Riding on the bus was an elderly woman, Mary Bledsoe, who confirmed

the mute evidence of the transfer. Oswald had rented a room from Mrs.

Bledsoe about 6 weeks before, on October 7,[C4-429] but she had asked

him to leave at the end of a week. Mrs. Bledsoe told him “I am not

going to rent to you any more.”[C4-430] She testified, “I didn’t like

his attitude. * * * There was just something about him I didn’t like or

want him. * * * Just didn’t want him around me.” [C4-431] On November

22, Mrs. Bledsoe came downtown to watch the Presidential motorcade.

She boarded the Marsalis bus at St. Paul and Elm Streets to return

home.[C4-432] She testified further:

And, after we got past Akard, at Murphy--I figured it out.

Let’s see. I don’t know for sure. Oswald got on. He looks like

a maniac. His sleeve was out here. * * * His shirt was undone.

* * * * *

Was a hole in it, hole, and he was dirty, and I didn’t look at

him. I didn’t want to know I even seen him * * *

* * * * *

* * * he looked so bad in his face, and his face was so

distorted.

* * * * *

Hole in his sleeve right here.[C4-433]

As Mrs. Bledsoe said these words, she pointed to her right

elbow.[C4-434] When Oswald was arrested in the Texas Theatre, he was

wearing a brown sport shirt with a hole in the right sleeve at the

elbow.[C4-435] Mrs. Bledsoe identified the shirt as the one Oswald was

wearing and she stated she was certain that it was Oswald who boarded

the bus.[C4-436] Mrs. Bledsoe recalled that Oswald sat halfway to the

rear of the bus which moved slowly and intermittently as traffic

became heavy.[C4-437] She heard a passing motorist tell the driver that

the President had been shot.[C4-438] People on the bus began talking

about it. As the bus neared Lamar Street, Oswald left the bus and

disappeared into the crowd.[C4-439]

The Marsalis bus which Oswald boarded traveled a route west on Elm,

south on Houston, and southwest across the Houston viaduct to service

the Oak Cliff area along Marsalis.[C4-440] A Beckley bus which also

served the Oak Cliff area, followed the same route as the Marsalis

bus through downtown Dallas, except that it continued west on Elm,

across Houston in front of the Depository Building, past the Triple

Underpass into west Dallas, and south on Beckley.[C4-441] Marsalis

Street is seven blocks from Beckley.[C4-442] Oswald lived at 1026 North

Beckley.[C4-443] He could not reach his roominghouse on the Marsalis

bus, but the Beckley bus stopped across the street.[C4-444] According

to McWatters, the Beckley bus was behind the Marsalis bus, but he did

not actually see it.[C4-445] Both buses stopped within one block of the

Depository Building. Instead of waiting there, Oswald apparently went

as far away as he could and boarded the first Oak Cliff bus which came

along rather than wait for one which stopped across the street from his

roominghouse.

In a reconstruction of this bus trip, agents of the Secret Service

and the FBI walked the seven blocks from the front entrance of the

Depository Building to Murphy and Elm three times, averaging 6½ minutes

for the three trips.[C4-446] A bus moving through heavy traffic on

Elm from Murphy to Lamar was timed at 4 minutes.[C4-447] If Oswald

left the Depository Building at 12:33 p.m., walked seven blocks

directly to Murphy and Elm, and boarded a bus almost immediately, he

would have boarded the bus at approximately 12:40 p.m. and left it at

approximately 12:44 p.m. (See Commission Exhibit No. 1119-A, p. 158.)

Roger D. Craig, a deputy sheriff of Dallas County, claimed that

about 15 minutes after the assassination he saw a man, whom he later

identified as Oswald,[C4-448] coming from the direction of the

Depository Building and running down the hill north of Elm Street

toward a light-colored Rambler station wagon, which was moving slowly

along Elm toward the underpass.[C4-449] The station wagon stopped to

pick up the man and then drove off.[C4-450] Craig testified that later

in the afternoon he saw Oswald in the police interrogation room and

told Captain Fritz that Oswald was the man he saw.[C4-451] Craig also

claimed that when Fritz pointed out to Oswald that Craig had identified

him, Oswald rose from his chair, looked directly at Fritz, and said,

“Everybody will know who I am now.”[C4-452]

The Commission could not accept important elements of Craig’s

testimony. Captain Fritz stated that a deputy sheriff whom he could

not identify did ask to see him that afternoon and told him a similar

story to Craig’s.[C4-453] Fritz did not bring him into his office

to identify Oswald but turned him over to Lieutenant Baker for

questioning. If Craig saw Oswald that afternoon, he saw him through the

glass windows of the office. And neither Captain Fritz nor any other

officer can remember that Oswald dramatically arose from his chair

and said, “Everybody will know who I am now.”[C4-454] If Oswald had

made such a statement, Captain Fritz and others present would probably

have remembered it. Craig may have seen a person enter a white Rambler

station wagon 15 or 20 minutes after the shooting and travel west on

Elm Street, but the Commission concluded that this man was not Lee

Harvey Oswald, because of the overwhelming evidence that Oswald was far

away from the building by that time.

_The taxicab ride._--William Whaley, a taxicab driver, told his

employer on Saturday morning, November 23, that he recognized Oswald

from a newspaper photograph as a man whom he had driven to the Oak

Cliff area the day before.[C4-455] Notified of Whaley’s statement, the

police brought him to the police station that afternoon. He was taken

to the lineup room where, according to Whaley, five young teenagers,

all handcuffed together, were displayed with Oswald.[C4-456] He

testified that Oswald looked older than the other boys.[C4-457] The

police asked him whether he could pick out his passenger from the

lineup. Whaley picked Oswald. He said,

* * * you could have picked him out without identifying him by

just listening to him because he was bawling out the policeman,

telling them it wasn’t right to put him in line with these

teenagers and all of that and they asked me which one and I

told them. It was him all right, the same man.

* * * * *

He showed no respect for the policemen, he told them what he

thought about them. They knew what they were doing and they

were trying to railroad him and he wanted his lawyer.[C4-458]

Whaley believes that Oswald’s conduct did not aid him in his

identification “because I knew he was the right one as soon as I saw

him.”[C4-459]

Whaley’s memory of the lineup is inaccurate. There were four men

altogether, not six men, in the lineup with Oswald.[C4-460] Whaley said

that Oswald was the man under No. 2.[C4-461] Actually Oswald was under

No. 3. Only two of the men in the lineup with Oswald were teenagers:

John T. Horn, aged 18, was No. 1; David Knapp, aged 18, was No. 2; Lee

Oswald was No. 3; and Daniel Lujan, aged 26, was No. 4.[C4-462]

When he first testified before the Commission, Whaley displayed a trip

manifest[C4-463] which showed a 12 o’clock trip from Travis Hotel to

the Continental bus station, unloaded at 12:15 p.m., a 12:15 p.m.

pickup at Continental to Greyhound, unloaded at 12:30 p.m., and a

pickup from Greyhound (bus station) at 12:30 p.m., unloaded at 500

North Beckley at 12:45 p.m. Whaley testified that he did not keep an

accurate time record of his trips but recorded them by the quarter

hour, and that sometimes he made his entry right after a trip while

at other times he waited to record three or four trips.[C4-464] As he

unloaded his Continental bus station passenger in front of Greyhound,

he started to get out to buy a package of cigarettes.[C4-465] He saw a

man walking south on Lamar from Commerce. The man was dressed in faded

blue color khaki work clothes, a brown shirt, and some kind of work

jacket that almost matched his pants.[C4-466] The man asked, “May I

have the cab?”, and got into the front seat.[C4-467] Whaley described

the ensuing events as follows:

And about that time an old lady, I think she was an old lady,

I don’t remember nothing but her sticking her head down past

him in the door and said, “Driver, will you call me a cab down

here?”

She had seen him get this cab and she wanted one, too, and he

opened the door a little bit like he was going to get out and

he said, “I will let you have this one,” and she says, “No, the

driver can call me one.”

* * * * *

* * * I asked him where he wanted to go. And he said, “500

North Beckley.”

Well, I started up, I started to that address, and the police

cars, the sirens was going, running crisscrossing everywhere,

just a big uproar in that end of town and I said, “What the

hell. I wonder what the hell is the uproar?”

And he never said anything. So I figured he was one of these

people that don’t like to talk so I never said any more to him.

But when I got pretty close to 500 block at Neches and North

Beckley which is the 500 block, he said, “This will do fine,”

and I pulled over to the curb right there. He gave me a dollar

bill, the trip was 95 cents. He gave me a dollar bill and

didn’t say anything, just got out and closed the door and

walked around the front of the cab over to the other side of

the street [east side of the street]. Of course, the traffic

was moving through there and I put it in gear and moved on,

that is the last I saw of him.[C4-468]

Whaley was somewhat imprecise as to where he unloaded his passenger.

He marked what he thought was the intersection of Neches and Beckley

on a map of Dallas with a large “X.”[C4-469] He said, “Yes, sir; that

is right, because that is the 500 block of North Beckley.”[C4-470]

However, Neches and Beckley do not intersect. Neches is within one-half

block of the roominghouse at 1026 North Beckley where Oswald was

living. The 500 block of North Beckley is five blocks south of the

roominghouse.[C4-471]

After a review of these inconsistencies in his testimony before the

Commission, Whaley was interviewed again in Dallas. The route of the

taxicab was retraced under the direction of Whaley.[C4-472] He directed

the driver of the car to a point 20 feet north of the northwest

corner of the intersection of Beckley and Neely, the point at which

he said his passenger alighted.[C4-473] This was the 700 block of

North Beckley.[C4-474] The elapsed time of the reconstructed run from

the Greyhound Bus Station to Neely and Beckley was 5 minutes and 30

seconds by stopwatch.[C4-475] The walk from Beckley and Neely to 1026

North Beckley was timed by Commission counsel at 5 minutes and 45

seconds.[C4-476]

Whaley testified that Oswald was wearing either the gray zippered

jacket or the heavy blue jacket.[C4-477] He was in error, however.

Oswald could not possibly have been wearing the blue jacket during

the trip with Whaley, since it was found in the “domino” room of

the Depository late in November.[C4-478] Moreover, Mrs. Bledsoe saw

Oswald in the bus without a jacket and wearing a shirt with a hole at

the elbow.[C4-479] On the other hand, Whaley identified Commission

Exhibit No. 150 (the shirt taken from Oswald upon arrest) as the shirt

his passenger was wearing.[C4-480] He also stated he saw a silver

identification bracelet on his passenger’s left wrist.[C4-481] Oswald

was wearing such a bracelet when he was arrested.[C4-482]

On November 22, Oswald told Captain Fritz that he rode a bus to a stop

near his home and then walked to his roominghouse.[C4-483] When queried

the following morning concerning a bus transfer found in his possession

at the time of his arrest, he admitted receiving it.[C4-484] And when

interrogated about a cab ride, Oswald also admitted that he left the

slow-moving bus and took a cab to his roominghouse.[C4-485]

The Greyhound Bus Station at Lamar and Jackson Streets, where Oswald

entered Whaley’s cab, is three to four short blocks south of Lamar and

Elm.[C4-486] If Oswald left the bus at 12:44 p.m. and walked directly

to the terminal, he would have entered the cab at 12:47 or 12:48 p.m.

If the cab ride was approximately 6 minutes, as was the reconstructed

ride, he would have reached his destination at approximately 12:54

p.m. If he was discharged at Neely and Beckley and walked directly to

his roominghouse, he would have arrived there about 12:59 to 1 p.m.

From the 500 block of North Beckley, the walk would be a few minutes

longer, but in either event he would have been in the roominghouse at

about 1 p.m. This is the approximate time he entered the roominghouse,

according to Earlene Roberts, the housekeeper there.[C4-487] (See

Commission Exhibit No. 1119-A, p. 158.)

_Arrival and departure from roominghouse._--Earlene Roberts,

housekeeper for Mrs. A.C. Johnson at 1026 North Beckley, knew Lee

Harvey Oswald under the alias of O. H. Lee. She first saw him the day

he rented a room at that address on October 14, 1963.[C4-488] He signed

his name as O. H. Lee on the roominghouse register.[C4-489]

Mrs. Roberts testified that on Thursday, November 21, Oswald did not

come home. On Friday, November 22, about 1 p.m., he entered the house

in unusual haste. She recalled that it was subsequent to the time

the President had been shot. After a friend had called and told her,

“President Kennedy has been shot,” she turned on the television. When

Oswald came in she said, “Oh, you are in a hurry,” but Oswald did

not respond. He hurried to his room and stayed no longer than 3 or 4

minutes. Oswald had entered the house in his shirt sleeves, but when he

left, he was zipping up a jacket. Mrs. Roberts saw him a few seconds

later standing near the bus stop in front of the house on the east side

of Beckley.[C4-490]

[Illustration: COMMISSION EXHIBIT NO. 1968

LOCATION OF EYEWITNESSES TO THE MOVEMENTS OF LEE HARVEY OSWALD IN THE

VICINITY OF THE TIPPIT KILLING]

Oswald was next seen about nine-tenths of a mile away at the southeast

corner of 10th Street and Patton Avenue, moments before the Tippit

shooting. (See Commission Exhibit No. 1119-A, p. 158.) If Oswald left

his roominghouse shortly after 1 p.m. and walked at a brisk pace, he

would have reached 10th and Patton shortly after 1:15 p.m.[C4-491]

Tippit’s murder was recorded on the police radio tape at about 1:16

p.m.[C4-492]

Description of Shooting

Patrolman J. D. Tippit joined the Dallas Police Department in July

1952.[C4-493] He was described by Chief Curry as having the reputation

of being “a very fine, dedicated officer.”[C4-494] Tippit patroled

district No. 78 in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas during daylight

hours. He drove a police car painted distinctive colors with No. 10

prominently displayed on each side. Tippit rode alone, as only one

man was normally assigned to a patrol car in residential areas during

daylight shifts.[C4-495]

At about 12:44 p.m. on November 22, the radio dispatcher on channel 1

ordered all downtown patrol squads to report to Elm and Houston, code

3 (emergency).[C4-496] At 12:45 p.m. the dispatcher ordered No. 78

(Tippit) to “move into central Oak Cliff area.”[C4-497] At 12:54 p.m.,

Tippit reported that he was in the central Oak Cliff area at Lancaster

and Eighth. The dispatcher ordered Tippit to be: “* * * at large for

any emergency that comes in.”[C4-498] According to Chief Curry, Tippit

was free to patrol the central Oak Cliff area.[C4-499] Tippit must

have heard the description of the suspect wanted for the President’s

shooting; it was broadcast over channel 1 at 12:45 p.m., again at 12:48

p.m., and again at 12:55 p.m.[C4-500] The suspect was described as a

“white male, approximately 30, slender build, height 5 foot 10 inches,

weight 165 pounds.”[C4-501] A similar description was given on channel

2 at 12:45 p.m.[C4-502]

At approximately 1:15 p.m., Tippit, who was cruising east on 10th

Street, passed the intersection of 10th and Patton, about eight blocks

from where he had reported at 12:54 p.m. About 100 feet past the

intersection Tippit stopped a man walking east along the south side of

Patton. (See Commission Exhibit No. 1968, p. 164.) The man’s general

description was similar to the one broadcast over the police radio.

Tippit stopped the man and called him to his car. He approached the

car and apparently exchanged words with Tippit through the right front

or vent window. Tippit got out and started to walk around the front of

the car. As Tippit reached the left front wheel the man pulled out a

revolver and fired several shots. Four bullets hit Tippit and killed

him instantly. The gunman started back toward Patton Avenue, ejecting

the empty cartridge cases before reloading with fresh bullets.

Eyewitnesses

At least 12 persons saw the man with the revolver in the vicinity of

the Tippit crime scene at or immediately after the shooting. By the

evening of November 22, five of them had identified Lee Harvey Oswald

in police lineups as the man they saw. A sixth did so the next day.

Three others subsequently identified Oswald from a photograph. Two

witnesses testified that Oswald resembled the man they had seen. One

witness felt he was too distant from the gunman to make a positive

identification. (See Commission Exhibit No. 1968, p. 164.)

A taxi driver, William Scoggins, was eating lunch in his cab which

was parked on Patton facing the southeast corner of 10th Street and

Patton Avenue a few feet to the north.[C4-503] A police car moving

east on 10th at about 10 or 12 miles an hour passed in front of his

cab. About 100 feet from the corner the police car pulled up alongside

a man on the sidewalk. This man, dressed in a light-colored jacket,

approached the car. Scoggins lost sight of him behind some shrubbery

on the southeast corner lot, but he saw the policeman leave the car,

heard three or four shots, and then saw the policeman fall. Scoggins

hurriedly left his seat and hid behind the cab as the man came back

toward the corner with gun in hand. The man cut across the yard through

some bushes, passed within 12 feet of Scoggins, and ran south on

Patton. Scoggins saw him and heard him mutter either “Poor damn cop”

or “Poor dumb cop.”[C4-504] The next day Scoggins viewed a lineup of

four persons and identified Oswald as the man whom he had seen the

day before at 10th and Patton.[C4-505] In his testimony before the

Commission, Scoggins stated that he thought he had seen a picture

of Oswald in the newspapers prior to the lineup identification on

Saturday. He had not seen Oswald on television and had not been shown

any photographs of Oswald by the police.[C4-506]

Another witness, Domingo Benavides, was driving a pickup truck west on

10th Street. As he crossed the intersection a block east of 10th and

Patton, he saw a policeman standing by the left door of the police car

parked along the south side of 10th. Benavides saw a man standing at

the right side of the parked police car. He then heard three shots and

saw the policeman fall to the ground. By this time the pickup truck

was across the street and about 25 feet from the police car. Benavides

stopped and waited in the truck until the gunman ran to the corner.

He saw him empty the gun and throw the shells into some bushes on the

southeast corner lot.[C4-507] It was Benavides, using Tippit’s car

radio, who first reported the killing of Patrolman Tippit at about

1:16 p.m.: “We’ve had a shooting out here.”[C4-508] He found two empty

shells in the bushes and gave them to Patrolman J. M. Poe who arrived

on the scene shortly after the shooting.[C4-509] Benavides never saw

Oswald after the arrest. When questioned by police officers on the

evening of November 22, Benavides told them that he did not think that

he could identify the man who fired the shots. As a result, they did

not take him to the police station. He testified that the picture of

Oswald which he saw later on television bore a resemblance to the man

who shot Officer Tippit.[C4-510]

Just prior to the shooting, Mrs. Helen Markham, a waitress in

downtown Dallas, was about to cross 10th Street at Patton. As she

waited on the northwest corner of the intersection for traffic to

pass,[C4-511] she noticed a young man as he was “almost ready to get

up on the curb”[C4-512] at the southeast corner of the intersection,

approximately 50 feet away. The man continued along 10th Street. Mrs.

Markham saw a police car slowly approach the man from the rear and

stop alongside of him. She saw the man come to the right window of the

police car. As he talked, he leaned on the ledge of the right window

with his arms. The man appeared to step back as the policeman “calmly

opened the car door” and very slowly got out and walked toward the

front of the car. The man pulled a gun. Mrs. Markham heard three shots

and saw the policeman fall to the ground near the left front wheel. She

raised her hands to her eyes as the man started to walk back toward

Patton.[C4-513] She peered through her fingers, lowered her hands, and

saw the man doing something with his gun. “He was just fooling with it.

I didn’t know what he was doing. I was afraid he was fixing to kill

me.”[C4-514] The man “in kind of a little trot” headed down Patton

toward Jefferson Boulevard, a block away. Mrs. Markham then ran to

Officer Tippit’s side and saw him lying in a pool of blood.[C4-515]

Helen Markham was screaming as she leaned over the body.[C4-516] A

few minutes later she described the gunman to a policeman.[C4-517]

Her description and that of other eyewitnesses led to the police

broadcast at 1:22 p.m. describing the slayer as “about 30, 5’8”,

black hair, slender.”[C4-518] At about 4:30 p.m., Mrs. Markham, who

had been greatly upset by her experience, was able to view a lineup

of four men handcuffed together at the police station.[C4-519] She

identified Lee Harvey Oswald as the man who shot the policeman.[C4-520]

Detective L. C. Graves, who had been with Mrs. Markham before the

lineup testified that she was “quite hysterical” and was “crying

and upset.”[C4-521] He said that Mrs. Markham started crying when

Oswald walked into the lineup room.[C4-522] In testimony before the

Commission, Mrs. Markham confirmed her positive identification of Lee

Harvey Oswald as the man she saw kill Officer Tippit.[C4-523]

In evaluating Mrs. Markham’s identification of Oswald, the Commission

considered certain allegations that Mrs. Markham described the man

who killed Patrolman Tippit as “short, a little on the heavy side,”

and having “somewhat bushy” hair.[C4-524] The Commission reviewed the

transcript of a phone conversation in which Mrs. Markham is alleged

to have provided such a description.[C4-525] A review of the complete

transcript has satisfied the Commission that Mrs. Markham strongly

reaffirmed her positive identification of Oswald and denied having

described the killer as short, stocky and having bushy hair. She

stated that the man weighed about 150 pounds.[C4-526] Although she

used the words “a little bit bushy” to describe the gunman’s hair,

the transcript establishes that she was referring to the uncombed

state of his hair, a description fully supported by a photograph of

Oswald taken at the time of his arrest. (See Pizzo Exhibit No. 453-C,

p. 177.) Although in the phone conversation she described the man as

“short,”[C4-527] on November 22, within minutes of the shooting and

before the lineup, Mrs. Markham described the man to the police as 5’8”

tall.[C4-528]

During her testimony Mrs. Markham initially denied that she ever had

the above phone conversation.[C4-529] She has subsequently admitted

the existence of the conversation and offered an explanation for her

denial.[C4-530] Addressing itself solely to the probative value of Mrs.

Markham’s contemporaneous description of the gunman and her positive

identification of Oswald at a police lineup, the Commission considers

her testimony reliable. However, even in the absence of Mrs. Markham’s

testimony, there is ample evidence to identify Oswald as the killer of

Tippit.

Two young women, Barbara Jeanette Davis and Virginia Davis, were in an

apartment of a multiple-unit house on the southeast corner of 10th and

Patton when they heard the sound of gunfire and the screams of Helen

Markham. They ran to the door in time to see a man with a revolver

cut across their lawn and disappear around a corner of the house onto

Patton.[C4-531] Barbara Jeanette Davis assumed that he was emptying his

gun as “he had it open and was shaking it.”[C4-532] She immediately

called the police. Later in the day each woman found an empty shell

on the ground near the house. These two shells were delivered to the

police.[C4-533]

On the evening of November 22, Barbara Jeanette and Virginia Davis

viewed a group of four men in a lineup and each one picked Oswald as

the man who crossed their lawn while emptying his pistol.[C4-534]

Barbara Jeanette Davis testified that no one had shown her a picture

of Oswald before the identification and that she had not seen him

on television. She was not sure whether she had seen his picture in

a newspaper on the afternoon or evening of November 22 prior to the

lineup.[C4-535] Her reaction when she saw Oswald in the lineup was that

“I was pretty sure it was the same man I saw. When they made him turn

sideways, I was positive that was the one I seen.”[C4-536] Similarly,

Virginia Davis had not been shown pictures of anyone prior to the

lineup and had not seen either television or the newspapers during the

afternoon.[C4-537] She identified Oswald, who was the No. 2 man in the

lineup,[C4-538] as the man she saw running with the gun: she testified,

“I would say that was him for sure.”[C4-539] Barbara Jeanette Davis

and Virginia Davis were sitting alongside each other when they made

their positive identifications of Oswald.[C4-540] Each woman whispered

Oswald’s number to the detective. Each testified that she was the first

to make the identification.[C4-541]

William Arthur Smith was about a block east of 10th and Patton when

he heard shots. He looked west on 10th and saw a man running to the

west and a policeman falling to the ground. Smith failed to make

himself known to the police on November 22. Several days later he

reported what he had seen and was questioned by FBI agents.[C4-542]

Smith subsequently told a Commission staff member that he saw Oswald

on television the night of the murder and thought that Oswald was the

man he had seen running away from the shooting.[C4-543] On television

Oswald’s hair looked blond, whereas Smith remembered that the man

who ran away had hair that was brown or brownish black. Later, the

FBI showed Smith a picture of Oswald. In the picture the hair was

brown.[C4-544] According to his testimony, Smith told the FBI, “It

looked more like him than it did on television.” He stated further

that from “What I saw of him” the man looked like the man in the

picture.[C4-545]

Two other important eyewitnesses to Oswald’s flight were Ted Callaway,

manager of a used-car lot on the northeast corner of Patton Avenue

and Jefferson Boulevard, and Sam Guinyard, a porter at the lot. They

heard the sound of shots to the north of their lot.[C4-546] Callaway

heard five shots, and Guinyard three. Both ran to the sidewalk on the

east side of Patton at a point about a half a block south of 10th.

They saw a man coming south on Patton with a revolver held high in his

right hand. According to Callaway, the man crossed to the west side

of Patton.[C4-547] From across the street Callaway yelled, “Hey, man,

what the hell is going on?” He slowed down, halted, said something,

and then kept on going to the corner, turned right, and continued west

on Jefferson.[C4-548] Guinyard claimed that the man ran down the east

side of Patton and passed within 10 feet of him before crossing to the

other side.[C4-549] Guinyard and Callaway ran to 10th and Patton and

found Tippit lying in the street beside his car.[C4-550] Apparently he

had reached for his gun; it lay beneath him outside of the holster.

Callaway picked up the gun.[C4-551] He and Scoggins attempted to chase

down the gunman in Scoggin’s taxicab,[C4-552] but he had disappeared.

Early in the evening of November 22, Guinyard and Callaway viewed the

same lineup of four men from which Mrs. Markham had earlier made her

identification of Lee Harvey Oswald. Both men picked Oswald as the man

who had run south on Patton with a gun in his hand.[C4-553] Callaway

told the Commission: “So they brought four men in. I stepped to the

back of the room, so I could kind of see him from the same distance

which I had seen him before. And when he came out I knew him.”[C4-554]

Guinyard said, “I told them that was him right there. I pointed him out

right there.”[C4-555] Both Callaway and Guinyard testified that they

had not been shown any pictures by the police before the lineup.[C4-556]

The Dallas Police Department furnished the Commission with pictures

of the men who appeared in the lineups with Oswald,[C4-557] and the

Commission has inquired into general lineup procedures used by the

Dallas police as well as the specific procedures in the lineups

involving Oswald.[C4-558] The Commission is satisfied that the lineups

were conducted fairly.

[Illustration: COMMISSION EXHIBIT NO. 143

REVOLVER USED IN TIPPIT KILLING]

As Oswald ran south on Patton Avenue toward Jefferson Boulevard

he was moving in the direction of a used-car lot located on the

southeast corner of this intersection.[C4-559] Four men--Warren

Reynolds,[C4-560] Harold Russell,[C4-561] Pat Patterson,[C4-562] and

L. J. Lewis[C4-563]--were on the lot at the time, and they saw a white

male with a revolver in his hands running south on Patton. When the

man reached Jefferson, he turned right and headed west. Reynolds and

Patterson decided to follow him. When he reached a gasoline service

station one block away he turned north and walked toward a parking

area in the rear of the station. Neither Reynolds nor Patterson saw

the man after he turned off Jefferson at the service station.[C4-564]

These four witnesses were interviewed by FBI agents 2 months after

the shooting. Russell and Patterson were shown a picture of Oswald

and they stated that Oswald was the man they saw on November 22,

1963. Russell confirmed this statement in a sworn affidavit for

the Commission.[C4-565] Patterson, when asked later to confirm his

identification by affidavit said he did not recall having been shown

the photograph. He was then shown two photographs of Oswald and he

advised that Oswald was “unquestionably” the man he saw.[C4-566]

Reynolds did not make a positive identification when interviewed by the

FBI, but he subsequently testified before a Commission staff member

and, when shown two photographs of Oswald, stated that they were

photographs of the man he saw.[C4-567] L. J. Lewis said in an interview

that because of the distance from which he observed the gunman he would

hesitate to state whether the man was identical with Oswald.[C4-568]

Murder Weapon

When Oswald was arrested, he had in his possession a Smith & Wesson

.38 Special caliber revolver, serial number V510210. (See Commission

Exhibit No. 143, p. 170). Two of the arresting officers placed their

initials on the weapon and a third inscribed his name. All three

identified Exhibit No. 143 as the revolver taken from Oswald when he

was arrested.[C4-569] Four cartridge cases were found in the shrubbery

on the corner of 10th and Patton by three of the eyewitnesses--Domingo

Benavides, Barbara Jeanette Davis, and Virginia Davis.[C4-570] It was

the unanimous and unequivocal testimony of expert witnesses before the

Commission that these used cartridge cases were fired from the revolver

in Oswald’s possession to the exclusion of all other weapons. (See app.

X, p. 559.)

Cortlandt Cunningham, of the Firearms Identification Unit of the

FBI Laboratory, testified that he compared the four empty cartridge

cases found near the scene of the shooting with a test cartridge

fired from the weapon in Oswald’s possession when he was arrested.

Cunningham declared that this weapon fired the four cartridges to the

exclusion of all other weapons. Identification was effected through

breech face marks and firing pin marks.[C4-571] Robert A. Frazier and

Charles Killion, other FBI firearms experts, independently examined

the four cartridge cases and arrived at the same conclusion as

Cunningham.[C4-572] At the request of the Commission, Joseph D. Nicol,

superintendent of the Illinois Bureau of Criminal Identification

Investigation, also examined the four cartridge cases found near the

site of the homicide and compared them with the test cartridge cases

fired from the Smith & Wesson revolver taken from Oswald. He concluded

that all of these cartridges were fired from the same weapon.[C4-573]

Cunningham compared four lead bullets recovered from the body

of Patrolman Tippit with test bullets fired from Oswald’s

revolver.[C4-574] He explained that the bullets were slightly smaller

than the barrel of the pistol which had fired them. This caused the

bullets to have an erratic passage through the barrel and impressed

upon the lead of the bullets inconsistent individual characteristics

which made identification impossible. Consecutive bullets fired from

the revolver by the FBI experts could not be identified as having been

fired from that revolver.[C4-575] (See app. X, p. 559.) Cunningham

testified that all of the bullets were mutilated, one being useless

for comparison purposes. All four bullets were fired from a weapon

with five lands and grooves and a right twist[C4-576] which were

the rifling characteristics of the revolver taken from Oswald. He

concluded, however, that he could not say whether the four bullets

were fired from the revolver in Oswald’s possession.[C4-577] “The only

thing I can testify is they could have on the basis of the rifling

characteristics--they could have been.”[C4-578]

Nicol differed with the FBI experts on one bullet taken from Tippit’s

body. He declared that this bullet[C4-579] was fired from the same

weapon that fired the test bullets to the exclusion of all other

weapons. But he agreed that because the other three bullets were

mutilated, he could not determine if they had been fired from the same

weapon as the test bullets.[C4-580]

The examination and testimony of the experts enabled the Commission to

conclude that five shots may have been fired, even though only four

bullets were recovered. Three of the bullets recovered from Tippit’s

body were manufactured by Winchester-Western, and the fourth bullet

by Remington-Peters, but only two of the four discarded cartridge

cases found on the lawn at 10th Street and Patton Avenue were of

Winchester-Western manufacture.[C4-581] Therefore, one cartridge

case of this type was not recovered. And though only one bullet of

Remington-Peters manufacture was recovered, two empty cartridge

cases of that make were retrieved. Therefore, either one bullet of

Remington-Peters manufacture is missing or one used Remington-Peters

cartridge case, which may have been in the revolver before the

shooting, was discarded along with the others as Oswald left the scene.

If a bullet is missing, five were fired. This corresponds with the

observation and memory of Ted Callaway,[C4-582] and possibly Warren

Reynolds, but not with the other eyewitnesses who claim to have heard

from two to four shots.

Ownership of Revolver

By checking certain importers and dealers after the assassination

of President Kennedy and slaying of Officer Tippit, agents of the

FBI determined that George Rose & Co. of Los Angeles was a major

distributor of this type of revolver.[C4-583] Records of Seaport

Traders, Inc., a mail-order division of George Rose & Co., disclosed

that on January 3, 1963, the company received from Empire Wholesale

Sporting Goods, Ltd., Montreal, a shipment of 99 guns in one case.

Among these guns was a .38 Special caliber Smith & Wesson revolver,

serial No. V510210, the only revolver made by Smith & Wesson with

this serial number.[C4-584] When first manufactured, it had a 5-inch

barrel. George Rose & Co. had the barrel shortened by a gunsmith to 2¼

inches.[C4-585]

[Illustration: REVOLVER PURCHASE AND SHIPPING DOCUMENTS

COMMISSION EXHIBIT NO. 790

MICHAELIS EXHIBIT NO. 2

MICHAELIS EXHIBIT NO. 4

MICHAELIS EXHIBIT NO. 5]

Sometime after January 27, 1963, Seaport Traders, Inc., received

through the mail a mail-order coupon for one “.38 St. W. 2” Bbl.,” cost

$29.95. Ten dollars in cash was enclosed. The order was signed in ink

by “A. J. Hidell, aged 28.”[C4-586] (See Commission Exhibit No. 790,

p. 173.) The date of the order was January 27 (no year shown), and the

return address was Post Office Box 2915, Dallas, Tex. Also on the order

form was an order, written in ink, for one box of ammunition and one

holster, but a line was drawn through these items. The mail-order form

had a line for the name of a witness to attest that the person ordering

the gun was a U.S. citizen and had not been convicted of a felony. The

name written in this space was D. F. Drittal.[C4-587]

Heinz W. Michaelis, office manager of both George Rose & Co., Inc., and

Seaport Traders, Inc., identified records of Seaport Traders, Inc.,

which showed that a “.38 S and W Special two-inch Commando, serial

number V510210” was shipped on March 20, 1963, to A. J. Hidell, Post

Office Box 2915, Dallas, Tex. The invoice was prepared on March 13,

1963; the revolver was actually shipped on March 20 by Railway Express.

The balance due on the purchase was $19.95. Michaelis furnished the

shipping copy of the invoice, and the Railway Express Agency shipping

documents, showing that $19.95, plus $1.27 shipping charge, had been

collected from the consignee, Hidell.[C4-588] (See Michaelis Exhibits

Nos. 2, 4, 5, p. 173.)

Handwriting experts, Alwyn Cole of the Treasury Department and James

C. Cadigan of the FBI, testified before the Commission that the

writing on the coupon was Oswald’s. The signature of the witness,

D. F. Drittal, who attested that the fictitious Hidell was an American

citizen and had not been convicted of a felony, was also in Oswald’s

handwriting.[C4-589] Marina Oswald gave as her opinion that the

mail-order coupon was in Oswald’s handwriting.[C4-590] When shown

the revolver, she stated that she recognized it as the one owned by

her husband.[C4-591] She also testified that this appeared to be

the revolver seen in Oswald’s belt in the picture she took in late

March or early April 1963 when the family was living on Neely Street

in Dallas.[C4-592] Police found an empty revolver holster when they

searched Oswald’s room on Beckley Avenue after his arrest.[C4-593]

Marina Oswald testified that this was the holster which contained the

revolver in the photographs taken on Neely Street.[C4-594]

Oswald’s Jacket

Approximately 15 minutes before the shooting of Tippit, Oswald was

seen leaving his roominghouse.[C4-595] He was wearing a zipper

jacket which he had not been wearing moments before when he had

arrived home.[C4-596] When Oswald was arrested, he did not have a

jacket.[C4-597] Shortly after Tippit was slain, policemen found a

light-colored zipper jacket along the route taken by the killer as he

attempted to escape.[C4-598] (See Commission Exhibit No. 1968, p. 164.)

At 1:22 p.m. the Dallas police radio described the man wanted for the

murder of Tippit as “a white male about thirty, five foot eight inches,

black hair, slender, wearing a white jacket, white shirt and dark

slacks.”[C4-599] According to Patrolman Poe this description came from

Mrs. Markham and Mrs. Barbara Jeanette Davis.[C4-600] Mrs. Markham told

Poe that the man was a “white male, about 25, about five feet eight,

brown hair, medium,” and wearing a “white jacket.” Mrs. Davis gave Poe

the same general description: a “white male in his early twenties,

around five foot seven inches or eight inches, about 145 pounds,” and

wearing a white jacket.

As has been discussed previously, two witnesses, Warren Reynolds and

B. M. Patterson, saw the gunman run toward the rear of a gasoline

service station on Jefferson Boulevard. Mrs. Mary Brock, the wife of a

mechanic who worked at the station, was there at the time and she saw

a white male, “5 feet, 10 inches * * * wearing light clothing * * * a

light-colored jacket” walk past her at a fast pace with his hands in

his pocket. She last saw him in the parking lot directly behind the

service station. When interviewed by FBI agents on January 21, 1964,

she identified a picture of Oswald as being the same person she saw on

November 22. She confirmed this interview by a sworn affidavit.[C4-601]

At 1:24 p.m., the police radio reported, “The suspect last seen running

west on Jefferson from 400 East Jefferson.”[C4-602] Police Capt. W. R.

Westbrook and several other officers concentrated their search along

Jefferson Boulevard.[C4-603] Westbrook walked through the parking lot

behind the service station[C4-604] and found a light-colored jacket

lying under the rear of one of the cars.[C4-605] Westbrook identified

Commission Exhibit No. 162 as the light-colored jacket which he

discovered underneath the automobile.[C4-606]

This jacket belonged to Lee Harvey Oswald. Marina Oswald stated

that her husband owned only two jackets, one blue and the other

gray.[C4-607] The blue jacket was found in the Texas School Book

Depository[C4-608] and was identified by Marina Oswald as her

husband’s.[C4-609] Marina Oswald also identified Commission Exhibit No.

162, the jacket found by Captain Westbrook, as her husband’s second

jacket.[C4-610]

The eyewitnesses vary in their identification of the jacket. Mrs.

Earlene Roberts, the housekeeper at Oswald’s roominghouse and the last

person known to have seen him before he reached 10th Street and Patton

Avenue, said that she may have seen the gray zipper jacket but she was

not certain. It seemed to her that the jacket Oswald wore was darker

than Commission Exhibit No. 162.[C4-611] Ted Callaway, who saw the

gunman moments after the shooting, testified that Commission Exhibit

No. 162 looked like the jacket he was wearing but “I thought it had a

little more tan to it.”[C4-612] Two other witnesses, Sam Guinyard and

William Arthur Smith, testified that Commission Exhibit No. 162 was

the jacket worn by the man they saw on November 22. Mrs. Markham and

Barbara Davis thought that the jacket worn by the slayer of Tippit was

darker than the jacket found by Westbrook.[C4-613] Scoggins thought it

was lighter.[C4-614]

There is no doubt, however, that Oswald was seen leaving his

roominghouse at about 1 p.m. wearing a zipper jacket, that the man who

killed Tippit was wearing a light-colored jacket, that he was seen

running along Jefferson Boulevard, that a jacket was found under a car

in a lot adjoining Jefferson Boulevard, that the jacket belonged to

Lee Harvey Oswald, and that when he was arrested at approximately 1:50

p.m., he was in shirt sleeves. These facts warrant the finding that Lee

Harvey Oswald disposed of his jacket as he fled from the scene of the

Tippit killing.

Conclusion

The foregoing evidence establishes that (1) two eyewitnesses who heard

the shots and saw the shooting of Dallas Police Patrolman J. D. Tippit

and seven eyewitnesses who saw the flight of the gunman with revolver

in hand positively identified Lee Harvey Oswald as the man they saw

fire the shots or flee from the scene, (2) the cartridge cases found

near the scene of the shooting were fired from the revolver in the

possession of Oswald at the time of his arrest, to the exclusion of all

other weapons, (3) the revolver in Oswald’s possession at the time of

his arrest was purchased by and belonged to Oswald, and (4) Oswald’s

jacket was found along the path of flight taken by the gunman as he

fled from the scene of the killing. On the basis of this evidence

the Commission concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald killed Dallas Police

Patrolman J.D. Tippit.

OSWALD’S ARREST

The Texas Theatre is on the north side of Jefferson Boulevard,

approximately eight blocks from the scene of the Tippit shooting and

six blocks from where several witnesses last saw Oswald running west on

Jefferson Boulevard.[C4-615] (See Commission Exhibit No. 1968, p. 164.)

Shortly after the Tippit murder, police sirens sounded along Jefferson

Boulevard. One of the persons who heard the sirens was Johnny Calvin

Brewer, manager of Hardy’s Shoestore, a few doors east of the Texas

Theatre. Brewer knew from radio broadcasts that the President had been

shot and that a patrolman had also been shot in Oak Cliff.[C4-616]

When he heard police sirens, he “looked up and saw the man enter the

lobby,” a recessed area extending about 15 feet between the sidewalk

and the front door of his store.[C4-617] A police car made a =U=-turn,

and as the sirens grew fainter, the man in the lobby “looked over his

shoulder and turned around and walked up West Jefferson towards the

theatre.”[C4-618] The man wore a T-shirt beneath his outer shirt and he

had no jacket.[C4-619] Brewer said, “He just looked funny to me. * * *

His hair was sort of messed up and looked like he had been running, and

he looked scared, and he looked funny.”[C4-620]

[Illustration: (HILL EXHIBIT B) OSWALD IN FRONT OF TEXAS THEATER

(FRANK PIZZO EXHIBIT 453-C)

OSWALD AT DALLAS POLICE DEPARTMENT

COMMISSION EXHIBIT NO. 1797

OSWALD AT DALLAS POLICE DEPARTMENT]

Mrs. Julia Postal, selling tickets at the box office of the Texas

Theatre, heard police sirens and then saw a man as he “ducked into”

the outer lobby space of the theatre near the ticket office.[C4-621]

Attracted by the sound of the sirens, Mrs. Postal stepped out of the

box office and walked to the curb.[C4-622] Shortly thereafter, Johnny

Brewer, who had come from the nearby shoestore, asked Mrs. Postal

whether the fellow that had ducked in had bought a ticket.[C4-623] She

said, “No; by golly, he didn’t,” and turned around, but the man was

nowhere in sight.[C4-624] Brewer told Mrs. Postal that he had seen the

man ducking into his place of business and that he had followed him

to the theatre.[C4-625] She sent Brewer into the theatre to find the

man and check the exits, told him about the assassination, and said “I

don’t know if this is the man they want * * * but he is running from

them for some reason.”[C4-626] She then called the police.[C4-627]

At 1:45 p.m., the police radio stated, “Have information a suspect

just went in the Texas Theatre on West Jefferson.”[C4-628] Patrol cars

bearing at least 15 officers converged on the Texas Theatre.[C4-629]

Patrolman M. N. McDonald, with Patrolmen R. Hawkins, T. A. Hutson,

and C. T. Walker, entered the theatre from the rear.[C4-630] Other

policemen entered the front door and searched the balcony.[C4-631]

Detective Paul L. Bentley rushed to the balcony and told the

projectionist to turn up the house lights.[C4-632] Brewer met McDonald

and the other policemen at the alley exit door, stepped out onto the

stage with them[C4-633] and pointed out the man who had come into the

theatre without paying.[C4-634] The man was Oswald. He was sitting

alone in the rear of the main floor of the theatre near the right

center aisle.[C4-635] About six or seven people were seated on the

theatre’s main floor and an equal number in the balcony.[C4-636]

McDonald first searched two men in the center of the main floor,

about 10 rows from the front.[C4-637] He walked out of the row up

the right center aisle.[C4-638] When he reached the row where the

suspect was sitting, McDonald stopped abruptly and told the man to

get on his feet.[C4-639] Oswald rose from his seat, bringing up both

hands.[C4-640] As McDonald started to search Oswald’s waist for a

gun, he heard him say, “Well, it’s all over now.”[C4-641] Oswald then

struck McDonald between the eyes with his left fist; with his right

hand he drew a gun from his waist.[C4-642] McDonald struck back with

his right hand and grabbed the gun with his left hand.[C4-643] They

both fell into the seats.[C4-644] Three other officers, moving toward

the scuffle, grabbed Oswald from the front, rear and side.[C4-645] As

McDonald fell into the seat with his left hand on the gun, he felt

something graze across his hand and heard what sounded like the snap of

the hammer.[C4-646] McDonald felt the pistol scratch his cheek as he

wrenched it away from Oswald.[C4-647] Detective Bob K. Carroll, who was

standing beside McDonald, seized the gun from him.[C4-648]

The other officers who helped subdue Oswald corroborated McDonald in

his testimony except that they did not hear Oswald say, “It’s all

over now.” Deputy Sheriff Eddy R. Walthers recalled such a remark

but he did not reach the scene of the struggle until Oswald had been

knocked to the floor by McDonald and the others.[C4-649] Some of the

officers saw Oswald strike McDonald with his fist.[C4-650] Most of them

heard a click which they assumed to be a click of the hammer of the

revolver.[C4-651] Testimony of a firearms expert before the Commission

established that the hammer of the revolver never touched the shell in

the chamber.[C4-652] Although the witnesses did not hear the sound of

a misfire, they might have heard a snapping noise resulting from the

police officer grabbing the cylinder of the revolver and pulling it

away from Oswald while he was attempting to pull the trigger.[C4-653]

(See app. X, p. 560.)

Two patrons of the theatre and John Brewer testified regarding the

arrest of Oswald, as did the various police officers who participated

in the fight. George Jefferson Applin, Jr., confirmed that Oswald

fought with four or five officers before he was handcuffed.[C4-654] He

added that one officer grabbed the muzzle of a shotgun, drew back, and

hit Oswald with the butt end of the gun in the back.[C4-655] No other

theatre patron or officer has testified that Oswald was hit by a gun.

Nor did Oswald ever complain that he was hit with a gun, or injured in

the back. Deputy Sheriff Walthers brought a shotgun into the theatre

but laid it on some seats before helping to subdue Oswald.[C4-656]

Officer Ray Hawkins said that there was no one near Oswald who had a

shotgun and he saw no one strike Oswald in the back with a rifle butt

or the butt of a gun.[C4-657]

John Gibson, another patron in the theatre, saw an officer grab Oswald,

and he claims that he heard the click of a gun misfiring.[C4-658] He

saw no shotgun in the possession of any policeman near Oswald.[C4-659]

Johnny Brewer testified he saw Oswald pull the revolver and the

officers struggle with him to take it away but that once he was

subdued, no officer struck him.[C4-660] He further stated that

while fists were flying he heard one of the officers say “Kill the

President, will you.”[C4-661] It is unlikely that any of the police

officers referred to Oswald as a suspect in the assassination. While

the police radio had noted the similarity in description of the two

suspects, the arresting officers were pursuing Oswald for the murder

of Tippit.[C4-662] As Oswald, handcuffed, was led from the theatre, he

was, according to McDonald, “cursing a little bit and hollering police

brutality.”[C4-663] At 1:51 p.m., police car 2 reported by radio that

it was on the way to headquarters with the suspect.[C4-664]

Captain Fritz returned to police headquarters from the Texas

School Book Depository at 2:15 after a brief stop at the sheriff’s

office.[C4-665] When he entered the homicide and robbery bureau office,

he saw two detectives standing there with Sgt. Gerald L. Hill, who had

driven from the theatre with Oswald.[C4-666] Hill testified that Fritz

told the detective to get a search warrant, go to an address on Fifth

Street in Irving, and pick up a man named Lee Oswald. When Hill asked

why Oswald was wanted, Fritz replied, “Well, he was employed down at

the Book Depository and he had not been present for a roll call of the

employees.”[C4-667] Hill said, “Captain, we will save you a trip * * *

there he sits.”[C4-668]

STATEMENTS OF OSWALD DURING DETENTION

Oswald was questioned intermittently for approximately 12 hours between

2:30 p.m., on November 22, and 11 a.m., on November 24. Throughout

this interrogation he denied that he had anything to do either with

the assassination of President Kennedy or the murder of Patrolman

Tippit. Captain Fritz of the homicide and robbery bureau did most of

the questioning, but he kept no notes and there were no stenographic

or tape recordings. Representatives of other law enforcement agencies

were also present, including the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service. They

occasionally participated in the questioning. The reports prepared by

those present at these interviews are set forth in appendix XI. A full

discussion of Oswald’s detention and interrogation is presented in

chapter V of this report.

During the evening of November 22, the Dallas Police Department

performed paraffin tests on Oswald’s hands and right cheek in an

apparent effort to determine, by means of a scientific test, whether

Oswald had recently fired a weapon. The results were positive for

the hands and negative for the right cheek.[C4-669] Expert testimony

before the Commission was to the effect that the paraffin test was

unreliable[C4-670] in determining whether or not a person has fired a

rifle or revolver.[C4-671] The Commission has, therefore, placed no

reliance on the paraffin tests administered by the Dallas police. (See

app. X, pp. 561-562.)

Oswald provided little information during his questioning. Frequently,

however, he was confronted with evidence which he could not explain,

and he resorted to statements which are known to be lies.[C4-672] While

Oswald’s untrue statements during interrogation were not considered

items of positive proof by the Commission, they had probative value in

deciding the weight to be given to his denials that he assassinated

President Kennedy and killed Patrolman Tippit. Since independent

evidence revealed that Oswald repeatedly and blatantly lied to the

police, the Commission gave little weight to his denials of guilt.

Denial of Rifle Ownership

From the outset, Oswald denied owning a rifle. On November 23, Fritz

confronted Oswald with the evidence that he had purchased a rifle under

the fictitious name of “Hidell.” Oswald said that this was not true.

Oswald denied that he had a rifle wrapped up in a blanket in the Paine

garage. Oswald also denied owning a rifle and said that since leaving

the Marine Corps he had fired only a small bore .22 rifle.[C4-673] On

the afternoon of November 23, Officers H. M. Moore, R. S. Stovall, and

G. F. Rose obtained a search warrant and examined Oswald’s effects in

the Paine garage. They discovered two photographs, each showing Oswald

with a rifle and a pistol.[C4-674] These photographs were shown to

Oswald on the evening of November 23 and again on the morning of the

24th. According to Fritz, Oswald sneered, saying that they were fake

photographs, that he had been photographed a number of times the day

before by the police, that they had superimposed upon the photographs

a rifle and a revolver.[C4-675] He told Fritz a number of times that

the smaller photograph was either made from the larger, or the larger

photograph was made from the smaller and that at the proper time he

would show that the pictures were fakes. Fritz told him that the two

small photographs were found in the Paine garage. At that point,

Oswald refused to answer any further questions.[C4-676] As previously

indicated, Marina Oswald testified that she took the two pictures with

her husband’s Imperial Reflex camera when they lived on Neely Street.

Her testimony was fully supported by a photography expert who testified

that in his opinion the pictures were not composites.[C4-677]

The Revolver

At the first interrogation, Oswald claimed that his only crime was

carrying a gun and resisting arrest. When Captain Fritz asked him why

he carried the revolver, he answered, “Well, you know about a pistol.

I just carried it.”[C4-678] He falsely alleged that he bought the

revolver in Fort Worth,[C4-679] when in fact he purchased it from a

mail-order house in Los Angeles.[C4-680]

The Aliases “Hidell” and “O. H. Lee”

The arresting officers found a forged selective service card with

a picture of Oswald and the name “Alek J. Hidell” in Oswald’s

billfold.[C4-681] On November 22 and 23, Oswald refused to tell Fritz

why this card was in his possession,[C4-682] or to answer any questions

concerning the card.[C4-683] On Sunday morning, November 24, Oswald

denied that he knew A. J. Hidell. Captain Fritz produced the selective

service card bearing the name “Alek J. Hidell.” Oswald became angry

and said, “Now, I’ve told you all I’m going to tell you about that

card in my billfold--you have the card yourself and you know as much

about it as I do.”[C4-684] At the last interrogation on November 24,

Oswald admitted to Postal Inspector Holmes that he had rented post

office box 2915, Dallas, but denied that he had received a package

in this box addressed to Hidell. He also denied that he had received

the rifle through this box.[C4-685] Holmes reminded Oswald that A. J.

Hidell was listed on post office box 30061, New Orleans, as one

entitled to receive mail. Oswald replied, “I don’t know anything about

that.”[C4-686]

When asked why he lived at his roominghouse under the name O. H. Lee,

Oswald responded that the landlady simply made a mistake, because he

told her that his name was Lee, meaning his first name.[C4-687] An

examination of the roominghouse register revealed that Oswald actually

signed the name O. H. Lee.[C4-688]

The Curtain Rod Story

In concluding that Oswald was carrying a rifle in the paper bag on the

morning of November 22, 1963, the Commission found that Oswald lied

when he told Frazier that he was returning to Irving to obtain curtain

rods. When asked about the curtain rod story, Oswald lied again. He

denied that he had ever told Frazier that he wanted a ride to Irving

to get curtain rods for an apartment.[C4-689] He explained that a

party for the Paine children had been planned for the weekend and he

preferred not to be in the Paine house at that time; therefore, he made

his weekly visit on Thursday night.[C4-690] Actually, the party for one

of the Paine’s children was the preceding weekend, when Marina Oswald

suggested that Oswald remain in Dallas.[C4-691] When told that Frazier

and Mrs. Randle had seen him carrying a long heavy package, Oswald

replied, “Well, they was mistaken. That must have been some other

time he picked me up.”[C4-692] In one interview, he told Fritz that

the only sack he carried to work that day was a lunch sack which he

kept on his lap during the ride from Irving to Dallas.[C4-693] Frazier

testified before the Commission that Oswald carried no lunch sack that

day.[C4-694]

Actions During and After Shooting

During the first interrogation on November 22, Fritz asked Oswald to

account for himself at the time the President was shot. Oswald told him

that he ate lunch in the first-floor lunchroom and then went to the

second floor for a Coke which he brought downstairs. He acknowledged

the encounter with the police officer on the second floor. Oswald

told Fritz that after lunch he went outside, talked with Foreman Bill

Shelley for 5 or 10 minutes and then left for home. He said that he

left work because Bill Shelley said that there would be no more work

done that day in the building.[C4-695] Shelley denied seeing Oswald

after 12 noon or at any time after the shooting.[C4-696] The next day,

Oswald added to his story. He stated that at the time the President was

shot he was having lunch with “Junior” but he did not give Junior’s

last name.[C4-697] The only employee at the Depository Building named

“Junior” was James Jarman, Jr. Jarman testified that he ate his lunch

on the first floor around 5 minutes to 12, and that he neither ate

lunch with nor saw Oswald.[C4-698] Jarman did talk to Oswald that

morning:

* * * he asked me what were the people gathering around on the

corner for and I told him that the President was supposed to

pass that morning, and he asked me did I know which way he was

coming, and I told him, yes, he probably come down Main and

turn on Houston and then back again on Elm. Then he said, “Oh,

I see,” and that was all.[C4-699]

PRIOR ATTEMPT TO KILL

The Attempt on the Life of Maj. Gen. Edwin A. Walker

At approximately 9 p.m., on April 10, 1963, in Dallas, Tex., Maj. Gen.

Edwin A. Walker, an active and controversial figure on the American

political scene since his resignation from the U.S. Army in 1961,

narrowly escaped death when a rifle bullet fired from outside his

home passed near his head as he was seated at his desk.[C4-700] There

were no eyewitnesses, although a 14-year-old boy in a neighboring

house claimed that immediately after the shooting he saw two men, in

separate cars, drive out of a church parking lot adjacent to Walker’s

home.[C4-701] A friend of Walker’s testified that two nights before the

shooting he saw “two men around the house peeking in windows.”[C4-702]

General Walker gave this information to the police before the shooting,

but it did not help solve the crime. Although the bullet was recovered

from Walker’s house (see app. X, p. 562), in the absence of a weapon

it was of little investigatory value. General Walker hired two

investigators to determine whether a former employee might have been

involved in the shooting.[C4-703] Their results were negative. Until

December 3, 1963, the Walker shooting remained unsolved.

The Commission evaluated the following evidence in considering whether

Lee Harvey Oswald fired the shot which almost killed General Walker:

(1) A note which Oswald left for his wife on the evening of the

shooting, (2) photographs found among Oswald’s possessions after the

assassination of President Kennedy, (3) firearm identification of the

bullet found in Walker’s home, and (4) admissions and other statements

made to Marina Oswald by Oswald concerning the shooting.

_Note left by Oswald._--On December 2, 1963, Mrs. Ruth Paine turned

over to the police some of the Oswalds’ belongings, including a Russian

volume entitled “Book of Useful Advice.”[C4-704] In this book was an

undated note written in Russian. In translation, the note read as

follows:

1. This is the key to the mailbox which is located in the main

post office in the city on Ervay Street. This is the same

street where the drugstore, in which you always waited is

located. You will find the mailbox in the post office which is

located 4 blocks from the drugstore on that street. I paid for

the box last month so don’t worry about it.

2. Send the information as to what has happened to me to

the Embassy and include newspaper clippings (should there

be anything about me in the newspapers). I believe that the

Embassy will come quickly to your assistance on learning

everything.

3. I paid the house rent on the 2d so don’t worry about it.

4. Recently I also paid for water and gas.

5. The money from work will possibly be coming. The money will

be sent to our post office box. Go to the bank and cash the

check.

6. You can either throw out or give my clothing, etc. away.

Do not keep these. However, I prefer that you hold on to my

personal papers (military, civil, etc.).

7. Certain of my documents are in the small blue valise.

8. The address book can be found on my table in the study

should need same.

9. We have friends here. The Red Cross also will help you. (Red

Cross in English). [sic]

10. I left you as much money as I could, $60 on the second of

the month. You and the baby [apparently] can live for another 2

months using $10 per week.

11. If I am alive and taken prisoner, the city jail is located

at the end of the bridge through which we always passed on

going to the city (right in the beginning of the city after

crossing the bridge).[C4-705]

James C. Cadigan, FBI handwriting expert, testified that this note was

written by Lee Harvey Oswald.[C4-706]

Prior to the Walker shooting on April 10, Oswald had been attending

typing classes on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday evenings. He had quit

these classes at least a week before the shooting, which occurred on

a Wednesday night.[C4-707] According to Marina Oswald’s testimony, on

the night of the Walker shooting, her husband left their apartment on

Neely Street shortly after dinner. She thought he was attending a class

or was “on his own business.”[C4-708] When he failed to return by 10

or 10:30 p.m., Marina Oswald went to his room and discovered the note.

She testified: “When he came back I asked him what had happened. He was

very pale. I don’t remember the exact time, but it was very late. And

he told me not to ask him any questions. He only told me he had shot

at General Walker.”[C4-709] Oswald told his wife that he did not know

whether he had hit Walker; according to Marina Oswald when he learned

on the radio and in the newspapers the next day that he had missed,

he said that he “was very sorry that he had not hit him.”[C4-710]

Marina Oswald’s testimony was fully supported by the note itself which

appeared to be the work of a man expecting to be killed, or imprisoned,

or to disappear. The last paragraph directed her to the jail and the

other paragraphs instructed her on the disposal of Oswald’s personal

effects and the management of her affairs if he should not return.

It is clear that the note was written while the Oswalds were living

in Dallas before they moved to New Orleans in the spring of 1963. The

references to house rent and payments for water and gas indicated that

the note was written when they were living in a rented apartment;

therefore it could not have been written while Marina Oswald was living

with the Paines. Moreover, the reference in paragraph 3 to paying “the

house rent on the 2d” would be consistent with the period when the

Oswalds were living on Neely Street since the apartment was rented on

March 3, 1963. Oswald had paid the first month’s rent in advance on

March 2, 1963, and the second month’s rent was paid on either April

2 or April 3.[C4-711] The main post office “on Ervay Street” refers

to the post office where Oswald rented box 2915 from October 9, 1962,

to May 14, 1963.[C4-712] Another statement which limits the time

when it could have been written is the reference “you and the baby,”

which would indicate that it was probably written before the birth of

Oswald’s second child on October 20, 1963.

Oswald had apparently mistaken the county jail for the city jail.

From Neely Street the Oswalds would have traveled downtown on the

Beckley bus, across the Commerce Street viaduct and into downtown

Dallas through the Triple Underpass.[C4-713] Either the viaduct or the

underpass might have been the “bridge” mentioned in the last paragraph

of the note. The county jail is at the corner of Houston and Main

Streets “right in the beginning of the city” after one travels through

the underpass.

_Photographs._--In her testimony before the Commission in February

1964, Marina Oswald stated that when Oswald returned home on the

night of the Walker shooting, he told her that he had been planning

the attempt for 2 months. He showed her a notebook 3 days later

containing photographs of General Walker’s home and a map of the area

where the house was located.[C4-714] Although Oswald destroyed the

notebook,[C4-715] three photographs found among Oswald’s possessions

after the assassination were identified by Marina Oswald as photographs

of General Walker’s house.[C4-716] Two of these photographs were taken

from the rear of Walker’s house.[C4-717] The Commission confirmed, by

comparison with other photographs, that these were, indeed, photographs

of the rear of Walker’s house.[C4-718] An examination of the window at

the rear of the house, the wall through which the bullet passed, and

the fence behind the house indicated that the bullet was fired from a

position near the point where one of the photographs was taken.[C4-719]

The third photograph identified by Marina Oswald depicts the entrance

to General Walker’s driveway from a back alley.[C4-720] Also seen

in the picture is the fence on which Walker’s assailant apparently

rested the rifle.[C4-721] An examination of certain construction work

appearing in the background of this photograph revealed that the

picture was taken between March 8 and 12, 1963, and most probably on

either March 9 or March 10.[C4-722] Oswald purchased the money order

for the rifle on March 12, the rifle was shipped on March 20,[C4-723]

and the shooting occurred on April 10. A photography expert with

the FBI was able to determine that this picture was taken with the

Imperial Reflex camera owned by Lee Harvey Oswald.[C4-724] (See app. X,

p. 596.)

A fourth photograph, showing a stretch of railroad tracks, was

also identified by Marina Oswald as having been taken by her

husband, presumably in connection with the Walker shooting.[C4-725]

Investigation determined that this photograph was taken approximately

seven-tenths of a mile from Walker’s house.[C4-726] Another photograph

of railroad tracks found among Oswald’s possessions was not identified

by his wife, but investigation revealed that it was taken from a point

slightly less than half a mile from General Walker’s house.[C4-727]

Marina Oswald stated that when she asked her husband what he had done

with the rifle, he replied that he had buried it in the ground or

hidden it in some bushes and that he also mentioned a railroad track in

this connection. She testified that several days later Oswald recovered

his rifle and brought it back to their apartment.[C4-728]

_Firearms identification._--In the room beyond the one in which General

Walker was sitting on the night of the shooting the Dallas police

recovered a badly mutilated bullet which had come to rest on a stack of

paper.[C4-729] The Dallas City-County Investigation Laboratory tried to

determine the type of weapon which fired the bullet. The oral report

was negative because of the battered condition of the bullet.[C4-730]

On November 30, 1963, the FBI requested the bullet for ballistics

examination; the Dallas Police Department forwarded it on December 2,

1963.[C4-731]

Robert A. Frazier, an FBI ballistics identification expert, testified

that he was “unable to reach a conclusion” as to whether or not the

bullet recovered from Walker’s house had been fired from the rifle

found on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository Building.

He concluded that “the general rifling characteristics of the rifle

* * * are of the same type as those found on the bullet * * * and,

further, on this basis * * * the bullet could have been fired from the

rifle on the basis of its land and groove impressions.”[C4-732] Frazier

testified further that the FBI avoids the category of “probable”

identification. Unless the missile or cartridge case can be identified

as coming from a particular weapon to the exclusion of all others, the

FBI refuses to draw any conclusion as to probability.[C4-733] Frazier

testified, however, that he found no microscopic characteristics or

other evidence which would indicate that the bullet was not fired from

the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle owned by Lee Harvey Oswald. It was a

6.5-millimeter bullet and, according to Frazier, “relatively few” types

of rifles could produce the characteristics found on the bullet.[C4-734]

Joseph D. Nicol, superintendent of the Illinois Bureau of Criminal

Identification and Investigation, conducted an independent examination

of this bullet and concluded “that there is a fair probability” that

the bullet was fired from the rifle used in the assassination of

President Kennedy.[C4-735] In explaining the difference between his

policy and that of the FBI on the matter of probable identification,

Nicol said:

I am aware of their position. This is not, I am sure, arrived

at without careful consideration. However, to say that because

one does not find sufficient marks for identification that

it is a negative, I think is going overboard in the other

direction. And for purposes of probative value, for whatever

it might be worth, in the absence of very definite negative

evidence, I think it is permissible to say that in an exhibit

such as 573 there is enough on it to say that it could have

come, and even perhaps a little stronger, to say that it

probably came from this, without going so far as to say to the

exclusion of all other guns. This I could not do.[C4-736]

Although the Commission recognizes that neither expert was able to

state that the bullet which missed General Walker was fired from

Oswald’s rifle to the exclusion of all others, this testimony was

considered probative when combined with the other testimony linking

Oswald to the shooting.

_Additional corroborative evidence._--The admissions made to Marina

Oswald by her husband are an important element in the evidence that Lee

Harvey Oswald fired the shot at General Walker. As shown above, the

note and the photographs of Walker’s house and of the nearby railroad

tracks provide important corroboration for her account of the incident.

Other details described by Marina Oswald coincide with facts developed

independently of her statements. She testified that her husband had

postponed his attempt to kill Walker until that Wednesday because he

had heard that there was to be a gathering at the church next door

to Walker’s house on that evening. He indicated that he wanted more

people in the vicinity at the time of the attempt so that his arrival

and departure would not attract great attention.[C4-737] An official

of this church told FBI agents that services are held every Wednesday

at the church except during the month of August.[C4-738] Marina Oswald

also testified that her husband had used a bus to return home.[C4-739]

A study of the bus routes indicates that Oswald could have taken any

one of several different buses to Walker’s house or to a point near the

railroad tracks where he may have concealed the rifle.[C4-740] It would

have been possible for him to take different routes in approaching and

leaving the scene of the shooting.

_Conclusion._--Based on (1) the contents of the note which Oswald

left for his wife on April 10, 1963, (2) the photographs found among

Oswald’s possessions, (3) the testimony of firearms identification

experts, and (4) the testimony of Marina Oswald, the Commission has

concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald attempted to take the life of Maj.

Gen. Edwin A. Walker (Resigned, U.S. Army) on April 10, 1963. The

finding that Lee Harvey Oswald attempted to murder a public figure in

April 1963 was considered of probative value in this investigation,

although the Commission’s conclusion concerning the identity of the

assassin was based on evidence independent of the finding that Oswald

attempted to kill General Walker.

Richard M. Nixon Incident

Another alleged threat by Oswald against a public figure involved

former Vice President Richard M. Nixon. In January 1964, Marina Oswald

and her business manager, James Martin, told Robert Oswald, Lee Harvey

Oswald’s brother, that Oswald had once threatened to shoot former

Vice President Richard M. Nixon.[C4-741] When Marina Oswald testified

before the Commission on February 3-6, 1964, she had failed to mention

the incident when she was asked whether Oswald had ever expressed

any hostility toward any official of the United States.[C4-742] The

Commission first learned of this incident when Robert Oswald related it

to FBI agents on February 19, 1964,[C4-743] and to the Commission on

February 21.[C4-744]

Marina Oswald appeared before the Commission again on June 11, 1964,

and testified that a few days before her husband’s departure from

Dallas to New Orleans on April 24, 1963, he finished reading a morning

newspaper “* * * and put on a good suit. I saw that he took a pistol.

I asked him where he was going, and why he was getting dressed. He

answered ‘Nixon is coming. I want to go and have a look.’” He also said

that he would use the pistol if the opportunity arose.[C4-745] She

reminded him that after the Walker shooting he had promised never to

repeat such an act. Marina Oswald related the events which followed:

I called him into the bathroom and I closed the door and I

wanted to prevent him and then I started to cry. And I told him

that he shouldn’t do this, and that he had promised me.

* * * * *

I remember that I held him. We actually struggled for several

minutes and then he quieted down.[C4-746]

She stated that it was not physical force which kept him from leaving

the house. “I couldn’t keep him from going out if he really wanted

to.”[C4-747] After further questioning she stated that she might have

been confused about shutting him in the bathroom, but that “there is no

doubt that he got dressed and got a gun.”[C4-748]

Oswald’s revolver was shipped from Los Angeles on March 20,

1963,[C4-749] and he left for New Orleans on April 24, 1963.[C4-750]

No edition of either Dallas newspaper during the period January 1,

1963, to May 15, 1963, mentioned any proposed visit by Mr. Nixon to

Dallas.[C4-751] Mr. Nixon advised the Commission that the only time

he was in Dallas in 1963 was on November 20-21, 1963.[C4-752] An

investigation failed to reveal any invitation extended to Mr. Nixon

during the period when Oswald’s threat reportedly occurred.[C4-753] The

Commission has concluded, therefore, that regardless of what Oswald may

have said to his wife he was not actually planning to shoot Mr. Nixon

at that time in Dallas.

On April 23, 1963, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was in Dallas for

a visit which had been publicized in the Dallas newspapers throughout

April.[C4-754] The Commission asked Marina Oswald whether she might

have misunderstood the object of her husband’s threat. She stated,

“there is no question that in this incident it was a question of

Mr. Nixon.”[C4-755] When asked later whether it might have been Mr.

Johnson, she said, “Yes, no. I am getting a little confused with so

many questions. I was absolutely convinced it was Nixon and now after

all these questions I wonder if I am right in my mind.”[C4-756] She

stated further that Oswald had only mentioned Nixon’s name once during

the incident.[C4-757] Marina Oswald might have misunderstood her

husband. Mr. Johnson was the then Vice President and his visit took

place on April 23d.[C4-758] This was 1 day before Oswald left for New

Orleans and Marina appeared certain that the Nixon incident “wasn’t the

day before. Perhaps 3 days before.”[C4-759]

Marina Oswald speculated that the incident may have been unrelated to

an actual threat. She said,

* * * It might have been that he was just trying to test me.

He was the kind of person who could try and wound somebody in

that way. Possibly he didn’t want to go out at all but was just

doing this all as a sort of joke, not really as a joke but

rather to simply wound me, to make me feel bad.[C4-760]

In the absence of other evidence that Oswald actually intended

to shoot someone at this time, the Commission concluded that the

incident, as described by Marina Oswald, was of no probative value in

the Commission’s decision concerning the identity of the assassin of

President Kennedy.

OSWALD’S RIFLE CAPABILITY

In deciding whether Lee Harvey Oswald fired the shots which killed

President Kennedy and wounded Governor Connally, the Commission

considered whether Oswald, using his own rifle, possessed the

capability to hit his target with two out of three shots under the

conditions described in chapter III. The Commission evaluated (1) the

nature of the shots, (2) Oswald’s Marine training in marksmanship, (3)

his experience and practice after leaving the Marine Corps, and (4) the

accuracy of the weapon and the quality of the ammunition.

The Nature of the Shots

For a rifleman situated on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book

Depository Building the shots were at a slow-moving target proceeding

on a downgrade in virtually a straight line with the alinement of the

assassin’s rifle, at a range of 177 to 266 feet.[C4-761] An aerial

photograph of Dealey Plaza shows that Elm Street runs at an angle so

that the President would have been moving in an almost straight line

away from the assassin’s rifle.[C4-762] (See Commission Exhibit No.

876, p. 33.) In addition, the 3° downward slope of Elm Street was of

assistance in eliminating at least some of the adjustment which is

ordinarily required when a marksman must raise his rifle as a target

moves farther away.[C4-763]

Four marksmanship experts testified before the Commission. Maj.

Eugene D. Anderson, assistant head of the Marksmanship Branch of

the U.S. Marine Corps, testified that the shots which struck the

President in the neck and in the head were “not * * * particularly

difficult.”[C4-764] Robert A. Frazier, FBI expert in firearms

identification and training, said:

From my own experience in shooting over the years, when you

shoot at 175 feet or 260 feet, which is less than 100 yards,

with a telescopic sight, you should not have any difficulty in

hitting your target.

* * * * *

I mean it requires no training at all to shoot a weapon with a

telescopic sight once you know that you must put the crosshairs

on the target and that is all that is necessary.[C4-765]

Ronald Simmons, chief of the U.S. Army Infantry Weapons Evaluation

Branch of the Ballistics Research Laboratory, said: “Well, in order

to achieve three hits, it would not be required that a man be an

exceptional shot. A proficient man with this weapon, yes.”[C4-766]

The effect of a four-power telescopic sight on the difficulty of

these shots was considered in detail by M. Sgt. James A. Zahm,

noncommissioned officer in charge of the Marksmanship Training Unit in

the Weapons Training Battalion of the Marine Corps School at Quantico,

Va.[C4-767] Referring to a rifle with a four-power telescope, Sergeant

Zahm said:

* * * this is the ideal type of weapon for moving

targets * * *[C4-768]

* * * * *

* * * Using the scope, rapidly working a bolt and using the

scope to relocate your target quickly and at the same time when

you locate that target you identify it and the crosshairs are

in close relationship to the point you want to shoot at, it

just takes a minor move in aiming to bring the crosshairs to

bear, and then it is a quick squeeze.[C4-769]

* * * * *

I consider it a real advantage, particularly at the range of

100 yards, in identifying your target. It allows you to see

your target clearly, and it is still of a minimum amount of

power that it doesn’t exaggerate your own body movements. It

just is an aid in seeing in the fact that you only have the one

element, the crosshair, in relation to the target as opposed to

iron sights with aligning the sights and then aligning them on

the target.[C4-770]

Characterizing the four-power scope as “a real aid, an extreme aid”

in rapid fire shooting, Sergeant Zahm expressed the opinion that the

shot which struck President Kennedy in the neck at 176.9 to 190.8 feet

was “very easy” and the shot which struck the President in the head

at a distance of 265.3 feet was “an easy shot.”[C4-771] After viewing

photographs depicting the alinement of Elm Street in relation to the

Texas School Book Depository Building, Zahm stated further:

This is a definite advantage to the shooter, the vehicle moving

directly away from him and the downgrade of the street, and he

being in an elevated position made an almost stationary target

while he was aiming in, very little movement if any.[C4-772]

Oswald’s Marine Training

In accordance with standard Marine procedures, Oswald received

extensive training in marksmanship.[C4-773] During the first week of an

intensive 3-week training period he received instruction in sighting,

aiming, and manipulation of the trigger.[C4-774] He went through a

series of exercises called dry firing where he assumed all positions

which would later be used in the qualification course.[C4-775] After

familiarization with live ammunition in the .22 rifle and .22 pistol,

Oswald, like all Marine recruits, received training on the rifle range

at distances up to 500 yards, firing 50 rounds each day for five

days.[C4-776]

Following that training, Oswald was tested in December of 1956,

and obtained a score of 212, which was 2 points above the

minimum for qualifications as a “sharpshooter” in a scale of

marksman--sharpshooter--expert.[C4-777] In May of 1959, on another

range, Oswald scored 191, which was 1 point over the minimum for

ranking as a “marksman.”[C4-778] The Marine Corps records maintained

on Oswald further show that he had fired and was familiar with the

Browning Automatic rifle, .45 caliber pistol, and 12-gage riot

gun.[C4-779]

Based on the general Marine Corps ratings, Lt. Col. A. G. Folsom, Jr.,

head, Records Branch, Personnel Department, Headquarters U.S. Marine

Corps, evaluated the sharpshooter qualification as a “fairly good shot”

and a low marksman rating as a “rather poor shot.”[C4-780]

When asked to explain the different scores achieved by Oswald on the

two occasions when he fired for record, Major Anderson said:

* * * when he fired that [212] he had just completed a very

intensive preliminary training period. He had the services of

an experienced highly trained coach. He had high motivation. He

had presumably a good to excellent rifle and good ammunition.

We have nothing here to show under what conditions the B

course was fired. It might well have been a bad day for firing

the rifle--windy, rainy, dark. There is little probability

that he had a good, expert coach, and he probably didn’t have

as high a motivation because he was no longer in recruit

training and under the care of the drill instructor. There

is some possibility that the rifle he was firing might not

have been as good a rifle as the rifle that he was firing in

his A course firing, because [he] may well have carried this

rifle for quite some time, and it got banged around in normal

usage.[C4-781]

Major Anderson concluded:

I would say that as compared to other Marines receiving the

same type of training, that Oswald was a good shot, somewhat

better than or equal to--better than the average let us say.

As compared to a civilian who had not received this intensive

training, he would be considered as a good to excellent

shot.[C4-782]

When Sergeant Zahm was asked whether Oswald’s Marine Corps training

would have made it easier to operate a rifle with a four-power scope,

he replied:

Based on that training, his basic knowledge in sight

manipulation and trigger squeeze and what not, I would say that

he would be capable of sighting that rifle in well, firing it,

with 10 rounds.[C4-783]

After reviewing Oswald’s marksmanship scores, Sergeant Zahm concluded:

I would say in the Marine Corps he is a good shot, slightly

above average, and as compared to the average male of his age

throughout the civilian, throughout the United States, that he

is an excellent shot.[C4-784]

Oswald’s Rifle Practice Outside the Marines

During one of his leaves from the Marines, Oswald hunted with his

brother Robert, using a .22 caliber bolt-action rifle belonging either

to Robert or Robert’s in-laws.[C4-785] After he left the Marines and

before departing for Russia, Oswald, his brother, and a third companion

went hunting for squirrels and rabbits.[C4-786] On that occasion

Oswald again used a bolt-action .22 caliber rifle; and according to

Robert, Lee Oswald exhibited an average amount of proficiency with that

weapon.[C4-787] While in Russia, Oswald obtained a hunting license,

joined a hunting club and went hunting about six times, as discussed

more fully in chapter VI.[C4-788] Soon after Oswald returned from the

Soviet Union he again went hunting with his brother, Robert, and used a

borrowed .22 caliber bolt-action rifle.[C4-789] After Oswald purchased

the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle, he told his wife that he practiced with

it.[C4-790] Marina Oswald testified that on one occasion she saw him

take the rifle, concealed in a raincoat, from the house on Neely

Street. Oswald told her he was going to practice with it.[C4-791]

According to George De Mohrenschildt, Oswald said that he went target

shooting with that rifle.[C4-792]

Marina Oswald testified that in New Orleans in May of 1963, she

observed Oswald sitting with the rifle on their screened porch

at night, sighting with the telescopic lens and operating the

bolt.[C4-793] Examination of the cartridge cases found on the sixth

floor of the Depository Building established that they had been

previously loaded and ejected from the assassination rifle, which would

indicate that Oswald practiced operating the bolt.[C4-794]

Accuracy of Weapon

It will be recalled from the discussion in chapter III that the

assassin in all probability hit two out of the three shots during the

maximum time span of 4.8 to 5.6 seconds if the second shot missed,

or, if either the first or third shots missed, the assassin fired the

three shots during a minimum time span of 7.1 to 7.9 seconds.[C4-795]

A series of tests were performed to determine whether the weapon and

ammunition used in the assassination were capable of firing the shots

which were fired by the assassin on November 22, 1963. The ammunition

used by the assassin was manufactured by Western Cartridge Co. of

East Alton, Ill. In tests with the Mannlicher-Carcano C2766 rifle,

over 100 rounds of this ammunition were fired by the FBI and the

Infantry Weapons Evaluation Branch of the U.S. Army. There were no

misfires.[C4-796]

In an effort to test the rifle under conditions which simulated

those which prevailed during the assassination, the Infantry Weapons

Evaluation Branch of the Ballistics Research Laboratory had expert

riflemen fire the assassination weapon from a tower at three silhouette

targets at distances of 175, 240, and 265 feet. The target at 265 feet

was placed to the right of the 240-foot target which was in turn placed

to the right of the closest silhouette.[C4-797] Using the assassination

rifle mounted with the telescopic sight, three marksmen, rated as

master by the National Rifle Association, each fired two series of

three shots. In the first series the firers required time spans of 4.6,

6.75, and 8.25 seconds respectively. On the second series they required

5.15, 6.45, and 7 seconds. None of the marksmen had any practice with

the assassination weapon except for exercising the bolt for 2 or 3

minutes on a dry run. They had not even pulled the trigger because of

concern about breaking the firing pin.[C4-798]

The marksmen took as much time as they wanted for the first target and

all hit the target.[C4-799] For the first four attempts, the firers

missed the second shot by several inches.[C4-800] The angle from the

first to the second shot was greater than from the second to the third

shot and required a movement in the basic firing position of the

marksmen.[C4-801] This angle was used in the test because the majority

of the eyewitnesses to the assassination stated that there was a

shorter interval between shots two and three than between shots one and

two.[C4-802] As has been shown in chapter III, if the three shots were

fired within a period of from 4.8 to 5.6 seconds, the shots would have

been evenly spaced and the assassin would not have incurred so sharp an

angular movement.[C4-803]

Five of the six shots hit the third target where the angle of movement

of the weapon was small.[C4-804] On the basis of these results,

Simmons testified that in his opinion the probability of hitting the

targets at the relatively short range at which they were hit was very

high.[C4-805] Considering the various probabilities which may have

prevailed during the actual assassination, the highest level of firing

performance which would have been required of the assassin and the

C2766 rifle would have been to fire three times and hit the target

twice within a span of 4.8 to 5.6 seconds. In fact, one of the firers

in the rapid fire test in firing his two series of three shots, hit

the target twice within a span of 4.6 and 5.15 seconds. The others

would have been able to reduce their times if they had been given the

opportunity to become familiar with the movement of the bolt and the

trigger pull.[C4-806] Simmons testified that familiarity with the bolt

could be achieved in dry practice and, as has been indicated above,

Oswald engaged in such practice.[C4-807] If the assassin missed either

the first or third shot, he had a total of between 4.8 and 5.6 seconds

between the two shots which hit and a total minimum time period of from

7.1 to 7.9 seconds for all three shots. All three of the firers in

these tests were able to fire the rounds within the time period which

would have been available to the assassin under those conditions.

Three FBI firearms experts tested the rifle in order to determine the

speed with which it could be fired. The purpose of this experiment was

not to test the rifle under conditions which prevailed at the time of

the assassination but to determine the maximum speed at which it could

be fired. The three FBI experts each fired three shots from the weapon

at 15 yards in 6, 7, and 9 seconds, and one of these agents, Robert A.

Frazier, fired two series of three shots at 25 yards in 4.6 and 4.8

seconds.[C4-808] At 15 yards each man’s shots landed within the size

of a dime.[C4-809] The shots fired by Frazier at the range of 25 yards

landed within an area of 2 inches and 5 inches respectively.[C4-810]

Frazier later fired four groups of three shots at a distance of 100

yards in 5.9, 6.2, 5.6, and 6.5 seconds. Each series of three shots

landed within areas ranging in diameter from 3 to 5 inches.[C4-811]

Although all of the shots were a few inches high and to the right

of the target, this was because of a defect in the scope which was

recognized by the FBI agents and which they could have compensated for

if they were aiming to hit a bull’s-eye.[C4-812] They were instead

firing to determine how rapidly the weapon could be fired and the area

within which three shots could be placed. Frazier testified that while

he could not tell when the defect occurred, but that a person familiar

with the weapon could compensate for it.[C4-813] Moreover, the defect

was one which would have assisted the assassin aiming at a target which

was moving away. Frazier said, “The fact that the crosshairs are set

high would actually compensate for any lead which had to be taken. So

that if you aimed with this weapon as it actually was received at the

laboratory, it would not be necessary to take any lead whatsoever in

order to hit the intended object. The scope would accomplish the lead

for you.” Frazier added that the scope would cause a slight miss to

the right. It should be noted, however, that the President’s car was

curving slightly to the right when the third shot was fired.

Based on these tests the experts agreed that the assassination rifle

was an accurate weapon. Simmons described it as “quite accurate,” in

fact, as accurate as current military rifles.[C4-814] Frazier testified

that the rifle was accurate, that it had less recoil than the average

military rifle and that one would not have to be an expert marksman

to have accomplished the assassination with the weapon which was

used.[C4-815]

Conclusion

The various tests showed that the Mannlicher-Carcano was an accurate

rifle and that the use of a four-power scope was a substantial aid

to rapid, accurate firing. Oswald’s Marine training in marksmanship,

his other rifle experience and his established familiarity with this

particular weapon show that he possessed ample capability to commit

the assassination. Based on the known facts of the assassination,

the Marine marksmanship experts, Major Anderson and Sergeant Zahm,

concurred in the opinion that Oswald had the capability to fire three

shots, with two hits, within 4.8 and 5.6 seconds.[C4-816] Concerning

the shots which struck the President in the back of the neck, Sergeant

Zahm testified: “With the equipment he [Oswald] had and with his

ability I consider it a very easy shot.”[C4-817] Having fired this shot

the assassin was then required to hit the target one more time within a

space of from 4.8 to 5.6 seconds. On the basis of Oswald’s training and

the accuracy of the weapon as established by the tests, the Commission

concluded that Oswald was capable of accomplishing this second hit

even if there was an intervening shot which missed. The probability of

hitting the President a second time would have been markedly increased

if, in fact, he had missed either the first or third shots thereby

leaving a time span of 4.8 to 5.6 seconds between the two shots which

struck their mark. The Commission agrees with the testimony of Marine

marksmanship expert Zahm that it was “an easy shot” to hit some part of

the President’s body, and that the range where the rifleman would be

expected to hit would include the President’s head.[C4-818]

CONCLUSION

On the basis of the evidence reviewed in this chapter, the Commission

has found that Lee Harvey Oswald (1) owned and possessed the rifle used

to kill President Kennedy and wound Governor Connally, (2) brought this

rifle into the Depository Building on the morning of the assassination,

(3) was present, at the time of the assassination, at the window

from which the shots were fired, (4) killed Dallas Police Officer

J. D. Tippit in an apparent attempt to escape, (5) resisted arrest by

drawing a fully loaded pistol and attempting to shoot another police

officer, (6) lied to the police after his arrest concerning important

substantive matters, (7) attempted, in April 1963, to kill Maj. Gen.

Edwin A. Walker, and (8) possessed the capability with a rifle which

would have enabled him to commit the assassination. On the basis of

these findings the Commission has concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald was

the assassin of President Kennedy.