Debunking DiEugenio, Again...

Steve Roe has posted an excellent article which looks at James DiEugenio's claim that Oswald's mail order form for the Mannlicher-Carcano could not get to Chicago in one day.

When DiEugenio reviewed my book, I was a Teenage JFK Conspiracy Freak, he wrote:

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.

Steve Roe did some basic research, and voila, DiEugenio's "evidentiary problem" goes bye-bye.

Mail service was much faster in Canada back in the 1960s as well.

Previous Relevant Blog Posts on James DiEugenio

Fact Checking James DiEugenio, Part Two

Bill Boxley was not a CIA plant.

Fact Checking James DiEugenio

Clay Shaw was not Clay Bertrand.

Fred Litwin's Follies!

A response to James DiEugenio about my writings.

James DiEugenio's Lame Excuses for Fletcher Prouty

Prouty couldn't back up any of his allegations when he was interviewed by the ARRB. You wouldn't believe the lame excuse offered up by DiEugenio.

James DiEugenio's Lame Excuse for Oliver Stone