Did Oswald run (rather than walk) to 10th and Patton?

[Colin Crow]

Aynesworth has said that she told him, on 11/22/63 that LHO ran off the porch to the left (opposite way from the bus stop). I will have to find where Hugh wrote that.

According to Hosty, Aynesworth was involved in a conspiracy and lied.

James Hosty, Assignment: Oswald (1996)

About a week after the assassination, Aynesworth, along with Bill Alexander, an assistant district attorney in Dallas, decided to find out if Lee Oswald had been an informant of the Dallas FBI, and of mine in particular. To this end, they concocted a totally false story about how Lee Oswald was a regularly paid informant of the Dallas FBI. At the time, I had no idea what information the Houston Post was relying on; it wasn't until February 1976, in Esquire magazine, that Aynesworth finally admitted he and Alexander had lied and made up the entire story in an effort to draw the FBI out on this issue. They said Oswald was paid $200 a month and even made up an imaginary informant number for Oswald, S172 - which was not in any way how the FBI classified their informants. Aynesworth then fed this story to Lonnie Hudkins of the Post, who ran it on January 1, 1964. Hudkins cited confidential but reliable sources for his story's allegations. The FBI issued a flat denial of the Post story. I was once again prohibited by Bureau procedure from commenting. It was clear that they were pointing a finger at me, since I was known to be the agent in charge of the Oswald file.

[Zeon Mason]

What was the purpose of Oswald seemly desperate to leave TSBD and get to his boarding house ASAP ?

One of the reasons to suspect the Mrs Reid meeting Oswald just after Baker/Truly is that Oswald was NOT in a hurry which does not fit the WC theory he was anxious to escape

So imo, the bus trip never really happened and the bus transfer ticket that had neither McWatters fingerprints nor Oswalds, was planted to make create the illusion Oswald was in a hurry

[Charles Collins]

According to Hosty, Aynesworth was involved in a conspiracy and lied.

James Hosty, Assignment: Oswald (1996)

About a week after the assassination, Aynesworth, along with Bill Alexander, an assistant district attorney in Dallas, decided to find out if Lee Oswald had been an informant of the Dallas FBI, and of mine in particular. To this end, they concocted a totally false story about how Lee Oswald was a regularly paid informant of the Dallas FBI. At the time, I had no idea what information the Houston Post was relying on; it wasn't until February 1976, in Esquire magazine, that Aynesworth finally admitted he and Alexander had lied and made up the entire story in an effort to draw the FBI out on this issue. They said Oswald was paid $200 a month and even made up an imaginary informant number for Oswald, S172 - which was not in any way how the FBI classified their informants. Aynesworth then fed this story to Lonnie Hudkins of the Post, who ran it on January 1, 1964. Hudkins cited confidential but reliable sources for his story's allegations. The FBI issued a flat denial of the Post story. I was once again prohibited by Bureau procedure from commenting. It was clear that they were pointing a finger at me, since I was known to be the agent in charge of the Oswald file.

Here is Hugh Aynesworth's account (pages 107 - 109 of "Witness to History):

"I guess you know my son was an agent for the federal government," she said, "and they just threw him away. I can prove that." That's where I stopped Marguerite and said I'd like to come over and see her proof. During this period, there were rumors everywhere that Oswald once worked for the FBI or the CIA as a paid informant. I was skeptical but willing to be convinced.

One reporter who felt certain Oswald had worked for the government was Alonzo "Lonnie" Hudkins of the Houston Post. Lonnie called me constantly, hoping I's uncovered something to move the story along. In time, I grew tired of Lonnie's queries, especially since I doubted his sources were that good. One day as I was busily juggling deadline stories for Newsweek, where I was then a stringer, and the Times of London as well as a weekend piece for the News, Lonnie called once more and asked me, "You hear anything about this FBI link with Oswald? Tired of him bugging me, I said to him, "You got his payroll number, don't you?"

"Yeah, yeah," Lonnie said.

I reached over on my desk for a telegram and read part of a Telex number to him.

"Yeah, yeah," he said, "that's it. That's the same one I've got." I knew that if Lonnie accepted the number as legitimate, he had nothing. He said he'd check his sources and get back to me.

Weeks passed, and I forgot about the call until January 1, 1964, when Hudkins published a front page article in the Post, alleging that Oswald may have been a federal operative. Naturally the story caused quite a stir. Members of the newly created Warren Commission summoned several top Texas law enforcement officials and advisers to Washington to discuss the development, including Waggoner Carr, the state Attorney General, Dallas DA Henry Wade, and his assistant Bill Alexander; J. Edgar Hoover of course told the commission that the story was not true. The Texas folks denied any knowledge of where Hudkins got his story, and the story pretty much died - for a while.

Lonnie never disclosed his source for the bogus number, and I didn't admit to it for at least several years.

FBI Agent Joe Hosty was among those upset over the Hudkins story. In Assignmemt Oswald, he castigated me not only for the Jack Revill story that Jim Ewell and I published but also for being, along with Bill Alexander, the supposed source of Hudkins' fantasy.

When Hosty later called me, it was in part to apologize for that mistake. "Just wanted you to know that I visited with Hudkins later," he said, "and understand that it was his contention, not yours and Alexander's, about the alleged financial connection between the bureau and Oswald. I always admit my errors."

If you want to really get to the truth about what happened," he said, "dig into Oswald's days in Mexico. They tried to keep most of that from me, but I found out the connections and why." According to Hosty, Cuban sources had told the bureau that on Oswald's trip to Mexico City just weeks before the assassination, he had boasted of his intention to kill President Kennedy. The former FBI man said he believed that one or more people in Mexico put Oswald up to following through. "This man was easily led," said Hosty, "and somebody obviously...led him."

Federal investigative files that remain classified might someday substantiate or disprove Hosty's contentions.

[Martin Weidmann]

Hugh Aynesworth is a journalist. Just because Roberts’ was inconsistent doesn’t mean that she didn’t tell the truth to Aynesworth.

No, it means, at best, that she was an unreliable witness

[Charles Collins]

No, it means, at best, that she was an unreliable witness

As were many others.

[Martin Weidmann]

As were many others.

Indeed, which makes the WC findings, which were largely based on the information from those witnesses, unreliable as well

[Charles Collins]

Indeed, which makes the WC findings, which were largely based on the information from those witnesses, unreliable as well

When eyewitness accounts conflict with each other, the accounts that agree with the physical evidence should have greater weight. And accounts given immediately after an event are often the more accurate accounts.

[Martin Weidmann]

When eyewitness accounts conflict with each other, the accounts that agree with the physical evidence should have greater weight. And accounts given immediately after an event are often the more accurate accounts.

True, but in this instance a blanket statement with very little significance.

What physical evidence supports or agrees with Earlene Roberts' testimony?