Post by Rob Caprio on Oct 3, 2018 20:51:27 GMT -5
All portions ©️ Robert Caprio 2006-2024
www.insidehook.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/House_Committee_Assassinations_03_21_19-e1553649529792.jpg
The House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) would endorse the Warren Commission’s (WC) conclusions in many ways, but they also went beyond what the WC did in an effort to learn more. When the HSCA looked into the murder of Dallas police officer J.D. Tippit (JDT) they would find one witness that was not interviewed or called by the WC.
The HSCA Says…Jack Tatum.
***************************************
Before we get into Jack Tatum, let’s look at what the HSCA wrote regarding Lee Harvey Oswald’s (LHO) actions after the assassination according to the WC.
Quote on
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/pages/HSCA_Report_0045a.gif
The Warren Commission concluded that shortly after the assassination, Oswald boarded a bus, but when the bus got caught in a traffic jam, he disembarked and took a taxicab to his roominghouse. The Commission also found that Oswald changed clothes at the roominghouse and walked about nine-tenths of a mile away from it before he encountered Dallas Police Officer J.D. Tippit. (HSCA Report, p. 59)
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/html/HSCA_Report_0045a.htm
Quote off
This comment is important as the HSCA was saying the WC said LHO “changed clothes” when he reached his roominghouse. Based on this, how can they claim any fibers from his shirt that he was arrested in matched the fibers found on the butt of the alleged murder weapon? (Note: They did not match these fibers to the shirt he was wearing—Commission Exhibit (CE) 150—to the exclusion of all similar fibers anyway.) Obviously they couldn’t, and yet, they did. This is just one more example of the dishonesty and ignorance of their own evidence the WC constantly employed.
Then the HSCA repeated the same falsehood the WC gave us about LHO.
Quote on
The committee found that while most of the depository employees were outside of the building at the time of the assassination and returned inside afterwards, Oswald did the reverse; he was inside before the assassination, and afterward he went outside. That Oswald left the building within minutes of the assassination was significant. Every other depository employee either had an alibi for the time of the assassination or returned to the building immediately thereafter. Oswald alone neither remained nor had an alibi. (Ibid.)
Quote off
As we saw in my series “Statements That Sink The WC’s Conclusions” this is not true at all as LHO was not the only employee to leave the building and not be accounted for after the assassination. In fact, one other employee, Charles Givens, had an All Points Bulletin (A.P.B.) issued on him. LHO also had an alibi—that he was eating in the second floor lunchroom and he did identify several people that were in there at the time—but the WC chose to ignore it. These two examples show the good and bad of the HSCA. In some cases they simply parroted what the WC had said, and then in other instances they questioned what the WC said and went further.
That brings us to the subject of this particular post—Jack Tatum. Tatum would be interviewed by members of the HSCA on February 1, 1978, in his office in Hobiezell Hospital which is part of Baylor University Medical Center. Here is statement in full.
Quote on
Although I did not remember the exact time I remember it was early in the afternoon on Friday, November 22, 1963. I was driving XXXX north on Denver and stopped at 10th St. when I first saw the squad car and men walking on the sidewalk near the squad car. Both the squad car and this young white male were coming in my direction(East on 10th Street). At the time I was just approaching the squad car, I noticed this young white male with both hands in the pockets of his zippered jacket leaning over the passenger side of the squad car. This young white male was looking into the squad car from the passenger side. The next thing I knew I heard something that sounded like gun shots as I approached the intersection. (10th & Patton). I heard three shots in rapid (illegible) I went right through the intersection, stopped my car and turned to look back. I then saw the officer lying on the street and saw this young white man standing near the front of the squad car. Next, this man with a gun in his hand ran toward the back of the squad car, but instead of running away he stepped into the street and shot the police officer who was lying in the street. At that point this young man looked around him and then started to walk away in my direction and as he started to break into a small run in my direction, I sped off in my auto. All I saw him to the intersection and run south on Patton towards Jefferson.
Q. Did you know Lee Harvey Oswald, Officer Tippit or anyone else at the scene.
A. No
Q Did you not report this information to the authorities?
A. There were more than enough people there and I could not see what I could contribute.
Q. Is there anything you wish to add to your statement?
A. At this time I can't think or anything.
Jack Moriarty, Joe Basteri, Jack R. Tatum
Feb, 1 1978
jfkassassination.net/russ/testimony/tatum.htm
Quote off
You’ll notice that Tatum said the man that he saw was walking EAST on 10th Street and that he heard three rapid shots. Why did the interviewers put “illegible” after rapid when they were interviewing Tatum and could have asked him to repeat what he said? Most likely he said rapid shots and this would show the shooter had good experience with a pistol and this was never shown to be the case with LHO. Moreover, a rapid firing would support the idea of an AUTOMATIC being used in the killing, and we had two police transmissions that said an automatic was used (none proclaimed that a revolver was used in the crime). Furthermore, if LHO shot JDT in self,defense or out of fear why did he stop and walk around the car, and instead of leaving, take the time to administer a coup de grace when JDT was dead anyway? To me, this is a person leaving a message and not someone acting out of self-defense and then in panic mode as LHO most certainly would have been. What do you think?
Next you will notice that Tatum NEVER said the man that he saw was LHO, but the first question he is asked makes it seem as if he did.
Quote on
Q. Did you know Lee Harvey Oswald, Officer Tippit or anyone else at the scene.
A. No
Quote off
Why was he asked if he knew LHO when he never said he saw LHO? All we received from Tatum was a “young white man” and “man”, but NOT LHO. This seems like a leading question to me. This was not the only source to mislead the reader as the HSCA report did the same thing.
Quote on
The committee, however, did find and interview one witness who had not been interviewed by the Warren Commission or FBI in 1963-64. His name is Jack Ray Tatum, and he reported witnessing the final moments of the shooting of Officer Tippit. Oswald, according to Tatum, after initially shooting Tippit from his position on the sidewalk, walked around the patrol car to where Tippit lay in the street and stood over him while he shot him at point blank range in the head. (Ibid.)
Quote off
Notice how they wrote, “Oswald, according to Tatum, after initially shooting Tippit from his position on the sidewalk”, but when did Tatum say he saw LHO? I don’t see it anywhere in his interview so I am confused as to why they would write that. Furthermore, they added this footnote that furthers makes it doubtful that LHO shot JDT.
Quote on
13 Since Oswald’s revolver had been partially modified to shoot different ammunition than the type it was manufactured to shoot. It was NOT possible for the panel to DETERMINE whether the bullets that killed Tippit were FIRED FROM IT. The panel did determine that the characteristics of the bullets were consistent with their having been fried from Oswald’s revolver. (Ibid) (Emphasis added)
Quote off
Just like the WC the HSCA says the firearms panel (made up of experts) could NOT show the bullets found inside JDT came from CE 143 (LHO’s alleged revolver that had no chain of custody), but then leaves the impression that they probably did. By the way, the inability to match the bullets found inside JDT to CE 143 kind of DID DETERMINE the issue for us and no matter what the experts claimed later on can’t change this fact. They could NOT link the bullets that killed JDT to CE 143 and they, like the WC, could not link CE 143 to LHO with evidence. So how do you blame LHO for the murder? You use sleight of hand as we have seen here by claiming others said they saw LHO when they did not. Or you arrange for affidavits to be done selecting LHO BEFORE the witness actually viewed the lineup as we saw previously in my other series.
Perhaps the most important thing Tatum saw on November 22, 1963, was what he did NOT tell the HSCA, but that he would tell local researchers like Jim Marrs.
Quote on
Even Helen Markham, who was so confused about other matters, was certain of the time [of JDT’s killing] because she was on her way to catch her usual 1:12 P.M. bus for work. Asked by a Warren Commission attorney about the time she saw the Tippit shooting, Markham responded: “I wouldn’t be afraid to bet it wasn’t six or seven minutes after one.”
In this instance, Mrs. Markham’s recollection must be correct since another Tippit shooting witness, Jack Ray Tatum, told researchers that Mrs. Markham did not want to remain at the scene because she feared missing her bus for work. (Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy, by Jim Marrs, p. 348.)
Quote off
It is clear by his comments, Markham’s testimony, Roger Craig’s comments, and T. F. Bowley’s comments (he said he heard the shots a 1:10 p.m.) that JDT was not shot “around 1:16 p.m.” as the WC claimed. Perhaps Tatum, like Bowley, was ignored by the WC because of this knowledge. What is odd is the timing of what he saw was NEVER asked of him by the HSCA interviewers either. Why not? Isn’t that a standard and basic question? I would think so, but the HSCA interviewers ignored this basic question and then the HSCA ignored the fact it was not asked when they wrote about Tatum’s observations.
We see in this post the varying ways the HSCA operated in their investigation of the murder of President John F. Kennedy (JFK). While they can be commended for interviewing Jack Tatum when the WC ignored him, they cannot be commended for how they did this and how they misrepresented what he said. Their failure to ask the basic question of when he saw JDT being shot is unforgivable and their inference that Tatum said he saw LHO when he did NOT say this is also unforgivable as they mislead the reader regarding what happened that day long ago. It would seem they simply went through the motions when they interviewed him and then tried to bend it the way they wanted which of course meant LHO shot JDT.
Sadly for them, as was the case with the WC, the evidence presented does NOT support this conclusion and sadly for us the real killer was never identified so this mystery remains nearly 58 years later.
www.insidehook.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/House_Committee_Assassinations_03_21_19-e1553649529792.jpg
The House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) would endorse the Warren Commission’s (WC) conclusions in many ways, but they also went beyond what the WC did in an effort to learn more. When the HSCA looked into the murder of Dallas police officer J.D. Tippit (JDT) they would find one witness that was not interviewed or called by the WC.
The HSCA Says…Jack Tatum.
***************************************
Before we get into Jack Tatum, let’s look at what the HSCA wrote regarding Lee Harvey Oswald’s (LHO) actions after the assassination according to the WC.
Quote on
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/pages/HSCA_Report_0045a.gif
The Warren Commission concluded that shortly after the assassination, Oswald boarded a bus, but when the bus got caught in a traffic jam, he disembarked and took a taxicab to his roominghouse. The Commission also found that Oswald changed clothes at the roominghouse and walked about nine-tenths of a mile away from it before he encountered Dallas Police Officer J.D. Tippit. (HSCA Report, p. 59)
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/html/HSCA_Report_0045a.htm
Quote off
This comment is important as the HSCA was saying the WC said LHO “changed clothes” when he reached his roominghouse. Based on this, how can they claim any fibers from his shirt that he was arrested in matched the fibers found on the butt of the alleged murder weapon? (Note: They did not match these fibers to the shirt he was wearing—Commission Exhibit (CE) 150—to the exclusion of all similar fibers anyway.) Obviously they couldn’t, and yet, they did. This is just one more example of the dishonesty and ignorance of their own evidence the WC constantly employed.
Then the HSCA repeated the same falsehood the WC gave us about LHO.
Quote on
The committee found that while most of the depository employees were outside of the building at the time of the assassination and returned inside afterwards, Oswald did the reverse; he was inside before the assassination, and afterward he went outside. That Oswald left the building within minutes of the assassination was significant. Every other depository employee either had an alibi for the time of the assassination or returned to the building immediately thereafter. Oswald alone neither remained nor had an alibi. (Ibid.)
Quote off
As we saw in my series “Statements That Sink The WC’s Conclusions” this is not true at all as LHO was not the only employee to leave the building and not be accounted for after the assassination. In fact, one other employee, Charles Givens, had an All Points Bulletin (A.P.B.) issued on him. LHO also had an alibi—that he was eating in the second floor lunchroom and he did identify several people that were in there at the time—but the WC chose to ignore it. These two examples show the good and bad of the HSCA. In some cases they simply parroted what the WC had said, and then in other instances they questioned what the WC said and went further.
That brings us to the subject of this particular post—Jack Tatum. Tatum would be interviewed by members of the HSCA on February 1, 1978, in his office in Hobiezell Hospital which is part of Baylor University Medical Center. Here is statement in full.
Quote on
Although I did not remember the exact time I remember it was early in the afternoon on Friday, November 22, 1963. I was driving XXXX north on Denver and stopped at 10th St. when I first saw the squad car and men walking on the sidewalk near the squad car. Both the squad car and this young white male were coming in my direction(East on 10th Street). At the time I was just approaching the squad car, I noticed this young white male with both hands in the pockets of his zippered jacket leaning over the passenger side of the squad car. This young white male was looking into the squad car from the passenger side. The next thing I knew I heard something that sounded like gun shots as I approached the intersection. (10th & Patton). I heard three shots in rapid (illegible) I went right through the intersection, stopped my car and turned to look back. I then saw the officer lying on the street and saw this young white man standing near the front of the squad car. Next, this man with a gun in his hand ran toward the back of the squad car, but instead of running away he stepped into the street and shot the police officer who was lying in the street. At that point this young man looked around him and then started to walk away in my direction and as he started to break into a small run in my direction, I sped off in my auto. All I saw him to the intersection and run south on Patton towards Jefferson.
Q. Did you know Lee Harvey Oswald, Officer Tippit or anyone else at the scene.
A. No
Q Did you not report this information to the authorities?
A. There were more than enough people there and I could not see what I could contribute.
Q. Is there anything you wish to add to your statement?
A. At this time I can't think or anything.
Jack Moriarty, Joe Basteri, Jack R. Tatum
Feb, 1 1978
jfkassassination.net/russ/testimony/tatum.htm
Quote off
You’ll notice that Tatum said the man that he saw was walking EAST on 10th Street and that he heard three rapid shots. Why did the interviewers put “illegible” after rapid when they were interviewing Tatum and could have asked him to repeat what he said? Most likely he said rapid shots and this would show the shooter had good experience with a pistol and this was never shown to be the case with LHO. Moreover, a rapid firing would support the idea of an AUTOMATIC being used in the killing, and we had two police transmissions that said an automatic was used (none proclaimed that a revolver was used in the crime). Furthermore, if LHO shot JDT in self,defense or out of fear why did he stop and walk around the car, and instead of leaving, take the time to administer a coup de grace when JDT was dead anyway? To me, this is a person leaving a message and not someone acting out of self-defense and then in panic mode as LHO most certainly would have been. What do you think?
Next you will notice that Tatum NEVER said the man that he saw was LHO, but the first question he is asked makes it seem as if he did.
Quote on
Q. Did you know Lee Harvey Oswald, Officer Tippit or anyone else at the scene.
A. No
Quote off
Why was he asked if he knew LHO when he never said he saw LHO? All we received from Tatum was a “young white man” and “man”, but NOT LHO. This seems like a leading question to me. This was not the only source to mislead the reader as the HSCA report did the same thing.
Quote on
The committee, however, did find and interview one witness who had not been interviewed by the Warren Commission or FBI in 1963-64. His name is Jack Ray Tatum, and he reported witnessing the final moments of the shooting of Officer Tippit. Oswald, according to Tatum, after initially shooting Tippit from his position on the sidewalk, walked around the patrol car to where Tippit lay in the street and stood over him while he shot him at point blank range in the head. (Ibid.)
Quote off
Notice how they wrote, “Oswald, according to Tatum, after initially shooting Tippit from his position on the sidewalk”, but when did Tatum say he saw LHO? I don’t see it anywhere in his interview so I am confused as to why they would write that. Furthermore, they added this footnote that furthers makes it doubtful that LHO shot JDT.
Quote on
13 Since Oswald’s revolver had been partially modified to shoot different ammunition than the type it was manufactured to shoot. It was NOT possible for the panel to DETERMINE whether the bullets that killed Tippit were FIRED FROM IT. The panel did determine that the characteristics of the bullets were consistent with their having been fried from Oswald’s revolver. (Ibid) (Emphasis added)
Quote off
Just like the WC the HSCA says the firearms panel (made up of experts) could NOT show the bullets found inside JDT came from CE 143 (LHO’s alleged revolver that had no chain of custody), but then leaves the impression that they probably did. By the way, the inability to match the bullets found inside JDT to CE 143 kind of DID DETERMINE the issue for us and no matter what the experts claimed later on can’t change this fact. They could NOT link the bullets that killed JDT to CE 143 and they, like the WC, could not link CE 143 to LHO with evidence. So how do you blame LHO for the murder? You use sleight of hand as we have seen here by claiming others said they saw LHO when they did not. Or you arrange for affidavits to be done selecting LHO BEFORE the witness actually viewed the lineup as we saw previously in my other series.
Perhaps the most important thing Tatum saw on November 22, 1963, was what he did NOT tell the HSCA, but that he would tell local researchers like Jim Marrs.
Quote on
Even Helen Markham, who was so confused about other matters, was certain of the time [of JDT’s killing] because she was on her way to catch her usual 1:12 P.M. bus for work. Asked by a Warren Commission attorney about the time she saw the Tippit shooting, Markham responded: “I wouldn’t be afraid to bet it wasn’t six or seven minutes after one.”
In this instance, Mrs. Markham’s recollection must be correct since another Tippit shooting witness, Jack Ray Tatum, told researchers that Mrs. Markham did not want to remain at the scene because she feared missing her bus for work. (Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy, by Jim Marrs, p. 348.)
Quote off
It is clear by his comments, Markham’s testimony, Roger Craig’s comments, and T. F. Bowley’s comments (he said he heard the shots a 1:10 p.m.) that JDT was not shot “around 1:16 p.m.” as the WC claimed. Perhaps Tatum, like Bowley, was ignored by the WC because of this knowledge. What is odd is the timing of what he saw was NEVER asked of him by the HSCA interviewers either. Why not? Isn’t that a standard and basic question? I would think so, but the HSCA interviewers ignored this basic question and then the HSCA ignored the fact it was not asked when they wrote about Tatum’s observations.
We see in this post the varying ways the HSCA operated in their investigation of the murder of President John F. Kennedy (JFK). While they can be commended for interviewing Jack Tatum when the WC ignored him, they cannot be commended for how they did this and how they misrepresented what he said. Their failure to ask the basic question of when he saw JDT being shot is unforgivable and their inference that Tatum said he saw LHO when he did NOT say this is also unforgivable as they mislead the reader regarding what happened that day long ago. It would seem they simply went through the motions when they interviewed him and then tried to bend it the way they wanted which of course meant LHO shot JDT.
Sadly for them, as was the case with the WC, the evidence presented does NOT support this conclusion and sadly for us the real killer was never identified so this mystery remains nearly 58 years later.