William Scoggins

[Milo Reech]

A puzzling piece of Tippit's unsolved murder involves the cab driver, William Scoggins, another individual, and Tippit's gun. It's a long shaggy dog story still being told, first iteration contained in the Supplementary Offense Report signed by JR Leavelle 11/22/63, briefly summarizing murder scenario #1. Two items stand out: 1) Domingo Benavides gave an affidavit that day; and 2) "witness Callaway took the officer's pistol and got in the cab with Scoggins and persued [sic] suspect but was unable to catch him."


The problem with number one is no Benavides affidavit exists, reserved for future consideration. For now let's discuss problem number two -- Scoggins never identified Callaway as the gun-toting rider. Per his WC testimony he was taken to DPD 11/22, but he did not give an affidavit until the next day, 11/23, in which he states, "I thought he was a Policeman." In a second affidavit (12/2 to the Secret Service) no further description is provided, but an FBI report (3/17/64) notes that "there was another young man at the scene who SCOGGINS thought was a police office." In his WC testimony Scoggins states, "We cruised around several blocks looking for him, and we--one of these police cars came by and this fellow who was with me stopped it, and we got back in the car and went back up to the scene, and he give them the pistol, and that time is when I found out he wasn't an officer."


Scoggins was not asked if the young man who looked like an officer was Callaway, an old-ish 40. Callaway also looked more like a used car salesman than an officer, with a daily presence near the Gentleman's Club.


After hearing gun shots, Callaway placed himself a few feet from the intersection of Patton and Jefferson, east side of Patton, watching a person run down the west side of Patton brandishing a pistol, who disappeared around the corner onto Jefferson [CE 537] heading west. Callaway then proceeded along Patton to the murder scene.


Harold Russell, who worked at Johnny Reynolds Used Car Lot directly across Jefferson from Harris Brothers Auto Sales where Callaway worked, observed the same person running along Patton onto Jefferson. Russell continued across Jefferson along Patton to the murder scene some short distance behind Callaway, following in his footsteps. Initially, with Russell at the SE corner of Jefferson & Patton and Callaway at point #1 on CE 537, the distance between them was perhaps 100-150 feet. With both ostensibly at Tippit's car, per a 1/22/64 FBI report, "an unknown individual stated to RUSSELL, 'Let's take the police officer's gun and get the S.O.B. who is responsible for this,'" and "RUSSELL advised the unknown individual that he would remain at the police car... ."


It would be hard to swallow the argument that Russell would not have recognized Callaway, who worked across the street in the same line of business, whose figure he followed to East 10th, but has it ever been made? Russell has received little attention.


The case for Callaway's ouster from Scoggins cab is complete, the man who (in increasing order of importance): 1) didn't look like a cop; 2) wasn't young; and 3) was unknown to Russell. There is also the fact that, according to all of Scoggins' vague descriptions of the route the alleged pursuers took, they went the wrong way. The cab ride had a purpose other than pursuit of the Patton Avenue gun runner, but before speculating on that attention must focus on the individual who took Tippit's gun and all but commandeered Scoggins' cab, almost under the nose of watchful DPD reserve sergeant Croy.


Time to cut to the chase and identify the rough rider. Say hello to semi-hobbled Harry Olsen, 29 years old, the cop who didn't know where he sat at last reunited with the cabbie who didn't know where he went. Scoggins was right in the first place.

[Milo Reech]

Let's backup a bit to Callaway at Patton -- gazing toward East 10th, spotting the cabdriver crouched behind the cab 300 feet away, following the progress of the man with a raised gun as he crossed Patton with the cab behind him, and possibly passed behind a disabled car (hood up & butterfly exposed), challenging him before he disappeared around the corner.

Sam Guinyard, a porter at Dootch Motors (Harris Bros.), stands nearby observing the same person. Together they run to 10th, survey the scene and assist the ambulance crew. The details of their respective WC testimonies do not mesh well, but they get to this point at the same time.


Another Dootch Motors employee also has a role to play, Domingo Benavides, whose 11/22/63 affidavit was lost, and there are no SS/FBI affidavits or reports. Nevertheless, based on testimony taken by David W. Belin at 2:30PM 4/2/62, he participated as a major eye witness. By WC standards the deposition is amusing stuff, Benavides at times pulling off a Keyser Söze act. Two specific items are particularly relevant to this discussion.


Not sure but Benavides may have been the only WC witness who identified Callaway by name as Scoggins' co-rider, following Belin's lead near the end of the session.


Mr. BELIN - You talked to Ted Callaway, did you?
...
Mr. BENAVIDES - And so Ted then got in the taxicab and the taxicab came to a halt and he asked me which way he went. I told him he went down Patton Street toward the office, and come to find out later Ted had already seen him go by there.


Weak corroboration -- confirming and denying Callaway's presence in the cab at the same time.


The other item involves a strange interlude about midway through the testimony.


Mr. BELIN - Then what did you do?
Mr. BENAVIDES - At the time I walked out, I guess I was scared, so I started across the street--alley between the two houses to my mother's house, and I got in the yard and I said I'd better go back, or just caught myself until I got over there, I guess, so I went back around there.


Belin proceeds to lead him into spent shell gathering, but both Belin & Benavides overlook the presence of another player. Remember the porter? Guinyard's testimony was taken by Joseph A. Ball at 10:15AM the same day. Working through the material with the witness, it becomes evident at some point, after arriving together with Callaway at the murder scene, the two become separated, and Ball hastens Guinyard along.


Mr. BALL. Were you there when the truck came up that was driven by Benavides?
Mr. GUINYARD. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. He came up right after this?
Mr. GUINYARD. Yes; he came up from the east side---going west.
Mr. BALL. And then what did you do after that?
Mr. GUINYARD. Well, we stood there a while and talked and I called him Donnie, he picked up all them empty hulls that come out of the gun.


Ball reached the event he wanted the witness to discuss, spent shell gathering, but Benavides' truck was supposed to have been there beforehand, according to Benavides' testimony delivered a few hours later. The discrepancy cannot be ascribed to error on the part of Guinyard, since the fact of the truck's arrival at this time is explicit in the questions.


How did the continuity go wrong? Did Ball bollix the script, or Belin drop the ball? Either way makes no difference. The upshot is Benavides' credibility as a witness takes a massive hit.


Shaggy dog stories are like that, not requiring strict consistency, separate sometimes contradictory narrative threads playing out in parallel, or by fits & starts, not necessarily sequential in the sense of one event following another in orderly fashion, lots of loose ends, but let's try to tighten this up a little. What actually happened during the episode signaled by the strange interlude?


Benavides was finishing lunch at his mother's house beside the alley that connected 10th & Jefferson when the shots rang out. He left to investigate events on 10th street. A squad car headed toward him. When it either passed by or turned off, he got behind the wheel, but the way was blocked by Tippit's squad car parked at the end of the alley. He turned onto the intersecting alley that ran from Patton to Denver, left onto Denver, left onto 10th, converging on the murder scene with Guinyard, and thereby hangs a tale.

[Drew Phipps]

Did I read that right? The car mechanic Domingo Benavides picked up the brass from the revolver? Not the cops?

I thought the cops discovered 2 casings within 20 minutes and 2 more a good bit later.

[Milo Reech]

Per WC testimony Benavides picked up two shells and gave them to DPD's Poe.

Mr. BELIN - Now you saw him throw two shells?
Mr. BENAVIDES - Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN - You saw where he threw the shells?
Mr. BENAVIDES - Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN - Did you later go back in that area and try and find the shells?
Mr. BENAVIDES - Yes. Well, right after that I went back and I knew exactly where they was at, and I went over and picked up one in my hand, not thinking and I dropped it, that maybe they want fingerprints off it, so I took out an empty pack of cigarettes I had and picked them up with a little stick and put them in this cigarette package; a chrome looking shell.
Mr. BELIN - A chrome looking shell?
Mr. BENAVIDES - Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN - About how long did it take you to locate the shells once you stared looking for them?
Mr. BENAVIDES - Just a minute. I mean not very long at all. Just walked directly to them.
Mr. BELIN - You saw where he had thrown them?
Mr. BENAVIDES - One of them went down inside of a bush, and the other one was by the bush.
Mr. BELIN - Did you see him after he turned the corner of the house?
Mr. BENAVIDES - No, sir.
Mr. BELIN - Do you know whether or not he threw any--you said you heard three shots. Do you know whether or not he threw other shells there?
Mr. BENAVIDES - No, sir.
...
Mr. BELIN - When you put these two shells that you found in this cigarette package, what did you do with them?
Mr. BENAVIDES - I gave them to an officer.
Mr. BELIN - That came out to the scene shortly after?
Mr. BENAVIDES - Yes, sir.




Mr. POE. I talked to a Spanish man, but I don't remember his name. Dominique, I believe.
Mr. BALL. Domingo Benavides?
Mr. POE. I believe that is correct; yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. What did he tell you?
Mr. POE. He told me, give me the same, or similar description of the man, and told me he was running out across this lawn. He was unloading his pistol as he ran, and he picked the shells up.
...
Mr. BALL. And what did he say?
Mr. POE. He said he picked the two hulls up.
Mr. BALL. Did he hand you the hulls?
Mr. POE. Yes, sir.

[Milo Reech]

Nothing muzzy about Scoggins' recollection of earlier events --

Mr. BELIN. Where were you driving your cab in the early part of the afternoon of November 22, 1963, if you remember?
Mr. SCOGGINS. Well, I picked up a gentleman at Love Field at approximately 12:35, I would say, and I discharged him at 1 o'clock at 321 North Ewing.
Mr. BELIN. Then where did you go?
Mr. SCOGGINS. I went around by the Gentlemen's Club which I believe is 125 Patton.


321 North Ewing is hard by Kay Coleman's apartment, where Harry Olsen spent much of his time. Off duty because of a knee injury sustained in an ice skating mishap with Ruby, but he could walk, despite a cast, possibly on crutches, or so he said. He told Specter his knee "swelled after I had walked" the four blocks to the house he did not identify. Possibly a dream sequence, but the idea of him catching a cab at North Ewing is not implausible.


Events following the murder quickly lose plausibility --


Callaway DPD (11/22/63) --
I got the officer's gun and hollered at a cab driver to come on, We might catch the man. We got into his cab, number 213 and drove up Patton to Jefferson and looked all around, but did not see him.
Scoggins DPD (11/23/63) --
This man got into the cab with me and we circled around several blocks but did not see this man who shot the officer.


One day later, so far so good. From the point of view of Callaway's statements this is the only route that makes sense. Nothing, for example, prevented the gunman from crossing the boulevard and hiding out in a box at Dudley Hughes or doubling back to read Tarzan books at the library.


Scoggins SS (12/2/63) --
We proceeded north on Patton and possibly turned west on 10th. We cruised an area north of 10th street looking for the man I had seen, but we did not see him. When we left the intersection of 10th and Patton we did not go to Patton and Jefferson, but went in a northerly direction which would be opposite from the intersection of Patton and Jefferson streets.
Callaway SS (12/3/63) --
We turned west on 10th and south on Crawford to Jefferson and then west on Jefferson to Beckley where we turned north. During the time we were on Jefferson, we did not see the man with the pistol.


End of script A. Scoggins slammed the door on it. Callaway's sudden itinerary shift & re-scripting by itself casts severe doubt on his involvement, unless one is willing to believe he forgot Friday night where he went Friday afternoon.


Getting back to the actual passenger in the cab, from Scoggins' WC testimony --


Mr. BELIN. There is an opening in part of that shrubbery?
Mr. SCOGGINS. Yes, and I heard that when he hit that, and he was looking over his left shoulder at that time. I first saw him and then I got out--
...
Mr. BELIN. Why did you jump out of your cab first when you heard the shots?
Mr. SCOGGINS. Because anytime that there is anything going on that is one thing the cab driver wants to do is to get away from that cab, because the man is going to try--if he had ever seen the cab, he looked back over his left shoulder, and I don't think he even seen the cab-he would have probably jumped in the cab and had me take him somewhere or maybe shot me, too, you know, and I didn't want to be around the cab at anytime while he was in the neighborhood, you know, when there was anything like that going on, or anything, robbery, or anything.


Seldom is the unspoken past more clearly disclosed by placing it in a hypothetical context. Continuing --


Mr. BELIN. When you saw the officer fall, when was the next place that you saw the man, or did you see him at the same time you saw the officer fall, the other man?
Mr. SCOGGINS. No, I saw him coming kind of toward me around that cutoff through there, and he never did look at me. He looked back over his left shoulder like that, as he went by. It seemed like I could see his face, his features and everything plain, you see.


From behind his cab on the east side of Patton how could Scoggins see the face of this man who was looking over his left shoulder? Either he was wrong three times or the cab was parked somewhere else, possibly in the alley next to the Gentleman's Club. After the man passed Scoggins drove to the corner of Patton & Tenth and walked toward the murder scene. Olsen, grabbing Tippit's gun, intercepted him and commandeered the cab, and Scoggins found himself in the middle of his worst nightmare.


Olsen's role remains murky, but his position had become isolated as the crowd gathered, and he had to get away fast. Perhaps he missed his ride in the second squad car seen by Benavides from his mother's place and described by Holan, so he took a cab. Following recovery from serious injuries sustained a few weeks later, Olsen moved with Coleman to California, where they were interviewed by an insipid Specter in 1964, eliminating the risk of getting fingered by someone who had seen him on East Tenth.