From a 2007 posting by the late Rich DellaRosa on his forum:
Norton for beginners...(posted with permission from Rich DellaRosa.)
..............
Just a brief recap for the newbies:
A person who identified himself as Donald Norton introduced himself to researchers
Mae Brussell and John Judge in the early 1970s and told them he was Lee Oswald.
For a more detailed account see:
http://jfkresearch.c...topic,38.0.html
(Mae later told Judge that "Norton had been supporting her radio show by sending
contributions he called CONSCIENCE MONEY...jw)
Several, let's call them researchers, have been muddying the waters regarding this
individual. I have a problem with folks who are careless with research and it has been
demonstrated that when erroneous information gets on the internet it takes on a life
of its own.
In his comprehensive research on the 2 Oswalds, John Armstrong investigated Donald
O. Norton. He spoke to people claiming to know Norton when he was growing up in
Stowe, Ohio, outside of Akron and John traveled to a variety of locations where Norton
had lived and was employed. Armstrong has done more research on Norton than
anyone else I know.
The question, as yet unanswered conclusively, is "Can Donald Oreste Norton be
the man who was born Lee Harvey Oswald in 1939 in New Orleans??"
In 2003, John Armstrong decided not to include Norton in his book Harvey & Lee
because although his research was exhaustive he felt he was less than 100%
certain that Norton is Oswald. John established high standards in performing
his research. I wish all researchers followed suit.
When last we left Lee Oswald in John's book, Lee Oswald was mistaken for Harvey on
11/22/63 by Officer J.D. Tippit. Tippit ostensibly was supposed to locate and kill
Harvey. Lee, in an act of self defense, shot Tippit before Tippit could shoot him.
Lee then walked off into history.
He then seemed to reappear to Judge and Brussell. When news of that encounter
became known, various researchers began a search for Donald O. Norton. Some
tracked him to various locales from Ohio to Florida.
In a case where we find two Oswalds, two Marguerites, two Judyth Bakers (??),
we have two Don Nortons. A Donald P. Norton turned up during the
Garrison investigations in the late 1960s. Donald P. was a homosexual
plant who performed a series of assignments for the CIA and who, while
performing those duties, encountered Oswald and Clay Shaw. Donald P. was
mentioned in Paris Flammonde's book on the Garrison investigation and
it appears that Flammonde has written further about him in subsequent books
and in an upcoming, yet to be released, book. Please note: Donald P. and
Donald O. Norton are 2 separate people, unrelated except for similar names.
John Armstrong last tracked Donald O. Norton to a residence in Jupiter, FL
on the east coast area of Ft Lauderdale. Though John attempted numerous
times to confront Norton, he never came face-to-face with him. It seemed
that Norton kept one step ahead of Armstrong.
In 2003 I ran a People Search report on Donald O. Norton. At that time,
his current residence was listed as Avon Park, FL, about a 45 minute drive
from here. When Armstrong was in my office, I asked him if he was aware
that Norton had apparently moved from Jupiter to Avon Park. He wasn't.
It is important to note that in the report, there was more than one residence
listed for Norton in the past but where Norton never actually resided. One
notable one was in Nevada which curiously had been a residence for
Art Swanson, a self-admitted former CIA employee. That house was owned
or financed by Boatman's bank in St Louis which is believed to be a CIA
front company. Although Norton never actually lived at that address, he
apparently listed that residence on a credit application. Armstrong discovered
another address in Seattle but where neither Norton, nor his wife Lexie,
ever resided.
Now when we came upon this information, we shared it on the forum and a
few individuals began to follow up on some leads and some began to post
on other venues and mis-stated much of the above.
One or two discovered that the Avon Park Norton had colored his hair red
and had adopted the nickname "Red." They further discovered that Red
operated a bait & tackle shop and booked deep sea fishing charters
(a bit strange since Avon Park is not on either of Florida's coasts).
Now one of those guys found an email address for Red and he sent him an
email asking if he was Lee Harvey Oswald? And Red wrote back "No."
Case closed, huh? If nothing else ol' Red knew we found him. Just imagine
someone denying they had a part in a capital offense. Duh.
Add to all this strangeness the fact that recently Red closed his tackle shop
and left Avon Park almost literally over night. Norton has done that before.
Donald O. Norton of Stowe, Ohio was born in 1949 -- which makes him
10 years younger than Lee Oswald. And, it would have made him 14
in 1963. That would seem to rule out Norton being the birth Oswald,
right?
Hmmmmmm, well no, not exactly. Suppose for a moment that a
Donald O. Norton was born in 1949 in Stowe, Ohio in a dysfunctional
family. He went to school there, and he had a real birth certificate and
a real Social Security #. Then something happened -- perhaps he
was killed or MIA in Viet Nam.
If after Lee Oswald killed Tippit, he was to be given a new identity
(name, birth certificate, SS#, etc) rather than given him a bogus,
made up identity what if they gave him Donald O. Norton's ID? All
"they" would need to do was obscure the details of Norton's death.
Few researchers, it seems, are able to grasp this possibility.
That being said, I think there are a few important issues:
* Donald P. Norton and Donald O. Norton are not the same person and they should
not be confused. There is no evidence presented that Donald P. ever impersonated Oswald.
* I t has not been proven that the Avon Park Norton (Red) is the same Norton that
Armstrong tracked to Jupiter, FL.
* John Armstrong chose not to mention Donald O. Norton in his book Harvey &
Lee. Any references to Donald Norton in Harvey & Lee are for Donald P. Norton.
There now is quite a bit of bad info re: Norton floating around the internet and the back
channels of the research community. As responsible researchers we must not add to
the problem.
b
