Contributor to DiEugenio's Kennedy and King forum, Benjamin Cole, attempts to explain the General Walker Shooting
General Walker at a Los Angeles Press Conference
Recently I noticed an article about the General Walker shooting incident in James DiEugenio's Kennedys and King conspiracy website. Other researchers have contacted me about this article as well, so I decided to study it in detail. The article can be seen here: https://www.kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-articles/walker-oswald-and-the-dog-that-didn-t-bark
One of my main history research topics is Major General Edwin Walker, not only in regard to his moment in history with the JFK assassination, but his military career, John Birch Society, Ole Miss Riot, Little Rock command and history of his ranching family in Central Texas. Over the years I have compiled a lot of material on "Ted" Walker, including trips to the Kerrville, Texas area where he grew up. Let's say he was a fascinating, yet complex individual and highly controversial. I can't even begin to describe everything in his life and career in blog format. As always, I enjoy reading other people's accounts of the old General, no matter what position they take politically or historical.
Which brings me to the subject of this article, the Walker shooting.
Written by Benjamin Cole, titled "Walker, Oswald, and the Dog That Didn't Bark", Mr. Cole lays out a somewhat interesting scenario of the Walker shooting event on April 10, 1963. In the head intro paragraph, I assume by James DiEugenio, it says this:
Benjamin Cole reexamines the “Walker Incident” and offers a better explanation than the one provided in the Warren Report by accounting for all of the anomalies in the evidence and witness accounts.
Wow, a better explanation huh? This should be interesting, maybe everyone will learn something new. Let's keep an open mind and explore how the anomalies are accounted for.
At this point, everyone should read Mr. Cole's article first and I will address some of his "anomalies" that he written.
#1 Benjamin Cole Quotes:
There are many reasons not to convict Oswald of either the Kennedy or Walker shootings in 1963.
My own interpretation is that Oswald was possibly the gunman who fired in the direction of Walker in April 1963, but that he had accomplices (hence the cars racing from the scene), he did not use a Mannlicher-Carcano rifle (hence the steel-jacketed bullet) and missed intentionally.
Sorry Mr. Cole, you just contradicted yourself. You can't have it both ways. If someone is using a rifle to "cough-cough" to intentionally miss, he's guilty.
#2 Benjamin Cole Quotes:
“Officers observed a bullet of unknown caliber, steel jacket, had been shot through the window, piercing the frame of the window and going into the wall above comp’s (Walker’s) head,” according to DPD report filed on April 10 (italics added).
But after the Kennedy murder, the DPD sent the steel-jacketed bullet—stated in police reports to be a 30.06 calibre—to the FBI. The federal agents said the mangled Walker slug was actually a 6.5 projectile from the Western Cartridge Company and copper-jacketed. In other words, a Mannlicher-Carcano bullet.
I've never seen anywhere in the DPD reports stating the bullet was a 30.06. I do know there were some newspaper reports describing it as a 30.06. I have no doubt there was some speculation going on about the caliber when found. In fact, DPD J.C. Day sent the bullet over to the City-County Lab in Parkland Hospital in attempt to determine what kind of rifle was used. When the news broke of Oswald shooting Walker, this is where Lt. Day took the FBI to pick up the original bullet, from Parkland.
#3 Benjamin Cole Quotes:
Again, the report of conveniently sick dog is hardly dispositive. But if the dog was intentionally poisoned, it suggests an operation involving more than a lone nut who did not own a car.[5]
The dog (named Toby) was a border collie owned by Mrs. Bouve who was Mrs. Ruth Jackson's business manager (Dr. Jackson was a well known Orthopedic Surgeon in Dallas). Mrs. Bouve lived on the wing of the Jackson house adjacent to the Walker home. Bouve put the dog inside the house sometime after dark for his usual incessant barking at the LDS Youth meeting attendants coming and going in the alley. After she put the dog inside the laundry room, he was still growling and barking. The very next day, April 11th, the dog became sick and was vomiting for 2 days. It eventually got well and was never taken to the Vet. So, the jury is still out whether the dog was poisoned or not, as per Mrs. Bouve's opinion. Likewise, do you really need conspirators to poison a dog? That's really laughable.
#4 Benjamin Cole Quotes:
So, with the true story of the Magic Bullet revealed, one reasonable concern is that the FBI also fabricated evidence in the Walker shooting, replacing a steel-jacketed projectile from Dallas with a copper-jacketed Winchester Cartridge 6.5 slug.
Unfortunately, the records do not reveal why the DPD detective had concluded the Walker slug was steel-jacketed. If the detective had placed the slug on his desk next to a magnet, perhaps he would have noticed the Walker bullet wiggle. (Worth noting, steel-jacketed bullets can be copper coated, the softer metal copper applied to decrease wear-and-tear on gun barrels). In any event, the Walker projectile was originally logged as a steel-jacketed 30.06 slug.
This will be explained below, there was no FBI switcheroo, its garbage.
A Better Explanation
My own interpretation is that Oswald was possibly the gunman who fired in the direction of Walker in April 1963, but that he had accomplices (hence the cars racing from the scene), he did not use a Mannlicher-Carcano rifle (hence the steel-jacketed bullet), and missed intentionally.
But why such an exercise?
Based on the research of scholar John Newman and HSCA investigator Dan Hardway, Oswald was an asset of sorts for US intelligence agencies, not exactly rare in the early 1960s, when the CIA literally had thousands of such individuals in the US or nearby as part of expansive anti-Fidel Castro efforts.
Oswald, contend Hardway and Newman, was being primed for something, possibly for the JFK assassination or another event that could be blamed on Castro or pro-Castro types.
It is my speculation that the Walker escapade was part of an Oswald biography-building exercise and to practice and test Oswald’s nerve for an intentionally unsuccessful assassination attempt of a prominent figure—such as President Kennedy—an attempt that could then be blamed on Castro.
If Oswald could be made the patsy in such an event, such as the JFKA, the fallout could justify a major operation against the Cuban leader.
If the Walker shooting was a test of Oswald, then evidently he passed.
Mr. Cole is of course speculating here, as he admits. He falls into the same old trap of the "Steel Jacketed Bullet" that has made the conspiracy circles for decades. This has been explained, but unfortunately it never makes the conspiracy forums or literature.
The bullet removed from Walker's home that night is the same bullet in the National Archives with etched DPD initials and FBI Examiner initials.
Here is the link that explains all that in greater detail.
Conclusion
All in all, Mr. Cole has addressed some of the incriminating evidence against Oswald. He does recognize it, so he deserves credit for that. Not many conspiracy leaning folks even do that much.
Other anomalies such as the two men that 14-year-old Walter Kirk Coleman saw, the punched-out license plate photo found, the other photos of Walker's home, the Railroad Tracks, possible escape route, bus schedules, Walker's phone number in Oswald's notebook and a whole host of interesting things can be found in Gayle Nix Jackson's "Pieces of the Puzzle" book that I wrote about.
I don't think we learned anything new here or provided a "better explanation than the Warren Report".
However, I will give Mr. Cole credit, he did have Oswald firing a rifle at Walker. I guess you can call that "progress".