Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Oswald is Dashiell Hammett's Fall Guy

Image result for oswalds arrest at theater

Jim MacCammon's photo of Lee Harvey Oswald's arrest - with Detective Paul Bentley
leading the Fall Guy to his "day of reckoning," as Dashiell Hammett would say. 

OSWALD THE FALL GUY - Being Led to his Day of Reckoning.

Cigar chomping Dallas detective Paul Bentley escorts Lee Harvey Oswald out of the Texas Theater, pushing the Fall Guy, as Dashiell Hammett put it - to his day of reckoning.

Working for the Pinkerton Detective Agency - the first Secret Service, before he began writing pulp fiction detective novels, Hammett's San Francisco private eye Sam Spade had it all figured out.

Chapter 14 of Hammett's The Maltese Falcon is called The Fall Guy, in which the protagonist Sam Spade explains the need for a Fall Guy, and you have to imagine Humphrey Bogart playing the part.

"There's another thing that's got to be taken care of first. We've got to have a fall-guy. The police have got to have a victim - somebody they can stick those murders on. The way to handle them is to toss them a victim, somebody they can hang the works on."

"I get away with it because I never let myself forget that a day of reckoning is coming. I never forget that when the day of reckoning comes I want to be all set to march into headquarters pushing a victim in front of me, saying 'Here, you chumps, is your criminal!'"

"As long as I can do that I can put my thumb to my nose and wiggle my fingers at all the laws in the book."

"We've got to give them a victim. Let's give them the punk. He's made to order for the part. Let's pin the necessary evidence on him and turn him over to them."

"(But) Will they stop right there? Or will the Fall Guy be a fresh clue?"

Dashiell Hammett
The Maltese Falcon
Chapter 14 - The Fall Guy

Dashiell Hammett's Fall Guy


A Note on the photo - Jim MacCammon's photo of Lee Harvey Oswald's arrest was published in the Warren Commission exhibits, and later in color in Time Magazine. When Gary Mack was asked to contribute his thoughts to the photo he carelessly, falsely and hatefully said the photo "suggests that the 24 year old former Marine was indeed guilty of assassinating President Kennedy." 

http://time.com/3804560/an-end-to-conspiracy-rare-photo-of-lee-harvey-oswalds-arrest-suggests-why-hes-guilty/

In fact, Detective Paul Bentley may have more to do with the assassination than Oswald, a pawn and Fall Guy - a punk, while Bentley was the Dallas police polygraph operator who should never have been at the scene of Oswald's arrest.

Even before Oswald was killed while in police custody, a close friend of Bentley - Robert D. Steel, wrote him a letter:

November 24, 1963
Robert D. Steel,
Commander, USNR-R
7960 June Lake Drive,
San Diego, California.

Paul,

Perhaps you are aware that ONI has quite a file on Oswald, which no doubt has been made available on the Washington level. If not, I am certain that this information can be obtained for you through our resident special agent in charge of the Dallas office, A. C. Sullivan, who is a wonderful agent, and whom I hope you know. As a personal friend, I congratulate you, wish you continued success, and pray that your guardian angel will remain close at hand and vigilant, always.

(Signed)
 Robert D. Steel


JFKcountercoup: ONI Records Revisited

In an interview before he died, ONI investigator Robert Steel said that he visited Bentley in Dallas, and personally wrote or read a number of 119 Investigative reports on Oswald's defection and after the assassination, none of which are among the records of the JFK Collection at the National Archives or among the still withheld records list, so the "quite a file" Steel said ONI had on Oswald just went missing, and no one is looking for them.

JFKcountercoup: Interview with ONI Investigator Robert Steel

Oswald is the Fall Guy, and as Hammett would call them, those who believe he is guilty of the murder of the president and JD Tippit are "chumps."


2 comments:

Rachel said...

Brilliant. The photos are simple but CHUNKS of BIG INTEL. The Texas Theatre arrest could be used as a grid of leads to follow out.. Bill, also remember that it was Charles Harrelson had a brother that INVENTED the Poloygraph... He also taught people how to cheat it... Just keep in mind.. A wink from Jay Harrison Pentagon Genealogist.

William Kelly said...

I will post a link to the open letter to president's lawyer when I can - it's at Mary Ferrell site.