Embarrassed, James DiEugenio is now changing his story on the Klein's Rifle Order
James DiEugenio doesn't believe Oswald's Money Order was deposited in 24 hours
Recently a comment was posted in my previous article, defending DiEugenio's belief was not about the overnight airmail delivery of Oswald's Money Order to Klein's in Chicago.
You are right on this, but to clarify the argument, which I’m not sure I agree with either, the issue is not with the mail the issue is that the money order was allegedly deposited in First National Bank by Klein’s the very next day. Klein’s had a street address, not a P.O. Box, so the letter would have needed to be sorted, sent out for delivery, received, processed, brought to the bank and deposited all before around 5 p.m. on March 13th. Again this is not a hill I would die on and I think a rifle was indeed ordered, but this is the argument DiEugenio is making.
Here is the article for reference https://steveroeconsulting.wixsite.com/website/post/debunking-another-jfk-myth-overnight-mail-from-dallas-to-chicago
Mr. DiEugenio NOW reverses his position and states in the Education Forum Website:
James DiEugenio, Education Forum, February 14, 2022
Note: Mr. DiEugenio thinks I'm author Fred Litwin, crazy I know. He's accused me of being other people as well. It's obvious Mr. DiEugenio never bothered to read the article, but used the comment posted by another Education Forum member to get him off the hook in his colossal blunder.
Therefore, let's take a look back at what Mr. DiEugenio said about Mail Service in this podcast.
Strange Planet Podcast, November 21, 2021
As you can see DiEugenio spends some time talking about mailing a letter from Dallas to Chicago in 5-6 days. What's the purpose of that? Any reasonable person would agree, Mr. DiEugenio didn't believe an airmail letter from Dallas could be delivered overnight.
He also repeated this same nonsense here, posted by Fred Litwin here https://www.onthetrailofdelusion.com/post/debunking-dieugenio-again
From Fred Litwin's blog:
With his homicide approach, I think Sprague also would have questioned the weapon in evidence. David Mantik did a fine job posing all the questions in the record that arise by the Commission’s acceptance of the Mannlicher Carcano, serial number C2766, as the rifle used in the assassination, but I would like to add one more evidentiary problem with the acceptance of that rifle. The Commission says that Oswald mailed a coupon and money order to Klein’s Sporting Goods in Chicago from a post office in Dallas. It was supposed to have been mailed on March 12, 1963. The Commission says it arrived in Chicago a day later. But not just that. It was also sorted at Klein’s and then walked over to their bank and deposited. All in about 24 hours. (Warren Report, p. 119)
Needless to say, Litwin does not bat an eyelash at this transaction. But I think it’s important to add, this was in the days before zip codes. It is also in the days before computers and sensors. From Dallas to Chicago is nearly 1000 miles. This reviewer mails letters inside the city of Los Angeles that take more than one day to arrive at their destination. For his upcoming documentary, JFK: Destiny Betrayed, Oliver Stone decided to conduct an experiment. He had Debra Conway of JFK Lancer mail a letter from the same post office that Oswald allegedly mailed his payment for the rifle. She mailed it to Michael LeFlem, an author for this web site, who lives a mile from where Klein’s used to be located. The letter took five days to arrive.
The phrase, "Sorry I was wrong" is clearly not in Mr. DiEugenio's vocabulary. Any honest broker researcher would fess up and move on and all would be forgiven.
Overnight Airmail established, what about the processing procedure in 24 hours?
Here's a quick overview of the process to the actual deposit of the Money Order.
1. March 12, 1963 - Oswald purchases Money Order at the Dallas General Post Office.
2. March 12, 1963 - Oswald mails the Money Order at the same Post Office to Klein's Chicago, Airmail.
3. March 12, 1963 - Dallas Postal Service delivers Airmail to Love Field in Dallas.
4. March 12, 1963 - Air Carrier flies from Dallas to Chicago.
5. March 12-13, 1963 - Chicago Post Service picks up Airmail and delivers to local Chicago Post Office.
6. March 13, 1963 - Postal Sorters, working overnight or early morning sort the mail for the Letter Carriers.
7. March 13, 1963 - Letter Carrier picks up his route mail, and sorts as needed.
8. March 13, 1963 - Letter Carrier delivers Oswald's Money Order to Klein's located at 227 West Washington Street, Chicago. This fulfills the Overnight delivery process.
9. March 13, 1963 - Klein's Account Receivable or Clerk opens mail and sorts out orders and payments. Daily receipts are entered into the Accounting Cash Register. Money would then be deposited at the bank.
10. March 13, 1963 - Oswald's paid in full coupon is forwarded to shipping clerk to begin processing the order for shipment.
As per the William J. Waldman (Vice President of Klein's), the Money Order ($21.45) had been processed on March 13, 1963, through Klein's Cash Register. https://aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh7/pdf/WH7_Waldman.pdf
Therefore, it doesn't matter when the Money Order was walked down to the First National Bank of Chicago, it's on the Receivables Register. Now, Conspiracy Theorists always seize upon the Deposit Slip with the "2/13/63" as chicanery. Of course, this is an error. The amounts match up perfectly down to the penny.
Likewise, what are the chances of a large deposits matching perfectly in other days through the large volume of sales through Klein's? Slim to none.
Somewhere common sense should be applied as a long-standing Sporting Goods business, such as Klein's was not in the Conspiracy Business to assassinate Presidents.
Klein's Ad, Chicago Tribune, June 27, 1963
Conclusion
There is no doubt Oswald's Money Order was processed through Klein's on March 13, 1963, all in one day.
All of this is completely silly anyway, Oswald's rifle's serial number (C2766) matches Klein's paperwork.
This is no big mystery as put forth by Mr. DiEugenio and others. For those who choose to believe Mr. DiEugenio's claims, and apparently in his film, then you need to ask him to explain how and why Klein's was in a conspiracy to kill the President.......back in March 1963?
JFK Revisited is now playing in the Theater of Absurd.
With doubtful privilege of having worked for the post office "back in the day"... Air Mail was handled separately. There were special drops and boxes picked up early to be cancelled early to make next day service possible. At one time, there were experts on 'such. Now how many might still be alive--or interested in the JFK food fight,,,
i wonder if there is some local post office historical society or club that might have some institutional memory? these should be low-hanging fruit type issues that we should be able to be cast aside with reasonably certainty.
although when you and I agree on an issue, that should be definitive :)
There are some legitimate questions about the Armstrong analysis which has served as the basis for question the timing of the mailing of the rifle order. He said the franking mark mant LHO had to have walked over a mile to deposit the envelope when he was supposed to be at work. However, it is likely that the mark represented the machine where the envelope was processed and not the zone where the envelope was deposited. we dont have definitive evidence either way since there does not appear to be any testimony or interviews of former Dallas postal workers. we can only base this on general postal operations. maybe some postal workers from the main dallas office are still aroun…