Post by Rob Caprio on Dec 30, 2019 22:53:49 GMT -5
All portions are ©️ Robert Caprio 2006-2025
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It has long been held that a key piece of evidence in the guilt of Lee Harvey Oswald (LHO) is documentation that he purchased a Mannlicher-Carcano (M-C) rifle and the .38 pistol. In his possessions was a found a receipt dated March 12, for the money order he allegedly used to purchase the rifle (no receipts were ever found for the pistol in his belongings). The purchase amount was $21.45. This was for one rifle with a four power scope, but no clip or bullets. The letter had a postmark of 10:30 AM. So, LHO had a window of 8:30 AM to 10:30 AM to purchase the money order and mail it off.
One important fact to remember is LHO’s post office box was authorized for his name only. He ordered everything under his alleged alias per the Warren Commission (WC), A. Hidell. Any piece of mail coming to his box with the alias would be marked “addressee unknown, return to sender.” Keep this in mind for as we shall see later, the box plays an important role in LHO’s acquiring of the weapons.
Another hitch is that LHO’s work records show he was employed that morning at Jaggars-Chiles-Stovell with no absences. The nearest post office was 11 blocks away. A long walk back and forth for a man with no car. Even more curious is the postmark date has zone 12 listed on it. Zone 12 was roughly two miles away in downtown Dallas. Since it was established that the money order was purchased in zone 3, who would buy a money order at one office and then travel two miles to another one to mail it? Plus, LHO didn’t have the time even if he had a friend to drive him there and back.
Incredibly, the order arrives at Klein’s Sporting Goods in Chicago the next morning. Very good for pre-FedEx days! There were no “airmail” stickers on the envelope so how it got there that fast in unknown. Klein’s reportedly deposited the money order in its bank account on March 13. However, under closer inspection the money order is missing many of the bank routing stamps which would show its path through the banking system. Only the endorsement stamp of Klein’s is there; it’s missing the stamps from the First National Bank of Chicago, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, and finally, the Federal Postal Money Order Center. None of those three routing stamps are on the back of the money order. The stamps have to be there to show that each bank pays only once, if not you have a mess on your hands. Other money orders that LHO bought, such as the ones he used to pay off his State Department loan, all have these routing stamps. So this is most unusual and never investigated by the WC, the FBI, or any other agency. It certainly gives weight to the idea that LHO’s payment never made it through the proper channels.
Adding to that, the FBI went through Klein’s microfilm records and found no sale of a M-C with a serial number of C2766. At that time Klein’s only sold the 36” model. The rifle found on the sixth floor was a 40” model. It did not come with a clip and there is no record of how or when LHO purchased the clip or the bullets to go in it. LHO’s fingerprints were never found on the money order nor the order form. When asked about whether Klein’s took order of the murder weapon by WC attorney David Belin, VP of Klein’s William Waldman said, “I cannot specifically say when this money order was deposited by our company.” Of course not--he knows the lack of routing stamps calls a deposit into question. A separate account ledger features a deposit of $21.45 but that is listed under checks.
In the end the original money order was found in the National Archives by one of the employees there, Robert Jackson. Jackson was never interviewed by the FBI in regards to how he found it. How it made it there was unknown. LHO’s receipt was found in his personal possessions but that is suspect because of the all the difficulties already mentioned.
The Problem With Post Office Delivery
As stated earlier, LHO’s box was authorized for his name only and anything coming in with another name, in this case his alleged Hidell alias, would result in a return to sender. This makes getting his gun shipment to him problematic to say the least. The WC knew this. How did they resolve the issue? They simply stated in the final report that, “It is not known whether the application for post office box 2915 listed ‘A. Hidell’ as a person entitled to receive mail at this box.” That is ridiculous. They had the original application, published in evidence volume 19, page 286. It did not list anybody other than LHO. They had to have known this! This is unfortunately, a common example of how the WC and its lawyers operated and hid the truth from the public. Years later the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) would play the same game. If something does not fit the theory just state the opposite regardless of what the facts are.
There are other issues at play to further complicate this besides a locked down mail box. One of the postal regulations at the time required that anybody purchasing a firearm had to fill out and sign a 2162 form. Not only the buyer but the seller as well. This form was to be kept on file for four years. This form was never found. Klein’s normally kept a copy of the 2162 form for all gun sales. It was a major dealer so they had thousands on file. The FBI never requested it and Klein’s never volunteered a copy. Also, a stub of the money order should have been on file as well, but no stub was ever entered in as evidence.
The Smith & Wesson Pistol
If the weirdness with rifle is not enough, enter the .38 caliber pistol that LHO allegedly used to kill Dallas police officer J. D. Tippit (JDT). Sold from Seaport Traders, LHO allegedly took order possession of a snub nosed Smith & Wesson .38. Before he could order it he would be required under Texas law to get a “certificate of good character” from either the Justice of the Peace or a District Court Judge. This would be hard to do since he would be ordering the pistol under his alleged Alek Hidell alias. Imagine applying for a certificate verifying your character using a phony name! Apparently, he never did. The certificate would have to have been shown to the shipper before the firearm was released to the buyer.
Like the M-C, there is not a lot of solid documentary proof that LHO bought the pistol. There is one invoice (#70638) saying the gun was shipped COD via Railway Express Agency to a A. J. Hidell. This particular invoice is a copy--the original was never obtained by the FBI. It also states that it was shipped to his post office box address which of course can’t be done and was shipped to REA office for pick-up. The FBI could have checked the bank records of both Seaport Traders and REA but never did.
When a shipment would arrive at REA it was common procedure to send a postcard alerting the buyer the gun had arrived. Once again, since LHO had a post office box authorized in his name only, he would never have seen the postcard. It would have been marked “returned to sender” like his rifle should have been. Researcher John Armstrong looked into this in great detail and found that a phone call would determine if an order arrived at REA. No ID was required to show up and pay the COD charge and retrieve the package. Anybody could have appeared at the office and paid for the pistol.
There are no receipts of any kind that were found in LHO’s personal belongings. No invoices, no postcard alerting the arrival of the shipment, no receipt for paying of COD charges...nothing. LHO obtained a leather holster and bullets for it but no receipts for any of those items either.
In Summary
Here are the major points covered:
* Post office box address only authorized for his name LHO. Anything sent with another name (as the rifle allegedly was) would be marked return to sender.
* Money Order not marked with proper routing stamps proving its path through the banking system.
* Work records at Jaggars-Chiles-Stovell show LHO was employed at the time the MO was allegedly purchased and mailed.
* No finger prints found on the MO or the order coupon.
* MO eventually found in the National Archives in Washington, DC.
* No 2162 form ever found from the buyer or the shipper.
* Oswald ordered the 36” model but apparently possessed the 40” model not for sale at Klein’s Sporting Goods at the time of sale.
* No “certificate of good character” acquired for use in receiving the .38 handgun.
How do we resolve all of this? Evidently, somebody else bought the guns and fabricated a false paper trial linking it all to LHO. That of course means a conspiracy is afoot. The missing routing stamps on the back of money order indicate that it was most likely never deposited in Klein’s bank account and even the VP of the company could not verify it was deposited. LHO’s work records show he never left work the morning of March 12 when he is supposed to have mailed the order to Klein’s for the rifle. Which means he couldn’t have done it. In regards to the .38 revolver, that is even more murky and nearly undocumented. Only one receipt is in existence and it is a copy. LHO himself may not have been aware of the set up that was going on behind his back. If he did he never told a soul. The guilty man has been framed once again.
Sources: Newman, John, Oswald and the CIA; Armstrong, John, Harvey and Lee; McKnight, Gerald, Breach of Trust; Warren Commission Report; Douglass, James, JFK and the Unspeakable; www.ctka.net (Probe Magazine article archive); www.history-matters.com
www.awesomestories.com/images/user/6cd32b3c3a.gif
4.bp.blogspot.com/-xKEPpbfpke8/Txt6KyNEnlI/AAAAAAAADy0/NfZflKY0SHE/s530/CE785.jpg
i0.wp.com/jfkfacts.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Oswald-revolver.png
www.jfkfiles.com/jfk/images/news/LHOrev_Fig02_080510.jpg
It has long been held that a key piece of evidence in the guilt of Lee Harvey Oswald (LHO) is documentation that he purchased a Mannlicher-Carcano (M-C) rifle and the .38 pistol. In his possessions was a found a receipt dated March 12, for the money order he allegedly used to purchase the rifle (no receipts were ever found for the pistol in his belongings). The purchase amount was $21.45. This was for one rifle with a four power scope, but no clip or bullets. The letter had a postmark of 10:30 AM. So, LHO had a window of 8:30 AM to 10:30 AM to purchase the money order and mail it off.
One important fact to remember is LHO’s post office box was authorized for his name only. He ordered everything under his alleged alias per the Warren Commission (WC), A. Hidell. Any piece of mail coming to his box with the alias would be marked “addressee unknown, return to sender.” Keep this in mind for as we shall see later, the box plays an important role in LHO’s acquiring of the weapons.
Another hitch is that LHO’s work records show he was employed that morning at Jaggars-Chiles-Stovell with no absences. The nearest post office was 11 blocks away. A long walk back and forth for a man with no car. Even more curious is the postmark date has zone 12 listed on it. Zone 12 was roughly two miles away in downtown Dallas. Since it was established that the money order was purchased in zone 3, who would buy a money order at one office and then travel two miles to another one to mail it? Plus, LHO didn’t have the time even if he had a friend to drive him there and back.
Incredibly, the order arrives at Klein’s Sporting Goods in Chicago the next morning. Very good for pre-FedEx days! There were no “airmail” stickers on the envelope so how it got there that fast in unknown. Klein’s reportedly deposited the money order in its bank account on March 13. However, under closer inspection the money order is missing many of the bank routing stamps which would show its path through the banking system. Only the endorsement stamp of Klein’s is there; it’s missing the stamps from the First National Bank of Chicago, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, and finally, the Federal Postal Money Order Center. None of those three routing stamps are on the back of the money order. The stamps have to be there to show that each bank pays only once, if not you have a mess on your hands. Other money orders that LHO bought, such as the ones he used to pay off his State Department loan, all have these routing stamps. So this is most unusual and never investigated by the WC, the FBI, or any other agency. It certainly gives weight to the idea that LHO’s payment never made it through the proper channels.
Adding to that, the FBI went through Klein’s microfilm records and found no sale of a M-C with a serial number of C2766. At that time Klein’s only sold the 36” model. The rifle found on the sixth floor was a 40” model. It did not come with a clip and there is no record of how or when LHO purchased the clip or the bullets to go in it. LHO’s fingerprints were never found on the money order nor the order form. When asked about whether Klein’s took order of the murder weapon by WC attorney David Belin, VP of Klein’s William Waldman said, “I cannot specifically say when this money order was deposited by our company.” Of course not--he knows the lack of routing stamps calls a deposit into question. A separate account ledger features a deposit of $21.45 but that is listed under checks.
In the end the original money order was found in the National Archives by one of the employees there, Robert Jackson. Jackson was never interviewed by the FBI in regards to how he found it. How it made it there was unknown. LHO’s receipt was found in his personal possessions but that is suspect because of the all the difficulties already mentioned.
The Problem With Post Office Delivery
As stated earlier, LHO’s box was authorized for his name only and anything coming in with another name, in this case his alleged Hidell alias, would result in a return to sender. This makes getting his gun shipment to him problematic to say the least. The WC knew this. How did they resolve the issue? They simply stated in the final report that, “It is not known whether the application for post office box 2915 listed ‘A. Hidell’ as a person entitled to receive mail at this box.” That is ridiculous. They had the original application, published in evidence volume 19, page 286. It did not list anybody other than LHO. They had to have known this! This is unfortunately, a common example of how the WC and its lawyers operated and hid the truth from the public. Years later the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) would play the same game. If something does not fit the theory just state the opposite regardless of what the facts are.
There are other issues at play to further complicate this besides a locked down mail box. One of the postal regulations at the time required that anybody purchasing a firearm had to fill out and sign a 2162 form. Not only the buyer but the seller as well. This form was to be kept on file for four years. This form was never found. Klein’s normally kept a copy of the 2162 form for all gun sales. It was a major dealer so they had thousands on file. The FBI never requested it and Klein’s never volunteered a copy. Also, a stub of the money order should have been on file as well, but no stub was ever entered in as evidence.
The Smith & Wesson Pistol
If the weirdness with rifle is not enough, enter the .38 caliber pistol that LHO allegedly used to kill Dallas police officer J. D. Tippit (JDT). Sold from Seaport Traders, LHO allegedly took order possession of a snub nosed Smith & Wesson .38. Before he could order it he would be required under Texas law to get a “certificate of good character” from either the Justice of the Peace or a District Court Judge. This would be hard to do since he would be ordering the pistol under his alleged Alek Hidell alias. Imagine applying for a certificate verifying your character using a phony name! Apparently, he never did. The certificate would have to have been shown to the shipper before the firearm was released to the buyer.
Like the M-C, there is not a lot of solid documentary proof that LHO bought the pistol. There is one invoice (#70638) saying the gun was shipped COD via Railway Express Agency to a A. J. Hidell. This particular invoice is a copy--the original was never obtained by the FBI. It also states that it was shipped to his post office box address which of course can’t be done and was shipped to REA office for pick-up. The FBI could have checked the bank records of both Seaport Traders and REA but never did.
When a shipment would arrive at REA it was common procedure to send a postcard alerting the buyer the gun had arrived. Once again, since LHO had a post office box authorized in his name only, he would never have seen the postcard. It would have been marked “returned to sender” like his rifle should have been. Researcher John Armstrong looked into this in great detail and found that a phone call would determine if an order arrived at REA. No ID was required to show up and pay the COD charge and retrieve the package. Anybody could have appeared at the office and paid for the pistol.
There are no receipts of any kind that were found in LHO’s personal belongings. No invoices, no postcard alerting the arrival of the shipment, no receipt for paying of COD charges...nothing. LHO obtained a leather holster and bullets for it but no receipts for any of those items either.
In Summary
Here are the major points covered:
* Post office box address only authorized for his name LHO. Anything sent with another name (as the rifle allegedly was) would be marked return to sender.
* Money Order not marked with proper routing stamps proving its path through the banking system.
* Work records at Jaggars-Chiles-Stovell show LHO was employed at the time the MO was allegedly purchased and mailed.
* No finger prints found on the MO or the order coupon.
* MO eventually found in the National Archives in Washington, DC.
* No 2162 form ever found from the buyer or the shipper.
* Oswald ordered the 36” model but apparently possessed the 40” model not for sale at Klein’s Sporting Goods at the time of sale.
* No “certificate of good character” acquired for use in receiving the .38 handgun.
How do we resolve all of this? Evidently, somebody else bought the guns and fabricated a false paper trial linking it all to LHO. That of course means a conspiracy is afoot. The missing routing stamps on the back of money order indicate that it was most likely never deposited in Klein’s bank account and even the VP of the company could not verify it was deposited. LHO’s work records show he never left work the morning of March 12 when he is supposed to have mailed the order to Klein’s for the rifle. Which means he couldn’t have done it. In regards to the .38 revolver, that is even more murky and nearly undocumented. Only one receipt is in existence and it is a copy. LHO himself may not have been aware of the set up that was going on behind his back. If he did he never told a soul. The guilty man has been framed once again.
Sources: Newman, John, Oswald and the CIA; Armstrong, John, Harvey and Lee; McKnight, Gerald, Breach of Trust; Warren Commission Report; Douglass, James, JFK and the Unspeakable; www.ctka.net (Probe Magazine article archive); www.history-matters.com