22-05-2014, 01:15 AM
Nov 23 1963 (Saturday)
"Beginning November 22, 1963, the Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted approximately 25,000 interviews and reinterviews of persons having information of possible relevance to the investigation and by September 11, 1964, submitted over 2,300 reports totaling approximately 25,400 pages to the Commission. During the same period the Secret Service conducted approximately 1,550 interviews and submitted 800 reports totaling some 4,500 pages. Because of the diligence, cooperation, and facilities of Federal investigative agencies, it was unnecessary for the Commission to employ investigators other than the members of the Commission's legal staff." (Warren Report)12:01 AM Secret Service Report regarding Presidential Limo in White House garage: At 12:01 A.M., November 23, 1963, the security detail was relieved by Special Agents Paraschos and Kennedy and White House Policeman J. W. Edwards.
12:05 AM AP report - Dallas - A murder charge was filed against Oswald shortly before midnight, some 10 hours after he had been arrested on another charge - of slaying a policeman who stopped him for questioning on an Oak Cliff street. AP, 12:05 acs, Raymond Holbrook
12:10 AM Oswald is taken to the lineup room again, accompanied by all the detectives in the Homicide & Robbery division as well as numerous other detectives and officers; he remains there only five minutes.
12:23 AM Oswald placed in a fifth-floor maximum-security jail cell.
12:35 AM Oswald taken out of his cell for another set of fingerprint tests and photographs. He was removed by Lt. Knight, Sgt. Warren and a jailer (H 4 248).
Mr. BALL. There is one problem here in your records that we asked about. Where was Oswald between 12:35 a.m., and 1:10 a.m., on Saturday, November 23, that is right after midnight?
Mr. FRITZ. Right after midnight.
Mr. BALL. The jailer's records show he was checked out.
Mr. FRITZ. I think I know where he was right after midnight. I think he went to the identification bureau to be fingerprinted and have his picture made.
At a motel in Irving, Texas (about fifteen miles away from Dallas) Marina and Marguerite Oswald seek refuge from the hundreds of reporters assigned to the story.
1:00 AM Ruby spoke with KLIF radio employee Danny McCurdy; Ruby bragged about closing his clubs for the weekend even though it would cost him as much as $1500. But he wanted to show respect to JFK. (H 15 529)
EST? Secret Service Report: At 1:00 A.M., as per arrangements by Deputy Chief Paterni, a team of FBI Agents examined the Presidential limousine. This team was comprised of Orrin H. Bartlett, Charles L. Killian, Cortlandt Cunningham, Robert A. Frazier, and Walter E. Thomas. Mr. Orin Bartlett drove the Presidential vehicle out of the bin. The team of FBI Agents, assisted by the Secret Service Agents on duty, removed the leatherette convertible top and the plexi-glass bubbletop; also the molding strips that secure the floor matting, and the rear seat. What appeared to be bullet fragments were removed from the windshield and the floor rug in the rear of the car. The two blankets on the left and right rear doors were removed, inspected, and returned to the vehicle. The trunk of the vehicle was opened and the contents examined, and nothing was removed. A meticulous examination was made of the back seat to the car and the floor rug, and no evidence was found. In addition, of particular note was the small hole just to the left of center in the windshield from which what appeared to be bullet fragments were removed. The team of agents also noted that the chrome molding strip above the windshield, inside the car, just right of center, was dented. The FBI Agents stated that this dent was made by the bullet fragment which was found imbedded in the front cushion. During the course of this examination, a number of color photos were taken by this FBI <"FBI" inserted in longhand with an arrow> search team. They concluded their examination at 4:30 A.M. and the President's car was reassembled and put back in the storage bin.
We have the Secret Service log for the White House garage on November 22-23, 1963. It shows that at 1:05 AM on the morning of November 23rd, four FBI agents arrived to conduct a forensic examination of the limousine. They were Special Agents Orrin H. Bartlett, Cortlandt Cunningham, Robert Frazier and Walter Thomas. The log shows they left at 4:35 AM. In the three and one-half hours this team of agents spent examining the limousine, they found two 6.5 mm Mannlicher-Cacano bullet fragments in the front seat, other smaller fragments in the carpet under the left jump seat and found widespread dispersion of blood and brain debris extending from the hood ornament at the front of the limousine to the rear of the trunk. Robert Frazier testified at the Clay Shaw trial as follows:
The first examination which was made was of the exterior portions of the vehicle. We examined the outer surface of the hood, the grille area, both front fender areas, all the metal work on the outside of the automobile. The examination was for two purposes, to determine whether there were any bullets or other projectile impact areas on the outside of the car and also to note the presence of the foreign material deposited on it. We found blood and tissue all over the outside areas of the vehicle from the hood ornament over the complete area of the hood, on the outside of the windshield, also on the inside surface of the windshield, and all over the entire exterior portion of the car, that is, the side rails down both sides of the car, and of course considerable quantities inside the car and on the trunk lid area. We found however, no bullet holes or projectile marks. (http://www.jfk-online.com/rfraziershaw.html)
Although Frazier and his team found no evidence of a whole bullet impact, they did find two possible fragment impacts. First, they noted a dent in the rear-facing chrome strip above the windshield (Commission Exhibit 349). Second, they noted an impact area and lead smear on the inside of the windshield on the driver's side (Commission Exhibit 350). Frazier took notes as he examined the limousine early on the morning of November 23rd. John Hunt has been kind enough to provide copies of these notes obtained while doing research in the Archives.
1:10 AM Oswald was placed back in his jail cell.
1:18 AM AP: Dallas - Police claim that a search of Oswald's room turned up Communist literature. But landlord [A. C.] Johnson said: "We had never seen those books. He must have kept them hidden somewhere." AP, 1:18 p.m. CST
1:30 AM Oswald was removed from his cell again by Sgt. Warren and taken to the ID room.
1:30 AM "[William] Alexander participated in a midnight raid [11/22/1963] on the house of J.R. Molina...a Communist who was on the Dallas police's intelligence watch list, and it was originally thought he might be connected to Oswald. 'We did a deluxe search job on Molina's house,' recalls Alexander. 'He was polite and very scared. But there was nothing between him and Oswald.' Earlier than night, Alexander decided to 'shake things up a bit' and spoke to a friend at the Philadelphia Inquirer, Joe Goulden, and told him that he intended to indict Oswald for killing the President 'in furtherance of a Communist conspiracy.' As he told the author, 'The Inquirer got 200,000 papers on the street before Wade called me up and screamed, 'What the hell are you trying to do, start World War III?'...(Posner, Case Closed 348) Molina was a bookeeper at the TSBD.
1:35 AM (approx): Lee Harvey Oswald is formally arraigned and charged with murdering President John F. Kennedy. (WR) OSWALD is awakened in his cell and brought before the judge. Judge J. P. Johnson pens across the bottom of statement charging OSWALD: "1:35 AM 11-23-63. Bond hearing -- defendant remanded to Sheriff, Dallas County, Texas. No Bond -- Capital offense." (OSWALD had the legal right to be transferred "forthwith.")
Oswald snapped, "Well, sir, I guess this is the trial...I want to contact my lawyer, Mr Abt, in New York City."
OSWALD listens, and says: "I don't know what you're talking about." Johnson tells him: "You will be given the opportunity to contact the lawyer of your choice." OSWALD has been asking for John Abt of New York almost all day. OSWALD adds that if Abt is unavailable he will accept the services of a Dallas American Civil Liberties Union lawyer. OSWALD is irritated. He has pleaded for legal assistance for the past eight hours. He has begged for it at a press conference. He has phoned for it. He is still unrepresented. Judge Johnson will swear before the Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy that he apprised OSWALD of his constitutional right "again." Chief Jesse Curry, a witness, will eventually swear: "I do not recall whether he did or not." The American Civil Liberties Union has earlier contacted the police in an attempt to protect OSWALD's rights. They have been told by the police that OSWALD has declined the services of a lawyer. OSWALD is returned to his jail cell on the 5th floor in F block where he goes to sleep.
There is controversy over whether Oswald was actually arraigned or not; a 11/25/1963 FBI report states "No arraignment on the murder charge in connection with the death of President Kennedy was held, in as much as such arraignment was not necessary in view of the previous charges filed against Oswald and for which he was arraigned." (CD5-400) Fritz, Curry and Johnston are certain that he was charged at 1:35am, but Officer J.B. Hicks, who was on duty in that office until after 2:00am is certain Oswald was not arraigned at 1:35. Another FBI report not declassified until 1975 says that Oswald was never arraigned for Kennedy's death. (CD 1084A-11). Curry said that Oswald's reaction at the arraignment was "typical," that is, he denied having done it. Johnston says, "Oswald was very conceited. He said sarcastically, 'I guess this is the trial' and denied everything." (H 4 221, 155; H 15 507) WFAA-TV on 11/23 reported that Oswald said at the arraingment that the charge "was ridiculous."
Unknown time and day: As he is being brought out through the hallway, Oswald says, "I don't know what this is all about." Reporters ask him if he killed the President. "No sir, I didn't." Asked if he was in the TSBD that day. Oswald replies, "I work in that building naturally, if I work in that building, yes sir." When asked if he killed the president, he replied, "No, they're taking me in because of the fact that I lived in the Soviet Union. I'm just a patsy!"
1:45 AM (EST) Sibert and O'Neil bring metal fragments to FBI lab.
1:45 AM Oswald returned to his cell. Or this was the time Ruby showed up at KLIF.
1:45 AM AP report - Dallas -- main story of the day on Oswald: Lee Harvey Oswald, charged with murdering President Kennedy , insisted during hours of questioning last night that he was not the assassin. With his jaw thrust out and his dark eyes intent and piercing, Oswald kept telling newsmen: "I did not kill President Kennedy. I did not kill anyone. I don't know what this is all about." "I don't think he is a nut," District Attorney Henry Wade told newsmen. I think he is sane. I don't mean that he is any PhD, but he answers questions very easily and he is sharp." AP, 1:45 a.m. CST
2:00 AM FBI agent Wally Heitman went to the Naval air base outside of Dallas to meet with FBI agent Eldon Rudd, who was also an assistant legal attache at the US embassy in Mexico City. Rudd was flown in by a Navy jet fighter and delivered to Heitman the CIA photo of the man at the Embassy, believed at this time to be Oswald.
2:00 AM Ruby left KLIF to drive to Times Herald Building. On the way stopped and talked to "Harry Carlson" (Harry Olsen) a Dallas Police officer and the young lady he was going with called Kathy Kay (who worked at Carousel. Ruby said he never mentioned this before because officer had marital problems and it was a secret that he went with Kathy Kay. Ruby said he didn't want the officer to get into trouble. (5 H 191) NOTE: Olsen was divorced first wife in October '63 (14 H 627) (Ruby's statement about Harry and Kathy Kay was made after Jack's trial.)
Ruby's WC testimony: "His name is Harry Carlson. Her name is Kathy Kay. And they talked and they carried on, and they thought I was the greatest guy in the world, and he stated they should cut this guy [Oswald] inch by inch into ribbons, and so on. And she said, 'Well, if he was in England, they would drag him through the streets and would have hung him.' I forget what she said. I left them after a long delay. They kept me from leaving. They were constantly talking and were in a pretty dramatic mood. They were crying and carrying on. I went to the building of the Times Herald."
2:00 AM (EST) Sibert and O'Neil teletype autopsy results to Dallas.
2:29 AM AP report: Oswald described himself as a member of the Fair Play for Cuba committee. In Buffalo, NY., V. T. Lee, national director of the committee said: "We have never issued a charter in that area [New Orleans]. I don't know if Oswald is a member. He could be. There is no one, however, named Oswald who is an official of the committee anywhere in the United States."
2:30 AM (approx) On his way to the Times-Herald, Ruby encountered Kathy Kay Coleman and Officer Olsen. He didn't mention this meeting until after his trial. Kathy Kay (Kay Helen Olsen), a 27-year-old Carousel Club stripper, born in Britain, saw Ruby on the night of the assassination for one hour outside a parking garage at Jackson and Field Streets in Dallas. At the time she was going out with police officer Harry Olsen. Kay remarked to Ruby that in England they would have hung Oswald. Saturday night, again accompanied by Harry, she saw Ruby outside the club. The Olsens were married in either 12/1963 or 1/1964 and moved to California soon after.
2:47 AM (CST) 3:47 (EST) The CIA's Mexico Station sends a plane with the Oswald embassy photos and transcripts to Dallas, where it lands at this time at Love Field. (John Newman) or this was at 4am
3:00 AM Cartha "Deke" DeLoach, J. Edgar Hoover's number-three man writes in his book, Hoover's FBI, that he sees the Zapruder film on television at this time while he is at FBI headquarters. This statement cannot be true because the film is not shown on television until years later. It is assumed that he is actually watching a projection on a screen of a copy of the actual film. DeLoach further writes of the "jerky image of John Kennedy pitching suddenly forward." The Zapruder film in existence today clearly shows the president's head and body being thrust suddenly backward. Note that Dan Rather will also report seeing JFK pitch forward when he views the film later this morning.
3:30 AM At the Navy Hospital, the body of JFK is now ready for burial. It has been prepared by employees of Gawler's funeral home. The morticians are certain that the only scalp missing on the corpse is in the back of the head. It is just about the size of an orange. Eventually, in at least one autopsy photograph, the scalp will appear in place - seemingly intact. Tom Robinson, one of the morticians, will also eventually say that there is a hole in JFK's right forehead that he filled with wax. He will also testify that there are three small holes in JFK's cheek, which he also plugged to prevent leakage of the embalming fluid. The description of the hole in the back of JFK's head will be repeated by John Van Hoesen, another of the undertakers, who will say that the hole was the size of an orange in "... the centerline of the back of the head, and its location was in the upper posterior of the skull. "... at or just below the cowlick area." Hurchel Jacks, Texas State Highway Patrolman who served as driver of the Vice-President's car in the motorcade, said in his written report of November 28, 1963, "Before the President's body was covered it appeared that the bullet had struck him above the right ear or near the temple."
In an interview conducted on May 26, 1992 by Certified Legal Investigator Joe West, Thomas Evan Robison, one of the JFK embalmers, describes JFK's wounds and partial embalming process as follows:
Wounds:
Large gaping hole in back of head. Patched by placing piece of rubber.....over it.
Thinks skull full of Plaster of Paris.
Smaller wound in right temple. Crescent shaped, flapped down (3")
(approx 2) Small sharpnel wounds in face. Packed with wax.
Wound in back (5 to six inches) below shoulder. To the right of the back bone.
Adrenlin gland and brain removed.
Other organs removed and then put back.
No swelling or discoloration to face.
(Died instantly)
3:40 AM (EST) President's body is taken to the East Room of the White House. The body had originally been scheduled to arrive at 10:00pm the previous night. Dr Burkley explained, "It's taking longer than expected." (CRENSHAW 149)
3:55 AM (EST) the body was taken to the White House. (Report to Commanding General, MDW)
3:56 AM Pontiac ambulance leaves Bethesda for the White House with coffin containing body of JFK.
4:00 AM (EST) the body arrived at the White House. (L.H. Frost, Commandant of Potomac River to MDW HQ report 12/20/1963) Other sources say it arrived at 4:30am (Report to Commanding General, MDW).
4:00 AM Shortly before this (Dallas time) Ruby arrived at the Times-Herald offices.
4:00 AM A Navy plane carrying a top-secret package from Mexico City to Dallas lands about 4 a.m. EST. The package contains information concerning OSWALD's visit to the Soviet and Cuban embassies in Mexico City. Former FBI Agent Eldon Rudd, later a Republican congressman from Arizona, was aboard the plane. Years later, he will recall: "There were no tapes to my knowledge, I brought the pictures up (from Mexico) and it was my understanding that it was just pictures.'' (Associated Press/ 1999)
4:00 AM (approx) Chicago mail order house told police that the rifle had been ordered 3/1963 by "A. Hidel" for shipment to PO Box 2915, Dallas. (WC) After searching their records from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. the officers of Klein's discover that a rifle bearing serial number C2766 had been shipped to one A. Hidell, Post Office Box 2915, Dallas, Tex., on March 20, 1963. According to its microfilm records, Klein's received an order for a rifle on March 13, 1963, on a coupon clipped from the February 1963 issue of the American Rifleman magazine. The order coupon was signed, in hand printing, "A. Hidell, P.O. Box 2915, Dallas, Texas." It was sent in an envelope bearing the same name and return address in handwriting. Document examiners for the Treasury Department and the FBI will testify unequivocally that the bold printing on the face of the mail-order coupon was in the hand printing of Lee Harvey Oswald and that the writing on the envelope was also his. W.C.
4:00 AM (approx) The process of preparing the President's body for burial is completed. (EST? WC)
4:21 AM AP report - Dallas -- Oswald swore allegiance to the Soviet Union four years ago and tried to renounce his American citizenship. He said he is now a member of Fair Play for Cuba. Police termed him arrogant. AP, 4:24 a.m. CST, Frank Cormier
4:30 AM (approx) Ruby left the Times-Herald.
4:30 AM Dave Ferrie, Beauboeuf and Coffey check in at the Alamotel in Houston. "FERRIE claimed they arrived in Houston between 4:30 and 5:30 AM and went directly to the Alamotel located on South Main Street, six to ten blocks south of the Shamrock Hilton Hotel, where they checked into Room 19. He stated that the three of them registered on the same card at the motel. After registering they retired for the night." (FBI interview 11/25/1963)
4:34 AM Coffin containing body of JFK enters the White House. At one point, Bobby Kennedy opens the casket and looks at the body. He remarks that it doesn't look like his brother anymore and reconfirms the family's desire to have the casket remain closed. William Manchester will eventually write: "His eyes full, the Attorney General turned to Bill Walton and whispered, Please look, I want to know what you think.' Walton looked as long as he could, with a growing sense of outrage. He said to Bob, You mustn't keep it open. It has no resemblance to the President. It's a wax dummy ... Don't do it'." Arthur Schlesinger will eventually say: "It is appalling,... At first glance it seemed all right, but I am nearsighted. When I came closer it looked less and less like him." And also according to Manchester, Jacqueline Kennedy says, "It wasn't Jack. It was like something you would see at Madame Tussaud's."
RFK finally takes a sleeping pill and goes to the Lincoln bedroom to try to get some sleep. Once Charles Spalding closes the bedroom door, he hears RFK sob: "Why, God? Why, God? Why?" (Brothers)
5:00 AM Klein's identifies Lee Harvey Oswald as the buyer of the C2766 rifle.
5:00 AM (approx) Ruby, Crafard and Senator take photos of the IMPEACH EARL WARREN sign (WC)
Dallas Police Chief Jesse Curry advises Gordon Shanklin, head of the FBI office in Dallas, that he has received information from an individual in North Carolina as to the location of the purchase of the rifle used in the assassination. An hour from now, FBI assistant Director A. H. Belmont advises Shanklin to tell Chief Curry that the sale of the gun has been traced to Chicago. There is no more discussion about information received from North Carolina. H&L
5:30 AM Ruby went to the Southland Hotel's coffee shop. (WC)
6:00 AM (approx) Ruby and Senator go back to their apartment to get some sleep. (WC)
WFAA-TV Dallas coverage (apparently this morning): A video clip of someone climbing through a 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] floor window on the west side of the TSBD, just above the annex building, is misidentified as the sniper's window. Again it is said that the shells were found on the 5[SUP]th[/SUP] floor, and the assassin fled to the 6[SUP]th[/SUP] floor where the rifle was hidden. On Texas Theater arrest: somebody reported that a man had gone inside the theater with a weapon. "Oswald lives in Fort Worth, there's been no explanation of what he was doing in Dallas today." Alyea film shows Capt Fritz and Lt. Day closely examining the found rifle. James Chaney is interviewed at DPD hallway: he though the first shot was a backfire, and looked back to his left, and he saw JFK look "back over his left shoulder." The second shot happened and he saw JFK "struck in the face." Chaney said the shots came "back over my right shoulder." ABC News' Bill Lord follows up by saying that Chaney's uniform was splattered with blood. Mary Moorman show recalling that 3 or 4 shots "real close together" and felt she was in the line of fire. She said she had turned her Polaroid over to the FBI. DPD would not say whether prints were found on the rifle. News is still reporting Tippit being shot in the Texas Theater. Gerry Hill interviewed on LHO capture: describes Oswald as being 5' 10" tall. Aired a TV statement (apparently from 11/22) blaming the assassination on the "irrational act of a single man…can only be the act of a deranged mind." Oswald was kept in an isolated cell overnight and slept little; he was watched constantly by a guard. At one point he talked to the guard for about an hour, about his family and about Russia ("His description of Russia was complimentary.") Bob Clark interviews Asst Dallas Chief M.W. Stevenson, who says there are no other suspects. Rifle has been sent to FBI, doesn't know if any prints were found on it. Bob Walker says Oswald is an admitted Castro supporter. Interview with Paul Bentley on crutches about LHO arrest: his gun was not necessarily being aimed, but was being pulled up; he and McDonald got hold of it and one of them got his finger between the hammer and firing pin. Oswald struggled like a "wild man." Bentley said Oswald only said, "This is it. It's all over with now," and was very belligerant and arrogant. Interview with DPD Glenn King: LHO seems mentally competent. Bob Clark mentions that Oswald told reporters he wanted a lawyer named Abt. WFAA interviews officers Bentley and McDonald; McDonald went in by the rear exit. As he approached, LHO jumped up, held his hands up and said, "This is it," then hit McDonald. He pulled his gun out of his waist, and was raising it up so that the hammer scratched McDonald's face. He snapped the trigger and it misfired. Otherwise Oswald was very calm and cool. Bentley arrived when the scuffle was in progress. He sprained his ankle climbing over the seats. Both men said they had no suspicion that LHO was involved with killing JFK at this point. When LHO refused to give his name, Bentley had to check his wallet; he found "Dallas public library card, he had other identification such as driver's license, I believe, credit cards, things like that." Henry Wade tells reporters he does not expect to have to call Jackie Kennedy or Gov. Connally at Oswald's trial, says LHO has "above average" intelligence. Louis Nichols is interviewed in the hallway, says LHO wanted Abt or an ACLU lawyer, but if he couldn't get them he would settle for one from the Dallas Bar. Nichols described him as calm and rational.
6:30 AM Shanklin tells his Dallas FBI agents that they do not have authority over this crime, but Washington wants them to do some fact-finding. He also said that Washington "does not want any of you to ask questions about the Soviet aspect of this case. Washington does not want to upset the public." (Assignment Oswald 36)
6:30 AM (EST) FBI agent Drain arrives in Washington with the rifle.
Shortly after Lyndon Johnson awakens this morning, one of his first official acts as President is to fire Mrs. Evelyn Lincoln, President Kennedy's personal secretary, informing her that she is to have her desk cleared out by 9:00 AM. He then orders President Kennedy's personal effects to be removed from the White House -- including Kennedy's famous rocking chair in the Oval Office. Once this is completed, Johnson has a gold framed portrait of himself hung in the White House. He declares next Monday (Nov. 25) as a national day of mourning for JFK.
In today's Dallas Morning News there is a story quoting Dallas District Attorney Henry Wade as saying that preliminary reports indicate more than one person was involved in the shooting of JFK. Cliff Carter, LBJ's aide calls Wade three times to say that "LBJ feels that any word of a conspiracy - some plot by foreign nations - to kill President Kennedy would shake our nation to its foundation."
Also today, New Orleans attorney Dean Andrews calls his secretary from his hospital bed to say that he will be representing OSWALD. Andrews says he was asked to take the case by a man named Clay Bertrand
7:00 AM LBJ calls Pierre Salinger and says: "Pierre, I know how much President Kennedy meant to you, and I know how you must feel now. But I want you to stay on the job. I need you more than he ever did." Salinger tells LBJ that he will stay.
Gene Daniels, Black Star news photographer, on the morning of 11/23/1963 went to Oswald's rooming house on North Beckley and talked to a lady whose name he did not remember. She and her husband were putting up curtain rods in Oswald's room; she explained that they were putting them back up after newsmen the night before had made a mess. Daniels photographed them nailing the curtain rods into position. (Letter from Daniels to Howard Roffman 3/1970). Wesley Frazier had filed his affidavit about the curtain-rod story the day before. At 10:30 on 11/23 Capt Fritz asked Oswald if he had been carrying curtain rods to work, but he denied it.
7:30 AM An FBI report states that on this date, and at this time: "A snub nose thirty-eight caliber Smith and Wessen, Serial number 893265, with the word "England" on the cylinder is found in a brown paper sack in the general area of where the assassination took place." An FBI document released in 1978 will report that on 11/23/63 "Patrolman J. Raz brought into the Homicide and Robbery bureau, Dallas PD, a brown paper sack which contained a snub-nosed .38 caliber Smith and Wesson, SN 893265 .. had been found near the curb at the corner of Ross and Lamar Streets and was turned in by one Willie Flat" This location is several blocks north of Dealey Plaza. By the end of the month, records will indicate that the FBI is carrying on an investigation of the handgun, but there is no record as to what is finally concluded about this mysterious weapon. 11/29/63: URGENT TO DIRECTOR [J. Edgar Hoover] AND SAC, BOSTON [unknown] FROM SAC, DALLAS [J. Gordon Shanklin] ON THE MORNING OF NOVEMBER TWENTY-THREE, LAST, A SNUB NOSE THIRTY EIGHT CALIBER SMITH AND WESSON, SERIAL NUMBER EIGHT NINE THREE TWO SIX FIVE [893265], WITH THE WORD QUOTE ENGLAND UNQUOTE ON THE CYLINDER WAS FOUND AT APPROXIMATELY SEVEN THIRTY AM., IN A BROWN PAPER BAG IN THE GENERAL AREA OF WHERE THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY TOOK PLACE." This weapon is the same type weapon which has been allegedly taken from accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald at the time of his arrest in the Texas Theater. The serial numbers of the two guns are the only basic difference. The so-called Oswald pistol bears the serial number V510210.
7:30 AM Oswald awakens to eat breakfast.
8:00 AM Stolley arrives in Zapruder's office Wrone, 32; Trask, 127. This morning, two FBI agents view 16mm copy of film at Kodak for nearly an hour Trask, 120; Wrone, 26; Zavada Study 1
Unknown time today: Secret Service Insp. Kelley loans Zapruder copy #0186 to FBI's James Bookhout, who gives it to SA Robert Barrett, who gives it to SAC Shanklin Trask, 120; Wrone, 30
8:00 AM RFK takes a solitary walk around the South Grounds of the White House. RK
Richard B. Stolley, representing Life magazine, meets with Abraham Zapruder to view his film. Secret Service agents are also present during the showing. BT
Secret Service Report: At 8:00 A.M. on November 23, the security detail was relieved by Special Agents Hancock and Davis and White House Policeman J. C. Rowe. SA Gonzalez relieved SA Hancock at Noon and at 4:00 P.M., Messrs, Fox and Norton, Protective Research Section, photographed the Presidential limousine. At 4:30 P.M., SA Gonzalez contacted SAIC Bouck and Deputy Chief Paterni and, at their request, the flowers, torn pieces of paper, and other miscellaneous debris were removed from the floor of the car (SS-100-X) and taken to the Washington Field Office. At that time, the special detail securing the Presidential limousine and the follow-up car was discontinued.
8:30 AM Crafard wakes Ruby up. (WC)
9:00 AM Zapruder shows 8mm copy of film to Stolley and others in his office. Zapruder sells print rights to Life Wrone, 33; Trask, 128-9; Schwartz SFM interview; Horne 1200
9:00 AM (EST) FBI receives JFK clothing from Secret Service.
LBJ arrives at the White House. He goes at once to The Situation Room for his first intelligence briefing. This morning, LBJ received a briefing from John McCone, and met with Eisenhower. Walter Heller told LBJ this evening that Kennedy had wanted to emphasize his anti-poverty program in 1964. Heller may have been exaggerating, but Johnson responded favorably.
CIA Director John McCone talks to RFK. McCone is scheduled to meet with LBJ early this afternoon. US
The Zapruder Film is now shown at Abraham Zapruders office by the Secret Service to a small press corps including Dan Rather of CBS and reps from the Saturday Evening Post and the Associated Press.
Two reporters from Life Magazine knock on Mrs. Ruth Paine's door. After Marguerite Oswald, Marina, and their children dress, they are taken to the Adolphus Hotel in downtown Dallas.
Ted Kennedy tells his father, Joseph Sr., the news of JFK's death
RFK finds Evelyn Lincoln in distress outside of the Oval Office, now occupied by LBJ. Johnson had told her, "I have a meeting at 9:30 and would like you to clear your things out of your office by then so my own girls can come in." Johnson extended Lincoln's period of grace until noon. She was out by 11:30. (RFK and His Times, Schlesinger)
Also, at this time on Nov. 23rd, an unidentified man shows up at the Crescent City Garage in New Orleans. Adrian Alba partly owns and operates the place. On this particular morning, Alba is not present. The stranger tells an employee that he is one of Alba's "very best friends" and that he has come to borrow some of Alba's gun magazines which are displayed in the garage's waiting room. The stranger is admitted without further questioning and spends a few minutes browsing over the magazines. The employee, thinking the man is his boss's friend, pays no more attention to him. Lee Harvey Oswald is known to have spent hours browsing through Alba's gun magazines while working in New Orleans at the William B. Reily coffee company, located next door. Alba testifies that Oswald was talkative on the subject of guns and questioned him about the relative merits of various weapons. Alba further testifies that Oswald's special interest seemed to be in how one goes about ordering guns and how long it takes to get them delivered by mail order. Ultimately, investigators find two mail-order coupons for the very rifle supposedly in Oswald's possession in Dallas. In at least one case, the jagged edges of the coupon taken from Oswald's effects will perfectly match the space where a coupon has been ripped out of one of the magazines found in Adrian Alba's waiting room. It is an ad for, among other items, the infamous Mannlicher-Carcano, being offered by Klein's Sporting goods in Chicago -- the company identified as the supplier of the alleged assassination rifle. FBI laboratory examination of the JUNE 1963 issue of the "American Rifleman" found in the garage yields Oswald's thumb print. This same magazine has a Klein's ad coupon torn from it -- a coupon that is found among Oswald's possessions. All this doubtlessly constitutes prime evidence, EXCEPT that records later produced by Klein's will show that Oswald ordered his rifle from the FEBRUARY issue of "American Rifleman." This fact, plus the knowledge of the presence of the stranger in the garage waiting room seriously pollutes the evidence gathered here.
9:15 AM The border with Mexico was reopened. (L.A. Times)
9:20 AM The alarming implications of the CIA's Mexico City case against Oswald had to be faced on the morning after the assassination by the new president, Lyndon Baines Johnson. As a result of the public disclosure under the JFK Act of LBJ's taped conversations, we now know how Johnson was informed of the CIA setup. Michael Beschloss, editor of the Johnson tapes, tells us that at 9:20 A.M. on November 23, 1963, Johnson was briefed by CIA director John McCone about (in Beschloss' words) "information on foreign connections to the alleged assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, which suggested to LBJ that Kennedy may have been murdered by an international conspiracy. " (Michael R. Beschloss, editor, Taking Charge: The Johnson White House Tapes, 1963-64 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1 997), p. 22.
It is not certain whether the conspiracy McCone referred to on November 23 involved Cuba or the Soviet Union. Beschloss's account implies that McCone's "information" concerned Oswald's alleged visit in September 1963 to the Soviet Embassy in Mexico City:
"A CIA memo written that day reported that Oswald had visited Mexico City in September and talked to a Soviet vice consul whom the CIA knew as a KGB expert in assassination and sabotage. The memo warned that if Oswald had indeed been part of a foreign conspiracy, he might be killed before he could reveal it to U.S. authorities."
10:00 AM Richard B. Stolley of Life magazine negotiates with Abraham Zapruder to purchase print rights to the film for $50,000. Zapruder turns "original" over to Stolley. Life will later purchase all rights for a total of $150,000. BT
F. Vaughn Ferguson of the Ford Motor Company arrives at the White House garage in response to a telephone call to his home from the Secret Service. The "bubble top" is in a stall in the garage with two Secret Service agents guarding it. Ferguson is permitted to see only the windshield of the limo. "Examination of the windshield disclosed no perforation, but substantial cracks radiating a couple of inches from the center of the windshield at a point directly beneath the mirror." Ferguson is told to make arrangements to replace the windshield. MIDP
10:00 AM Agents Hosty and Joe Abernathy went to Ruth Paine's house to interview her.
Jesse Curry gives several televised interviews to reporters at various times while walking through the hallway.
First interview: They don't know how LHO got from Dealey Plaza to Oak Cliff; doesn't "want to elaborate on all the evidence that has been uncovered." "Very arrogant" during questioning. "He just denies everything." "I haven't personally been interrogating him." "I think this is the man who killed the President." "Found a great amount of communist literature, communist books" in his boarding house, enough to almost fill a large box. Paraffin tests: "I understand that it was positive." They're talking to another TSDB employee who is in their subversive files who had attended meetings of "left wing groups." Asked again about how he got to Oak Cliff: "We have heard that he was picked up by a negro in a car" but this was not confirmed. Smudged fingerprints on the rifle; "If we could put his prints on the rifle it would certainly connect him to the rifle." They don't know how he bought the rifle. Reporter asks if he had any connection to the Gen. Walker shooting: "I do not know." DPD don't have any witnesses who said they saw a rifle in the window during the shooting. DPD did not know LHO was in Dallas, but FBI did. Does not consider Oswald to be in danger from possible vigilantes. Thinks LHO carried the fully assembled rifle in the package ("it was large enough"). Oswald has no lawyer; it apparently is his responsibility to hire one. "He's mentally right," agrees with a reporter that he is not "off his rocker."
Second Curry interview: Capt Fritz, an FBI man and a SS man are interrogating Oswald this morning. Three officers were injured during LHO arrest.
Third Curry interview: Clarifies his statement about the FBI. Says repeatedly (3 or 4 times) and emphatically that "I do not know if and when the FBI has interviewed this man," praised FBI's past cooperation. Says that "someone told me" last night that the FBI had talked to Oswald, and he didn't know what someone was. Lie detector test offered to LHO but he refused. Asked about a pop bottle with fingerprints on it, but Curry doesn't know about it. Curry talks about Joe Molina, who voluntarily let the police search his house. Curry still doesn't know how LHO got from DP to Oak Cliff. Doesn't appear to have a car. Still working on where the rifle came from.
After Curry publicly recanted his reporting of Hosty's statement about Oswald, "Hoover ordered the severing of all FBI relations with the Dallas police. This extended even to training the police." (Weisberg, Never Again 19)
Fourth Curry interview: FBI just told them they have the mail order form Oswald bought the rifle with, in Oswald's writing. On ballistics: "We haven't had a final report but I understand it will be favorable."
Fifth Curry interview (evening): Oswald won't admit to owning the rifle. Curry was not present at interrogations. Pessimistic about getting a confession from him. Won't show the reporters the backyard photos because they would be evidence at the trial.
At some point today apparently the press began to report the rifle as a Mannlicher-Carcano.
Today, the Dallas FBI assumed custody of Connally's wrist fragments. FBI agent J. Doyle Williams interviewed Dr Gregory, Trooper Bobby Nolan and Nurse Audrey Bell. Doyle confused the fragments removed from the wrist with the one in the governor's thigh. (McKnight, Breach of Trust)
10:01 AM (EST) Lyndon Johnson receives a telephone call from FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, updating him on the progress of the investigation. The recording of that conversation would later be destroyed. Only a transcript survives.
Hoover: The evidence that they have at the present time [against Oswald] is not very, very strong. We have just discovered the place where the gun was purchased and the shipment of the gun from Chicago to Dallas, to a post office box in Dallas, to a man - no, to a woman by the name of A. Hidell.'...We had it flown up last night, and our laboratory here is making an examination of it....We have the gun and we have the bullet. There was only one full bullet that was found. That was on the stretcher that the President was on. It apparently had fallen out when they massaged his heart, and we have that one. We have what we call slivers, which are not very valuable in the identification. As soon as we finish the testing of the gun for fingerprints...we will then be able to test the one bullet we have with the gun. But the important thing is that this gun was bought in Chicago on a money order. Cost twenty-one dollars, and it seems almost impossible to think that for twenty-one dollars you could kill the President of the United States.
LBJ: Now, who is A. Hidell?
Hoover: A. Hidell is an alias that this man has used on other occasions, and according to the information we have from the house in which he was living - his mother - he kept a rifle like this wrapped up in a blanket which he kept in the house...the man who drove him to the building where they work...said that he had a package wrapped up in paper...
LBJ: Have you established any more about the visit to the Soviet embassy in Mexico in September?
Hoover: No, that's one angle that's very confusing, for this reason we have up here the tape and the photograph of the man who was at the Soviet embassy, using Oswald's name. That picture and the tape do not correspond to this man's voice nor to his appearance. In other words, it appears that there is a second person who was at the Soviet embassy down there....We do have a copy of a letter which was written by Oswald to the Soviet embassy here in Washington [a November 9, 1963, letter that Oswald began by referring to 'my meetings with comrade Kostin in the Embassy of the Soviet Union, Mexico City, Mexico,' which was interpreted to mean Kostikov]…The case as it stands now isn't strong enough to be able to get a conviction...Now if we can identify this man who was at the...Soviet embassy in Mexico City...This man Oswald has still denied everything....[The rifle] was found on the sixth floor in the building from which it had been fired. I think that the bullets were fired from the fifth floor, and the three shells that were found were found on the fifth floor. But he apparently went upstairs to have fired the gun and throw the gun away and then went out. He went down to this theater. There at the theater was where he had the gun battle with the police officer.
According to the diary, the call from Hoover was followed by a brief call from Bundy (untaped) and a call to labor leader George Meany. The Vice-Presidential recording system in place at the time of these recordings used an IBM machine which recorded magnetically on wide looping belts. This is a different system from the "Dictabelt" system used by JFK and later by LBJ.
10:05 AM AP report: Dallas Police Chief Jess Curry said today Lee Harvey Oswald has "readily admitted he is a Communist." Curry said Oswald. admitted to officers in questioning last night that he was "a member of the Communist Party." The police chief said, "Apparently he was proud of being a Communist. He didn't try to hide it." Curry said he did not know whether Oswald was a card-carrying member of the party. "Last year Oswald said on the New Orleans television panel he was not a communist but was a Marxist," Curry said, "but actually, Oswald has never drawn any distinction between the two." Curry said police never had Oswald listed on their suspicious list. "We have another man working in that same building who has been listed in our subversive files since 1955,"Curry said. Police were seeking this man for questioning. ... Curry said that there are 25 to 30 known communists in the Dallas area. "I understand the Communists have had some meetings here but we don't have much to do with them," said the police chief. AP, 10:05 a.m. CST, Peggy Simpson
10:17 AM (EST) LBJ phone call with George Meaney
10:30 AM Stolley leaves Zapruder's office with original 16mm print of film (#0183), which is immediately couriered to Donnelly printing plant in Chicago, where Life magazine is being prepared. Zapruder retains the best of the 3 first day copies. Stolley, "What happened next", Esquire, November 1973, 134-5; Thompson and Mack e-mails to author, May 2010;Wrone, 34; Richard Bartholomew/Schwartz interview, 2004
Three 16mm b/w copies of film made by Life in Chicago Wrone, 27, 35; Horne, 1199; Trask, 119; Zavada 2010
10:30-11 AM Joe Molina comes to DPD for questioning, after his house was searched at 1:30 am. He was questioned by Lt. Revill about his membership in the G.I. Forum. Revill had also been present at the searching of his house. He was upset that afternoon to find his name mentioned on TV by Curry. He was terminated from his job at the TSBD in December, suspecting it was because of all the negative publicity. (WC testimony)
10:30 AM-11:33 AM, continued 12:35-1:10pm: Oswald interrogation in Fritz's office, with Sorrels, Bookhout and US Marshal Robert I. Nash: "I never owned a rifle...Michael Paine owned a car, Ruth Paine owned two cars...Robert Oswald, my brother, lives in Fort Worth. He and the Paines were closest friends in town...The FBI has thoroughly investigated me at various other times...They have used their hard and soft approach to me, and they use the buddy system...In the past three weeks the FBI has talked to my wife. They were abusive and impolite. [Oswald had Hosty's home phone and office numbers and car license on him when he was arrested.] "I was arrested in New Orleans for disturbing the peace and paid a $10 fine for demonstrating for the Fair Play for Cuba Committee. I had a fight with some anti-Castro refugees and they were released while I was fined...I refuse to take a polygraph....I didn't shoot John Kennedy...I didn't even know Gov. John Connally had been shot...I don't own a rifle...I didn't tell Buell Wesley Frazier anything about bringing back some curtain rods...[Mrs Paine] was learning Russian....I don't know Mrs Paine very well, but Mr Paine and his wife were separated a great deal of the time...The garage at the Paines' house has some seabags that have a lot of my personal belongings. I left them after coming back from New Orleans in September... The name Alek Hidell was picked up while working in New Orleans in the Fair Play for Cuba organization...I speak Russian, correspond with people in Russia, and receive newspapers from Russia...I don't own a rifle at all...I did have a small rifle some years past. You can't buy a rifle in Russia, you can only buy shotguns. I had a shotgun in Russia and hunted some while there. I didn't bring the rifle from New Orleans ...I belong to the Civil Liberties Union...I did carry a package to the Texas School Book Depository. I carried my lunch, a sandwich and fruit, which I made at Paine's house...I had nothing personal against John Kennedy....When I left the Depository I took a bus to a stop near my room and walked the rest of the way there. Oh, yes - I did ride in a cab. The bus I took near the Depository got into heavy traffic and was going too slowly, so I got off and caught a cab. I remember when I got in the taxi a lady who came up who also wanted it but the driver told her to take another cab...When I got home after the cab ride, I changed both my shirt and trousers before going to the show. The cab fare was about 85 cents..."
Mr. BALL. You learned certain things from your investigation of the day before, hadn't you?
Mr. FRITZ. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. One of them was you found he had a transfer, didn't you, in his he was arrested?
Mr. FRITZ. Yes, sir; I sure talked to him about the transfers.
Mr. BALL. All right. What did he say?
Mr. FRITZ. He admitted the transfer.
Mr. BALL. I don't want you to say he admitted the transfer. I want you to tell me what he said about the transfer.
Mr. FRITZ. He told he that was the transfer the busdriver had given him when he caught the bus to go home. But he had told me if you will remember in our previous conversation that he rode the bus or on North Beckley and had walked home but in the meantime, sometime had told me about him riding a cab.
So, when I asked him about a cab ride if he had ridden in a cab he said yes, he had, he told me wrong about the bus, he had rode a cab. He said the reason he changed, that he rode the bus for a short distance, and the crowd was so heavy and traffic was so bad that he got out and caught a cab, and I asked him some other questions about the cab and I asked him what happened there when he caught the cab and he said there was a lady trying to catch a cab and he told the busdriver, the busdriver told him to tell the lady to catch the cab behind him and he said he rode that cab over near his home, he rode home in a cab. I asked him how much the cabfare was, he said 85 cents.
Mr. BALL. Did you ask him if he went directly to his home?
Mr. FRITZ. Yes, sir; he said he went straight home.
Mr. BALL. Didn't you learn from the cabdriver that he hadn't taken him to 1026 North Beckley?
Mr. FRITZ. I knew he had taken him near there but I am telling you what he told me, he told me he had taken him home.
Mr. BALL. Did you ask him whether he had gone directly home?
Mr. FRITZ. No, sir; I don't think so.
Mr. BALL. Then you found out the day before about the Wesley Frazier package, hadn't you?
Mr. FRITZ. Yes, sir; I found out about the package from Irving.
Mr. BALL. Yes.
Mr. FRITZ. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. And also that he usually went home on Friday night and this time he went home on Thursday night.
Mr. FRITZ. I asked him why he had changed nights.
Mr. BALL. Yes, sir.
Mr. FRITZ. And let me see what he told me about why he had changed. The man I talked to told me he usually went out on weekends, on Friday, so I believe he told me, I am not positive why he told me why he went home on this different night but I think he told me because someone else was going to be over there on weekends or something to that effect.
Mr. BALL. And you asked him again, didn't you, what he was doing at the time the President was shot?
Mr. FRITZ. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. What did he say?
Mr. FRITZ. Well, he told me about the same story about this lunch.
Mr. BALL. He mentioned who he was having lunch with, did he not?
Mr. FRITZ. Yes, sir; he told me he was having lunch when the President was shot.
Mr. BALL. With whom?
Mr. FRITZ. With someone called Junior, someone he worked with down there, but he didn't remember the other boy's name.
Mr. BALL. Did he tell you what he was eating?
Mr. FRITZ. He told me, I believe, that he had, I am doing this from memory, a cheese sandwich, and he also mentioned he had some fruit, I had forgotten about the fruit until I looked at this report.
Mr. BALL. Did he say that was in the package he had brought from home?
Mr. FRITZ. Yes, sir; there was one reason I asked him about what was in the package, we had had a story that had been circulated around the meantime about some chicken bones, I am sure you heard of that, and I wanted to find for sure what he did have in his lunch and he told me about having--he told me they did not have any chicken out there and I also talked with the Paines and they told me they didn't have any chicken in the icebox, they did have some cheese.
Mr. BALL. What about the pistol that he had on him when he was arrested, did you question him about that this morning?
Mr. FRITZ. That morning?
Mr. BALL. Your notes show that you did.
Mr. FRITZ. Yes, sir; I talked to him about the pistol and asked him where he got it.
Mr. BALL. What did he say?
Mr. FRITZ. He told me he had got it about 6 or 7 months before in Fort Worth but he wouldn't tell me where he got it. When I asked him a little further about that he told me he didn't want to talk any further about the pistol.
Mr. BALL. Did you ever ask him what he thought of President Kennedy or his family?
Mr. FRITZ. Yes, sir; I asked him what he thought of the President.
Mr. BALL. What did he say?
Mr. FRITZ. What he thought about the family--he said he didn't have any particular comment to make about the President. He said he had a nice family, that he admired his family, something to that effect. At one time, I don't have this in my report, but at one time I told him, I said, "You know you have killed the President, and this is a very serious charge." He denied it and said he hadn't killed the President. I said he had been killed. He said people will forget that within a few days and there would be another President.
11:00 AM Albert Bogard called the local FBI about Oswald's visit to his car dealership; they soon came by to interview him.
11:17 AM AP report: Dallas - Curry said a building porter also described Oswald as a possible suspect. The police chief did not identify the porter. "The porter said he carried Oswald up to the sixth [correct] floor and Oswald asked him to send the elevator back up. The porter went to the front steps to watch the parade," Curry said. AP, 11:17 a.m. CST, Peggy Simpson
11:20-11:25 AM In an interview, Jesse Curry implies that FBI agents had recently interviewed OSWALD, had him under surveillance, and had prior knowledge of his activities. When J. Edgar Hoover hears of these remarks, he immediately has C. D. DeLoach contact SAC Gordon Shanklin in Dallas. Shanklin is instructed to get a public retraction from Curry or lose his job with the FBI. Curry retracts his statements in a subsequent statement to the press. AP report from 11:20 AM: Dallas - Curry told newsmen the FBI had interviewed Oswald "a week or two ago." Asked if the FBI notified police of Oswald's presence, the chief said, "No, sir. They did not." "Why they hadn't gotten around to informing us of this man, we don't know," Curry said. He said the FBI told him of the interview last night after Oswald was in custody. Curry said the FBI agents did not reveal what information they had learned from their interview, or if the interview indicated he was a person to watch. AP, Peggy Simpson, 11:20 a.m. CST
11:30 AM Detectives Elmer Boyd, C.N. Dhority and Ray Hall obtain a search warrant from Justice Joe B. Brown, and proceed to Oswald's rooming house. (CRENSHAW 158)
11:30 AM (EST) LBJ talks with Eisenhower.
11:33 AM Oswald is returned to his jail cell
11:38 AM Eleven-year-old Mack White and his father visit Dealey Plaza.
"We walked to Dealey Plaza, passing the Dallas city jail. My father told me that Lee Harvey Oswald was being held inside. This made a great impression on me, to think that inside that very building was the man who had done the horrible thing. We were sure of Oswald's guilt. At that early hour, everyone was. It never occurred to us that his guilt might be less than a sure thing. The doubts would not begin until the next day, when local Mob man Jack Ruby appeared on the stage of history and shot Oswald while in police custody.
In front of the Texas Schoolbook Depository a man was selling copies of the Dallas Times-Herald. There was a huge stack of papers, but only a few people to buy them. Strange as it may seem now, tourists had not yet begun to arrive in Dealey Plaza in significant numbers. That morning it was mostly reporters and cops.
My father bought one of the papers (which I still have) and we walked around, my father taking pictures (which I also still have). At one point, my father pointed out the so-called "sniper" window to me. As I was looking up, my eye wandered away from the window to the fire escape on the building across the street--the Dal-Tex building-where I saw two men taking turns looking through the scope of a rifle mounted on a tripod.
I was alarmed. "What are they doing?" I asked.
"It's part of the investigation," said my father.
So the police were checking out an alternative sniper perch. Evidently, that morning, there was still something resembling a real investigation. The investigation, of course, would end the next day with Oswald's death."
Freelance news photographer Shel Hershorn (presently working for Black Star News Agency) takes telescopic sight photos from the 6[SUP]th[/SUP] or 7[SUP]th[/SUP] floor of the Dal-Tex Building, looking down Elm Street.
11:40 AM (EST) Jackie already sees a new rug placed in the Oval Office. (Death of a President)
11:58 AM AP report - Dallas - Oswald ... asked today for a lawyer. Police were escorting Oswald past rows of photographers and reporters on the way to further questioning in the interrogation room in the jail basement. Newsmen had agreed not to ask Oswald any questions as he passed, but as the slim accused man approached a television microphone, he stopped. Leaning over slightly, he said, "I want to contact Mr. Abt in New York to defend me as my lawyer." Without another word, Oswald and the police walked into a hallway and closed the door. AP, 11:58 a.m. CST, Peggy Simpson
12:00 PM Carousel Club employee Larry Crafard, a young man who bears some resemblance to Oswald, leaves Dallas without telling anyone and hitchhikes to Michigan with $7.00 in his pocket. He is located by the FBI several days later in a remote part of that state.
Around this time, Jack Ruby parks his car at Allright Parking and walks to City Hall.
David Ferrie will tell the FBI that on this afternoon, he spends two hours at the Winterland Rink in Houston, Texas, skating and talking with Chuck Rolland (the owner) about the cost of installing and operating his rink. Later, Rolland will tell FBI agents that Ferrie had called from New Orleans the afternoon of November 22 only to obtain the skating schedule at Winterland, and "at no time did he discuss the cost of equipping or operating an ice skating rink." Furthermore, Rolland will inform the agents that Ferrie does not skate at all while at his rink, but spends the entire stay at Winterland making and receiving calls at a public phone. From Winterland, Ferrie and his two friends go to another Houston skating rink, the Belair. Witnesses will later tell FBI agents the trio does not skate there either. Eventually, Ferrie and his companions will check out of the Alamotel in Houston and drive 100 miles to Galveston. First, however -- David Ferrie calls Carlos Marcello's Town & Country office from the Houston motel.
"FERRIE claims that he had left a call at the motel office for 8:30 AM and another call for 10:30 AM but has no recollection of receiving a call from the motel office at either time. FERRIE said he had left the calls so that he could call Attorney G. WRAY GILL in New Orleans to tell him he had left New Orleans and was on a vacation trip. FERRIE stated that he and his companions awakened roughly at noon and after having breakfast he went down Main Street to Sears, Roebuck and Company where he purchased a jacket, a sweater and several other items. After leaving Sears, they drove directly to the Winterland Ice Skating Rink, 2400 Norfolk, which he had learned opened at 3:30 PM and closed at 5:30 PM. FERRIE said he rented skates and skated at the rink for a while looking the situation over and also taking into consideration the amount of business at the rink. He stated that he introduced himself to CHUCK ROLLAND and spoke with him at length concerning the cost of installation and operation of the rink. FERRIE exhibited a leaflet of the Winterland Ice Skating Rink, 2400 Norfolk, Houston, Texas, which he had in his possession. FERRIE stated that during the time he was talking to CHUCK ROLLAND other employees of ROLLAND were present at the rink. He recalled specifically there was a young boy who was passing out skates and an older man who was on duty at the rink but he does not recall whether he was introduced to these two individuals or not. FERRIE claimed that he remained at the Winterland Skating Rink for a period of approximately two hours and after leaving there he returned to the motel." (FBI interview 11/25/1963)
A postman walks up to a WFAA cameraman on the street and hands him a 30.6 cartridge wrapped in a postal receipt. "Give this to Bert Shipp," the postman says. "He will know what to do with it". Shipp is a well known television personality and perhaps this is why the postman thinks of him. "Where did you get it?" The cameraman asks. "I found it in the bushes outside the School Book Depository Building," says the postman. Shipp at first doesn't take it seriously. The cartridge shell lies on Shipp's desk for months. Some law enforcement people hear about and have a look at the shell. Finally, a member of the Dallas Police Department comes by the television station and picks up the cartridge. The police keep the cartridge for awhile and then Patrolman George Butler gives it back to Shipp,. Police tell Shipp as far as they are concerned; he has one of the shells that had come out of Oswald's rifle. It must have flicked out the sixth floor window and landed in the bushes below. The only problem with that is there is no logical way the shell could have flicked out the window. And there are no bushes below the window---only cement. (Neither could a 30.6 shell be fired from the MC.). Engraved on the mystery bullet is "FA 41." This means the bullet was manufactured in 1941 at Frankfort Arsenal in Illinois. It was part of 1941 military ammunition.
In Dallas - Joe M. Dealey, president of the Dallas Morning News and grandson of the community builder whose bronze statue stands in the park where JFK was shot, says: "We are a tormented town." Dallas Mayor, Earle Cabell is under police guard because of threats to his own life following the assassination. H. L. Hunt issues the following statement: "Every American, whatever the faith of his views or his political affiliations, suffers a personal loss when a President dies ... freedom is in fearful danger when a President dies by violence." Secretary-Treasurer of the Dallas AFL-CIO, Allan Maley, says: "There is no use beating around the bush. Dallas is a sick city. There are powerful leaders who have encouraged or condoned or at best remained silent while the preachment of hate helped condition a citizenry to support the most reactionary sort of political philosophy." FD
Ike Pappas recalls: "It was chaos on the third floor of the Dallas police office. We were asked to stand behind a white-roped off area. They did not issue special press passes - anyone with a press pass was OK. I was stunned and amazed that we were permitted so close to the prisoner."
At some point during the day, Gilberto Policarpo Lopez crosses the border into Mexico at Laredo, Texas. In four days, he will fly to Cuba.
An official declaration is published today by the U.S. State Department: "Department authorities said today that there was no evidence to indicate that the USSR or any other power is implicated in the assassination." Fidel Castro's response is, "Why did the State Department have to mak