What Law Enforcement Officials Really Thought That Weekend

Henry Wade told WFAA that Oswald must have planned weeks or months ahead, including what he was going to tell police.

Wade had to realize that this pointed directly to a conspiracy.



Sarasota Police Chief Francis L Scott during an interview with the Saratosa Herald-Tribune, stated "The killer had to be an extremely good shot. I would say he is not a mental case, but that the entire assassination was a cold, calculated murder. The man who pulled the trigger may have been a fanatic, but his backers are relatively sane,"



The initial instincts of experienced law enforcement personnel are not always accurate -- but there are certain types of cases, crimes and crimes scenes where you have aspects that are almost impossible NOT get right at first glance. Those aspects really are that black and white. One such aspect of this case which stood out to people like Wade and Scott -- this is not the work of one man acting on impulse.

"One theory on which the police were earlier said to be working was that the assassin or assassins might be professional killers hired to do the job. The theory was based on the feeling that the assassination was too cold-blooded and precise for a paranoiac with a grudge against the President."
Sydney Morning Herald, Nov 24, 1963 (Sydney time)

In short, Wade, Scott and police on the ground believed this was a long planned hit which could not have been carried out by a lone nut.

For what it's worth, about a year ago I received some info from a Texas researcher that Henry Wade had stated the following on TV (although there were no specifics as to which station) at about 4:00 PM on November 22; this researcher sent me the following in his quotes, his italics and bold highlights, and I assume that these were Wade's exact words:

"there were others involved, but we know where to pick them up, as they live in Fort Worth"

*

Apparently this is what prompted LBJ aide Cliff Carter to phone Wade from the White House and order him to squelch conspiracy talk. And this Texas researcher said that this 4:00 PM recording has disappeared.

Richard Gilbride wrote:For what it's worth, about a year ago I received some info from a Texas researcher that Henry Wade had stated the following on TV (although there were no specifics as to which station) at about 4:00 PM on November 22; this researcher sent me the following in his quotes, his italics and bold highlights, and I assume that these were Wade's exact words:

"there were others involved, but we know where to pick them up, as they live in Fort Worth"

*

Apparently this is what prompted LBJ aide Cliff Carter to phone Wade from the White House and order him to squelch conspiracy talk. And this Texas researcher said that this 4:00 PM recording has disappeared.

Richard,
Assuming the above is legit - (and it kinda sounds like something Wade might say, though assuming anything in this case is getting harder!) - any clue as to who he might be referring to?

greg parker wrote:

Richard Gilbride wrote:For what it's worth, about a year ago I received some info from a Texas researcher that Henry Wade had stated the following on TV (although there were no specifics as to which station) at about 4:00 PM on November 22; this researcher sent me the following in his quotes, his italics and bold highlights, and I assume that these were Wade's exact words:

"there were others involved, but we know where to pick them up, as they live in Fort Worth"

*

Apparently this is what prompted LBJ aide Cliff Carter to phone Wade from the White House and order him to squelch conspiracy talk. And this Texas researcher said that this 4:00 PM recording has disappeared.

Richard,
Assuming the above is legit - (and it kinda sounds like something Wade might say, though assuming anything in this case is getting harder!) - any clue as to who he might be referring to?

Could it be this:
"Police Launch 2-city Manhunt," The Dallas Morning News, November 23, 1963,
page 2. The full account reads: "During the frantic period at the hospital,
police, Secret Service men and FBI agents had started a 2-city manhunt. They
arrested several persons, among them a Fort Worth man who was said to be
driving a car linked to the slayer." There was no additional coverage of this
event in the paper.
Duke Lane talks about some incidents at Fort Worth that could be related to Wades comment. at http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/cowtown.txt

In addition to Duke Lane's "Cowtown Connection", Mark Bridger also wrote an article about Donald Wayne House for Dealey Plaza Echo, Vol. 6, Issue 2; a report on House's arrest is at WCD 301 p. 112.

While it seems likely that Henry Wade said what he said, it's doubtful- (on the surface!)- that he was relating anything more than hearsay overheard at the DPD station.

House lived down in Ranger and was apparently hoping to hook up with an old Army buddy, Randall Hunsacker- who lived in the eastern suburb of Mesquite- to watch the motorcade. He had tried to phone Hunsacker on the drive up but didn't reach him. House watched the parade somewhere on Main St. and left for Fort Worth, not knowing of the shooting.

He stopped into a gas station in Grand Prairie, now having heard about it on the radio, and talked a bit about it with two women customers there. One of them, a Mrs. Cunningham, soon phoned his license # in to the Grand Prairie Police, as House roughly fit the broadcast description of the assassination suspect. He was pulled over and handcuffed about 1:40 PM; he claimed at the police station that an empty dynamite box found in his trunk was being used as a tool chest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qxm-dlVoFyk&feature=related

By 1:49 NBC news broadcast that "a car has been stopped in Fort Worth that may have some connection with the shooting"; there had been a 1:46 WBAP radio report about this also. Word had also been relayed to Dallas law enforcement and the DPD had phoned House's mother; she was alarmed and phoned her niece- who lived in Fort Worth- since House often stayed with her on his trips up there. This niece's husband, Kenneth Glenn Wilson, was an auto parts salesman who worked just up the road from where House was pulled over. Wilson went right over there and told police he recognized House's car and by 2:00 he was brought in for questioning.

http://cuban-exile.com/photo/hsca-mugs/HSCA-086-unk.jpg

Wilson was released about 3:30; House at about 5:15. And Henry Wade, in his 4:00 PM statement, "there were others involved, and we know where to pick them up, as they live in Fort Worth," was relating hearsay overheard at the DPD station about House & Wilson. End of story.

*

Not so fast. Duke Lane found that the officers involved in the arrest didn't recall House ever saying one word. Patrolman WD Roberts "couldn't imagine how you could pull a man out of a car, frisk him, handcuff him and put him in the back of a patrol car in a matter of just seconds, all the time with a shotgun aimed at him and he never even asked why he was being arrested!"

Interesting... and reminiscent of Oswald's demeanor in the squad car from the Texas Theater; Sgt. Gerald Hill had recalled that after a couple of statements from Oswald that "one of the things that stuck out most about him in my mind was how quiet he did keep."

Mark Bridger noted in his article that "A 2:19 PM transmission from the Dallas police dispatcher sent Patrolman Tommy R. Burton and Norman L. Stanglin to 5818 Belmont, <this is 3.5 miles NE of Dealey Plaza> where a man had been reported exiting a car with a rifle. Reserve Patrolman WF Norris also responded.
The dispatcher added that the suspect had got out of a light green two-tone car and entered the address, an apartment house. Sergeant Roy D. Shipley then radioed from the address stating that the light green car, license no. RO-8950, was parked next to a light-colored Falcon, license no. NX-3171 <WCH XXIII pp. 884-886>

In their book Cover-Up, Gary Shaw and Larry Ray Harris claimed that a second vehicle at 5818 Belmont (the Falcon?) was registered to a George A. Hunsacker."

*

Apparently no further information has surfaced regarding either Randall or George Hunsacker. This scenario is familiar to what's revealed in Evidence of Revision Part 6 (I watched that a few nights ago) where James Earl Ray obtains 4 aliases of lookalikes within a 2-block radius in Toronto, apparently via CIA contact Raoul. One can't dismiss the possibility that House was set up as an alternate patsy via Hunsacker.

These Dallas Sheriff's Department transcript excerpts (XVII pp. 377, 380) seem to pertain to the apprehension of Donald Wayne House:

1:34 PM (Dispatcher) For attention of all officers, this is an anonymous tip only. A green and white '57 Ford, bearing Texas license DT 4857 with white male as occupant. If located, acknowledge. Advise this department.

1:40 PM (Buddy Walthers) 44. DT 4857. Subject in green and white Ford 1957, apprehended in Ft. Worth. Not sure at this time whether or not him, but was apprehended in Tarrant County.

*

I have another incident, unrelated, to describe in a short while; it belongs in this topic, and puts new meaning into "what law enforcement officials really thought"

At noon on November 22, 1963, there were only 4 DPD squad cars assigned to Oak Cliff, to cover the approximately 20 square miles of the DPD's territory west of the Trinity River. They were J.D. Tippit (#78), Ronald C. Nelson (#87), Roy W. Walker (#85) and William D. Mentzell (#91). At 12:46 PM, one minute after the broadcast of a description of a suspect in JFK's assassination, dispatcher Murray Jackson radioed: "87 and 78, move into central Oak Cliff."

Tippit responded, "78. I'm about Kiest and Bonnie View," at the northern edge of his usual patrol district. Five eyewitnesses, however, placed him 5 miles further north at this time; Tippit was actually parked at the Good Luck Oil Company station- GLOCO- at the south (and west) end of the Houston Street Viaduct, watching the traffic come across from downtown Dallas.

Nelson responded, "87's going north on Marsalis at R.L. Thornton;" he was on a major north-south thoroughfare (Marsalis) at its intersection with the Thornton freeway. At 12:47 PM Nelson radioed in, as he passed the GLOCO station, "87. I'm on south end Houston Viaduct." Nelson drove directly to the Book Depository, and did not follow the dispatcher's instructions to proceed into central Oak Cliff.

*

Tippit was murdered in Mentzell's district, #91, at the corner of 10th & Patton. At 1:19 PM Walker, Tippit's former partner, was notified that the shooting suspect was on the run. Walker's usual patrol district was 2 miles south of #91.

Mentzell was also notified at 1:19/1:20 (WCH XXIII pp. 859-860). He had taken a lunch break until 1:07 at Luby's Cafeteria on Jefferson Boulevard, a couple of blocks west of the Texas Theater. At 1:11 he had been called to a minor accident about a mile away at 817 West Davis. At 1:16 DPD accident investigator V.R. Nolan had also arrived at 817 West Davis.

Walker and Mentzell both sped to the Tippit murder scene. Walker was the 3rd DPD car to arrive; within 10 minutes about 20 DPD cars had arrived there.

It will become pertinent to note that Davis St. (aka Rt. 180) is a dead-straight east-west drag strip that feeds into central Oak Cliff; it runs only 2 blocks north of 10th & Patton. Jefferson Boulevard is another east-west thoroughfare that feeds into central Oak Cliff; but it weaves between 2-6 blocks south of Davis St.; it runs only 1 block south of 10th & Patton.

*

At 1:21/22, only two minutes after contacting Walker and Mentzell, dispatcher Jackson received a lead from C.E. Storey, a service station owner out at 4340 West Davis. This location was 4 miles west of 10th & Patton. It was 5 1/2 miles from the Book Depository. But rather than send Walker or Mentzell out there, Jackson instructed Ronald Nelson to go from the Book Depository to this service station:

"87, report to 4340 West Davis, at the service station, for information regarding suspect in this Signal 19 [shooting] of the President."

At 1:23 Jackson elaborated that this supect "pulled in there and bought some gas driving a white Pontiac, '61 or '62 station wagon with the prefix Pecos Ellis. He had a rifle laying in the seat."
"10-4"
"Have a citizen following this car at this time- unknown direction."

The Dallas County Sheriff's Dept. also broadcast a 1:24 PM dispatch (XVII, p. 374): "Any units spotting a white Pontiac station wagon, with license prefix PE, proceed with caution and advise. In the area of West Jefferson."

At 1:30 PM the DPD broadcast that Tippit was DOA. At 1:31 Nelson had reached the service station and spoken with C.E. Storey. Nelson radioed: "A white station wagon believed to be P- Paul, E- Ellis, 3435, unknown make or model, late model, occupied by two white males, left this fella's station going east on Davis, and believed to have a shotgun or rifle laying in the back seat."
"Received, 87."
"87 en route down there on Jefferson."

So it wasn't clear whether this was a Pontiac. It was heading back into central Oak Cliff. Nelson had no intention of chasing after it, and drove to 10th & Patton along Jefferson Blvd. instead of Davis St. Nothing more was ever heard about the unknown citizen who had followed this station wagon.

*

By 1:35 PM a license plate check had been run. The DPD dispatcher broadcast that: "PE 3435 (garbled) Storey, 1961 Falcon, 4-door."
Nelson replied, "He wasn't sure of license number."

Was it a stolen license plate? Or did service station owner C.E. Storey misread it, and also misidentify the make of the car? Or was Nelson reporting dishonestly?

At 1:44 PM the dispatcher contacted Nelson again: "87, was that a Pontiac or a Falcon?"
"He didn't say what kind of car it would be. He said it was a white car with a luggage rack on top. He wasn't sure of the model, talked like it was a big car, though."

*

A white station wagon with a luggage rack on top? It's a small world, after all- Roger Craig reported seeing Oswald leave Dealey Plaza in a car just like this 10 minutes after the assassination.

Ronald Nelson has never granted an interview.

At approximately 12:27 PM a white station wagon with a luggage rack on top crossed Main Street just ahead of the approaching motorcade. It was traveling on Lamar Street, 4 blocks up from Houston Street, in the direction of Elm Street.

It is seen at 0:09-0:10 of the George Jefferies film:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JY384ITlbTw

Did this vehicle temporarily park somewhere, wait for the assassination, get stuck in a bit of traffic, and then pick up Lee Harvey Oswald at about 12:40?? The shrill whistle that drew Roger Craig's attention to this man running for this station wagon seems to indicate that this vehicle was a bit late for its scheduled pickup.

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