“In mid-March, 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald ordered a .38 caliber Smith & Wesson revolver from Seaport Traders, Inc., using a coupon clipped from an unidentified magazine.” — Dale Myers
The handgun wasn’t ordered in “mid-March”. The evidence indicates that it was ordered before March 13th. Michaelis Exhibit 2 shows that the date on the Seaport Traders invoice for the handgun as 3/13/63.
While most people assume Oswald ordered the handgun at the same time he allegedly ordered the rifle ( March 12th ). The Commission provided no evidence of that. In fact, the evidence shows that Oswald never had the opportunity to order either weapon.
His worksheet for March 12th showed that all of Oswald’s time at work that day was accounted for.
Not only did the Commission fail to show that Oswald had the opportunity to order the weapons. It failed to explain why Oswald used two different methods to pay for the weapons.
Two different “M.O.’s”
Oswald allegedly purchased a money order to pay for the rifle in full. But sent a $10 cash deposit for the handgun with the remainder to be paid C.O.D.. Even though the C.O.D. order required a 50% deposit.
If he were buying a money order for the rifle, why didn’t he buy one for the handgun ?
Why would he send cash through the mail ?
Not only that, there lies the question of Oswald’s access to the magazine in which the Seaport Traders’ ad appeared.
An access problem
If Oswald had ordered the handgun from a magazine, he would have had to order it from a magazine that was on the newsstands no later than March 12th.
In his blog, Solving the Mystery of Oswald’s Seaport Trader Order, Oswald-killed-Tippit author Dale Myers concludes that the order blank used for the ordering of the handgun came from the April, 1963 edition of True Adventures magazine.
“The version with the cartoon on the reverse side of the coupon (as was the case in the coupon Oswald used) was printed in the April 1963 issue (Vol.32, No.3) of True Adventures.” — Dale Myers
Myers claims that this proves Oswald could have ordered the handgun in “mid-March”. But he neglects to mention one important fact. That magazines didn’t reach the newsstands until the 15th of the month prior to the month on the cover. So a magazine edition of April 1963 would have been at the newsstands no earlier than March 15th, three days after the alleged purchase of the handgun.
So how could Oswald ( or anyone else for that matter ) order a handgun from an ad in a magazine that had not yet reached the newsstand ?
Deception by omission
Myers never provides evidence that the April edition of True Adventures was on the newsstand on or prior to March 12th. Instead he intermingles March 12th with the term, “mid-March”. He contends that Oswald mailed the order in “mid-March”.
“…we now know that the coupon he used came from an issue that had only become available to him at about the time he mailed the order – mid-March, 1963. — Dale Myers
He fails to mention CE 1855 ( Oswald’s worksheet ) that shows that Oswald was at work on the 12th and that every minute of his day is accounted for.
For the handgun documentation to be authentic, the weapon had to have been ordered after March 15th, otherwise, the documentation is fake. Perhaps the weapons were ordered later in the year. Did Oswald have access to gun magazines in the second half of 1963 ?
The answer to that question is yes and where he had that acccess was revealed ina discovery allegedly found in the Paine garage on November 23rd.
The blank forms found in the Paine garage
During their search of the Paine garage on 11/23, Dallas Police allegedly found two “magazine ads” from Klein’s Sporting Goods.
On pages 2 and 3 of CD 578, we see that the “ads” are blank order forms from the ads.
As we might expect, the initials of the officers who conducted the 11/23 search, Rose (GFR), Stovall (RSS), Moore (HMM) and Adamcik (JPA) are marked on the blanks and the date of discovery is noted.
But of these four officers, only one was asked about the “magazine ads” and only one question was asked of him.
Mr. BALL. Now, you also found a magazine advertisement from Klein’s Department Store, Klein’s in Chicago ?
Mr. STOVALL. Yes sir; that was in the same box as the photographs. ( 7 H 195 )
The line of questioning seems to indicate that a single ad was found.
But according to the FBI, Dallas Police Capt. Will Fritz turned over “two magazine ads” on December 2nd “bearing initials” GFR and RSS.
So how did two “magazine ads” on December 2nd become one when Stovall gave his testimony on April 3, 1964 ?
In addition, there was another anomaly with this discovery.
The blank order forms were not listed on the evidence sheet
Not only is there a conflict in the record of how many “ads” were found.
Like the “backyard photographs”, police failed to mention this discovery in their list of items recovered from that search.
Nowhere is it listed that police found “ads” or “order forms” from Klein’s, even though it was well known to police by Saturday afternoon that the rifle was sold by Klein’s through the mail.
Allegedly found in the same box as the “backyard photographs”, the blank order forms were significant evidence connecting Oswald to Klein’s.
So why weren’t they listed ?
They’re also not seen in the photographs of the evidence recovered by police.
Not only is there sufficient doubt that police found the blank order forms in the Paine garage. The Warren Commission never told us from what magazines they came from.
What magazines did the blank order forms come from ?
In his report of 5/5/64, Dallas FBI SAC Robert Gemberling noted that “no action” was taken on finding their ( D-85 ) sources. ( FBI file # 105-82555, Sec 156, pg. 59 )
Although the FBI was not interested in establishing when and how these blank order forms came into Oswald’s possession, private researchers were. We can thank the work of researcher Paul Hoch for identifying the magazines from which the blank order forms came from.
In her article, Ordering the Rifle, which appeared in the March 1996 edition of Assassination Chronicles, Martha Moyer tells us that researcher Paul Hoch found these “ads” in the National Archives and that they weren’t ads at all but blank order forms.
Moyer goes on to say that the blank forms contained the department numbers “425” and “222”.
The “Dept. 425” form
According to Moyer, Hoch found that this blank order form had been torn out of the June 1963 American Rifleman magazine. The FBI reported that it had recovered a copy of the June 1963 American Rifleman from the Adrian Alba’s Crescent City garage in New Orleans on 11/23. ( CD 75, pg. 265 )
In his report of 10 December 1963, Robert Gemberling notes that on page 59 of the June issue, “an order blank had been torn” from a Klein’s advertisement ( CD 7, pg. 204 )
Hoch took the torn page 59 ( FBI # D-15 ) from the magazine and matched it up with the “425” blank found in the Paine garage ( D-85 ).
The “Dept. 222” form
According to Moyer’s article, Hoch found that the “Dept. 222” blank order form came from the August, 1962 edition of Sports Afield magazine. I was able to confirm this with the purchase of a copy. The Klein’s ad was right on page 3.
The question then becomes, why did Oswald tear blank order forms out of gun magazines and keep them ? What value did these blank forms have to him without the accompanying ads ?
So far, we’ve seen Oswald connected with four different magazines:
August 1962 Sports Afield ( from which he tore a blank order form )
February 1963 American Rifleman ( from which he allegedly ordered the rifle )
April 1963 True Adventures ( from which he allegedly ordered the handgun )
June 1963 American Rifleman ( from which he tore a blank order form )
Timewise, all of these magazines would have been available to Oswald during the time he worked at the William B. Reily Co. in New Orleans from May 10th to July 19th, 1963.
Would Oswald have had access to such magazines during this period ? The evidence says yes, because right around the corner from Reily was a garage whose owner was a gun enthusiast and connected with the extremist group, the Minutemen.
The magazine man
Oswald worked at the William B. Reily Coffee Company from Friday, May 10th to Friday July 19th, 1963. ( CE 1896 / 23 H 700-701 ) The owner, Reily, was a supporter of right-wing causes and Oswald was hired into the maintenance dept. as a lubrication technician.
According to witnesses, Oswald spent a lot of time at Crescent City Garage next door ( red arrow ). The garage served as a storage facility and it boasted among it customers, agencies of the US government.
Because the garage had a soft drink machine and Reily did not, the employees would walk over to the garage and purchase soft drinks.
But Oswald didn’t spend time there drinking soda. He spent his time looking through gun magazines that the owner Adrian Alba had.
In his testimony before the Warren Commission, Alba described himself as a “gun enthusiast” ( 10 H 220 ), but according to Jim Garrison, Alba was a member of the paramilitary group, The Minutemen, and even took others to their meetings.
Talking guns and borrowing magazines
According to Alba, he and Oswald had many discussions about guns. He told the Commission that Oswald, “pursued the issue of ordering guns, and how many guns I ever ordered, and how long did it take to get them, and where had I ordered guns from—-” ( ibid. )
This seems like a strange behavior for a man who allegedly ordered a rifle and a handgun just a few months earlier.
Alba also told the Commission that Oswald had offered to purchase a couple of rifle from him, but he wasn’t interested in selling. ( ibid., pg. 221 )
Unable to purchase a weapon from Alba, Oswald then asked if he could borrow a magazine. Alba testified that Oswald, “borrowed the magazines and requested permission to take one or two off at a time, and kept them anywhere from 3 days to a week, and would make the point of letting me know that he was returning them. And then a few days later, he would ask that he borrow another magazine or two magazines. I would say that there were anywhere from three to five definite occasions I do remember of Lee Oswald asking to take this and that magazine and letting me know that he returned the magazines.” ( ibid. pg. 225-226 )
This testimony indicates that Oswald borrowed anywhere from at least 3 to 10 magazines from Alba’s garage.
It’s during this timeframe in New Orleans that Oswald both shows an interest in ordering rifles through the mail and creates this fictional character, A.Hidell as the head of the New Orleans chapter of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee.
So the question then becomes, are the order forms currently in evidence proof that Oswald really ordered the weapons, or are they examples of his practicing making those orders which were never mailed ?
Evidence Oswald was practicing filling out order forms
The evidence shows that Alba allowed Oswald to borrow some of his magazines. I believe that among them were the February 1963 American Rifleman and April 1963 True Adventures magazine. Oswald practiced filling out the order forms but never cut them out of the magazines. Oswald used his prior Dallas post office box on the forms because he was practicing placing an order. During this practice exercise, he not only used the fictitious name “A. Hidell”, but also the fictitious name “D.F. Drittal” as a witness for the handgun “purchase”.
There are a couple of clues to support my theory that he was practicing.
The first lies in the mistakes he made on the Seaport Traders form. First, he handwrote additions to the order for a holster and ammunition, then crossed them out.
The second is that that he tore two additional order forms out of magazines that he returned to Alba’s garage. Those blank order forms were later allegedly found by Dallas Police among Oswald’s belongings in the Paine garage.
The fact that these blank forms were useless without their accompanying ads, indciates that they were to be used as “spares”.
The third is that Oswald’s deposit of $10 for the handgun did not meet Seaport’s required 50% deposit for all C.O.D. orders. This could not have been a legitimate order.
I believe he was practicing ordering guns. My theory is supported by evidence that those order forms were not mailed by Oswald.
Evidence that Oswald never mailed the order forms
Several pieces of evidence exist that show that Oswald never mailed the order forms.
Firstly, ( as I’ve already mentioned ) the time and date of the sale of the money order and the postmark on the envelope conflict with Oswald’s worksheet at Jaggers-Childs-Stovall.
Secondly, the fact that the money order was never paid on and contains only Klein’s endorsement stamp for deposit.
Thirdly, the fact that its number was out of sequence for that time period.
Fourthly, Oswald’s $10 deposit on the handgun order did not meet Seaport’s required 50% deposit for C.O.D. orders. Seaport Traders would have never shipped that handgun C.O.D. with only a $10 deposit.
When combined, all of this evidence casts doubt that Oswald mailed the envelope, the money order and the order blanks.
Conclusion
The evidence supports my theory that Oswald was practicing filling out order blanks for guns which he never intended to buy.
Firstly, he asked Adrian Alba how to go about ordering guns. ( 10 H 220 )
Secondly, Oswald borrowed gun magazines from Alba’s garage and usually kept them anywhere from 3 days to a week. ( 10 H 225 )
Thirdly, he made obvious mistakes in filling out the order blank for the handgun. He hand wrote in orders for ammunition and a holster, then crossed them out.
Fourthly, when filling out the order form for the rifle, he failed to order ammunition, even though it was listed in the ad. This is key, because the clip came free with the ammunition.
And the rifle when removed from the TSBD contained a clip.
So where did he get the clip and ammunition ? The Commission never told us.
Fifthly, the order blank for the handgun came from a magazine that was not on the newsstands on March 12th. Meaning that that order form was filled out after March 15th.
More evidence
Sixthly, he tore two other order forms out of magazines he borrowed from Alba to use as extras but never filled them out. Those were the two found in the Paine garage.
Seventhly, Oswald was at work when the money order was purchased ( 3-12-63 ), all of his time is accounted for that day, and there is no evidence that he left work.
Eighthly, the money order contains only a stamp for deposit and there are no stamps on it to prove that it went through a payment process.
Ninthly, Seaport Traders required a deposit of 10% for all C.O.D. orders. Oswald’s “deposit” of $10 did not meet this criteria and thus Seaport would not have shipped the handgun C.O.D.
Tenthly, Oswald incorrectly filled out the handgun form, “Enclosed $10.00 check…..” So where’s the check ?
It appears that none of the information on this order form was real. It’s not filled out correctly and it’s a mish-mash of errors and inaccuracies. The “1/27” date has never been satisfactorily explained.
Finally, the FBI examined part III of Oswald’s application for Post Office box 2915 and “Hidell” was not listed as receiving mail at that box.
According to Postal Regulation 355, Section 111b (4) if “Hidell” could not receive mail through box 2915 in Dallas, anything received in that name should have been marked “addressee unknown” and returned to sender.
A final word
All of this evidence leads me to believe that Oswald was practicing ordering weapons in New Orleans. The blank Klein’s order forms found by the Dallas Police in the Paine garage are significant because they connect Oswald with Klein’s ads in magazines from Alba’s garage in New Orleans.
The Warren Commission never revealed where Oswald got the magazines that he ordered the weapons from. It never proved that he received them.
I believe that Oswald filled out those order forms, never removed them from the magazines, and returned the magazines to Alba’s garage intact.
I believe that the authorities sent someone to Alba’s garage after the assassination and retrieved those magazines and the order blanks Oswald filled out.
And there’s evidence to support that theory. Evidence that I will cover in a future essay.