JFK Assassination Plus General Discussion & Debate > JFK Assassination Plus General Discussion And Debate
CIA Wallets at Tenth and Patton
Martin Weidmann:
--- Quote from: Kevin Balch on June 17, 2026, 06:50:31 PM ---Westbrook testified that he returned directly to the police station after Oswald was arrested in the theater (he didn’t arrive in his own car). So Barret’s account of Westbrook flipping through the wallet and asking him if he knew Hidell or Oswald couldn’t have happened at 10th and Patton.
Mr. BALL. Now, what did you do after that [arrest at theater]?
Mr. WESTBROOK. I went back to the city hall and resumed my desk.
--- End quote ---
This doesn't make any sense. Westbrook was at the Tippit scene before he went to the Texas Theater. So, if Barrett was indeed asked, by Westbrook, if he knew Hidell or Oswald it would have been before the arrest and it would have to involve another wallet than the one that was taken from Oswald in the car by Bentley.
But there is more to this story!
After Bentley took Oswald's wallet, he did not mention Hidell at all, which is strange because Gerald Hill testified that he told Bentley to grab the suspect's wallet for the purpose of identification. During a television interview Bentley was asked about the content of the wallet and he basically said there were only items in it that one would expect. I believe he mentioned a driver's license and a credit car, which by itself is strange. Also, there isn't any contemporary report by any of the officers in the car with Oswald that mentions finding a Hidell ID. Only during his WC testimony did Gerald Hill, who was sitting with Bentley (who was never asked to testify) on either side of Oswald on the rear seat of the car - say something like that he vaguely remembered hearing the name Hidell.
When Bentley arrived at the police station with Oswald, he was instantly taken to the hospital because of an injury to his leg. There isn't a single person in the police station that we know of, who confirmed or could confirm what happened to the wallet that Bentley took from Oswald. And this is where it gets complicated, because soon after Oswald was brought into the station, Gus Rose arrived after having been called in. He was the first DPD officer to speak to Oswald and just before that conversation took place an unidentified officer gave Rose a wallet and said it belonged to the suspect. And guess what, in that wallet there were two ID's, one for Oswald and one for Hidell.
So what's a possible explanation for this confusion? Could it be that Westbrook, after being present at Oswald's arrest, returned to the police station and told this unidentified officer to give the wallet that was found at the Tippit scene to Detective Rose? Obviously, in this scenario, the wallet Bentley took from Oswald would have to disappear and Bentley could never testify.
I believe it is possible that this is way the wallet with the Hidell ID was introduced as evidence, but if somebody can give be a better explanation or - even better - a solid chain of custody for the Bentley wallet, I'll gladly reconsider my opinion.
Richard Smith:
--- Quote from: Michael T. Griffith on June 17, 2026, 10:57:48 AM ---WC defenders do not want to acknowledge that someone planted a fake "Oswald" wallet, complete with a fake Hidell ID card, at the Tippit murder scene. They reject this scenario even though former FBI Special Agent Robert Barrett insisted that an Oswald wallet with both Oswald ID and fake Hidell ID was found at the Tippit scene, and even though Barrett clearly recalled that he was asked if he knew who Oswald or Hidell was by the policeman who was examining the wallet. Exactly how would Barrett be "mistaken" about these things?
In addition, former FBI Special Agent James Hosty confirmed that Barrett told him about the finding of an Oswald wallet at the Tippit scene. Let me guess: Hosty was "mistaken" too!
Furthermore, there is news footage of policemen examining a wallet right next to Tippit's patrol car.
Dale Myers says that although the wallet in the news footage resembles Oswald's arrest wallet in a number of features, "photographs show that the Oswald arrest wallet is not the same billfold" that's seen in the news footage. Umm, no, photos show no such thing.
Myers argues that the metal band on the arrest wallet's leather flap is not quite the same as the band on the news film wallet's flap, and that the arrest wallet's leather flap is shaped slightly differently than the leather flap of the wallet in the news film. On their face, these are mighty thin reeds on which to base an argument.
The photos in question by no means clearly establish either of these claims. It is hard to make out the exact length and shape of the metal band on the flap of the news film wallet. Allowing for a modest amount of sun reflection and the somewhat grainy nature of the news film, the news footage wallet's metal band might very well be identical to the arrest wallet's metal band.
As for the argument about the length of the bands, Myers fails to consider the fact that in the photo of the arrest wallet the flap is lying down flat and is apparently snapped shut, whereas in the news film the wallet's flap is unsnapped and partially up. Also, the top left edge of the news film wallet's flap is somewhat obscured by a plastic photo sleeve beneath it, and it is hard to determine the exact shape of the other edge of the flap because of the grainy nature of the news film, because of the camera angle, and because the flap is up and not lying flat. The two flaps look to me like they could very well be identical. For that matter, the wallets look identical in size and in all of their essential features. Just a whopping coincidence, I'm sure.
The fact remains that former Special Agent Barrett insisted an Oswald wallet with both Oswald ID and fake Hidell ID was found at the Tippit scene, and that Barrett clearly recalled that he was asked if he knew who Oswald or Hidell was by the policeman who was examining the wallet.
The fact also remains that Special Agent Hosty confirmed that Barrett told him about the finding of an Oswald wallet at the Tippit scene.
The fact further remains that there is news film footage of policemen examining a wallet right next to Tippit's patrol car. Are we supposed to believe that it's just a remarkable coincidence that a wallet was found next to Tippit's car?
The Dallas police said they found Oswald's "real" wallet on his person while they were driving him to the police station. Huh? Really? How would that have worked? Think about how weird and awkward it would have been for a policeman to be reaching his hands under Oswald's butt to feel if he had anything in his rear pockets or to be sticking his hands in Oswald's front pockets. Surely the police searched Oswald when they arrested him at the theater and most certainly would have found the wallet on his person if he'd had it with him.
--- End quote ---
The old planted wallet story always makes me laugh. Imagine a plot to frame Oswald that involves planting his wallet at the Tippit murder scene. Fantastic evidence that puts him at the crime scene. Score one for the conspirators. But what do these masterminds do? They suppress the planted wallet. Why? Because Oswald has his real wallet on him when arrested. HA HA HA. Something any child could have anticipated but the conspirators are caught by surprise. And then given the choice of which wallet to suppress, they decide the suppress the more incriminating wallet left at the crime scene! Wow.
Lance Payette:
--- Quote from: Richard Smith on Yesterday at 12:49:11 PM ---The old planted wallet story always makes me laugh. Imagine a plot to frame Oswald that involves planting his wallet at the Tippit murder scene. Fantastic evidence that puts him at the crime scene. Score one for the conspirators. But what do these masterminds do? They suppress the planted wallet. Why? Because Oswald has his real wallet on him when arrested. HA HA HA. Something any child could have anticipated but the conspirators are caught by surprise. And then given the choice of which wallet to suppress, they decide the suppress the more incriminating wallet left at the crime scene! Wow.
--- End quote ---
Richard, you're just no fun. If you insist on thinking logically, what are we going to do with you? Take a week off, binge-watch Three Stooges episodes on YouTube, and get back to us when you're ready to think outside the box of rationality.
Martin Weidmann:
--- Quote from: Lance Payette on Yesterday at 12:57:45 PM ---Richard, you're just no fun. If you insist on thinking logically, what are we going to do with you? Take a week off, binge-watch Three Stooges episodes on YouTube, and get back to us when you're ready to think outside the box of rationality.
--- End quote ---
What would be a logical explanation for Bentley not mentioning Hidell when he took the wallet from Oswald in order to identify him. What is a logical explanation for the lack of a chain of custody for that wallet and how can it be logically explained that an - until this day - unidentified police officer ended up with a wallet, which he gave to Gus Rose, that did contain the Hidell ID? How did that officer even know it was Oswald's wallet?
Benjamin Cole:
Here is an article from CBS8 in Dallas re the LHO-Hidell wallet:
Wallet mystery from Officer Tippit's murder settled after 50 years
Evidence from a variety of sources including vintage WFAA news film may provide the proof that Lee Harvey Oswald shot Dallas police officer J.D. Tippit after President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963.
Author: WFAA Staff and WFAA.com (WFAA)
Published: 8:09 PM PST November 20, 2013
DALLAS No other crimes have been more analyzed or scrutinized than what happened in Dallas a half-century ago.
'It's been picked apart for decades,' said Farris Rookstool III, JFK historian and former FBI analyst, 'but the tragedy of this is no one has ever taken the due diligence of time to really put these pieces together until now.'
After five decades, Rookstool is sharing the strongest evidence yet that Lee Harvey Oswald murdered Dallas police Officer J.D. Tippit.
'The wallet puts him definitively at the scene of the crime,' Rookstool said.
Oswald's wallet has been a persistent mystery in recent years one Rookstool started studying. The mysterious billfold first appeared on WFAA in the afternoon of November 22, 1963.
WFAA program director Jay Watson, anchoring live coverage of the assassination, asked Channel 8 photographer Ron Reiland to join him on set and discuss film that Reiland just shot on the Oak Cliff street where Tippit was slain.
'Let's roll the film and we'll narrate it as we go,' Watson said on air.
Reiland, describing each scene to Watson, presumed the wallet seen on the film belonged to Officer Tippit.
'There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that this is Oswald's wallet,' Rookstool said.
So, Rookstool set out to prove it.
He compared the Channel 8 black-and-white film to Oswald's actual wallet in the National Archives. On each of them, circular snaps are visible, along with metal strips and perhaps the biggest similarity a zipper over the cash compartment.
Oswald's wallet is a different color and has different characteristics than Tippit's.
This month, for the first time, Marie Tippit shared her late husband's wallet with WFAA. Tippit's is black, has a different style snap no metal bar like Oswald's and does not have a zipper over the cash compartment.
A half hour east of Birmingham, Alabama is the only man alive today who saw Oswald's wallet at Tippit's murder scene.
'As I walked up, I happened to not knowingly step in a puddle of blood, which was Tippit's blood,' retired FBI Special Agent Bob Barrett recalled. 'I thought, 'Oh God, what have I done?''
He spent 27 years in the FBI and was asked to go to the Tippit murder scene that day by his friend, Dallas County Sheriff Bill Decker.
After arriving at 10th and Patton in North Oak Cliff, Barrett said, he recognized a Dallas police captain thumbing through a billfold.
'He said, 'Bob, you know all the crooks in town, all the hoodlums, etc. You ever heard of a Lee Harvey Oswald?' I said, 'No, I never have.' He said 'How about an Alec Hiddell?' I said, 'No. I never have heard of him either,'' Barrett explained. 'Why would they be asking me questions about Oswald and Hiddell if it wasn't in that wallet?'
In addition, the first Dallas cop on the Tippit crime scene said he actually recovered the wallet.
Sgt. Kenneth Croy, a reserve officer at the time, put it in writing on an 8' x 10' picture for Rookstool.
'First on the scene, recovered Oswald's wallet there, too,' Croy wrote on an image of Tippit's patrol car.
But officially, Dallas police told a different story. The department said it got Oswald's wallet from Oswald himself after his arrest a short time later at the Texas Theatre.
Barrett and Rookstool believe police made that up for the official report because too many officers handled the crucial piece of evidence at the shooting scene.
'They said they took the wallet out of his pocket in the car? That's so much hogwash,' Barrett said. 'That wallet was in [Captain] Westbrook's hand.'
'Bob's in Alabama. Kenneth Croy is in Hamilton, Texas,' Rookstool said. 'They had no relationship with each other than the fate of history put them at the scene of a crime.'
Rookstool says the testimony of Barrett and Croy, Tippit's billfold, and the WFAA film prove that Oswald's wallet was at the scene of the policeman's murder.
More than shell casings and eyewitness recollections, it is the first hard evidence placing Oswald there on that day.
It's significant in tying off a historical loose end and perfecting the record fifty years later.
---30---
Well, like everything in the JFKA, clear as mud.
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