The Houston Problem pt 1

Commission Exhibit 2191 is the FBI investigation of the Houston leg of Oswald's purported travel to Mexico City. Despite not being able to verify Oswald's mode of travel, the FBI concluded that Oswald left New Orleans for Houston on September 25, 1963. The basis for this (as opposed to a day earlier) was that an Oswald unemployment check had been cashed some time after 8:00 am on September 25 in New Orleans. But it is Houston itself which presents most question marks for the official version of events. This article will look at only one of those areas of concern.

Did Oswald remain in Houston? The FBI considered, based on various circumstantial pieces of information, that the 2:00 am bus (which appears to have left up to 35 minutes late) was the earliest bus Oswald could have caught from Houston to Laredo. Upon checking, they discovered that only one ticket had been purchased for that particular route between September 24 and September 26, that being ticket number 112230. The identity of the ticket agent was made through a rubber stamp impression on the ticket. That agent, EP Hammett, was interviewed on January 21, 1964.

Hammett told the FBI that:
• he had commenced work at 10:30 pm on September 25 and finished at 6:30 am the following morning

• there are very few tickets sold for travel between Houston and Laredo and/or Mexico and for that reason he could usually remember them

• he could recall a man strongly resembling the photo of Oswald he was being shown, and that this man had come to his counter inquiring about travel to Laredo and Mexico during late September

• the person in question had made the initial inquiry around midnight

• he had been wearing a brown and white pull-over sweater, white dungarees, and dirty white canvass shoes

• seemingly undecided, the man left the counter and returned around 1:30 am or 2:00 am before purchasing a Continental Trailways ticket to Laredo

• the bus left Houston at 2:35 am, September 26

• the ticket, though date-stamped September 25, could have been sold up until 2:00 or 3:00 am the following morning as he did not change the date stamp until then

• after a second look at Oswald's photo, he was confident he could associate Oswald with the person he had sold the Laredo ticket to during the early hours of September 26

Page 2 of CE 2191 states matter-of-factly that “witnesses have reported Oswald boarded a Continental Trailways bus at Houston, Texas, at approximately 2:00 am on September 26, 1963, on which bus he travelled to Laredo, Texas." However, this was not true. The FBI located and interviewed every other employee at the terminal who had been at work during the period in question, and none recalled seeing Oswald. The FBI had one witness - EP Hammett - not more than one, as indicated in the report.

Hammett did come across as a good, solid witness. There was no question he had sold the ticket to someone. But was that someone Oswald or a look-alike? Marina Oswald was interviewed on January 29, 1964 in regard to the clothing description given by Hammett. She stated that to the best of her knowledge, Oswald owned no clothing or footwear matching the description. In a prior FBI interview on November 29, 1963, Marina had said that she and Lee had agreed that he would stay in New Orleans to look for work, and that if he was unable to find any, he would return to Dallas. Lee, she added, had also told her that he had a friend in "another city" and that he might contact this friend to see if he could help find work, although she herself doubted such a friend existed.[1] In no less than five subsequent interviews, Marina denied any knowledge that Oswald had gone to Mexico. Then came her Warren Commission testimony on February 3, 1964. Suddenly she knew of Oswald's intentions from August to not only go to Mexico, but also to visit the Soviet Embassy there in the hope of getting to Cuba. To the eternal shame of Rankin, he did not ask for any explanation regarding the past multiple denials to investigators. Such questions did finally come though, at the HSCA hearings. Marina responded by saying, "At that time I did not really have the country to go to....I thought if I tell them that I knew about Mexico. I would be responsible just as well for what he did." This implies that she ad-libbed a story to the FBI in order to avoid being held partially responsible for Oswald's actions. What is not clear from this statement is just what Marina thought Mexico had to do with events in Dealey Plaza (since the act of going to Mexico itself was far from illegal, let alone indicative of a pending assassination). Yet if her story about looking for work was merely a cover story, she was already connecting Mexico to later events as early as Nov 29 and possibly sooner! And how did it come about that Marina concocted a cover story that was essentially the same story told by Ruth Paine – who had no reason to supply any “alibi” for Oswald?

Ruth Paine testimony on March 19, 1964:

Mr. JENNER - Did you have any feeling that he, in turn, felt that he might not be seeing Marina any more?

Mrs. PAINE - I had no feeling of that whatever.

Mr. JENNER - None whatsoever.

Mrs. PAINE - He told me that he was going to try to look for work in Houston, and possibly in Philadelphia; these were the two names he mentioned.

Mr. JENNER - We are interested in that, in this particular phase of the investigation. Did he make that statement in your presence, in the presence of Marina?

Mrs. PAINE - I don't recall.

Mr. JENNER - I take it that this was elicited by a discussion of the subject of his going to look for work after you girls had left, is that correct?

Mrs. PAINE - About what he would do after we left?

Mr. JENNER - Yes. Mrs. PAINE - Yes.

Mr. JENNER - Now, would you repeat just what he said on that subject?

Mrs. PAINE - He told me that he was going to go to Houston to look for work, or possibly to Philadelphia.

Mr. JENNER – Did he say anything about having any acquaintances or friends in either of those towns?

Mrs. PAINE - He did. You recalled to my mind he said he had a friend in Houston.[2]

Mr. JENNER - Did he mention other towns he might undertake to visit?

Mrs. PAINE - No; he didn't. Or any other friends.

Mr. JENNER - Was there any inference or did you infer from anything he said or which might have been said in your presence that after you girls left he intended to leave New
Orleans? To look—

Mrs. PAINE - He was definitely planning to leave New Orleans after we left.

Mr. JENNER - Promptly?

Mrs. PAINE - Yes.

Mr. JENNER - You had that definite impression?

Mrs. PAINE - Yes.

Mr. JENNER – And he put it in terms of leaving New Orleans to go to Houston, or what was the other town?

Mrs. PAINE – Possibly Philadelphia.

Mr. JENNER - Possibly Philadelphia. Now, during all that weekend, was there any discussion of anybody going to Mexico?

Mrs. PAINE - No.

Mr. JENNER - Was the subject of Mexico discussed at any time and in any respect?

Mrs. PAINE - Not at any time nor any respect.

The subject was broached again during testimony taken on March 21, 1964:

Mr. JENNER - Do you have any thoughts and assumptions on your part as to what Lee Oswald was doing after Marina returned with you from New Orleans? You have already testified that you thought from what he said about seeking employment in Houston and Philadelphia that he was engaged in that immediately following period in attempting to secure employment in Houston.

Mrs. PAINE - Yes. Mr. JENNER - Is that the extent of your impression as to that
period--that is the period from the time you left on the 23d of September and the time he showed up without advance notice on the 4th of October?

Mrs. PAINE - It was my impression that he had been looking for work.

Mr. JENNER – And you had no other impression?

Mrs. PAINE - No.

The following Armstrong Baylor file contains information that Oswald could NOT have been in Dallas on October 3, 1963, after allegedly returning from Mexico City.
 
http://digitalcollections.baylor.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/po-arm/id/26175/rec/4
 
I know that many researchers of the assassination are already aware of all this, but for those who aren’t, Oswald was allegedly staying at the YMCA in Dallas, on October 3, 1963 (I actually think this was Larry Crafard). Oswald’s Texas Employment Commission form shows that Oswald filed for unemployment compensation in Dallas on October 3, 1963; for which he had to appear in Person.
 
According to Warren Commission Exhibit 2124, Ruth Paine stated that Oswald told her on October 4, 1963, that he had been in Dallas for a few days; before coming out to her house.
 
http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh24/pdf/WH24_CE_2124.pdf

Nice work on both ends gentleman.

I don't know how people like Albarelli can say for sure that Oswald was in mexico City.

Well, if you rely on bullfighter Buick maybe you can.

James DiEugenio wrote:Nice work on both ends gentleman.

I don't know how people like Albarelli can say for sure that Oswald was in mexico City.

Well, if you rely on bullfighter Buick maybe you can.

Thanks, Jim.