Reclaiming History (61 page)

“Yes, that’s my face,” he says, “but that’s not my body. I know all about photography, I’ve worked with photography a long time. Someone has photographed me and then superimposed a rifle in my hand and a gun in my pocket. That’s a picture that someone has made. I’ve never seen that picture before in my life.”
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Fritz lays the photograph on his desk.

“We found this photo in Mrs. Paine’s garage, among your effects,” Fritz tells him.

Oswald rolls his eyes toward the ceiling.

“
That
picture has never been in my possession,” he snaps.

“Wait a minute,” Fritz shoots back, “I’ll show you one you probably have seen.”

The captain reaches back into the envelope and pulls out a small snapshot, the original photograph used to produce the enlargement. He shows it to Oswald, who squirms.

“I never have seen that picture either,” he says, defiantly. “That picture’s been reduced from the big one.”
¹¹⁷⁶

Fritz asks him how that’s so, and Oswald gets into a long argument with Fritz about his knowledge of photography, asking Fritz a number of times whether the smaller photograph was made from the larger or whether the larger was made from the smaller.

“We made this enlargement from the snapshot we found in the search,” Fritz finally acknowledges.

“Well, I understand photography real well,” Oswald says arrogantly, “and at the proper time I will show that they’re fakes. Right now, I have nothing more to say about them.”
¹¹⁷⁷

7:00 p.m.

In the third-floor corridor outside, reporters scramble toward Chief Curry, who is about to make a statement. He waits for everyone to settle down.

“The FBI has just informed us,” Chief Curry begins, “that they have the order letter for the rifle that we have sent to the laboratory. They…received it from a mail-order house in Chicago. This order letter has been to the laboratory in Washington, D.C., and compared with known handwriting of our suspect, Oswald, and the handwriting is the same on the order letter as Oswald’s handwriting. The return address on this order letter was to the post office box in Dallas, Texas, of our suspect, Oswald, and it was returned under another name. But it has definitely been established by the FBI that the handwriting is the handwriting of Oswald.”

The reporters shout questions at once. One can be heard clearly above the others.

“Was it a recent purchase?”

“This purchase was made on March the twentieth of this year,” Curry tells them.

“What about the ballistics test, Chief?”

“The ballistic test—we haven’t had a final report, but it is—I understand [it] will be favorable,” Curry replies.

“Is this the development you referred to today as making this case ironclad in your opinion?”

“This was not what I had reference to earlier,” Curry says.

“Will you give us an indication of what that is?” a reporter shouts. “Were you referring to the photograph earlier?”

The media are already aware of the photographs of Oswald holding a rifle found by police in Mrs. Paine’s garage. Curry doesn’t have time to answer the question before another is shouted out.

“Where did these photographs come from, Chief?” a newsman asks.

“The photographs were found in his—out at Irving, where he had been staying and where his wife had been staying,” Curry says.

“Does [the rifle in the photograph] look like the one that you have, that you think is the murder weapon, sir?”

“It does,” Curry responds.

“How is he taking this information as it builds up?” someone asks.

“I don’t know,” Curry says.

“Chief, just a moment ago he came out…bitterly complaining about being deprived of his citizenship rights because he can’t take a shower. Do you have any comment on that?”

“I didn’t know he had asked to take a shower,” Curry says. “We have a shower up there where he could take a shower if he wants one.”

“What was the name under which he ordered the rifle?” a reporter asks.

“The name—the return—the name on the return address was A. Hidell,” Curry tells them.

“Do you consider the case shut tight now, Chief?”

“We will continue to work on it,” Curry replies, “and try to get every shred of evidence that’s possible.”
¹¹⁷⁸

T
he chief’s statements set off alarm bells at FBI headquarters. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover can’t believe that Curry is willing to give the press details about the evidence against Oswald. Curry’s comments are being broadcast nationally, and Hoover doesn’t think that cases should be tried in the newspapers. The bureau has a policy of “no comment” until it has a warrant and makes an arrest. Then a release is prepared, briefly stating the facts of the case and the charges. The details of the evidence are kept secret until the case goes to trial. The kind of information Curry is blabbing about would never, under any circumstances, be given out to the press by the FBI. Hoover is particularly incensed that Curry is talking about evidence that is being developed in the FBI’s Washington, D.C., crime lab. Hoover gets Gordon Shanklin, agent-in-charge in Dallas, on the phone.

“Talk to Chief Curry,” Hoover tells Shanklin, “and tell him that I insist that he not go on the air any more and discuss the progress of the investigation.”

Hoover has little direct authority over the Dallas police chief. The FBI crime lab furnishes free service to all law enforcement agencies throughout the country. What they do with the FBI’s lab reports, once they’ve received them, is their business. But because of the fact that President Lyndon Johnson has asked Hoover to take charge of the case, Hoover feels justified in asking Curry to abide by his wishes.

“You tell him,” Hoover adds, “that I insist that he and all members of his department refrain from public statements!”
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T
he IBM computers at the U.S. Postal Records Center in Alexandria, Virginia, have been humming for nearly seven hours now (though state-of-the-art at the time, these computers are a far cry from today’s technology) searching for the original money order used to purchase the assassination weapon. There’s no telling how many man-hours it might take to do a manual search.

Suddenly, a match is found, and the money order is located.

The center rushes the original money order by special courier to the chief of the Secret Service in Washington. A handwriting analysis by a questioned-documents expert for the Department of the Treasury shows that the handwriting on the money order is that of Lee Harvey Oswald.
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If there is one thing that is now unquestionably certain, it is that Lee Harvey Oswald ordered and paid for the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle that was found on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository Building shortly after the assassination.

7:10 p.m.

Secret Service inspector Thomas Kelley is very impressed by Captain Fritz, who has shown great patience and tenacity in his efforts to uncover the truth from Oswald about the rifle photographs. But Oswald remains arrogant and uncooperative. Fritz asks Oswald about some of the places where he’s lived, trying to get him to admit where the pictures were taken. Oswald tells him about one of the places he lived in Dallas, but is very evasive when Fritz questions him about living on Neely Street.
¹¹⁸¹

“You never lived there?” Fritz asks.

“No!” Oswald says, defiantly.

“You didn’t take any photographs there?” Fritz persists.

“No!” Oswald snaps back.

“I’ve got statements from people
*
who say they visited you when you lived there,” Fritz tells him.

“They must be mistaken,” Oswald answers.
¹¹⁸²

Fritz can only shake his head in frustration. It is apparent to everyone that Oswald, though shaken by the photographic evidence, has no intention of furnishing any more information about the rifle pictures. After forty-five minutes of trying to pull impacted teeth to get answers, Captain Fritz orders Oswald returned to his cell.
¹¹⁸³

7:15 p.m.

Detectives Hall, Sims, Graves, and Boyd lead a very hostile Oswald into the bright news lights basking the third-floor hallway.
¹¹⁸⁴
A reporter yells, “Here he comes!” to his colleagues as a live television camera swings around and zooms in on the T-shirt–clad Oswald. Newsmen rush toward him, arms outstretched, microphones searching for a brief statement.

“Did you fire that rifle?” a reporter shouts.

Oswald is smoldering, his voice finally exploding in anger.

“I don’t know what dispatches you people have been given,” he roars, “but I emphatically deny these charges!”

The officers pull him sharply through a doorway into the vestibule of the jail elevator, and out of sight of the live television audience.

“What about Connally?” a newsman hollers, shoving his microphone into the doorway.

Like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, another persona seems to slip under Oswald’s skin as his anger suddenly gives way to a gentler side.

“I have nothing against anybody,” he says, his voice returning to its usual calm state.

“I have not committed any acts of violence.”
¹¹⁸⁵

7:20 p.m.

Marguerite Oswald is in her robe and slippers when there is a knock on the door of the suite at the Executive Inn, where she and Marina are staying.

“Who is it?” Marguerite says, moving toward the door.

“This is Mr. Odum,” a voice responds.

She opens the door a crack to see two FBI agents. They are wet from the pouring rain.

“Mrs. Oswald,” Agent Bardwell Odum says, “I would like to see Marina.”

She peers at him through her heavy, black-framed glasses, the door barely open.

“Mr. Odum, we’re awfully tired,” she says.

“I just want to show her a photograph,” Odum replies.

“She’s completely exhausted,” Marguerite pleads. “I am not calling my daughter-in-law to the door. As a matter of fact, she’s taking a bath.”

Marina isn’t really in the bathtub. Marguerite will say anything right now to get rid of the FBI men.

“Mrs. Oswald,” Odum says, “let me ask you a question then.”

“Yes, sir.”

Odum holds up his hand to the crack in the door. Cupped in his palm is a glossy black-and-white photograph, its corners carefully trimmed with a pair of shears. It’s the image of an unknown individual, originally thought to be Oswald, leaving the Soviet embassy in Mexico City in early October 1963. Only the head and shoulders of the man are visible in the photo. The FBI knows that it’s not Oswald, but they wonder if it could be an accomplice.

“Do you recognize this individual?” he asks.

Marguerite looks at the photo briefly through the crack in the door.

“No, sir, believe me,” she says.

The rain pelts the ground around the two men. Odum lowers his hand.

“Thank you,” he says, as she closes the door.
¹¹⁸⁶

7:46 p.m. (8:46 p.m. EST)

ABC commentator Chet Huntley announces that “all the personal effects of the late president have now been removed from the White House.”
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8:00 p.m.

In Irving, Ruth Paine answers the phone and hears Lee Oswald say in Russian, “Marina, please.” That’s the opening phrase he normally uses when he wants to speak to his wife, and he’s used it on many occasions.

“She’s not here,” Mrs. Paine replies, in English.

Oswald is clearly irritated that his wife is not available to speak with him.

“Where is she?” he asks, an edge to his voice.

“I’ve got an idea where she might be, but I’m not at all certain,” Ruth answers. “I’ll try to find out.” She doesn’t tell Lee, but earlier today, while FBI agent Bardwell Odum was at her home, she overheard Odum talking on the telephone to the
Life
magazine people staying at the Hotel Adolphus. He was trying to find out where Marina was staying and she heard him say, “Executive Inn,” and saw him jot it down. She thinks that Marina may be there.

“Tell her she should be at your house,” Oswald says tersely.

“I’ll try to reach her and give her your message,” Mrs. Paine answers.

Oswald hangs up. Mrs. Paine had been waiting to hear from Marina since she left that morning. She had no intention of attempting to reach her. She felt that if Marina wanted to talk to her, she would call. Of course, she was hurt that Marina hadn’t called or made any attempt to contact her. But now that Lee is trying to reach Marina, Ruth Paine decides to make the first move. She telephones the Executive Inn and asks the hotel operator to speak to Tommy Thompson, the
Life
representative. There is a short pause, then a female voice answers, “Hello?” It’s Marguerite Oswald.

“Hello, this is Ruth Paine. I’d like to talk to Marina.”

There is no love lost between Mrs. Paine and Oswald’s mother, who is suspicious of Ruth and her husband.

“Marina’s in the bathroom,” Marguerite tells her.

“Lee called me,” Mrs. Paine tells her, “and he wanted me to deliver a message to Marina.”

“Yes?”

“He wants me to contact an attorney for him,” Ruth says, “and he was very upset that Marina was not at my house.”

“Well, he is in prison,” Marguerite replies callously. “He don’t know the things we are up against, the things that we have to face. What he wants doesn’t really matter.”

Ruth is shocked that Marguerite doesn’t have any respect for Lee’s wishes.

“Please let me speak to Marina,” Ruth asks.

Marguerite finally relinquishes control of the telephone to her daughter-in-law. Mrs. Paine repeats Lee’s message to her, in Russian. Marina only says that she is very tired and wants to get to bed. Ruth agrees that it’s best that she stay at the hotel tonight. Ruth is disappointed that Marina doesn’t tell her what she plans to do tomorrow.

“Did you see Lee today?” Ruth asks.

“Yes, around noon,” Marina says.

It’s obvious she doesn’t want to talk, so Mrs. Paine says good-bye and hangs up.
¹¹⁸⁸

Marguerite asks Marina what Mrs. Paine said, but Marina doesn’t answer her. Marguerite’s suspicions escalate and she begins to imagine that everyone is working against her. She begins to wonder how Mrs. Paine knew where they were staying? What did she say to Marina that caused Marina to withdraw and not want to tell her what Mrs. Paine said? In her conspiratorial mindset, FBI agent Odum’s earlier visit and insistence on seeing Marina, and Mrs. Paine’s call are somehow tied together. And whatever these people are up to, it’s no good.
¹¹⁸⁹