Tracing the Rifle from Crescent to Klein’s
Klein’s received the rifle from Crescent on February 21, 1963, bearing serial number C2766, and assigned it internal control number VC836. Italian Armed Forces Intelligence Service records confirmed this was the only rifle of its type with that serial number. According to Klein’s shipping order form, one Italian carbine 6.5 X-4× scope, control number VC836, serial number C2766, was shipped parcel post on March 20, 1963, to “A. Hidell, P.O. Box 2915, Dallas, Texas.”
The Mail Order and Payment
Klein’s microfilm records show an order for the rifle received on March 13, 1963, on a coupon clipped from the February 1963 issue of the American Rifleman, signed in handprinting “A. Hidell, P.O. Box 2915, Dallas, Texas,” and mailed in a hand-addressed envelope of the same name and return address. Treasury Department and FBI document examiners identified the bold printing on the coupon and the writing on the envelope as Lee Harvey Oswald’s, comparing them to his known handwriting on letters, his passport application, and check endorsements. A U.S. postal money order for $21.45 ($19.95 for rifle and scope, $1.50 for postage and handling) accompanied the order and was also identified as Oswald’s. Klein’s cash register imprinted the $21.45 receipt on the shipping order on March 13, 1963, and a corresponding bank deposit was made that same day.
Post Office Box 2915
Post office box 2915 in Dallas was rented to “Lee H. Oswald” from October 9, 1962, to May 14, 1963, with the application and a May 12, 1963 change-of-address card identified as Oswald’s handwriting. The box was thus Oswald’s when the rifle was shipped from Chicago on March 20, 1963. A change-of-address card requested forwarding of mail to New Orleans, where Oswald had moved on April 24. Postal Inspector Harry D. Holmes of the Dallas Post Office explained that packages are released to box holders on presentation of the notice regardless of whether the named recipient appears on the application, and identification is not ordinarily requested.
Oswald’s Use of the Alias Hidell
The “Hidell” alias was not limited to the rifle purchase. When arrested on the day of the assassination, Oswald possessed a Smith & Wesson .38 caliber revolver purchased by mail order from Seaport-Traders, Inc., using a coupon listing the purchaser as “A. J. Hidell Age 28” at P.O. Box 2915, Dallas. FBI and Treasury Department handwriting experts identified the writing on that form as Oswald’s.
Counterfeit Identification Documents
Among the identification cards in Oswald’s wallet at his arrest were genuine Oswald Selective Service and Marine Corps certificates, alongside a counterfeit Selective Service notice of classification and a counterfeit Marine certificate of service in the name of “Alek James Hidell.” The Hidell Selective Service card bore the signature “Alek J. Hidell” and a photograph of Oswald. Treasury Department and FBI questioned-documents experts testified the Hidell cards were counterfeit photographic reproductions made by photographing the Oswald cards, retouching the negatives, and printing from those retouched negatives, with the Hidell signature in Oswald’s handwriting.
The Hidell Alias in New Orleans
In Oswald’s personal effects at 1026 North Beckley Avenue was a purported international certificate of vaccination signed by “Dr. A. J. Hideel, Post Office Box 30016, New Orleans,” certifying that Oswald had been vaccinated for smallpox on June 8, 1963; the “Hideel” signature was identified as Oswald’s, no “Dr. Hideel” is licensed in Louisiana, and no such post office box exists, though Oswald had rented New Orleans box 30061 on June 3, 1963, listing Marina Oswald and A. J. Hidell as additional recipients. “Hidell” was also the fictitious president Oswald assigned to the so-called New Orleans Chapter of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, an organization of which he was the sole member, with Marina Oswald testifying that she was compelled to sign “Hidell” on membership cards and that “Hidell is merely an altered Fidel.” Other job applications listed fictitious “Sgt. Robt. Hidell” and “George Hidell” as references, and the first name “Alek” — a nickname Oswald used in Russia — was signed on letters to Marina.
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