chapter IV

, Oswald kept his rifle in the Paine garage in Irving while he was living in Dallas during October and November. The pistol was small and easily concealed.[A12-65]

_Speculation._--There was absolutely no place to hide a gun in Oswald’s room at 1026 North Beckley Avenue.

_Commission finding._--In the search of Oswald’s room after his apprehension police found a pistol holster. Oswald’s landlady, Mrs. A. C. Johnson, stated that she had not seen the holster before. There is no reason to believe that Oswald could not have had both a pistol and the holster hidden in the room. Oswald’s pistol was a small one with the barrel cut down to 2¼ inches. It could have been concealed in a pocket of his clothes.[A12-66]

_Speculation._--Oswald did not pick up the revolver from his room at 1 p.m.

_Commission finding._--There is reason to believe that Oswald did pick up the revolver from his room, probably concealing it beneath his jacket. This likelihood is reinforced by the finding of the pistol holster in the room after the assassination, since this indicates that Oswald did not store the pistol at the home of Mrs. Paine where he spent the night before the assassination.[A12-67]

_Speculation._--No one saw Oswald enter the Texas Theatre.

_Commission finding._--A nearby shoe store manager, Johnny C. Brewer, and the theatre cashier, Julia Postal, saw Oswald enter the lobby of the theatre from where he went on into the theatre proper.[A12-68]

_Speculation._--Not a single one of the people in the Texas Theatre at the time of Oswald’s arrest has come forward or been brought forward to give an eyewitness account of the arrest.

_Commission finding._--Johnny C. Brewer, the shoe store manager, and two patrons of the theatre--John Gibson and George Jefferson Applin, Jr.--were present in the theatre and testified before the Commission on the circumstances of Oswald’s arrest at the Texas Theatre. Only 6 or 7 people were seated on the main floor of the theatre.[A12-69]

_Speculation._--There is no independent witness aside from the police who testified that Oswald was carrying a gun when arrested by the police.

_Commission finding._--Johnny Brewer testified before the Commission that he saw Oswald pull a gun and that he saw it taken away from him by a policeman.[A12-70]

OSWALD AFTER HIS ARREST

The Commission found that assertions that the Dallas police treated Oswald brutally and denied him his constitutional rights to legal counsel had no foundation in fact. Insinuations that Dallas police officials and District Attorney Henry M. Wade fabricated or altered evidence to establish the guilt of Oswald were baseless. It is true that police officials and the district attorney made errors in giving evidential information to the press, but these were clearly the result of misapprehensions or ignorance rather than intent, and at the worst represent bad judgment. At least one imputed fabrication of fact, further embellished by repetition, never really occurred. Sinister connotations were evoked by the attribution to the district attorney of the statement that a taxicab driver named Darryl Click drove Oswald from downtown Dallas to the area of his roominghouse in Oak Cliff. It has been correctly ascertained that no such taxicab driver existed in Dallas. On the other hand, the district attorney, who was quoted in a newspaper transcript as making the statement, never made the statement nor did any one else. Audio tapes of the district attorney’s press conference make clear that the person who transcribed the conference rendered a reference to the “Oak Cliff” area of Dallas as a person, “Darryl Click”. This error in transcription is the sole source for the existence of a “Darryl Click” as a taxicab driver.

_Speculation._--Oswald was the victim of police brutality.

_Commission finding._--Oswald resisted arrest in the Texas Theatre and drew a gun. He received a slight cut over his right eye and a bruise under his left eye in the course of his struggles. During the time he was in police custody, he was neither ill-treated nor abused.[A12-71]

_Speculation._--Oswald was never formally charged with the assassination of the President; he was charged only with the shooting of Patrolman J. D. Tippit.

_Commission finding._--Oswald was arraigned for the murder of President Kennedy before Justice of the Peace David Johnston on the fourth floor of the Police Department building at 1:35 a.m., November 23. Previously, he had been arraigned before Johnston for the murder of Tippit at 7:10 p.m., November 22.[A12-72]

_Speculation._--The police questioned Oswald extensively about the Tippit murder on the first day of his detention. They did not question him about the assassination of President Kennedy.

_Commission finding._--Dallas police officials stated that they questioned Oswald repeatedly on November 22 about the assassination of President Kennedy and his relationship to it. At the first interrogation, Captain Fritz asked Oswald to account for himself at the time the President was shot. FBI agents who were present also stated that he was questioned about the assassination of the President.[A12-73]

_Speculation._--Oswald’s attempts to get legal counsel were deliberately thwarted by the police and he was cut off from outside calls that would have permitted him to obtain a lawyer.

_Commission finding._--On November 23, Oswald was visited by the president of the Dallas Bar Association, H. Louis Nichols, who offered him help in getting a lawyer; Oswald refused the offer. Oswald was told by the police that he could use the telephone when he wished, and he did make telephone calls. He attempted to call attorney John Abt in New York but was unsuccessful in reaching him. Mrs. Paine testified that at Oswald’s request she tried without success to reach Abt. Oswald was also visited by his wife, mother, and brother, to any of whom he could have turned for help in getting counsel.[A12-74]

OSWALD IN THE SOVIET UNION

Oswald’s residence in the Soviet Union for more than 2½ years aroused speculation after his arrest that he was an agent of the Soviet Union or in some way affiliated with it. This speculation was supported by assertions that he had received exceptionally favored treatment from the Soviet Government in securing permission to enter and leave the country, especially the latter, because his Russian wife and child were permitted to leave with him. The careful analysis of these speculations in