MikhailT/lj-speech huggingface dataset:
James C. Cadigan, FBI handwriting expert, testified that this note was written by Lee Harvey Oswald.
Prior to the Walker shooting on April 10, Oswald had been attending typing classes on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday evenings.
He had quit these classes at least a week before the shooting, which occurred on a Wednesday night.
According to Marina Oswald's testimony, on the night of the Walker shooting, her husband left their apartment on Neely Street shortly after dinner.
She thought he was attending a class or was on his own business.
When he failed to return by 10 or 10:30 p.m., Marina Oswald went to his room and discovered the note. She testified: quote,
When he came back I asked him what had happened. He was very pale.
I don't remember the exact time, but it was very late. And he told me not to ask him any questions. He only told me he had shot at General Walker.
Oswald told his wife that he did not know whether he had hit Walker;
according to Marina Oswald when he learned on the radio and in the newspapers the next day that he had missed,
he said that he, quote, was very sorry that he had not hit him, end quote. Marina Oswald's testimony was fully supported by the note itself
which appeared to be the work of a man expecting to be killed, or imprisoned, or to disappear.
The last paragraph directed her to the jail
and the other paragraphs instructed her on the disposal of Oswald's personal effects and the management of her affairs if he should not return.
It is clear that the note was written while the Oswalds were living in Dallas before they moved to New Orleans in the spring of 1963.
The references to house rent and payments for water and gas
indicated that the note was written when they were living in a rented apartment; therefore it could not have been written while Marina Oswald was living with the Paines.
Moreover, the reference in paragraph 3 to paying, quote, the house rent on the 2nd, end quote,
would be consistent with the period when the Oswalds were living on Neely Street since the apartment was rented on March 3, 1963.
Oswald had paid the first month's rent in advance on March 2, 1963,
and the second month's rent was paid on either April 2 or April 3.
The main post office, quote, on Ervay Street, end quote, refers to the post office where Oswald rented box 2915
from October 9, 1962, to May 14, 1963.
Another statement which limits the time when it could have been written is the reference, quote, you and the baby, end quote,
which would indicate that it was probably written before the birth of Oswald's second child on October 20, 1963.
Oswald had apparently mistaken the county jail for the city jail.
From Neely Street the Oswalds would have traveled downtown on the Beckley bus, across the Commerce Street viaduct
and into downtown Dallas through the Triple Underpass.
Either the viaduct or the underpass might have been the "bridge" mentioned in the last paragraph of the note.
The county jail is at the corner of Houston and Main Streets, quote, right in the beginning of the city, end quote, after one travels through the underpass.
In her testimony before the Commission in February 1964,
Marina Oswald stated that when Oswald returned home on the night of the Walker shooting, he told her that he had been planning the attempt for 2 months.
He showed her a notebook 3 days later containing photographs of General Walker's home and a map of the area where the house was located.
Although Oswald destroyed the notebook, three photographs found among Oswald's possessions after the assassination
were identified by Marina Oswald as photographs of General Walker's house.
Two of these photographs were taken from the rear of Walker's house.
The Commission confirmed, by comparison with other photographs, that these were, indeed, photographs of the rear of Walker's house.
An examination of the window at the rear of the house, the wall through which the bullet passed, and the fence behind the house
indicated that the bullet was fired from a position near the point where one of the photographs was taken.
The third photograph identified by Marina Oswald depicts the entrance to General Walker's driveway from a back alley.
Also seen in the picture is the fence on which Walker's assailant apparently rested the rifle.
An examination of certain construction work appearing in the background of this photograph revealed that the picture was taken between March 8
and 12, 1963, and most probably on either March 9 or March 10.
Oswald purchased the money order for the rifle on March 12, the rifle was shipped on March 20, and the shooting occurred on April 10.
A photography expert with the FBI
was able to determine that, this picture was taken with the Imperial Reflex camera owned by Lee Harvey Oswald.
A fourth photograph, showing a stretch of railroad tracks,
was also identified by Marina Oswald as having been taken by her husband, presumably in connection with the Walker shooting.
Investigation determined that this photograph was taken approximately seven-tenths of a mile from Walker's house.
Another photograph of railroad tracks found among Oswald's possessions was not identified by his wife,
but investigation revealed that it was taken from a point slightly less than half a mile from General Walker's house.
Marina Oswald stated that- when she asked her husband what be had done with the rifle,
he replied that he had buried it in the ground or hidden it in some bushes and that he also mentioned a railroad track in this connection.
She testified that several days later Oswald recovered his rifle and brought it back to their apartment.
Firearms identification.
In the room beyond the one in which General Walker was sitting on the night of the shooting the Dallas police recovered a badly mutilated bullet
which had come to rest on a stack of paper.
The Dallas City-County Investigation Laboratory tried to determine the type of weapon which fired the bullet.
The oral report was negative because of the battered condition of the bullet.
On November 30, 1963, the FBI requested the bullet for ballistics examination;
the Dallas Police Department forwarded it on December 2, 1963.
Robert A. Frazier, an FBI ballistics identification expert, testified that he was, quote, unable to reach a conclusion, end quote,
as to whether or not the bullet recovered from Walker's house had been fired from the rifle found on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository Building.
He concluded that, quote, the general rifling characteristics of the rifle are of the same type as those found on the bullet
and, further, on this basis the bullet could have been fired from the rifle on the basis of its land and groove impressions, end quote.
Frazier testified further that the FBI avoids the category of "probable" identification.
Unless the missile or cartridge case can be identified as coming from a particular weapon to the exclusion of all others,
the FBI refuses to draw any conclusion as to probability.
Frazier testified, however, that he found no microscopic characteristics or other evidence
which would indicate that the bullet was not fired from the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle owned by Lee Harvey Oswald.
It was a 6.5-millimeter bullet
and, according to Frazier, "relatively few" types of rifles could produce the characteristics found on the bullet.
Joseph D. Nicol,
superintendent of the Illinois Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, conducted an independent examination of this bullet
and concluded, quote, that there is a fair probability, end quote, that the bullet was fired from the rifle used in the assassination of President Kennedy.
In explaining the difference between his policy and that of the FBI on the matter of probable identification, Nicol said, quote,
I am aware of their position. This is not, I am sure, arrived at without careful consideration.
However, to say that because one does not find sufficient marks for identification that it is a negative,
I think is going overboard in the other direction.
And for purposes of probative value, for whatever it might be worth,
in the absence of very definite negative evidence, I think it is permissible to say that in an exhibit such as 573
there is enough on it to say that it could have come, and even perhaps a little stronger, to say that it probably came from this,
without going so far as to say to the exclusion of all other guns. This I could not do, end quote.
Although the Commission recognizes that neither expert was able to state
that the bullet which missed General Walker was fired from Oswald's rifle to the exclusion of all others, this testimony was considered probative
when combined with the other testimony linking Oswald to the shooting.
Additional corroborative evidence.
The admissions made to Marina Oswald by her husband are an important element in the evidence that Lee Harvey Oswald fired the shot at General Walker.
As shown above, the note and the photographs of Walker's house and of the nearby railroad tracks
provide important corroboration for her account of the incident.
Other details described by Marina Oswald coincide with facts developed independently of her statements.
She testified that her husband had postponed his attempt to kill Walker
until that Wednesday because he had heard that there was to be a gathering at the church next door to Walker's house on that evening.
He indicated that he wanted more people in the vicinity at the time of the attempt so that his arrival and departure would not attract great attention.
An official of this church told FBI agents that services are held every Wednesday at the church except during the month of August.
Marina Oswald also testified that her husband had used a bus to return home.
A study of the bus routes indicates that
Oswald could have taken any one of several different buses to Walker's house or to a point near the railroad tracks where he may have concealed the rifle.
It would have been possible for him to take different routes in approaching and leaving the scene of the shooting.
Based on (1) the contents of the note which Oswald left for his wife on April 10, 1963,
(2) the photographs found among Oswald's possessions,
(3) the testimony of firearms identification experts, and (4) the testimony of Marina Oswald,
the Commission has concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald attempted to take the life of Maj. Gen. Edwin A. Walker (Resigned, U.S. Army)
The finding that Lee Harvey Oswald attempted to murder a public figure in April 1963
was considered of probative value in this investigation, although the Commission's conclusion concerning the identity of the assassin
For more information, or to volunteer, please visit librivox dot org.
The Warren Commission Report. By The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy.
Chapter 4. The Assassin: Part 8.
Richard M. Nixon Incident
Another alleged threat by Oswald against a public figure involved former Vice President Richard M. Nixon.
In January 1964, Marina Oswald and her business manager, James Martin,
told Robert Oswald, Lee Harvey Oswald's brother, that Oswald had once threatened to shoot former Vice President Richard M. Nixon.
When Marina Oswald testified before the Commission on February 3 to 6, 1964,
she had failed to mention the incident when she was asked whether Oswald had ever expressed any hostility
toward any official of the United States.
The Commission first learned of this incident when Robert Oswald related it to FBI agents on February 19, 1964,
and to the Commission on February 21.
Marina Oswald appeared before the Commission again on June 11, 1964,
and testified that a few days before her husband's departure from Dallas to New Orleans on April 24, 1963,
he finished reading a morning newspaper, quote, and put on a good suit. I saw that he took a pistol.
I asked him where he was going, and why he was getting dressed. He answered Nixon is coming. I want to go and have a look, end quote.
He also said that he would use the pistol if the opportunity arose.
She reminded him that after the Walker shooting he had promised never to repeat such an act.
Marina Oswald related the events which followed, quote,
I called him into the bathroom and I closed the door and I wanted to prevent him and then I started to cry.
And I told him that he shouldn't do this, and that he had promised me.
I remember that I held him. We actually struggled for several minutes and then he quieted down. End quote.
She stated that it was not physical force which kept him from leaving the house. Quote, I couldn't keep him from going out if he really wanted to, end quote.
After further questioning
she stated that she might have been confused about shutting him in the bathroom, but that, quote, there is no doubt that he got dressed and got a gun, end quote,
Oswald's revolver
was shipped from Los Angeles on March 20, 1963, and he left for New Orleans on April 24, 1963.
No edition of either Dallas newspaper during the period January 1, 1963, to May 15, 1963,
mentioned any proposed visit by Mr. Nixon to Dallas.
Mr. Nixon advised the Commission that the only time he was in Dallas in 1963
was on November 20 to 21, 1963.
An investigation failed to reveal any invitation extended to Mr. Nixon during the period when Oswald's threat reportedly occurred.
The Commission has concluded, therefore, that regardless of what Oswald may have said to his wife
he was not actually planning to shoot Mr. Nixon at that time in Dallas.
On April 23, 1963,
Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was in Dallas for a visit which had been publicized in the Dallas newspapers
throughout April. The Commission asked Marina Oswald whether she might have misunderstood the object of her husband's threat. She stated, quote,
there is no question that in this incident it was a question of Mr. Nixon, end quote.
When asked later whether it might have been Mr. Johnson, she said, quote, Yes, no.
I am getting a little confused with so many questions.
I was absolutely convinced it was Nixon and now after all these questions I wonder if I am right in my mind? End quote.
She stated further that Oswald had only mentioned Nixon's name once during the incident. Marina Oswald might have misunderstood her husband.
Mr. Johnson was the then Vice President and his visit took place on April 23rd.
This was 1 day before Oswald left for New Orleans and Marina appeared certain that the Nixon incident, quote,
wasn't the day before. Perhaps 3 days before, end quote.
Marina Oswald speculated that the incident may have been unrelated to an actual threat.
She said, quote, It might have been that he was just trying to test me.
He was the kind of person who could try and wound somebody in that way. Possibly he didn't want to go out at all but was just doing this all as a sort of joke,
not really as a joke but rather to simply wound me, to make me feel bad, end quote.
In the absence of other evidence that Oswald actually intended to shoot someone at this time,
the Commission concluded that the incident, as described by Marina Oswald,
was of no probative value in the Commission's decision concerning the identity of the assassin of President Kennedy.
Oswald's Rifle Capability
In deciding whether Lee Harvey Oswald fired the shots which killed President Kennedy and wounded Governor Connally,
the Commission considered whether Oswald, using his own rifle,
possessed the capability to hit his target with two out of three shots under the conditions described in chapter 3.
The Commission evaluated (1) the nature of the shots, (2) Oswald's Marine training in marksmanship,
(3) his experience and practice after leaving the Marine Corps, and (4) the accuracy of the weapon and the quality of the ammunition.
The Nature of the Shots
For a rifleman situated on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository Building
with the alinement of the assassin's rifle, at a range of 177 to 266 feet.
An aerial photograph of Dealey Plaza shows that Elm Street runs at an angle
so that the President would have been moving in an almost straight line away from the assassin's rifle.
In addition, the 3 degree downward slope of Elm Street was of assistance in eliminating at least some of the adjustment
which is ordinarily required when a marksman must raise his rifle as a target moves farther away.
Four marksmanship experts testified before the Commission.
Maj. Eugene D. Anderson, assistant head of the Marksmanship Branch of U.S. Marine Corps
testified that the shots which struck the President in the neck and in the head were, quote, not particularly difficult, end quote.
Robert A. Frazier, FBI expert in firearms identification and training, said, quote,
From my own experience in shooting over the years,
when you shoot at 175 feet or 260 feet, which is less than a hundred yards, with a telescopic sight,
you should not have any difficulty in hitting your target. I mean it requires no training at all to shoot a weapon with a telescopic sight
once you know that you must put the crosshairs on the target and that is all that is necessary.
Ronald Simmons, chief of the U.S. Army Infantry Weapons Evaluation Branch of the Ballistics Research Laboratory, said, quote,
Well, in order to achieve three hits, it would not be required that a man be an exceptional shot. A proficient man with this weapon, yes, end quote.
The effect of a four-power telescopic sight on the difficulty of these shots was considered in detail
by Master Sgt. James A. Zahm, noncommissioned officer in charge of the Marksmanship Training Unit in the Weapons Training Battalion
of the Marine Corps School at Quantico, Virginia.
Referring to a rifle with a four-power telescope, Sergeant Zahm said, quote,
this is the ideal type of weapon for moving targets
Using the scope, rapidly working a bolt and using the scope to relocate your target quickly and at the same time when you locate that target
you identify it and the crosshairs are in close relationship to the point you want to shoot at,
it just takes a minor move in aiming to bring the crosshairs to bear, and then it is a quick squeeze.
I consider it a real advantage, particularly at the range of 100 yards, in identifying your target.
It allows you to see your target clearly, and it is still of a minimum amount of power that it doesn't exaggerate your own body movements.
It just is an aid in seeing in the fact that you only have the one element, the crosshair,
in relation to the target as opposed to iron sights with aligning the sights and then aligning them on the target, end quote.
Characterizing the four-power scope as, quote, a real aid, an extreme aid, end quote, in rapid fire shooting,
Sergeant Zahm expressed the opinion that the shot which struck President Kennedy in the neck at 176.9
to 190.8 feet was, quote, very easy, end quote, and the shot which struck the President in the head
at a distance of 265.3 feet was, quote, an easy shot, end quote.
After viewing photographs depicting the alignment of Elm Street in relation to the Texas School Book Depository Building,
Zahm stated further, quote,
This is a definite advantage to the shooter, the vehicle moving directly away from him and the downgrade of the street, and he being in an elevated position
made an almost stationary target while he was aiming in, very little movement if any, end quote.
Oswald's Marine Training
In accordance with standard Marine procedures, Oswald received extensive training in marksmanship.
During the first week of an intensive 8-week training period he received instruction in sighting, aiming, and manipulation of the trigger.
He went through a series of exercises called dry firing where he assumed all positions which would later be used in the qualification course.
After familiarization with live ammunition in the .22 rifle and the .22 pistol,
Oswald, like all Marine recruits, received training on the rifle range at distances up to 500 yards,
firing 50 rounds each day for five days.
Following that training, Oswald was tested in December of 1956, and obtained a score of 212,
which was 2 points above the minimum for qualifications as a "sharpshooter" in a scale of marksman, sharpshooter, expert.
In May of 1959, on another range, Oswald scored 191, which was 1 point over the minimum for ranking as a "marksman."
The Marine Corps records maintained on Oswald further show that he had fired and was familiar with the Browning Automatic rifle,
.45 caliber pistol, and 12-gauge riot gun.
Based on the general Marine Corps ratings, Lt. Col. A. G. Folsom, Jr.
head, Records Branch, Personnel Department, Headquarters U.S. Marine Corps,
evaluated the sharpshooter qualification as a, quote, fairly good shot, end quote, and a low marksman rating
as a, quote, rather poor shot, end quote.
When asked to explain the different scores achieved by Oswald on the two occasions when he fired for record,
Major Anderson said, quote, when he fired that two twelve
he had just completed a very intensive preliminary training period.
He had the services of an experienced highly trained coach.
He had high motivation. He had presumably a good to excellent rifle and good ammunition.
We have nothing here to show under what conditions the B course was fired. It might well have been a bad day for firing the rifle
windy, rainy, dark. There is little probability that he had good, expert coach,
and he probably didn't have as high a motivation because he was no longer in recruit training and under the care of the drill instructor.
There is some possibility that the rifle he was firing might not have been as good a rifle as the rifle that he was firing in his A course firing,
because he may well have carried this rifle for quite some time, and it got banged around in normal usage.
End quote. Major Anderson concluded, quote, I would say that as compared to other Marines receiving the same type of training,
that Oswald was a good shot, somewhat better than or equal to -- better than the average let us say.
As compared to a civilian who had not received this intensive training, he would be considered as a good to excellent shot. End quote.
When Sergeant Zahm was asked whether Oswald's Marine Corps training would have made it easier to operate a rifle with a four-power scope, he replied, quote,
Based on that training, his basic knowledge in sight manipulation and trigger squeeze and what not, I would say that he would be capable of sighting that rifle in well,
firing it, with 10 rounds.
After reviewing Oswald's marksmanship scores,
and as compared to the average male of his age throughout the civilian, throughout the United States, that he is an excellent shot, end quote.
Oswald's Rifle Practice Outside the Marines
During one of his leaves from the Marines, Oswald hunted with his brother Robert,
using a .22 caliber bolt-action rifle belonging either to Robert or Robert's in-laws.
After he left the Marines and before departing for Russia, Oswald, his brother, and a third companion went hunting for squirrels and rabbits.
On that occasion Oswald again used a bolt-action .22 caliber rifle; and according to Robert,
Lee Oswald exhibited an average amount of proficiency with that weapon.
Oswald obtained a hunting license, joined a hunting club and went hunting about six times, as discussed more fully in chapter 6.
Soon after Oswald returned from the Soviet Union
he again went hunting with his brother, Robert, and used a borrowed .22 caliber bolt-action rifle.
After Oswald purchased the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle, he told his wife that he practiced with it.
Marina Oswald testified that on one occasion she saw him take the rifle, concealed in a raincoat, from the house on Neely Street.
Oswald told her he was going to practice with it.
According to George De Mohrenschildt, Oswald said that he went target shooting with that rifle.
Marina Oswald testified that in New Orleans in May of 1963, she observed Oswald sitting with the rifle on their screened porch at night,
sighting with the telescopic lens and operating the bolt.
Examination of the cartridge cases found on the sixth floor of the Depository Building
established that they had been previously loaded and ejected from the assassination rifle,
which would indicate that Oswald practiced operating the bolt.
Accuracy of Weapon
It will be recalled from the discussion in chapter 3
that the assassin in all probability hit two out of the three shots during the maximum time span of
4.8 to 5.6 seconds if the second shot missed,