Copyright © 1997,1998 William M. Drenas.
Revised 10/98 -- Added Text in Blue

If they had coffee between 10:45 and 11:00 A.M. at Austin's then the timetable works out much better.

10:45 -11:00 A.M.	Coffee at Austin's Barbecue
11:00 -11:15 A.M.	travel time from Austin's to Tippit's home, 238 Glencairn
11:15 - approx. 11:50 A.M.	lunch at Tippit's home
11:50 A.M.	Tippit radios he is back in service from lunch, and starts driving back toward his Patrol District.
11:50A.M.-12:17 P.M.	travel time from 238 Glencairn back to Tippit's patrol district.

It is important to give the reader some background information about Dallas Police Department procedures concerning radio calls from squad cars. In 1963 Officers were not equipped with walkie-talkies, so every time an Officer would get out of his vehicle he would have to radio or telephone the dispatcher telling them that he would be out of the car and at what location. In reviewing Tippit's background I have found that he had missed radio calls on the following dates: 1/22/58, 3/18/59, 8/1/61, 5/15/63 This means that the dispatcher called him on the radio and he did not answer.⁽⁵⁾ These actions were documented in subsequent reports by his superiors. We can be sure that Tippit was not the only Dallas Police officer to ever miss a radio call. I do not know if this is within the guidelines of acceptable conduct of a police officer, given the fact that Tippit missed four radio calls in the space of about five years and five months, or if this performance record was any better or any worse than other Dallas Police Officers.

At 12:17P.M. Tippit radios the dispatcher and says "be out of the car for a minute, 4100 block of Bonnie View." This information comes from the Bowles Channel 1 transcript. Close examination of this document shows that the Police Dispatcher did not transmit an order for Tippit to go to this location on Bonnie View. Perhaps as Tippit was patrolling his district after lunch, he noticed something suspicious or was stopped by a citizen and asked to investigate whatever was going on at the 4100 block of Bonnie View Rd.

4100 Bonnie View is 7.5 miles from Tippit's home with a normal travel time of 24 minutes, Tippit Travel Time could have been 18-20 minutes this would have given Tippit plenty of time from 11:50A.M. when he cleared from lunch to travel to the location in his patrol district where he got out of the car at 12:17P.M.

In Judy Bonner's book "Investigation of a Homicide"on page 71 she states "The Bonnie View call turned out to be a dry run, an elderly woman who had thought she had seen a man trying to burglarize a house next door. Tippit politely took down her story, made a fruitless search of the neighborhood, returned to his car to write out a report, then radioed in for another assignment." I do not know how Judy Bonner obtained this information? Tippit was killed one hour later and a search for the report mentioned has proved unsuccessful. Whatever happened at 4100 Bonnie View did not last long since Tippit called back the Dispatcher 3 minutes later at 12:20P.M. and reported "78 clear."

Even though Tippit was not ordered to the 4100 block of Bonnie View RD. by the Police Dispatcher, there is no hard evidence to disprove that this event was genuine. There is also no hard evidence to prove this event was staged in any way, since the location he stopped at was known to the dispatcher and potential witnesses could have been located if the situation called for it. The best information available places Tippit at the 4100 block of Bonnie View Rd. between 12:17 and 12:20P.M. on 11/22/63.

Shortly after publishing this article Irish researcher Chris Scally sent me a letter he received from the late Larry Harris in 1984 that contained information about the 4100 Bonnie View call. Larry wrote “In 1978 I interviewed the manager of a grocery market at 4121 Bonnie View; He told me that during the noon hour on 11/22/63, he caught a woman shoplifter and phoned the police; it was Tippit who responded. The store manager knew Tippit because it was almost invariably Tippit who responded to calls for shoplifters. The manager told me that Tippit placed the woman in the squad car and left. So indeed Tippit was on an investigation at 12:17 P.M. nevertheless, it is disturbing and perhaps significant that this incident is not reflected more substantially in the tapes or transcripts.”

Larry Harris’s investigator Ken M. Holmes Jr confirms this story. In 1963 Hodges Super Market occupied 4121 Bonnie View Road (1963 Dallas City Directory). On my last trip to Dallas in November of 1997 the small shopping plaza that contained this store was vacant with for sale signs on it.

Who this shoplifter was, what happened to her, how Tippit was really alerted to this location and what impact this could have had on the events that follow are still not known. This story has confirmation from the grocer who was a known and interviewed eyewitness, where as the story from ‘Investigation of a Homicide’ that was previously reported in the original article has never been confirmed.

WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL ABOUT THE LUNCH TIME OR THE CALL AT 4100 BONNIE VIEW?

Just this, if Tippit, as some have speculated was involved in the assassination as either a shooter or a conspirator it is now 12:20 P.M. and he is approximately 7.5 miles from Dealey Plaza, the site of the Kennedy Assassination. The original time for President Kennedy's arrival at the Dallas Trade Mart was 12:30 P.M.⁽⁶⁾ which means the President would be in Dealey Plaza at approximately 12:15-12:20 P.M. if the motorcade was running on schedule. I understand that if Tippit was involved in the assassination he could have monitored the motorcade's progress on Channel 2 of the Police radio to find out it's exact location. By going for coffee with his best friend and then home for lunch and then stop to investigate at 4100 Bonnie View he would be cutting it too close if he needed to get to downtown Dallas to take part in the shooting or to aid the assassins in anyway.

The next time we are able to locate Tippit is from information on the radio logs. At 12:45 P.M., 15 minutes after the assassination, he is asked his location and he responds "I'm about Keist and Bonnie View," which is in his patrol district. Then, comes the message that has been debated since the day that it happened.

Dispatcher Murray Jackson, (a close personal friend of Tippit's) orders squad "#87 and #78 move into Central Oak Cliff area." Jackson's reasoning for this is "there was the shooting involving the President and we immediately dispatched every available unit to the Triple Underpass, where the shot was reported to have come from. I realized that we were draining the Oak Cliff area of available Police Officers so if there was an emergency such as a robbery or a major accident to come up I wouldn't have anybody there that would be in close proximity to answer the call. And since J.D. was the outermost Unit, actually I had two Units, #87 which was Officer Nelson and #78 which was Officer Tippit" (in actuality Bill Anglin's District #79 was farther south and further away from the Texas School Book Depository than Tippit's District #78).⁽⁷⁾ It is also interesting to note that Bill Anglin responded to the 12:42P.M. radio call from the police dispatcher that said. "Attention all squads in the downtown area code 3 (red lights and siren) to Elm and Houston (Dealey Plaza) with caution. At 12:52P.M. Anglin radios the dispatcher that he will "be out at the triple underpass"(Dealey Plaza).

Here is where it gets very interesting, at approximately 12:45 to 1:00 P.M. there are 5 witnesses that placed Tippit not in Central Oak Cliff but at the Gloco (Good Luck Oil Company) gas station which was located at 1502 North Zangs Boulevard. This is the absolute northernmost part of Oak Cliff.

A 1966 article in "Ramparts" magazine by researcher, William Turner, states that on a recent trip to Dallas he "uncovered five witnesses to Tippit's whereabouts in the last minutes of his life. There is no indication that the Commission or any police agency was even aware of them. Photographer, Al Volkland, and his wife, Lou, both of whom knew Tippit, said that 15 or 20 minutes after the assassination they saw him at a gas station and waved to him. They observed Tippit sitting in his police car at a Gloco gas station in Oak Cliff, watching the cars coming over the Houston Street Viaduct from downtown Dallas. Three employees of the Gloco station, Tom Mullins, Emmett Hollingshead, and J.B. "Shorty" Lewis, all of whom knew Tippit confirmed the Volklands' story. (In 1987 Dallas area researcher Greg Lowery located two of the five witnesses just mentioned and they verified the account they had witnessed 24 years earlier, and there was no indication that any law enforcement agency had ever interviewed these five witnesses. This story was published in the Oak Cliff Tribune June 30, 1988). They said Tippit stayed at the station for about 10 minutes, somewhere between 12:45 and 1:00 P.M., then he went tearing off down Lancaster at high speed -on a bee-line toward Jack Ruby's apartment and in the direction of where he was killed a few minutes later." I hope this last statement about Ruby's apartment does not lead the reader to a sinister conclusion. In all fairness to the witnesses at the Gloco station that made the statement I would like to mention again that Tippit was at the northernmost part of Oak Cliff. Tippit could only go south if he was to stay in Oak Cliff. It is true that traveling south on Lancaster is the general direction of Jack Ruby's apartment but it is also the general direction of Tippit's patrol district, the Top 10 Record Shop, Tippit's home and other Oak Cliff landmarks (see map of Tippit locations).

This information has been provided by Tippit expert Greg Lowrey by way of Bill Pulte. Greg recalled his interviews with Gloco Station employees Emmett Hollingshead and J.B. “Shorty” Lewis. They were both certain that Tippit arrived at the Gloco Station “a few minutes” after the shots were fired in Dealey Plaza. Greg said “There was simply no doubt whatever about this in their minds they were absolutely certain”. Bill Pulte informs me that these witnesses could have heard on the radio that shots were fired at the motorcade within minutes of the assassination. Or motorists coming off the Houston Street Viaduct stopping for gas could have informed the Gloco employees about the shooting. The location of the former Gloco Station is about 1.5 miles from the Texas School Book Depository.

Some have speculated that Tippit was at the Gloco Station at 1:03 P.M., was away from his radio and somehow missed the call from the police dispatcher. There are no documented witness statements to support the fact that he left the car. Bill Pulte informs me that during this era some policeman would turn their police radios up all the way and leave the door to the squad car open if they left the vehicle and were going to remain close by the car. This would give the officer a better chance of hearing the police radio and decreasing the probability of missing a call. If in fact Tippit needed to go inside the Gloco station for some reason he could have possibly moved the squad car from the spot where he was watching the traffic come over the Houston Street Viaduct to another location closer to the actual building then exited the squad car. This combined with the ‘open door technique’ could minimize the chance of Tippit missing a call.

The article continues on to ask the following legitimate questions "What could Tippit have heard or seen to cause him to leave his observation post at the Gloco station and roar up the street? Police radio logs show no instructions to move. We know that cab driver William Whaley said he drove Oswald across the Houston Street Viaduct (past the Gloco station at the same time Tippit was reported there) to a spot near the rooming house (1026 North Beckley). Is it possible that Tippit spotted Oswald in the cab, recognized him, and for some reason took off to intercept him?"

Let us look at these statements analytically. At 12:45 P.M. the Police Dispatcher asks Tippit his location, Tippit replies "I'm about Keist and Bonnie View"⁽⁸⁾, we have to question the truthfulness of this statement. Police dispatcher, Murray Jackson, has stated in an interview that "If somebody is out of pocket off their district and you ask them their location, they are either not going to answer or they are going to give you somewhere else anyway." It is much easier to believe that Tippit was not being truthful about his location than to discount the statements of five witnesses that knew him personally and place him at a location approximately 5 miles away from the location he reported, at approximately the same time. The estimated travel time from Keist and Bonnie View to the Gloco station under normal driving conditions, is 18 minutes and 13-14 minutes for Tippit Travel Time. Given his witnessed location at 12:45 to 1:00 P.M. and the travel time involved it would seem more logical that Tippit had ventured out of his patrol district at approximately the time of the assassination for some unknown reason. Regardless of how good an officer J.D. Tippit was he could not have been in two places at the same time.

At 12:54 P.M. dispatcher Murray Jackson, calls Tippit for his location and Tippit responds by saying that he is at "Lancaster and Eighth." It is about 8/10's of a mile from the Gloco station to Lancaster and Eighth. Normal travel time is about 4 minutes but since he was "tearing" when he left the gas station he could have made it in as little as 1-2 minutes. This definitely fits into the time frame and the direction he was headed as described by the five witnesses.

Some researchers have speculated that Tippit might have stopped off to see Harry Olsen, a Dallas Police Officer, who had broken his knee cap and by his own admission had taken a side job guarding an "Estate" in Oak Cliff from 7:00A.M. until 8:00P.M. on the day of the Assassination.⁽⁹⁾ This is in the general area of the Tippit shooting. He could not remember many details about it, but he said the "estate" was on Eighth Street but he could not remember the exact location or address. Neither the Warren Commission, nor the House Select Committee asked him specifically if Tippit stopped off to see him. The following is a portion of the questioning of Harry Olsen by Warren Commission Lawyer Arlen Specter.

Mr. Specter. Did you have any visitors while you were guarding the estate on that day?

Mr. Olsen. Yes, sir.

Mr. Specter. And who was the visitor or visitors?

Mr. Olsen. Kay ⁽¹⁰⁾

Mr. Specter. What time did she visit you?

Mr. Olsen. Right after the President was shot.

Mr. Specter. How did you learn of the assassination of the President?

Mr. Olsen. A woman called me on the phone who was a friend of the person who had lived there.

Mr. Specter. Do you know who that woman was?

Mr. Olsen. No, sir. And she wanted to know if I had heard the news, and I said no, and she said, "The President has been shot."

Mr. Specter. What time did that telephone call occur?

Mr. Olsen. Right after he was shot. I don't know exactly what time it was.

Mr. Specter. Did you talk to anybody else on the telephone or in person between the telephone call and the time that Kay visited you?

Mr. Olsen. Passers-by. I went outside.

Mr. Specter. Whom did you see outside?

Mr. Olsen. No one who I knew by name. They just said, "have you heard the news?" And I said, "yes, I had."

WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN? The Olsen "estate" story has been looked at in many different ways by the research community. It is amazing to me that although the House Select Committee knew about the lingering questions concerning Olsen's activities on the afternoon of the assassination they did not ask any specific questions to try and clarify the situation, when Olsen gave a sworn deposition to House Select Committee Counsel, Robert Genzman, on August 21, 1978.

Olsen testified to the Warren Commission that the "estate" was about four blocks from Kay Coleman's apartment, which we know was at 325 North Ewing.⁽¹¹⁾ Using this information the "estate's" approximate location on Eighth Street can be found. On a recent trip to Dallas I was taken to this area by a Texas researcher that has thoroughly studied these circumstances. The two very strong possible locations for the "estate" are 423 Eighth Street or 431 Eighth Street.⁽¹²⁾

On a recent visit to The Assassination Archives and Research Center in Washington D.C. I was able to locate a 1967 interview of Harry Olsen by researcher William Turner. Several things are talked about in the interview, but Olsen’s remarks of special interest to us concerning this article are “Olsen said that on the day of the assassination he was guarding a ramshackle house in Oak Cliff, sitting inside. He said an attorney had hired him to guard the property of a recently deceased person. He heard the sirens but did not see anything himself.

If this information is true about a ‘ramshackle house’ then it is possible that researchers should have been looking for a structure that would appear much different from the ‘estate’ mentioned in Olsen’s Warren Commission testimony. Lawyer friends of mine point out that an estate can be a large piece of property and can also mean all the property and debts left by someone at death, both definitions are commonly used. Still to this date it is unclear of the exact location of this ‘estate.’

Since there is no solid evidence to prove that Olsen did see Tippit or that Tippit drove past Olsen's location, and given Olsen's testimony the most intelligent conclusion at this time is that Tippit did not stop off to see Harry Olsen. Even though Olsen admitted that he knew Tippit,⁽¹³⁾ the timeline illustrated here does not give Tippit much time to visit Olsen. I believe Tippit had other pressing matters to attend to.

We now have Tippit "tearing" south on Lancaster from the Gloco gas station at the corner of North Zangs and North Marsalis Ave.. The exact route Tippit took to the next sighting has many different possibilities. Because of the lack of witnesses at this point in the timeline we will probably never know Tippit's exact movements.

Professor Bill Pulte related to me the following story. Bill was interviewing an individual who had lived in the neighborhood Tippit was killed since the early 1960s. The interviewee spoke on the condition that his identity would remain confidential; Bill Pulte informs me that his information on other points was very accurate. They talked about many things concerning the Tippit shooting and the individual told Bill “If you are planning to do more research on Tippit, you should find out about a fight that took place at 12th and Marsalis a few minutes before Tippit was killed.”

To this day any additional details about this fight are not known. Could Tippit have observed a fight and watched one or more of the participants take off in an automobile or by foot? Could someone have stopped Tippit’s squad car and told them about a fight? Could Tippit himself have been involved in a fight? These are questions that we may never find the answers to.

We do know these facts. There is no transmission on the police radio alerting Tippit to respond to 12th and Marsalis. Tippit was tearing down Lancaster Road from the Gloco station heading in the direction towards 12th and Marsalis (see updated map). If Tippit was involved in something at 12th and Marsalis, that could account for an unspecified amount of additional time between the Tippit sighting at the Gloco station and the sighting at the Top 10 Record Shop.

The next Tippit encounter is one that has been reported in several different books and magazine articles but this incident remained unclear to me until I obtained transcripts of the interviews with the two men who were involved. This sighting took place at The Top Ten Record Shop which is near the corner of West Jefferson Boulevard and Bishop Ave. about one block West of the Texas Theater.

Louis Cortinas, was an eighteen year-old clerk, in the record shop in 1963. The shop's owner and his boss was Dub Stark.

In a 1981 interview with Dallas Morning News reporter Earl Golz, Cortinas stated the following:

" He was behind the counter at The Top Ten Record Shop, 338 West Jefferson Boulevard, on November 22, 1963. Police Officer, J.D. Tippit, parked his car on Bishop Street, apparently heading North, and came into the shop in a hurry and asked Cortinas if he could use the phone at the counter. He recalls Tippit being in such a hurry that he had to ask people in the narrow aisle to step aside."

"Tippit said nothing over the phone, apparently not getting an answer. He stood there long enough for it to ring seven or eight times. Tippit hung up the phone and walked off fast, he was upset or worried about something."

"Tippit sped away in his squad car across Jefferson, down Bishop, to Sunset where he ran a stop sign and turned right down Sunset."

"Maybe 10, no more than 10 minutes Tippit had left when I heard he had been shot on the radio."

Cortinas said, "Tippit would come into the record shop occasionally to use the phone while on duty. He knew Tippit to talk to from other experience, having been ticketed many times for drag racing near Austin's Barbecue. He also knew Tippit from seeing him at Austin's Barbecue."

Dub Stark also stated that "Tippit parked his patrol car outside, his partner was not with him on this occasion, he asked permission to use the phone, made a phone call, and left in a hurry and didn't say anything." Stark went on to say, "he had just enough time to get to the place where he was shot."

Stark knew Tippit because "Tippit often came in the store to buy records for his children, he also stopped by while on duty to use the phone several times." Again, we find Tippit far off his patrol district on a regular basis.

The call must have been of an urgent nature because Tippit's behavior and the statements of the witnesses. In an interview with Detective Gus Rose (one of the first police officials to interrogate Oswald), he gives us insight about the circumstances that existed for the Dallas Police Department on 11/22/63. "On a day with that much going on Tippit would have been under tremendous pressure to stay on the radio, if he had a little something personal that he wanted to take care of he would have probably run in the record shop in a hurry and tried to do it and get back out on that radio. And he wouldn't check out on the air. I mean he wouldn't try to get the dispatcher and say I am gonna be out of the car for something special that is personal. He wouldn't want to have to answer for it."

Was the phone call official police business? The witnesses said there was no conversation, so logic would tell us there was no answer on the other end. If it had been a busy signal he would have hung up the phone immediately but Cortinas estimated it rang about seven or eight times. This would be highly unlikely if he was calling Dallas Police Headquarters. He might have called in if he had important information that he didn't want broadcast over the radio. It doesn't make sense for him to call on the telephone to find out what all the commotion was in Downtown Dallas because from 1:00 P.M. until 1:15 P.M. the radio traffic was very slow.⁽¹⁴⁾

I have just finished part two of a three part article on the Top Ten Record Shop for ‘The Dealey Plaza Echo’ in England. The events and the people involved at the Top 10 Record Shop are talked about in greater detail than in this article. You may contact Ian Griggs by e-mail igriggs@hotmail.com for information about obtaining these magazines.

Police dispatcher Murray Jackson called #78 (Tippit) at 1:03 P.M.⁽¹⁵⁾ and got no answer. One can guess, using logic, that if Tippit was at Lancaster and Eighth at 12:54 P.M. he could have easily arrived at the Top Ten Record Shop a distance of 2 miles before 1:00 P.M. and could have been inside the record shop when the unanswered call was made. The distance from the Top Ten Record Shop to 404 E. 10th St.(the Tippit Murder sight) is 6/10's of a mile with a travel time of about two minutes.

This information is provided by Greg Lowrey by way of Bill Pulte. James A. Andrews worked for American National Life Insurance whose offices were located across the street from Austin’s Barbecue. Greg Lowrey was interviewing Andrews to get recollections of Roscoe White who worked out of the same office as Andrews. During the interview Andrews told Greg “Since you are interested in the assassination, let me tell you something that happened” and told the following story. James A. Andrew’s was returning to work at his office in Oak Cliff a little after 1:00 P.M. on 11/22/63. He was driving west on West 10th Street (about eight or nine blocks from where Tippit was shot minutes later, see map). Suddenly a police car also traveling west on West 10th Street came up from behind Andrews’ car, passed him and cut in front of Andrews’s car forcing him to stop. The police car pulled in front of Andrews’ car at an angle heading into the curb in order to stop him. The officer then jumped out of the patrol car motioned to Andrews to remain stopped, ran back to Andrews’ car, and looked in the space between the front seat and the back seat. Without saying a word the policeman went back to the patrol car and then drove off quickly. Andrews was perplexed by this strange behavior and looked at the officer’s nameplate, which read “Tippit” (Tippit was wearing his nameplate on 11/22/63. This is documented in a list of personal effects removed from his body at the time of death. Source: Dallas Municipal Archives) Andrews remarked that Tippit seemed to be very upset and agitated and was acting wild.

We know by the statements Louis Cortinas at the Top Ten Record Shop that Tippit was last seen running a stop sign and traveling east on Sunset Ave. The location of Andrews’ encounter with Tippit is approximately 2 blocks northwest of the record shop. Did this event happen before or after Tippit was seen at the record shop? Given Andrews’ statement that this happened a little after 1:00 P.M. let us use the 1:03 P.M. missed call as a benchmark. Since the only documented time that Tippit was away from his car radio was when he went into the record shop, the probability is high that James A. Andrews’ encounter with J.D. Tippit happened just moments after Tippit was seen at the record shop. Tippit could have gone east on Sunset then gone north on Madison or Zangs then taken a left onto West 10th Street and this would have put Tippit traveling in the proper direction to have ‘cut off’ Andrews’ car that was also traveling west on West 10th Street.

Why did Tippit choose Andrews’ car to stop? Why didn’t he pull over Andrews’ car using conventional police procedure by using red lights and siren and stopping to the rear of Andrews’ car? Why did Tippit ‘cut off’ Andrews car the way he did? Why didn’t Tippit speak to Andrews or give him any explanation for what was going on? Why was Tippit so upset and acting the way he did? If these questions could be answered it would be very helpful in determining what was going on in the last minutes of Tippit’s life. Exactly where Tippit went and for how long after his sighting at the record shop and after his encounter with James A. Andrews are still unknown.

I would like to take a moment to talk about an event that has perplexed many researchers over the years. Just after Lee Harvey Oswald returned to his rooming house at 1026 North Beckley at about 1:00P.M. on 11/22/63 Earlene Roberts who was the housekeeper at the rooming house noticed that a Dallas Police car pulled up in front of the rooming house and honked the horn twice and then drove away. This happened while Oswald was in his room. There has been so much written about this event that a full length article could be written about it but, I would like to give the reader a few facts. In Earlene Roberts Warren Commission testimony she states that the Police car had 2 uniformed officers in it, Tippit was alone in Car 10 on 11/22/63. At approximately the time Earlene Roberts states this event happened we have at least 2 witnesses at the Top 10 Record Shop that state Tippit was in the shop at that time. Many of the researchers that theorized that Tippit drove by the rooming house and honked the horn were unfamiliar with the Top 10 Record Shop witnesses, or wrote their theories before these interviews were conducted and made available. Using the best information we have at this time it is highly improbable that Tippit performed the horn honking event since he was at a different location 1.2 miles away with a travel time of 6 minutes and a Tippit travel time of three to four minutes.

There have been many references in print to 2 calls that were made at 1:08 on the Dallas Police Radio. The original source of this information is the March 23,1964 transcript of the channel 1 radio log, Commission Exhibit 705 page 17 in Vol. 17 page 406 of the Warren Commission Hearings. The transcript states that #78 (Tippit) called the dispatcher once just before 1:08 and then seconds later at exactly 1:08, but the dispatcher did not answer. Most researchers that have studied the many versions of the radio logs agree that Arch Kimbrough's Critics Copy is an excellent reference tool. Assassination researcher Russ Shearer has published a user-friendly copy of Arch’s original work. I highly recommend this transcript to everybody who is interested not only in the Tippit murder but also the Kennedy assassination; it is a vital piece of evidence in studying these events. It is available from Russ at 258 Coolidge Ave., Absecon, N.J. 08201 or russ63@ix.netcom.com.

The two radio calls in question at 1:08 do not appear in Arch's transcript. Upon discovering this discrepancy I started doing a great deal of work with my audio copy of the Dallas Police Tapes. I used noise filters to "clean up" the overall sound quality and used a 31 band graphic equalizer to make the voices on the tape clearer and more pronounced. After much study I concluded that the transmission was not made by Tippit but instead was made by "388" a unit from the Criminal Investigation Division.

"388" was having a conversation with the dispatcher at about this time. Transmission #390A On page 31 of the Arch Kimbrough's Channel 1 transcript is what I believe was mistaken as "78" since it is slightly garbled. By comparing the voice characteristics of the calls Tippit made earlier in the tape to the 1:08 call in question I concluded that the voices did not match. At this point I contacted a very well respected Dallas researcher who has a great deal of experience listening to these tapes and he is in agreement with me that the 1:08 transmission is "388" and not Tippit. Give the tape a listen , what do you think?

Cortinas said he sped away from the record shop but by the time Tippit gets near the corner of East 10th and Patton Ave. Tippit Murder witness Helen Markham testifies Tippit's police car was "driving real slow now, real slow."⁽¹⁶⁾

William Scoggins a cab driver that also witnessed the Tippit murder while he was parked in his cab eating lunch near the murder scene describes Tippit's Patrol car as cruising "Not more than 10 or 12 miles a hour." Why would Tippit drive in such an erratic way? First very fast, then very slow in the last few minutes of his life may never be explained.

Professor Bill Pulte has a possible explanation for Tippit’s erratic movements in the final minutes of his life. Bill explained to me that Tippit’s movements are consistent with the actions of a man frantically looking for someone. Let us look at Tippit’s movements:

• Sitting at the Gloco station watching the cars come over the Houston Street Viaduct.
• Leaves the Gloco station and “tears” down Lancaster Road at a fast rate of speed.
• Could have possibly been involved in a “fight” at 12th and Marsalis.
• Makes a hurried phone call at the Top Ten Record Shop, and does not get an answer.
• Stops James A. Andrews car by cutting in front of him, does not say a word but looks between the front and back seats, and then leaves the scene without saying a word.
• Moments later Tippit is seen at the corner of 10th and Patton by William Scoggins and Helen Markham and they both remark in their testimonies that Tippit’s car is traveling very slowly.

In his Warren Commission testimony below Vol. 3 page 324-325 Scoggins gives some startling information about Tippit's activities. As we shall see Tippit was observed in the neighborhood that he was killed quite often.

Mr. SCOGGINS. Well, I first seen the police car cruising east.

Mr. BELlN. About how fast was it cruising?

Mr. SCOGGINS. Not more than 10 or 12 miles a hour, I would say.

Mr. BELIN. It was going east on what street?

Mr. SCOGGINS. On Tenth.

Mr. BELIN. All right. Did you see the police car go across right in front of yours?

Mr. SCOGGINS. Yes; he went right down the street. He come from the west, going east On east Tenth.

Mr. BELIN. Then what did you see?

Mr. SCOGGINS. I noticed he stopped down there, and I wasn't paying too much attention to the man, you see, just used to see him every day, but then I kind of looked down the street, saw this, someone, that looked to me like he was going west, now, I couldn't exactly say whether he was going west or was in the process of turning around, but he was facing west when I saw him.

Mr. BELIN. All right.

Mr. SCOGGINS. And he was--he stopped there.

Mr. BELIN. Let me ask you this now. When you first saw this man, had the police car stopped or not?

It is amazing that Warren Commission Counsel David Belin did not ask any questions regarding the statement, just used to see him everyday, the implications of this testimony are very important.

Scoggins gave his testimony on March 26,1964, one week later on April 2,1964 Mrs. Charlie Virginia Davis gave her testimony to the Warren Commission which independently corroborates Scoggins statements that Tippit was seen often near the spot that he was later murdered at. Mrs. Davis was an ear witness to the Tippit murder. She lived at 400 East 10th St. at the corner of Patton Ave. When she heard the gunfire both she and her sister-in-law, Mrs. Barbara Davis both ran to their front door in time to see the murderer escaping by walking across their front yard and South down Patton Ave.. The following testimony is from Vol. 6 page 458 of the Warren Commission Hearings.

Mrs. DAVIS. No, sir; we just saw a police car sitting on the side of the road.

Mr. BELIN. Where was the police car parked?

Mrs. DAVIS. It was parked between the hedge that marks the apartment house where he lives in and the house next door.

Mr. BELIN. Was it on your side of East 10th or the other side of the street?

Mrs. DAVIS. It was on our side, the same side that we lived on.

Mr. BELIN. Was it headed as you looked to the police car, towards your right or towards your left?

Mrs. DAVIS. Right.

Once again Counsel Belin heard testimony that Officer Tippit was in the neighborhood so much that Mrs. Davis thought that he lived there and once again he did not ask any questions to clarify the matter. The Warren Commission knew that Tippit did not live in this area, but because the proper questions were not asked we only have a vague outline of Tippit's regular activities in the neighborhood where he was killed.

Author Dale Myers was able to interview Virginia Davis in 1997. She told Dale “I don’t know where J.D. Tippit lived” “I didn’t mean to say that I thought he lived there because we never seen the man or seen him cruising the streets or nothing until we seen him right there at the car” (With Malice page 310-311). Thank you Dale Myers and Virginia Davis for clearing up this very important point.

One of the main themes of this work is that Tippit was off his assigned patrol district on a regular basis for a variety of reasons. We know by the Davis and Scoggins testimony that he was seen near the murder sight on a daily basis. The reasons for his frequent visits there is beyond the scope of this writing, but it is something I would like to address at a future time. If it is ever positively proven that Oswald did not kill J.D. Tippit then the real murderer could have easily known where to find Tippit, since his activities were common knowledge to people in the neighborhood.

Tippit was killed in Patrol District #91 which is about 4 miles from the closest point of Tippit's Patrol District #78. The travel time under normal conditions is about 13 minutes. Tippit Travel Time could have been 9-10 minutes. So here we have Tippit leaving his Patrol District driving to East 10th St., staying for an undetermined time and returning to his Patrol District. If he stayed at "the apartment house where he lives" for 10 minutes the minimum elapsed time to leave and return from is Patrol District is 30 minutes. Please remember that Tippit's squad car was parked at this location so often that Mrs. Davis thought he lived there. How often he made this trip and how long he would stay is anybody's guess.

In the original article I mention the reoccurring theme that Tippit was sighted out of his patrol district often by several witnesses. Bill Pulte interviewed J.W. Finley who was Tippit’s sergeant for a period of time, and was later his lieutenant. When Pulte asked Finley if it would have been unusual for Tippit to be seen out of his assigned patrol district on a regular basis. Finley replied “No because J.D. was an officer that would drive around a lot”. Tippit investigator Ken M. Holmes Jr. related to me that he “did not think that it was out of the ordinary for Tippit to be out of his district so often” I stand corrected on making an issue of Tippit being sighted out of his district on a regular basis, I am thankful for this new insight from these sources.

Officer J.D. Tippit was murdered a few moments after Helen Markham and William Scoggins saw him on 11/22/63 and because of circumstances outlined in this writing some of the true events of this day might never be known.

TIPPIT TIMELINE 11/22/63

KEY: All times except radio calls are approximate.

* Probable Movements
^ Known Movements

7:00 A.M. ^	Begin Tour of Duty at Southwest substation at 4020 West Illinois Ave.
?? *	2 eyewitnesses place Tippit at Austin’s Barbecue (exact time unknown)
9:56-10:17 A.M. *	Out on a signal 4 at 2800 East Illinois Ave.
10:30- 10:45 A.M. ^	Tea with Patrolman Bill Anglin at the Rebel Drive-In, 3172 South Loop 12.
10:40-10:45 A.M. ^	Tippit called to Annarbor and Corrigan Ave.
10:45-11:15 A.M. ^	Possible travel time to 238 Glencairn (Tippit’s home) for lunch. The actual travel time would only be about 15 minutes. The exact time that Tippit started to travel home is unknown.
11:15- 11:50 A.M. ^	Lunch at 238 Glencairn.
11:50A.M.- 12:17P.M. ^	Travel time from 238 Glencairn to 4100 Block Bonnie View.
12:17 P.M. ^	Tippit radios dispatcher "Be out of the car for a minute 4100 Block Bonnie View."
12:20 P.M. ^	Tippit radios dispatcher " Clear."
12:30 P.M. ^	Tippit starts moving toward Northern Oak Cliff.
12:45 P.M. ^	5 witnesses placed him at the GLOCO Service Station, 1502 North Zangs Boulevard, near the Houston Street Viaduct. He stays there for about 10 minutes, then tears off down Lancaster at high speed. Police Dispatcher asks Tippit's location, he responds, "I'm about Keist and Bonnie View," (Highly improbable)
12:54 P.M. *	Dispatcher asks Tippit's location, he responds, "Lancaster and Eighth."
?????? *	Possible fight at 12th and Marsalis.
1:00-1:05 P.M. ^	Tippit makes hurried phone call at The Top Ten Record Shop, 338 West Jefferson, near the corner of Bishop Ave.
1:03 P.M. ^	Dispatcher calls Tippit, Tippit does not respond.
????? ^	Tippit stops car driven by James A. Andrews.
1:10-1:15 P.M. ^	Tippit shot to death near corner of East Tenth Street and Patton Avenue. (The exact time is in dispute. The Warren Commission Report states it happened at 1:15).

TIPPIT LOCATIONS 11/22/63 ( Map #1 )

POSSIBLE LOCATIONS OF ESTATE OLSEN WAS GUARDING 11/22/63 ( Map # 2 )

1. Warren Commission exhibit 3001, pg. 2

2. Warren Commission exhibit 2985, pg.6

3. Attached map #1

4. Summary of interview with Marie Tippit, 1977 HSCA document, #180-10120-10047

5. AARC Records

6. Dallas Morning News 11/22/63

7. Putnam Exhibit #1

8. Dallas Police Department Radio transcript (Critics copy by Arch Kimbrough), pg.16

9. Warren Commission testimony of Harry Olsen, XIV, pg. 624-639

10. Kay Coleman, the future Mrs. Olsen and a stripper at Jack Ruby's Carousel Club

11. Warren Commission Hearings, volume XIV, pg. 641

12. Attached Map #1

13. Warren Commission hearings volume XIV, pg. 628

14. Dallas Police Department Radio Transcripts (Critics copy by Arch Kimbrough), pg. 25-34

15. Ibid. pg. 28

16. Warren Commission Hearings volume III, pg. 307