun, and curiously left out that the gun was on the floor (WC Volume VII, pages 547 and 548).

Let’s now look at the statements by witness George Jefferson Applin. In his first day affidavit to the DPD, he allegedly wrote that Oswald “…had his arm around the officer’s left shoulder and had a pistol in his hand” (Dallas Municipal archives, Box 2, Folder 2, Item 3). But in his affidavit to the USSS on December 1, 1963, Applin claimed that during the scuffle between Oswald and McDonald “…one of the two had a pistol in his right hand” (WCD 87, page 558). In other words, Applin was saying that he wasn’t sure who had a hold of the gun. In his interview with the FBI on December 16, 1963, Applin allegedly claimed that Oswald pulled out a gun and aimed it at McDonald’s head, and that he thought the gun was on McDonald’s shoulder when Oswald allegedly pulled the trigger (WCD 206, page 69). Aside from what Johnny Brewer told Ian Griggs in 1996, there is no corroboration for the claim that Oswald pointed the gun at McDonald’s head. By the same token, apart from what John Toney wrote in his report to DPD chief Jesse Curry and what he told author Larry Sneed, there is no corroboration from anyone, let alone from McDonald, that Oswald had placed the gun on McDonald’s shoulder. Therefore, the aforementioned statements Applin allegedly made to the FBI should be taken with a grain of salt.

When Applin testified before the Warren Commission, he made no mention of seeing the gun on McDonald’s shoulder or that he had seen Oswald aim the gun at McDonald’s head. In fact, when Counsel Joseph Ball asked him who pulled out the revolver, Applin claimed; “I guess it was Oswald, because -for one reason, that he had on a short sleeve shirt, and I [had] seen a man’s arm that was connected to the gun.” (WC Volume VII, page 89). Although it isn’t clear, it seems that Applin thought that the man with the short sleeved shirt was the one who had the gun, and that he thought Oswald was wearing a short sleeved shirt. However, Oswald was arrested wearing a long sleeved shirt (WCE 150). Similarly, on the day of the assassination, McDonald was photographed wearing a long sleeved shirt as he was talking to Dallas Morning News reporter Jim Ewell. As far as Applin’s claim (in his first day affidavit) that he had seen Oswald with his arm around McDonald’s shoulder and with a gun in his hand is concerned, the reader should keep in mind that according to DPD Lt. E.L. Cunningham, the officer who took Applin’s affidavit was detective John Toney; the same John Toney who claimed that he had seen a gun in his Oswald’s hand with his right arm pinioned across McDonald’s left shoulder (Dallas Municipal archives, Box 2, Folder 7, Item 15). Given the similarity between what Toney wrote in his report to Chief Curry and what Applin allegedly claimed in his affidavit, it is entirely conceivable that Toney altered what Applin actually told him.

None of these many contradictions and inconsistencies between the statements by the aforementioned officers and witnesses is ever mentioned by Myers. Given the fact that he is a rabid advocate of Oswald’s guilt in the Tippit murder, Myers will probably dismiss all of the above contradictions and inconsistencies as being irrelevant. However, the truth is that no intellectually honest researcher would (or should) dismiss them as being irrelevant; and when they are taken in conjunction with all of the evidence discussed in this review that the DPD framed Oswald for Tippit’s murder, there is reason to believe that Oswald never had a revolver with him when he was arrested inside the theater. In a caption to one of the photographs taken outside the theater by Stuart Reed, as Oswald is being dragged towards a police car with his face covered by Charles Walker’s hat, Myers writes that detective Bob Carroll is holding onto Oswald’s revolver (With Malice, Chapter 6). Whilst the photograph does show Carroll holding onto a gun, his own statements rule out that this was “Oswald’s” revolver.

In his report to DPD chief Jesse Curry, Carroll wrote that; “I grabbed the pistol and stuck it in my belt and then continued to assist in the subduing of Oswald” (Dallas Municipal archives, Box 2, Folder 7, Item 12). When Carroll testified before the Warren Commission, he confirmed that; “…I saw a pistol pointing at me so I reached and grabbed the pistol and jerked the pistol away and stuck it in my belt and then I grabbed Oswald” (WC Volume VII, page 20). He further added that; “The first time I saw the weapon, it was pointed in my direction, and I reached and grabbed it and stuck it into my belt… At the time, I was assisting in the arrest of Lee Harvey Oswald” (ibid, page 24). By omitting these statements from his book, Myers deceives his readers. In the report he wrote out on the day of the assassination, FBI agent Robert M. Barrett stated that; “One of the Officers took a .38 Calibre snub nose revolver out of Oswald’s right hand and handed it to detective [Bob] Carroll”. However, as discussed previously, Barrett lied when he wrote in his report that he heard Oswald yell in a loud voice “Kill all the sons of bitches”, and therefore, his claim that someone handed Carroll “Oswald’s” gun should be taken with a grain of salt (WCD 5, page 84).

On a further note, the gun which Carroll was photographed holding outside of the theater appears to have a longer barrel than “Oswald’s” revolver, with what appears to be sunlight reflecting off of the barrel towards the muzzle end. As for whose gun Carroll was holding outside of the theater, this review will discuss this issue in the upcoming essay on Gerald Hill. In that same essay, this reviewer will be arguing that Hill framed Oswald for Tippit’s murder after he (or possibly one of his co-conspirators from the DPD) obtained the revolver Oswald allegedly had in his possession when arrested from Tippit’s real murderer. The reader should keep in mind that theater patron Jack Davis, told author Jim Marrs that Oswald had first sat next to him, but then got up and sat next to another person. (Crossfire, p. 353) In fact, Davis told Marrs that he thought it was strange that Oswald would sit right next to him inside a big theater with many seats to choose from (ibid). Warren “Butch” Burroughs told Marrs that Oswald had also sat next to a pregnant lady. Oswald’s actions imply that he thought he was to contact someone inside the theatre. And as many researchers, such as Greg Parker have noted, when Oswald was arrested, he had in his possession a torn box top with the label “Cox’s Fort Worth” printed on it, and that Oswald may have been using this to identify himself to the person he thought he was to meet inside the theater (see thread entitled Neely St Questions on John Simkin’s education forum).

On a further note, the DPD took a list of the names of all the witnesses inside the theater after Oswald was arrested, but the list is now nowhere to be found. And the only two patrons who were interviewed concerning what they witnessed were John Gibson and George Jefferson Applin (Dallas Municipal archives, Box 2, Folder 7, Item 35). In this reviewer’s opinion, the reason the list was made to disappear was to conceal the identity of any would be conspirators inside the theater. Keep in mind that officer McDonald was quoted by the Dallas Morning News and the Dallas Times Herald as saying that a man sitting in the front row of the theater pointed Oswald out to him as the man he was seeking. It is also worth keeping in mind that George Applin testified that he had told a man sitting in the back row of the theater; “Buddy, you’d better move. There is a gun”, and that after doing so, the man calmly remained seated and didn’t budge (WC Volume VII, page 91). Given the man’s behaviour, the possibility exists that he too may have had some involvement in Oswald’s frame-up.

Let’s now examine what Oswald allegedly said after he was removed from the theater, words which disinformation shills like David Von Pein have used against him. The five officers who took Oswald to DPD headquarters were Bob Carroll, Kenneth E. Lyon, Gerald Hill, Paul Bentley, and Charles T. Walker. Oswald was sitting in the rear seat, with Bentley sitting to his left and Walker sitting to his right. Myers quotes from K.E Lyon’s reports to DPD chief Jesse Curry in which he claimed that whilst en route to Police headquarters, Oswald admitted to carrying a gun inside the theater (With Malice, Chapter 6). Detective Bob Carroll made this same claim in his own report to Chief Curry (Dallas Municipal archives, Box 2, Folder 7, Item 12). Myers also quotes from Charles Walker’s Warren Commission testimony, where he claimed that Oswald admitted to carrying a gun inside the theater (ibid). However, Walker didn’t mention this in his report to Chief Curry.

When Paul Bentley was interviewed by WFAA-TV on the day following the assassination, he also claimed that Oswald admitted to carrying a gun inside the theater. Given all the evidence presented in this review for Oswald being framed for Tippit’s murder, these statements should not be considered credible. The reader should also bear in mind that when Gerald Hill was interviewed by reporters shortly following Oswald’s arrest, he made no mention of Oswald admitting to carrying a gun inside the theater (WCE 2160). In fact, Hill complained that Oswald “…wouldn’t even admit he pulled the trigger on the gun in the theatre” (ibid). When Hill was interviewed by Bob Whitten of KCRA radio on the day of the assassination, he again neglected to mention that Oswald admitted to carrying a gun inside the theater; even though he did claim that Oswald allegedly said “This is it” after Officer McDonald approached him, and that Oswald admitted to being a communist (WCD 1210).

Myers also quotes from Charles Walker’s testimony before the Warren Commission, during which Walker claimed that after Oswald was told that he was suspected of killing Tippit, Oswald made the remarks; “I hear they burn for murder” and “Well, they say it only takes a second to die” (With Malice, Chapter 6). Although Gerald Hill testified that Oswald made a statement similar to “You only fry for that” or “You can fry for that”, Hill made no mention of this to reporters on the day of the assassination, or during his interview with Bob Whitten (WC Volume VII, page 58). In fact, Hill told Whitten that when they had questioned Oswald inside the car about Killing Tippit, Oswald allegedly made the remark; “I don’t have to tell you all anything”, and made no mention of Oswald saying what both he and Walker claimed he did when they testified before the Warren Commission (WCD 1210). Furthermore, Hill made no mention of Oswald saying the above when he was questioned by reporters on the day of the assassination, telling them instead that Oswald “…did not make any definite statement other than demanding to see a lawyer and demanding his rights…” (WCE 2160).

When detective Paul Bentley was interviewed by reporters on the night of the assassination, he told them that after Oswald was arrested, he just said “This is it, it’s all over with now” (WCE 2157). Similarly, when Bentley was interviewed the following day by WFAA-TV, he stated that Oswald was advised in the car that he was being placed in jail for suspicion of murdering Tippit; but made no mention of Oswald saying what Walker and Hill told the Warren Commission he did. There was also no mention of these alleged comments by Oswald in the arrest reports by Carroll, Lyon, Hill, Bentley, and Walker to Chief Curry (Dallas Municipal archives, Box 2, Folder 7, Items 4 , 12, 22, 28, and 47). During his testimony, Walker claimed that they never put the conversations they had with suspects in their reports to Chief Curry (WC Volume VII, page 42). However, the evidence discussed throughout this book suggests that Walker was deceptive.

VII: A bird in the hand

In this chapter, Myers discusses the events subsequent to Oswald’s arrival at DPD headquarters after his arrest. Myers writes that shorty following Oswald’s arrival at DPD headquarters, he was interrogated by detective Jim Leavelle; the homicide detective who was placed in charge of investigating Tippit’s murder (With Malice, Chapter 7). This is based on Myers’ interview with Leavelle, and was probably one of the most dishonest statements made in the book. When Leavelle testified before the Warren Commission, he claimed that the first time he had ever sat in on an interrogation with Oswald was on Sunday morning, November 24, 1963 (WC Volume VII, page 268). In fact, when Counsel Joseph Ball asked Leavelle if he had ever spoken to Oswald before this interrogation, he stated; “No; I had never talked to him before”! (ibid) Leavelle then stated during his testimony that; “…the only time I had connections with Oswald was this Sunday morning [November 24, 1963]. I never had [the] occasion to talk with him at any time…” (ibid, page 269).

There is also nothing in Leavelle’s own report to DPD chief Curry about him interrogating Oswald shorty following Oswald’s arrival at DPD headquarters on Friday (Dallas Municipal archives, Box 3, Folder 8, Items 1 and 2). Myers is undoubtedly aware that Leavelle testified that he didn’t speak to Oswald before Sunday, but chooses instead to deceive his readers. But let’s understand why Myers does this. It is evident throughout his book that Myers’ agenda is to portray Oswald as the man who killed Tippit, and that the DPD did not frame him for Tippit’s murder. Since Leavelle was the homicide detective put in charge of investigating Tippit’s murder, the last thing Myers would want to admit is that Leavelle was unreliable, or an outright liar. It should also come as no surprise that Myers cannot tell the truth about Leavelle, as he is not even capable of telling readers the truth about where Howard Brennan was sitting when he allegedly witnessed Oswald firing his rifle at the President. Whilst Myers never questions Leavelle’s integrity as a DPD Officer, the reader should keep in mind that when author Joseph McBride interviewed Leavelle, Leavelle told him that the President’s assassination was no different than a South Texas “nigger” killing (McBride, Into the Nightmare, page 240). This remark reveals that Leavelle was a racist who was not really concerned about who killed President Kennedy.

Myers also deceives his readers by omitting that DPD detectives, Gus Rose and Richard Stovall, wrote in their report to Chief Curry that they had briefly spoken to Oswald after he had been brought into the homicide Office (Dallas Municipal archives, Box 3, Folder 1, Item 3). Rose and Stovall confirmed that they had briefly spoken to Oswald shortly following his arrival, when they testified before the Warren Commission (WC Volume VII, pages 187 and 228). In his report to Chief Curry, Lt. T.L. Baker wrote that Oswald was brought into the interrogation room, from where he was “being held” by detectives Rose and Stovall, and made no mention of Leavelle having interrogated Oswald (Dallas Municipal archives, Box 5, Folder 5, Item 4). Suffice it to say, this reviewer knows of no reason to believe that Leavelle had interrogated Oswald shortly following his arrival at DPD headquarters.

Myers explains that following Oswald’s arrest, Lt. Colonel Robert E. Jones of the U.S. Army’s 112th Military intelligence group (MIG) learned that a man named A.J Hidell “…had been arrested or come to the attention of law enforcement agencies.” (With Malice, Chapter 7). Myers writes that colonel Jones checked the MIG indices and discovered that there was an index on Hidell which “cross-referenced” with a file on Oswald; who allegedly used the name Alek James Hidell as an alias (ibid). Jones then allegedly pulled the file on Hidell, and notified the San Antonio FBI Office that he had some information (ibid). Colonel Jones testified before the HSCA that military intelligence officials had opened a file on Oswald after they allegedly received a report from the New Orleans Police department that Oswald had been arrested in connection with his activities associated with the Fair Play for Cuba Committee (ibid). Whilst Myers apparently considers this to be the gospel truth, Australian researcher Greg Parker has pointed out that Mrs. Marcelle Madden, who worked for the identification division of the New Orleans Police department, informed the FBI agent John Quigley on November 26, 1963, that she had no identification record for a man named Alek James Hidell (Reopen Kennedy case forum, thread entitled Hidell: The frame was bold and ruthless). Although Myers doesn’t mention this to his readers, he does explain in his endnotes that Army intelligence “routinely” destroyed Oswald’s file.

Myers then moves onto a discussion of DPD Captain Will Fritz, in which he praises Fritz’s legacy as the long-time Captain of the DPD’s Homicide and Robbery bureau. Myers writes that Fritz ran his department “with an iron fist”, and that under his command, the homicide bureau had a 90% success rate at solving murders (With Malice, Chapter 7). What Myers doesn’t mention to his readers is the horrible legacy of the DPD with Henry Wade as the district attorney of Dallas and Fritz as the department chief (as discussed previously). Myers also writes that; “For Captain Fritz, modern technology had no place in his squad room. A calm, disarming manner was his weapon.” (ibid). Evidently, this is Myers’ explanation for why Fritz never tape recorded any of his interrogations with Oswald. As the man who was charged with murdering the President of the United States of America, Fritz; along with the FBI and USSS agents who interrogated Oswald, should have tape recorded the answers Oswald gave to the various questions he was allegedly asked. There is simply no excuse for why the interviews were not tape recorded. Instead, researchers must rely on the typed summary reports by the interrogators, and their testimonies before the Warren Commission. Naturally, Myers doesn’t point this out to his readers.

In his discussion of the credibility of Helen Markham as an eyewitness to Tippit’s murder, Myers admits that her statements are “…laced with inaccurate and inconsistent details” but omits other pieces of evidence which cast doubt on Markham’s reliability as a witness (ibid). For one thing, Myers writes that when Markham testified before the Warren Commission, she identified Oswald as the number two man in the line-up; but omits that Warren Commission Counsel Joseph Ball had asked her the following leading question during her testimony; “Was there a number two man in their [the line-up]” (WC Volume III, page 310). Ball asked Markham this question after she claimed that she didn’t recognise the men in the line-up from their faces, and had never seen any of them before. But after he asks her this question, she now testifies that she recognised Oswald “Mostly from his face.” (ibid, page 311). Markham also testified that she thought Ball wanted her to describe their clothing, which is allegedly why Markham claimed that she hadn’t previously seen any of the men in the line-up; even though he had not yet asked her that question! (ibid). It is obvious from reading Markham’s testimony that she was an unreliable witness. In fact, during a debate with Mark Lane, Joseph Ball once famously remarked that he thought Markham was “an utter screwball”. Myers does not note this to his readers.

Myers also omits that when Markham was interviewed by FBI agent Bardwell Odum on the day of the assassination, she told him that the killer was about 18 years old, with black hair, and had a red complexion (WCD 5, page 79). However, Markham denied during her testimony before the Warren Commission that she told Odum the killer had a ruddy complexion. But despite her denial, during a filmed interview for the program The Men who Killed Kennedy, Markham explained that the killer had a ruddy (red) complexion (View Markham’s interview). Curiously, when Domingo Benavides testified before the Warren Commission, he claimed that the killer’s skin looked “…a little bit ruddier than mine” (WC Volume VI, page 451). He also testified that the killer’s complexion was “…a little bit darker than average” (ibid). Yet, Oswald’s complexion did not appear to be ruddy/red or what can be described (in this reviewer’s opinion) as a little bit darker than average. The reader should also keep in mind that when Julia Postal testified before the Warren Commission, she claimed that the man who ducked into the theater looked ruddy to her (WC Volume VII, page 11). As Myers writes in his endnotes, Bernard Haire, the owner of Bernie’s hobby house which was located a few doors east of the Texas Theater, claimed he saw a man with a “flushed” appearance. This raises the distinct possibility that the man Haire saw was the same man Julia Postal observed ducking into the theatre. This reviewer will elaborate on this in the upcoming essay on Gerald Hill.

Myers also takes a swipe at Mark Lane for (what he calls) badgering Helen Markham by asking her three times if she had ever told anybody that Tippit’s killer was short/stocky and had bushy hair (With Malice, Chapter 7). But at the same time, Myers apparently has no qualms about Warren Commission counsel David Belin repeatedly asking Virginia Davis if her sister-in-law, Barbara Davis, had telephoned the DPD before or after they had seen Tippit’s killer cut across their lawn (WC Volume VII, pages 455 to 468). Myers also never mentions that in the aforementioned film interview for The Men who Killed Kennedy program, Markham claimed that the killer was “a short guy”.

Following his discussion of Markham, Myers moves on to a discussion of the identification of Oswald as Tippit’s killer in a line-up viewed by Ted Callaway and Sam Guinyard. Myers considers Callaway to be a reliable witness, writing that; “Ted Callaway has been one of the few Tippit witnesses whose story has remained accurate and unwavering for more than thirty-three years.” (With Malice, Chapter 8). Myers can pretend that Callaway is a reliable witness because he never notes the contradictions between the observations of Callaway and Guinyard, both of whom allegedly observed the killer fleeing south on Patton Street after Tippit was shot. At the time of the assassination, Callaway was the manager of the Harris Bros Auto sales at 501 East Jefferson Blvd, located on the northeast corner of the Patton Street/Jefferson Blvd. intersection (WC Volume III, page 352).

Sam Guinyard testified that he worked there as a porter, and was polishing a car when he heard the shooting (WC Volume VII, page 395). According to Callaway’s testimony, Tippit’s killer crossed from the east side of Patton Street over to the west side of the street at a point just south of where William Scoggins cab was parked when Scoggins witnessed the shooting (Callaway marked this on WCE 537). In Chapter four of his book, Myers illustrates the killer’s flight path, along with the locations of Callaway and Guinyard when they allegedly saw him walking south on Patton Street; and the location of a third man named B.D. Searcy, who according to Callaway, was standing behind him when Tippit’s killer went by them (WC Volume III, page 354). Evidently, Myers based the killer’s flight path on WCE 735.

According to Myers’ illustration, the killer had already crossed over to the west side of Patton Street when he went passed Sam Guinyard’s position. However, Guinyard testified that when he observed the gunman, he was on the east side of Patton Street, and he was about ten feet away from him when he observed him! (WC Volume VII, page 398). Guinyard further explained that the killer crossed over to the west side of Patton Street when he got to about five feet from the corner of the intersection of Patton Street and Jefferson Blvd. (ibid, page 397). Yet, Callaway testified, and illustrated on WCE 735, that the killer was already on the west side of Patton Street when he went by him (WC Volume III, page 353). Obviously, both men can not be correct.

Callaway testified that he hollered at the gunman; “Hey man, what the hell is going on”, after which the gunman turned to look at him, shrugging his shoulders, and said something to him which Callaway claimed he couldn’t understand (ibid, pages 353 and 354). Callaway stated that he then told B.D. Searcy to keep an eye on the gunman and to follow him, after which he ran to the Tippit murder scene (ibid, page 354). On the contrary, Guinyard testified that it was Callaway who followed the gunman; “…trying to see which way he was going”, after which they allegedly went to the Tippit murder scene together (WC Volume VII, page 398). Furthermore, Guinyard made no mention of Callaway hollering at the killer, and the killer looking at Callaway and then saying something to him. When counsel Joseph Ball showed Guinyard the dark brown shirt Oswald was wearing when he was arrested at the Texas theatre, he testified that he saw Oswald wearing it as he came down Patton Street (ibid, page 400). Callaway on the other hand, testified that he couldn’t see this shirt! (WC Volume III, page 356). When Counsel Joseph Ball asked Guinyard if all the men in the line-up were about the same color, Guinyard exclaimed twice that; “…they wasn’t all about the same color.” (WC Volume VII, page 399). However, Oswald and the three men who were with him in the line-up; DPD detective Richard Clark, DPD detective William Perry, and DPD jail clerk Don Ables, were all Caucasians (see WCE 1054). If one is to believe that Guinyard’s eye sight was such that he was able to observe small differences in the skin tones of the four men in the line-up, one must simultaneously ignore all of the above contradictions between Callaway’s observations and his own.

None of the above contradictions between the observations of Callaway and Guinyard, which raises serious questions about their credibility as witnesses, (and if they actually viewed Oswald in a line-up), are ever mentioned by Myers. Although the line-up allegedly seen by Callaway and Guinyard was conducted at approximately 6:30 pm on the night of the assassination, when Callaway was interviewed by FBI agent Arthur E. Carter on February 23, 1964, he told Carter that he recalled the line-up was conducted on the night after Tippit’s murder (WCD 735, page 262). In other words, Callaway was implying that the line-up was held on the night of November 23, 1963. However, Callaway would go on to testify that it was held on the night of the assassination. The reader should also bear in mind that when Domingo Benavides testified before the Warren Commission, he explained that after Callaway had gotten into William Scoggins cab to look for the killer with Scoggins, he asked him (Benavides) which way the killer went, but found out later on from Callaway that he did see the killer (WC Volume VI, page 452). If Callaway really did see the killer, he obviously had no reason to ask Benavides which way the killer went. Therefore, Benavides testimony strongly implies that Callaway never actually saw Tippit’s killer.

Although Myers acknowledges in his endnotes that Benavides testified that Callaway asked him which way the killer went, he then uses Callaway and Jim Leavelle to discredit Benavides as a witness. According to Myers, during an interview in 1996, Callaway told him that Benavides confided to him that he didn’t actually see the gunman as he told the Warren Commission that he had (With Malice, Chapter 7). Myers also quotes from Jim Leavelle’s testimony where Leavelle claimed that; “I think he [Benavides] said he never saw the gunman actually…either that or he [Benavides] told me he could not recognise him, one or the other.” (ibid). Readers should also keep in mind that in his supplementary report on Tippit’s murder (evidently written on the day of the assassination), Leavelle wrote that Benavides didn’t see the killer (Dallas Municipal archives, Box 1, Folder 4, Item 3). Myers can pretend that Callaway and Leavelle are both trustworthy on this issue, because he never explains to his readers the serious credibility issues of both of these men It is apparent to this reviewer that Myers wants to discredit Benavides because he wants to maintain that both Callaway and Leavelle are credible witnesses.

There are some issues with Benavides own credibility as a witness. For one thing, when Benavides testified before the Warren Commission, Counsel David Belin asked him if WCE 163 (the dark greyish blue jacket which Oswald allegedly wore to the TSBD on the morning of the assassination) was the jacket Tippit’s killer was wearing. To which Benavides responded; “I would say this looks just like it.” (WC Volume VI, page 453). However, Benavides had previously testified that the killer was wearing what appeared to be a light-beige jacket (ibid, page 450). In this reviewer’s opinion, Benavides could conceivably have mistaken the light gray jacket which the killer was wearing (WCE 162) as being a light beige color. Furthermore, the possibility that Belin was misquoted by the court reporter when he allegedly asked Benavides if WCE 163 was the jacket the killer was wearing cannot be ruled out.

Benavides is also known for taking credit for notifying the DPD radio dispatchers that Tippit had been shot, when in fact it was T.F. Bowley who notified the dispatchers. Although this may seem as if Benavides lied to put himself in the spotlight, the fact is that T.F. Bowley was never called to testify before the Warren Commission. Many researchers, including myself, believe Bowley was avoided because according to his affidavit to the DPD, it was about 1:10 pm when he reported the shooting over the DPD radio; which was much too soon for the “official” time at which Tippit was shot (Dallas Municipal archives, Box 2, Folder 3, Item 14). Therefore, it seems likely that Benavides was coerced into taking credit for reporting the shooting over the radio. Although Benavides never positively identified Oswald as Tippit’s killer when he testified, he nevertheless claimed the killer looked like Oswald (WC Volume VI, page 452).

Although it is this reviewer’s belief that Ted Callaway and Sam Guinyard never actually observed Tippit’s killer, there is one mystery concerning Callaway that remains. According to the DPD radio transcripts, Officer Howell W. Summers reports that he has an “…eyeball witness to the get-away man; that suspect in this shooting.” (WCE 705/1974). Summers then broadcasted the description of the suspect given to him by the witness over the radio. Although Myers claims that this witness was Ted Callaway, the distinct possibility exists that the witness was in fact B.D. Searcy, who worked at Harris Bros Auto Sales (WCD 735, page 261). Searcy is somewhat of an enigma, as there doesn’t appear to be any FBI and USSS interviews with him, and there also doesn’t appear to be an affidavit by Searcy to the DPD on what he heard and saw. Even though Ted Callaway told the FBI that both he and Searcy were standing on the front porch of the car lot, and even though Callaway was photographed standing on the front porch, there are no photographs depicting Searcy standing on the front porch (ibid, WCD 630, page 38). It is this reviewer’s opinion that Searcy was avoided because, unlike Callaway and Guinyard, he refused to be coaxed into identifying Oswald as Tippit’s killer. The reader should also bear in mind that even though Guinyard identified Oswald as the killer, there doesn’t appear to be an interview of him by the FBI and the USSS, and there doesn’t appear to be any photographs by the FBI showing where Guinyard was standing when he allegedly observed Oswald (WCD 630).

Following his discussion of the identification of Oswald as Tippit’s killer by Callaway and Guinyard, Myers now moves onto the Davis sister-in-laws, Barbara and Virginia. Both of them allegedly identified Oswald as the killer in a DPD line-up on the evening of the assassination (With Malice, Chapter 7). The Davis sister-in-laws allegedly witnessed Tippit’s killer cut across the lawn of their apartment house, located on the southeast corner of the tenth and Patton Street intersection; emptying shells from the revolver as he did so. Myers writes that some critics have questioned the powers of observation of the two women because Barbara Davis testified before the Warren Commission that she observed the killer wearing a dark coat; even though he was actually wearing a light gray jacket (With Malice, Chapter 7). What Myers omits is that when counsel Joseph Ball asked her if Oswald was dressed the same in the police line-up as he was when she allegedly observed him after Tippit was shot, she replied; “All except he didn’t have a black coat on when I saw him in the line-up” (WC Volume III, page 347). In other words, Davis claimed that Tippit’s killer was wearing a black coat. It is incomprehensible to this reviewer that she could have mistaken or misremembered the light gray jacket (WCE 162) to be a black coat; and when she was shown the light gray jacket during her testimony, she refused to identify it (ibid). Contrary to what Myers wants us to believe, Davis’s testimony that the killer was wearing a black coat raises serious doubts about her credibility as a witness.

Although Barbara and Virginia Davis allegedly observed the gunman together, they contradicted each other on a number of points. Barbara Davis testified that she called the DPD after the killer had gone out of sight (ibid, page 345). On the other hand, Virginia Davis was confused during her testimony as to whether Barbara called the DPD before or after they had seen the killer. Although Myers acknowledges this in his book, he nevertheless omits several other contradictions between their observations and recollections (With Malice, Chapter 7). For one thing, Barbara Davis testified she was standing on the front porch when the killer went by, whereas Virginia Davis testified that they both observed the killer through the front screen door; only to later on acknowledge that they were standing on the front porch when they saw the killer, just as she claimed in her affidavit to the USSS on December 1, 1963 (WCD 87, page 555). In that same affidavit she claimed that the killer was holding the gun in his left hand and unloading it into his right, and that she was lying down in bed with Barbara and her two children when she heard the shots (ibid).

However, when she testified before the Warren Commission, she now claimed that the killer was holding the gun in his right hand and unloading it into his left, and that she was actually lying down on the couch when she heard the shots. Barbara Davis testified that she saw the killer cut across the middle of the yard of their apartment house, and illustrated this on WCE 534 (WC Volume III, page 344). However, Virginia Davis testified that the killer cut across the yard only about three feet from the sidewalk on Tenth Street (WC Volume VI, page 458).

As far as the identification of Oswald in the line-up is concerned, Virginia Davis testified that she was the first to identify Oswald as the killer, and also testified that there were five men in the line-up; when in actual fact there were only four in total (WC Volume VI, page 462). However, when Barbara Davis testified, she took credit for being the first to identify Oswald as the killer (WC Volume III, page 350). Virginia Davis also testified that she went to the DPD to identify Oswald “…probably about 5:30”, which is ridiculous since according to the DPD, the line-up she and her sister-in-law allegedly viewed was conducted at approximately 7:55 pm (Dallas Municipal archives, Box 5, Folder 5, Item 4). Although Warren Commission defenders might argue that the contradictions between the two women’s recollections was due to one or both of them being nervous when they testified, the fact remains that all of the above raises doubts that they had seen the killer; or that they even viewed Oswald in a line-up, as both they and the DPD claimed. Myers actually writes in his book that Virginia Davis told him during an interview in 1997 that she was nervous when she testified before the Warren Commission (With Malice, Chapter 9)

There is yet another piece of evidence which casts serious doubt on the credibility of the Davis sister-in-laws. Contained within the list of contacts for Jack Ruby is the name Leona Miller, with the telephone number WH3 – 8120 (WCD 717, page 6). When Barbara and Virginia Davis gave their affidavits to the DPD (allegedly on the day of the assassination), they listed their phone number as WH3 – 8120 (Dallas Municipal archives, Box 2, Folder 1, Items 20 and 22). Myers acknowledges this fact in his book, but dismisses its significance by writing that; “…apart from the phone number, there is no known connection between Leona Miller, Barbara Jeannette and Virginia Davis, and Jack Ruby.” (With Malice, Chapter 9). Contrary to what Myers would like us to believe, the fact that the phone number of two witnesses who contradicted each other on their observations of Tippit’s killer (despite both of them being certain that Oswald was the killer), and the fact that Barbara Davis believed that Tippit’s killer was wearing a black coat, raises the distinct possibility that the Davis sister-in-laws were ersatz witnesses used to implicate Oswald as Tippit’s killer. According to the testimony of Curtis Laverne Crafard (a.k.a Larry Crafard), Miller was apparently a girl who had phoned Ruby seeking employment at the Carousel club as a waitress (testimony of Curtis Laverne Crafard, WC Volume XIV).

Curiously, there was a Leona Miller (married name Leona Lane) with whom Ruby was acquainted (WCD 1121, page 35). However, it is not known whether Miller (Lane) ever lived at the address the Davis sister-in-laws were living at when they allegedly observed Tippit’s killer. In my upcoming essay on Gerald Hill, this reviewer presents evidence that Tippit’s killer could in fact be Larry Crafard; which gives credence to the possibility that the Davis sister-in-laws were fake witnesses used to implicate Oswald. Though, truth be told, there is absolutely no solid connection between Jack Ruby, Larry Crafard, and the Davis sister-in-laws.

On the day following Tippit’s murder, cab driver William W. Scoggins, along with cab driver William W. Whaley, were brought to the DPD to view Oswald in a line-up (With Malice, Chapter 7). Myers’ book contains a photograph by Jack Beers showing what he claims to be Scoggins and Whaley leaving the DPD homicide office to view the line-up (ibid). Scoggins told the Warren Commission that as the killer went past his cab, the killer looked back over his left shoulder, and that; “It seemed like I could see his face, his features and everything plain, you see.” (WC Volume III, page 327). Although Scoggins testified before the Warren Commission that he identified Oswald as Tippit’s killer in the line-up, he doesn’t mention this in his affidavit to the DPD on November 23, 1963 (Dallas Municipal archives, Box 2, Folder 1, Item 24). Myers doesn’t mention this to his readers. Myers also doesn’t mention that although DPD Lt. T.L. Baker wrote in his report to Chief Curry that Scoggins positively identified Oswald as Tippit’s killer in the line-up, detectives Marvin Johnson and L.D. Montgomery made no mention of this in their own reports to chief Curry. In fact, neither Johnson nor Montgomery mention in their reports that Scoggins viewed a line-up of Oswald (Dallas Municipal archives Box 5, Folder 5, Items 4, 26, 28, and 35).

Although Myers admits that Scoggins told the Warren Commission that he had seen Oswald’s picture in the newspaper before he allegedly identified Oswald in the line-up as Tippit’s killer, he nevertheless omits that when Scoggins was reinterviewed by the FBI on November 25, 1963, he claimed that after viewing a photograph of Oswald, he was not certain that the man he observed fleeing from the Tippit murder scene was actually Oswald (WCD 5, page 77). The reader should bear in mind that when Scoggins testified, he claimed that some of the photos of Oswald shown to him by the FBI/USSS didn’t resemble Oswald, and that he may have picked the wrong photo (WC Volume III, page 335). However, according to his aforementioned interview with the FBI, Scoggins was only shown one photograph. Therefore, Scoggins was either lying, mistaken, or was actually referring to another interview.

Scoggins also testified that he overheard William Whaley telling one (or more) of the cab drivers at the Oak Cliff cab company, for whom they were both employed, that he picked Oswald up at the Greyhound bus station, and then dropped him off at the 500 block of Beckley avenue in Oak Cliff (ibid, page 340). However, as researcher Lee Farley has demonstrated, Whaley did not give Oswald a ride to Oak Cliff in his cab, and that Scoggins was lying (see the thread entitled Oswald and cab 36 on John Simkin’s Spartacus education forum). It is also worth keeping in mind that despite hearing Tippit’s killer mumble either “Poor dumb cop” or “Poor damn cop” as he went by his cab, Scoggins never claimed that the killer’s voice was identical to Oswald’s (ibid, page 327), (Dallas Municipal archives, Box 2, Folder 1, Item 24). Finally, perhaps it’s also worth keeping in mind that even though Scoggins testified that he was “kind of crouched” behind his cab; and observed the killer through the windows of his cab, in his affidavit to the USSS on December 2, 1963, he claimed that he saw the killer after he (Scoggins) ran to the west side of Patton Street, opposite to his cab (WCD 87, page 553). In conclusion, much like Ted Callaway, Sam Guinyard, and the Davis sister-in-laws, William Scoggins is a witness whose credibility has question marks around it. Not that it matters to Myers.

Many conspiracy advocates, past and present, have claimed that the Oswald line-ups were unfair. Although this reviewer shares that opinion, once it has been established that the witnesses were unreliable, and by implication, coaxed by the DPD to identify Oswald as the killer in the line-ups, the issue of whether the line-ups were fair or unfair becomes irrelevant. The contradictions between the alleged observations of Ted Callaway and Sam Guinyard are perhaps the best indication that witnesses were coaxed by the DPD to identify Oswald as Tippit’s killer, and once it is accepted that one or two witnesses were coaxed to identify Oswald as the killer, then logically, every eyewitness identification of Oswald as the killer in the DPD line-ups must be considered suspect. If Oswald was framed for Tippit’s murder by those responsible for the President’s assassination, then it only makes perfect sense that Tippit’s killer resembled Oswald, as they certainly would want any witness who saw the killer to think that it was Oswald.

Towards the end of this Chapter, Myers discusses the paraffin tests used by the DPD to determine whether or not Oswald had fired a gun on the day of the assassination. Myers writes that; “…the lab report on the paraffin cast from Oswald’s right hand showed that the nitrate traces were not only positive, but ‘typical of the patterns produced in firing a revolver’. Such a finding suggests that, in this case, the presence of nitrates was the direct result of firing a handgun, and not due to the handling of some unknown nitrate-laced product.” (With Malice, Chapter 7). However, once again, Myers deceives his readers. For one thing, although he prints a sketch of the nitrates on Oswald’s right hand, he never explains that most of the nitrates were found on the palm side of the hand, and not on the back side of the hand where the nitrates from the revolver would have been deposited. Myers also omits that the FBI’s agent John Gallagher, who worked in the FBI’s laboratory in the physics and chemistry section, testified that; “No characteristic elements were found by neutron activation analysis of the residues which could be used to distinguish the rifle from the revolver cartridges.” (WC Volume XV, page 748 ). This further undermines the “finding” that the nitrate traces on the paraffin cast of Oswald’s hand are typical of the patterns produced by firing a revolver.

In his discussion of the paraffin test, Myers also writes that the chemicals used in processing the nitrates will also react to nitrates found in urine, tobacco, cosmetics, kitchen matches, fertilizers and many other common items (ibid). Although Myers believes the paraffin tests applied to Oswald’s hands were valid, he never mentions that according to the report by DPD detectives Elmer Boyd and Richard Sims to Chief Curry, Sgt. W.E. “Pete” Barnes and detective John Hicks of the DPD crime lab applied the paraffin test to Oswald’s hands after Hicks had taken fingerprints from him! (Dallas Municipal archives, Box 3, Folder 4, Item 5). This was confirmed by Lt. T.L. Baker in his own report (ibid, Box 5, Folder 5, Item 4). Now if this true, it casts serious doubt on the validity of the tests, as Oswald’s hands would have been contaminated from the fingerprint ink, and washed afterwards to remove all ink. When Sgt. Barnes testified before the Warren Commission, he claimed that that he took palm prints from Oswald’s hands immediately before applying the paraffin test; only to quickly correct himself stating that it was done immediately after the paraffin test (WC Volume VII, page 284). However, Barnes’ correction should not be taken seriously, as evidence discussed below demonstrates that Barnes is not a credible witness. Readers should also keep in mind that when counsel David Belin asked Barnes during his testimony “Suppose I were to wash my hands between the time I fired it [WCE 143] and the time you took the paraffin test?”, Barnes claimed that this would “hurt the test” (WC Volume VII, page 280).

In spite of all of his deceptions, Myers then has the audacity to write the following; “Every aspect of Tippit’s murder became the focus of relentless – and often unfair – criticism.”, adding that “Some doubters [critics] sought to exonerate Oswald of Tippit’s death by challenging the eyewitness accounts” (With Malice, Chapter 7). Yes, Dale. Shame on those of us who, unlike you, actually want to honestly point out the contradictions between the eyewitness accounts which raise serious doubts about their credibility. Suffice it to say, the readers can judge for themselves whether or not I have made unfair criticisms of the witnesses.

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