The Passing of Ruth Paine, Pt. 2

The Evidence Against the Paines

As noted in Part One, Ruth Paine early on said that she did not think any intelligence agency would have any use for someone like Oswald. A big problem with that thesis was that the Dallas Police discovered and inventoried a miniature Minox camera at her home. This would create a large problem for the official story that was going to be introduced by the FBI, and then expanded on by the Warren Commission. How could they explain such an exotic, expensive and relatively rare piece of photographic equipment in the hands of the poverty -stricken book depository worker like Oswald? A camera that was usually associated with the world of espionage.

Make no mistake, the FBI understood the problem this created for their cover up. So they pressured Dallas Police officer Gus Rose to change his story about finding such a camera. On three occasions they wanted Rose and property clerk H. W. Hill to change the camera to a light meter. It did not work. (John Armstrong, Harvey and Lee, p. 910) Rose stood by his story: he found the Minox in Oswald’s seabag the weekend of the assassination. (Gary Savage, First Day Evidence, pp. 212-15; Rose’s House Select Committee on Assassinations-HSCA- transcript of 4/13/78)

Rose’s story got into the local papers. What made it worse was that the FBI had already done everything it could to make the Minox disappear. How did they do so? They erased it from the original Dallas Police inventory list. (Carol Hewett, “The Paines’ Participation in the Minox Camera Charade”, Probe, Vol. 4 No. 1). When the Dallas police sent its photographs accompanying the inventory list to the FBI, the picture of the Minox also disappeared. (Op. Cit. Savage, p 208, p. 210) As Carol Hewett noted:

The Minox camera itemized in #375 of the joint inventory list ceased to exist in the set of microfilmed photos first returned to the Dallas Police by the FBI. Photo #375, which was supposed to be a group photo of the Minox—along with several other camera items—is now just a Minox light meter. (Op. Cit. Hewett)

According to Hewett the FBI even resorted to cropping out the Minox in a photo shown to her by Anna Marie Kuhns-Walko. This is how desperate they were to make the Minox disappear. But Gus Rose's refusal to go along with the cover story created a problem.

Gordon Shanklin was informed by FBI HQ of the discrepancy in the evidence lists. They also told Shanklin they did not have the Minox. (FBI memo of 1/27/64) Therefore Shanklin now wrote back that no such camera had been found, only a light meter, thereby contradicting both Rose and the DPD inventory list. (FBI memo of 1/28/64) At this point Director J. Edgar Hoover stepped into the controversy. He said that the FBI had no Minox, and Shanklin should inquire about this matter with the Dallas Police, Marina Oswald and Ruth Paine. (Op. Cit. Hewett)

FBI agent Bardwell Odum now contacted Ruth Paine to see if the Paines owned a Minox camera. (FBI report of 1/30/64 by Odum) Ruth said that her husband Michael had owned one but discarded it years ago. She then called Odum the next day to say Michael still had the camera. As Hewett notes:

If this were true, one would have to conclude that the local police not only did a poor job of searching the garage the weekend of the assassination, but also fabricated the Minox camera on both its original inventory list and joint DPD/FBI list. Since this was not the case, the collusion of the Paines is readily apparent.

Recall, the Dallas Police searched the Paine household twice the weekend of the assassination. But Michael had an excuse for this. He said that when the cops first arrived, he gave them a drawer full of photographic equipment with everything in it except his Minox. He then added that he told them the Minox was in the garage, but they were not interested. The problem with this story was the police had already found a Minox as evidenced by their inventory lists and photos. But Michael now piled on: the light meter taken that weekend was his. (FBI interview with the Paines, 1/31/64)

With the help of the Paines, the FBI had apparently solved their problem. They could now match the original inventory list of the DPD. As long as you did not look too closely at the dates objects appeared in evidence—and who got them there. Odum then told a whopper in his 1/31/64 report. He wrote the police “were aware that no such Minox camera was taken in the original search.” That falsehood is exposed by the fact that the FBI was examining a Minox camera by November 25, 1963. (Op. Cit., Hewett)

How close were the Paines to Odum? When Michael testified to the Commission, he referred to Odum as ‘Bob” and said that he had been introduced to him prior to the assassination. (WC, Vol. 9, p. 444)

We should end the Minox camera caper with this: on 8/9/78 the HSCA showed Marina Oswald two Minox cameras. One from NARA and the other from a location not disclosed. She could not identify either one.

Any objective person would have to say that the Paines did all they could to help the FBI out of a rather difficult situation: staging a playlet that deep-sixed Oswald’s Minox for Mike Paine’s And the Paines kept on doing it for thirty years. During the late Mike Sullivan’s 1993 PBS Frontline farce, “Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald?”, Sullivan reran this charade with Mike Paine going through his poses. But what did one expect? Sullivan, assisted by the likes of Gus Russo and Dale Myers, also used the ersatz Rusty Livingstone fingerprint on the rifle pantomime, which has been exposed by Pat Speer, Johnny Cairns and myself.

Speaking of Mr. Cairns, he saw one of Ruth’s final public appearances in Dallas at the Dupree Theater in November of 2023. During that appearance, she trotted out the attempted shooting of General Walker as proof that Oswald shot Kennedy. This is illogical on its face. Why would Oswald attempt to kill a rightwing fascist, and also the most liberal president since Franklin Roosevelt? Was he unaware that 1.) Kennedy had retired Walker from the military because of this John Birch Society views? and 2.) He had sent in federal marshals to halt a riot Walker created against integration at Ole Miss in 1962? Third, as John Armstrong has proven, the projectile recovered from the Walker scene does not match Oswald’s alleged rifle, either in caliber or in hue. (Harvey and Lee, p. 507) Fourth, the best witness to the crime, Kirk Coleman, said there was more than one man involved.(ibid)

As noted, the Dallas Police searched the Paine household on November 22^nd and 23^rd. But it was not until a week later that Ruth found evidence that the police somehow missed. She turned over two books to the Irving police and said they should be forwarded to Marina as she could not do without them. When the Secret Service got these books they found a note inside the one entitled Book of Helpful Instructions. (Armstrong, p. 512) It was undated and unsigned and written in Russian. (See Warren Commission Exhibit 1) Generally, it advises Marina on what to do in case an emergency arises and Oswald is held in detention. Marina initially said she knew nothing about the note. Ruth said she was also unaware of this note.

During her public appearance, Ruth mentioned how she found the note and passed it on to the Secret Service. She left out the following:

1.) The note does not mention Walker.

2.)According to the FBI, none of the seven latent prints found on the note matched either Lee or Marina.

3.) The HSCA document experts panel could not decide on the authenticity of the note, and if it was written by Oswald. (Cairns, “Our Lady of the Warren Commission Pt. 1”, Kennedys and King 2/18/24)

4.)Ruth said that, before she left the house on the day of the assassination, she saw officers leafing through books to see if anything fell out. (WC, Vol. 3, pp. 86-87)

Realizing how this last would be problematic, Ruth said in 2023 that the book was in the kitchen and this might have been the problem. As Mr. Cairns proved, the door from the garage is adjacent to the kitchen. As Johnny also points out, if Marina used this book daily, and if it was really about Walker, how did Marina miss it for about seven months? But the capper in all this is that the Secret Service was so suspicious about this piece of evidence that two of them visited Ruth on December 4^th with the note in hand. Why? Because they thought it was from her! (Commission Exhibit 1403, p. 1)

This point relates to two others. First, although Ruth and Marina had been fast friends since April, the relationship notably cooled after the assassination. When Marina Oswald appeared before the New Orleans grand jury under Jim Garrison, she was asked about this point. A member of that grand jury asked her if she still associated with Ruth Paine. Marina replied that she did not. The follow-up was: Why did she not do so? Marina answered with a rather stunning reply. She said it was dissolved at the request of the Secret Service. Marina then explained: they told her it would not look good if the public found out that “…she [Ruth] had friends over there and it would be bad for me if people find out connection between me and Ruth and CIA.” An assistant DA then asked her: “In other words you were left with the distinct impression that she was in some way connected with the CIA?” Marina replied to this question in the affirmative. (Marina’s grand jury testimony of 2/18/68, pp. 69-70) Please note the phrase: Ruth had friends over there. This likely means that the Secret Service either knew or suspected Ruth had acquaintances at the Agency. Between this and the returning of the note, it seems the Secret Service was all over Ruth Paine.

The closing point for this section refers again to the late arrival of evidence from the Paines. As related above, on the Dallas Police inventory of evidence collected over two days, one of the cameras found was the Minox. There were two others: an American made Stereo Realist, and a Russian made Cuera 2. These last two used 35 mm film and the Minox used specially made cartridge film. (Armstrong, p. 492)

This created another evidentiary problem for the official story. As the reader can see, the police did not find any Imperial Reflex camera of the type that took the infamous backyard photos of Oswald. In addition to that, the Imperial Reflex took 620 roll film. In two days of searching this camera did not show up. Initially, to the FBI, Marina recognized the Cuera and the Stereo Realist. But before the Warren Commission she changed her mind and said she now did not recognize the latter. (WC Vol. I, p. 118)

On December 8, 1963, over two weeks after the search of her home, Ruth Paine uncovered the Imperial Reflex camera. This was so jarring that the FBI called in the officers that had originally searched her house. Four out of the five said they never saw that camera there. (FBI report of 3/13/64 to Gordon Shanklin) When Ruth discovered the camera on December 8^th, she did not turn it over to the Bureau or the police. She gave it to Robert Oswald. On February 9, 1964 after conferring with Robert, Marina and her two children moved into Robert’s home in Denton. Yet he had not shown the camera to her or any law authority.

On February 24^th Robert Oswald gave the Imperial Reflex to FBI agent Bardwell Odum, the friend of Michael Paine. (WC Vol. IV, p. 284) The question becomes: Why did Ruth not do that herself in December? But in order to complete a second camera charade, Marina now disowned the Stereo Realist, and she recognized the Imperial Reflex. Two months later, in August of 1964, the Stereo Realist was returned to Ruth Paine. No questions were asked about why neither Ruth nor Michael claimed their camera in eight months. Or why Ruth kept quiet about the Imperial Reflex.

The substitute Minox, the Walker note, the Imperial Reflex; all allegedly missed by the DPD, all allegedly found by the Paines. Whatever was needed, they found.

And there will be more in part III.