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It is widely accepted that the the bullet which hit the kerb and caused the minor wound to James Tague's left cheek necessitated the invention of the Single Bullet Theory. Without that missed shot, everything would have fitted easily into place - three shots, three spent cartridges, three hits, case closed. Assistant Counsel Arlen Specter would have had no need to dream up his theory and would never have gained the fame (or should that be infamy) which has followed him ever since.
What is not as widely known, however, is that it had not even been James Tague's intention to watch the motorcade that day and it was just pure chance that caused him to be standing where he was at that moment.
The hand of fortune which played such a significant part in Tague's day was also hard at work in the lives of Ed Hoffman, Warren Caster and Johnny Calvin Brewer on Friday 22nd November 1963. There are probably others but I will concentrate on those four.
James Tague witnessed the assassination from a solitary position just "three or four feet" east of the base of the triple underpass on the narrow strip of grass separating Commerce and Main Streets (1). He was about 120 feet from the presidential limousine when President Kennedy was struck by the fatal head shot.
Why was Tague in such an isolated position? It was hardly by choice. As mentioned above, he had never intended to view the motorcade. He worked as a car salesman for Cedar Springs Dodge but he had arranged to drive into downtown Dallas to meet his girlfriend (later his wife) for lunch. In his own words: "I accidentally came upon the motorcade." (2)
In his Warren Commission testimony before Assistant Counsel Wesley J Liebeler, Tague went on to explain that he was not planning to watch the parade but he became involved in a traffic jam as he drove east on Commerce Street and his car was literally stationery under the triple underpass (3). As he described it: "The car was just halfway out from underneath the underpass, and I got out of my car and stopped by the bridge abutment." It appears that the traffic on Commerce Street (a one-way street) had been stopped at the Houston Street intersection just a minute or so before Tague reached the underpass.
Tague indicated his exact position to Liebeler on a detailed aerial map of Dealey Plaza. It was marked as point no. 6 on what later became known as Commission Exhibit 354 (4). This was confirmed in the testimony of Dallas Deputy Sheriff Eddy Raymond ('Buddy') Walthers - although Walthers confused point no. 6 with point no. 9 (which was opposite the book depository) (5).
Watching the presidential motorcade as it came down Elm Street, Tague heard three shots, the first of which he described as sounding "like a firecracker". He was then joined by Deputy Sheriff Walthers ("I guess this was three or four minutes after") and he told Walthers "I recall something sting me on the face while I was standing down there." Walthers replied: "Yes; you have blood there on your cheek."
There has been considerable conjecture as to exactly which shot was responsible for hitting the kerb in front of Tague and causing a fragment of concrete to fly up and strike his cheek. Tague himself stated "I believe that it was the second shot, so I heard the third shot afterwards."
Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of James Tague's involvement is that he was there at all. Once again, his own words sum it up perfectly: "I mean I just stopped, got out of my car, and here came the motorcade. I just happened upon the scene." (6)
Ed Hoffman remains one of the most important - and most frequently criticised - eyewitnesses to the assassination of President Kennedy. Although a different type of witness to James Tague, his involvement also came about through pure chance and involved him alighting from his car at what proved to be a very significant spot.
The day of the assassination should have been just another ordinary working day at Texas Instruments in North Dallas for Ed Hoffman. Fate took a hand, however, during his mid-morning refreshment break. After finishing his usual paper cup of Dr Pepper, he was chewing on the ice cubes when he broke one of his teeth. After informing his supervisors, Glynn Bourland and Cecil Harris, he was given permission to leave work to visit his dentist for treatment (7).
He drove south on U.S. Highway 75 (North Central Expressway), exiting on to Ross Avenue and then continuing west on Elm Street, through Dealey Plaza and then on to the access ramp leading on to Stemmons Freeway. Here, he suddenly recalled that the presidential motorcade was shortly to pass this way and he decided that it would be worth delaying his dental treatment for a few minutes to see the President. Ed parked his car at the end of the Stemmons ramp and then walked back about 100 feet to a vantage point on Stemmons where it passes over the start of the ramp. His idea was to view the motorcade as it passed directly beneath him.
What Ed did not realise at that time, of course, was that this also afforded a perfect view across the triple underpass into Dealey Plaza - and more importantly directly into the area of the railroad yards behind the grassy knoll and the picket fence.
Like James Tague's, Ed's unscheduled involvement in the crime of the century came about purely by chance. I consider that the Dr Pepper which Ed Hoffman drank that morning was far more significant than any soft drink which may have been enjoyed by an alleged shooter on the sixth floor of a certain large red-brick building in the north-east corner of Dealey Plaza!
Unlike Tague and Hoffman, Johnny Brewer was not an eyewitness to the actual assassination. He did, however, play a vital part in the arrest of Lee Harvey Oswald. He has a place in this paper because, like the two gentlemen described above, he found himself somewhere that he did not plan to be on that day.
Brewer was the manager of Hardy's shoe store at 213 West Jefferson Boulevard, Oak Cliff. This shop was situated in the same block as the Texas Theatre, the scene of Oswald's arrest. The close proximity of the two establishments can be judged by the fact that the theatre was number 231 (8).
Brewer had arranged to have Friday 22nd November 1963 off work and it had been agreed that his assistant would take charge of the shop in his absence. Brewer had not arranged this in order to watch the motorcade. He had just taken delivery of a brand new car - a 1964-model Ford Galaxie XL500 - and it was his intention to spend the day putting it through its paces. This plan was thwarted when Brewer's assistant telephoned him with the news that his newborn infant was ill and that he could not cover for Brewer that day. Johnny Brewer had no option but to come to work after all.
He drove his new car to the shop and in his own words: "It was parked out in front of the store and I was feeding nickels to it all day long, just waiting to get off." (9).
Brewer had a transistor radio with him in the shoe shop and he listened to the live transmission describing the presidential visit to Dallas. He heard about the assassination and later there was mention of a shooting in the Oak Cliff area. A few minutes later, with police cars passing by the shop with their sirens sounding, Brewer's attention was alerted to a man acting furtively in the recessed entrance to the shop. This man's actions were so suspicious that Brewer left the shop and watched him walk down West Jefferson and enter the Texas Theatre without bothering with the formality of buying a ticket. The rest, as they say, is history!
In the case of Johhny Calvin Brewer, we can say in all certainty that had it not been for the sudden illness of his assistant's young child, he would probably have been miles away from Oak Cliff, enjoying his new car, rather than playing a leading role in the arrest of the alleged assassin of the President. Whether his assistant would have taken the same action as Brewer concerning the strange actions of the man in the doorway will never be known!
The situation concerning Warren Caster is the complete opposite to that of James Tague, Ed Hoffman and Johnny Brewer. Those three gentlemen found themselves thrust into the limelight because fate moved them into the forefront of the action on the day of the assassination. Like them, Caster was also away from his normal place of work but as that happened to be the Texas School Book Depository, chance decreed that he would not be present when the bullets started to fly! (10)
In November 1963, Warren Caster was the District Manager of the Southwestern Publishing Co., a book publishing company which rented premises within the Texas School Book Depository. Caster's office was situated on the second floor of the building, looking directly out on to Elm Street. (In the UK, of course, this would be called the first floor.)
Warren Caster is the man who, two days before the assassination, purchased two rifles (a Remington and a Mauser) during his lunch break. The Remington single-shot .22 was to be a Christmas present for his son and the .30-03 sporterized Mauser just took his eye and he bought it for himself. He brought them into the TSBD where he showed them to Bill Shelley, Roy Truly and Lee Harvey Oswald, among others. After work that day, he took them to his home in the northern part of Dallas in his car.
Thursday 21st November was just a normal day at the office but on Friday 22nd, Caster had a pre-arranged and unavoidable business engagement and he did not attend at the book depository at all. Instead, he drove up to North Texas State University at Denton (35 miles north of Dallas) for an appointment with Dr. Vernon V. Payne. He was thus out of town when the assassination took place. He learnt of the President's death when he and Dr. Payne heard the news from some students at the university. It was an added shock to learn that the site of the tragedy had been Dealey Plaza. Warren Caster immediately left Denton, battled his way through the traffic jams and eventually reached home.
Caster testified before the Warren Commission in Dallas on 14th May 1964. His testimony occupies just a page and a half in the 26 Volumes and was concerned solely with the purchase of the rifles and the fact that he had brought them into the TSBD on that Wednesday afternoon (11).
Perhaps the most significant aspect of Warren Caster's connection with the events of the day has been given minimal publicity - and is probably completely unknown to the majority of researchers. A good friend of Warren Caster, one Roger Williams, had telephoned him on Thursday 21st and had asked if they could meet in Caster's office the following day to watch the presidential motorcade. Caster explained that he had to be in Denton that day (22nd) and would miss the motorcade himelf.
He added that it would be useless to try to watch from his second floor office because the view would be obscured by the trees. The ideal place to watch, Caster told Williams, would be up on the sixth floor where the view was ideal. Williams thanked Caster and said that he would go to the Trade Mart to see the President there instead.
Now just suppose that Warren Caster had not had that meeting in Denton scheduled for the 22nd ....... !
Ian Griggs,
24 Walton Gardens,
Waltham Abbey,
Essex EN9 1BL,
U.K.
Tel: 01992 -719805
email: igriggs@easynet.co.uk
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