deconstructing the so-called walker letter

It has long been my belief that the author of this letter was Ruth Paine.

I would like to take that a step furher and suggest the possibility that it was based on an actual letter Lee wrote in Minsk in the event he got picked up in the wake of the Platovsky arrest.


This is the key to the mailbox which is located in the main post office in the city on Ervay Street.

Did Lee use a  PO box in Minsk? I can find no information about how he received mail there, but a PO Box seems likely if they were in fact available.


This is the same street where the drugstore, in which you always waited is located. 

There is nothing I can find elsewhere about Marina ever waiting for him anywhere. What would be the purpose? When? By then, she had a baby and seems to have stayed at home except when picked up by Ruth, or perhaps others in the White Russian community.

But Minsk is a different kettle of fish. They both worked. The "drugstore" can be any type of store in Minsk which could have acted as the after-work meeting place.

You will find the mailbox in the post office which is located 4 blocks from the drugstore on that street. I paid for the box last month so don't worry about it.  

This makes no sense in terms of the Walker incident. PO Box 2915 taken out on Oct 9 - if taken out for 6 minths - expired on April 9 - the day prior to the Walker shooting. Would he have renewed it weeks ahead for another 6 months? Is there any indication he in fact did? A quick check of current regs states that if you take a PO Box out for 6 months and close it within the first 3 months, you can claim a 50% refund as per the following:

There is no refund if You choose to close a three-month payment period Post Office Box; If You choose to close and seek a refund for a six-month payment period Post Office Box within the first three months You will receive a 50% refund; but after the commencement of the fourth month You will receive no refund.

So...if Oswald did extend that box for 6 months, there should be a record of him claiming a partial refund. 

Extending a PO Box in Minsk for 6 months makes perfect sense because he would know it was going to take at least that, and more likely much longer, to get out the country.

Send the information as to what has happened to me to the Embassy and include newspaper clippings (should there be anything about me in the newspapers). I believe that the Embassy will come quickly to your assistance upon learning everything.

Again, this makes little sense in terms of the Walker incident. Why should there be a scintilla of doubt that an assassination of Walker would be iin the news? Why should the Russian Embassy come to Marina's aid and get mixed up in what could turn out to be a very messy affair with potential for anti-Soviet propaganda? 

Again - it makes much more sense if this is in Minsk and he is referring to help from the US Embassy as the wife of a still US citizen who is under arrest in a foreign country.

(3) I paid the house rent on the second so don't worry about it.



According to the Neely St landlord this is true. But again Oswald skips out early and does not request any refund - the owner claiming not to know and only finding out when he arrived on May 2 to collect the rent. But while this fits the official narrative, the bulk of the evidence suggests Lee never lived there to begin with. 

It could certainly be true of the situation in Minsk - without any of the complicating factors or very large questions marks regarding where he lived.

(4) Recently I also paid for water and gas.



This was done, according to FBI interviews with the companies involved,  during the first week of March. So it all depends on what you call "recently". In terms of how long they allegedly lived at Neely, can you really call a bit over of a month - the total time they had allegedly lived there - as being "recently"? ""recently" - in terms of having only lived there a month, would surely be no longer than a week? 

But again, these issues disappear if you consider it happened in Minsk. 

(5) The money from work will possibly be coming. The money will be sent to our post office box. Go to the bank and cash the check.


This is supposed to be a reference to his final check from Jaggers. But it could also be a reference to his monthy stipend in Minsk from the Russian Red Cross.

(6) You can either throw out or give my clothing etc. away Do not keep these. However I prefer you hold on to my personal papers (military, civil etc.)

This works equally in Dallas to the Walker incident as it would in Minsk if picked up over the Platovsky arrest.

(7) Certain of my documents are in the small blue valise.


This sounds like it is a reference to specific documents. If this letter is based on a real Minsk letter, but adapted to fit the Walker time-frame, perhaps the original letter was more specific about these "certain" documents? Perhaps they pertained to things that would force the assistance of the US Embassy?


( 8 ) The address book can be found on my table in the study should you need same.

This works in both Minsk and Dallas. 

(9) We have friends here. The Red Cross also will help you. (Red Cross in English). [sic]

He had refused the help of the Red Cross in the past, but had accepted money from the Russian Red Cross. It makes better sense to me if this was written in Minsk and is a reference to the Russian version of the organization. 

 (10) I left you as much money as I could, $60 on the second of the month. You and the baby (apparently) can live for another two months using $10 per week.

On face value, this seems to be a messed up reference to leaving $60 - the cost of a months rent at 214 Neely,  plus another $80 or so to live on for 2 months. But again, minus the reference to the baby and it could equally apply to Minsk, even though she had her own income there. Or it could have just been inserted to add some  more weight.

(11) If I am alive and taken prisoner, the city jail is located at the end of the bridge though which we always passed on going to the city (right in the beginning of the city after crossing the bridge).


Not sure how well the above applies to Dallas, but there is a prison very close to a bridge in Minsk. For 200 years, it has been used for executions and as a pre-trial detention center for political prisoners.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pishchalauski_Castle

If this theory holds any water, it holds it with another episode purloined from tales of Minsk.

Among the information given by the KGB to Mailer was that Oswald was seen wihile under surveillance riding a bus with his shotgun, causing initial alarm bells. However he was apparently taking it back where he bought it to resell prior to going back to the US. 

So riding a bus with a shotgun - presumable concealed - in Minsk - becomes riding the bus with his concealed rifle in Dallas to shoot Walker.

The only possible source for the Minsk info would be Marina. Yet there is no report claiming she ever said this. In fact, there may be an indication that she thought the rifle was his Misnk shotgun.  Hard to swallow that though. She would know about the Minsk bus ride either through Lee himself, or through any connection with the KGB - or possible even through her uncle.

Good analysis Greg.  You make a compelling argument.

"Did Lee use a PO box in Minsk? I can find no information about how he received mail there, but a PO Box seems likely if theyw ere in fact available."

Good question!



Return address is the Apartment in Minsk... but alls not lost.
Most buildings have mailboxes near the entrance... saves postman from having to deliver to each Apt.
That would be a "mailbox" and accessed with a key.

So not much different than the letter's wording... or easily adapted by Ruth
Cheers!
Ed

"Did Lee use a  PO box in Minsk? I can find no information about how he received mail there, but a PO Box seems likely if theyw ere in fact available."

Good question!



Return address is the Apartment in Minsk... but alls not lost.
Most buildings have mailboxes near the entrance... saves postman from having to deliver to each Apt.
That would be a "mailbox" and accessed with a key.

So not much different than the letter's wording... or easily adapted by Ruth
Cheers!
Ed

Here are the apartments mailboxes:

Good find, Ed!

I don't think this is the death knell on the theory, but it will certainly mean a rethink on that part of it.But otherwise there are jyst too many things that don;t seem to make sense if it was written on or April 9m 1963.

Does the description of the location of the hail make sense for Dallas? I have no idea.

This is a story on the bridge near on the preciously linked to prison in Minsk.
https://eng.belta.by/photonews/view/bridge-collapses-in-minsk-city-center-8534/

I wonder if this is the same bridge?

If Lee was involved in JFK he would have done the same.

But we see he had a Post Office key with him he didn't leave a note he didn't leave the Post Office key so I think that's really strong evidence he wasn't involved.

The bridge(?) is over the Svislach river.
It maybe just a walking path (note wall and very flat path)... it may of been taken near the bridge from the angle of the photo.

What does this picture in Minsk have to do with a letter you ask.
Well it goes to mislabeled or miscatorgorized items.
Letter as Greg mentions

"only possible source for the Minsk info would be Marina. Yet there is no report claiming she ever said this."

About sums it up

The "bridge" (walking path beside river) picture is very close to their apartment.
To get into city center they would cross the bridge near there.
That road leads right by the KGB detention center and the Castle detention center for political prisoners (pre-trial) .

BUT its not near the end of the bridge.
Doesnt fit.

Dallas and the city jail (Houston st.) could seem like its a better fit., but not really. It too is a long way from a bridge crossing the Trinity river from Oak Cliff.

Even main post office is on the street.

Wouldnt it be easier to say I'll be detained across the street from the post office?
Yes. Yes it would.

So that broken bridge or collapses bridge was for crossing over the busy main street not to get to city center and even if it was its still not in close enough proxomity to fit the letters instruction.
Perhaps another place or city they lived in.
Would letter fit New Orleans?

Ed.Ledoux wrote:So that broken bridge or collapses bridge was for crossing over the busy main street not to get to city center and even if it was its still not in close enough proxomity to fit the letters instruction.
Perhaps another place or city they lived in.
Would letter fit New Orleans?

Worth considering, but some of the things that would apply to Dallas, would also apply here - but possibly not all.

I think we could also consider that the author of the letter was not precise enougfh with  some of the language.

Great sleuthing, as always, Ed!

greg_parker wrote:

This is the key to the mailbox which is located in the main post office in the city on Ervay Street.

This is the same street where the drugstore, in which you always waited is located. 

You will find the mailbox in the post office which is located 4 blocks from the drugstore on that street.

Greg,

I have often wondered of there was in fact,a drug store 4 blocks from the Post Office.
According to the 1961 Dallas City Directory,
https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth806907/m1/240/?q=Drug%20Stores

There was a Raymond's Drug Store at 515 N. Ervay, which puts it about 2-3 blocks north of the Post Office.
Her waiting in a drug store kind of makes sense. Wasn't Marina a Pharmacist's Assistant in in previous life? She'd feel comfortable waiting there.

Although, like you, I don't remember Marina ever waiting for Lee anywhere, especially by herself.
"Where you always waited" is incongruous to say the least.

Steve Thomas

The idea that the so-called Walker letter was about a completely different incident, is catching on.
https://www.kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-articles/oswald-and-the-shot-at-walker-redressing-the-balance

This piece attempts to link it to the Dallas FPCC one-man demonstration which many believe was Oswald.

If you rule it out as being about the Walker shooting (as you should), then this incident is a fairly obvious choice for all the reasons given by the author.

I had never included it as a possibility simply because I did not think that the one-man demonstration was Oswald - mainly through lack of any real description of the person, and being very uncertain about the location described in the letter as being in Dallas.

I recently came across an online forum on Dallas history which does in fact confirm the details in the letter - a drug store where people hung out not that far from the PO. THis was likely the one referred to in a previous post which I missed seeing till now, by Steve Thomas. In short, my attempts to try and find a solution elsewhere - Minsk, New Orleans - were probably ill-advised. 

There are still aspects of all of this that give pause, mainly around the authenticity of the letter and the timing of it being handed in.

One thing I will add in regard to the Reid article is this.

The idea that Oswald took the shot originated in Dallas. It was passed on to the German paper for one reason and one reason only.

That was so that the paper would print the story - allowing the Dallas Morning News to reprint it as a supplement. This method of getting it into the local paper was to avoid being sued by Robert Kennedy for defamation since the article was claiming that Dallas police picked up Oswald for the attempt, but he was released on the orders of RFK. 

That whole scenario was borrowed from the real life situation earlier in the year when RFK asked the Texas authorities to leave communist John Stanford alone until after the feds were done with him. It was William Lowery who was testifying against Stanford in the federal case.

I’ve always been pretty skeptical of the alleged Dallas leafleting incident. As far as I know, there is no contemporaneous evidence that it actually happened. Oswald supposedly stood on the street Die Hard with a Vengeance style with a Viva Fidel sign around his neck, was spotted by a couple cops, then dipped into H.L. Green and the cops just gave up and let him escape even though he was cornered in a department store. Is that really a believable story? I’m not so sure.

James Hosty testified words to the effect that the incident straight up didn’t happen, otherwise the FBI would have heard about it. It just seems like there should have been a lot more witnesses, and I’m pretty sure the initial post-assassination witness report was not investigated for several months. I’m also pretty sure that the employees of H.L. Green were never spoken to after they led the FBI to Crescent Firearms on the day of the assassination, but there might be records in the Dallas Field Office files regarding the leafleting incident that are not available online.

Great work on this Greg!

The players:
WR FINIGAN DPD
W Madden Hill, Commissioner.
DV Harkness DPD
Lt. Jack Revill DPD
Unknown Picketer.

l
Letter from Oswald to VT Lee says basically:
'I had 15 pamplets and they were all gone in 40 minutes.'
So how are you going to leaflet without leaflets?
Why leaflet without leaflets???
His "job" was done.
Why loiter about?

Steve Roe Roe Your Canoe says:
"It is unclear when Oswald wrote the letter, but it’s very close to the Walker shooting attempt on April 10, 1963."
Unclear date yet clearly closely aligned with Walker incident whatever this means is uncertain.

The strange part is Lee writes in the note to Marina that he'll most likely be arrested. When in fact the officer and the witness, a commissioner, claimed it was an offence ie GET HIS NAME. Of course to picket or such without a police permit would be an offense. He may have been booked on disorderly conduct etc by a sly cop. Rather than a simple fine for illegal leafletting.
Getting his name seemed the important part.

Our favorite 'Oswald Did It' dupe Roe Roe on the sighting...

https://srhistorical.wordpress.com/tag/lee-harvey-oswald/

Roe claims Lee dropped the Placard or Sign.
Cop says he "took it off" but nothing about dropping it.
Add that if cops had a leaflet or flyer and perhaps the sign, Ive asked if they were collected why they were not kept till they could be used against this man. Police dont keep evidence???
Its logical police work.

Why did Harkness go there after hearing about this and informing superiors as to the events transpiring outside HL Greens? To drop it? Mk...

What did Finnegan do till Harkness arrived... stood around???

Was the intelligence arm of the DPD trying too hard to backstop a letter Lee sent..?

In one thread a long time ago I had a conversation about the placard. If Lee dropped such a placard at HL GREEN how would he have it to take to NO, or better yet Why would the DPD search the Neely st. attic for such a placard if they had it already?!
DPD would have the placard and therefore would know exactly what it said on it. No need for guesstimates from Finigan.

I think this is all tied together in a odd knot.