Post by John Duncan on Mar 3, 2022 15:50:24 GMT -5
Oswald's Possessions Arrive In Washington - Part I
Around midnight the Dallas police photographed the items of evidence (Lee Harvey Oswald's possessions), grouped together, on the floor of the police station. During the evening, FBI agents repeatedly approached Dallas Police Chief Jesse Curry and insisted that all of the physical evidence be released to the Bureau. Curry told the WC, "We got several calls insisting we send this, and nobody would tell me exactly who it was that was insisting, 'just say I got a call from Washington, and they wanted this evidence up there,' insinuating I was someone in high authority that was requesting this...."
When Warren Commission member Allen Dulles heard Chief Curry's answer, he knew the "someone in high authority" was probably his close friend President Lyndon Johnson, and, in order to avoid further probing questions, he abruptly adjourned the hearing.{/u] Dulles was the only member of the Commission who understood the reason for sending Oswald's possessions to the FBI as quickly as possible. The reason was to identify and eliminate items of evidence which suggested there was a second Oswald or suggested that Oswald was connected with U.S. Intelligence agencies.
When Curry's testimony resumed not another word was mentioned about "someone in high authority."
It was President Johnson's aide, Cliff Carter, who ordered the DPD to turn over all evidence to the FBI on Friday evening and there is little doubt that it was Lyndon Johnson who instructed Carter to phone the DPD.
Chief Curry told the Commission, "Around midnight of Friday night we agreed to let the FBI have all the evidence and they said they would bring it to their laboratory and they would have an agent stand by and when they were finished with it to return it to us." The Dallas Police then gave all the physical evidence, without a written inventory to FBI agent Vince Drain who departed from Carswell Air Force Base aboard a C-130 tanker at 3:10 am for Washington, DC. *SA Drain did not testify before the Warren Commission.*
From the testimony of Jesse Curry the Warren Commission learned the FBI had taken Oswald's possessions to Washington DC during the early morning hours of November 23rd. As seasoned lawyers, the Commission members and their staff understood the "custodial chain of evidence" from the DPD to the FBI had been broken. There was no written record of the items taken by the FBI to Washington on November 23rd nor was there a written record of the items returned to the Dallas Police three days later (November 26).
The Dallas Police and FBI prepared an inventory which listed the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle, the .38 S&W pistol, bullet fragments, shell casings, a blanket, Oswald's shirt, and paper and tape samples from the TSBD. These items were photographed as a group at 9:00 pm by Lieutenant J. C. Day prior to turning them over to the FBI (This photograph also shows the ***two spent cartridges (not 3) which the police found on the 6th floor of the TSBD). But no inventory list accompanied the hundreds of items of evidence, found by the Dallas Police, to FBI Headquarters during the early morning hours of November 23rd.
At the FBI laboratory in Washington technicians conducted a test on Oswald's shirt, one of the items inventoried and photographed, to determine if a tuft of fibers found on the butt of the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle matched the fibers on the shirt. The subsequent FBI report of November 23 said the fibers "match in microscopic characteristics....the shirt of the suspect. These fibers could have originated from this shirt." But the fibers did not come from the shirt Oswald was wearing at the TSBD on November 22. After arriving at 1026 N. Beckley Oswald changed clothes and wore a different shirt to the Texas Theater. The fibers found on the rifle could not possibly have come from this shirt.
James Cadigan, an FBI document specialist, received the confiscated items (Oswald's possessions) at FBI headquarters in Washington. When Cadigan first testified before the WC, the only Commission member
present was former CIA Director Allen Dulles. Cadigan said, "Initially, the first big batch of evidence was brought into the laboratory on November 23 and this consisted of many, many items...It was a very large quantity of evidence that was brought in.
Commission attorney Melvin Eisenberg learned just how many items the FBI received when he asked Cadigan if he remembered one particular item. Cadigan said, "On November 23, when the vast bulk of this material came in it was photographed....to select one item out of four or five hundred. I cannot, in all honestly, say I definitely recall seeing this..." Eisenberg now knew that "four or five hundred" items of evidence, which belonged to Oswald, were "brought into the FBI laboratory on November 23rd." He also knew that no inventory list accompanied these items from Dallas to FBI Headquarters (Nov. 23) or from FBI Headquarters to Dallas (Nov. 26).
BROWN FINGERPRINT INK. When the FBI laboratory received Oswald's possessions on the early morning of November 23, many of the items were immediately treated with a brown colored ink to check for fingerprints. Under normal conditions, when the testing was complete, items were re-treated with a special chemical that neutralized and removed all traces of the brown fingerprint ink. This neutralizing process was known as "de-silvering" and was briefly mentioned by Cadigan. WC attorney Melvin Eisenberg was discussing Oswald's FPCC card and asked Cadigan, "Do you know why CE 820 was not processed or de-silvered?" Cadigan replied, "Time was of the essence and this material, I believe was returned to the Dallas Police within two or three days.....There was insufficient time to de-silver it."
Eisenberg now knew that the hundreds of items of evidence confiscated by the Dallas Police (Oswald's possessions) were secretly sent to FBI headquarters in the early morning hours of November 23, and then quietly returned to the Dallas Police three days later (November 26).
Part II
TIME WAS OF THE ESSENCE. The urgency to return the items of evidence to Dallas was probably the result of a conversation between FBI Director Hoover and President Lyndon Johnson. Johnson was planning to announce that the FBI was taking over the investigation, and physical evidence needed to be in Dallas so the police could "officially" turn the evidence over to the FBI. Prior to the announcement hundreds of items of evidence at the FBI laboratory were collected in haste before lab technicians had time to complete the de-silvering process on all the items. One of the items that was not "de-silvered" by lab technicians was Oswald's Fair Play for Cuba Committee card. Warren Commission attorney Melvin Eisenberg asked Cadigan, "Do you know why 820 was not reprocessed or de-silvered?"
Neither the Warren Commission nor the FBI wanted the public to find out the Bureau had secretly taken evidence to the Dallas Police a few days later, so testimony and photographs had to be altered. The transcript of James Cadigan's ***original*** deposition (pp. 49-50) reads, "Time was of the essence and this material, I believe was returned to the Dallas Police within two or three days..." But someone drew lines through the ***original*** typewritten transcript and wrote "delete". This portion of Cadigan's testimony was deleted and does not appear in his testimony as published on page 434 of Volume VII of the Warren Volumes.
Thanks to James Cadigan, and his original WC testimony which is preserved in the National Archives (released 1992), we now know the FBI secretly obtained the items of evidence listed on the Dallas Police inventories for November 22/23, kept them in Washington, DC, for three days, and then quietly returned them to the Dallas Police.
*While Oswald's possessions were in FBI custody many key pieces of evidence were altered (W-2 forms), manipulated (Minox camera/light meter), and suppressed (Lee Oswald's wallet found by Captain Westbrook). Without a written inventory either to or from the Dallas Police, the FBI was not concerned that their tampering with would be discovered.
Oswald's Possessions Are Returned To The Dallas Police Department
On November 26, the "hundreds of items" were returned to the DPD headquarters *so that an inventory could be created to show a "chain of possession" from the DPD to the FBI.* All items were photographed at DPD headquarters with a desk mounted Recordak camera, which was known for taking precise, crystal-clear photographs. The police used 4 rolls of 35mm film, 25 feet in length, and 1 roll of 35 mm film that was 100 feet in length. As each item was photographed it was listed on one of 25 typewritten pages of inventory, which were jointly initialed by FBI agents and Dallas Police officers.
President Johnson announced the FBI was taking over the investigation and shortly thereafter the Dallas Police gave hundreds of items of evidence to the FBI in front of TV cameras and reporters. The Dallas Police, who did not have time to develop the film, also gave the five rolls of film to the FBI. They requested that the FBI develop the film and provide them with two photographs of each item of evidence.
BUT THERE WERE PROBLEMS If the FBI developed the 5 rolls of film and returned the photographs of all items to the Dallas Police, then many of the photographs would show items that had been treated with the brown fingerprint ink-applied at the FBI laboratory from November 23-25. These photographs were "proof" that the FBI secretly had these items of evidence in their possession *before they took over the case on November 26th.
Another problem was the volume of evidence, which grew considerably while in FBI custody*. The items confiscated by the Dallas Police on November 22-23 were listed on 5 typewritten pages, *but it took 21 typewritten pages to list all of the items that were returned to the Dallas Police and listed on the joint DPD/FBI inventory of November 26. If both lists are placed side by side, it is apparent that the FBI returned far more items to the Dallas Police than they received.
In 1999 the author visited the National Archives in order to examine and compare each item of evidence listed on the 5 pages of DPD inventory (November 23) with the joint FBI/DPD inventory (November 26). He began by examining the items listed on the DPD inventory of November 22/23 and found that each item was properly initialed by Dallas Police officers.
He then located those items on the joint FBI/DPD inventory of November 26 (CE 2003 pp. 263-283). He soon realized there were many more items listed on the joint FBI/DPD inventory of 11/26/63 than were listed on the original DPD inventory of 11/22-23/63. It was clear that items of evidence were added while in FBI custody and also clear that none of these items contained the initials of Dallas Police officers. This means that either DPD officers forgot to initial over a hundred items of evidence, forgot to list those items in inventory, and forgot to photograph them on the floor of DPD headquarters, or the FBI added items of evidence to the inventory between the 23rd and 26th of November. The FBI not only added items to the inventory, they also discarded and/or switched items of evidence. Dallas Police Officers Gus Rose and Richard Stovall found a Minox camera at Ruth Paine's. Rose said, "Among the property we found a little Minox miniature camera and on checking it, it did have a little roll of film in it (along with 9 additional rolls of Minox film)....All of the property we recovered from the residence, I initialed it, Stovall and I initialed it and dated it for evidence."
Rose and Stovall also listed the miniature camera on their handwritten inventory and on the typewritten inventory which was identified by the WC as Stovall Exhibit A and published on pages 596-597 in Volume 21. On the evening of November 22, the Minox camera was photographed on the floor of the Dallas Police station along with other items confiscated by the Dallas Police.
On November 26, 1963 the Minox camera was listed as item #375 on the joint FBI/DPD inventory. But after the Minox camera arrived at FBI headquarters in Washington, DC, SA Vincent Drain and SA Warren DeBrueys created a second inventory, and changed the Minox camera to a Minox light meter (Item #375). The FBI then, "re-photographed" a Minox light meter, identified it as item #375, and sent the photograph to the Dallas Police *in an attempt to convince the police they had received a light meter and not a miniature spy camera.
Finally, FBI agents met with Gus Rose (DPD officer who found the Minox) and H.W. Hill (property clerk) on three separate occasions and tried to convince them they found a light Minox light meter and not a Minox camera. The FBI agents insisted the Dallas Police change their inventory from a camera to a light meter, probably so they wouldn't have to explain to the press why Oswald owned an expensive Minox spy camera (often seen in James Bond films). Gus Rose discussed the problem with Captain Fritz and, after getting his approval, told the FBI agents he would not change the inventory.
Both Drain and DeBrueys should have been asked who instructed them to create a new inventory at FBI headquarters.
In an attempt to keep the public from learning that HARVEY Oswald owned a miniature spy camera, which would suggest he had intelligence connections, the Bureau sought and received half from Ruth and Michael Paine. On January 31, 1964, FBI agent Bardwell Odum ***allegedly*** obtained a Minox II camera, serial number 27259, from Michael Paine. The Bureau the announced that the Minox camera in their custody belonged to Michael Paine, and not to Oswald (nothing further was said about the Minox camera found by Dallas Police.)
On June 23, 1964 FBI agent Warren Debrueys ***allegedly*** returned the Minox camera to Ruth Paine in Irving, Texas. Michael Paine, on the nationally broadcast television program Frontline (1994), confirmed the Minox camera had been returned to him by the FBI and said the camera was subsequently lost. But there was still a problem.
The National Archives currently has a Minox III camera, found by the Dallas Police in Ruth Paine's garage. This camera is currently inoperable, is unable to be opened, and therefore the serial number remains unknown. The Minox Corporation (and their web site) advises that Minox III cameras were manufactured with serial numbers 31275 thru 58499. Therefore, the Minox which the FBI obtained from Michael Paine on January 31, 1964 (serial number 27259) was not the camera found by Dallas Police which is now in the National Archives. The serial number of Michael Paine's camera, listed on an FBI Airtel of 2/2/64, shows that it was a Minox II (Minox II cameras were manufactured with serial numbers up to 31500. The FBI's attempt to hide the fact that HARVEY Oswald owned a Minox camera is one of the best known and documented examples of their attempts to alter and fabricate evidence.
In an attempt to hide these problems, the FBI developed the 5 rolls of DPD film and then *destroyed the negatives that showed those items of evidence that were discovered by the brown fingerprint ink.* They also, destroyed negatives which showed items of evidence that had been switched, altered, or destroyed while in their custody. The remainder of the original 5 rolls of film was spliced together into two rolls, which were then copied and sent to the Dallas Police Department. *The Dallas City Archives has copies of the 2 rolls available for inspection, and the splicing can be seen easily.
After the Dallas Police received the film Chief Curry noticed that many of the negatives were missing and notified the Special Agent-in-Charge of the Dallas Office, Gordon Shanklin, by letter. On December 3rd Curry wrote, "On developing the microfilm it has been found that items #164 thru 360 inclusive did not record." (Curry's letter shows that over half of the negatives, 196 in total, were missing!!)
The 1st roll of film in the Dallas City Archives contains negatives #1 through #163. The 2nd roll contains negatives #361 through #451 (3 rolls of original film were destroyed by the FBI).
J. Edgar Hoover responded to Chief Curry's letter by claiming, *incredibly*, that the missing negatives were the result of "faulty technique" by the Dallas Police photographer who photographed Oswald's possessions. *If there was any faulty technique it could have easily have been seen, frame by frame, on the original 35mm film, but 196 continuous frames were cut (physically removed) from the original 5 rolls of film.
To placate Chief Curry the FBI re-photographed the "missing" items and sent copies of the photographs to Dallas. But the new photographs did not match the description of the items listed on the joint DPD/FBI inventory of November 26, 1963. To deal with this problem the FBI simply created a new inventory to match their new photographs which Hoover sent along with a memo to Gordon Shanklin, SAC Dallas:
"The inventory list submitted by your office (joint FBI/DPD inventory of November 26, 63) has been superseded by the list furnished to your office by the FBI laboratory dated 2/1/64. The 11/26/63 list is incomplete and is not completely accurate."
This memo is incredible!! Hoover told Gordon Shaklin that the joint FBI/DPD inventory of November 26, 1963, was incomplete and not accurate, *but there was nothing Shanklin could do. He dared not argue with Hoover and simply followed instructions by providing a copy of the new FBI inventory to the Dallas Police.
Even though the Dallas Police refused to change their inventory from a Minox camera to a Minox light meter, the FBI changed their inventory. The "re-photographed" item #375 (originally a Minox camera) and sent a photograph to Dallas. The someone at FBI
headquarters forgot to rid of the Minox camera found by the Dallas Police in Ruth Paine's garage, and it was turned over to the National Archives where it can be examined today.
The FBI's alteration of the DPD inventory and film is irrefutable proof that the Bureau destroyed evidence in order to help frame Oswald and keep the public from learning the truth about his connection to U.S. Intelligence and his background.
Around midnight the Dallas police photographed the items of evidence (Lee Harvey Oswald's possessions), grouped together, on the floor of the police station. During the evening, FBI agents repeatedly approached Dallas Police Chief Jesse Curry and insisted that all of the physical evidence be released to the Bureau. Curry told the WC, "We got several calls insisting we send this, and nobody would tell me exactly who it was that was insisting, 'just say I got a call from Washington, and they wanted this evidence up there,' insinuating I was someone in high authority that was requesting this...."
When Warren Commission member Allen Dulles heard Chief Curry's answer, he knew the "someone in high authority" was probably his close friend President Lyndon Johnson, and, in order to avoid further probing questions, he abruptly adjourned the hearing.{/u] Dulles was the only member of the Commission who understood the reason for sending Oswald's possessions to the FBI as quickly as possible. The reason was to identify and eliminate items of evidence which suggested there was a second Oswald or suggested that Oswald was connected with U.S. Intelligence agencies.
When Curry's testimony resumed not another word was mentioned about "someone in high authority."
It was President Johnson's aide, Cliff Carter, who ordered the DPD to turn over all evidence to the FBI on Friday evening and there is little doubt that it was Lyndon Johnson who instructed Carter to phone the DPD.
Chief Curry told the Commission, "Around midnight of Friday night we agreed to let the FBI have all the evidence and they said they would bring it to their laboratory and they would have an agent stand by and when they were finished with it to return it to us." The Dallas Police then gave all the physical evidence, without a written inventory to FBI agent Vince Drain who departed from Carswell Air Force Base aboard a C-130 tanker at 3:10 am for Washington, DC. *SA Drain did not testify before the Warren Commission.*
From the testimony of Jesse Curry the Warren Commission learned the FBI had taken Oswald's possessions to Washington DC during the early morning hours of November 23rd. As seasoned lawyers, the Commission members and their staff understood the "custodial chain of evidence" from the DPD to the FBI had been broken. There was no written record of the items taken by the FBI to Washington on November 23rd nor was there a written record of the items returned to the Dallas Police three days later (November 26).
The Dallas Police and FBI prepared an inventory which listed the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle, the .38 S&W pistol, bullet fragments, shell casings, a blanket, Oswald's shirt, and paper and tape samples from the TSBD. These items were photographed as a group at 9:00 pm by Lieutenant J. C. Day prior to turning them over to the FBI (This photograph also shows the ***two spent cartridges (not 3) which the police found on the 6th floor of the TSBD). But no inventory list accompanied the hundreds of items of evidence, found by the Dallas Police, to FBI Headquarters during the early morning hours of November 23rd.
At the FBI laboratory in Washington technicians conducted a test on Oswald's shirt, one of the items inventoried and photographed, to determine if a tuft of fibers found on the butt of the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle matched the fibers on the shirt. The subsequent FBI report of November 23 said the fibers "match in microscopic characteristics....the shirt of the suspect. These fibers could have originated from this shirt." But the fibers did not come from the shirt Oswald was wearing at the TSBD on November 22. After arriving at 1026 N. Beckley Oswald changed clothes and wore a different shirt to the Texas Theater. The fibers found on the rifle could not possibly have come from this shirt.
James Cadigan, an FBI document specialist, received the confiscated items (Oswald's possessions) at FBI headquarters in Washington. When Cadigan first testified before the WC, the only Commission member
present was former CIA Director Allen Dulles. Cadigan said, "Initially, the first big batch of evidence was brought into the laboratory on November 23 and this consisted of many, many items...It was a very large quantity of evidence that was brought in.
Commission attorney Melvin Eisenberg learned just how many items the FBI received when he asked Cadigan if he remembered one particular item. Cadigan said, "On November 23, when the vast bulk of this material came in it was photographed....to select one item out of four or five hundred. I cannot, in all honestly, say I definitely recall seeing this..." Eisenberg now knew that "four or five hundred" items of evidence, which belonged to Oswald, were "brought into the FBI laboratory on November 23rd." He also knew that no inventory list accompanied these items from Dallas to FBI Headquarters (Nov. 23) or from FBI Headquarters to Dallas (Nov. 26).
BROWN FINGERPRINT INK. When the FBI laboratory received Oswald's possessions on the early morning of November 23, many of the items were immediately treated with a brown colored ink to check for fingerprints. Under normal conditions, when the testing was complete, items were re-treated with a special chemical that neutralized and removed all traces of the brown fingerprint ink. This neutralizing process was known as "de-silvering" and was briefly mentioned by Cadigan. WC attorney Melvin Eisenberg was discussing Oswald's FPCC card and asked Cadigan, "Do you know why CE 820 was not processed or de-silvered?" Cadigan replied, "Time was of the essence and this material, I believe was returned to the Dallas Police within two or three days.....There was insufficient time to de-silver it."
Eisenberg now knew that the hundreds of items of evidence confiscated by the Dallas Police (Oswald's possessions) were secretly sent to FBI headquarters in the early morning hours of November 23, and then quietly returned to the Dallas Police three days later (November 26).
Part II
TIME WAS OF THE ESSENCE. The urgency to return the items of evidence to Dallas was probably the result of a conversation between FBI Director Hoover and President Lyndon Johnson. Johnson was planning to announce that the FBI was taking over the investigation, and physical evidence needed to be in Dallas so the police could "officially" turn the evidence over to the FBI. Prior to the announcement hundreds of items of evidence at the FBI laboratory were collected in haste before lab technicians had time to complete the de-silvering process on all the items. One of the items that was not "de-silvered" by lab technicians was Oswald's Fair Play for Cuba Committee card. Warren Commission attorney Melvin Eisenberg asked Cadigan, "Do you know why 820 was not reprocessed or de-silvered?"
Neither the Warren Commission nor the FBI wanted the public to find out the Bureau had secretly taken evidence to the Dallas Police a few days later, so testimony and photographs had to be altered. The transcript of James Cadigan's ***original*** deposition (pp. 49-50) reads, "Time was of the essence and this material, I believe was returned to the Dallas Police within two or three days..." But someone drew lines through the ***original*** typewritten transcript and wrote "delete". This portion of Cadigan's testimony was deleted and does not appear in his testimony as published on page 434 of Volume VII of the Warren Volumes.
Thanks to James Cadigan, and his original WC testimony which is preserved in the National Archives (released 1992), we now know the FBI secretly obtained the items of evidence listed on the Dallas Police inventories for November 22/23, kept them in Washington, DC, for three days, and then quietly returned them to the Dallas Police.
*While Oswald's possessions were in FBI custody many key pieces of evidence were altered (W-2 forms), manipulated (Minox camera/light meter), and suppressed (Lee Oswald's wallet found by Captain Westbrook). Without a written inventory either to or from the Dallas Police, the FBI was not concerned that their tampering with would be discovered.
Oswald's Possessions Are Returned To The Dallas Police Department
On November 26, the "hundreds of items" were returned to the DPD headquarters *so that an inventory could be created to show a "chain of possession" from the DPD to the FBI.* All items were photographed at DPD headquarters with a desk mounted Recordak camera, which was known for taking precise, crystal-clear photographs. The police used 4 rolls of 35mm film, 25 feet in length, and 1 roll of 35 mm film that was 100 feet in length. As each item was photographed it was listed on one of 25 typewritten pages of inventory, which were jointly initialed by FBI agents and Dallas Police officers.
President Johnson announced the FBI was taking over the investigation and shortly thereafter the Dallas Police gave hundreds of items of evidence to the FBI in front of TV cameras and reporters. The Dallas Police, who did not have time to develop the film, also gave the five rolls of film to the FBI. They requested that the FBI develop the film and provide them with two photographs of each item of evidence.
BUT THERE WERE PROBLEMS If the FBI developed the 5 rolls of film and returned the photographs of all items to the Dallas Police, then many of the photographs would show items that had been treated with the brown fingerprint ink-applied at the FBI laboratory from November 23-25. These photographs were "proof" that the FBI secretly had these items of evidence in their possession *before they took over the case on November 26th.
Another problem was the volume of evidence, which grew considerably while in FBI custody*. The items confiscated by the Dallas Police on November 22-23 were listed on 5 typewritten pages, *but it took 21 typewritten pages to list all of the items that were returned to the Dallas Police and listed on the joint DPD/FBI inventory of November 26. If both lists are placed side by side, it is apparent that the FBI returned far more items to the Dallas Police than they received.
In 1999 the author visited the National Archives in order to examine and compare each item of evidence listed on the 5 pages of DPD inventory (November 23) with the joint FBI/DPD inventory (November 26). He began by examining the items listed on the DPD inventory of November 22/23 and found that each item was properly initialed by Dallas Police officers.
He then located those items on the joint FBI/DPD inventory of November 26 (CE 2003 pp. 263-283). He soon realized there were many more items listed on the joint FBI/DPD inventory of 11/26/63 than were listed on the original DPD inventory of 11/22-23/63. It was clear that items of evidence were added while in FBI custody and also clear that none of these items contained the initials of Dallas Police officers. This means that either DPD officers forgot to initial over a hundred items of evidence, forgot to list those items in inventory, and forgot to photograph them on the floor of DPD headquarters, or the FBI added items of evidence to the inventory between the 23rd and 26th of November. The FBI not only added items to the inventory, they also discarded and/or switched items of evidence. Dallas Police Officers Gus Rose and Richard Stovall found a Minox camera at Ruth Paine's. Rose said, "Among the property we found a little Minox miniature camera and on checking it, it did have a little roll of film in it (along with 9 additional rolls of Minox film)....All of the property we recovered from the residence, I initialed it, Stovall and I initialed it and dated it for evidence."
Rose and Stovall also listed the miniature camera on their handwritten inventory and on the typewritten inventory which was identified by the WC as Stovall Exhibit A and published on pages 596-597 in Volume 21. On the evening of November 22, the Minox camera was photographed on the floor of the Dallas Police station along with other items confiscated by the Dallas Police.
On November 26, 1963 the Minox camera was listed as item #375 on the joint FBI/DPD inventory. But after the Minox camera arrived at FBI headquarters in Washington, DC, SA Vincent Drain and SA Warren DeBrueys created a second inventory, and changed the Minox camera to a Minox light meter (Item #375). The FBI then, "re-photographed" a Minox light meter, identified it as item #375, and sent the photograph to the Dallas Police *in an attempt to convince the police they had received a light meter and not a miniature spy camera.
Finally, FBI agents met with Gus Rose (DPD officer who found the Minox) and H.W. Hill (property clerk) on three separate occasions and tried to convince them they found a light Minox light meter and not a Minox camera. The FBI agents insisted the Dallas Police change their inventory from a camera to a light meter, probably so they wouldn't have to explain to the press why Oswald owned an expensive Minox spy camera (often seen in James Bond films). Gus Rose discussed the problem with Captain Fritz and, after getting his approval, told the FBI agents he would not change the inventory.
Both Drain and DeBrueys should have been asked who instructed them to create a new inventory at FBI headquarters.
In an attempt to keep the public from learning that HARVEY Oswald owned a miniature spy camera, which would suggest he had intelligence connections, the Bureau sought and received half from Ruth and Michael Paine. On January 31, 1964, FBI agent Bardwell Odum ***allegedly*** obtained a Minox II camera, serial number 27259, from Michael Paine. The Bureau the announced that the Minox camera in their custody belonged to Michael Paine, and not to Oswald (nothing further was said about the Minox camera found by Dallas Police.)
On June 23, 1964 FBI agent Warren Debrueys ***allegedly*** returned the Minox camera to Ruth Paine in Irving, Texas. Michael Paine, on the nationally broadcast television program Frontline (1994), confirmed the Minox camera had been returned to him by the FBI and said the camera was subsequently lost. But there was still a problem.
The National Archives currently has a Minox III camera, found by the Dallas Police in Ruth Paine's garage. This camera is currently inoperable, is unable to be opened, and therefore the serial number remains unknown. The Minox Corporation (and their web site) advises that Minox III cameras were manufactured with serial numbers 31275 thru 58499. Therefore, the Minox which the FBI obtained from Michael Paine on January 31, 1964 (serial number 27259) was not the camera found by Dallas Police which is now in the National Archives. The serial number of Michael Paine's camera, listed on an FBI Airtel of 2/2/64, shows that it was a Minox II (Minox II cameras were manufactured with serial numbers up to 31500. The FBI's attempt to hide the fact that HARVEY Oswald owned a Minox camera is one of the best known and documented examples of their attempts to alter and fabricate evidence.
In an attempt to hide these problems, the FBI developed the 5 rolls of DPD film and then *destroyed the negatives that showed those items of evidence that were discovered by the brown fingerprint ink.* They also, destroyed negatives which showed items of evidence that had been switched, altered, or destroyed while in their custody. The remainder of the original 5 rolls of film was spliced together into two rolls, which were then copied and sent to the Dallas Police Department. *The Dallas City Archives has copies of the 2 rolls available for inspection, and the splicing can be seen easily.
After the Dallas Police received the film Chief Curry noticed that many of the negatives were missing and notified the Special Agent-in-Charge of the Dallas Office, Gordon Shanklin, by letter. On December 3rd Curry wrote, "On developing the microfilm it has been found that items #164 thru 360 inclusive did not record." (Curry's letter shows that over half of the negatives, 196 in total, were missing!!)
The 1st roll of film in the Dallas City Archives contains negatives #1 through #163. The 2nd roll contains negatives #361 through #451 (3 rolls of original film were destroyed by the FBI).
J. Edgar Hoover responded to Chief Curry's letter by claiming, *incredibly*, that the missing negatives were the result of "faulty technique" by the Dallas Police photographer who photographed Oswald's possessions. *If there was any faulty technique it could have easily have been seen, frame by frame, on the original 35mm film, but 196 continuous frames were cut (physically removed) from the original 5 rolls of film.
To placate Chief Curry the FBI re-photographed the "missing" items and sent copies of the photographs to Dallas. But the new photographs did not match the description of the items listed on the joint DPD/FBI inventory of November 26, 1963. To deal with this problem the FBI simply created a new inventory to match their new photographs which Hoover sent along with a memo to Gordon Shanklin, SAC Dallas:
"The inventory list submitted by your office (joint FBI/DPD inventory of November 26, 63) has been superseded by the list furnished to your office by the FBI laboratory dated 2/1/64. The 11/26/63 list is incomplete and is not completely accurate."
This memo is incredible!! Hoover told Gordon Shaklin that the joint FBI/DPD inventory of November 26, 1963, was incomplete and not accurate, *but there was nothing Shanklin could do. He dared not argue with Hoover and simply followed instructions by providing a copy of the new FBI inventory to the Dallas Police.
Even though the Dallas Police refused to change their inventory from a Minox camera to a Minox light meter, the FBI changed their inventory. The "re-photographed" item #375 (originally a Minox camera) and sent a photograph to Dallas. The someone at FBI
headquarters forgot to rid of the Minox camera found by the Dallas Police in Ruth Paine's garage, and it was turned over to the National Archives where it can be examined today.
The FBI's alteration of the DPD inventory and film is irrefutable proof that the Bureau destroyed evidence in order to help frame Oswald and keep the public from learning the truth about his connection to U.S. Intelligence and his background.