ANOTHER POSSIBLE SOLUTION TO THE "WALLET" MYSTERY ON TENTH STREET
David Von Pein
http://DVP-Potpourri.blogspot.com/2009/12/reiland-film-november-22-1963.html
WFAA-TV cameraman Ron Reiland took some film footage of a wallet being
examined by police officers on 10th Street in Oak Cliff shortly after
the murder of Patrolman J.D. Tippit. Many conspiracy theorists over
the years have insisted that the wallet seen in Reiland's film must
have been Lee Harvey Oswald's. (The entire Reiland film is linked
above.)
I, however, have written multiple posts in the past stating my firm
belief that the wallet in Reiland's film belonged to the slain police
officer, Tippit. And, in fact, Reiland himself said that the wallet
was Tippit's when he narrated his film very shortly after the film was
developed and broadcast on the air at WFAA-TV.
But, of course, a grain of salt must be placed beside Reiland's
comment about the wallet being Tippit's, since Reiland also said that
the gun which can be seen in the hands of Sergeant Bud Owens of the
Dallas Police Department in Reiland's film was the gun that was used
to kill Officer Tippit, which we know is not correct. The revolver
seen in Reiland's film is Tippit's own service revolver.
But here's a theory regarding the "mystery wallet" that I think makes
quite a bit of sense:
I think it's possible (but far from "provable", I will readily admit)
that the wallet that can be seen in Ron Reiland's WFAA-TV footage
belonged to eyewitness Ted Callaway.
In my opinion, the Dallas police would have had every reason to want
to check out Callaway's identification (and hence, look inside his
wallet), due to the fact that it was Callaway who had taken Tippit's
gun and went to hunt for Tippit's killer in William Scoggins' cab. And
at that time, there was just one police officer at the scene of the
crime, Kenneth Croy, who later told the Warren Commission that he
thought Callaway was a "private detective".
If I had been a police officer at the scene of Tippit's murder, and a
man had just returned to that scene carrying the murdered policeman's
gun, I think I might want to ask "Who the heck are you? And why did
you take it upon yourself to take the dead officer's revolver and
search for the killer, instead of letting the police handle this
matter?"
I don't think that asking to see Callaway's identification (and hence,
his wallet) would have been out of line at all, considering the
circumstances regarding Callaway running off with Tippit's revolver on
11/22/63.
We know from the available evidence that Ted Callaway returned to the
scene of the murder after searching for Tippit's killer for a brief
period of time. And we also know that he turned over Tippit's revolver
to police officer Kenneth Croy.
Croy, at some point shortly thereafter, then gave the revolver to
Sergeant Bud Owens, who was then photographed holding the gun in his
left hand by WFAA cameraman Ron Reiland. [CD735; Page 263; An FBI
interview of Ted Callaway, dated 2/26/64, linked below]
http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=11133&relPageId=271
Croy also said this during his Warren Commission testimony:
"There was a report that a cab driver had picked up Tippit's gun
and had left, presumably. They don't know whether he was the one that
had shot Tippit, or whether the man, I think it was he, brought
someone out there, something. Anyway, he saw it and he picked up
Tippit's gun and attempted to give chase or something like that. ....
He brought the taxi driver back to the scene. .... I took Tippit's gun
and several other officers came up, and I turned him over to them and
they questioned him."
http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/croy.htm
Croy, who was somewhat confused about who had actually picked up
Tippit's gun, was obviously talking about Ted Callaway in his above
testimony. And it was obviously Callaway (not the "taxi driver",
William Scoggins) whom Croy had "turned over" to the "other officers"
for questioning.
My contention is that after Croy had retrieved Tippit's revolver from
Callaway and had "turned over" Callaway to the other policemen at the
scene (one of which was Bud Owens), it's quite possible that Owens
then asked Callaway for more information and also asked him to produce
some identification.
Therefore, it makes perfect sense that Ron Reiland could have filmed
Sergeant Owens holding both Tippit's revolver (after having just
received it from Croy) and Ted Callaway's wallet.
Quoting from Dale Myers' 1998 book:
"The opening sequence [of Ron Reiland's film] shows police
gathered around Tippit's squad car questioning eyewitness Helen
Markham. The officers depicted include Patrolman Joe M. Poe and
Leonard E. Jez, Reserve Sergeant Kenneth Croy, and Sergeant Calvin
"Bud" Owens.
"Within seconds, crime scene search Officer W.E. "Pete" Barnes
and Detective Paul Bentley arrive at the scene. The arrival of Barnes
and Bentley pins the time frame of these sequences to 1:42 p.m.--about
eight minutes before Oswald's arrest at the Texas Theater." -- Page
292 of "With Malice: Lee Harvey Oswald And The Murder Of Officer J.D.
Tippit"
===========================
Vincent Bugliosi wrote this in his 2007 book:
"No one other than [FBI agent Robert M.] Barrett ever mentioned
Oswald’s wallet, or any wallet, being found at the Tippit murder
scene. The only item mentioned by anyone as being found near Tippit’s
body was his service revolver. Indeed, every civilian and police
witness whom [Dale] Myers questioned said they saw no wallet at the
murder scene. For instance, Ted Callaway said, “I’ll tell you one
thing, there was no billfold at that scene. If there was, there would
have been too many people who would have seen it” (Myers, 'With
Malice', p.300)." -- Page 453 of "Reclaiming History: The
Assassination Of President John F. Kennedy" (Endnotes)
Now, granted, the "no billfold at that scene" quote from the lips of
Ted Callaway could conceivably throw a monkey wrench into my theory
about the wallet possibly being Callaway's, because since Callaway
said those words to "With Malice" author Dale K. Myers in an interview
on April 9, 1996, the argument could be made that Callaway's memory
would certainly have been refreshed and revitalized concerning the
issue of wallets and/or "billfold[s]" being on display at the scene of
Officer Tippit's murder. And, therefore, Callaway would probably have
remembered handing his own wallet over to Sergeant Owens on Tenth
Street.
But, then too, Callaway's comment to Myers in 1996 about there being
"no billfold" found on the ground at the Tippit murder scene is really
not inconsistent with my theory about the wallet possibly belonging to
Callaway himself. After all, Callaway was talking to Myers about a
billfold/wallet being found on the ground AT THE SCENE OF THE CRIME.
Obviously, my theory about the wallet possibly being Callaway's is far
from conclusive and is pure speculation on my part (and I want to
identify it as such). The "wallet mystery" remains a mystery, and
probably will never be completely resolved. I merely wanted to add one
additional possibility to the list of theories regarding this wallet
issue.
In the final analysis, like Vincent Bugliosi, I think the most likely
answer is that the wallet being examined by the Dallas police on 10th
Street belonged to J.D. Tippit. But after thinking about this wallet
topic more and more in the last couple of days, I think my new theory
about Callaway makes a great deal of sense as well.
===========================
WALLET ADDENDUM:
Here are some more excerpts from Mr. Bugliosi's book concerning this
topic:
"One thing we can be reasonably certain about: the wallet was
not Oswald’s. Myers closely compared a close-up photo of Oswald’s
arrest wallet with the wallet found at the murder scene and found
definite physical differences, causing him to conclude that “the
Oswald arrest wallet is not the same billfold seen in the WFAA
newsfilm” (Myers, 'With Malice', pp.298–299).
"Furthermore, a Dallas police officer had just been slain. It is
inconceivable that members of the Dallas Police Department like
Captains Westbrook and Doughty and Sergeant Hill would suppress and
keep secret the fact that Tippit’s killer had left his calling card at
the murder scene. That simply would not, could not, have happened.
"If Oswald’s wallet had been found at the murder scene, it is
inconceivable that nowhere in the testimony or the reports of
Westbrook, Hill, Doughty, Poe, and so on, would they bother to mention
this extremely important fact. ....
"If I had to wager, I’d conclude it was Tippit’s wallet, and the
reason Reiland stated, on WFAA film, that it was Tippit’s wallet is
that the police had informed him at the scene that it was. Quite apart
from Barrett, it makes no sense to me that the Dallas police and
detectives, several of whom were Tippit’s friends, would keep from the
world that his killer’s wallet was found near his body." -- Vincent
Bugliosi; Pages 454 and 456 of "Reclaiming History" (Endnotes)(c.2007)
http://www.DavidVonPein.blogspot.com
http://www.With--Malice.blogspot.com
Walt
> http://DVP-Potpourri.blogspot.com/2009/12/reiland-film-november-22-19...
>
> WFAA-TV cameraman Ron Reiland took some film footage of a wallet being
> examined by police officers on 10th Street in Oak Cliff shortly after
> the murder of Patrolman J.D. Tippit.
WFAA-TV cameraman Ron Reiland took some film footage of a wallet
being
examined by police officers on 10th Street in Oak Cliff shortly after
the murder of Patrolman J.D. Tippit.
Your opening sentence is a lie........ The Reiland film footage
showing the wallet in the cops hands was shot in the aley behind
Ballew's Texaco station on Jefferson.
In Dale Myers book there is a cropped frame from Reiland's video and
the photo shows a a light colored 1961 Chevrolet in the background.
That 1961 Chevy can be seen in other photographs parked in the parking
lot at the rear of Ballew's Texaco Station.
> http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=111...
David Von Pein
>>> "The Reiland film footage showing the wallet in the cop's hands was shot in the aley behind Ballew's Texaco station on Jefferson." <<<
Nonsense. If that were true, then why in the world does the "wallet"
footage fall perfectly between other scenes that were positively shot
by Reiland with the same camera on 10th Street at the Tippit murder
site? (See the whole uncut film below:)
http://DVP-Potpourri.blogspot.com/2009/12/reiland-film-november-22-1963.html
Did WFAA decide to cut up the film after it was developed and show
certain sequences out of order? If so, why would they want to do this?
Bud
> >>> "The Reiland film footage showing the wallet in the cop's hands was shot in the aley behind Ballew's Texaco station on Jefferson." <<<
>
> Nonsense. If that were true, then why in the world does the "wallet"
> footage fall perfectly between other scenes that were positively shot
> by Reiland with the same camera on 10th Street at the Tippit murder
> site? (See the whole uncut film below:)
>
>
> Did WFAA decide to cut up the film after it was developed and show
> certain sequences out of order? If so, why would they want to do this?
It doesn`t seem likely that Walt will allow mere sense to stop him
from believing these retarded theories he constructs.
curtjester1
> http://DVP-Potpourri.blogspot.com/2009/12/reiland-film-november-22-19...
that was on the scene first, and found it there. Someone handed it to
him and he eventually gave it to Owens. Croy never left the scene so
Owens would have had to walk over to the Texaco and have Tippit's
wallet filmed there if it was Tippit's wallet filmed there. But there
is no doubt that Croy found Tippit's wallet at the MURDER SCENE.
Also there were three separate footages of Reiland that I had put down
within the discussion in 2008 of the fingerprints and such surrounding
the Tippit murder. The wallet find as per the sequence would have
been at the murder scene and not the Texaco.
CJ
curtjester1
>
> > Therefore, it makes perfect sense that Ron Reiland could have filmed
> > Sergeant Owens holding both Tippit's revolver (after having just
> > received it from Croy) and Ted Callaway's wallet.
>
> > Quoting from Dale Myers' 1998 book:
>
> > "The opening sequence [of Ron Reiland's film] shows police
> > gathered around Tippit's squad car questioning eyewitness Helen
> > Markham. The officers depicted include Patrolman Joe M. Poe and
> > Leonard E. Jez, Reserve Sergeant Kenneth Croy, and Sergeant Calvin
> > "Bud" Owens.
>
> This shows the wallet was and had to be Tippit's as Croy was the one
> that was on the scene first, and found it there. Someone handed it to
> him and he eventually gave it to Owens. Croy never left the scene so
> Owens would have had to walk over to the Texaco and have Tippit's
> wallet filmed there if it was Tippit's wallet filmed there. But there
> is no doubt that Croy found Tippit's wallet at the MURDER SCENE.
>
> Also there were three separate footages of Reiland that I had put down
> within the discussion in 2008 of the fingerprints and such surrounding
> the Tippit murder. The wallet find as per the sequence would have
> been at the murder scene and not the Texaco.
>
>
In Clint Bradford's site, (under 500 Photos), there are eight Reiland
photos logged in. Here are three:
422 T " 5 Several police cars & cops
near Tippitt
shooting site - cop runs
toward police
car holding gun butt
423 T " 6 Group gathered around
Tippitt's car.
Piece of paper or poster
lying on
dashboard - no detail
424 T " 7 Cops examine Tippitt;s
billfold
(according to Reiland who is
narrat-
ing) - Note pad inside - Cops
point
to it-Cop holding Tippitt's
pistol
beside his car
Since there is NO testimony of any cop or bystander witness telling
about Tippit's wallet being looked at, AND there is evidence that a
bystander picked up a wallet at the crime scene and gave it to the
first officer to arrive there, Croy (who gave it to Owens), and again
Croy was never at the Texaco, it would seeminly show that a wallet was
found at and only at the Tippit murder scene. The only evidence of
Tippit's billfold being involved in testimony was when it was removed
at the Methodist Hospital from his back pocket. Unless one could
prove that Tippit's wallet was extracted from his back pocket at the
Tippit murder scene and somehow placed back in before the ambulance
arrived, it is pointless to conclude that Tippit's wallet was involved
and that the throw down wallet (or a wallet that Tippit might have had
via checking ID) was the wallet from the killer of Tippit. Also,
given the time constraints of officers arriving and an ambulance
arriving and leaving, would not give ANY time for a wallet to be taken
from Tippit and shown on any TV coverage by Reiland at the Texaco.
NONE. The wallet by the killer *could* have been walked over by Owens
and filmed at the Texaco, but then one would have to prove that
Reiland stating at the Tippit murder scene that he was filming
Tippit's wallet (how would he know?) was in actuality the truth. It
is very convincing that Barrett (with Westbrook) stating that he
viewed the contents at the Tippit murder scene of a wallet being a
wallet with a HIdell/Oswald ID, with Owens and Croy there filmed at
the Tippit murder scene, that the only conclusion one could come up
with is that the wallet in question was truly the killer's wallet with
ID that would certainly be extremely crucial evidence of not only TWO
wallets, as one was found upon the arrestee at the theater, but
crucial that the wallet was probably laid there to be a piece that the
police could follow as a trail to the Texas Theater where they would
have a patsy to arrest. Of course LNT'ers and CT'ers in Sheep's
Clothing may want to deny this. This wallet that was seemingly
hushed up within apparently with the eventual testimony of the
officers shows in apparence of how powerful the cover up was, and it's
influence over intimidated officers were. Only for newer divulgences
by Croy, and good research weighing of facts of the coat, shells of
the gun, and this evidence of the wallet, can we conclude that there
was a systematic cover up going on, even prior to Tippit getting
murdered.
<snippage>
CJ
curtjester1
>
> - Show quoted text -
I just wanted to reiterate here that Tippit was already GONE before
any 'other' officers arrived except maybe Croy and I think it was just
leaving as he arrived, SO the wallet couldn't have been Tippit's for
filming as it was as the Eagles said it was, 'Already Gone', by the
time Reiland or any filming could take place for Tippit's wallet!
'UNLESS' one wants to think it was on film and taken over and snuck
into his back pocket at Methodist where it was removed very shortly
after his arrival...:).
CJ
curtjester1
> On Dec 31 2009, 5:41 pm, curtjester1 <curtjest...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> > 'UNLESS' one wants to think
> > it was on film and taken over and snuck into his back pocket at Methodist
> > where it was removed very shortly after his arrival...:).
>
> pocket at Methodist? I'm away from my sources at the moment, but as I
> recall, Tippit's wallet was recorded as being among Tippit's belongings,
> but the document does not specify that it was specifically removed from
> his body (vs. being brought separately to Methodist by another officer,
> for example). The fact that the first police officer on the scene did not
> arrive until Tippit was being lifted on to the ambulance stretcher does
> not mean that, before then, a by-stander might have removed Tippit's
> wallet to identify him.
I don't have Armstrong's book with me, but this is quoted from a google
search:
Bugliosi, as he usually does, dismisses the now unmarked shells as an
issue that cannot be resolved. He then adds "but such unresolvable points
are common in the investigation of a complex, multifaceted murder
investigation." (EN p. 453) (Yet, elsewhere and in person, he insists the
Kennedy case is a simple one.) From here, he goes on to relate what he
calls another such mystery started by FBI agent James Hosty in his book
Assignment: Oswald. Hosty wrote that after Tippit's body was taken away by
ambulance, Captain Westbrook found a man's wallet near the pool of blood
where Tippit's body had been. (ibid) The wallet was Oswald's. This
seriously conflicts with the official story which has the DPD taking
Oswald's wallet from him on the ride from his arrest at the Texas Theater
to City Hall. There is even film of this incident made by TV station WFAA.
Westbrook told FBI agent Bob Barrett that the identification was for a Lee
Harvey Oswald and Alek Hidell. In the film, there are three men handling
the wallet. Bugliosi tries to save the day by ending his three page
discussion with the conclusion that in spite of the witness testimony to
the contrary, it was Tippit's wallet, not Oswald's. (ibid p. 456) Here's
the problem with this desperate hypothesis. At 2:00 PM that afternoon,
three police officers went to Methodist Hospital to recover Tippit's
effects. There were placed in an envelope and taken to DPD headquarters
where they were checked in at the Identification Bureau at 3:25 PM. One of
the effects was Tippit's wallet. (Dallas Municipal Archives, Box 9, Folder
1, Item 17; Armstrong, p. 871) Incredibly, Bugliosi dismisses this fact.
Even though the only item carried to the hospital was Tippit's handgun, he
says that someone may have brought his wallet from the scene to the
hospital. Even though the only wallet picked up was the one with Oswald's
ID.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
I do seem to recall there was more on the wallet and it's removal in the
book, but can't be sure.
According to SA Barrett though, the Westbrook encounter took place at the
murder scene with the Hidell/Oswald ID being viewed via a wallet. It also
makes sense to ones that have said Postal heard the name "Oswald" being
used at the scene as Oswald was being carted off the premises (SA Carter
report). The only way seemingly that one would have that name available
would be through the find of the wallet at the scene. I also doubt that
there was any other people at the scene that might be anonymous that might
have extracted the wallet, since most of the witnessses that were there
were fairly concise as to the others that were there or shortly came upon
the scene. It would be hard to think that one of those people, if they
had extracted the wallet, wouldn't have mentioned such a specific act that
required a lot of manuvering like that to extract it from Tippit's person.
Of course it's troubling as usual, when the wallet event that was caught
on camera, and knowingly known to be a little different than the wallet
taken from Oswald on the way to the police station, to get so little
investigation time on what would be a huge aspect of the case. So much
was covered up or put into a hazy category when such things like Bentley
seeing "credit cards" and a "driver's license" and a "library card" on the
wallet of Oswald being taken in, and yet their whereabouts have been very
mysterious.
CJ