Deep Politics Timeline

[Tracy Riddle]

The Motorcade 11:50 AM 12:30 PM

11:50-55 AM

JFK's motorcade leaves Love Field for the trip through downtown Dallas to the Trade Mart. Kennedy rode in a 1961 Lincoln Continental, custom-built and designed to hold seven passengers. A lever could make the back seat raise 10.5 inches. There were handgrips and stirrups on the back of the car for Secret Service agents to hold on to.

Marty Underwood says: "They had a hell of a fight there for about five minutes that day, before they started the motorcade. I don't mean a fight, but ... . ." (Concerning the bubble top for the Presidential limo) " ... Jackie wanted it up and Kenny O'Donnell wanted it up, and Connally wanted it up. He (JFK) wanted people to see Jackie ..." "We were getting ready to start the motorcade and Connally, Kenny O'Donnell, and Dave Powers and everybody talked to Kennedy and said, look, let's put the bubble top up. And he said, No this is Jackie's first trip and the people love her, and I'm going to keep it down.' It was his idea all the way."

Agent Sam Kinney, however, admits to Vince Palamara that it was his sole responsibility for the removal of the bubbletop -- a decision he has lived with, with some regret for over thirty years now. Richard Greer, son of the late Bill Greer, told me of his father's guilt over this decision of the Secret Service. Three agents -- Sam Kinney, Bob Lilly and Thomas Kelley -- stated that the bubbletop, although not bulletproof, may have at least deflected a bullet or, at the very least, somewhat hampered a gunman's view via the sun's glare off its surface.

As the motorcade begins, film footage from ABC television's Dallas/ Fort Worth affiliate WFAA shows a SS agent being recalled by shift leader (and commander of the follow-up car detail) Emory P. Roberts. (According to Vince Palamara, it has recently been determined that this is Donald Lawton, not Henry Rybka). As the limo begins leaving the area, the agent's confusion is made clear as he throws his arms up several times before, during, and after the follow-up car passes him by, despite agent Paul E. Landis making room for him on the running board of the car. SS agents Warner, Donald Lawton and Henry Rybka remained at the airport. As the ARRB's Doug Horne wrote in a memo dated April 16, 1996, based on viewing the aforementioned video shown during Palamara's presentation at a 1995 research conference (later to be shown during the author's appearance on the History Channel in 2003): "The bafflement of the agent who is twice waved off of the limousine is clearly evident. This unambiguous and clearly observed behavior would seem to be corroboration that the change in security procedure which was passed to SA Clint Hill earlier in the week by ASAIC Floyd Boring of the Secret Service White House Detail was very recent, ran contrary to standing procedure, and that not everyone on the White House Detail involved in Presidential protection had been informed of this change." Vince Palamara: "All of this begs the question: Were Rybka and Lawton the two agents who were supposed to have rode on the rear of the limousine in Dallas?"

In 1991, Democratic party advance man Marty Underwood gives an interview to researcher Vincent Palamara in which he says that the CIA, the FBI, and the mafia "knew (JFK) was going to be hit" on 11/22/63 - this information came from his direct contacts with CIA officer Win Scott, the Mexico City Station Chief during Oswald's visit to that region. Additionally, Underwood stated that, eighteen hours before Kennedy's murder, "we were getting all sorts of rumors that the President was going to be assassinated in Dallas; there were no if's, and's, or but's about it." When Underwood told JFK about these disturbing reports, the President merely said, "Marty, you worry about me too much."

The motorcade is spread over a half mile:
ADVANCE CAR (hardtop - 1/2 mile in front of motorcade)
Dallas Police Capt. Perdure W. Lawrence (DPD Call #125)

PILOT CAR (white Ford sedan)
DPD Dep. Chief George L. Lumpkin (driver - also Army Intelligence reserve) * *DPD Det. Faye M. (F.M.) Turner
DPD Det. William "Billy" L. Senkle * * Lt. Col. George L. Whitmeyer (US Army Reserve, East Texas Section Commander) * Jacob "Jack" L. Puterbaugh (Democratic party advance man)

ADVANCE MOTORCYCLES (Harley-Davidson)
DPD Sgt. S.Q. Bellah (call #190), DPD Glen C. McBride (call #133), DPD J.B. Garrick (call #132)

LEAD MOTORCYCLES
1. DPD Leon E. (L.E.) Grey
(DPD Call #156)
2. DPD E.D."Buddy" Brewer
(DPD Call #137)
3. DPD Harold R. (H.R.) Freeman
(DPD Call #135)
4. DPD W.G. Lumpkin
(DPD Call #152)
5. DPD Sgt. Stavis Ellis
(DPD Call #150)

LEAD CAR, ENCLOSED SEDAN (unmarked white Ford Mercury)
Jesse Curry (Dallas police chief - driver) * * Winston Lawson (SS agent)
Bill Decker (Dallas Sheriff) * * Forrest Sorrels (SS agent)

PRESIDENTIAL LIMOUSINE (1961 Lincoln Continental code named SS-100-X)
William R. Greer (SS agent) * * Roy H. Kellerman (SS agent)
Nellie B. Connally * * John B. Connally
Jacqueline B. Kennedy * * John F. Kennedy

MOTORCYCLES
Billy Joe Martin (call #131) * Bobby W. Hargis (call #136)* * James M. Chaney (call #151) * Douglas L. Jackson (call #138)

SECRET SERVICE FOLLOW-UP CAR a convertible 1956 black Cadillac code named "Halfback"
Samuel A. Kinney (SS agent driver) * * Emory P. Roberts (SS agent)
Clinton J. Hill (SS agent left front running board) * * John D. Ready (SS agent right front running board)
William T. McIntyre (SS agent left rear running board) * * Paul E. Landis (SS agent right rear running board)
Kenneth P. O'Donnell (JFK aide) * * David F. Powers (JFK aide)
George W. Hickey Jr. (SS agent) * * Glen A. Bennett (SS agent)

VICE-PRESIDENTIAL CAR (convertible grey 1964 Lincoln)
Hurchel Jacks (Texas Highway Patrol - driver) * * Rufus Youngblood (SS agent)
Sen. Ralph Yarborough * Lady Bird Johnson * * Lyndon B. Johnson

VICE PRESIDENTIAL SECRET SERVICE CAR (a hardtop yellow 1964 Ford Mercury code named "Varsity")
Joe Henry Rich (Texas state patrol - driver) * Clifton Carter (LBJ aide) * *Jerry Kivett (SS agent)
Warren Woody Taylor (SS agent) * *Lem Johns (SS agent)

DIGNITARY CAR (white 1964 Ford Mercury Comet Caliente, 2 door convertible)
Milton Wright (Texas Highway Patrolman) * * Mayor Earle Cabell
Mrs Dearie Cabell * * Congressman Ray Roberts

PRESS POOL CAR (grey or blue 1960 Chevrolet Bel Air 2-door sedan)
Driver (telephone company employee) * Merriman Smith (UPI) * * Malcolm Kilduff (JFK press sec.)
Jack Bell (AP)* Robert Baskin * (Dallas Morning News) * Robert Clark (ABC)

CAMERA CAR 1 (1964 Chevy Impala yellow 2-door convertible) (none of the people in this car were questioned by the WC)
Driver * John Hoefen (NBC) * * David Wiegman, Jr. (NBC)
Thomas J. Craven Jr. (CBS) * * Cleve Ryan (lighting technician) * Thomas Atkins (US Navy)

CAMERA CAR 2 (1964 Chevy Impala silver 2-door convertible) (none of the people in this car were questioned by the WC)
Driver * * Donald Clint Grant (Dallas Morning News) *Frank Cancellare (UPI)
Cecil Stoughton (White House photographer) * * Arthur Rickerby (LIFE) * Henry D. Burroughs (AP)

CAMERA CAR 3 (1964 Chevy Impala gray 2-door convertible) (all but the driver and Darnell were questioned by the WC)
Driver * *James Underwood (KRLD) * Thomas Dillard (Dallas Morning News)
Jimmy Darnell (WBAP) * * Malcolm Couch (WFAA-TV) * Robert Jackson (Dallas Times Herald)

MOTORCYCLES
Hollis McLain (call #155) * * Marrion Baker

DIGNITARY CAR (white 1964 Ford Mercury Comet Caliente)
Driver * *Rep. George Mahon
Rep. Walter Rogers, Rep. Homer Thornberry, Larry O'Brien

DIGNITARY CAR (2-door convertible, white Ford Mercury Comet Caliente)
1. Driver
2. Congressman Albert Thomas (Houston, TX)
3. Congressman Jack Brooks (Beaumont, TX)
4. Congressman Lindey Beckworth (Gladewater, TX)
5. Congressman Olin E. "Tiger" Teague (College Station, TX)
6. Congressman James C. Wright, Jr. (Ft. Worth, TX)

DIGNITARY CAR (grey 1964 Lincoln sedan)
1. Driver
2. Congressman John Young (Corpus Christi, TX)
3. Congressman Henry B. Gonzalez (San Antonio, TX)
4. State Senator William Patman
5. Congressman Graham Purcell

VIP CAR (1964 Ford Mercury Colony Park Station Wagon)
1. Major General Chester V."Ted" Clifton, US Army Military Presidential Aid (senior ranking)
(SS WHCA code-Watchman)
2. Major General Godfrey "God" McHugh, US Air Force Air Force Presidential Aid
(SS WHCA code-Wing)
3. Julian Reed Gov.-Connally's Press Secretary (NPOA)

MOTORCYCLES
1. DPD J.W. Courson (DPD Call #153)
2. DPD Clyde A. Haygood (DPD Call #142)

WHITE HOUSE PRESS BUS (Continental Trailways Bus)
1. Driver
2. Harry Cabluck*-FWST B&W still
3. Richard Beebe Dudman-St. Louis Post Dispatch
4. Douglas Kiker-NY Herald Tribune
5. Robert MacNeil-NBC Bureau Chief
6. Robert Manning-WH Staff
7. Robert Charles Pierpoint-CBS TV WH Corr
8. Charles "Chuck" Roberts-Newsweek
9. Hugh Sidey-Time Magazine Washington Bureau Chief

LOCAL PRESS CAR (Chevrolet 4-door hardtop)
1. Lewis Harris-DMN Editor
2. Mike Quinn-DMN
3. Kent Biffle-DMN
4. Larry Grove-DMN

WHITE HOUSE PRESS BUS 2 (Continental Trailways Bus)
1. Driver
2. Sidney Davis-Westinghouse Broadcasting
3. Robert John Donovan-LA Times Washington Corr
4. Seth Kantor-Scripps-Howard
5. Robert Young-Chicago Tribune

MOTORCYCLES
1. DPD Sgt. R. Smart (DPD Call #170)
2. DPD Robert Joseph (Bobby Joe) Dale (DPD Call #161)

EXTRA CAR (grey or blue Chevy hardtop)
1. Driver

WESTERN UNION CAR (1957 black Ford hardtop)
1. R.C. Johnson - Sales Manager, The Western Union Telegraph Co.
2. S.R. Yates - Sales Manager, The Western Union Telegraph Co.

SIGNAL CORPS CAR (white 1964 Chevy Impala hardtop)
1. Chief Warrant Officer Arthur W. Bales, Jr. US Army, US Signal Corps (SS WHCA code-Sturdy)
2. Ira Gearhart-US Army (SS WHCA code- The Bagman/Shadow/Satchel)

EXTRA CAR
1. Driver

CONTINENTAL TRAILWAYS STAFF AND OFFICIAL PARTY BUS
1. Driver
2. White House Staff Members
3. Presidential Staff Members
4. Vice Presidential Staff Members
5. Governor's Staff Members
6. Airport Reception Committee
7. H. Barefoot Sanders Jr.-US Attorney
8. Jack Joseph Valenti-Aide to Vice President
9. Marie Felmer-Secretary to Vice President
10. Evelyn Maurine Lincoln-Personal Secretary
to President (SS WHCA code-Willow)
11. Rear Admiral George G. Burkley, MD, US Navy,
Presidential Physician (SS WHCA code-Market)
12. Mrs. Elizabeth "Liz" Carpenter-Executive
Assistant to Vice President
13. Pamela Tunure, Personal Secretary to
Mrs. Kennedy
14. Sgt. Paul Glynn, US Air Force-Personal Aid to
Vice President
15. Mary Gallagher

REAR POLICE CAR (DPD Car #260)
1. DPD J.M. Philips (DPD Call #158)
2. DPD L.S. Davenport (?)

REAR POLICE MOTORCYCLE (3-wheel)
1. DPD (unknown)

The Secret Service had tagged the vehicles indicating their position in the parade; the president's car was supposed to be number 7, with the photographer's car directly in front (number 6), as usual, but last minute changes caused JFK's car to be moved to the number 2 position, and the photographer/press vehicles were moved farther back in the motorcade. Dallas Morning News photographer Thomas Dillard: "We lost our position out at the airport. I understood we were supposed to have been quite a bit closer [to the President]. We were assigned as the prime photographic car which, as you probably know, normally a truck precedes the President on these things and certain representatives of the photographic press ride with the truck. In this case, as you know, we didn't have any and this car that I was in was to take any photographs which was of spot-news nature...and the whole parade, the whole trip to town, I could only distinguish the President's car on very few occasions in high rises in the ground, when we got on hills. It was difficult because the people in the cars ahead of me were sitting on the backs of cars which pretty well covered the President's car for me. We had a very, very poor view of the President's car at any time from the time the parade started." Dillard told Richard Trask: "The sad thing news-wise was the custom always was that a selected group of press people - photographers - were to ride a flat-bed truck in front of the President. That was standard procedure in all presidential parades. I was one of the selected photographers. I was the head man at my paper and a pretty good photographer...It was understood the flatbed was going to be there. But at the last moment it was canceled. We bounced around and ended up on one of those Chevrolet convertibles." Hugh Sidney, White House correspondent for Time remembers: "I was [in one of the press buses] behind the driver, and to be honest I was bored. It was just another motorcade."

Henry Burroughs 10/14/98 letter to Vince Palamara---"I was a member of the White House pool aboard Air Force One when we arrived with JFK in Dallas on that fateful day. We, the pool, were dismayed to find our pool car shoved back to about #11 position in the motorcade. We protested, but it was too late."

Capt. Fritz's WC testimony: "Well, we had taken some precautions but those were changed. We were told in the beginning that we would be in the parade directly behind it, I don't know whether it was the second or third car, but the Vice President's car, that we would be directly behind that, and we did make preparation for that. But at 10 o'clock the night before the parade, Chief Stevenson called me at home and told me that had been changed, and I was assigned with two of my officers to the speakers' stand at the Trade Mart."

On the 40th anniversary of the assassination Winston Lawson gave an interview to Michael Granberry of the Dallas Morning News: "I must have thought a million times, what could I have done to prevent it?... From Love Field to Dealey Plaza, there were 20,000 windows. How could we possibly check them all?" Granberry's article goes on to say: "When the president's day began at the Hotel Texas in Fort Worth, a persistent drizzle had forced the Secret Service to consider covering the motorcade's cars in Dallas with protective bubbletops. (Hours later, Dallas would end up sunny.) Though the bubbletops were not bulletproof, the metal and the contour of the covering, says Lawson, would have made it difficult for a bullet to do much damage, and might have kept a gunman from even firing in the first place. So he's asked himself a million times: Why couldn't it keep raining?"

LBJ's Secret Service bodyguard, Rufus Youngblood, testifies: "The Vice President was asking me if we were running on time, and so forth. And so he asked me how much further, and I would call back to our followup car and ask them how many more miles and so forth."

Local television coverage does not include the major portion of the motorcade. The sound portion describes the welcome to the President, but the camera remains in the interior of the Dallas Trade Mart.

Additionally, it is standard practice that someone occupy the front seat of JFK's limousine during motorcades. Major General Ted Clifton is one such person. Another person is Presidential aide General Godfrey McHugh. Both of these persons are now in Dallas. On this date, Godfrey McHugh is placed in the back of the motorcade. He will later acknowledge that this is unusual. This is the first time he is advised not to ride in the car, "so that attention would be focused on the President." All overpasses have been cleared of spectators except in Dealey Plaza.

Jesse Curry will later testify: "In the planning of this motorcade, we had more motorcycles lined up to be with the President's car, but the Secret Service didn't want that many."
Question: Did they tell you why?"
Curry: "We actually had two on each side but we wanted four on each side and they asked us to drop out some of them and back down the motorcade, along the motorcade, which we did."

John Connally will recall: "Dallas did have one sign, there was a fellow up on an old house, like a turn of the century house, badly needing paint, I recall very well, he had a sign up on this balcony that said, "Kennedy, go home." But, it was on the left side of the car as we were traveling in the motorcade and the President was on the right side in the back seat, and I hoped he didn't see it, but he finally turned to Nelly and me and said, "Did you all see that sign? I said, "Yes, Mr. President, but we were hoping you didn't." He said, "Well, I saw it. Don't you imagine he's a nice fellow?" And, I said, "Yes, I imagine he's a nice fellow." But that was about the only thing we saw, and frankly, there was less of that than I thought."

11:50 AM Charles Givens observes LHO reading a newspaper in the domino room where the employees eat lunch. (CD 5)
"On the morning of November 22, 1963, [Charles] Givens observed Lee reading a newspaper in the domino room where the employees eat lunch about 11:50am." (Interviewed by Agents Odum and Griffen 11/22/1963).
He denied to the WC having ever said that he saw Oswald in the domino room. 6/3/1964 he told the FBI that he returned to the sixth floor at 11:45, not 11:55. (CD 1245 p182). An FBI document found at the National Archives quoted Dallas policeman Jack Revill as saying 2/13/1964 that Givens "would probably change his testimony for money." (CD 735 p296). Revill and Inspector Sawyer said that Givens was taken to city hall after the shooting to make a statement about seeing Oswald on the sixth floor. (H 5 35-36; H 6 321-322).
This room is on the first floor of the Book Depository Building. (He will later deny testifying to this fact.) But during his WC testimony, Givens changed his story:
Mr. BELIN. Did you see Lee Oswald anywhere else in the building between 11:55 and the time you left the building?
Mr. GIVENS. No, sir.
Mr. BELIN. On November 22d?
Mr. GIVENS. No, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Did you see him in the domino room at all around anywhere between 11:30 and 12 or 12:30?
Mr. GIVENS. No, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Did you see him reading the newspaper?
Mr. GIVENS. No; not that day. .... I didn't see him in the domino room that morning.

11:50 AM Tippit radios the Police Dispatcher twice at 11:50 A.M. reporting that he was "clear" and the dispatcher responds "78 clear 11:51"(Bowles Transcript). Tippit returns to duty after having lunch at home with his wife, Marie. Tippit radios he is back in service from lunch, and starts driving back toward his Patrol District.
We have the following timetable:
11:30-11:45 A.M. coffee at Austin's Barbecue
11:45-12:00 Noon travel time from Austin's to Tippit's home, 238 Glencairn
?????? Lunch
11:50 A.M. Tippit reports he is "clear" (most likely after lunch)
The problem with this timetable is that he didn't have time for lunch, and we know by the interview of his widow that he definitely ate lunch at home on November 22, 1963. Using this information it doesn't make sense that he drove 6 miles out of his way to go home only to immediately turn around and make a seven-mile trip back to the location where he calls the dispatcher from in his patrol district without eating lunch. Also he was "clear" to go back into service before he got home for lunch? This just does not make sense.
After much thought about this the only feasible conclusion that can be drawn is that Bill Anglin was mistaken about what time they had coffee. The event happened in 1963 and Sgt. Anglin was interviewed about this in 1977. After 14 years the events of that day could be confused.
If they had coffee between 10:45 and 11:00 A.M. at Austin's then the timetable works out much better.
10:45 -11:00 A.M. Coffee at Austin's Barbecue
11:00 -11:15 A.M. travel time from Austin's to Tippit's home, 238 Glencairn
11:15 - approx. 11:50 A.M. lunch at Tippit's home
11:50 A.M. Tippit radios he is back in service from lunch, and starts driving back toward his Patrol District.
11:50A.M.-12:17 P.M. travel time from 238 Glencairn back to Tippit's patrol district.

Testimony by William Shelley, Oswald's boss.
Mr. BALL. On November 22, 1963, the day the President was shot, when is the last time you saw Oswald?
Mr. SHELLEY. It was 10 or 15 minutes before 12.
Mr. BALL. Where?
Mr. SHELLEY. On the first floor over near the telephone.
Mr. BALL - Did you see him from time to time during that day?
Mr. WILLIAM SHELLEY - I am sure I did. I do remember seeing him when I came down to eat lunch about 10 to 12.
Mr. BALL - Where had you been working?
Mr. SHELLEY - I had been on the sixth floor with the boys laying that floor that morning.
Mr. BALL - What time did you go down and eat lunch?
Mr. SHELLEY - It was around 10 'til.

Mr. BALL. What time did you knock off work for the lunch hour?
Mr. BONNIE RAY WILLIAMS. Well, approximately--between 11:30 to 12, around in there. I wouldn't say the exact time, because I don't remember the exact time… I believe this day we quit about maybe 5 or 10 minutes, because all of us were so anxious to see the President--we quit a little ahead of time, so that we could wash up and we wanted to be sure we would not miss anything…We took two elevators down. I mean, speaking as a group, we took two down.
Mr. BALL. Was there some reason you took two down?
Mr. WILLIAMS. We always had a little kids game we played racing down with the elevators. And I think one fellow, Charles Givens, had the east elevator, and me, and I think two or three more fellows had the west elevator. And we was racing down.
Mr. BALL. Who was driving the west side elevator?
Mr. WILLIAMS. I don't remember exactly who was.
Mr. BALL. You were not?
Mr. WILLIAMS. I don't think I was. I don't remember.
Mr. BALL. Who was driving the east side elevator?
Mr. WILLIAMS. I think that was Charles Givens.
Mr. BALL. Now, did something happen on the way down--did somebody yell out?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes; on the way down I heard Oswald--and I am not sure whether he was on the fifth or the sixth floor. But on the way down Oswald hollered "Guys, how about an elevator?" I don't know whether those are his exact words. But he said something about the elevator. And Charles said, "Come on, boy," just like that. And he said, "Close the gate on the elevator and send the elevator back up." I don't know what happened after that.
Representative FORD. Had the elevator gone down below the floor from which he yelled?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes; I believe it was. I assume it was the fifth or the sixth. The reason I could not tell whether it was the sixth or the fifth is because I was on the opposite elevator, and if you are not thinking about it it is kind of hard to judge which floor, if you started moving.
Representative FORD. The elevator did not go back up to the floor from which he yelled?
Mr. WILLIAMS. No, sir.
Mr. DULLES. Did he ask the gate be closed on the elevator?
Mr. WILLIAMS. I think he asked Charles Givens--I think he said, "Close the gate on the elevator, or send one of the elevators back up." I think that is what he said.
Mr. McCLOY. That is in order that he would have an elevator to come down when he wanted to come down?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. On the 23d of November 1963, you talked to two FBI agents according to the record I have here, Bardwell Odum and Will Griffin, and they reported that you said that as they were going down, that you saw Lee on the fifth floor.
Mr. WILLIAMS. I told him the fifth or the sixth. I told him I wasn't sure about it.

The motorcade left Love Field, turned left (northeast) at Mockingbird Lane.

11:55 AM

Mr. BALL - What time did you quit for lunch?
Mr. JARMAN - It was right about 5 minutes to 12.
Mr. BALL - What did you do when you quit for lunch?
Mr. JARMAN - Went in the rest room and washed up.
Mr. BALL. Then what did you
Mr. JARMAN - Went and got my sandwich and went up in the lounge and got me a soda pop.
Mr. BALL - Where is the lounge?
Mr. JARMAN - On the second floor.
Mr. BALL - On the second floor?
Mr. JARMAN - Yes.
Mr. BALL. Then where did you go after you got your soda pop?
Mr. JARMAN - Came back and went down to the window.
Mr. BALL - What window?
Mr. JARMAN - Where Oswald and I was talking.
Mr. BALL - Where?
Mr. JARMAN - Between those two rows of bins.
Mr. BALL - Where Oswald and you had been talking?
Mr. BALL - What did you do there?
Mr. JARMAN - I was eating part of my sandwich there, and then I came back out and as I was walking across the floor I ate the rest of it going toward the domino room.
Mr. BILL. You say you ate the rest of it when?
Mr. JARMAN - Walking around on the first floor there.
Mr. BALL - Did you sit down at the window when you ate part of. your sandwich?
Mr. JARMAN - No; I was standing.
Mr. BALL - And did you have the pop in your hand, too?
Mr. JARMAN - Yes; I had a sandwich in one hand and pep in the other.
Mr. BALL - You say you wandered around, you mean on the first floor?
Mr. JARMAN - On the first floor.
Mr. BALL - Were you with anybody when you were at the window? Did you talk to anybody?
Mr. JARMAN - No; I did not.
Mr. BALL - Were you with anybody when you were walking around finishing your sandwich?
Mr. JARMAN - No; I wasn't, I was trying to get through so I could get out on the street.
Mr. BALL - Did you see Lee Oswald?
Mr. JARMAN - No; I didn't.
Mr. BALL - After his arrest, he stated to a police officer that he had had lunch with you. Did you have lunch with him?
Mr. JARMAN - No, sir; I didn't.
Mr. BALL - When you finished your sandwich and your bottle of pop, what did you do?
Mr. JARMAN - I throwed the paper that I had the sandwich in in the box over close to the telephone and I took the pop bottle and put it in the case over by the Dr. Pepper machine.

Mr. GIVENS. Well, I would say it was about 5 minutes to 12, then because it was---
Mr. BELIN. Now what did you do when you got down there on the first floor?
Mr. GIVENS. When I got down to the first floor Harold Norman, James Jarman and myself, we stood over by the window, and then we said we was going outside and watch the parade, so we walked out and we stood there a while, and then I said, "I believe I will walk up to the parking lot." I had a friend that worked on the parking lot, right on Elm and Record.
Mr. BELIN. Elm and Record Streets?
Mr. GIVENS. Elm and Record Streets; yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. That would be one block to the east of the corner of Elm and Houston ?
Mr. GIVENS. That's right.
Mr. BELIN. All right, then, what did you do?
Mr. GIVENS. I stood around over there and went up on the corner.
Mr. BELIN. What corner?
Mr. GIVENS. Up on Main and Record. That is where I watched the President pass right there.

12:00 pm

12:00 PM Bonnie Ray Williams returns to the sixth floor to eat his lunch. He has brought fried chicken sandwich in a paper bag and a bottle of Dr Pepper. He does not see LHO or Givens on the sixth floor.
Mr. BALL. You say you went back upstairs. Where did you go?
Mr. WILLIAMS. I went back up to the sixth floor.
Mr. BALL. Why did you go to the sixth floor?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Well, at the time everybody was talking like they was going to watch from the sixth floor. I think Billy Lovelady said he wanted to watch from up there. And also my friend; this Spanish boy, by the name of Danny Arce, we had agreed at first to come back up to the sixth floor. So I thought everybody was going to be on the sixth floor.
Mr. BALL. Did anybody go back?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Nobody came back up. So I just left.
Mr. BALL. Where did you eat your lunch?
Mr. WILLIAMS. I ate my lunch--I am not sure about this, but the third or the fourth set of windows, I believe.
Mr. BALL. Facing on what street?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Facing Elm Street.
Mr. McCLOY. What floor?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Sixth floor.
Mr. BALL. Did you see anyone else up there that day?
Mr. WILLIAMS. No, I did not.
Mr. BALL. How long did you stay there?
Mr. WILLIAMS. I was there from--5, 10, maybe 12 minutes.
Mr. BALL. Finish your lunch?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes, sir. No longer than it took me to finish the chicken sandwich.
Mr. BALL. Did you eat the chicken?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes, I did.
Mr. BALL. Where did you put the bones?
Mr. WILLIAMS. I don't remember exactly, but I think I put some of them back in the sack. Just as I was ready to go I threw the sack down.
Mr. BALL. What did you do with the sack?
Mr. WILLIAMS. I think I just dropped it there.
Mr. BALL. Now, I want to call your attention to another report I have here. On the 23d of November 1963, the report of Mr. Odum and Mr. Griffin, FBI agents, is that you told them that you went from the sixth floor to the fifth floor using the stairs at the west end of the building. Did you tell them that?
Mr. WILLIAMS. I didn't tell them I was using the stairs. I came back down to the fifth floor in the same elevator I came up to the sixth floor on.
Mr. BALL. When you got to the fifth floor and left the elevator, at that time were both elevators on the fifth floor?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. Both west and east?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes, sir, as I remember.

Eddie Piper, an employee at The Texas Book Depository, sees Oswald on the first floor of the building. "Yesterday at about 12:00 Noon, this fello Lee says to me, "I'm going up to eat" and I went on to my lunch. I went to the front window on the first floor and ate my lunch and waited to see the President's parade go by." (Nov 23 Sheriff's Dept affidavit)
Mr. BALL. Was that the last time you saw him?
Mr. PIPER. Just at 12 o'clock.
Mr. BALL. Where were you at 12 o'clock?
Mr. PIPER. Down on the first floor.
Mr. BALL. What was he doing?
Mr. PIPER. Well, I said to him---"It's about lunch time. I believe I'll go have lunch." So, he says, "Yeah"---he mumbled something---I don't know whether he said he was going up or going out, so I got my sandwich off of the radiator and went on back to the first window of the first floor.
Mr. BALL. The first window on the first floor?
Mr. PIPER. No, not the first window---but on the first floor about the second window on the first floor. I was intending to sit there so I could see the parade because the street was so crowded with people---I didn't see anything.
Mr. BALL. Did you go to the sheriff's department?
Mr. PIPER. I went to the county---yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. And did you tell them at any time that you saw Lee about 12 o'clock?
Mr. PIPER. Yes.
Mr. BALL. And that Lee said, "I'm going up to eat?"
Mr. PIPER. He said either "up" or "out"---that's the way I reported it.
Mr. BALL. That's what you told them?
Mr. PIPER. Yes, sir.

Richard Carr, a steelworker, notices a man in a window on the seventh floor of the Book Depository Building. The man is wearing a brown suit coat.

12:05 PM

London-12:05 pm. At 6:05 Greenwich Time, approximately 25 minutes prior to the assassination, a newspaper reporter in Cambridge, England, received an anonymous telephone call. The male caller told the reporter to contact the American Embassy in London as they would have some big news to give the reporter. (FBI Airtel from LEGAT London to FBI Director, 11125/63.)

12:10 PM

Motorcade on Lemmon Avenue. "To O'Donnell and O'Brien the spectators outside the low, flat automated factories Haggar Slacks, IBM looked like curious but indifferent white-collar workers. Nevertheless there were many blank stretches. Mrs Kennedy found herself waving at billboards advertising Stemmons Freeway, Market Place of the Southwest,' Real Sippin' Whisky,' Home of the Big Boy Hamburger,' and a raffish sign inviting her to twist in The Music Box." The hot sun made Jackie wilt, and she put on her dark glasses. JFK told her to take her sunglasses off because everyone had come to see her and they blocked her face. (Manchester)

Kennedy stops to greet youngsters at Lemmon Avenue and Lomo Alto Drive. They had a sign asking him to please stop and shake their hands. Kellerman and other agents finally had to break up the demonstration of children and get the motorcade moving again.

12:10 PM (approx)
Lee Bowers in the railroad tower overlooking the parking lot behind the stockade fence sees a 1959 Oldsmobile, blue and white station wagon with out-of-state license plates pull into the parkling lot behind the picket fence, circle around and leave. "The car proceeded in front of the School Depository down across 2 or 3 tracks and circled the area in front of the tower, and to the west of the tower, and, as if he was searching for a way out, or was checking the area, and then proceeded back through the only way he could, the same outlet he came into…Had a bumper sticker, one of which was a Goldwater sticker, and the other of which was of some scenic location, I think." (WC testimony)

According to Wikipedia: "The motorcade was scheduled to enter Dealey Plaza at 12:10 p.m., followed by a 12:15 p.m. arrival at the Dallas Business and Trade Mart so President Kennedy could deliver a speech and share in a steak luncheon with Dallas government, business, religious, and civic leaders and their spouses. Invitations that were sent out specify a 12pm start time to the luncheon while SS agent Lawson told Chief Curry that after arriving at Love Field and leaving at 11:30 the 38-45 minute trip would get them to the Trade Mart on time. Air Force One touched down at 11:39 and did not leave Love Field until 11:55. " The motorcade was running 10 to 15 minutes late, and Oswald, having no way of knowing that, would have to be up in the sniper's nest by this point. William Manchester indicates that the motorcade was running 5 minutes late. Other sources range from 15 minutes to half an hour late. It appears that Kennedy was expected to arrive at the Trade Mart at 12:30. Printed invitations to the Trade Mart show that the luncheon was to begin at "twelve noon." According to some, the original schedule was to arrive at Love Field 11:30, arrival at Trade Mart 12:15. Lawson told Curry the motorcade would start around 11:30. Roy Kellerman's testimony: "You set up the time schedule--flight time--because the people on the other end want you there at 11:30 in the morning, you have to work back a flight time from Washington, or the helicopter time from the White House. All this is incorporated. Weatherwise--you will use an automobile. Allow a little more time."

12:10 PM "Fifteen minutes before Mr. Kennedy was shot, an Oxnard [10:10am PST] telephone supervisor overheard a woman caller whisper to someone: 'The President is going to be killed.' The call was intercepted by supervisors of the General Telephone Co. in Oxnard at 10:10am, Pacific Standard Time...Telephone executives said it is impossible to trace the call but said it originated in the Oxnard-Camarillo area. Ray Sheehan, general manager of the telephone company there, said: 'One of our supervisors picked up the call. The caller kept dialing, although her call was connected. Then she started whispering. Another supervisor listened in and was able to hear the woman saying, 'The President is going to be killed.' Sheehan said the mysterious call was reported to the FBI - after the President had been shot." (Los Angeles Times 11/23)
During the 1968 primary campaign, RFK disappeared for several hours in Oxnard to check privately on this report. (The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy p27) Sheehan, manager of the Oxnard division of General Telephone Co., says the caller "stumbled into our operator's circuits," perhaps by misdialing. Sheehan says the woman "seemed to be a little bit disturbed." Besides predicting the President's death, he says, she "mumbled several incoherent things." Sheehan says the call was reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Los Angeles, but not until after the President had been shot. Until then, he says, it appeared to have been just another crank call Sheehan says there was no way to trace the call. All he could say was that it originated in the Oxnard-Camarillo area, some 50 miles north of Los Angeles. (The FBI in Los Angeles decline to comment.) Sheehan says one telephone supervisor called another onto her line to verify what she was hearing. He said both supervisors heard the woman say the President would be killed. Sheehan says the call was received at 10:10 a.m. Pacific time. The President was shot in Dallas shortly after 10:30 a.m. Pacific time. Sheehan says he doesn't think the caller was ever connected with another party. He says she may not have known she had the supervisors on the line and may have been just talking to no one in particular.

12-12:25 The Depository had two employee lunchrooms, the "domino room" on the first floor, and the main lunch room on the second. Captain Fritz thought Oswald "said he ate lunch with some colored boys who worked with him. One of them was called 'Junior' and the other was a little short man whose name he didn't know." (WR 605) FBI agent James Bookhout wrote "Oswald had eaten lunch in the lunchroom...alone, but recalled possibly two Negro employees walking through the room during this period. He stated possibly one of these employees was called 'Junior' and the other was a short individual whose name he could not recall but whom he would be able to recognize." (WR 622) Inspector Thomas Kelly recalled that Oswald "Said he ate lunch with the colored boys who worked with him. He described one of them as 'Junior,' a colored boy, and the other was a little short Negro boy." (WR 626) The important point is that Oswald described seeing Jarman and a short black man (probably Harold Norman) on the first floor together; he couldn't have known this unless he was there (between either 12:00 and 12:15 or 12:20 and 12:25. Posner: "Danny Arce, Jack Dougherty, and Charles Givens also ate in the first-floor room up to 12:15 and said there was no sign of him. [H 6 352,365,378]. Joe Molina and Mrs Robert Reid both ate in the second-floor lunch room and were there at 12:15, when Carolyn Arnold claimed Oswald was there, but neither saw him. [H 6 372, H 3 271] Billy Lovelady went to both lunch rooms after 12:00 and did not see him either. [H 6 338]" (Case Closed 24-25) The floor-laying crew took the elevators down from the sixth floor shortly before noon and passed Oswald on the fifth floor; he shouted for an elevator to descend. (H 6 349; H 3 168; H 6 337)

Mr. BALL. Where did you stand?
Mr. HAROLD NORMAN. We stood on the Elm Street sidewalk.
Mr. BALL. On the sidewalk?
Mr. NORMAN. Yes. We didn't go any further than that point.
Mr. BALL. What time was it that you went out there?
Mr. NORMAN. Oh, I would say, I don't know exactly, around 12 or 12:10, something like that.
Mr. BALL. Who was standing with you when you were standing on the sidewalk, on the Elm Street sidewalk?
Mr. NORMAN. I remember it was Danny Arce.
Mr. BALL. And who else?
Mr. NORMAN. I remember seeing Mr. Truly and Mr. Campbell. They were standing somewhere behind us, not exactly behind us but they were back of us.
Mr. BALL. Anybody else?
Mr. NORMAN. Well, I believe Billy Lovelady, I think. He was sitting on the steps there…Well, we stayed there I believe until we got the news that the motorcade was coming down, let's see, is that Commerce, no Main, because Commerce- we went back in the building, James Jarman and I.
Mr. BALL. Where did you go when you went in the building?
Mr. NORMAN. We got the east elevator. No; the west.
Mr. BALL. The west elevator?
Mr. NORMAN. The west elevator. And went to the fifth floor.
Mr. BALL. And you went up to the fifth floor?
Mr. NORMAN. Fifth floor.
Mr. BALL. Why did you go to the fifth floor?
Mr. NORMAN. Usually, one reason was you usually fill orders, I fill quite a few orders from the fifth floor and I figured I could get, you know, a better view of the parade or motorcade or whatever it is from the fifth floor because I was more familiar with that floor.
Mr. BALL. And what did you and Junior do after you got off the elevator?
Mr. NORMAN. We walked around to the windows facing Elm Street and I can't recall if any were open or not but I remember we opened some, two or three windows ourselves.
Mr. BALL. Did somebody join you there?
Mr. NORMAN. Bonnie Ray, I can't remember if he was there when we got there or he came later. I know he was with us a period of time later.

Of the sixty-nine people who work in the TSBD, only thirty-three are employees of the company who owns the building. Prior to this past summer, the building has been occupied by a wholesale grocery company engaged in supplying restaurants and institutions. Since the year it was built in 1903, this building located at 411 Elm Street has primarily functioned as a warehouse. In order to make it more suitable as an office building, extensive and very costly modifications are now underway inside. Though the building is seven stories tall, the inside passenger elevator, recently installed, only goes as high as the fourth floor. The machinery for lifting it is on the fifth floor. When the passenger elevator became operational, the stairway in the northwest corner was closed off in lieu of "repairs." No one is allowed to use it. The nature of the repairs on the stairway remains unknown, although they are not the kind that will prevent heavy use of the stairs later this day. The installation of an elevator which only goes up to the fourth floor, followed by the closure of the northwest stairway, creates a situation which makes the upper floors effectively off-limits to everyone except those who are assigned warehouse duties. Several witnesses will see a gunman on the fifth floor of this building; also on the fifth floor at the time of the shooting are four warehouse men. Six warehouse workers have spent the entire morning on the sixth floor covering the old floor with new sheets of plywood. Unlike the office workers of the Book Depository, these warehouse men do not receive standard payroll checks; instead they are paid in cash. There will also be eventual evidence that three employee time charts for this day, later printed in the Warren Commission Exhibits, show signs of fraudulent fabrication. Because of the construction of new flooring on this date, the sixth floor has the most employees assigned to it of any of the upper three floors.

Kennedy stopped the car a second time to meet with some nuns. "In the Vice Presidential car Lyndon Johnson abruptly leaned forward. Turn the radio on,' he ordered…Hurchel Jacks did, and a local station blared strongly, broadcasting an account of their progress." (Manchester)

At Reagan St, shortly before Turtle Creek, Father Oscar Huber was standing with some young men from his parish to view the motorcade. Ted Dealey is watching TV in his apartment building at 3525 Turtle Creek. He was boycotting the Trade Mart luncheon, letting his son represent the News. He looked down and saw the motorcade passing through Oak Lawn Park. In the motorcade, Forrest Sorrels is anxious about all the open windows along the route. (Manchester)

12:14 PM

Police Ban (Channel 2) Curry reports that motorcade is just turning onto Turtle Creek. The speed of the motorcade is 12 MPH. Officers check in on radio, reporting that crowds are good and everything is in good shape along the way.

Michel Roux and Arnold Gachman are having lunch at this time in a Ft. Worth cafe, surrounded by witnesses. It is in this cafe that Roux and Gachman will hear about the assassination.

In Washington, Edwin Guthman, former Pulitzer Prize-winning Seattle Times reporter and close Kennedy friend, is having lunch with a congressman from Seattle on Capitol Hill. Brothers

12:15 PM

Arnold Rowland claimed he saw a rifleman in the southwest corner window of the sixth floor at about this time. He was gone by about 12:22. Rowland asks his wife if she would like to see a Secret Service agent. He points to a window on the sixth floor where he has noticed "a man back from the window -- he was standing and holding a rifle ... we thought momentarily that maybe we should tell someone, but then the thought came to us that it is a security agent." The man Rowland sees is NOT stationed in the now famous sixth floor window, but in the far left-hand window. Rowland also spots a second figure at the famous right-hand window. This second man is dark complexioned, and Rowland thinks he is a Negro.

Further evidence that Oswald was not on the sixth floor between 12 and 12:15 comes from Bonnie Ray Williams:
Mr. DULLES. .....When you were on the sixth floor eating your lunch, did you hear anything that made you feel that there was anybody else on the sixth floor with you?
Mr. WILLIAMS. No, sir; I didn't hear anything.
Mr. DULLES. You did not see anything?
Mr. WILLIAMS. I did not see anything.
Mr. DULLES. You were all alone as far as you knew at that time on the sixth floor?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes, sir.
Mr. DULLES. During that period of from 12 o'clock about to--10 or 15 minutes after?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes, sir. I felt like I was all alone. That is one of the reasons I left--because it was so quiet.

Windows along the motorcade are not systematically being watched by law enforcement personnel since no order has been given (as eventually confirmed by Dallas policeman Perdue Lawrence), although it was agent Lawson's "usual instructions" to do so. The Dealey Plaza triple underpass will not be cleared of spectators (as Lawson himself later testifies that he was trying to wave them off shortly before the shooting begins). In addition, ambulances (such as the one on standby for JFK that was called to Dealey Plaza five minutes before Kennedy arrived to pick up an alleged "epileptic seizure" victim) have been called to this same area on false alarms in the days and weeks before November 22, as ambulance driver Aubrey Rike will eventually testify.

Two young men are standing on the street holding a large Goldwater sign. (Manchester)

ASSEMBLY OF THE RIFLE: The FBI will later report that it takes six minutes to assemble a Mannlicher-Carcano, using a dime (since no tools will be found). This leaves 4 to 9 minutes for LHO alone to have moved all of the 50-pound boxes into position to form "the sniper's nest."

Mrs. R. E. (Carolyn) Arnold, secretary to the vice-president of the Book Depository, goes into the lunchroom on the second floor and sees Oswald sitting in one of the booth seats on the right hand side of the room. He is alone and appears to be having lunch.
She told Anthony Summers (in Conspiracy) that at 12:15 she entered the second-floor lunchroom and saw Oswald sitting in one of the booths having lunch; Gerald Posner says this was the first time she ever publicly told this story. Posner says she gave two different statements after the assassination: in one, she said she "could not be sure" but she might have caught a fleeting glimpse of him in the first-floor hallway; in the second statement she said that she did not see him at all. (CE 1381; FBI statement, 11/26/1963, File # DL-80-43) She told Summers that the FBI misquoted her, though she signed her FBI affidavit as correct. Posner writes, "Four other women worked with Arnold and watched the motorcade with her that day. They support her original statements and not the story she told fifteen years later. Virgie Rachley and Betty Dragoo accompanied her when she left the second floor at 12:15. They did not see Oswald in the lunch room. [CE 1381]" (POSNER 227)
She says she actually told the FBI: "About a quarter of an hour before the assassination, I went into the lunchroom on the second floor for a moment...Oswald was sitting in one of the booth seats on the right-hand side of the room as you go in. He was alone as usual and appeared to be having lunch. I did not speak to him but I recognized him clearly." She was pregnant at the time and went into the lunchroom for a glass of water. It was "about 12:15. It may have been slightly later." (Summers interview 11/1978; Earl Golz interview, Dallas Morning News, 11/26/1978) She said she did not see the FBI report on her until years later. Harold Weisberg says that she saw him on the first floor around 12:25. She talked to the FBI 11/26/1963; its report said that she stated the time as "a few minutes before 12:15pm." 3/18/1964 the FBI talked to her again and was asked if she saw Oswald at the time of the shooting and she said, "I did not..." In her written statement that day she said "I left the Texas School Book Depository at about 12:25pm." The FBI agent writing down the statement wrote "12:25 AM", but she corrected it herself before putting her signature on it.

John Powell, one of many inmates housed on the sixth floor of the Dallas County Jail, watches two men with a gun in the sixth floor window of the Book Depository Building. He claims he can see them so clearly that he even recalls them "fooling with the scope" on the gun. Powell says, "Quite a few of us saw em. Everybody was trying to watch the parade and all that. We were looking across the street because it was directly straight across. The first thing I thought is, it was security guards ... I remember the guys."

Mrs. Carolyn Walther notices two men with a gun in an open window at the extreme right-hand end of the Depository on the fifth floor. One of the men is wearing a brown suit coat. "It startled me, then I thought, Well, they probably have guards, possibly in all the buildings,' so I didn't say anything."

Ruby Henderson sees two men standing back from a window on one of the upper floors of the Book Depository. She particularly notices that one of the men "had dark hair ... a darker complexion than the other."

Tom Dillard, the chief news photographer of the Dallas Morning News, sees two men in the arched windows (which are on the 6th floor) of the TSBD as the car he is riding in turns the corner from Main onto Houston.

Seven eyewitnesses report seeing a man wearing a white or light-colored shirt. Six witnesses (and perhaps as many as 40 inmates) see TWO men on the 6th floor of the TSBD. Four witnesses say the second man is wearing dark clothing or a brown coat. Most of the witnesses say the man wearing the white shirt looks like LHO. When LHO is confronted by Marion Baker in the 2nd floor lunchroom of the TSBD - moments after the shooting - LHO will be wearing a long-sleeved brown shirt. H&L

Roy Truly prepares to leave the TSBD for lunch in the company of Orchus Virgil Campbell. The two men decide to delay their departure, however, in order to see the motorcade pass the building.

Deputy Sheriff Roger Craig is standing [as ordered by Sheriff Decker at 10:30 this morning] with other officers in front of the court house at 505 Main Street. Decker has ordered his men to observe but to take no part in the motorcade. Observing the motorcade route, Craig remembers thinking to himself: "There were no officers guarding the intersections or controlling the crowd. My mind flashed back to the meeting in Decker's office that morning, then back to the lack of security in this area." Referring to the expected arrival of the Presidential motorcade, Deputy Sheriff Jim Ramsey, standing near Craig, remarks: "Maybe somebody will shoot the son of a bitch."

12:15 PM At approximately this time, Jerry Belknap had a seizure outside the TSBD. A young man described as wearing green Army fatigues suddenly collapses at 100 N. Houston, near the front door of the Texas School Book Depository. He apparently is suffering some sort of seizure. An ambulance is called at 12:19 P.M. to take him to Parkland Hospital. Parkland never records a patient registering at this time. This "emergency" results in the opening of a route directly and exactly to Parkland Hospital ("cut all traffic for the ambulance going to Parkland") -- not for the President, who will be shot only midway through this "emergency", but for the man with the "epileptic seizure." "Patient" is later identified as Jerry B. Belknap. He dies in 1986. Photographer James W. Altgens sees a man having an epileptic fit and watches as an ambulance arrives to pick the man up. Altgens also notices about a dozen people on top of the railroad bridge. He thinks to himself, "What the heck are all those people doing up there," at the spot where he was not allowed to stay and take his pictures. "And just as the ambulance was clearing the triple underpass, you could see the red lights as the motorcade cut onto Main Street."

12:17 PM

Murray Jackson told Dale Myers that Tippit would often stop at the Lone Star Drive-In at 4100 Bonnie View in south Oak Cliff to make phone calls. Jackson said that Tippit made such a call from the drive-in that afternoon at 12:17, an unexplained call to the police station after he reported his address and said, "Be out of the car a minute."
Tippit radios the dispatcher and says "be out of the car for a minute, 4100 block of Bonnie View." This information comes from the Bowles Channel 1 transcript. Close examination of this document shows that the Police Dispatcher did not transmit an order for Tippit to go to this location on Bonnie View. Perhaps as Tippit was patrolling his district after lunch, he noticed something suspicious or was stopped by a citizen and asked to investigate whatever was going on at the 4100 block of Bonnie View Rd. 4100 Bonnie View is 7.5 miles from Tippit's home with a normal travel time of 24 minutes, Tippit Travel Time could have been 18-20 minutes this would have given Tippit plenty of time from 11:50A.M. when he cleared from lunch to travel to the location in his patrol district where he got out of the car at 12:17P.M. In Judy Bonner's book "Investigation of a Homicide" on page 71 she states "The Bonnie View call turned out to be a dry run, an elderly woman who had thought she had seen a man trying to burglarize a house next door. Tippit politely took down her story, made a fruitless search of the neighborhood, returned to his car to write out a report, then radioed in for another assignment." I do not know how Judy Bonner obtained this information? Tippit was killed one hour later and a search for the report mentioned has proved unsuccessful. Whatever happened at 4100 Bonnie View did not last long since Tippit called back the Dispatcher 3 minutes later at 12:20P.M. and reported "78 clear."
Even though Tippit was not ordered to the 4100 block of Bonnie View RD. by the Police Dispatcher, there is no hard evidence to disprove that this event was genuine. There is also no hard evidence to prove this event was staged in any way, since the location he stopped at was known to the dispatcher and potential witnesses could have been located if the situation called for it. The best information available places Tippit at the 4100 block of Bonnie View Rd. between 12:17 and 12:20P.M. on 11/22/63. Shortly after publishing this article Irish researcher Chris Scally sent me a letter he received from the late Larry Harris in 1984 that contained information about the 4100 Bonnie View call. Larry wrote "In 1978 I interviewed the manager of a grocery market at 4121 Bonnie View; He told me that during the noon hour on 11/22/63, he caught a woman shoplifter and phoned the police; it was Tippit who responded. The store manager knew Tippit because it was almost invariably Tippit who responded to calls for shoplifters. The manager told me that Tippit placed the woman in the squad car and left. So indeed Tippit was on an investigation at 12:17 P.M. nevertheless, it is disturbing and perhaps significant that this incident is not reflected more substantially in the tapes or transcripts…if Tippit, as some have speculated was involved in the assassination as either a shooter or a conspirator it is now 12:20 P.M. and he is approximately 7.5 miles from Dealey Plaza, the site of the Kennedy Assassination."

THE MOTORCADE IS NOW PASSING CEDAR SPRINGS ROAD
In the motorcade, SS agent Clint Hill moves four times from the forward position of the left running board of the follow-up car to the rear step of the Presidential automobile and back again - due to crowd surges along the route.
Gov. and Mrs. Connally will later recall:
Mr. CONNALLY: Mrs. Kennedy appeared to be much more relaxed, much more in the spirit of things. She was smiling more, obviously more at ease, but one little thing, the Sun was bright. It had come out bright and beautiful. The sky was beautiful, the clouds had dispersed and she put on her dark glasses. What did he say?
Mrs. CONNALLY: He said, "Take your glasses off, Jackie."
Mr. CONNALLY. "Take your glasses off, Jackie." She kept them off for awhile and she just unconsciously put them back on.
Mrs. CONNALLY: You could hear him again saying, "Take your glasses off, Jackie."
Mr. CONNALLY: This happened a third time. Then, I think she finally left them off.

Bobby Hargis, riding a motorcycle in the motorcade remembers that, on Cedar Springs, the president startles everyone by leaping out of the car to shake hands with some of the hundreds who are pushing forward for a closer look. "The Secret Service liked to had a conniption fit when he did that," says Mr. Hargis. At that moment, he felt an eerie sense of dread wash over him. "They was hoppin' around like cats on a hot roof. It freaked em out big time. You could tell how nervous they were."

12:18 PM

Howard Brennan is sitting on the concrete wall across from the TSBD. (Manchester)

12:19 PM

Police radio call - "code 3" (haste) - for an ambulance in Dealey Plaza. (CE 1974)

12:19 motorcade on Harwood, at Live Oak St. two blocks north of Main, 14 blocks from Dealey Plaza. The crowds are getting much larger now. Greer slows the car down from 20 miles an hour to 15, then to 10, then to seven. The overflow crowd forced Bobby Hargis to drop back. Clint Hill rushed up to protect Jackie. (Manchester)

12:20 PM

Lee Bowers in the railroad tower overlooking the parking lot behind the stockade fence, sees a second car - a 1957 black Ford, "with one male in it that seemed to have a mike or telephone or something that gave the appearance of that at least" drive into the parking lot behind the picket fence. It had a Texas license, and soon left the lot. (WC testimony)

12:20 PM Bonnie Ray Williams testifies that, at this time, the sixth floor of the Book Depository Building is apparently vacant as he leaves it to go downstairs. Williams has gone to the sixth floor to eat his lunch. (The Warren Commission will later say that Oswald is on the sixth floor from 11:55 AM until 12:30 P.M.)
If the Warren Commission is correct, LHO must now arrange a "sniper's nest" consisting of some 24 cartons, each of which weigh about 50 pounds, most of which will have to be lifted physically and placed atop one, two, or three other cartons. In order to enter and leave this "nest," he will have to squeeze his body through a narrow opening between several stacks of cartons. He will then assemble his rifle [which the FBI says takes six minutes using a dime - since no tools are later found], and arrange a gun-rest. He will leave only one palmprint on the carton on which he will sit. He will accomplish all of this in the 10 or 15 minutes remaining after Bonnie Ray Williams leaves the sixth floor and before the motorcade appears.
Mr. BALL. And you saw your two friends, Norman and Jarman?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes.
Mr. BALL. You had known them before?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes sir.
Mr. BALL. Now, do you know what time that was?
Mr. WILLIAMS. I do not know the exact time.
Mr. BALL. It was--
Mr. WILLIAMS. It was after I had left the sixth floor, after I had eaten the chicken sandwich. I finished the chicken sandwich maybe 10 or 15 minutes after 12. I could say approximately what time it was.
Mr. BALL. Approximately what time was it?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Approximately 12:20, maybe.
Mr. BALL. Well, now, when you talked to the FBI on the 23d day of November, you said that you went up to the sixth floor about 12 noon with your lunch, and you stayed only about 3 minutes, and seeing no one you came down to the fifth floor, using the stairs at the west end of the building. Now, do you think you stayed longer than 3 minutes up there?
Mr. WILLIAMS. I am sure I stayed longer than 3 minutes.
Mr. BALL. Do you remember telling the FBI you only stayed 3 minutes up there?
Mr. WILLIAMS. I do not remember telling them I only stayed 3 minutes.

Mrs. Robert E. (Pauline) Sanders is in the 2nd floor lunchroom of the TSBD until this time and does not remember seeing LHO. Carolyn Arnold will see LHO in the lunchroom five minutes later. H&L

Mr. JARMAN - Then I went out in front of the building.
Mr. BALL - With who?
Mr. JARMAN - Harold Norman, Bonnie Ray, and Danny Arce and myself.
Mr. BALL - You say Bonnie Ray Williams?
Mr. JARMAN - Bonnie Ray Williams.
Mr. BALL - Do you remember him going with you?
Mr. JARMAN - No; I am sorry. Excuse me, but it was Harold Norman and myself and Daniel Arce.
Mr. BALL - What about Billy Lovelady?
Mr. JARMAN - I didn't go out with them. They came out later.
Mr. BALL - Did you see Billy Lovelady out there?
Mr. JARMAN - Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL - Where was he?
Mr. JARMAN - Standing on the stairway as you go out the front door.
Mr. BALL - Where did you stand?
Mr. JARMAN - I was standing over to the right in front of the building going toward the west.
Mr. BALL - Were you on the sidewalk or curb?
Mr. JARMAN - On the sidewalk.
Mr. BALL - The sidewalk in front of the Texas School Book Depository Building?
Mr. JARMAN - Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL - How long did you stand there?
Mr. JARMAN - Well, until about 12:20, between 12:20 and 12:25.
Mr. BALL - Who do you remember was standing near you that worked with you in the Book Depository?
Mr. JARMAN - Harold Norman and Charles Givens and Daniel Arce.
Mr. BALL - What about Mr. Truly?
Mr. JARMAN - He wasn't standing close to me.
Mr. BALL - Did you see him?
Mr. JARMAN - Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL - Who was he with?
Mr. JARMAN. He was with the Vice President of the company.
Mr. BALL - What is his name?
Mr. JARMAN - O. V. Campbell.
Mr. BALL - Where were they standing?
Mr. JARMAN - They were standing at the corner of the building in front of the mail boxes.
Mr. BALL - You left there, didn't you, and went some place?
Mr. JARMAN - Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL - With whom?
Mr. JARMAN - Harold Norman and myself.
Mr. BALL - Where did you go?
Mr. JARMAN - We went around to the back of the building up to the fifth floor.
Mr. BALL - You say you went around. You mean you went around the building?
Mr. JARMAN - Right.
Mr. BALL - You didn't go through and cross the first floor?
Mr. JARMAN - No, sir; there was too many people standing on the stairway so we decided to go around.
Mr. BALL - You went in the back door?
Mr. JARMAN - Right.
Mr. JARMAN - We took the elevator.
Mr. BALL - Which elevator?
Mr. JARMAN - The west side elevator.

About this time, Danny Arce, an employee from the TSBD, is standing outside, in front of the building. An older man approaches him and asks to be directed to a restroom inside the building. Arce says: "he said he had kidney trouble, could I direct him to the men's room and I said I would and I helped him up the steps and walked him into the restroom and I opened the door for him and that's when I went inside to eat my lunch and then I seen him walk out." Arce remembers the man getting in a black automobile and driving away. WC

Police Ban (Channel 2): Reports crowd along motorcade spilling into street from Harwood to Ross

12-12:25: Ruby is talking with Don Campbell at the Morning News during this time period. Don Campbell, an advertising employee with the Dallas Morning News, says this is the last time he sees Jack Ruby sitting in one of the newspaper's offices. The next time Campbell sees Ruby, it will be 12:45 PM. This leaves a 25-minute gap of Ruby's time unaccounted for, precisely when witnesses place him in Dealey Plaza.

12:21 PM

J. D. Tippit clears back in service.

12:21 motorcade turns west from Harwood onto Main St. -- 12 blocks from Dealey Plaza.

Dave Powers shot some footage with a 16mm silent film camera here. A newsreel film captures Dave Powers filming.

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