Real Crime Stories/Paranormal Hauntings/Conspiracy Theories Book II

Lee Harvey Oswald (Part II)

Return to Dallas

On October 2, 1963, Oswald left MexicoCity by bus and arrived in Dallas the next day. Ruth Paine said thather neighbor told her on October 14 about a job opening at the TexasSchool Book Depository, where her neighbor's brother, Wesley Frazier,worked. Mrs. Paine informed Oswald, who was interviewed at thedepository and was hired there on October 16 as a $1.25 an hourminimum wage order filler. Oswald's supervisor, Roy S. Truly(1907–1985), said that Oswald "did a good day's work"and was an above-average employee. During the week, Oswald stayed ina Dallas rooming house under the name "O. H. Lee",but he spent his weekends with Marina at the Paine home in Irving.Oswald did not drive a car, but he commuted to and from Dallas onMondays and Fridays with his co-worker Wesley Frazier. On October 20(a month before the assassination), the Oswalds' second daughter,Audrey, was born.

FBI agents twice visited the Paine homein early November, when Oswald was not present, and spoke to Mrs.Paine. Oswald visited the Dallas FBI office about two to three weeksbefore the assassination, asking to see Special Agent James P. Hosty.When he was told that Hosty was unavailable, Oswald left a note that,according to the receptionist, read: "Let this be a warning.I will blow up the FBI and the Dallas Police Department if you don'tstop bothering my wife" [signed] "Lee Harvey Oswald".The note allegedly contained a threat, but accounts vary as towhether Oswald threatened to "blow up the FBI" or merely"report this to higher authorities". According to Hosty,the note said, "If you have anything you want to learn aboutme, come talk to me directly. If you don't cease bothering my wife, Iwill take the appropriate action and report this to the properauthorities." Agent Hosty said that he destroyed Oswald'snote on orders from his superior, Gordon Shanklin, after Oswald wasnamed the suspect in the Kennedy assassination.

John F. Kennedy and J. D. Tippitshootings

In the days before Kennedy's arrival,several local newspapers published the route of the presidentialmotorcade, which passed the Texas School Book Depository. OnThursday, November 21, Oswald asked Frazier for an unusual mid-weeklift back to Irving, saying he had to pick up some curtain rods. Thenext morning (the day of the assassination), he returned to Dallaswith Frazier. He left $170 and his wedding ring, but took a largepaper bag with him. Frazier reported that Oswald told him the bagcontained curtain rods. The Warren Commission concluded that thepackage of "curtain rods" actually contained therifle that Oswald was going to use for the assassination.

One of Oswald's co-workers, CharlesGivens, testified to the Commission that he last saw Oswald on thesixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository (TSBD) atapproximately 11:55 a.m., which was 35 minutes before the motorcadeentered Dealey Plaza. The Commission report stated that Oswald wasnot seen again "until after the shooting". However,in an FBI report taken the day after the assassination, Givens saidthat the encounter took place at 11:30 a.m. and that he later sawOswald reading a newspaper in the first floor domino room at 11:50a.m, 20 minutes later. William Shelley, a foreman at the depository,also testified that he saw Oswald making a phone call on the firstfloor between 11:45 and 11:50 a.m. Janitor Eddie Piper alsotestified that he spoke to Oswald on the first floor at 12:00 p.m. Another co-worker, Bonnie Ray Williams, was eating his lunch on thesixth floor of the depository and was there until at least 12:10 p.m. He said that during that time, he did not see Oswald, or anyoneelse, on the sixth floor and thought that he was the only person upthere. However, he also said that some boxes in the southeast cornermay have prevented him from seeing deep into the "sniper'snest". Carolyn Arnold, the secretary to the Vice Presidentof the TSBD, informed the FBI that as she left the building to watchthe motorcade, she caught a glimpse of a man whom she believed to beOswald standing in the first floor hallway of the building just priorto the assassination.