Exposing Postal Inspector/FBI Informant Harry Holmes and Exposing the WC
curtjester1
In 1963, 57-year old Dallas Postal Inspector Harry D. Holmes was an
active informant for the FBI (Dallas "T-2"). He was also the only
non-
law enforcement officer allowed to sit in during one of Oswald's
interrogations. But from Holmes' testimony we realize that he
played
a much larger role between the scenes.
Postal inspectors took an interest in Oswald soon after he returned
from the Soviet Union. Theyknew he was receiving subversive
materials
in Fort Worth and intereviewed his neighbors on Mercedes Street.
Postal employees in Dallas also notified the FBI that Oswald was
receiving "The Worker" at his box, probably with Holmes' knowledge.
If a lookout was placed on Oswald's post office box 2915, as it
should
have been, then a firearm or other large package addressed to "A.
Hidell" or Oswald would almost certainly have been brought to the
attention of postal inspectors.
FBI INFORMANT. On November 22, 1963 Holmes played a
very active role as events began to unfold in Dallas and told the
Commission:
"Well, throughout the entire period I was feeding change of
addressses as bits of information to the FBI and Secret Service, and
sort of a coordinating deal on it, but then
about Sunday morning about (9:20....."
Commission attorney Belin interruped Holmes and said, "Pardon me a
second." Belin then had a discussion with Holmes "off the record"
and
probably warned him not to say anything else about feeding bits of
information to the FBI and Secret Service.
PO BOX 2915. Harry Holmes never explained when he first
learned that Oswald rented a box at the General Post Office, but as a
postal inspector it was his job to know about people who received
"subversive" materials, such as Oswald. Holmes claimed that he
received a telephone call from a postal clerk at the Dallas Terminal
Annex who remembered renting Oswald PO Box 6225 on November 2, 1963,
but neither Holmes nor anyone identified the the postal clerk.
Lloyd
H. Stephens, Postal Inspector in Charge at Fort Worth, tried to
locate
the clerk so that he could send him a letter of commendation, but the
clerk was never located, and probably existed only in Harry Holmes'
mind.
THREE STORIES BY HOLMES. Holmes told the Warren Commission
that on the morning of November 23, "The FBI furnished me
information
that a money order of some description in the amount of $21.95 had
been used as reimbursement for the gun that had been purchased from
Klein's in Chicago, and that the purchase date was March 20, 1963"
According to Holmes, it was this inaccurate information which caused
a
delay of several hours in locating the correct money order in the
amount of $21.45.
STORY#1. Holmes told the Commission that he found the
correct
price of the rifle by locating an advertisement in a magazine. He
said, "I had my secretary go out and purchae about half a dozen books
on outdoor-type magazines such as Field and Stream, with the thought
that I might locate the gun to identify it, and I did." The
Commission never sought to verify the accuracy of this statement with
Holmes' secretary.
NOTE: Anyone who has ever looked at the rifle pictured in
Klein's small black and white advertisement knows that Holmes'
statement is ridiculous. The picture is nothing more than a black
silhouette and could not possibly be used to identify the rifle.
STORY#2. Holmes told a different story to the FBI and said
that he found a magazine in the "Nixie" section at the post office
and
after looking through the magazine found a Klein's ad that showed the
price of an identical rifle for $21.45.
STORY#3. In a letter dated April 10, 1965 to J.V. Staples,
Assistant Inspector in Charge at Fort Worth, Harry Holmes wrote, "In
the afternoon of November 23, through information furnished by
Inspector McGee of Chicago at our request, it was possible for me to
isolate and identify the number of the money order...." Holmes told
one story to Assistant Inspector Staples and a different story to the
Warren Commission.
$12.78 RIFLE. Another reason to doubt Holmes' story is that
on
Saturday morning the FBI announced that the rifle used to assassinate
President Kennedy was purchased for $12.78. Why would the Bureau
tell
Holmes to look for a postal money order in the amount of $21.95 after
announcing that Oswald paid $12.78 for the rifle?
THE INVISIBLE MONEY ORDER STUB. Holmes told the Commission,
"I
passed the information to the men who were looking for this money
order 'stub' to show the only way you could find ne.....within 10
minutes they called back and said they had a money order in that
amount issued at the main post office, which is the same place as
this
post office box was at the time box 2915, and the money order had
been
issued early on the morning of March 12th, 1963. But Harry Holmes
never produced a money order "stub," it was never seen by anybody in
Dallas, and not a single post office employee corrroborated Holmes'
story.
EARLY ON THE MORNING OF MARCH 12, 1963. On April 2, 1964
Harry Holmes told the Warren Commission that he knew the money order
had been issued early on the morning of March 1, 1963. But how did
he know?......There is no time stamp on postal money orders and the
only indication that it was purchased on the morning of March 12 was
the postmark on the envelope allegedly mailed to Klein's, that read
"10:30 am." A copy of this envelope was allegedly found on Klein's
microfilm, but the microfilm was confiscated by FBI agents on
November
23 and was not seen again until the Commission deposed William
Waldman
on May 20, 1964-seven weeks after Holmes testified. Harry Holmes
could not possibly have known that postal money order No,
2,202,130,462 was issued early on the morning of March 12, 1963,
unless he had previously seen the mailing envelope from Klein's
microfilm or issued the money order himself on the morning of March
12.
MONEY ORDER IN WASHINGTON, DC. Holmes told the Warren
Commission, "This number (2,202,130,462) was transmitted to the Chief
Inspector in Washington, who immediately got the money order center
at
Washington to begin a search, which they use IBM equipment to kick
out
this money order, and about 7 o'clock (actually 8:00 PM) Saturday
night they did kick out the original money order and sent it over, so
they said, by special conveyance to the Secret Service, chief of the
Secret Service at Washington now, and turned out, so they said, to be
the correct money order.
Holmes is the only person, anywhere in the US Post Office system, who
knew the number of the postal money order No. 2,202,130,462 on the
afternoon of November 23. No other Dallas Postal employee was
interviewed by the FBI or Warren Commission and there is no
confirmation whatsoever that a "stub" for this money order was found
at the GPO in Dallas, despite Holmes' claim.
The money order was allegedly found by National Archives employee
Robert Jackson, but there were no witnesses present and this man was
never questioned by the FBI or Warren Commission. Jackson delivered
the money order to the home of postal finance officer J. Harold Marks
and it was soon picked up by Secret Service agent Parker.
Holmes lied to the Commission. Holmes version of events
surrounding the money order were essential in linking Oswald with the
mail order rifle from Klein's and went unchallenged. But when David
Belin questioned Holmes about statements made by Oswald during his
last interrogation, attended by Captain Fritz, Forrest Sorrels,
Thomas
Kelly, and Holmes, Belin immediately noticed some glaring
contradictions.
Belin asked Holmes, "Did he (Oswald) ever say anything about going
to
Mexico?" Holmes, replied, "Yes. To the extent that mostly about-
well-
he didn't spend, 'Where did you get the money?' He didn't say that
where he stayed it cost $26 some off, ridiculous amount to eat, and
another ridiculous small amount to stay all night, and that he went
to
the Mexican Embassy to try to get this permission to go to Russia by
Cuba, but most of the talks that we want to talk about was how he got
by with a little amount....They refused him and he became angry and
he
said he burst out of there, and I don't know I don't recall now why
he went into the business about how mad it made him...he goes over to
the Russian Embassy. he was already at the American. This was the
Mexican-he wanted to go to Cuba. Then he went to the Russian Embassy
and he said, because he said then he wanted to go to Russia by way of
Cuba, still trying to get to Cuba and try that angle and they refused
and said, 'Come back in 30 days,' or something like that. And, he
went out of there angry and disgusted"
Harry Holmes was the only person who sat in on the interrogations of
November 24 who claimed that Oswald said he had been in Mexico City.
Belin recognized the contradiction and said, "Is this something that
you think you might have picked up from just reading the papers, ir
is
this something you remember?" Holmes replied, "That is what said in
there." Belin must have realized that Holmes was clearly trying to
link Oswald to Cuba, and also must have realized that Holmes was
lying.
NOTE: On December 17, 1963, four months before he was
interviewed by the Warren Commission, Holmes wrote a detailed
"Memorandum of Interview" of Oswald's interrogations on November 24,
1963. This memorandum was published in the Warren Volumes as Holmes
Ex. No. 4, but Holmes wrote nothing about Oswald's alleged trip to
Mexico City.
David Belin then discussed the postal money order with Holmes who
said, "Oswald had bee questioned about it (the money order) from
about
10 A.M. to noon on November 24, before he was killed." Once again
Holmes lied to the Warren Commission, because neither Captain Fritz,
Forrest Sorrels, or Thomas Kelly remembered that Oswald was asked or
said anything about a postal money order.
Holmes' lies and contradictory statements are not enough to prove
that
he colluded with the FBI and fabricated the money order that linked
Oswald with the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle. But Holmes was the first
person in Dallas to know the number of the money order, the only
person who claimed to have located the money order "stub," and he had
access to postal money orders and GPO cancellation stamps. If Holmes
was not involved, then why did he wait 4 hours before telling postal
inspectors that this never-deposited, never-cashed money order could
be found at the Federal Records Center in Washington, DC?
Exposing the Warren Commission
The Warren Commission was certainly aware that Oswald's alleged
purchase of a rifle from Klein's was based on highly questionable and
inconclusive evidence. They relied not only on dubious evidence
(mis-
dated bank deposits/an uncashed money order/bills of lading that
failed to identify the rifles), they knowingly suppressed evidence
(Oswald's application for PO Box 2915), ignored evidence (postal form
2162), failed to interview crucial witnesses (Louis Feldsott, Fred
Rupp, J.A. Mueller, William Sharp, Robert Jackson), failed to
properly
question Klein's employees (about 36-inch Italian carbines, the
mounting of scopes, regulations concerning the shipment of firearms
through the USPO), failed to properly evaluate evidence (postal money
order, envelope mailed to Klein's, Klein's bank statements), and
allowed the introduction of irrelevant and misleading evidence
(November, 1963 ad from Field and Stream). The Commission broke so
many rules of civil procedure in trying to "prove" that Oswald
purchased C2766 from Klein's, that we have learned not to trust them,
their methods, or their conclusions.
CJ