CIA Wallets at Tenth and Patton

[Martin Weidmann]

Martin W.— a couple of misunderstandings. I didn’t mean Hill was wrong on the 4 pm but I didn’t make that clear enough, that ones on me. I thought you cited him from a later time and that is the kind of thing with Hill one needs to verify and fact check more than normal with Hill, but in this case it agrees with the accounts of others, Walker and Rose, of the wallet being near Oswald and looked at. The harmonization would be Baker first got it but then it was still lying around and others were looking at it, then later (your Hill 4 pm) it was turned in for the storage room and safekeeping. My reference to weak chain of custody was to the Oswald wallet of Bentley through to the 4 pm.

At one point you agreed with me, restating what I said, but believed you were disagreeing. You agreed with me that what Baker said gives no information in establishing anything amiss with the wallet, then said it was silly for me to say what you just said too.

What I fail to see is believing a sensational claim made for the first time 30 years later with zero evidence either that witness or anyone else on earth ever said or heard of the same thing at any time in the previous 30 years, and which is well explained as a simple mistake (Barrett in later memory mistakenly combining a real asking from Westbrook about Oswald wallet ID with Barrett’s memory of being with Westbrook and a wallet at the crime scene, as if that is when Westbrook asked). It’s near zero on the credibility scale on that profile grounds of the claim alone. But once beliefs get started, they have long lives.

I think it makes sense it was Oswald’s wallet at the police station straight through from the theater, and no good reason to suppose a substitution. There’s no actual sound reason against it, and the ID said to be from it has been authenticated as Oswald’s handwriting at points. On the “Hidell” ID issue, I would like to understand that better too and I can think of three scenario possibilities in explanation that I would consider “starters” (viable possible cases for), but none of those involve a secret conveyance of a wallet with Oswald and Hidell ID from the crime scene.

There is a real downside to buying into mistaken theories or reconstructions (as I believe this crime scene Oswald ID Barrett claim is), beyond simply being in error: they create blindness to any real leads and potential real solutions to problems. I’ve seen a hundred examples of such a phenomenon. On this wallet issue I think I’m done here, thank you for the civility of the discussion.

I would have loved to read an explanation how Bentley and Walker could both have a wallet, when in reality there was only one.

[Eric Meece]

Greg, I read on The Education Forum (now shut down) that you had information on the security guard Holmes who took the pistol and wallet from Callaway and returned it to Officer Croy. Can you post what you know about this here?

[Greg Doudna]

Greg, I read on The Education Forum (now shut down) that you had information on the security guard Holmes who took the pistol and wallet from Callaway and returned it to Officer Croy. Can you post what you know about this here?

Hi Eric-- I don't have any information on Holmes other than what Myers reported. (Myers' book is available as ebook on amazon inexpensively.) Here is David von Pein with some basic information on Holmes and Callaway: https://jfk-archives.blogspot.com/2010/07/wallets-part-2.html.

[Mitch Todd]

I would have loved to read an explanation how Bentley and Walker could both have a wallet, when in reality there was only one.

It goes like this:

Walker, Hill, Bentley, Oswald, a priest, a rabbi and a bear enter the Dallas Muncipal Building. Walker, Hill, and Bentley escort Oswald to the DPD offices on the third floor, while the priest, rabbi, and bear leave the Municipal Building and walk into a bar across the street. Once on the third floor, Hill, Bentley, and Walker take Oswald to the Homicide and Robbery Bureau. Hill and Bentley then proceed to the Personnel office, leaving Oswald, Walker, and the wallet in the H&R Bureau suite. Meanwhile, the priest, the rabbi and the bear are at the bar, impatiently waiting for you to finish the joke.

[John Corbett]

It goes like this:

Walker, Hill, Bentley, Oswald, a priest, a rabbi and a bear enter the Dallas Muncipal Building. Walker, Hill, and Bentley escort Oswald to the DPD offices on the third floor, while the priest, rabbi, and bear leave the Municipal Building and walk into a bar across the street. Once on the third floor, Hill, Bentley, and Walker take Oswald to the Homicide and Robbery Bureau. Hill and Bentley then proceed to the Personnel office, leaving Oswald, Walker, and the wallet in the H&R Bureau suite. Meanwhile, the priest, the rabbi and the bear are at the bar, impatiently waiting for you to finish the joke.

Compared with some of the nonsense I read on this forum, this one seems plausible. It's far more detailed than any conspiracy theory I've read lately.