Oswald’s Wallet
There is conflicting testimony and delayed reporting about the cards found in Oswald’s wallet with the “Hidell” alias, despite the fact that the Dallas police made known practically everything else they learned about Oswald, almost as soon as they learned it. Sylvia Meagher, in her book Accessories After the Fact makes much about the timing of Oswald being questioned about the conflicting identification cards contained in his wallet, and the time of Oswald's arrest, supposedly when the wallet was discovered.
Dallas police sergeant Hill testified to the Warren Commission that the only way the police found out what Oswald’s name was, was to remove his billfold and check it themselves. Hill said nothing about the cards containing the “Hidell” alias that were also in the billfold. Later, Detective Richard Stovall testified that Oswald had his billfold and in it he had the selective service card identification of “A. Hidell.” Testimony of officer C.T. Walker seems to indicate that he was the one who found the “Hidell” alias in Oswald’s wallet. Even more interesting, in the contemporaneous records of Oswald’s arrest, there was no mention of “Hidell” as Oswald’s alias until the next day, although there was contemporaneous evidence of the police being aware of the “O.H. Lee” alias. Sylvia Meagher makes much of the seeming unawareness of the “Hidell” alias until the day after Oswald’s arrest in her book Accessories After the Fact: The Warren Commission, the Authorities & the Report on the JFK Assassination.
But in my many Internet searches related to the Kennedy assassination, I came across this very interesting article:
(Originally at http://www.wfaa.com/jfk/Wallet-mystery-from-Tippit-murder-scene-settled50-years-later-232765681.html, now at http://legacy.wfaa.com/story/news/features/2014/08/19/14131868/ )
This article, and the accompanying video with a contemporaneous 1963 clip, have Dallas police examining a wallet at the scene of the Tippit murder shortly after it happened. The reporter who originally shot the video assumed that the wallet was Officer Tippit’s. However, JFK historian and former FBI analyst Farris Rookstool III believes that it was Oswald’s wallet, left at the Tippit murder scene. He bases this belief on the appearance of Oswald’s wallet at the National Archives, and the appearance of J.D. Tippit’s wallet as supplied by Tippit’s widow. The following is an excerpt from the article and video:
After arriving at 10th and Patton in North Oak Cliff, (FBI Special Agent Bob Barrett, who was asked to go to the TIppit murder scene) said, he recognized a Dallas police captain thumbing through a billfold.
"He said, 'Bob, you know all the crooks in town, all the hoodlums, etc. You ever heard of a Lee Harvey Oswald?' I said, 'No, I never have.' He said 'How about an Alec Hiddell?' I said, 'No. I never have heard of him either,'" Barrett explained. "Why would they be asking me questions about Oswald and Hiddell if it wasn't in that wallet?"
In addition, the first Dallas cop on the Tippit crime scene said he actually recovered the wallet.
Sgt. Kenneth Croy, a reserve officer at the time, put it in writing on an 8" x 10" picture for Rookstool.
“First on the scene, recovered Oswald’s wallet there, too,” Croy wrote on an image of Tippit’s patrol car.
But officially, Dallas police told a different story. The department said it got Oswald’s wallet from Oswald himself after his arrest a short time later at the Texas Theatre.
Barrett and Rookstool believe police made that up for the official report because too many officers handled the crucial piece of evidence at the shooting scene.
"They said they took the wallet out of his pocket in the car? That's so much hogwash," Barrett said. "That wallet was in [Captain] Westbrook's hand."
"Bob's in Alabama. Kenneth Croy is in Hamilton, Texas," Rookstool said. "They had no relationship with each other than the fate of history put them at the scene of a crime."
Rookstool says the testimony of Barrett and Croy, Tippit's billfold, and the WFAA film prove that Oswald's wallet was at the scene of the policeman's murder.
So rather than providing the more incriminating evidence of Oswald’s wallet being found at the Tippit murder scene (and handled by “too many officers”), members of the Dallas police force decided to pretend that they took the wallet off Oswald after his arrest at the theatre. It’s a chain-of-evidence issue worthy of the O.J. Simpson murder trial, but in this case it does point to Oswald’s guilt in Tippit’s murder.
There is conflicting testimony and delayed reporting about the cards found in Oswald’s wallet with the “Hidell” alias, despite the fact that the Dallas police made known practically everything else they learned about Oswald, almost as soon as they learned it. Sylvia Meagher, in her book Accessories After the Fact makes much about the timing of Oswald being questioned about the conflicting identification cards contained in his wallet, and the time of Oswald's arrest, supposedly when the wallet was discovered.
Dallas police sergeant Hill testified to the Warren Commission that the only way the police found out what Oswald’s name was, was to remove his billfold and check it themselves. Hill said nothing about the cards containing the “Hidell” alias that were also in the billfold. Later, Detective Richard Stovall testified that Oswald had his billfold and in it he had the selective service card identification of “A. Hidell.” Testimony of officer C.T. Walker seems to indicate that he was the one who found the “Hidell” alias in Oswald’s wallet. Even more interesting, in the contemporaneous records of Oswald’s arrest, there was no mention of “Hidell” as Oswald’s alias until the next day, although there was contemporaneous evidence of the police being aware of the “O.H. Lee” alias. Sylvia Meagher makes much of the seeming unawareness of the “Hidell” alias until the day after Oswald’s arrest in her book Accessories After the Fact: The Warren Commission, the Authorities & the Report on the JFK Assassination.
But in my many Internet searches related to the Kennedy assassination, I came across this very interesting article:
(Originally at http://www.wfaa.com/jfk/Wallet-mystery-from-Tippit-murder-scene-settled50-years-later-232765681.html, now at http://legacy.wfaa.com/story/news/features/2014/08/19/14131868/ )
This article, and the accompanying video with a contemporaneous 1963 clip, have Dallas police examining a wallet at the scene of the Tippit murder shortly after it happened. The reporter who originally shot the video assumed that the wallet was Officer Tippit’s. However, JFK historian and former FBI analyst Farris Rookstool III believes that it was Oswald’s wallet, left at the Tippit murder scene. He bases this belief on the appearance of Oswald’s wallet at the National Archives, and the appearance of J.D. Tippit’s wallet as supplied by Tippit’s widow. The following is an excerpt from the article and video:
After arriving at 10th and Patton in North Oak Cliff, (FBI Special Agent Bob Barrett, who was asked to go to the TIppit murder scene) said, he recognized a Dallas police captain thumbing through a billfold.
"He said, 'Bob, you know all the crooks in town, all the hoodlums, etc. You ever heard of a Lee Harvey Oswald?' I said, 'No, I never have.' He said 'How about an Alec Hiddell?' I said, 'No. I never have heard of him either,'" Barrett explained. "Why would they be asking me questions about Oswald and Hiddell if it wasn't in that wallet?"
In addition, the first Dallas cop on the Tippit crime scene said he actually recovered the wallet.
Sgt. Kenneth Croy, a reserve officer at the time, put it in writing on an 8" x 10" picture for Rookstool.
“First on the scene, recovered Oswald’s wallet there, too,” Croy wrote on an image of Tippit’s patrol car.
But officially, Dallas police told a different story. The department said it got Oswald’s wallet from Oswald himself after his arrest a short time later at the Texas Theatre.
Barrett and Rookstool believe police made that up for the official report because too many officers handled the crucial piece of evidence at the shooting scene.
"They said they took the wallet out of his pocket in the car? That's so much hogwash," Barrett said. "That wallet was in [Captain] Westbrook's hand."
"Bob's in Alabama. Kenneth Croy is in Hamilton, Texas," Rookstool said. "They had no relationship with each other than the fate of history put them at the scene of a crime."
Rookstool says the testimony of Barrett and Croy, Tippit's billfold, and the WFAA film prove that Oswald's wallet was at the scene of the policeman's murder.
So rather than providing the more incriminating evidence of Oswald’s wallet being found at the Tippit murder scene (and handled by “too many officers”), members of the Dallas police force decided to pretend that they took the wallet off Oswald after his arrest at the theatre. It’s a chain-of-evidence issue worthy of the O.J. Simpson murder trial, but in this case it does point to Oswald’s guilt in Tippit’s murder.