Helen Markham was on foot, walking south along Patton toward her bus stop, which
was on Jefferson Boulevard. Markham was just reaching the northwest corner of
Tenth and Patton when she noticed Tippit's patrol car pass through the
intersection, heading east along Tenth Street. Markham testified that the
patrol car pulled up to a man who was walking on the sidewalk on the south side
of Tenth Street. Helen Markham positively identified Lee Oswald as the man she
saw talking to, and shoot, J.D. Tippit. She testified that she saw Oswald run
from the scene, heading down Patton with a gun in his hand.
William Scoggins was sitting in his cab at the southeast corner of Tenth and
Patton. Scoggins saw Tippit's patrol car pass slowly in front of his cab,
driving west to east along Tenth Street (Scoggins' cab was sitting on Patton,
facing north towards Tenth street). Scoggins noticed that the patrol car pulled
up alongside a man who was walking on the sidewalk on the south side of Tenth
Street. William Scoggins positively identified Lee Oswald as the man he saw
running towards his cab seconds after hearing gun shots. Scoggins got out of
his cab with thoughts of running from the scene as Oswald headed straight
towards him after the shots rang out. After realizing he had nowhere to hide,
Scoggins returned to his cab and ducked down behind it as he watched Oswald turn
the corner and head down Patton towards Jefferson. Scoggins testified that
Oswald had a gun in his hand.
Barbara Davis was lying in bed inside her residence, which was the house at the
corner of Tenth and Patton. She heard gunshots outside and went to the door.
She opened the screen door and noticed Helen
Markham across the street, screaming. Davis then noticed a man cutting through
her front yard, holding a gun in his hands. She testified that the man had the
gun cocked in his hands as if he were emptying it. Barbara Davis positively
identified Lee Oswald as the man who she saw cut across her yard with a gun in
his hands.
Virginia Davis was in the living room of her residence (400 E. Tenth
St.) when she heard gunshots outside. Virginia Davis went to the door
and, like Barbara, noticed Helen Markham across the street, screaming. Davis
then noticed a man cutting across the front yard with a gun in his hands. She
testified that the man was emptying shells out of the gun. Virginia Davis
positively identified Lee Oswald as the man who she saw cut across the front
yard with a gun in his hands.
Ted Callaway was standing out on the front porch of the used-car lot office,
where he worked. Callaway testified that he heard five pistol shots. Callaway
testified that he believed the shots came from the vicinity of Tenth Street,
which was behind the office he worked in. He went out to the sidewalk on the
east side of Patton and noticed Scoggin's cab parked up near the corner of
Patton at Tenth. As Callaway watched the cab driver (Scoggins) hide beside his
cab, he noticed a man running across Patton from the east side of Patton to the
west side. Callaway watched the man run down Patton towards Jefferson. Ted
Callaway positively identified Lee Oswald as the man he saw run down Patton with
a gun in his hands.
Sam Guinyard worked at the same used-car lot as Ted Callaway. Guinyard was out
on the lot washing one of the cars when he heard gunshots come from the
direction up toward Tenth Street. From the car lot, Guinyard was looking north
toward Tenth in an attempt to see where the shots came from when he saw a man on
the sidewalk in between the first two houses on Tenth Street (400 E. Tenth and
404 E. Tenth). Guinyard went toward the sidewalk on the east side of Patton and
saw the man cut across the yard of the house on the corner (400 E. Tenth, the
Davis residence) and proceeded to run south on Patton. Guinyard said the man
had a gun in his hands and was emptying it of shells. Sam Guinyard positively
identified Lee Oswald as the man he saw running with the gun in his hands.
Each of the above witnesses saw a man flee the vicinity of the Tippit murder. Each of the above witnesses saw a gun in the man's hands. Every single one of the above witnesses positively identified Lee Oswald as that man.
These are the real witnesses and not even one of them said that someone other than Lee Oswald was the man they saw.
As for the revolver, Jim Leavelle briefly spoke with Oswald when Oswald was brought in from the theater. Leavelle told Oswald that they could run ballistic tests on the revolver and match the revolver to the bullets taken from the officer's body, proving that the revolver taken from Oswald was the revolver responsible for the officer's death. Oswald did not deny owning the revolver. According to Leavelle, Oswald's only reply was "Well, you're just going to have to do it."
Oswald ordered the revolver under the name of A.J. Hidell on 1/27/63 from Seaport Traders, Inc. Treasury Department handwriting expert Alwyn Cole testified that the handwriting on the order coupon belonged to Lee Oswald. The FBI's handwriting expert James Cadigan also testified that the handwriting on the coupon was Oswald's.
On the order, there was the name of a D.F. Drittal, written in the section where a witness states that the person buying the weapon (Hidell) was a U.S. citizen and was not a felon. The handwriting experts, Cole and Cadigan, both testified that the name D.F. Drittal was also written in Oswald's hands.
The revolver was shipped to a post office box in Dallas rented by Lee Oswald. Cole testified that the signature and the handwriting on the post office box application belonged to Oswald.
Postal Inspector Harry Holmes testified that Oswald had previously rented a post office box in New Orleans, during the summer of 1963. Oswald's New Orleans application and his Dallas application were found. Unlike the Dallas post office box application, the New Orleans post office box application still had the portion which listed others who were able to receive mail at that post office box. In the New Orleans application, Oswald included the names of both Marina Oswald and A.J. Hidell as those able to receive mail in that box.
Holmes spoke with Oswald on Sunday morning, the 24th. Holmes asked Oswald about the Dallas post office box. Oswald stated that he was the only one who received mail at that box and that he didn't receive any mail there that was addressed to any name other than his true name. Holmes then asked Oswald about the box that Oswald rented in New Orleans earlier that year. Oswald again stated that he was the only one permitted to receive mail at that p.o. box. Holmes reminded Oswald that he (Oswald) had listed Marina Oswald as a person eligible to receive mail in that box. Oswald's reply was basically "Well so what? She was my wife and I see nothing wrong with that." Holmes then reminded Oswald that one "A.J. Hidell" was also listed in the section on the application listing others eligible to receive mail in that post office box. Holmes said that Oswald replied "I don't recall anything about that".
Oswald was caught in a lie. The handwriting which permitted A.J. Hidell to receive mail at the New Orleans post office box belonged to Lee Oswald (per experts Cole and Cadigan).
Ballistic testing can determine whether or not an empty shell casing was fired from a specific weapon to the exclusion of every other weapon in the entire world. Before shooting, the shell casing is placed against the breech face and the firing pin. When the pin strikes the primer, the bullet is fired off and the shell casing is thrust against the breech face of the weapon. This causes a permanent mark on the base of the empty shell, i.e. the distinctive fine lines etched onto the breech face put their "fingerprint" on the base of the empty shell.
Joseph Nicol (Superintendent of the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation for the State of Illinois) along with Cortlandt Cunningham, Robert Frazier and Charles Killion (of the Firearms Identification Unit of the FBI Laboratory in Washington D.C.) each examined the shells found at the Tippit scene and Oswald's revolver, which he ordered from Seaport Traders, Inc. Each of these experts determined that the shells were linked (through ballistics) to Oswald's revolver, to the exclusion of every other weapon in the world.
