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As of June - 2003, write Vince Palamara at vincebethel@yahoo.com
MIKE HOWARD & CHARLES KUNKEL
McLarry
New York Times 12/20/63 Pg 19
Kennedy Threat is Laid to Texan
Dallas Machinist Held -- Remarks Made Nov. 21
By Donald Janson
Special to the New York Times
Dallas Dec 19 -- A 21-year-old Dallas Machinist was arrested by the Secret
Service today on charges of threating to kill Presidnet Kennedy.
The machinist, Russell W. McLarry, said the threat had been made in jest
Nov. 21, the day before Mr. Kennedy was assassinated here.
Two women to whom Mr. McLarry allegedly made the statement eported it to
the police in Arlington, about 15 miles west of here, soon after they heard
of the assassination.
At a preliminary hearing in Fort Worth today, the Secret Service agent who
apprehended Mr. McLarry testified that the machinist had said he was "proud
-- no glad" that the President had been killed.
Mr. McLarry attends night classes at the Arlington State College in
Arlington as a freshman. The alleged threat was made on the campus to two
women student.
Mr. McLarry was alleged to have told the women that he would be working near
the Trade Mart the next day and would be waiting with a gun to "get" the
President.
Works Near Trade Mart
Charles E. Kunkel, of the Dallas office of the Secret Service testified that
he had confronted Mr. McLarry with this report and that, in substance, the
student had admitted it.
Mr. McLarry works at the Dahlgren Manufacturing Company, which makes
lithographic printing equipment in a plant three blocks north of the Trade
Mart. President Kennedy was driving to the mart to make a luncheon speech
when he was killed, apparently by rifle shots from a ixth-floor window of a
downtown Dallas building in the other direction from the mart.
United States Attorney Barefoot Sanders said here today that he had no
evidence of any connection between Mr. McLarry and Lee H. Oswald, the
alleged assassin.
In Fort Worth, United States Commissioner Bill Atkins set bond at $2,500.
Mr. McLarry could not raise it and was remanded to the Tarrant County jail.
Jury Meets in January
He was arraigned earlier today in Fort Worth rather than Dallas because the
alleged threat was made in Tarrant County, of which Fort Worth is the seat.
Mr. Sanders said the case would be presented to the next Federal grand jury
to be convened in the Northern District of Texas. This jury will convene in
Amarillo the week of Jan. 6.
Mr. McLarry, who is single lives in an apartment house in the Oak Cliff
section of Dallas, a sprawling area where Oswald lived. former fellow
employees at another plant here described Mr.
McLarry as unusually argumentative.
If Mr. McLarry had a gun it has not been found.
At Arlington, it was said that Mr. McLarry was taking courses in American
History and algebra.
The authorities said they had found no connection between Mr. McLarry and
anti-Kennedy leaflets that appeared on the Arlington campus the day before
the assassination. The leaflets bore the heading: "Wanted for Treason."
Mr. McLarry was interviewed by the Secret Service Tuesday night and was
arrested this morning. The agency indicated that the case had not been
pursued immediately after the assassination because there had been more
pressing things to do.
Could Get Five Years
Mr. McLarry was charged under a Federal statue that prohibits threats of
bodily harm or death to a President, Vice President or President-elect.
Conviction could carry a fine of up to $8,000 or five years in prison.
AND
>From "The (Washington) Evening Star", 12/19/63
[this newspaper article photocopy was found in DNC advance man Jerry Bruno's
JFK Library Texas trip files]
"TEXAS STUDENT CHARGED IN THREAT ON KENNEDY"
FORT WORTH, Tex., Dec. 19 (AP)---Russell Wence McLarry, 21, a night atudent
at Arlington State College, was arrested today and charged with threatening
the life of the late President Kennedy.
Mr. McLarry worked in the daytime in a building across from the Trade
Mart in Dallas where Mr. Kennedy was scheduled to speak November 22. Mr.
Kennedy was assaassinated in a motorcade in Dallas en route to the Trade Mart.
Mr. McLarry was arraigned before United States Commissioner Bill Atkins
today. He was to be given a preliminary hearing later.
Secret Service agents and Assistant United States Attorney William
Hughes interrogated Mr. McLarry before he was charged. When the complaint
was issue Deputy United States Marshal Joe Parker took McLarry into custody.
The Complaint was signed by Charles E. Kunkel, special agent for the Secret
Service.
The complaint alleged that "on November 21 he (Mr. McLarry) made certain
threats to take the life of and to inflict bodliy harm upon John F. Kennedy,
then the President of the United States, by stating in substance that he
would be working near the Trade Mart in Dallas, Tex., where the President
was suppposed to
speak, and that he would be waiting with a gun to get the president."
These remarks, the complaint alleged, were made in the presence of
witnesses.
Mr. McLarry gave his occupation as a machinist. He was sullen during the
arraignment and said little.
When asked if he wanted a preliminary hearing, he nodded his head
affirmatively. Mr. Atkins advised him that he could have witnesses and an
attorney at the hearing.
"I want to call my sister and get my business straightened up," Mr.
McLarry said.
Mr. Atkins asked him if anyone knew he was being charged.
"There is a probability of it," Mr. McLarry replied.
WHAT THE &^%$ IS THIS???AM I MISSING SOMETHING? IS THIS KNOWN ABOUT? I CAME
ACROSS THIS PURELY BY ACCIDENT TODAY AS I WAS GOING THROUGH SOME *UNOPENED*
FILES FROM BRUNO'S JFK LIBRARY FILES (courtesy of Bill Adams).
11/21/63...in a building across from the Trade Mart...Charles Kunkel, the
agent with an unspecified Washington assignment on 11/22/63, according to
Howard...
Comments?
ALSO: FROM "MURDER FROM WITHIN" BY FRED NEWCOMB & PERRY ADAMS (1974), PP.
291-292:
"Secret Service agents Howard and Kunkel made certain claims to gain the
confidence of the Oswald family. When Howard interviewed Robert Oswald on
Nov. 23, 1963, he asserted that personal details of the family would be of
special interest to Mrs. Kennedy. Robert thought this meant that Howard was
close to Mrs. Kennedy [CD 75, p. 356; "Lee", Robert Oswald, p. 149]. Also on
November 23rd, Kunkel told Oswald's mother, Marguerite, that he was sure
Oswald killed the President. Marguerite objected. Howard replied that Kunkel
was upset because he had guarded Mrs. Kennedy [CD 1066, pp. 532, 533, 539; 1
H 169]. Neither Howard nor Kunkel ever guarded any member of the Kennedy
family. They were assigned to the Dallas/ Fort Worth area, not Washington,
D.C. [as Kunkel's detailed obits make clear, although Howard became a
Washington agent AFTER 12/63]...Marguerite came to be "deathly afraid" of
both Kunkel and Howard. On May 12, 1964, she told the FBI in Fort Worth she
notonly refused to allow Kunkel in her home, but did not want anything
further to do with them both [CD 1066, pp. 532, 533]. Marguerite stated, "I
have had documents stolen from me. I have had newspaper clippings stolen
from my hand by the Secret
Service."[1 H 129]. For her, "...I thought that we have a plot in our own
government and that there is a high official involved. And I am thinking
that probably these Secret Service men are a part of it." [1 H 188]
It's funny how Marguerite picks out Howard and Kunkel over all the agents
who guarded her and her family:
AGENTS FROM OTHER FIELD OFFICES TEMPORAILY ASSIGNED TO DALLAS OFFICE AFTER
11/22/63:
GERALD S. "JERRY" PARR- FROM NASHVILLE, TN OFFICE [LATER, SAIC OF WHD,
CARTER-REAGAN; PARR HIMSELF TOLD ME THAT HE GUARDED MARGUERITE!]
DWARD E. MOORE- FROM ATLANTA, GA OFFICE
ARTHUR W. BLAKE- FROM DENVER, CO OFFICE
WILLIAM N. CARTER- FROM LITTLE ROCK, AR OFFICE
GARY R. SEALE- FROM MOBILE, AL OFFICE
ROBERT J. JAMISON- FROM MIAMI, FL OFFICE [SEE RIF#180-10074-10394]
TALMADGE W. BAILEY- SAME AS ABOVE
MARGARET LEE- FROM DENVER, CO OFFICE
UNUM BRADY- FROM KANSAS CITY, MO OFFICE
ROBERT E. CAMP- FROM COLUMBIA, SC OFFICE
ALWYN W. DICKERSON- FROM LOUISVILLE, KY OFFICE
GAYLE W. DOBISH- FROM SACRAMENTO, CA OFFICE
WINSTON J. GINTZ- FROM ST. LOUIS, MO OFFICE
CARL F. HARDY- FROM SEATTLE, WA OFFICE
LAWRENCE T. HESS- FROM LOS ANGELES, CA OFFICE
LEON GOPADZE (INTERPRETER)-SAME AS ABOVE
JAMES B. JOHNSON- FROM LOUISVILLE, KY OFFICE
JAMES W. LECKEY- FROM ST. PAUL, MN OFFICE
MAURICE A. MILLER- FROM MEMPHIS, TN OFFICE
ANNIE M. ROGERS- FROMOKLAHOMA CITY, OK OFFICE
MILTON S. SCHEUERMAN- FROM SACRAMENTO, CA OFFICE
ANTHONY SHERMAN, JR.- FROM SPOKANE, WA OFFICE; ONE OF THE AGENTS WHO RATTED ON
KENNEDY TO SEYMOUR HERSH!
NORMAN SHERIDAN-ALSO FROM SPOKANE OFFICE
DALE WUNDERLICH FROM PRS
JOHN J. GIUFFRE FROM INDIANAPOLIS, IN OFFICE
MAX D. PHILLIPS FROM PRS
AND, LHO'S LAST INTEROGATOR, INSPECTOR THOMAS J. KELLEY
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
FROM 18 H 675:
"On December 4, 1963, Special Agent James M. Howard, assigned to the Dallas,
Texas, office, and who assisted in the advance arrangements at Fort Worth,
Texas, advised that HE WAS ON DUTY AT THE TEXAS HOTEL FROM THE TIME THE
PRESIDENT ARRIVED UNTIL 4:00 A.M. ON NOVEMBER 22, 1963; that he was
representing the Dallas Office and had occasion to meet and to talk to many
of the Special Agents accompanying the President from Washington in the
lobby, at the President's suite and in the Agents' rooms. He stated that at
no time did he ever see any Special Agent of this Service in an intoxicated
condition; that he himself was not at the Press Club [how about the Cellar?
vmp]. This Special Agent's remarks are worthy of comment, as it is known
that he does not
drink intoxicants of any kind, and it is believed that any remarks by him
would be unbiased [!]." [emphasis added]
So, WHERE was he really at 12:30 p.m. on 11/22/63? Why didn't he reveal this
little detail sooner than at a 1999 lecture (cleaning the Hotel Texas room:
give me a break!)? He did not mention exactly where he was during the
assassination to "The Fresno Bee" or to "The Houston Post", both in 1993,
his only known prior-to-1999 interviews.
During the time of this "statement", Howard was temporarily assigned to
Lynda Bird Johnson's Detai: from 12/1/63-1/24/64. howard, along wiht his
partner Kunkel, allegedly on an unspecified assignment on 11/22/63 in D.C.
(another 1999 Howard statement), were the only Dallas office and
agents-connected-to-the-Dallas-trip NOT to have reports made available to
the WC. Even ole Marguerite had her suspicions about these specific two
agents [1 H 169-170]. Howard became a member of the White House Detail on
3/29/64.
Reward?
ANOTHER ARTICLE ON MCLARRY, COURTESY OF BILL ADAMS:McLarry
Newsweek 12/30/63 Pg15
(Note: Contains very poor photo of McLarry.)
Other Guns
On the day before an assassin's bullets killed Presidnet Kennedy in Dallas,
a student at Arlington State College just outside the city was heard to
threaten the President's life. And on the fatal day itself, a machinist
turned to a fellow worker in a printing-machine factory after the report of
the shooting, and
remarked:
"I hope he dies."
Russell W. McLarry, 21, a student at Arlington by night and a machinist in
Dallas by day, was arrested by the Secret Service lask week and charged with
making the threat against Mr. Kennedy. McLarry, released on a $2,500 bond
for a Federal grand jury, is specifically accused of saying "that he would
be working
near the Trade Mart in Dallas, Texas, where the President was suppose to
speak and that he would be waiting with a gun to get the President."
Although McLarry, who is unmarried, lived in the Oak Cliff section of
Dallas, where Lee Harvey Oswald, the President's accused assassin, and Jack
Ruby, Oswald's killer, also lived,
U.S. attorney William Hughes said McLarry knew neither of them. Hughes
added, though, that during questioning McLarry said of the
President's death: "It's the best thing that ever happened."
Reputedly as throny and argumentative as Oswald himself, McLarry was sullen
at his arraignment. He described himself as a conservative attached to no
party, and insisted that the
threat was only a macabre jest. Besides, his rifle and two guns were back
home in Sulphur Springs, Texas. "If I can be tried for a joke, and found
guilty," he said, "then that's the extent of it."
In San Francisco, Secret Service agents seized two other men last week and
charged then with threatening to take the life of President Johnson.
Robert Beaty Fennell, 29, a former mental patient from Sioux City, Iowa,
carried in his pocket four copies of a note addressed "To You" at the White
House, which proclaimed: "My immediate goal: the assassination of President
Johnson." Bernardo Cisneros, 44, a teamster, was drinking with friends when,
Secret Service agents reported, he announced "that Johnson made a serious
mistake and I'm going down to Dallas and get him."
end