Buell Wesley Frazier WC testimony.

An article with more information regarding the Manning Employment Agency. Charles Arthur Manning opened a television repair shop in 1954. His wife Emeline Izora Manning (née Lovellette) then opened the Manning Employment Agency "next door to her husband" at 1820 West Shady Grove Road, Irving, in 1958.

Example of a newspaper advert by the Manning Employment Agency.

Buell Wesley Frazier WC testimony.

When she testified before the WC, Linnie Mae Randle gave her address as 2438 Westfield, Irving, supposedly located at the intersection of Westfield and West Fifth Street. But there was no street called Westfield in Irving back in 1963, nor does one exist today. Randle's actual address was 2439 West Fifth Street, located at the intersection of Westbrook Drive and West Fifth Street. It's possible that Randle got it wrong or, perhaps, the stenographer misheard "West Fifth" as "Westfield" and recorded a house number off by one digit. When questioned by the FBI (see 7CD298) a few months prior, Randle gave them the correct address.

Ruth Avery Paine WC testimony.

This booklet was assembled by the FBI and contains photographs, diagrams, and other information regarding the homes of Ruth Avery Paine and Linnie Mae Randle. Some of these images were also reproduced (sometimes in superior quality) in CE429-CE448, CE450, and CE452 (17CH157-171). The photographs were taken (see 897CD153-156) on March 9-10, 1964, by FBI Special Agent Arthur E. Carter.

Dorothy Roberts USSS interview.

Linnie Mae Randle USSS interview.

Ruth Avery Paine USSS interview.

Linnie Mae Randle WC testimony.

Ruth Avery Paine WC testimony.

Marina Nikolayevna Oswald WC testimony.

Ruth Avery Paine, Linnie Mae Randle, and Roy Sansom Truly were all interviewed by CBS News in 1964 and related the circumstances which led to LHO becoming employed at the TSBD.

Marina Nikolayevna Oswald WC testimony.

Ruth Avery Paine USSS interview.

Ruth Avery Paine WC testimony.

Marina Nikolayevna Oswald WC testimony.

Ruth Avery Paine WC testimony.

Roy Sansom Truly USSS sworn statement.

USPS Postal Inspector Harry Dean Holmes participated in the last interrogation of LHO on November 24, 1963. According to Holmes, when LHO was asked how he learned about a vacancy at the TSBD, he stated he could "not recall just who told me about it, but I learned it from people in Mrs. Paynes' [sic] neighborhood" and that it was "general information in the neighborhood". It falls short of corroboration but is perfectly consistent with the accounts of Ruth Avery Paine and others.

Roy Sansom Truly WC testimony.

Marina Nikolayevna Oswald WC testimony.

Buell Wesley Frazier WC testimony.

Michael Ralph Paine WC testimony.

Ruth Avery Paine WC testimony.

Photograph of a Texas driver's license application, partially filled out by LHO.

Buell Wesley Frazier WC testimony.

Ruth Avery Paine WC testimony.

Marina Nikolayevna Oswald WC testimony.

Ruth Avery Paine WC testimony.

Marina Nikolayevna Oswald WC testimony.

Marina Nikolayevna Oswald WC testimony.

Ruth Avery Paine WC testimony.

Linnie Mae Randle WC testimony.

Buell Wesley Frazier WC testimony.

The neighbors of Linnie Mae Randle, Buell Wesley Frazier, and Ruth Avery Paine were also questioned by the FBI, but no one else had seen LHO on the morning of November 22, 1963.

Buell Wesley Frazier WC testimony.

Buell Wesley Frazier FBI interview.

Jack Edwin Dougherty FBI interview.

Jack Edwin Dougherty WC testimony.

Roy Sansom Truly WC testimony.

William Hoyt Shelley WC testimony.

Billy Nolan Lovelady FBI interview.

Daniel Garcia Arce FBI signed statement.

James Earl Jarman DCSO affidavit.

James Earl Jarman WC testimony.

Harold Dean Norman also recalled seeing LHO looking out a window facing Elm Street around 10:00 AM. However, he didn't mentioned James Earl Jarman nor did he speak to LHO himself.

In 1967, Harold Dean Norman was interviewed by CBS News. Norman told them that "three or four" TSBD employees (including himself) had stood by a window on the morning of November 22, 1963. Oswald had then approached and asked them, "What's everybody looking at?" or "What's everybody so excited about?" They responded that they were "waiting on the President" before Oswald walked away. Norman mentioned neither floor nor direction, but it resembles the encounter described by James Earl Jarman.

James Earl Jarman learned that JFK would pass by the TSBD when he overheard William Hoyt Shelly talking about the motorcade route with an unknown female employee between 08:30 and 09:00 AM on November 22, 1963.

Bonnie Ray Williams was aware of the motorcade prior to November 22, 1963, but only learned of its precise route and timing on the morning of November 22.

Daniel Garcia Arce does not explicitly state but implies he learned that JFK would pass by the TSBD from William Hoyt Shelley on the morning of November 22, 1963.

Roy Sansom Truly reportedly told FBI Special Agent James Patrick Hosty that he was "completely unaware" of the motorcade route before reading a front-page article in the Dallas Times Herald (see reference #37f) on the morning of November 21, 1963. Truly added that "there was immediately considerable excitement and conversation among the employees at the TSBD concerning the fact that the parade would pass right in front of their building." According to Hosty, who later recounted this interview (see 4CH472), Truly had told him that the morning of November 21 was "the first time anyone at the Texas School Book Depository realized the motorcade was going to pass directly in front of their building." Knowledge of the motorcade route was clearly a belated affair.

Buell Wesley Frazier was interviewed for this History Channel documentary series that aired in 1991. During their morning commute on November 22, 1963, Frazier recalled that he mentioned to LHO that "President Kennedy's gonna be coming to town today" and that he "sure would like to get a chance to see him up close." Frazier was unaware that "the motorcade in which he would be riding would come right by where we worked." LHO did not "make any comment at all" regarding the visit, and it "didn't seem to interest him one way or the other." However, these claims must be taken with a grain of salt. Frazier testified before the WC in 1964 that he never discussed JFK's upcoming visit with LHO, including during their morning commute on November 22.

A detailed investigation by the HSCA regarding the selection of the motorcade route and the luncheon site found "no evidence of conspiracy in the processes that led to the use of the motorcade or the selection of its route." The report also found that "traditional Democratic Party politics [...] characterized by a struggle between liberal and conservative wings of the party" played a key role in the selection of the motorcade route. The report went on to say, "In the end, ironically, it was the tension and compromise between the two views that produced the fatal motorcade route. If either side had been able to dictate its desires without compromise, the assassination might never have occurred."

A declassified report that chronicle the internal planning of JFK's visit to Texas by the USSS. Other reports in this document (especially the exhibits) are also relevant, but Appendix A is the most significant.

This letter sent by USSS Director James Joseph Rowley to WC General Counsel James Lee Rankin, outlines the process by which information regarding the motorcade was disseminated to the press.

A report concerning preparations for the motorcade, signed by DPD Assistant Chief Charles Batchelor, DPD Deputy Chief George Laster Lumpkin, and DPD Deputy Chief Marshall Worcestor Stevenson.

Report by USSS Special Agent in Charge Forrest Vernon Sorrels.

USSS Special Agent in Charge Forrest Vernon Sorrels WC testimony.

USSS Special Agent Winston George Lawson WC testimony.

Texas Governor John Bowden Connally wrote an article for LIFE magazine in 1967 in which he briefly outlined the planning of JFK's visit to Dallas. Connally wrote that he "wanted to skip the motorcade and go directly to the Trade Mart for the luncheon." Connally characterized the selection of the luncheon site as a "heated argument" between JFK's advance people and his own planning staff.

Political advance man Gerald Joseph Bruno (known as Jerry Bruno) played a vital role in the decision-making process that led the motorcade to pass by the TSBD. I think it's best to quote Bruno directly because he really cuts to the heart of this whole motorcade issue: "So until less than a week before Kennedy's Texas trip, the Dallas luncheon site was the one part of the trip that hadn't been locked up. It's for this reason that I was never able to believe the conspiracy stories afterward. The motorcade routes for every other city were released weeks in advance. Anybody planning to kill the President could have planned it for any city except Dallas - because the motorcade route wasn't known until a day or two before the President's visit."

Even though he was "not particularly" involved in planning the motorcade route, DPD Chief Jesse Edward Curry was still the Chief of Police and participated in meetings and spoke with USSS agents and other high-ranking DPD officers. Curry told the WC that if the intention was to "go through the downtown area", the Central Expressway was the most direct route from Love Field Airport to Main Street. Instead, the initial stretch was routed through a suburban area because it was "a more scenic route and more people would have an opportunity to see the motorcade." Regarding the stretch between Main Street and the Trade Mart, Curry stated there were only two options; Stemmons Freeway and Industrial Boulevard. According to Curry, Industrial Boulevard was rejected because it was "heavily traveled by commercial vehicles and goes through a commercial section of the industrial area." Stemmons Freeway was "probably the most direct route", "a more scenic route", and "easier to travel" due to "a freer flow of traffic".

Aerial photograph showing the beginning of a Stemmons Freeway on-ramp, west of the Triple Underpass. The photograph demonstrates that Elm Street is the only lane by which westbound traffic can access the northbound lanes of Stemmons Freeway. In other words, a motorcade traveling west on Main Street and intending to reach the northbound lanes of Stemmons Freeway must first switch to Elm Street before the Triple Underpass and thereby pass the TSBD.

Some authors have suggested that parades in Dallas always follow the same or a similar (and therefore predictable) route through the city. If true, an assassin could theoretically have predicted that the JFK motorcade would pass by the TSBD long before the actual route was announced. This USSS report does not support that assertion. Parades typically processed east or west on Main Street but, otherwise, followed no predictable route through Dallas. A lone assassin could have taken a wild guess but not reasonably predicted the motorcade would pass by the TSBD before the luncheon site and approximate route were publicized (see reference #37) on November 16. Considering the motorcade was virtually guaranteed to pass through the city's main thoroughfare, the assassin could've made his job a whole lot easier had he, instead, taken up a position somewhere along Main Street. While these documents are also available (see 1499CD) on the Mary Farrell Foundation website, they're of rather poor quality and difficult to read. Instead, I've linked to the same but perfectly legible documents provided by the US National Archives. The pages are organized in reverse chronological order, so the report starts at page 106 and ends at page 1.

In an interview with the FBI, Roy Sansom Truly explained that reaching Stemmons Freeway from Main Street was possible without passing by the TSBD. Truly offered two alternative routes. The first alternative was to turn right at Lamar Street (four blocks east of Houston Street) and reach the northbound lanes of Stemmons Freeway at Continental Avenue. There's no evidence that such a route was ever considered. Parades (see reference #36l) typically traversed the full length of Main Street unless there was a reason to deviate midway. For instance, when Army General Douglas MacArthur paraded through Dallas in 1951, his destination was the Adolphus Hotel at 1321 Commerce Street. The motorcade began in Dealey Plaza and drove westward on Main Street. But instead of turning right at Field Street (near the Adolphus Hotel), the motorcade proceeded all the way up to Harwood Street (the same street from which JFK entered Main Street) before doubling back on Commerce Street. The whole point of a motorcade is to maximize exposure. A premature departure from the city's main thoroughfare would have been antithetical to that goal. Also, once the selection of the Trade Mart was announced, columnists immediately assumed (see reference #37) the JFK motorcade would traverse the entire length of Main Street. The second alternative route offered by Truly went through the Triple Underpass on Main Street before turning north at Industrial Boulevard and then "onto Stemmons Freeway and the Trade Mart." Truly was presumably thinking of Continental Avenue once again, as that would have been the only means of reaching the northbound lanes of Stemmons Freeway from Industrial Boulevard. But this would have been needlessly circuitous. Both Industrial Boulevard and Stemmons Freeway provided direct access to the Trade Mart. To start driving down Industrial Boulevard before switching to Stemmons Freeway would have served no purpose.

In a chapter titled The Trade Mart & The Mystery of the Motorcade Route, author Vincent Michael Palarma imbues the selection of the luncheon site and motorcade route with an air of mystery by emphasizing the security concerns of the USSS. For instance, Palarma takes issue with the decision to host the luncheon at the Trade Mart because the Women's Building was easier to secure. He contends that USSS Special Agent in Charge Forrest Vernon Sorrels "prematurely approved" and "was swaying the early decision" towards the Trade Mart against his better judgment. Had security concerns alone dictated the selection of the Trade Mart, Palarma would indeed be correct. It would indeed have been strange for Sorrels and the USSS to prefer a location more difficult to secure. But security was but one of many considerations. Texas Governor John Bowden Connally preferred the Trade Mart for political reasons. The building was newly constructed, had an impressive and spacious interior, and aligned with Connally's more conservative interests. Palarma does mention this, but it's framed as though Connally had some nefarious motive to prefer the Trade Mart. Regarding the selection of the motorcade route, Palarma characterizes the Main-Houston-Elm dogleg as a deliberate choice made by one or more USSS agents. It's described as a "slow, 120 degree turn, which was a violation of Secret Service protocol and common sense". But this part of the route was just a byproduct of using Stemmons Freeway to reach the Trade Mart. Any westbound traffic on Main Street intending to reach the northbound lanes of Stemmons Freeway (motorcade or otherwise) would have made those turns. The motorcade simply followed normal traffic patterns. The day before, on November 21, JFK rode in a motorcade that made a similarly slow and sharp turn in the middle of downtown San Antonio from North Houston Street to North St Mary's Street. Granted, it was not as sharp as 120 degrees (more like 90 degrees), but it forced the motorcade to a crawl at a cramped intersection surrounded by tall buildings and cheering crowds in the center of town. Turns of this nature can easily be found in other motorcades as well. Palarma also quotes multiple people saying the route was altered just a few days before the visit and that there were "alternate routes" besides the one selected. These alternative routes have been known since 1964. Sorrels told the WC that one alternative route would have taken the Central Expressway from Love Field Airport to Main Street instead of the suburban route that was ultimately selected. USSS Special Agent Winston George Lawson told the WC that they "could have taken a city street-type route all the way downtown and all the way back, or we could have taken a freeway downtown and a freeway back." In other words, alternative routes included alternations to all portions of the route. They were not limited to the tiny portion centered around Dealey Plaza. In fact, the only change that could have affected the Dealey Plaza portion of the trip was the use of either Stemmons Freeway or Industrial Boulevard to reach the Trade Mart. Palarma quotes three individuals who collectively offered a reasonable explanation for rejecting the latter. DPD Patrolman Bobby Joe Dale stated that "three possible routes" were considered. Two of them were "escape routes" in case of emergency. According to USSS Special Agent Samuel Allen Kinney, "We had two routes - one was through the...how should I say? You have to be careful today: the 'undesirable' part of town was our escape route." Finally, DPD Deputy Chief George Laster Lumpkin told the HSCA that Industrial Boulevard was rejected because it was "filled with winos and broken pavement." Even though the obvious takeaway has to be that Industrial Boulevard was relegated to an escape route due to optics and poor infrastructure, Palarma frames the rejection of Industrial Boulevard as a mystery without explanation. He writes, "Agent Kinney could not give the author a reason this direct route to the Trade Mart wasn't used," immediately before quoting Kinney's perfectly sound reason for why the route wasn't used. Curiously, this explanation is supported by an offhand comment (see reference #36m) by Roy Sansom Truly. Truly reportedly told the FBI that Industrial Boulevard (and an unrelated route) was "better from a political consideration" because it would have gone through a factory district where "large numbers of industrial employees" might have observed the parade. Instead, Truly grumbled that "the route actually chosen was through a predominantly 'white collar' district and passed very few if any industrial plants." This comment by Truly unintentionally confirms that the selected motorcade route did indeed avoid "undesirable" parts of town like Industrial Boulevard. The cited page numbers refer to the paperback edition.

A list of vehicles that participated in the motorcade. There's also an official but less comprehensive list (see 3CD32) within the WC volumes.

On the morning of November 15, 1963, the Dallas Morning News reported that a presidential motorcade through Dallas seemed unlikely. It preceded the announcement of the motorcade (see reference #37c below) by one day.

The Dallas Times Herald (evening publication) announced the luncheon site (Trade Mart) ahead of the Dallas Morning News (morning publication) in the afternoon of November 15, 1963. But unlike the Dallas Morning News, the Dallas Times Herald did not mention the motorcade nor its route. This edition of the Dallas Times Herald does not appear to be available online, so I've referenced a clipping of the article instead.

The precise route of the motorcade was first outlined by the Dallas Morning News on November 19, 1963. This specific edition of the Dallas Morning News does not appear to be available online, so I've referenced a clipping of the article instead.

In the afternoon of November 19, 1963, the Dallas Times Herald also reported on the precise route of the motorcade. This edition of the Dallas Times Herald does not appear to be available online, so I've referenced a clipping of the article instead.

The Dallas Times Herald published a map of the motorcade route on the afternoon of November 21, 1963. The map was even detailed enough to show the Main-Houston-Elm dogleg that brought the motorcade near the TSBD. This edition of the Dallas Times Herald does not appear to be available online, so I've referenced an image of the frontpage instead.

The Dallas Morning News published a tiny map of the motorcade route on the morning of November 22, 1963. Some find it suspicious that the Main-Houston-Elm dogleg was omitted from this map. Well, if we're gonna nitpick, let's not discriminate. To start with, the route doesn't show the bend of Mockingbird Lane before its intersection with Lemmon Avenue. Instead, it incorrectly depicts Mockingbird Lane as a straight line. The route doesn't show the irregular curving of Turtle Creek Boulevard. Instead, it incorrectly depicts Turtle Creek Boulevard as one smooth curve. Some believe the route is supposed to show a motorcade proceeding through the Triple Underpass on Main Street before heading north on Stemmons Freeway, but that's not possible. Westbound traffic on Main Street had to switch to Elm Street before the Triple Underpass to reach the northbound lanes of Stemmons Freeway. However, the smooth curve from Main Street to Stemmons Freeway is consistent with the on-ramp accessible from Elm Street. The route completely ignored the various straight and curved sections of Stemmons Freeway. Lastly, the turn from Stemmons Freeway onto Industrial Boulevard just before the motorcade entered the Trade Mart's west parking lot was completely omitted. Also, the black rectangle supposed to represent the Trade Mart is oriented toward Stemmons Freeway. In reality, the Trade Mart was oriented toward Industrial Boulevard. It's almost as though the map was a crude simplification intended to visualize the general route of the motorcade. This whole thing is so dumb. I regret typing all of this.

When asked by the WC whether he knew the precise route of the motorcade before November 22, 1963, Bonnie Ray Williams responded, "No, sir; I didn't know the exact way it was coming, because I hadn't been reading the papers." Williams explained that "about the only thing" he'd read in the papers was the sports section and remarked that LHO "never would read the sports."

William Hoyt Shelley DCSO affidavit.

Charles Douglas Givens WC testimony.

Roy Sansom Truly WC testimony.

William Hoyt Shelley WC testimony.

Bonnie Ray Williams WC testimony.

Harold Dean Norman WC testimony.

Billy Nolan Lovelady WC testimony.

Charles Douglas Givens WC testimony.

Daniel Garcia Arce WC testimony.

Jack Edwin Dougherty WC testimony.

Bonnie Ray Williams WC testimony.

Billy Nolan Lovelady WC testimony.

Billy Nolan Lovelady FBI interview.

Charles Douglas Givens WC testimony.

Daniel Garcia Arce WC testimony.

James Earl Jarman DCSO affidavit.

William Hoyt Shelley WC testimony.

Roy Sansom Truly WC testimony.

Bonnie Ray Williams WC testimony.

Charles Douglas Givens WC testimony.

Charles Douglas Givens FBI interview.

Charles Douglas Givens FBI interview.

Charles Douglas Givens WC testimony.

DPD Lieutenant Jack Revill FBI interview.

When he testified before the WC, DPD Lieutenant Jack Revill told them he'd spoken with Charles Douglas Givens shortly after the assassination. Revill explained that he "asked [Givens] if he had been on the sixth floor, and [...] he said, yes, that he had observed Mr. Lee, over by this window." While this generally corroborates Givens' claim to have met LHO on the sixth floor before the shooting, it was recounted over a month after Givens had changed his story.

Charles Douglas Givens was interviewed by CBS News in 1967. Givens told them he'd seen LHO "standing about middle-way of the building on the sixth floor". Givens told the WC he'd seen LHO walking north along the east wall. Presuming Givens was referring to the midway point between the south and north wall, this statement is still consistent with his WC testimony. Givens also said that the encounter had occurred "one or two minutes after twelve." Givens told the WC he spoke with LHO at about 11:55 AM.

Daniel Garcia Arce DCSO affidavit.

Daniel Garcia Arce FBI interview.

Daniel Garcia Arce USSS interview.

Daniel Garcia Arce FBI signed statement.

Daniel Garcia Arce WC testimony.

Bonnie Ray Williams FBI interview.

Bonnie Ray Williams FBI interview.

Bonnie Ray Williams WC testimony.

James Earl Jarman WC testimony.

Harold Dean Norman FBI interview.

Harold Dean Norman WC testimony.

Dallas Times Herald photographer Robert Hill Jackson rode in the motorcade a few cars behind JFK. Moments after the shooting, Jackson looked up at the TSBD and saw "two Negro men" on the fifth floor, "straining to see directly above them", i.e. the sixth floor.

Howard Leslie Brennan recalled seeing "two Negro men" on the fifth floor glancing up at the sixth floor "as if they were trying to determine the spot from which the rifle shots were being fired."

Harold Dean Norman recalled that, after going downstairs following the shooting, he was identified by Howard Leslie Brennan as one of the men that Brennan had seen on the fifth floor.

Within minutes of the shooting, Howard Leslie Brennan identified Harold Dean Norman as one of the men he'd seen on the fifth floor. He believed the other man he'd seen was James Earl Jarman but could not be certain.

Jearaldean Reid recalled seeing "three colored boys up there" and recognized one of them as James Earl Jarman. But Reid could not recall what floor they were on, only that they were "several" floors up.

Malcolm Ollie Couch was a press photographer working for WFAA-TV who rode in the motorcade a few cars behind JFK. Couch recalled seeing "at least two Negroes on the third or fourth floor" of the TSBD immediately after the shooting.

Ruby Henderson (née Coker) recalled seeing two men "on one of the upper floors" of the TSBD at some point before the arrival of the motorcade. Henderson described one of them as "possibly a Mexican, but could have been a Negro as he appeared to be dark-complexioned." She could not describe the complexion of the other man. Henderson did not recall "seeing anyone on a floor higher up than the one they were on" but stated she didn't have "any idea how long it was prior to the motorcade arriving at that location."

Barbara Fay Rowland told the WC she saw a few "colored men" somewhere "about the fourth floor" near the center of the building.

Arnold Louis Rowland DCSO affidavit.

Arnold Louis Rowland WC testimony.

Barbara Fay Rowland WC testimony.

When he testified before the WC, Arnold Louis Rowland circled the window where he claimed to have seen a gunman on this photograph of the south facade of the TSBD. It's the westernmost window on the sixth floor, marked with an arrow (see reference #76g for notes about the other markings).

When Arnold Louis Rowland testified before the WC, he mentioned that movies concerning the attempted assassination of President Theodore Roosevelt (TR) in 1912 and President-elect Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) in 1933 influenced his decision not to report a gunman he allegedly saw on the sixth floor of the TSBD about 15 minutes before the shooting. According to Rowland, these movies (possibly series, documentaries, etc., to be charitable) featured scenes of USSS agents armed with rifles stationed on rooftops or in windows of tall buildings. Not that it really matters, but I tried my best to find the source of these scenes. A promising candidate for the attempt on FDR would be two episodes of the 1959 TV series The Untouchables. This two-parter was titled The Unhired Assassin and was later redistributed as a feature-length film titled The Gun of Zangara. Both aired in 1960 when Rowland was 15 years old and featured scenes of men with rifles overlooking a crowd shortly before the attempted assassination of FDR by Giuseppe Zangara. However, the riflemen in this dramatization were actually assassins rather than presidential guards. I couldn't find any scenes regarding the attempt on TR that matched Rowland's recollections. But the penultimate episode of the long-running 1953 TV series You Are There (hosted by famed anchorman Walter Cronkite) was titled Attempt to Assassinate Theodore Roosevelt. The episode aired in 1957 when Rowland was only 12 years old. Unfortunately, this episode does not appear to be available online.

Howard Leslie Brennan DCSO affidavit.

Howard Leslie Brennan WC testimony.

On this photograph of the TSBD, Howard Leslie Brennan marked the easternmost window on the sixth floor with an A to indicate where he'd seen the gunman.

Photographs of the easternmost window on the sixth floor of the TSBD featuring a stand-in for LHO and yardsticks for scale.

Howard Leslie Brennan was interviewed by CBS News in 1964 and related his sighting of a gunman on the sixth floor of the TSBD. Before the shooting, Brennan recalled that the man "left the window a couple of times over the course of 7, 8, or 10 minutes." When the shooting began, Brennan recalled seeing the gunman "taking aim for his last shot." When the shooting was over, the gunman "didn't seem to be in a great rush" but "seemed to pause for a moment to see if, for surety, he accomplished his purpose". The gunman then "brought the gun back direct to an upright position as though he was satisfied."

Photographer Melvin Leon McIntire took this photograph within seconds of the shooting. In the background, the clock and temperature display atop the TSBD (affixed to the large Hertz sign) reads 12:30 PM. This photograph is discussed in more detail on pages 475-476 in reference #103g.

James Thomas Tague told the WC that he "glanced" at the clock and temperature display atop the TSBD around the time of the shooting. The time readout was 12:29 PM. Tague neglected to clarify if this was shortly before or during the shooting.

This FBI report determined that the shooting began at 12:29 PM.

Amos Lee Euins FBI interviews.

Amos Lee Euins WC testimony.

DPD Sergeant David Vernon Harkness WC testimony.

On this photograph of the TSBD, Amos Lee Euins marked the easternmost window on the sixth floor with an X to indicate where he'd seen the barrel of a rifle.

Amos Lee Euins was interviewed by CBS News in 1967. He, once again, pointed out the easternmost south-facing window on the sixth floor of the TSBD as the location of the "pipe" he had seen.

DPD Patrolman Marrion Lewis Baker immediately recognized the first gunshot as the sound of a high-powered rifle because he'd recently returned from a deer hunting trip.

Ronald B. Fischer (the letter B was his literal middle name) thought the first gunshot sounded like a firecracker. By the second shot, he recognized the sounds as gunfire.

Malcolm Ollie Couch thought the first gunshot sounded like a backfiring motorcycle. By the third shot, he recognized the sounds as gunfire.

Georgia Ruth Hendrix thought the first gunshot was a salute in honor of JFK. By the second shot, Hendrix realized it was an assassination attempt.

Arnold Louis Rowland DCSO affidavit.

Arnold Louis Rowland WC testimony.

Barbara Fay Rowland WC testimony.

James Richard Worrell DCSO affidavit.

James Richard Worrell FBI interview.

James Richard Worrell WC testimony.

On these two photographs of Dealey Plaza and the TSBD, James Richard Worrell marked the northwest corner of Elm and Houston Street with an X to indicate the location from which he watched the motorcade.

James Richard Worrell DCSO affidavit.

James Richard Worrell FBI interview.

James Richard Worrell WC testimony.

Amos Lee Euins WC testimony.

Howard Leslie Brennan DCSO affidavit.

Howard Leslie Brennan WC testimony.

Howard Leslie Brennan WC testimony.

Amos Lee Euins WC testimony.

Robert Hill Jackson WC testimony.

Malcolm Ollie Couch WC testimony.

Moments after the final gunshot, James Henry Crawford glimpsed an "indistinct movement" in the easternmost south-facing window on the sixth floor of the TSBD. Asked to elaborate, Crawford described this motion as the "profile" of a person "having moved out of the window." It was "a very quick movement and rather indistinct and it was very light colored." Crawford speculated that part of this movement could have been a gun that "was reflecting the sun so it would appear white or light colored." Considering Crawford caught "barely a glimpse" of this fleeting movement, one has to question the accuracy of his recollections. It is, however, consistent with a gunman in the SN.

Amos Lee Euins WC testimony.

James Richard Worrell WC testimony.

Arnold Louis Rowland DCSO affidavit.

Arnold Louis Rowland WC testimony.

Howard Leslie Brennan DCSO affidavit.

Howard Leslie Brennan WC testimony.

Following his arrest on November 22, 1963, LHO was interrogated by the FBI and furnished them with a description of himself. LHO described himself as white, 24 years old, 5'9" (175 cm), 140 lbs (64 kg), medium-brown hair, and blue-gray eyes.

A photograph of LHO standing upright, taken after his arrest in New Orleans, Louisiana, in August 1963. According to the height chart behind him, LHO measured approximately 5'10" (179 cm).

According to this fingerprints card, LHO weighed 131 lbs (59 kg) and was 69.5 inches (5'9½"; 176.5 cm) tall at the time of his arrest.

According to this autopsy report, LHO was 5'9" (175 cm) and weighed an estimated 150 lbs (68 kg) at the time of his death. Since the medical examiner merely "estimated" his weight in this report, the precise 131 lbs (59 kg) figure given in reference #71c above should take precedence.

After LHO defected to the USSR in 1959, the FBI interviewed his mother, Marguerite Frances Claverie Oswald, in early 1960. Marguerite estimated that LHO weighed 165 lbs (75 kg). That's the same weight given by Howard Leslie Brennan (see reference #70) and DPD Patrolman Marrion Lewis Baker (see reference #121a). This is significant because all three of them (Marguerite, Brennan, and Baker) were asked to describe LHO's perceived weight, irrespective of his actual weight.

Arnold Louis Rowland WC testimony.

When he testified before the WC, Arnold Louis Rowland circled the window where he claimed to have seen a black man on this photograph of the south facade of the TSBD. It's the easternmost window on the sixth floor, marked with an A. See reference #76g for notes about the other markings.

Barbara Fay Rowland WC testimony.

DCSO Deputy Sheriff Roger Dean Craig WC testimony.

This unpublished manuscript was written by DCSO Deputy Sheriff Roger Dean Craig in 1971. About midway through Chapter I, Craig reflected upon his encounter with Arnold Louis Rowland and Barbara Fay Rowland shortly after the assassination. Craig recalled that Arnold told him he'd seen a white man with a rifle standing in the easternmost south-facing window and a black man pacing back and forth in the westernmost south-facing window. This contradicts what both Arnold and Craig told the WC back in 1964. Arnold told the WC the white man with a rifle was stationed in the westernmost window while the black man was in the easternmost window, not vice versa. Craig told the WC that Arnold had told him that both men were white, pacing back and forth in the westernmost window or possibly the second window from the west.

Only two employees (see reference #108) matched Rowland's description of an elderly black man; Troy Eugene West at 60 and Eddie Piper at 55 years old. The third most senior black employee was Charles Douglas Givens, at only 38 years old. The FBI investigated the possibility that either West or Piper could have been the man Rowland reportedly saw on the sixth floor. Both denied going up to the sixth floor at any point on November 22, 1963, and were on the first floor during the shooting. No one else recalled seeing Piper or West on the sixth floor. Their foreman, William Hoyt Shelley, did not recall seeing either of them leave the first floor, although Piper told the WC that he went up to the fourth floor around 11:00 AM. Rowland also described the color of the man's plaid shirt as bright red and green. West and Piper denied owning such a shirt.

When he testified before the WC, Arnold Louis Rowland stated he got straight A's throughout high school with a few B's in his senior year. On a scale from A (Excellent) through G (Bad Failure), records show that Rowland got a mix of all grades, including multiple F's. When asked about his intelligence quotient, Rowland told the WC that his IQ was tested in May of 1963 and that he scored 147. Records show that Rowland took an IQ test in 1959 and scored 109. In a different test, known as the Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, Rowland scored 127 in the spring of 1963. To give Rowland the benefit of the doubt, he might have confused the Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test for an IQ test and misremembered his exact score. It's also possible that Rowland actually said 127 but was misheard by the stenographer.

John Richard Ligon was the Assistant Principal at William Hardin Adamson High School in Dallas. Arnold Louis Rowland had attended this school, and Ligon described him as a dishonest and truant student. Ligon told the FBI that Rowland "would not hesitate to fabricate a story if it was of any benefit for [him] to do so" and that "anything [he] might tell the President's Commission would be questionable."

Edith Johnson McKissock was the Dean at Crozier Technical High School in Dallas. Arnold Louis Rowland attended this school, and McKissock described him as a person who would "not tell the truth regarding any matter" and as a "conniver [who] prevaricated whenever it was to his advantage to do so".

When he testified before the WC, Arnold Louis Rowland stated he had conducted a "long study of sound and study of echo effects." Rowland volunteered this information when asked if the three gunshots sounded the same. Rowland had supposedly conducted these studies at his own initiative during his "off periods of class" but was instructed and aided by his physics teacher, Sam Farrow Foster, at Crozier Technical High School in Dallas. Rowland was only 18 years old (seven weeks away from turning 19) when he testified before the WC in early 1964, yet had supposedly conducted these auditory physics studies for "the past three years." He had read "quite a few" specialized books on the subject but could not recall a single title or author. According to the FBI, Foster told them that "part of the subject matter covered in [my physics class] was a section on sound, but this was very basic study and in no way consisted of special study of sound and echo effects." Foster denied teaching Rowland anything special about sound and echoes as he "did not pass the regular physics course".

When he testified before the WC, Arnold Louis Rowland stated that he had been accepted to several universities. He listed four of them; Texas A&M University, Rice University, Southern Methodist University, and University of Texas at Arlington. Pauline Redfearn was the Chief Clerk at Southern Methodist University. When contacted by the FBI, Redfearn told them they had no records of an Arnold Louis Rowland. Even if Rowland had been rejected (he claimed to have been accepted), his application form would still have been recorded. A lack of records indicated to Redfearn that Rowland had not even begun the admittance process, let alone been accepted.

When he testified before the WC, Arnold Louis Rowland stated that he had undergone an eye examination about six or seven months before his testimony on March 10, 1964. This examination had been performed by a "firm of doctors" known as Finn & Finn, with offices in the Fidelity Union Life Building (now known as Mosaic Dallas) at 1507 Pacific Avenue, Dallas. According to Rowland, the examination indicated that he had "very good vision" and that it was "much better" than 20/20 vision. When contacted by the FBI, optometrist Dr. John Edward Finn informed them that Finn & Finn had no records of a patient named Arnold Louis Rowland.

When he testified before the WC, Arnold Louis Rowland circled eight windows on this photograph depicting the south facade of the TSBD. Seven of the eight encircled windows were designated with letters A through G. The remaining window was marked with a large arrow. The arrow-marked window is the westernmost window on the sixth floor. In this window, Arnold claimed to have seen a white man with a rifle (see reference #55) some 15 minutes before the shooting. The window designated A is the easternmost window on the sixth floor. In this window, Arnold claimed to have seen an elderly black man (see reference #72) as late as 5 minutes before the shooting. The window designated B is the easternmost window on the fifth floor. In this window, Arnold claimed to have seen "two or three" black men and possibly a white man. The window designated C is the second window from the east on the second floor. In this window, Arnold claimed to have seen two black women. The only non-white woman employed by the TSBD was Stella Mae Jacob (see 706CD47), who described herself as "an Indian female". Jacob left the TSBD around noon and did not return afterward. The window designated D is the fourth window from the east on the second floor. In this window, Arnold claimed to have seen "two heads just inside". The window designated E is the third window from the east on the third floor. In this window, Arnold claimed to have seen "one man". The window designated F is the second window from the east on the third floor. In this window, Arnold claimed to have seen "four or five" people. The window designated G is the easternmost window on the third floor. In this window, Arnold claimed to have seen two people, one of whom was possibly white. This window was closed with the blinds down (see reference #224) during the shooting. These observations were made "at or about" the time Arnold saw the two men on the sixth floor, several minutes before the shooting.

Elizabeth Carolyn Walther (née McCoy; went by her middle name) told the FBI nearly two weeks after the assassination that she'd seen a man with a brown suit standing in a third-floor window of the TSBD. She had also seen a man armed with a machine gun in the easternmost south-facing window on either the fourth or fifth floor. Walther was "positive this window was not as high as the sixth floor." The window on the fourth floor was closed with the blinds down (see reference #224) during the shooting. The one on the fifth floor was occupied by Bonnie Ray Williams and Harold Dean Norman. To the left of the gunman stood a man with a brown suit. Walther doesn't clarify if she thought the third-floor brown-suited man was the same as the one who later appeared on the fourth or fifth. It's possible the man on the third floor was Steven Francis Wilson, the only male employee known to have watched the motorcade from the third floor. Wilson can be seen in one of the photographs taken by Thomas Clinton Dillard seconds after the shooting.

Elizabeth Carolyn Walther was interviewed by CBS News in 1967. Walther related much the same story she told the FBI in 1963. The gunman was "kneeling in the window or sitting" and "his arms were on the window." He was armed with "a short gun" that "wasn't as long as a rifle." To the gunman's right stood a man "wearing a brown suit." Walther could see "half of this man's body, from his shoulders to his hips" but not his face. The two men were on the "fourth or fifth floor" which Walther described as "just about even with the top of that tree." Walther was presumably referring to the large live oak tree on the lawn directly in front of the TSBD.

Elizabeth Carolyn Walther was called as a witness during the trial of Clay LaVergne Shaw in 1969. For some reason, her surname was recorded as "Walton" rather than "Walther". Her maiden name was McCoy, and she only married once (to Eric Charles Walther) in 1953. I could not find an explanation for this, so I must assume her surname was misheard and incorrectly recorded by the stenographer. Walther stated that, about "10 or 15 minutes" before the arrival of JFK, she had seen a man located somewhere in the center of the TSBD "wearing a maroon shirt". Sometime later, she had seen "two men in another building", one of whom was armed with a gun and the other wore a "brown suit coat." While Walther stated the two men were "in another building", she was presumably nervous speaking aloud in a crowded courtroom and meant to say "another window." Walther was repeatedly asked to speak louder into the microphone and even described the man with a gun as "wearing the gun". Curiously, Walther never mentioned (nor was she ever asked) which floor the two men were on.

According to author Barry Earnest, Elizabeth Carolyn Walther told him in 1968 that, when she was questioned by the FBI in 1963, she'd mistaken the fourth or fifth floor for the sixth floor. Walther now believed the two men she'd seen had been located on the sixth floor. However, when journalist Earl August Golz (see reference #77e below) interviewed Walther a decade later, Walther had evidently changed her mind once more. Golz wrote that Walther "said she thought it was on either the fourth or fifth floor".

Elizabeth Carolyn Walther (surname misspelled Walter here) was interviewed by Dallas Morning News journalist Earl August Golz in 1978. Walther repeated what she told the FBI and others but recalled that the FBI "seemed like they weren't very interested." Walther was of the impression the FBI "were going to set out to prove me a liar and I had no intention of arguing with them and being harassed." Walther relented, "And if they didn't want to believe it or had some reason not to, well, then, that was all right with me." Walther told Golz that when she tried to tell the FBI about the man with a brown suit, they "tried to make me think that what I saw were boxes." Walther insisted that what she saw was "definitely the shape of a person or part of a person."

Tennie Pearl Springer (née Autrey; went by her middle name) worked with and watched the motorcade alongside Elizabeth Carolyn Walther. She did not notice anyone in the windows of the TSBD, and nearly two weeks after the assassination (when this interview was conducted), Springer was still unaware that Walther had seen a man with a gun.

Robert Edwin Edwards DCSO affidavit.

Robert Edwin Edwards FBI interview.

Robert Edwin Edwards WC testimony.

Ronald B. Fischer DCSO affidavit.

Ronald B. Fischer FBI interview. While this document (see 205CD19) is also available on the Mary Farrell Foundation website, it's of rather poor quality and difficult to read. Instead, I've linked to the same document provided by the US National Archives, which is perfectly legible.

Ronald B. Fischer WC testimony.

DPD Patrolman Charles Truman Walker WC testimony.

Marguerite Frances Claverie Oswald FBI interview.

Arnold Louis Rowland DCSO affidavit.

Howard Leslie Brennan DCSO affidavit.

Mary Ann Mitchell FBI interview.

Pages 833-889 cover Channel #1, November 22, 10:00 AM to 03:00 PM. Pages 889-905 cover Channel #1, November 24, 10:00 AM to 02:00 PM. Pages 905-939 cover Channel #2, November 22, 10:00 AM to 03:00 PM.

Abridged transcript of Channel #1 radio chatter between 10:00 AM and 02:00 PM on November 22, 1963.

Abridged transcript of Channel #2 radio chatter between 10:00 AM and 05:00 PM on November 22, 1963.

DPD Sergeant James Carl Bowles, a former radio dispatch supervisor, included a transcript in this report.

A searchable transcript by assassination researcher John McAdams.

To coincide with the release of his book, The Kennedy Half Century, author Larry Sabato commissioned a company known as Sonalysts, Inc. to analyze and transcribe the DPD radio chatter. An associated mobile app by the same name includes the actual audio recordings of both Channel #1 and #2 along with a running transcript.

Amos Lee Euins FBI interview.

Amos Lee Euins WC testimony.

Richard Randolph Carr FBI interview.

Richard Randolph Carr FBI interview.

Richard Randolph Carr was called as a witness during the trial of Clay LaVergne Shaw in 1969.

In the background of this photograph of Dealey Plaza, you can see the metal frame of the unfinished Dallas County Courthouse. Inside the west facade of the building is the staircase from which Richard Randolph Carr claims to have witnessed the shooting.

This photograph was taken from the base of the front stairs of the TSBD, facing south. In the upper left-hand corner of the image, a small portion of the exposed metal frame of the then-unfinished Dallas County Courthouse is visible. Richard Randolph Carr stood on a landing several flights below the portion of the staircase visible in this image.

James Richard Worrell DCSO affidavit.

James Richard Worrell FBI interview.

James Richard Worrell WC testimony.

James Elbert Romack FBI interview.

James Elbert Romack FBI interview.

James Elbert Romack WC testimony.

George Washington Rackley FBI interview.

George Washington Rackley WC testimony.

A list of 552 witnesses whose testimony was either heard or considered by the WC.

According to Joseph John Basteri, an investigator working for the HSCA, precisely 692 people were present in Dealey Plaza at the time of the assassination. It's unclear how Basteri arrived at such a precise figure.

DPD Patrolman Marrion Lewis Baker estimated that there were "maybe 500 or 600 people" in Dealey Plaza during his WC testimony.

This schematic or map includes 375 witnesses and their approximate locations at the time of the shooting. However, some of the included witnesses are highly questionable and only came forward many years or decades after the assassination.

According to the website History Matters, over 600 people witnessed the shooting but they only list 216 in their tabulation of accounts due to most never being questioned.

Author John McAdams examined four different earwitness tabulations. The first tabulation was compiled in 1998 by author Stewart Galanor (see reference #96e below); the second (year unknown) by assassination researcher Joel Grant; the third in 1967 by author Josiah Thompson (see reference #96d below); and the fourth in 1979 by HSCA senior staff counsel member Surell Brady (see reference #96c below). McAdams also included an assessment of his own. McAdams considered the testimony of 243 witnesses but did not divide them all into discrete categories. Nevertheless, the four largest categories include; Does Not State Location (89), TSBD (60), Not Sure of Location (42), and Knoll (33). Excluding those who did not mention a location or were unsure, we're left with 112 witnesses. So McAdams' assessment was that 54% of witnesses thought the shots came from the TSBD, while 29% thought the shots came from the Grassy Knoll. However, in reference #96b below, McAdams included a pie chart indicating 59% for the TSBD and 31% for the Grassy Knoll, so he must have included some of the more ambiguous witnesses in both categories. Only 3 witnesses indicated more than one direction. I could find no primary source for Grant's list, and it's a lot messier than the others. It covers 213 witnesses, and the major categories are; DNR (73), TSBD (31), Unsure (25), Houston/Elm (18), Knoll (15), and Could Not Tell (11). The remaining witnesses were not divided into discrete categories. I presume that DNR stands for Did Not Report or similar. Excluding those who did not report a location, were unsure, or could not tell, we're left with 104 witnesses. So Grant's assessment was 30% for the TSBD and 14% for the Grassy Knoll. If we were to combine TSBD and Houston/Elm into one category, it would mean that 47% of witnesses thought the shots came from the TSBD. Only 6 witnesses in Grant's tabulation indicated more than one direction.

More information regarding earwitness testimony by author John McAdams. One of the pie charts on this page (from a tabulation by Joel Grant) indicates that 81% of witnesses heard three shots.

The HSCA analyzed 178 earwitness accounts and divided them into four discrete categories; TSBD (49), Knoll (21), Other (30), and Don't Know (78). Excluding those who did not know, we're left with an even 100 witnesses. So the HSCA's assessment was that 49% of witnesses thought the shots came from the TSBD, while 21% thought the shots came from the Grassy Knoll. The remaining 30% reported "some other location" with "no obvious pattern". Only 4 witnesses indicated more than one direction. As for the number of shots, 132 of 178 witnesses (74%) heard three shots.

Author Josiah Thompson included a schematic and tabulation (Appendix A) of 190 witnesses in this 1967 book of his. Thompson summarized this data in a bar graph titled "Sound Direction" on page 25. This graph suggests that only 64 witnesses indicated a direction. However, the list he includes in Appendix A shows that 75 witnesses indicated a direction. The bar graph also placed 33 witnesses in the Grassy Knoll category and 25 in the TSBD category. However, Thompson's list unambiguously placed 34 witnesses in the Grassy Knoll category and 27 in the TSBD category. The remaining witnesses were not divided into discrete categories. So Thompson's assessment was that 45% of witnesses thought the shots came from the Grassy Knoll, while 36% thought they came from the TSBD. Only 4 witnesses indicated more than one direction. As for the number of shots, 136 of 172 witnesses (79%) heard three shots. See reference #96b and reference #96c above for some critique of Thompson's methodology.

Author Steward Galanor included a tabulation of 216 witnesses in this 1998 book of his. However, Galanor accidentally counted Beatrice Olean Hester twice, so it's actually 215 witnesses. Galanor separated the witnesses into six categories; Not Asked (70), Knoll (54), Depository (46), Could Not Tell (34), Knoll & Depository (6), and Elsewhere (5). Excluding those who were never asked or could not tell, we're left with 111 witnesses. So Galanor's assessment was that 49% of witnesses thought the shots came from the Grassy Knoll, while 41% thought the shots came from the TSBD. Galanor did not include any data on the number of shots. Only 6 witnesses indicated more than one direction.

This tabulation by the website History Matters is based on reference #96e above. However, there are a few alterations. Instead of 215 witnesses, there are 216 with the addition of Ed Johnson, and some witnesses have switched places. Like before, the witnesses are separated into six categories; Not Asked (70), Knoll (52), Depository (48), Could Not Tell (37), Knoll & Depository (5), and Elsewhere (4). Excluding those who were never asked or could not tell, we're left with 109 witnesses. So History Matters' assessment was that 48% of witnesses thought the shots came from the Grassy Knoll, while 44% thought the shots came from the TSBD. Only 5 witnesses indicated more than one direction.

An article that goes into detail as to why and how earwitnesses in Dealey Plaza were deceived.

Ochus Virgil Campbell FBI interview.

Jearaldean Reid recalled that Ochus Virgil Campbell told her within seconds of the shooting that he believed the shots had originated from "the grassy area" west of the TSBD.

DCSO Deputy Sheriff John William Wilson Wiseman recalled that Marylin Sitzman told him within minutes of the shooting that Sitzman believed the shots had come from the TSBD. Wiseman refers to the TSBD as "the old Sexton building". This was because the TSBD was rented by a wholesale grocery company called Sexton Foods until 1961.

Author Josiah Thompson interviewed Marilyn Sitzman in 1966. Thompson partially quoted the interview in his book Six Seconds in Dallas. A transcript of the taped interview is reprinted here by author John McAdams. Sitzman explained to Thompson that if the shots had been fired from behind the picket fence on the Grassy Knoll, she "would have heard the sounding of the gun much closer, and I probably [would have] had a ringing in my head because the fence was quite close to where we were standing".

Marilyn Sitzman was interviewed by the Sixth Floor Museum in 1993. Sitzman explained that the gunshots sounded as though they were "far off and to the left" and came from the "left and above". Left, in this case, means east, towards the direction of the TSBD. Sitzman passed away less than two months after this interview was recorded.

Jearaldean Reid DCSO affidavit.

Jearaldean Reid USSS sworn statement.

Jearaldean Reid WC testimony.

William Eugene Newman DCSO affidavit.

Shortly after the HSCA published their final report in 1979, DPD Sergeant James Carl Bowles, a former radio dispatch supervisor, rebutted their conspiratorial conclusion in this lengthy report. It was also published in 1993 as an appendix to reference #165i.

The cited pages refer to the Endnotes section of the book. Specifically, endnote #381, titled "this entire acoustics issue".

Abraham Zapruder WC testimony.

James Henry Crawford WC testimony.

DCSO Deputy Sheriff Roger Dean Craig WC testimony.

Billy Nolan Lovelady DCSO affidavit.

Thomas Clinton Dillard WC testimony.

By November 22, 1963, Lee Edward Bowers had worked in a railyard watchtower northwest of the TSBD for over a decade. During his time in this tower, Bowers had, on multiple occasions, noticed an acoustic illusion whereby sounds from the TSBD sounded as though they came from the vicinity of the Triple Underpass and vice versa.

By the time of the assassination, Floy Marquis Bell had worked out of the USPS Terminal Annex Post Office building at the southwest corner of Houston and Commerce Street for many years and was familiar with Dealey Plaza. Bell told author Richard Trask in 1989 that Dealey Plaza was "a natural bowl, and there are echoes in it". Bell did not believe "any individual person can exactly tell how many shots were fired, because of the echoes."

Some 35 years after the assassination, DCSO Deputy Sheriff Alvin Lafayette Maddox recalled that, before November 22, 1963, he'd noticed auditory illusions in Dealey Plaza. He described being on Houston Street and hearing an airliner flying overhead but "couldn't tell which way because of the reverberation of the sounds."

During reenactments of the shooting in the late 1970s, the HSCA found that the "buildings around [Dealey] Plaza caused strong reverberations, or echoes". The HSCA also found that a shot fired from the Grassy Knoll produced an echo that (to a listener in the same general vicinity) might sound as though it originated from anywhere between the TSBD and the Triple Underpass. See reference #96g and reference #101 for more about the HSCA's acoustical experiments.

A list of TSBD employees compiled by the FBI.

A list of TSBD employees compiled by the USSS.

A list of TSBD employees compiled by the DPD. This list was compiled in the frantic aftermath of the assassination, so it is understandably flawed and incomplete. It contains a lot of typos and duplicates. It even recorded Linnie Mae Randle (older sister of Buell Wesley Frazier) as a TSBD employee before it was crossed out. Peggy Bigler Hawkins (her maiden name was actually Bibler, not Bigler) was not herself an employee of the TSBD but the wife (see reference #108d) of a virtually undocumented employee named John Hawkins.

According to this FBI summary report, Peggy Joyce Hawkins was the wife of a TSBD employee named John Hawkins. The report states "she made plans to meet her husband" at the TSBD to watch the motorcade. Peggy ended up watching the motorcade with some of her husband's female coworkers by the north curb of Elm Street. One of them explained (see 24CH682) that John worked as "an agent for Allyn and Bacon, Inc." (one of the book publishers with offices in the TSBD) and that they had a four-year-old son named John. From what I can tell, John Sr. was never questioned by authorities, and his whereabouts during the shooting are unknown. But the fact he was never questioned and barely mentioned by coworkers points to his absence. Peggy was born Peggy Joyce Bibler on September 6, 1934, in Scottsville, Arkansas. She died on December 21, 2019, in Russellville, Arkansas.

This report mentioned a woman named Ruth Willis, who owned a Post Office Box. Willis was reportedly an employee of the TSBD who worked on the fourth floor and "heard footsteps overhead just after shots were fired." There are no other references to an employee by that name. This is probably a reference to Mary Madeline Hollies. The surnames Willis and Hollies are phonetically similar, and Hollies listed her address as Post Office Box #5944 in reference #108c above. Furthermore, Hollies watched the motorcade from the fourth floor and told a coworker (see 7CD23) she heard footsteps of people running across the floor above immediately after the shooting. This would be consistent with reference #117.

DCSO Deputy Sheriff Jack Wilson Faulkner wrote in this report that he went up to the roof of the TSBD along with an employee named "Joe Loraine" shortly after the assassination. There are no other references to an employee by that name. It could have been Joe Rodriguez Molina or, perhaps, Billy Nolan Lovelady, who stated (see 24CH214) he "took some police officers up to search the building" sometime after the shooting. The first name of James Earl Jarman was also recorded as "Joe" in reference #108c above.

A list of TSBD employees (along with diagrams of their approximate locations) compiled by historian Mary Elizabeth McHughes Ferrell.

Eddie Piper DCSO affidavit.

Eddie Piper DPD interview.

Eddie Piper FBI signed statement.

Eddie Piper WC testimony.

Edna Mae Case FBI signed statement.

Sandra Sue Elerson FBI signed statement.

Troy Eugene West was on the first floor of the TSBD at the time of the shooting. When he testified before the WC, West told them he heard no gunshots. However, when questioned by the USSS (see 87CD785), West had reportedly told them that he "heard the shots fired".

Doris Fay Burns was walking from her office towards a south-facing window on the third floor of the TSBD at the time of the shooting. According to this FBI report, Burns told them she heard no gunshots. When she was reinterviewed by the FBI (see 706CD12) and later appeared before the WC (see 6CH399), Burns told them she heard one gunshot.

Steven Francis Wilson FBI interview.

Steven Francis Wilson FBI signed statement.

Elsie Theresa Dorman FBI interview.

Elsie Theresa Dorman FBI signed statement.

Victoria Eleanor Adams FBI interview.

Victoria Eleanor Adams DPD interview.

Victoria Eleanor Adams FBI signed statement.

Victoria Eleanor Adams WC testimony.

Mary Madeline Hollies FBI signed statement.

Geneva Lucile Hine WC testimony.

Eddie Piper WC testimony.

Bonnie Ray Williams WC testimony.

Harold Dean Norman was interviewed by CBS News in 1964. Norman told them that the first gunshot "shook the building a little bit because it was that powerful."

James Earl Jarman WC testimony.

Bonnie Ray Williams WC testimony.

Harold Dean Norman WC testimony.

When he testified before the WC, Harold Dean Norman corrected some of the wording in this USSS affidavit. Norman did not recall saying he "knew the shots came from directly above us." Furthermore, Norman did not recall saying that he heard the second and third gunshots "several seconds" after the first because he "didn't have any idea what time it was." Unlike many other documents, however, this USSS affidavit was reviewed and signed by Norman. Regardless, the corrections are largely immaterial as Norman still recalled hearing the gunshots being fired by someone upstairs, the bolt-action of the rifle being operated, and the expended cartridge cases striking the floorboards.

Photographs of James Earl Jarman, Bonnie Ray Williams, and Harold Dean Norman during a reenactment of their movements on the fifth floor.

Following the second-floor lunchroom encounter and a quick sweep of the roof, DPD Patrolman Marrion Lewis Baker and Roy Sansom Truly went their separate ways. Baker was informed by Truly that the man in the lunchroom was a TSBD employee but never learned his name. Later that evening, Baker went down to the DPD to make a sworn statement. He described the man that he and Truly had encountered as an employee, white, approximately 30 years old, 5'9" (175 cm), 165 lbs (75 kg), dark hair, wearing a light brown jacket. When he later testified before the WC, Baker explained that he was "giving this affidavit" in a small office when LHO was brought into a different room for questioning and that he "did get to see him at that time." In spite of this, Baker made no mention of LHO in his affidavit. Some authors find it suspicious that Baker failed to identify LHO as the second-floor lunchroom employee in his affidavit when (in the process of writing said affidavit) LHO was being interrogated across the hall in Baker's field of view. However, Baker never clarified if he signed his affidavit before or after seeing LHO. Baker might have already completed his sworn statement and, while awaiting to be dismissed, observed LHO through a window or half-opened door. It's also possible that Baker opted not to identify LHO until he could get a better view to avoid implicating an innocent man based solely on a casual glance from across the floor. But the interpretation favored by some conspiracy theorists is that Baker failed to identify LHO because the man in the lunchroom was a different employee altogether. When he testified before the WC four months later, Baker unequivocally identified the second-floor lunchroom employee as LHO. Truly identified LHO as the second-floor lunchroom employee the day after the shooting.

DPD Patrolman Marrion Lewis Baker WC testimony.

Roy Sansom Truly DCSO affidavit.

Roy Sansom Truly WC testimony.

This is a bit of a tangent, but I wanted to mention this somewhere. In an article published in the Dallas Morning News on November 23, 1963, Ochus Virgil Campbell had reportedly told them that, shortly after the shooting, Roy Sansom Truly and an unnamed officer encountered LHO in a "storage room on the first floor". The story even made its way across the country and appeared in The New York Herald Tribune (Capture: 'It's All Over Now', Vol. 123, No. 42611, P. 2) that same morning, although it was now Campbell himself who had seen LHO in the storage room rather than something he'd overheard or been told by others. When questioned by authorities (see 5CD62, 5CD337, and 87CD776-777), Campbell maintained he'd never even seen LHO and would be unable to recognize him. The story was presumably passed from Truly to Campbell to the press, and certain facts (such as the floor of the encounter) became distorted along the way. In fact, the New York Herald Tribune article is riddled with falsehoods. For instance, the article asserts that J.D. Tippit was gunned down after attempting to arrest LHO at the Texas Theater and that a rifle was found on a "fifth floor landing" at the TSBD.

Jearaldean Reid DCSO affidavit.

Jearaldean Reid WC testimony.

Robert Breckenridge MacNeil FBI interview.

In this interview with Pierce Morriss Allman, he stated, "I went to the Depository and in the door. In retrospect Oswald must have just left. If I'd only looked up at the window. I would have been able to point him out but I wasn't anticipating this." The interviewer also described Allman's hair as "crew cut."

Pierce Morriss Allman and Terrence Scott Ford USSS interviews. According to this document, LHO told interrogators that he'd seen two USSS agents rather than one. This would make it more probable that LHO encountered Allman and Ford rather than Robert Breckenridge MacNeil. This was the conclusion of the USSS, who wrote that Allan and Ford were "the men referred to by Oswald in his interview with Captain Fritz."

Pierce Morriss Allman DPD interview.

Terrence Scott Ford DPD interview.

Mary Esther Bledsoe WC testimony.

Cecil Joffre McWatters DCSO affidavit.

Cecil Joffre McWatters WC testimony.

A bus transfer ticket issued to LHO by bus driver Cecil Joffre McWatters. Found in LHO's wallet upon his arrest.

When interrogated by DPD Captain John William Fritz, LHO admitted that the bus transfer ticket had been issued to him by the driver of the bus he boarded after leaving the TSBD.

Roy Sansom Truly WC testimony.

Marrion Lewis Baker WC testimony.

John Joe Howlett WC affidavit.

Jeraldean Reid WC testimony.

The FBI found that it took 1 minute and 45 seconds for a person standing in the SN to reach the main entrance on the first floor (not the second-floor lunchroom) using the rear staircase. The test was conducted "at a fast walk except in areas where an individual would have walked at a normal pace so as not to arouse suspicion." The FBI tested multiple routes and utilized several modes of travel. They found that route #6 was the most consistent with "witnesses and the position where the gun used in the assassination was located". Route #6 went from the SN, down the rear staircase to the second-floor lunchroom, down the front stairs, and out the main entrance. It took 2 minutes and 25 seconds in total. This included 30 seconds of waiting in the second-floor lunchroom to account for reference #121.

Author Larry Sneed wrote in 1998 that his friend and fellow researcher Warren Graham simulated the escape of LHO inside the TSBD in the early 1980s. Starting in the southeast corner on the sixth floor (making sure to allocate a few seconds for the stowing of the rifle), Graham supposedly "went quickly down the stairs past the second floor lunchroom to the first floor, out the door, and onto the street." According to Sneed, this only took Graham 51 seconds. If that's accurate, LHO could have reached the second-floor lunchroom upwards of 30 seconds ahead of his encounter with DPD Patrolman Marrion Lewis Baker and Roy Sansom Truly. But it's a second-hand account briefly mentioned in the introduction to a book published more than a decade after Graham's supposed experiment, so it must be taken with a grain of salt. The cited page number refer to the introduction.

DPD Patrolman Marrion Lewis Baker and Roy Sansom Truly were interviewed by CBS News in 1964 and related their encounter with LHO in the second-floor lunchroom inside the TSBD. Most notably, Baker stated, "From the time that I heard those shots [...] and made it up to the second floor, it was approximately a minute and a half to two minutes". That's exactly what Truly stated when he testified before the WC. The longest time estimate offered by Baker when he testified before the WC was 1 minute and 30 seconds. By the time of this interview (conducted a few weeks or months later), Baker had extended that estimate by another 30 seconds. However, Baker's more precise recollections during his sworn testimony obviously take precedence over this press interview.

Roy Sansom Truly WC testimony.

DPD Patrolman Marrion Lewis Baker WC testimony.

Victoria Eleanor Adams FBI interview.

Victoria Eleanor Adams DPD interview.

Victoria Eleanor Adams WC testimony.

Sandra Kay Styles FBI signed statement.

Billy Nolan Lovelady DCSO affidavit.

Billy Nolan Lovelady WC testimony.

William Hoyt Shelley DCSO affidavit.

William Hoyt Shelley WC testimony.

Dorothy Ann Garner was the supervisor of the Scott, Foresman and Co. office on the fourth floor of the TSBD. She watched the motorcade from a window on the same floor alongside Victoria Eleanor Adams, Sandra Kay Styles, and Elsie Theresa Dorman. Garner was never called to testify before the WC and does not mention Adams and Styles leaving the fourth floor in her brief and only interview with the FBI.

On April 7, 1964, Victoria Eleanor Adams testified before WC counsel David William Belin at the office of the US attorney in Dallas. Less than two months later, a transcript of her deposition was forwarded to WC General Counsel James Lee Rankin in a letter written by assistant attorney Martha Joe Stroud. The letter lists a few grammatical corrections, but the last paragraph mentions Dorothy Ann Garner. According to Stroud, Garner stated that "after Miss Adams went downstairs she (Miss Garner) saw Mr. Truly and the policeman come up." Stroud does not mention where nor to whom Garner made the statement. Only that she made it "this morning". The letter is dated June 2, 1964. Nevertheless, the statement corroborated Adams' account that she and Sandra Kay Styles descended the stairs before the ascent of Roy Sansom Truly and DPD Patrolman Marrion Lewis Baker. The Stroud letter was uncovered at the National Archives in 1999 by author Barry Ernest and is included and discussed by him (in far greater detail) in reference #138. This scan of the document is hosted on Ernest's website.

A website run by Barry Ernest that complements his book above.

Eddie Piper (see also 7CH389) watched the motorcade from the second south-facing window on the first floor, counted from the main entrance. After the second shot, Piper rose from the box he was sitting on and headed for a coffee table (near the rear staircase) to look at a clock and record the time. Shortly thereafter, Piper saw Roy Sansom Truly and DPD Patrolman Marrion Lewis Baker approaching the elevators. Truly yelled, "Where is the elevator?" And Piper replied, "I don't know, sir, Mr. Truly." Piper then saw Truly and Baker run up the stairs. Piper denied seeing anyone descend the staircase between the shooting and Truly and Baker's ascent. Some authors question the credibility of Piper (the WC described him as a "confused witness") because he initially fixed the time of the shooting at 12:25 PM. The first shot rang out at 12:30 PM (see reference #58). Was the clock running five minutes late? Had the motorcade not been delayed (see reference #37), it would indeed have passed the TSBD at approximately 12:25 PM. Perhaps Piper was aware of this estimated time and got it confused with the actual time? Even if the clock was correctly calibrated and Piper misremembered, a witness getting the time wrong by five minutes hardly warrants blind rejection of everything they said. Even a witness as unreliable as Jack Edwin Dougherty (see reference #173) deserves careful consideration.

When he testified before the WC, Troy Eugene West was asked, "Do you know whether anyone was going up and down the stairs?" West responded, "No, sir; I don't." While West was relatively close to the rear staircase (during the shooting), he sat/stood with his back towards it as he was "spellbound" by the commotion outside.

Carl Edward Jones watched the motorcade from the front steps. While he could have gone back to the rear staircase shortly after the shooting, there's no evidence that he did.

Roy Edward Lewis probably watched the motorcade from the lobby on the first floor, just inside the glass door. However, according to a USSS interview (see 87CD781) and a much later interview with author Larry Sneed (see page 86 of reference #103h), Lewis watched the motorcade from the front steps. Lewis' movements after the shooting are largely unknown. According to James Earl Jarman (see 3CH207), Lewis was on the first floor (somewhere between the rear staircase and the front entrance) when he and Bonnie Ray Williams and Harold Dean Norman descended from the fifth floor several minutes after the shooting.

Roy Sansom Truly WC testimony.

Roy Sansom Truly WC testimony.

When he testified before the WC, DCSO Deputy Sheriff Luke Elmo Mooney stated that "it was approaching one o'clock" and "it could have been one o'clock" when he first happened upon the barricade of boxes comprising the SN. But Mooney confessed he neglected to look at his watch to record the precise time. Mooney recalled that fellow DCSO Deputy Sheriffs Arthur Daniel McCurley, Samuel Thomas Webster, and Billy Joe Victory (erroneously recorded as Vickery) were the first to arrive after he discovered the SN. This was corroborated by McCurley (see 19CH514). None of them were called to testify, and (as far as I can tell) neither Webster nor Victory wrote a report/were interviewed.

At approximately 01:12 PM on November 22, 1963, DPD Inspector James Herbert Sawyer was standing by the front entrance of the TSBD when he reported (see reference #82; Channel #2) over police radio that "empty rifle hulls" had been discovered on the fifth floor. Sawyer explained that the information was "reported to me by someone inside the building." Sawyer further clarified that he mistook the sixth floor for the fifth, as many others are known to have done. Note that some transcripts of this radio call record Sawyer saying "on the third floor." But the audio recording makes it clear that Sawyer said "on the fifth floor".

DPD Captain John William Fritz WC testimony.

DPD Detective Elmer Loyd Boyd WC testimony.

DPD Detective Richard Milton Sims WC testimony.

According to this report, jointly written by DPD Detectives Richard Milton Sims and Elmer Loyd Boyd, the three cartridge cases in the SN were discovered by DCSO Deputy Sheriff Luke Elmo Mooney at approximately 01:15 PM. Sims repeated this time when he testified before the WC. The report also stated that DPD Captain John William Fritz ordered DPD Detectives Leslie Dell Montgomery and Marvin Johnson to stand guard by the SN at 01:25 PM. Shortly thereafter, the rifle was found.

When he testified before the WC, DPD Detective Leslie Dell Montgomery stated he and his partner, DPD Detective Marvin Johnson, arrived at the TSBD on November 22, 1963, at approximately 12:40 or 12:45 PM. They reported to the sixth floor and spoke with DPD Captain John William Fritz, who directed them to stand guard by the SN. According to Montgomery, the cartridge cases had already been found at this point, but the rifle had not yet been found.

When he testified before the WC, DPD Detective Marvin Johnson stated that he and his partner, DPD Detective Leslie Dell Montgomery, arrived at the TSBD on November 22, 1963, at approximately 01:00 PM. They reported to the sixth floor and spoke with DPD Captain John William Fritz, who directed them to stand guard by the SN. Johnson was "pretty sure" the three cartridge cases in the SN had already been found at this point. However, this might have been after they spoke with Fritz which occurred "a few minutes" after their arrival.

DCSO Chief Deputy Sheriff Allan Sweatt was standing on the street in front of the TSBD when DCSO Deputy Sheriff Luke Elmo Mooney "stuck his head out" of a window on the "northeast corner" of the building and reported that "he had found some spent cartridge cases". According to Sweatt, Mooney was "told to let them remain untouched until the DPD Crime Lab arrived on the scene." Sweatt mistook the sixth floor for the fifth, as many others are known to have done.

DPD Detective Billy Louis Senkel recalled that he arrived at the TSBD at 12:50 PM, then got to the sixth floor at 01:10 PM, before the SN was discovered at 01:15 PM. According to Senkel, DPD Captain John William Fritz, DPD Detective Elmer Loyd Boyd, and DPD Detective Richard Milton Sims were all present "at this time."

According to author Richard Trask, the SN was discovered sometime before 01:05 PM. Trask based this conclusion upon a photograph in which a half-opened window (second south-facing window from the east on the sixth floor) and the clock and temperature display atop the roof of the TSBD are simultaneously visible. The time readout was 01:05 PM, and the window was the same one opened by DPD Sergeant Gerald Lynn Hill shortly after DCSO Deputy Sheriff Luke Elmo Mooney discovered the SN. Trask reasoned that the photograph must have been taken after it was opened by Hill and, by extension, after the discovery of the SN. This window was closed during the shooting (see reference #224) and several minutes thereafter (e.g. reference #226t). The possibility remains, however, that the window was opened and closed on multiple occasions. Hill merely told the WC he "went over" to the window, neglecting to specify whether he opened or closed it. But it's a probable assumption that Hill was the first to open the window and that he left it open afterward. Unfortunately, Trask does not include this photograph in his book.

When he testified before the WC (see also 19CH529), DCSO Deputy Sheriff Luke Elmo Mooney recalled seeing a "partially eaten piece of fried chicken" lying next to a small paper sack atop a stack of boxes in the SN. The exact spot is unclear, but Mooney was shown a photograph (see reference #148b below) of the SN and identified two potential locations. Mooney stated that the box upon which the chicken piece and paper sack rested was about 5 ft (1.5 m) from the SN window. It required only "one step" for someone standing in the SN to reach over and place the items on the box. The paper sack was about 8-10" (20-25 cm) wide. Mooney saw no chicken remains nor paper sacks elsewhere on the sixth floor and failed to notice the Dr. Pepper bottle near the third south-facing window but confessed he "didn't check" that area.

This photograph of the SN was shown to DCSO Deputy Sheriff Luke Elmo Mooney when he testified before the WC. The two stacks of boxes marked with an X indicate the two most probable locations where Mooney found a half-eaten piece of chicken and a small paper sack. These boxes were stacked along the east wall of the building.

DCSO Deputy Sheriff Arthur Daniel McCurley saw a "half-eaten piece of chicken" resting atop one of the boxes in the SN. McCurley went over to the SN within seconds of its discovery.

DCSO Deputy Sheriff Harry Huey Weatherford saw a "partially eaten piece of chicken" resting atop one of the boxes in the SN. Weatherford went over to the SN within seconds of its discovery.

According to DPD Detective Leslie Dell Montgomery, there were pieces of chicken "scattered around" the SN. These leftovers were resting on the floor and atop some boxes "around where the hulls were found." When he testified before the WC, Montgomery was shown a photograph (see 21CH649, Studebaker Exhibit J) and indicated that a partially eaten piece of chicken had been found resting atop a stack of boxes located somewhere to the left and out of view of that photograph. That would be the east barricade of the SN, consistent with the location identified by DCSO Deputy Sheriff Luke Elmo Mooney. Montgomery also recalled a small paper sack but was unsure of its exact location. This sack differed from a large paper bag (see reference #168) found resting on the floor in the extreme southeast corner of the SN. Somewhere to the west of the SN was a Dr. Pepper bottle "sitting over there by itself." Montgomery did not recall any chicken remains or paper bags being found over by the Dr. Pepper bottle.

According to DPD Sergeant Gerald Lynn Hill, a "chicken leg bone and a paper sack" was resting atop one of the boxes that comprised the SN. Hill described the sack as 12" wide, 10" long, and 4" thick (30x25x10 cm).

According to DPD Detective Marvin Johnson, a brown paper lunch bag, chicken remains, and a pop bottle was found near the second south-facing window. However, Johnson conceded that he "didn't count" the number of windows. Johnson also recalled that "remnants of fried chicken" were found by "some other window" but neglected to mention which one.

DCSO Deputy Sheriff Roger Dean Craig saw a "small paper bag" that was "laying on top of a box" near the SN that looked like a lunch bag.

According to DPD Detective Elmer Loyd Boyd, there were "some paper sacks" and "some chicken bones" resting atop "some boxes" in front of the "third or fourth" south-facing window.

According to DPD Detective Robert Lee Studebaker, an empty bottle of Dr. Pepper and a paper sack were found by the third south-facing window (see reference #148k below for a photograph). The sack contained chicken bones and a package of Fritos chips. When he testified before the WC, Studebaker was told about the partially eaten piece of chicken resting atop a box near the SN seen by DCSO Deputy Sheriff Luke Elmo Mooney and others. Studebaker was unaware of any chicken remains being found anywhere on the sixth floor apart from the lunch bag found underneath the third south-facing window. Studebaker also mentioned (see 1245CD84) that "one of the officers searching the place later emptied the sack, leaving the chicken bones on the floor" near where the sack was found.

This photograph was designated "Studebaker Exhibit H" in the WC volumes and can be found at 21CH648. I've referenced a higher-quality copy here for the sake of clarity. The photograph was taken by DPD Detective Robert Lee Studebaker "before anything was touched", facing the third window from the east. An empty Dr. Pepper bottle is visible in the foreground, and a paper sack is wedged between the south wall and the front wheels of a cart. The copy in the WC volumes was marked with an arrow (by Studebaker) to identify the location of the brown paper sack containing chicken bones.

When he testified before the WC (see also 1245CD82), Bonnie Ray Williams stated that, on November 22, 1963, his lunch consisted of a chicken sandwich, a package of Fritos chips, and a bottle of Dr. Pepper. Williams described the sandwich as "chicken on the bone" and carried his lunch in a small brown paper bag. Williams went up to the sixth floor and ate his lunch while sitting on a two-wheeled cart in front of the "third or fourth" (the cart was parked by the third) south-facing window. When Williams left the sixth floor a few minutes before the shooting (see reference #53), he put the chicken bones in the paper sack and "dropped it" near the cart. Williams was unsure but recalled placing the empty Dr. Pepper bottle on either the floor or atop one of the boxes nearby.

DPD Detective John Carl Day reportedly told the FBI that some "chicken bones, lunch sack, and soft drink bottle" had been discovered by the third south-facing window. Day later examined these items and checked the bottle against the prints of LHO but found no match. Upon learning the items had been "placed there by another employee", Day discarded the items "several weeks" after the assassination. Some of this was also covered by Day (see 4CH277) during his WC testimony.

DPD Patrolman Elwyn Dee Brewer recalled seeing a "paper lunch sack and some chicken bones" and a "soda pop bottle" near the SN.

DPD Captain John William Fritz did not see "any signs of a lunch" near the SN. Instead, Fritz blamed "that story about the chicken" upon unfounded rumors circulated by the press. Fritz stated that unknown employees had "in days past" eaten lunch by another unspecified window and left "chicken bones and pieces of bread, all kinds of things up and down there."

When he testified before the WC (see also 5CD371 and 1245CD81), William Hoyt Shelley stated he went up to the sixth floor sometime after the shooting and saw some chicken bones "laying on a sack" and a "bottle sitting in the window." This was the third south-facing window. Shelley did not see any chicken remains anywhere else on the sixth floor. Furthermore, Shelley claimed to have seen Charles Douglas Givens eating fried chicken on the sixth floor between 09:30 and 10:00 AM on November 22, 1963, near the southwest corner of the building. According to Shelley, the food eaten by Givens was fried chicken because "those colored boys are always eating chicken", although Givens had apparently told Shelley he only ate a sandwich. Givens denied these assertions in reference #148q below.

When he testified before the WC, Charles Douglas Givens denied eating anything, including chicken, on the sixth floor of the TSBD before the assassination. Givens also denied leaving a pop bottle on the sixth floor.

In this photograph, taken from the southwest corner, a Dr. Pepper bottle is visible in the foreground. This is where the floor-laying crew (see reference #41) worked on the morning of November 22, 1963. This could mean that one or some of them were eating on the sixth floor prior to the assassination, much like William Hoyt Shelley claimed in reference #148p and Charles Douglas Givens denied in reference #148q above.

WFAA-TV correspondent Thomas Paul Alyea was present on the sixth floor of the TSBD during the initial search. In late 1963, Alyea was interviewed as part of an Oral History program at Columbia University. Alyea told the interviewer, "There was a stack with a stack [sack?] of chicken bones on it. There was a Dr. Pepper bottle which they dusted for fingerprints." Alyea neglected to explain exactly where he saw these items, but their discovery was preceded by a "systematic search" of the building, which "boiled down to the sixth floor." Alyea also brought up the chicken bones and pop bottle while discussing the sixth floor, the SN, and the discovery of the rifle.

WFAA-TV correspondent Thomas Paul Alyea was present on the sixth floor of the TSBD during the initial search. In 1993, Alyea spoke briefly at a conference in Dallas alongside many other journalists who covered the JFK assassination. Alyea insisted that "three-day-old dried chicken bones" had been found on the fifth floor before the SN was discovered on the sixth floor. Everyone else who saw chicken bones inside the TSBD (including authorities and TSBD employees) observed them on the sixth floor. Back in 1963 (see reference #148s above), Alyea offered no indication that these items were found on the fifth floor.

WFAA-TV correspondent Thomas Paul Alyea was present on the sixth floor of the TSBD during the initial search. Decades later, Alyea was interviewed by Dallas Times Herald reporter Constance Elizabeth Kritzberg in this 1994 book of hers. Alyea told Kritzberg that there were "no chicken bones found on the 6th floor." Instead, a Dr. Pepper bottle had supposedly been "brought up" from the fifth floor, echoing remarks Alyea had previously made in reference #148t above. This book does not appear to be available online, so I've referenced an excerpt here. This page also includes two addenda. The first addendum seems to be an email or letter from Alyea responding to an unknown "correspondent". I contacted David Reitzes (the website's operator) to find out more, but he could offer no additional insight. However, the views expressed are consistent with the known views of Alyea (see reference #222), so I have no reason to doubt its veracity. It was written in 2001 based on archived versions of the page. The second addendum is an excerpt from reference #148s above.

DCSO Deputy Sheriff Luke Elmo Mooney WC testimony.

DPD Detective Robert Lee Studebaker WC testimony.

DCSO Deputy Sheriff Jack Wilson Faulkner DCSO report.

DPD Detective Richard Milton Sims WC testimony.

DPD Captain John William Fritz WC testimony.

DPD Lieutenant John Carl Day WC testimony.

DPD Lieutenant John Carl Day WC affidavit.

DPD Lieutenant John Carl Day DPD report.

Photographs of the SN, taken by DPD Lieutenant John Carl Day and DPD Detective Robert Lee Studebaker shortly after its discovery.

This photograph was taken by DPD Detective Robert Lee Studebaker shortly after he arrived at the crime scene in the company of DPD Lieutenant John Carl Day. Two cartridge cases lay in the crevice where the floorboards meet the wall underneath the window. The tip of the third case can be seen at the very bottom of the photograph, inside the corner of a shadow cast by one of the boxes. The cartridge cases were likely found around 01:00 PM (see reference #146), and Day told the WC that he and Studebaker arrived at the TSBD at approximately 01:12 PM. While Studebaker told the WC that those searching the building "hadn't found anything when we got there", he also recalled (corroborated by Day) that they were immediately directed to the sixth floor upon their arrival. This would only have occurred had the SN already been found. A red firetruck and a white Civil Defense Rescue Service panel truck are parked along the east side of Houston Street (seen through the window). The presence of these vehicles confirms the photograph was taken on November 22, 1963, as opposed to the day after or some other date, as some authors have alleged. At 12:54 PM, dispatch reported over police radio (see reference #82; Channel #2) that they were "going to send the fire department rescue equipment with rope to that location." The angle of the shadows is also consistent with an image taken after 01:12 PM, although it's difficult to pinpoint the exact time. The camera used by Day and Studebaker was equipped with a flash attachment that obliterated most of the natural shadows in the scene. However, one can still see a faint shadow cast diagonally across the third brick east of the vertical mullion in the center of the window frame. Shadows can also be seen cast on the ground by objects and people on the street below. Notice, for instance, the triangular signpost standing in front of the Dallas County Records Building. It's near the hood of the black car and next to the vertical muntin in the west window sash. Its shadow does not yet reach the west wall of the Records Building. Compare that with reference #151k below, which was taken around 03:00 PM. In that photograph, the shadow cast by the triangular signpost has already reached the second column of windows on the west wall of the Records Building.

I'm only referencing this photograph for comparison with reference #151j above. According to DPD Lieutenant John Carl Day (see 4CH264), he took a similar photograph (see 17CH504; CE722) at a slightly different angle at approximately 03:00 or 03:15 PM on November 22, 1963. Their visual similarity suggests both were taken by Day (or possibly DPD Detective Robert Lee Studebaker) around the same time. The angle of the shadows (especially the one cast by the tall lamppost on the west side of Houston Street) is consistent with a time of approximately 03:00 PM.

When interviewed by author Larry Sneed for this 1997 book of his, DCSO Deputy Sheriff Luke Elmo Mooney stated that DPD Captain John William Fritz arrived at the SN "a few moments" after its discovery. Fritz then took "the same route through the stacks of boxes" that Mooney did and became "the first man to reach down and pick up one of the shell casings to see what caliber it was." Mooney stated that "nothing had been disturbed until that time" but that he didn't remain to see "what happened to the casings." Shortly thereafter, the rifle was found. Mooney did not explicitly state but implied that Fritz picked up the casings before crime lab technicians DPD Lieutenant John Carl Day and DPD Detective Robert Lee Studebaker arrived to photograph the crime scene.

In 2009, the Sixth Floor Museum interviewed DCSO Deputy Sheriff Luke Elmo Mooney. Mooney repeated much of what he told author Larry Sneed in reference #151l above. Regarding the three cartridge cases, Mooney reiterated that DPD Captain John William Fritz "was the first officer" to pick up and inspect one of the casings. Mooney explained that Fritz "reached down and picked up one of 'em, discovered the caliber, and laid it back down in the exact spot." Mooney passed away a little over a year after this interview was recorded.

This unpublished manuscript was written by DCSO Deputy Sheriff Roger Dean Craig in 1971. At the beginning of Chapter II, Craig took equal credit for discovering the SN alongside fellow officer DCSO Deputy Sheriff Luke Elmo Mooney. Craig wrote that they "reached the southeast corner at the same time." According to Craig, the three cartridge cases on the floor inside the SN were "no more than one inch apart and all were facing in the same direction". Craig had previously made these claims in 1968 (see reference #160n) and continued to do so in 1976 (see reference #160o), which included a sketch of three cartridge cases resting side-by-side on the floor inside the SN. But back in 1964, when Craig testified before the WC, his recollection of events was drastically different. When asked, "Did you see the empty cartridges when they were found?" Craig responded, "I didn't see them when they were found. I saw them laying on the floor." Craig was then asked, "About how soon after they were found did you see them laying on the floor?" Craig responded, "Oh, a couple of minutes. I went right on over there. I was at the far north end of the building." Craig was also asked if he could recall the positions of the three cartridge cases. Craig responded, "No; I don't; I didn't look that close."

WFAA-TV correspondent Thomas Paul Alyea was present on the sixth floor of the TSBD during the initial search. Decades later, Alyea was interviewed by Dallas Times Herald reporter Constance Elizabeth Kritzberg for this 1994 book of hers. Alyea told Kritzberg the three cartridge cases inside the SN were "scattered in an area that could be covered by a bushel basket." Alyea also recalled that DPD Captain John William Fritz then "entered the enclosure" and that this was "the first time anybody walked between the barricade and the windows." Fritz then "walked to the casings, picked them up and held them in his hand over the top of the boxes for me to get a close-up shot of the evidence." While this portion of Alyea's film has never surfaced, much of his film was carelessly misplaced or discarded. Author Richard Trask (see page 538 of reference #103g) wrote that Alyea's film was "not looked upon as historical documentation" but rather as "part of the news package and would be edited, cut up, and shown with only the concern of telling a breaking news story." Addressing the general mishandling of assassination films, Trask wrote more succinctly, "The historical or investigative value of the films, if even considered, took a subservient role to its immediate story-telling value." In an interview with Trask, Alyea told him that the WFAA-TV news director "had a bunch of it burned" (referring to portions of his film) because he believed it worthless unless they could "use it on the news". Trask identified 54 separate clips with a total runtime of 5 minutes and 26.5 seconds that survived the mishandling of Alyea's film. While no clips show an officer holding the cartridge cases "over the top of the boxes" as Alyea claimed, one clip (seen at 00:59:29 in the video) shows two officers crouching in the SN. One of them appears to pick up something from the floor with his left hand (visible at the extreme bottom of the frame), which the second officer appears to inspect. The clip is of poor quality. It's difficult to see whether anything was picked up at all, let alone a spent cartridge. The officers sit with their backs toward the camera and can not be positively identified. However, considering the white Civil Defense Rescue Service panel truck (see reference #151j above) has not yet parked along Houston Street, this sequence must've been filmed before the crime scene was photographed by DPD Lieutenant John Carl Day and DPD Detective Robert Lee Studebaker. Because of Fritz's alleged tampering, Alyea believed these photographs were "staged". Alyea wrote that "the police photo showing the shell casings laying next to the brick wall was staged later by crime lab people who did not see the original positioning because they were not called upon the scene until after the rifle was found nearly an hour later." In an addendum, Alyea corrected Kritzberg by writing that Fritz handed the casings to Studebaker "over thirty minutes later, after the rifle was discovered and the crime lab arrived" who then "tossed them on the floor and photographed them." Considering DCSO Deputy Sheriff Luke Elmo Mooney discovered the SN at approximately 01:00 PM (see reference #146), Day and Studebaker arrived at the TSBD at approximately 01:12 PM, and the rifle was discovered at 01:22 PM (see reference #159), time estimates like "nearly an hour", "over thirty minutes", and "after the rifle was discovered" are difficult to reconcile. Furthermore, when Alyea was interviewed (see reference #148s) less than four weeks after the assassination, he mentioned none of the alleged staging and tampering he recalled decades later.

DCSO Deputy Sheriff Eugene Lawrence Boone WC testimony.

DCCO Deputy Constable Seymour Weitzman WC testimony.

Photographs of the rifle and its location on the sixth floor of the TSBD.

Photographs of the rifle taken sometime after it's removal from the sixth floor of the TSBD.

DCCO Deputy Constable Seymour Weitzman DCSO affidavit.

DCCO Deputy Constable Seymour Weitzman FBI interview.

DCCO Deputy Constable Seymour Weitzman FBI interview.

DCCO Deputy Constable Seymour Weitzman WC testimony.

DCCO Deputy Constable Seymour Weitzman was interviewed by CBS News in 1967. Weitzman largely repeated what he told the WC three years prior. He explained that he'd made "an honest mistake" by misidentifying the Italian Carcano as a German Mauser upon seeing the "Mauser action" of the rifle "at a glance".

DCSO Deputy Sheriff Eugene Lawrence Boone DCSO report.

DCSO Deputy Sheriff Eugene Lawrence Boone WC testimony.

DPD Captain John William Fritz WC testimony.

DPD Detective John Carl Day WC testimony.

When he testified before the WC, FBI Special Agent and firearms expert Robert Arthur Frazier described the various inscriptions on the rifle. Frazier was also asked, "Can you explain why someone might call [an Italian Carcano] a German-made Mauser rifle or a Mauser bolt-action rifle?" Frazier responded, "The Mauser was one of the earliest, if not the earliest, and the basic bolt-action rifle, from which many others were copied. And since this uses the same type of bolt system, it may have been referred to as a Mauser for that reason."

A film captured by WFAA-TV correspondent Thomas Paul Alyea on the sixth floor of the TSBD during the search for the rifle was reviewed by the FBI in 1964. The FBI determined that the rifle visible in the film was a "6.5 M/M Mannlicher Carcano rifle."

A panel of firearms experts assembled by the HSCA concluded in 1979 that "a Mannlicher-Carcano rifle could very easily be mistaken for other military rifles of its general type, including the 7.65 millimeter caliber German and other model Mausers." They further explained that "the caliber of a rifle cannot be determined merely by looking at it." See Figure 25 within this document for an example photograph of a 7.65 Argentine Mauser resembling a 6.5 Italian Carcano.

The HSCA analyzed and compared numerous films and photographs of the rifle found on the sixth floor of the TSBD to determine whether all of them depicted the same rifle. The report gets quite technical but see pages 66 and 89 for the summarized conclusions. The HSCA concluded that "the dimensions of the rifle(s) depicted [in the films and photographs] are entirely consistent." Most notably, the HSCA examined a film captured by WFAA-TV correspondent Thomas Paul Alyea on the sixth floor of the TSBD during the search for the rifle. According to the HSCA, the rifle's appearance in the film was consistent with the Carcano M91/38 that belonged to LHO. Lossy fragments of this film can be found on YouTube and elsewhere (e.g. reference #160s below), but no complete high-resolution copies are available online. See reference #151o (and 1066CD60) for more about Alyea and his film.

DCSO Deputy Sheriff Roger Dean Craig was interviewed by the underground newspaper Los Angeles Free Press in early 1968. Craig stated he was present on the sixth floor of the TSBD when the rifle was discovered. Craig also claimed to have handled the rifle but that he "couldn't give its name because I don't know foreign rifles." Craig went on to say that "there was another rifle, a Mauser, found up on the roof of the Depository that afternoon." In later interviews, Craig stated that the alleged Mauser was the rifle found on the sixth floor, not a rifle found on the roof. Craig's belief that a rifle had been found on the roof of the TSBD seems to have originated with conspiracy theorist William Penn Jones who was interviewed in tandem with Craig. Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporter Thayer Everett Waldo had supposedly told Jones that DPD Captain Glen Doyle King "verified the existence" of a rifle on the roof. Jones also claimed that "the rifle was dropped by a security officer" and that none of this was documented but verbally communicated from one person to the next. In other words, a game of telephone that (at minimum) went from the unknown officer to King to Waldo to Jones to Craig.

In 1976, DCSO Deputy Sheriff Roger Dean Craig was the focus of a documentary called Two Men in Dallas. Craig told the interviewer he was on the sixth floor when the rifle was discovered. According to Craig, he examined the rifle and "stamped right on the barrel of the rifle was 7.65 Mauser." This was the first time Craig (or anyone else) reported such a vital detail. He never once mentioned that the text "7.65 Mauser" was inscribed onto the rifle barrel before 1976. In fact, I'm not aware of any instance where Craig mentioned the make and model of the rifle back in 1963-1964 despite multiple opportunities to do so. In reference #160n above, Craig explicitly stated he could not recall the make and model of the rifle. Instead, Craig said a Mauser was found on the roof of the TSBD sometime in the afternoon of November 22, 1963. In his unpublished 1971 manuscript (see reference #72e), Craig wrote that "Weitzman declared that it was a 7.65 German Mauser." DPD Captain John William Fritz told the WC (see 4CH206) that he could "read on the rifle" what caliber it was and that it was the same caliber (6.5-millimeters) as the three cartridge cases found in the SN. See reference #226 for more about Craig.

In 1986, a televised mock trial of LHO was litigated by prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi and defense attorney Garry Spence. Among the witnesses called to testify was DCSO Deputy Sheriff Eugene Lawrence Boone. Boone acknowledged that he initially misidentified the rifle as a 7.65 Mauser because the term Mauser was a "generic term for a bolt-action rifle." (said by Bugliosi, affirmed by Boone) Boone also stated that, when the FBI later showed him the rifle recovered from the sixth floor of the TSBD, he identified it as a "Mannlicher" and that it "appeared to be the same rifle" but that he could not be certain because he "did not have an identifying mark on the weapon." In other words, it was the same make and model (an Italian Carcano M91/38), but it looked no different from any other rifle of that same make and model. Boone also conceded that he was no expert on firearms.

Decades after the assassination, DCSO Deputy Sheriff Jack Wilson Faulkner recalled that "the rifle was being referred to as a Mauser" shortly after its discovery on the sixth floor of the TSBD. Faulkner had no doubts that the rifle found was a "Mannlicher-Carcano". Faulkner believed that "possibly somebody saw it and said it looked like a Mauser, which it does."

A long thread regarding the Carcano/Mauser debate, along with a few select frames and clips of the rifle as seen in the Thomas Paul Alyea film.

FBI Special Agent Robert Arthur Frazier WC testimony.

Joseph Duane Nicol WC testimony.

Photographs of the three cartridge cases found in the SN.

Photograph of two cartridge cases that were test fired and ejected from the rifle found on the sixth floor of the TSBD.

Microscopic side-by-side comparisons of reference #162c and reference #162d above

William John Waldman was the Vice President of Klein's Sporting Goods in Chicago, Illinois, which sold the rifle found on the sixth floor of the TSBD via mail order to one A. Hidell on March 20, 1963.

Envelope and coupon received by Klein's Sporting Goods in Chicago, Illinois. The envelope was postmarked on March 12, 1963, and was sent by A. Hidell, Post Office Box 2915, Dallas, Texas. The coupon is for an Italian 6.5-millimeter Mannlicher-Carcano rifle identified by catalog number C20-T750. According to FBI Special Agent and questioned documents expert James Carroll Cadigan (see 7CH420), the writing on this coupon matched the handwriting of LHO.

Order fulfillment form by Klein's Sporting Goods in Chicago, Illinois, for an Italian 6.5-millimeter Mannlicher-Carcano rifle with serial number C2766. The rifle was purchased via money order for $21.45 and sent to A. Hidell, Post Office Box 2915, Dallas, Texas, on March 20, 1963.

The coupon from reference #163b above was clipped from this advert by Klein's Sporting Goods, which appeared in multiple issues of the American Rifleman magazine published by the National Rifle Association. The issue referenced here is from February 1963. LHO ordered his rifle in March 1963. The rifle was listed as a "6.5 Italian Carbine". While the listed length and weight of the rifle were 36" (91.4 cm) and 5.5 lbs (2.5 kg), the rifle received by LHO measured 40.2" (102.1 cm) in length and weighed nearly 8 lbs (3.6 kg) according to reference #176e. Furthermore, there are subtle differences between the rifle received by LHO and the image seen in the advert. According to reference #163e below, this was due to Klein's failure to update the details of the ad upon exhausting their supply of that particular model. Instead, they began selling a very similar model without informing their customers. In the October 1960 issue, Klein's advertised a very similar (possibly the same) 6.5 caliber rifle as a "Sporterized Italian Suprema Carbine". It had a listed length and weight of 41.5" (105.4 cm) and 7.5 lbs (3.4 kg). In the April 1963 issue, the advert seen in the February 1963 issue was updated. The listed length and weight was now 40" (101.6 cm) and 7 lbs (3.2 kg).

A well-sourced article that breaks down the subtle differences between the rifle received by LHO and the rifles advertised by Klein's Sporting Goods.

Marina Nikolayevna Oswald told the WC that the surname Hidell was "merely an altered Fidel" and that she'd learned that LHO was using it as a pseudonym while they were living in New Orleans, Louisiana. Marina also told the WC that LHO went by the nickname Alek (or Alec) when they lived in the Soviet Union.

Marina Nikolayevna Oswald told the WC that she once signed a card with the name A. J. Hidell at the behest of LHO. Marina explained that LHO "would beat me if I didn't sign that name on the card" and that she knew it was fictitious.

A list of all the articles contained in the wallet of LHO upon his arrest on November 22, 1963. Some of them were in the name of Alek James Hidell.

This forged Selective Service System (military conscription) card was found in LHO's wallet upon his arrest on November 22, 1963. The card is in the name of Alek James Hidell and features a photograph of LHO.

This forged US Marine Corps Certificate of Service card was found in LHO's wallet upon his arrest on November 22, 1963. The card is in the name of Alek James Hidell.

In August 1963, LHO was seen leafletting in defense of Cuba on the streets of New Orleans, Louisiana. The names L. H. Oswald and A. J. Hidell were printed on the leaflets.

This forged smallpox vaccination certificate was found in LHO's rooming house at 1026 North Beckley Avenue, Dallas, Texas, following his arrest on November 22, 1963. The certificate was signed by Dr. A. J. Hideel.

According to DPD Captain John William Fritz, LHO initially confessed to being Alek James Hidell, although he later denied it repeatedly.

DPD Lieutenant John Carl Day WC testimony.

FBI Special Agent Sebastian Francis Latona WC testimony.

New York Police Department Detective Arthur Angelo Mandella WC testimony.

FBI Special Agent Ronald Gordan Wittmus WC affidavit.

Right palmprint of LHO.

Latent palmprint lifted from the underside of the barrel of the rifle found on the sixth floor of the TSBD.

Side-by-side comparison of reference #165e and reference #165f above.

This CE confirms that reference #165f above was lifted from the barrel's underside. This means that, if the print was forged (as many conspiracy theorists believe), it must have been placed on the rifle before being lifted again.

This is an excerpt from the 1993 book JFK: First Day Evidence by author Gary Savage. Specifically, Chapter IV, titled The Prints. Savage's uncle was DPD Detective Richard Ward Livingston, who worked with DPD Lieutenant John Carl Day. After Day photographed the faint prints on the rifle's trigger guard on November 22, 1963, Livingston retained five first-generation copies of these photographs. Nearly three decades later, Savage found them inside a briefcase that belonged to Livingston. In 1992, Savage commissioned West Monroe Police Department Captain and fingerprint expert Jerry Lynn Powdrill to examine the photographs and compare them to LHO's prints. While the photographs were clearer than previous copies, the prints were still faint. Powdrill focused his attention on the clearest print in the clearest of the five photographs and wrote that "sufficient evidence does not exist to conclude that the latent print (in the photograph) is in fact that of Lee Harvey Oswald; however, there are enough similarities to suggest that it is possible they are one in [sic] the same." Savage also participated in reference #165j below and (in an addendum) summarized the results of another examination conducted by former New York Police Department Detective and fingerprint expert Vincent Joseph Scalice.

In this episode of the long-running PBS documentary series Frontline, former New York Police Department Detective and fingerprint expert Vincent Joseph Scalice examined the latent fingerprints found on the rifle's trigger guard. Furthermore, Scalice examined all the fingerprint evidence for the HSCA in 1978. Scalice explained that he "was able to pick up some details on one photograph and some details on another photograph" before concluding that "these are definitely the prints of Lee Harvey Oswald".

Author Gus Russo spoke with former New York Police Department Detective and fingerprint expert Vincent Joseph Scalice in 1998 regarding his examination of the prints on the rifle's trigger guard. Since his appearance on a 1993 PBS Frontline documentary (see reference #165j above), Scalice had grown even more convinced that the prints were those of LHO. Scalice told Russo, "I definitely conclude these are Oswald's prints. There is no doubt about it."

FBI Special Agent Sebastian Francis Latona WC testimony.

DPD Lieutenant John Carl Day WC testimony.

New York Police Department Detective Arthur Angelo Mandella WC testimony.

FBI Special Agent Ronald Gordan Wittmus WC affidavit.

FBI reports concerning the fingerprints and palmprints found on the boxes in the SN.

Photographs showing the approximate locations of two palmprints and one fingerprint, matching LHO, lifted from two boxes in the SN.

Various photographs and side-by-side comparisons of the prints lifted from the boxes in the SN.

DCSO Deputy Sheriff Luke Elmo Mooney told the WC he "didn't see anything over in the corner."

When asked if he'd seen the brown paper bag, DPD Detective John Berry Hicks responded, "No, sir; I don't believe I did. I don't recall it."

When asked if he'd seen the brown paper bag, DPD Detective Elmer Loyd Boyd responded, "I don't believe I did."

DPD Sergeant Gerald Lynn Hill told the WC that "the only sack that I saw" was a lunch bag near the SN containing chicken bones (see reference #148).

When asked if he'd seen the brown paper bag, DCSO Deputy Sheriff Roger Dean Craig responded, "No; I don't remember seeing any." When asked if he'd seen anything other than the three cartridge cases in the SN, Craig responded, "No; not anything that caught my eye."

DCSO Deputy Sheriff Harry Huey Weatherford recalled seeing "a sack on the floor".

DPD Detective Richard Milton Sims recalled seeing "a brown wrapping" in the SN.

DPD Detective Marvin Johnson recalled that they "found this brown paper sack or case" in the southeast corner on the sixth floor.

DPD Detective Leslie Dell Montgomery recalled that the southeast corner on the sixth floor was "where we found that long piece of paper that looked like a sack, that the rifle had been in."

DPD Detective Robert Lee Studebaker recalled seeing a "piece of paper" that was "folded" and "doubled over" in the southeast corner. Studebaker also confessed (see reference #169) that he was the person who picked up the bag from the floor before any photographs had been taken.

DPD Lieutenant John Carl Day recalled that a "homemade sack, brown paper with 3-inch tape [was] found right in the corner, the southeast corner of the building, near where the [hulls] were found."

DPD Patrolman Clyde Arthur Haygood recalled seeing a "plain brown paper bag with tape in the corner."

DPD Patrolman Elwyn Dee Brewer recalled seeing a "relatively long paper sack" in the southeast corner.

DPD Detective Robert Lee Studebaker FBI interview.

DPD Detective Robert Lee Studebaker WC testimony.

DPD Detective Marvin Johnson WC testimony.

DPD Detective Leslie Dell Montgomery WC testimony.

DPD Detective Robert Lee Studebaker WC testimony.

Two photographs of the SN with rectangles representing the approximate location of the brown paper bag, drawn by DPD Detective Robert Lee Studebaker.

Photograph of the brown paper bag taken sometime after its removal from the sixth floor of the TSBD.

Photograph of the brown paper bag taken sometime after its removal from the sixth floor of the TSBD.

Photograph of the brown paper bag taken by the FBI sometime after its removal from the sixth floor of the TSBD.

Photograph of a replica paper bag made by FBI Special Agents Bardwell DeWitt Odum and Gibbon Elliott McNeely on December 1, 1963. This bag was constructed (see reference #181d) from the same materials used to construct the brown paper bag found in the SN. According to FBI Special Agent James Carroll Cadigan (see 4CH93-94), the replica bag was constructed to "show prospective witnesses" because the bag found in the SN had been discolored, darkened, and "stained from latent fingerprint treatment".

This photograph was taken by DPD Detective Robert Lee Studebaker (see 4CH265) on November 22, 1963. Resting atop some of the boxes that comprise the SN is what appears to be the brown paper bag. However, the photograph is not clear enough to be absolutely certain. Two metal boxes with fingerprinting equipment can also be seen on the right-hand side of the image. So this photograph was likely taken shortly after the bag had been picked up and dusted for prints. According to various sources, this discovery was first made by a researcher named Patrick Jackson in 2019, but I was unable to verify this myself.

Photograph taken by Dallas Morning News photographer William Gaston Allen at approximately 03:00 PM on November 22, 1963, showing DPD Detective Leslie Dell Montgomery carrying the brown paper bag found on the sixth floor of the TSBD.

Jack Edwin Dougherty USSS interview.

Jack Edwin Dougherty FBI interview.

Jack Edwin Dougherty FBI interview.

Jack Edwin Dougherty WC testimony.

Roy Sansom Truly WC testimony.

According to this World War II hospital admission card, Jack Edwin Dougherty was medically discharged from the US Army at the age of 21 because he suffered from epilepsy and grand mal seizures. This was apparently a condition that "existed prior to service".

Buell Wesley Frazier FBI interview.

Buell Wesley Frazier WC testimony.

Linnie Mae Randle FBI interview.

Linnie Mae Randle WC testimony.

The length of the rifle found on the sixth floor of the TSBD measured 40.2" (102.1 cm) when assembled. The length of the rifle's longest component (the wooden stock) measured 34.8" (88.4 cm) when disassembled.

Photographs of the brown paper bag and the rifle found on the sixth floor of the TSBD in its disassembled state, along with yardsticks for scale. The bag measures approximately 38" (96.5 cm) in length.

Photograph of the brown paper bag lying next to the disassembled rifle and the blanket it was wrapped in when stored in the garage of Ruth Avery Paine.

Based on this photograph of LHO standing in front of a height chart taken after his arrest in New Orleans, Louisiana, in August 1963, his inner arm length measured (and I'm being charitable here) approximately 22" (55.9 cm).

A videotaped interview with Buell Wesley Frazier during which he demonstrated his recollection of how LHO carried the package.

Linnie Mae Randle was interviewed by CBS News in 1967. Randle visually estimated the length of the package with her hands and stated that "it was about 27 inches long". Randle also recalled that the package was "made out of a heavy brown paper with a heavy-looking tape on it."

FBI Special Agent James Carroll Cadigan WC testimony.

DPD Lieutenant John Carl Day FBI interview.

DPD Lieutenant John Carl Day WC testimony

FBI report concerning the construction of the replica bag (see reference #170f).

Samples of wrapping paper and manila tape taken from the first floor of the TSBD on November 22, 1963. The paper has been signed by DPD Detective Robert Lee Studebaker.

Side-by-side comparison (50x magnification) of the wrapping paper sample (upper portion labeled K2) taken from the first floor of the TSBD to the brown paper bag (lower portion labeled Q10) found in the SN.

Photographs of the mail-wrapping table on the first floor from which the paper and tape samples were obtained. The roll of paper is hanging underneath the table in CE730, and the tape dispenser is located on top of the table directly above.

FBI Special Agent Sebastian Francis Latona WC testimony.

DPD Lieutenant John Carl Day WC testimony.

FBI Special Agent Ronald Gordan Wittmus WC affidavit.

New York Police Department Detective Arthur Angelo Mandella WC testimony.

Photographs and side-by-side comparisons of the fingerprint and palmprint found on the brown paper bag.

On November 22, 1963, the DPD obtained a sample of paper and tape from a mail-wrapping table on the first floor of the TSBD. On December 1, the FBI obtained a second sample of paper and tape from the same workstation. The paper and tape used to construct the brown paper bag matched the first sample pair but not the second. That's because the rolls of paper and tape had been replenished between November 22 and December 1. In other words, the first sample pair and the materials used to construct the bag originated from the same paper and tape rolls. But how quickly did the TSBD exhaust rolls of paper and tape? The TSBD received a shipment of 58 rolls of wrapping paper on March 19, 1963, which lasted until January the following year. Presuming that means January 1, 1964, that's 288 days in total. Deducting weekends, holidays, and assassination-related interruptions, we're left with roughly 200 workdays. That means the TSBD exhausted one roll of wrapping paper every 3.45 days on average. That leaves ample time for LHO to obtain some wrapping paper on November 21 (or even earlier) and for the DPD to sample that same roll of paper on November 22. The TSBD also received a shipment of 50 cartons of tape rolls on March 29, 1963. But there's no information regarding the number of rolls nor the longevity of each shipment. Let's assume each carton contained 10 rolls of tape. That's 500 rolls per shipment. Let's also assume a shipment of tape was exhausted at the same rate as a shipment of wrapping paper. Working 8 hours a day for 200 days amounts to 1 600 hours in total. That means the TSBD exhausted one roll of tape every 3.2 hours on average. Most TSBD employees started working at 08:00 AM and went on lunch break around 12:00 PM on November 22. That's already four hours. If LHO is supposed to have constructed the bag on November 21, then the roll from which he sourced the tape would likely have been exhausted and replaced by the time the DPD sampled that same tape dispenser on November 22. Except, the TSBD had more than one tape dispenser. At least three tape dispensers are visible in photographs of the first floor (see reference #181g), and DPD Lieutenant John Carl Day stated (see 4CH268) there were "other tape machines" apart from the one sampled. So each roll of tape could have lasted close to 10 hours (more than a full workday) on average, longer if more tape dispensers were located elsewhere in the building. Not to mention that these figures are estimated averages based on a series of assumptions, not rules cast in stone.

Troy Eugene West worked near the mail-wrapping table from which the paper and tape used to construct the brown paper bag were sourced. West told the WC he worked by this table all day, every day, yet never caught LHO taking paper or tape. While West typically ate his lunch by the table, he did, of course, take bathroom breaks. When he testified before the WC, FBI Special Agent Paul Morgan Stombaugh (see 4CH75) compared the brown paper bag to his own experience constructing similar bags. Stombaugh explained that he would occasionally "take some brown paper and a strip of tape home" and then construct a bag similar to the one found in the SN. In other words, it would have been trivial for LHO to grab some paper and tape when no one was looking, walk into another room, and then construct the bag in private at his earliest convenience. The door to the west loading dock, the rear stairs and elevators, and the stairs to the basement were all within a few short steps (see reference #14 for a diagram of the first floor of the TSBD) of the mail-wrapping table located near the center of the western wall of the building. The restrooms, meanwhile, were on the other side of the floor.

When FBI Special Agent James Carroll Cadigan examined the inside of the brown paper bag, he looked for "any significant markings or scratches or abrasions" that could be "associated with the rifle." Cadigan stated he "couldn't find any such markings." However, Cadigan stressed that an "absence of markings to me wouldn't mean much" and that the absence of markings did not preclude the bag from having contained the rifle. Besides, Cadigan did observe "some scratch marks and abrasions" but could not tie them to the rifle because they "could have come from any place."

One fingerprint and one palmprint (see reference #182) were found on the brown paper bag. Both were a match for LHO. One might expect the man who supposedly made the bag to leave more than two prints behind. But paper is a poor material for the preservation of fingerprints, and both the bag and the tape were made out of paper. Fingerprints expert FBI Special Agent Sebastian Francis Latona told the WC that when a finger or palm comes into contact with an absorbent material like paper, it "starts to become absorbed into the surface." Other prints were actually found on the bag, but none were complete nor clear enough to be identified.

Roy Sansom Truly FBI report.

Amy Gladys Johnson FBI interview.

Amy Gladys Johnson WC testimony.

Marina Nikolayevna Oswald WC testimony.

Ruth Avery Paine WC testimony.

Ruth Avery Paine WC testimony.

Photograph of the interior of Ruth Avery Paine's garage. The poor quality of the scan makes it difficult to see, but the package with the curtain rods is resting on a shelf near the upper-left corner of the garage.

Photograph of two curtain rods found in the garage of Ruth Avery Paine.

This photograph of LHO's rented room at 1026 North Beckley Avenue was taken by LIFE magazine photojournalist Allan Grant (his first name is sometimes erroneously recorded as Allen) sometime in the afternoon on November 22, 1963. The woman is Amy Gladys Johnson, landlady of the rooming house. A pair of curtains suspended from a bent curtain rod (see reference #184j below for a clearer image) are visible on the right-hand side of the image.

This photograph of LHO's rented room at 1026 North Beckley Avenue was taken by an unknown photojournalist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram sometime in the afternoon on November 22, 1963. Notice the bent curtain rod at the top. According to landlady Amy Gladys Johnson (see reference #184b above), this occurred during a search of the room by DPD officers. The search was conducted (see 15CH507, 7CH197-198, 7CH221-223, and 7CH213-215) around 05:00 PM and among those present were Justice of the Peace David Livingston Johnston, DPD Lieutenant Elmo Lavon Cunningham, and DPD Detectives Billy Louis Senkel, Walter Eugene Potts, Fay Mitchell Turner, and Henry Melford Moore.

This photograph of LHO's rented room at 1026 North Beckley Avenue was taken by an unknown photojournalist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram sometime in the afternoon on November 22, 1963.

DPD Captain John William Fritz WC testimony.

Roy Sansom Truly WC testimony.

Report written by DPD Captain John William Fritz.

Reports written by FBI Special Agents James Patrick Hosty, James Willingham Bookhout, and Manning Chamberlain Clements.

Reports written by USSS Inspector Thomas Joseph Kelley.

Report by USPS Postal Inspector Harry Dean Holmes.

FBI Special Agent James Willingham Bookhout WC testimony.

FBI Special Agent Manning Chamberlain Clements WC testimony.

DPD Captain John William Fritz WC testimony.

FBI Special Agent James Patrick Hosty WC testimony.

USSS Special Agent in Charge Forrest Vernon Sorrels WC testimony.

USPS Postal Inspector Harry Dean Holmes WC testimony.

DPD Detective James Robert Leavelle WC testimony.

See the eleventh unnumbered page sandwiched between pages 152 and 153 for two pages of notes that Hosty wrote during an interrogation of LHO on November 22, 1963. The caption says Hosty was "the only person to take notes during the police interrogation of Oswald, since no one anticipated the assassin's imminent death."

The notes by FBI Special Agent James Patrick Hosty can be found here in an archive of JFK-related documents amassed by researcher and archivist Malcolm Blunt and made available by a group of British assassination researchers known as Dealey Plaza UK.

I couldn't find an official transcript of the handwritten interrogation notes by FBI Special Agent James Patrick Hosty, so I transcribed them as best I could and put them all in this Google Docs document. Notes #1 and #2 are transcripts of two notes found in reference #194e above while Note #3 is a transcript of a note titled "Handwritten Notes Oswald Investigation Nov 22 1963" found in reference #194f above. Hosty donated other notes to the ARRB, but these three are the only ones pertinent to LHO's alleged alibi.

James Earl Jarman DCSO affidavit.

James Earl Jarman FBI interview.

According to this USSS interview, Jarman claimed he was "working with the floor-laying crew on the sixth floor" of the TSBD on November 22, 1963. According to every other interview with Jarman, this was not true. Jarman might have gone up to the sixth floor at some point during the day, but he worked by a table on the first floor and checked orders.

William Hoyt Shelley FBI interview.

William Hoyt Shelley USSS interview.

William Hoyt Shelley WC testimony.

Eddie Piper DCSO affidavit.

Eddie Piper USSS interview.

Eddie Piper WC testimony.

Carolyn Jane Arnold FBI interview.

Carolyn Jane Arnold FBI signed statement.

An example of the many news articles reporting on the photograph showing Billy Nolan Lovelady watching the motorcade from the front steps of the TSBD.

A close-up of a photograph (see CE203 in the same document for a larger copy) taken during the shooting from the west curb of Elm Street by James William Altgens. The Presidential Limousine can be seen in the foreground, with JFK slightly hunched over in the backseat. Directly behind the Presidential Limousine is the USSS follow-up car. Two agents riding the right-hand running board can be seen with their heads turned toward the TSBD. According to author Richard Trask (see page 313 of reference #103g), there was a "foreshortening of features within the picture" because Altgens' camera was affixed with a 105mm telephoto lens. In other words, the lens created the illusion of objects and people in the scene being much closer together. Behind the two cars is the main entrance of the TSBD. Leaning out from behind the west wall is TSBD employee Billy Nolan Lovelady. Lovelady drew the arrow pointing at himself in the photograph when he testified before the WC.

Billy Nolan Lovelady FBI interview.

Billy Nolan Lovelady WC testimony.

Roy Sansom Truly, Billy Nolan Lovelady, and William Hoyt Shelley independently identified the man in the photograph taken by James William Altgens as Lovelady.

James William Altgens WC testimony.

It was the subjective opinion of the HSCA that "the man in the doorway bears a much stronger resemblance to Lovelady than to Oswald."

Howard Leslie Brennan DCSO affidavit.

Howard Leslie Brennan FBI interview.

Howard Leslie Brennan FBI interview.

Howard Leslie Brennan WC testimony.

USSS Special Agent in Charge Forrest Vernon Sorrels WC testimony.

Apart from his appearance before the WC and a subsequent CBS interview (both in 1964), Howard Leslie Brennan refused to talk about the assassination. Two decades later, shortly before his death in late 1983, Brennan agreed to share his story with his pastor and friend, Joseph Edward Cherryholmes, which culminated in this memoir. Brennan's reluctance to relate his experiences was rooted in fear, frustration, and deference to JFK. He initially feared that identifying the assassin might endanger himself and his family. Fear soon turned to frustration over the ceaseless barrage of inquiries by journalists, authors, and others. Brennan explained that he "never liked the spotlight under any circumstances" and felt that his right to privacy was being violated. He considered but ultimately refused to tell his story because he "didn't want to be part of anything that would make money off the misfortunes of the Kennedy family" and felt that "making profit from the assassination is like blood-money." Furthermore, Brennan was concerned the media might twist his words and "decided not to allow that to happen". After 1964, Brennan felt that he had "nothing more to say that wasn't already on record." In 1978, Brennan was called to testify before the HSCA. He was even issued a congressional subpoena. By this point, however, Brennan's health had begun to decline. He wanted to put the assassination behind him and, once again, refused to cooperate. The HSCA decided to respect his wishes. Brennan died five years later, and this memoir (which Brennan reviewed before his death) was posthumously published by Cherryholmes in 1987. Brennan mostly repeated what he told the WC but expanded upon certain details. For instance, he described the man in the window as a "solitary figure who seemed to be in his own little world." Brennan explained, "The most unusual thing about him, I decided, was his demeanor. It stood out in sharp contrast to that of everyone else." The man "didn't seem to feel one bit of excitement" and "his face was almost expressionless." The demeanor of two black men on the fifth floor was "exactly the opposite" because they were "having the time of their lives." While standing in front of the TSBD shortly after the shooting, Brennan also recalled being "confronted by a television reporter and a cameraman." Brennan was not interested in talking to them because "if there were more people involved than the young man I had seen then showing me on television as an eyewitness would be like hanging a target over my heart for someone to shoot at." Brennan also believed that it was during this time that LHO escaped the TSBD via the main entrance. Brennan explained, "It is my sincere belief that Lee Harvey Oswald came out of the front door of the Depository while I was trying to avoid the TV reporter. If my attention had not been distracted, I might have spotted him right there." Brennan also claimed to have seen a 1955-57 Oldsmobile that was "parked beside" the TSBD shortly before the shooting. This "mystery car" supposedly disappeared moments after the shooting, before enough time had elapsed to allow an assassin to escape the building. Brennan still found it suspicious and speculated it might have been a "get-away car." The driver was a white male with civilian clothes.

Photographs of Richard Lowell Clark, William Edward Perry, and Donnie Ray Ables who participated in th first two lineups.

WC testimonies of Richard Lowell Clark, William Edward Perry, and Donnie Ray Ables.

DPD Captain John William Fritz WC testimony.

DPD Detective Elmer Loyd Boyd WC testimony.

DPD Detectives Richard Milton Sims WC testimony.

DPD Chief Jesse Edward Curry WC testimony.

DPD Chief Jesse Edward Curry WC testimony.

DPD Captain John William Fritz WC testimony.

DPD Assistant Chief Charles Batchelor WC testimony.

USPS Postal Inspector Harry Dean Holmes WC testimony.

Included at the bottom of this page are scanned copies of faxes (from the National Archives) sent by former WFAA-TV correspondent Thomas Paul Alyea to members of the ARRB in the late 1990s. Alyea wrote in one of these faxes (dated August 15, 1997) that the WC testimonies of DPD Lieutenant John Carl Day and DPD Detective Robert Lee Studebaker were "completely false from beginning to end." Alyea suggested that "their reason was to protect their boss, Captain Fritz, and perhaps their own pensions." Alyea made similar suggestions in reference #151o. In another fax (dated July 15, 1996), Alyea writes that "claims of government participation in President Kennedy's assassination" are a "hoax" that has "tarnished America's image in the eyes of the world". This is also consistent with reference #222c below. Despite his allegations of foul play, it seems that Alyea never ascribed a conspiratorial motive to what he witnessed on the sixth floor of the TSBD.

Former WFAA-TV correspondent Thomas Paul Alyea was interviewed (at 91 years old) by Tulsa World columnist Michael Overall in 2013, on the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination. Alyea repeated many of his earlier claims and characterized the sixth-floor search of the TSBD as a "scam" that was retroactively "cleaned up" by authorities. However, according to Overall, Alyea "has little patience for conspiracy theorists who ask whether Lee Harvey Oswald actually did it." Quoting Alyea directly, "These guys who write to me - 99 percent of their 'facts' are completely made up. They're not even asking the right questions." But Alyea also conceded, "The lies bother me. The historical record is not accurate."

Former WFAA-TV correspondent Thomas Paul Alyea wrote a manuscript titled The JFK Conspiracy HOAX or The Sixth Floor HOAX at some point. The manuscript was distributed amongst a few researchers but never officially published. I contacted a few authors but was unable to get a hold of a copy. Referenced here is a newsgroup message from 2001 by researcher Martha Moyer which includes a few excerpts from the manuscript.

Jack Allison Weaver snapped a photograph of the Presidential Limousine as it turned from Main to Houston Street, only a few seconds before the shooting. In the background of his photograph, Weaver managed to capture most of the southern facade of the TSBD. This is an enhanced crop of that portion of the photograph. The first six windows (counted from the east) on floors four through seven are visible, including the SN window. The first floor, the first four windows on the second floor, and the first five on the third are also visible.

Robert Joseph Elmore Hughes captured the first six floors of the TSBD in this film, taken mere moments before the first shot rang out. The first five windows (counted from the east) on floors three through six are visible, including the SN window. The first floor and the first four windows on the second floor are also visible.

Tina Towner captured the whole first floor and (just barely) the windows on the second floor in this film, taken mere moments before the first shot rang out.

Dallas Morning News photographer Thomas Clinton Dillard rode in the motorcade a few cars behind JFK. Mere seconds after the shooting, he took two photographs of the TSBD. This one shows James Earl Jarman, Bonnie Ray Williams, and Harold Dean Norman (from left to right) looking out the far east windows on the fifth floor. The two photographs were also included with the WC (see 19CH563-566, Dillard Exhibit A-D; 17CH199-200, CE480-482) but are too overexposed for all three men to be easily discernible.

The second photograph taken by Dallas Morning News photographer Thomas Clinton Dillard. This one shows Bonnie Ray Williams and Harold Dean Norman (from left to right) looking out the easternmost window on the fifth floor.

Army Intelligence Special Agent James Wheeler Powell captured the upper floors of the TSBD in this photograph, taken within 30 seconds (see 206CD20) of the shooting. All seven windows on floors four through seven are visible, including the SN window. The first six windows (counted from the east) on the third floor are also visible. Bonnie Ray Williams can be seen in the easternmost window on the fifth floor.

Moments before the motorcade's arrival, Geneva Lucile Hine was on the second floor of the TSBD, attending to a telephone at her desk. She was not operating a switchboard, but the phone had "three incoming lines" and a "warehouse line". Hine noticed that "the lights all went out and the phones became dead because the motorcade was coming near us and no one was calling". Moments after the shooting, Hine briefly left her office. Upon her return, Hine noticed that "the telephones were beginning to wink; outside calls were beginning to come in." One could (as some authors have) interpret Hine's recollections as evidence of a blackout. Another interpretation is that Hine was referring to indicator lights on the telephones (to signal incoming and outgoing calls) rather than the incandescent light bulbs illuminating the office. Besides, the power supply of landline telephones was (and still is) often separate from that which powers the rest of the building. Indeed, when Hine left the office shortly after the shooting, she knocked on the door to Room #203 (office of the Southwestern Publishing Company) and heard a woman talking on the phone inside. The door was locked, and Hine could not identify the woman (she could only see her silhouette through a curtained window), but it must have been Carol Ann Hughes. Hughes told the FBI (see 706CD47) that she was alone in that room during the shooting but neglected to mention anything about a phone call. Apart from Hines and Hughes, no other employees are known to have been present on the second floor so soon after the shooting. My interpretation is that a brief interruption of incoming calls coincided with the motorcade's arrival, to which Hine ascribed a casual relationship.

A few minutes after the shooting, DCSO Deputy Sheriff Luke Elmo Mooney entered the west freight elevator on the first floor of the TSBD. He was joined by two women who wanted to go to the second floor. Mooney pressed the button, and the elevator ascended to the second floor before "the power undoubtedly cut off, because we had no more power on the elevator." Mooney had earlier reported (see 19CH528) the same thing. More than four decades later (see 09:40-10:30 and 34:45-34:55 of reference #151m) Mooney said he never found out who "turned off the electricity." The two women (whom Mooney described as employees) were never identified, but they likely worked on the second floor, considering they told Mooney, "We want to go to the second floor." While Mooney blamed a building-wide power outage for the elevator's immobility, the problem might have been far simpler. A pair of gates (see reference #44) had to be closed for the west freight elevator to function. Mooney might have neglected to close one of the two gates, although he told author Larry Sneed (see page 225 of reference #151l) that he "knew how to operate a freight elevator". Another possibility is that someone opened a gate (on a floor other than the second) while Mooney and the two women ascended to the second floor. I'm unsure if that would have rendered the elevator inoperable, but I couldn't find anything to refute it either.

Victoria Eleanor Adams entered the TSBD via the main entrance a few minutes after the shooting. She attempted to summon the passenger elevator near the front of the building, but "the power had been cut off on the elevator". Adams then took the front stairs to the second floor and entered the west freight elevator in the rear of the building along with two plainclothesmen. But, once again, the elevator "wasn't operating". Adams corroborated the account of DCSO Deputy Sheriff Luke Elmo Mooney (see reference #225b above) when she stated that the west freight elevator was inoperable. When they realized the elevator was stuck, the two plainclothesmen "lifted the elevator gate" and left. Adams' use of the singular noun "gate" might offer a clue as to what happened. It's possible none of them realized they had to close two gates for the elevator to function. Adams was a clerk accustomed to the sleek automatic passenger elevator up-front, not the bulky freight elevators reserved for the warehouse crew. The problem with the passenger elevator is that Adams alone noticed its apparent loss of power. Many of Adams' colleagues (e.g. see 7CD23, 706CD89, and 5CD63) used an elevator without issue within minutes of the shooting. While few clarified which elevator they used, context (office personnel near the main entrance) makes the passenger elevator the most probable candidate. Regardless, the fact that any elevator was operable discounts a building-wide power outage.

In this interview with the FBI, DCSO Deputy Sheriff Roger Dean Craig reportedly told them the station wagon was "driven by a Negro male". The report also stated that Craig saw the man enter the Nash Rambler station wagon "approximately 3 or 4 minutes" after he "went through the parking area and briefly searched area on Elm Street." When he testified before the WC, Craig clarified that he spoke with Arnold Louis Rowland and Barbara Fay Rowland for "3 or 4 minutes" but that he saw the man who entered the Nash Rambler station wagon "14 or 15 minutes" after the shooting. The report also stated that Craig "heard this individual whistle". In subsequent interviews, Craig seemed unsure of who whistled.

In this DCSO summary report, DCSO Deputy Sheriff Roger Dean Craig described the Nash Rambler station wagon as "light-colored" and the driver as a "dark complected white male."

According to this FBI summary report, DCSO Deputy Sheriff Roger Dean Craig told them he saw the man enter the Nash Rambler station wagon "immediately following the shooting".

In this interview with the FBI, DCSO Deputy Sheriff Roger Dean Craig reportedly described the vehicle as a "white Nash Rambler station wagon". Craig described the driver as "white, American, dark-complected, short hair, wearing a light colored jacket." Craig also explained that "he had previously described this man as a Negro male, but has since decided that the driver was a white male."

When he testified before the WC, DCSO Deputy Sheriff Roger Dean Craig estimated that the incident with the Nash Rambler station wagon had taken place "14 or 15 minutes" after the shooting. When Craig first saw the man who entered the vehicle, the man was on the south side of the Elm Street service road extension, "directly in line" with the southwest corner (longitudinally speaking) of the TSBD. Craig then observed the man "run down the hill on the north side of Elm Street" which he further described as "directly down the grassy portion of the park." Presuming he meant the southwest corner of the TSBD's west loading dock, the man must have begun his descent near the east end of the John Neely Bryan concrete pergola. Craig described the station wagon driver as "very dark complected" with short dark hair and wearing a white windbreaker jacket. But Craig twice conceded that he "didn't get a real good look at him" and was unable to furnish a more detailed description. Craig described the car as "light colored" and clarified that "it looked white to me." He also stated that the reason he identified the vehicle as a Nash Rambler was "because it had a built-in luggage rack on the top" and that it was "the only type of car I could fit with that type [of] luggage rack." Around 05:30 PM that same afternoon, Craig went down to the DPD and identified LHO as the man who entered the Nash Rambler station wagon. Craig recalled being brought into the interrogation room where DPD Captain John William Fritz asked LHO, "What about this station wagon?" LHO supposedly responded, "That station wagon belongs to Mrs. Paine. Don't try to tie her into this. She had nothing to do with it." Neither Fritz nor anyone else recalled LHO saying anything like that. See references below for more on this. At the end of his testimony, Craig was asked if he might have been influenced by his foreknowledge that LHO was a suspect, subconsciously or otherwise. Craig responded, "Well, it's possible, but I still feel strongly that it was the same person."

Sometime in the afternoon of November 22, 1963, DCSO Deputy Sheriff Roger Dean Craig was interviewed by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Brief snippets from this interview were published on the frontpage of the following morning's paper. Craig stated that he saw a man "come down the street" near the "back door" of the TSBD who "whistled down a white Nash Rambler driven by a Negro" and identified him as LHO.

DCSO Deputy Sheriff Roger Dean Craig was interviewed by the underground newspaper Los Angeles Free Press in early 1968. By this point, Craig's story had received a few subtle updates. The Nash Rambler station wagon was now a definite "light green" rather than white or light-colored. The estimated time of the incident was now as early as 10 minutes after the shooting (12:40 PM) rather than "14 or 15 minutes." Craig also claimed to have spoken to a USSS agent shortly after the incident. The agent seemed disinterested in his story about the Nash Rambler station wagon. Craig identified the man as Edgar Eugene Bradley. Bradley was not a USSS agent but a representative for an evangelical radio broadcaster. There's no evidence Bradley was in Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963.

DCSO Deputy Sheriff Roger Dean Craig was called as a witness during the trial of Clay LaVergne Shaw in 1969. Craig repeated much of what he shared in reference #226g above. Craig also described the driver of the Nash Rambler station wagon as "very muscular" with a "bull neck and very strong face". Craig added these details despite telling the WC back in 1964 that he "didn't get a real good look" at the driver.

This unpublished manuscript was written by DCSO Deputy Sheriff Roger Dean Craig in 1971. Craig reflected upon the incident with the Nash Rambler station wagon and claimed that his WC testimony had been altered "fourteen times". For instance, Craig wrote that he told the WC the color of the vehicle was "light green" but that the WC changed it to "white". But Craig described the car as white on more than one occasion prior to his appearance before the WC. In the afternoon of November 22, 1963, Craig told both the FBI and the press that the car was white. He repeated this when reinterviewed by the FBI on November 25. Craig also wrote that when news of DPD Patrolman J.D. Tippit's murder reached him at the TSBD, he instinctively looked down at his watch and recorded the time. It read 01:06 PM. However, when asked if he knew the time of Tippit's murder in reference #226g (three years before he wrote this manuscript), Craig answered, "about 01:40". Craig was immediately corrected and then agreed the shooting had probably occurred shortly before 01:15 PM. Throughout this manuscript, Craig painted an extremely unflattering picture of the DCSO and his former boss, DCSO Sheriff James Eric Decker. According to Craig, he was ostracized and persecuted by Decker and the DCSO because he identified the man entering the Nash Rambler station wagon as LHO. This torment persisted for years, and Craig frames the whole ordeal as a "never-ending cover up." According to Craig, he survived multiple murder attempts because he dared to speak the truth. When these hits are supposed to have occurred, Craig had already shared his story with the world multiple times over. If Craig posed such a threat to the alleged conspirators, he could've easily been ignored. Hundreds of witnesses never testified, including many DPD and DCSO officers. It would have been far easier and far less risky for the alleged conspirators to ignore Craig than to retroactively doctor his multiple interviews and sworn testimony.

In 1976, DCSO Deputy Sheriff Roger Dean Craig was the focus of a documentary titled "Two Men in Dallas". Craig repeated much of what he privately shared a few years prior in reference #226i above.

According to this FBI interview, Marvin Cleo Robinson told them he was driving west on Elm Street between 12:30 and 01:00 PM on November 22, 1963, when he saw a "light colored Nash station wagon suddenly appear before him." A white man then "came down the grass covered incline" north of Elm Street and entered the vehicle. Unfortunately, Robinson paid little attention to both the vehicle and the man and "would be unable to identify him."

According to this FBI interview, Roy Cooper worked for Marvin Cleo Robinson and corroborated the essence of what both Robinson and DCSO Deputy Sheriff Roger Dean Craig reported. But Cooper could not identify the man who entered the Nash Rambler station wagon. I could not find a scan of the original document (FBI Record 124-10145-10036), but it was fortunately reprinted verbatim in this magazine article from 1997.

According to this FBI report, DCSO Sheriff James Eric Decker (went by the nickname Bill) told them that DCSO Deputy Sheriff Roger Dean Craig was a "reliable employee who is completely honest in his belief that he saw Oswald getting into a white Nash Rambler immediately after the shooting". Decker stated that he tried to explain to Craig that his identification was contradicted by other witnesses and a bus transfer ticket (see reference #126) found in LHO's possession upon his arrest. Craig responded that he was "aware of all that and knew that this indicated that [he] was mistaken" but still believed the person he saw was LHO. When asked about this conversation during his WC testimony, Craig stated he "knew nothing about a bus transfer."

When he testified before the WC, DCSO Deputy Sheriff Roger Dean Craig claimed he went down to the DPD in the afternoon of November 22, 1963, and identified LHO as the man he'd seen enter the Nash Rambler station wagon. Craig recalled being brought into the interrogation room where DPD Captain John William Fritz asked LHO a few questions. When asked if Craig had ever been brought into his office and been "in the presence of Oswald", Fritz told the WC that Craig must have "looked through that glass [window] and saw him from the outside because I am sure of one thing, that I didn't bring him in the office with Oswald." Fritz further explained (see 7CH404) that he recalled a man "coming into my outer office" while LHO was in his "private office" and that had he "brought this officer into my inner office I feel sure that I would remember it." There are indeed photographs (e.g. see Chapter 7 of reference #188 and page 27 of reference #226t below) of what appears to be Craig standing inside Fritz's outer office, adjacent to the room where LHO was interrogated. However, the photographs might have been taken on November 23 rather than November 22. While some doubt the man in the pictures is Craig, his former colleagues (see reference #101c, endnote #891, "the story about being in Captain Fritz's office", page 497) identified him as Craig. However, DPD Detective T.L. Baker (all records suggest the letters T and L were his actual given name rather than initials) told author Vincent Bugliosi in 1999 (see pages 890-891 of reference #101c) that Craig never entered Fritz's office at any point. Instead, Craig supposedly waited in Baker's office while Baker spoke with Fritz on Craig's behalf. Baker was certain that Craig "made up the story about being in Captain Fritz's office" because he "didn't enter the room." He was "absolutely positive about that."

The Nash Rambler station wagon reportedly seen by DCSO Deputy Sheriff Roger Dean Craig was originally described by him as either white or light-colored. Years later, Craig began describing the car as either green or light-green. This change was likely prompted by Craig's mistaken belief that "Ruth Paine [...] owned a Rambler station wagon [...] of this same color." Craig was attempting to establish a link between LHO, Ruth Avery Paine, and the Nash Rambler station wagon he'd seen. However, Paine did not own a Nash Rambler. When she testified before the WC, Paine explained that she owned a "1955 Chevrolet station wagon, green, needing paint". While Paine described the car as "green", it was arguably more turquoise or even bluish. An FBI report (see 24CH697) described the car's color as "two tone green". Furthermore, I'm unaware of any photographs (or descriptions) of Paine's 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air that show a luggage rack attached to the roof. This is significant because Craig identified the car as a Nash Rambler "because it had a built-in luggage rack on the top". See references below for a few photographs of Paine's car.

According to the Sixth Floor Museum, this black-and-white photograph of Ruth Avery Paine's house in Irving was taken in 1961 with her 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air station wagon parked in the driveway. While difficult to confirm, the rear of Paine's car also appears to be visible in photograph #15 in reference #4d.

This article features a color photograph of Ruth Avery Paine standing beside her 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air station wagon. Some sources say it was taken in 1963, but I was unable to verify that date. The color of the car is distinctly blue. However, the car has more of a turquoise or greenish hue in other copies of this photograph.

The car has a turquoise finish in this 2021 news segment about Ruth Avery Paine's 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air station wagon.

According to author Michael Kurtz, he interviewed a woman named Helen Forrest on May 17, 1974. Kurtz wrote that Forrest told him she stood "on the incline near the Grassy Knoll" at some unspecified time during November 22, 1963. Forrest had then seen "a man suddenly run from the rear of the Depository building, down the incline, and then enter a Rambler station wagon." The man apparently bore such a stark resemblance to LHO that it prompted Forrest to remark, "If it wasn't Oswald, it was his identical twin." Apart from her brief mention in this book (by an author firmly in camp conspiracy), there's no evidence a Helen Forrest was in Dealey Plaza on November 22. Kurtz adds that a man named James Pennington "corroborated Craig's story, for they, too, saw Oswald flee the building and enter the station wagon." Kurtz does not cite a source for this information, and I could not track one down myself. It should also be noted that DCSO Deputy Sheriff Roger Dean Craig never saw anyone leave the TSBD. Craig's claim was that he saw a man run toward Elm Street on the grass adjacent to the TSBD.

According to author Gary Shaw, DCSO Deputy Sheriff Roger Dean Craig is visible in this sequence of photographs taken around 10 minutes after the shooting. In the background of one photograph, a car (identified by Shaw as a Nash Rambler station wagon) can be seen driving west on Elm Street. Shaw implied that the vehicle in this black-and-white photograph was the same Nash Rambler station wagon reportedly seen by Craig. The clock and temperature display attached to the large Hertz sign atop the roof of the TSBD reads 12:40 PM, which was one of multiple time estimates offered by Craig. If the man identified by Shaw is indeed Craig, he's standing in the wrong location. Craig always held that he stood on the grass on the south side of Elm Street inspecting what was believed to be a slug or bullet hole. The man in the photograph is standing in the street near the north curb.

For the sake of completion, here's a photograph showing a person entering/exiting a 1964 Mercury Colony Park station wagon in the middle of Elm Street shortly after the assassination. It's too early, the wrong make and model, and the person is entering/exiting the vehicle from the wrong direction to be the man described by DCSO Deputy Sheriff Roger Dean Craig and others. But it shows that at least one other person might have done exactly what Craig reportedly saw. According to reference #36o (page 23, vehicle #16), the man entering/exiting the vehicle was Julian Otis Read, press secretary for Texas Governor John Bowden Connally. But Read was on a press bus (probably the one right behind the car in this photograph) which he rode all the way to Parkland Hospital. According to reference #103g (page 176), the man was William Otho Stinson, Connally's administrative assistant. I could find no reason to doubt this identification.

An article about DCSO Deputy Sheriff Roger Dean Craig and the color of the Nash Rambler station wagon he reportedly saw.

In this article, author John McAdams summarized many of the conspiracy arguments and inconsistencies regarding DCSO Deputy Sheriff Roger Dean Craig.

This ebook lack page numbers, but the LHO sighting is first mentioned in Chapter IV, while the gunman encounter is first mentioned in Chapter XIX.

Buell Wesley Frazier was interviewed by the Sixth Floor Museum in 2021 to coincide with the release of his new book. At 26:20 and 46:25, Frazier talks about the gunman encounter, and at 30:40, he talks about seeing LHO.

This is a photograph of DPD Captain John William Fritz (on the steps) and DPD Detective Elmer Loyd Boyd (on the sidewalk) emerging from the main entrance of the TSBD sometime after the shooting. Boyd is carrying a rifle in his right hand. Some authors have identified this rifle as a Remington Model 8. I can't speak for the accuracy of that identification, but it's definitely not a Carcano M91/38 (nor a Mauser; see reference #160). This photograph shows that at least one officer overtly carried a rifle around Dealey Plaza shortly after the shooting. It's, therefore, possible the gunman whom Buell Wesley Frazier allegedly encountered was a plainclothesman with a rifle. However, it must be emphasized that no one else reported what Frazier reportedly saw in an area with plenty of witnesses.

According to this FBI report, Roberta Bonnie Parker told them she believed the shots had come from "a cement memorial building to the north" of the TSBD. This is clearly a reference to the John Neely Bryan concrete pergola on the Grassy Knoll southwest of the TSBD. In fact, Parker would not have been able to see north of the TSBD from her position.

According to this DPD interview with Victoria Eleanor Adams, she told them she watched the motorcade from the third floor. Adams worked on the fourth floor and had already told the FBI she watched the motorcade from the fourth floor.

After eating his lunch on the sixth floor around noon (see reference #48), Bonnie Ray Williams went to the fifth floor to watch the motorcade. According to an FBI report (see 5CD330), Williams told them he descended using the stairs. Williams was asked about this when he testified before the WC and insisted he never told the FBI he used the stairs.

In an affidavit (see 19CH499), Eddie Piper stated LHO had told him he was "going up" to eat lunch around noon. When he testified before the WC, Piper clarified that he'd actually told investigators that LHO either said "going up" or "going out". If true, it's a good example of how paraphrasing can excise small but crucial details.

Geneva Lucile Hine was in her office on the second floor of the TSBD at the time of the shooting. When questioned by the FBI, Hine reportedly told them she was sitting by her desk during the shooting and then went over to look out the windows along the east wall of the building. When she testified before the WC (see 6CH395), Hine explained at some length that she watched the motorcade from an east-facing window well before and during the shooting.

Judith Louise McCully reportedly told the FBI (see 5CD432) she had watched the motorcade from the fourth floor of the TSBD. When McCully was reinterviewed a few months later (which is the only reason we know about this), she recalled telling the FBI she had been on the fourth floor but now stated this was a mistake. McCully explained she had actually watched the motorcade from the front steps of the TSBD before returning to the fourth floor immediately after the shooting. While McCully admitted fault, the error is so baffling one can not help but wonder if the blame should not still fall on the interviewer. An interviewer misinterpreting McCully's post-shooting return to the fourth floor as her watching the motorcade from the fourth floor is far easier to accept than McCully misremembering where she was during the shooting.

According to this DPD interview, Madeleine Belle Reese told them she had been employed with the MacMillan Publishing Company with offices in the TSBD for two years. A month later, Reese reportedly told the FBI (see 706CD76) she'd been employed with the same company for "the past nineteen and one-half years". This is presumably a misunderstanding of how long Reese had worked in the TSBD building and how long she had been employed by the MacMillan Publishing Company, irrespective of location.

When questioned by the FBI (see 5CD19), James Richard Worrell reportedly told them he had a "profile view" of a man he'd seen running away from the TSBD (see reference #90). Worrell refuted this when he testified before the WC a few months later.

Arnold Louis Rowland told the WC that when he gave his affidavit (see 87CD271), his words were not recorded verbatim but restated by the officers and agents who questioned him. Rowland took especial issue with the use of the term "parade rest" to describe how the gunman he'd seen was holding the rifle. According to Rowland, he actually said "port arms". Now, Rowland was not the most reliable witness (see reference #76), so anything he said should be taken with a grain of salt. But this portion of his testimony is at least partially corroborated by his wife, Barbara Fay Rowland, in reference #229j below.

Barbara Fay Rowland, much like her husband, Arnold Louis Rowland, emphasized that the DPD and FBI "restated everything we said" but she could not recall any specific inaccuracies.