Herbert "Leon" Lee

First topic message reminder :

From Mary Ferrell's database:


LAST LEE FIRST HERBERT MID/AKA LEON
ADDRESS 1026 N. Beckley, Dallas, TX; 1993: Garrison, TX (near LA-TX line)
'PHONE
SOURCES CD 86, pp. 559-565; CD 206, p. 140
COMMENT Claims FBI interviewed him soon after assassination.

Lee's obit shows he was a navy veteran who, for 30 years, lay flooring (6th floor anyone!) for a living until joining the Jefferson Texas Police Department
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/shreveporttimes/obituary.aspx?n=herbert-quotleonquot-lee&pid=128925162#fbLoggedOut

Of some interest may be that he was buried by the Life Tabernacle Church - whose members have famously been kidnapped by cult deprogrammers.

Questions in my mind:

Is it significant that he has the surname Lee, given Oswald allegedly boarded there using the name, O.H. Lee"?

Is his aka of "Leon" significant (given any real or purported "Leon" Oswald sightings)?

FBI interview with Lee shows he lived at the boarding house for 4 or 5 weeks in October and moved out on Nov 1. This means he (HLL) possibly obtained a room around the time that Oswald allegedly made his first attempt to room there (a time LHO was also supposedly in Mexico City). Was Mrs Johnson confusing the two when recalling late Sept or early Oct?

And if it was LHO who tried to room there in late Sept or early Oct, under what name would he have registered, given that when he was turned down, he allegedly went and boarded under his real name before returning to Beckley and boarding under an alias?

Greg,
Yes weird.,
Odd part to leave out... why change a rooming house patron into a cafe witness.

Yes the whole trail is bassakwards Greg.
It all sounds like bs .

All one in the same. Herbert Lee, Leon Lee, HL Lee, Herbert Leon Lee;
A floor layer
shacking up with James.
Played in a band in Dallas.
Became a police officer.

Yes, Hasan could help, I would like to know where Leon Lee had a regular gig playing!!

And YES it would be a night club or bar gig. As there is not much else for musicians at night.
Joe Johnson Band,

I find the room 17 or 18 for the room description occupied by Watson is interesting considering the statements of AC


and it has always looked like someone crawled in or out the window bending down the curtain rod.

Cheers, Ed

Just shooting from the hip sat in my garden getting some rays, Ed.  Read your last few posts and my brain is firing on all cylinders.  I'm trying to grasp a thought that popped in there:

Musicians living across the road from Irving Paine house?  Band members?  Can't really remember and searching for it would take time away from a day off work and sipping on my Jamesons and ice.

Does this ring any bells for you - the musicians - not the Irish whiskey...

P.S.  Your digging is unearthing gold.  This is all important shit.  Hats off to you and Greg.  Love it.

This is definitely the right path we've been on.  I can feel it in the pit of my stomach.

Keep sipping and have a read
http://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=10405&relPageId=559

The Prodigal Son wrote:P.S.  Your digging is unearthing gold.  This is all important shit.  Hats off to you and Greg.  Love it.

This is definitely the right path we've been on.  I can feel it in the pit of my stomach.

I want to look what else is up Ed's sleeve some day. Spare kitchen sink up there by any chance?

Hats off to Hasan too for picking in advance that Mr Lee was working as a muso. We now know that was true.

What bugs me about the whole Beckley house thing is that it appears to have been a singular coincidence - a mister H Lee staying in room "0" - that pulled this entire chimera into the narrative.

Was it just the coincidence of the name or was some of this already in place before the assassination?

It seems to me that Earlene's and Ms Johnson's stories (as well as the tenants on record) must have evolved over time in order to "get the story straight". Their earliest recounting seem very vague on the subject, IMO.

And is it possible that H Lee was given a job on the force for his cooperation?

Beckley is one huge can of worms!

Beckley is one huge can of worms!

Never a truer word Terry.

Frank Fisher - another Ruby muso, lived in the same aprtment building as Mike Paine

http://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=10486&relPageId=155

Wow. I confess I haven't followed this topic very closely, I tend to focus almost exclusively on whatever it is I'm working on at the moment, but whammo, this is indeed interesting! Well done to all involved!

greg parker wrote:

Beckley is one huge can of worms!

Never a truer word Terry.

I agree.  Got to find a way to weave this together tightly.  Crafard, Ruby-Cheek meetings, Albert Schroll, the Bledsoe house, mysterious floor layers cum musicians, the Johnsons, the weird phone calls to Beckley post-assassination, Marion Meharg, Ruby visiting Beckley and on and on...

...there is a great film narrative in here somewhere.

I was wrong in assuming Watson had contacted the FBI. That assumption was made because I didn't realize it was the same "James Watson". He was interviewed on Dec 19 - 2 days after Lee was interviewed, so the correct assumption would be that the FBI caught up with him as a result of the Lee interview.  Why two reports were generated is another matter.

The bigger issue though is that as someone pointed out earlier, no attempt was made to sort out the discrepancies between Lee's account and Watson's.

Lee version: Moved in with Watson for 4 or 5 weeks in October. Moved out on Nov 1.

Watson version: No mention of Lee. Lived in room 17 or 18 for one week in early November.

Lee's grandfather: Lee moved to Dallas on September 1 to work with Trinity flooring.

Gene Allen: Lee was working as a musician in a band.

Mrs Johnson: Oswald had tried to rent a room "3 weeks" prior to his successful attempt on Oct 14. That puts it at around September 23 when Oswald was still in New Orleans.

it would be good to see these records from Bertha Cheek:
http://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=96314

As Greg points out she didn't have little slips of paper.... she had records. She had a freaking storage unit with RECORDS!
What kind of records... every kind.

Imagine that.
Another painter.

Cheers, Ed

The records of her various apartment buildings were photographed.

These records/photos then should be in FBI materials.

Yet no such query of the Beckley records is astonishing, what could investigators be using as "records" for that address? 

Mrs Johnson would be no different 
Having no ledgers and records in evidence is a huge red flag for 1026 N. Beckley.

In The Neighborhood ...
Interesting way to describe fellow roomers of the suspect???

A rarely seen view of room O

A picture is worth 1K words.

What I found is interesting about the Flamingo Club,
I answered my own question about it, and now have more questions.

First from the obit I posted earlier:
PRICE, JOHN E. "JOHNNY" beloved husband and father, passed away on, September 11, 2002 at his home in Dallas, Texas. Born in Kaufman County, Texas, to Mittie May Fair and Andrew Jackson Price, he is preceded in death by brothers, Leroy Price, Cecil Price, and James Luttrell; sister, Lorene Jackson, and grandson Bryan Lee Dobbins. He served in the U. S. Army during World War II and attained the rank of master sergeant. He was the owner of the Flamingo Club in Oak Cliff, Price's Liquor Store and Charlie's Liquor Store on Dolphin Road. He was an accomplished musician playing saxophone, guitar, and violin, and for many years specialized in the maintenance of analog acoustic recording systems for radio broadcasting and recording studios. He is survived by his wife of 43 years, Faye Johnson Price,

PRICE, JOHN E. "JOHNNY" beloved husband and father, passed away on, September 11, 2002 at his home in Dallas, Texas. Born in Kaufman County, Texas, to Mittie May Fair and Andrew Jackson Price, he is preceded in death by brothers, Leroy Price, Cecil Price, and James Luttrell; sister, Lorene Jackson, and grandson Bryan Lee Dobbins. He served in the U. S. Army during World War II and attained the rank of master sergeant. He was the owner of the Flamingo Club in Oak Cliff, Price's Liquor Store and Charlie's Liquor Store on Dolphin Road. He was an accomplished musician playing saxophone, guitar, and violin, and for many years specialized in the maintenance of analog acoustic recording systems for radio broadcasting and recording studios. He is survived by his wife of 43 years, Faye Johnson Price, - See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dallasmorningnews/obituary.aspx?n=john-e-price&pid=488133#sthash.49opYq7m.dpuf
and yet the DPRICE, JOHN E. "JOHNNY" beloved husband and father, passed away on, September 11, 2002 at his home in Dallas, Texas. Born in Kaufman County, Texas, to Mittie May Fair and Andrew Jackson Price, he is preceded in death by brothers, Leroy Price, Cecil Price, and James Luttrell; sister, Lorene Jackson, and grandson Bryan Lee Dobbins. He served in the U. S. Army during World War II and attained the rank of master sergeant. He was the owner of the Flamingo Club in Oak Cliff, Price's Liquor Store and Charlie's Liquor Store on Dolphin Road. He was an accomplished musician playing saxophone, guitar, and violin, and for many years specialized in the maintenance of analog acoustic recording systems for radio broadcasting and recording studios. He is survived by his wife of 43 years, Faye Johnson Price,


And yet the FBI had investigated the clubs and said its owner was:



https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=141435&relPageId=56&search=FLAMINGO_CLUB
In 1956 City Directory its owner and address are different

Mayo Martinez

Britton seems to have been just the name he used at the club.

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=141438&relPageId=23

Little connects to Jimmy Dolan.

Dolan,

AVGA, probably Ruby acquaintance

Received a suspended sentence in oct 63. for firearms voilation.

iv.James Henry Dolan Biographical Summary(924)According to an FBI report,(118.4)JamesHenryDolanwasbornOctober25,1914,in Cedar Rapids,Iowa.In the 1930's,he left school and worked for a year in a California hotel.
In 1938,he returned to Cedar Rapids and worked for his brother-in-law in a food business.In1941and1942,Dolan was employed as a structural iron worker. He reportedlydidsomeboxingasayouthandwasassociatedwithpeopleintheboxingprofession.

He served in the U.S.Army from August1,1942,toDecember21,1945,and received an honorable discharge. He moved to Phoenix,Ariz.,in November or December of 1950 and established his first permanent address at 4045 North Fifth Street. While in Phoenix,Dolan claimed self-employment at the Jefferson Street Gym. Dolan left. Phoenix in the spring of 1951 and moved to the Denver area where, on May 1,1951,he rented a cabin at Rosedale Ranch,Evergreen,Colo.On January9,1952,Dolan pled guilty in the U.S.District Court in Denver to impersonating a Federal officer. He received a.5-year suspended sentence and was placed on probation.(1184)(925)It was subsequently disclosed that Dolan had violated his probation by"rigging"a poker game in Denver and resorting to violence.OnOctober3,1953,a probation violation warrant was issued,and Dolan was arrested in Chicago on October5,1953,by FBI agents. At the time of his arrest, Dolan was reportedly employed for the American Television Company in Chicago.(1185)(926)OnNovember2,1953,Dolan's probation was revoked,and he was ordered to serve.5 years in prison, with a 3-year probationary sentence to follow imprisonment. He was incarcerated at the U.S.Penitentiary at Leavenworth,Kans., until October 1954.He was then transferred to the Federal Correctional Institution at Seagoville,Tex.,from which he was released on February21,1956.(1186)He was placed on probation under the supervision of a U.S.probation officer in Dallas,Tex.,untilSeptember25,1959.(1187)(927)Following Dolan's release from prison,he was employed for a brief period by Windy City Distributors in Chicago. .In 1956, he moved to Dallas,Tex.,and was employed by the Rush Rug Co.,4729 Maple Avenue,Dallas.(11,48)(928)In 1957,he was employed by Sears, Roebuck&Co.in Dallas and by Paymaster Co.(checkprotectors). From 1958 to 1961, Dolan, was employed as the Dallas representative of the American Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA).After leaving AGVA, he was employed for a brief period as a car salesman at a used-car lot owned by Nick Cascio.*(118.9) After this, Dolan was reportedly employed as a traveling salesman for an unidentified company.(11,90) In 1961, Dolan's attorney in Dallas indicated Dolan was employed by an unidentified whole-sale flower concern.(1192)(929) While Dolan was in Dallas,he resided at 101 North Edgefield and, in 1968,at 5509 Caladium.(1193)In June 1969, he was reportedly residing in Chicago at 423 Wrightwood. (1194) In October 1969, he was residing with his brother in Glenview, Ill. (1195)

*Cascio is described by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms as a "traveling criminal" whose specialties are planning large burglaries and robberies and acting as a fence.(1190)


Would any of this make Dolan a possible person of interest in the Tippit murder.

Dolan's aliases have included Jim de Lare, James Harry
Dolan, Jim Dolan, Jimmy Dolan, James Bradley, and "Hamily."
(931) Illegal Activities.-Dolan has been described as one of the two
most notorious hoodlums who resided in Dallas . (1196) An informant
described him as a strong-arm man who had been employed by Trafficante.*
(1197) Dolan reportedly traveled throughout southeastern and
midwestern United States and had numerous underworld contacts
throughout these areas. (1198)
(932) His specialties included armed robbery of bookmakers, gamblers,
and houses of prostitution, confidence swindles, and shakedown
rackets. (1199) Dolan had also, on occasion, professed to be a gambler.
A source familiar with union activities reported that a poker game in
which Dolan participated was in almost regular session at the AGVA
offices. (1200)
(933) Dolan was also associated with bookmaking in Dallas . A 1962
report states that the primary bookmaking operation in Dallas was
directed by John Eli Stone, Albert Meadows and Sherman Franklin (Little).

(1201) The report lists Dolan among those who were "closely associated
with this group and especially with Meadows and Little," who "in
addition to gambling themselves extensively, act as strong-arm men
or collection men whenever asked."(1202) In 1961 it was reported that
Dolan was engaged in "booking" with Johnny Ross Patrono and
Bobby Chapman.(1208)

And this!
By Dolan's son:
http://lotuseaters.org/jfkdad.shtml

greg parker wrote:Britton seems to have been just the name he used at the club.

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=141438&relPageId=23

I see it is FBI speak saying see other files
like Lee Harvey Oswald, aka IS R CUBA on top of files, is this pointing at another name not shown ?

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0ahUKEwiykrDY763UAhVeHGMKHfmHC5wQFggtMAI&url=http%3A%2F%2Fjfk.hood.edu%2FCollection%2FFBI%2520ORecords%2520Files%2F105-82555%2F105-82555%2520Section%2520089%2F89e.pdf&usg=AFQjCNHExbAEb31iPNAZAdkzKWzRStCn6A&cad=rja


I did find a John E Britton born 1930 Dallas to Willam D. and Lola Britton.

But this John E Price or 'Johnny' owning the club which was said the be John E. "Britton" is too coincidental especially seeing as he also had a "JOHNNIE'S BARBEQUE" or was it Johnny's?

I'd swear aka means "an known associate" but can't prove it,

This guy had three jobs or just worked at the telephone company in payroll for fun while running a restaurant and a gambling club.

Whitehall phone numbers are 6-0202 and 6-0242
would seem quite similar for a reason.
Again supports this trifecta of an accountant/casino/BBQ chef.

I just don't seem to find much on the Britton/ Price trifecta man.
Odd as this guy must never sleep.