AARON HAMMONDS SAID:
I was looking for opinions as to where Oswald was heading after leaving his rooming house and before his fatal encounter with Officer Tippit?
Some CTs suggest he was headed for Jack Ruby's apartment (obviously not my idea, since I don't believe they knew each other).
Some have suggested he was on his way to kill Edwin Walker in a final act of defiant violence that afternoon.
Some (including Warren Commission counsel David Belin) have even suggested he was headed for the nearest Greyhound bus stop, as he had just enough money on him to buy a bus ticket to Mexico, perhaps planning to confess to the officials at the Cuban Consulate in Mexico City, hoping this would lead them to grant him passage into Cuba.
I was just wondering what everyone else thought?
DAVID VON PEIN SAID:
You pretty much covered all the bases, Aaron. I, myself, think Belin's "He Was Going To Catch A Bus To Mexico" theory might be correct. But we'll never know for sure (unless someone wants to dig up LHO at Rose Hill Cemetery and ask him).
AARON HAMMONDS SAID:
LOL. I thought someone else might have a novel idea, David.
DAVID VON PEIN SAID:
Lee Oswald might just have been winging it. (Who knows.) His assassination plan, as we know, was practically done at the last minute. I think he was probably extremely surprised that he was actually able to have that 6th floor of the TSBD all to himself long enough to get the job done and fire those three shots at JFK --- because given all the obstacles and potential witnesses that could have caused him to abort his assassination efforts, I just don't see how Oswald's state of mind on the morning of November 22nd could have been anything other than this one ----
"Since I'm not on a suicide mission today, and since so many things could happen that could cause me to change my mind about pulling the trigger on the President (including the weather and the actions of other people in the building), I'm not too confident of being able to pull this assassination off. If I'm able to do it, fine. But if not, that's fine too."
Now, given such a mindset leading up to 12:30 PM on 11/22/63, it's quite possible that Lee hadn't put any thought at all (or very little thought) into what he would do afterward. Therefore, after he did the dirty deed and was able to escape the building, his mindset could very well have been --- "Gee, what the f**k do I do now?!"
AARON HAMMONDS SAID:
Yeah, I honestly think he might have changed his mind the night before if Marina had agreed to get back together with him.
DAVID VON PEIN SAID:
I agree. CLICK HERE.
AARON HAMMONDS SAID:
Once committed, though, I think he did see it as a suicide mission; I think he expected to go out in a blaze of glory that afternoon. He probably expected the Secret Service to spray the window and was surprised he was able to walk away from it.
Then, in the theater, I think he expected the police to open fire on him when he tried to kill McDonald. That could have contributed to his general combative attitude all weekend; he may have been disgusted by the fact that he had been taken alive.
DAVID VON PEIN SAID:
That's possible, Aaron. But the fact he tried to escape the scene of the crime in Dealey Plaza (and succeeded), and the fact he murdered Officer Tippit while in full flight, and the fact he put up such a wild struggle with the police in the Texas Theater, are things that strongly suggest to me that Lee Harvey Oswald definitely wanted to live another day.
MARK ANTHONY WRIGHT SAID:
Just a side question, David and Aaron -- Did anyone see LHO carry the paper bag that carried his gun on the Thursday back to the Paine house?
AARON HAMMONDS SAID:
No, but being an empty, handmade paper bag, Oswald could have had it folded up in his jacket pocket or hidden elsewhere on his person.
DAVID VON PEIN SAID:
Not that I know of, Mark. And that's always a point the CTers like to bring up too. They'll ask:
WHY DIDN'T BUELL FRAZIER NOTICE THE BAG ON THURSDAY?
But I think Oswald folded it up and somehow concealed it in his jacket or clothing. We can see the folds in the bag (CE142) in the pictures....
(I see that Aaron posted the same thing as I was typing.)
MARK ANTHONY WRIGHT SAID:
It could have folded up easy I think after looking at that picture.
I was thinking more Marina or the Paines that never noticed it either. Then again, the Paines didn't know he had the rifle hidden in the garage.
DAVID VON PEIN SAID:
I know there are some kooks who now say that Oswald had NO BAG AT ALL on November 22. But aside from those off-the-wall conspiracists, I want to know what the other CTers think the odds are of Oswald carrying a shorter (27-inch) bag into the TSBD (per the length estimates made by Buell Frazier & Linnie Mae Randle), and then having THAT bag (the 27-incher) just disappear, and then having a longer, 38-inch bag (empty!) with OSWALD'S PRINTS on it show up in the Sniper's Nest on the same day when Oswald's rifle also shows up on that same 6th floor?
The CTers, I suppose, will just resort to saying: "Well, Dave, it's obvious the cops deep-sixed the 27-inch bag and replaced it with the 38-incher."
To that type of speculation, you know what I'll say --- Hogwash!
More about the paper bag HERE.
MARK ANTHONY WRIGHT SAID:
I was going to ask how long is the rifle assembled, but I forgot--I do have one in my garage.
DAVID VON PEIN SAID:
The rifle, when fully assembled, is 40.2 inches long.
Disassembled -- 34.8 inches.
The paper bag -- 38 inches.
A nice fit indeed for the disassembled Carcano.
DAVID VON PEIN ALSO SAID:
Lee could have gone quickly into Ruth's garage after arriving there on 11/21 (even before Ruth got home from the grocery store at about 5:30). He could have hidden the paper and dry tape in the garage without anyone noticing.
I'm wondering where Lee put his coat/jacket that night too? If he took it, along with the paper, into the garage right away, then I don't see why anyone would have to notice the paper.
Also: I think Lee took the tape completely OUT of Troy West's "wet" dispenser mechanism to avoid getting the tape wet. I'm not so sure about the "cutter" marks though, but I'm betting there was a way for Lee to take a hunk of DRY tape and cut it off in the dispenser before it got wet.
I think it's logical to assume that Lee didn't just stand there at Troy West's packing table in the TSBD and construct his 38-inch-long paper bag that he planned to use to hide his rifle in. For one thing, how would he know how long to make the bag? He'd have to have his rifle right there to KNOW for certain how long to make his homemade bag. And I doubt he had memorized the exact measurements of his disassembled rifle.
This, of course, might lead to the question of: "Well, okay Dave, but if that's the case, why didn't Ruth Paine or Marina ever notice the leftover pieces of brown paper and tape that Lee probably had to discard at the Paine house after he cut his handmade paper bag down to the right size?"
Fair enough question, I guess. My response would be:
A few bits and pieces of leftover paper and tape could have easily been wadded up and discarded discreetly (and compactly) inside one of Ruth's household trash cans, with Lee possibly even making sure to tuck the paper under some of the other garbage that was already filling up one of the trash cans in Mrs. Paine's home.
Lee could have even taken measures to conceal the leftover paper scraps by placing them inside a discarded cereal box or other food container that Ruth had thrown away some time earlier. The possibilities are plentiful to explain how Lee could have discarded some small bits of paper without anyone noticing.
David Von Pein
March 1, 2015
