Geneva Hine and TSBD Book Publishers

Geneva L. Hine – TSBD secretary who having twice seen JFK before, stayed behind at her desk to answer the phone while other employees went outside to see the motorcade.

A few employees did not leave the depository, but viewed the motorcade from the upper floors south side windows.

Mrs. Hine said that because her desk is the first one by the door of the office, Oswald would often ask her for change (for either soda machine or telephone), but he never responded to her questions, a point that she raised with Oswald's boss Mr. Shelley. She described Oswald as being quiet, who kept to himself and was “an odd duck.” Shelley said that's just the way he was.

Mrs. Hine said that about ten minutes after all the other employees in her office went outside, the phones went quiet and the phone lights went dark – as the motorcade approached, giving her a chance to look out a north side window that allowed her to see the lead car in the motorcade come down Houston Street towards her and make the turn onto Elm. She also saw the President's car and others and heard the shots that she recognized as coming from inside the building.

According to her testimony she then, without returning to her desk, went down the hall and around the corner to the South Side to see if she could find a window to look out to see what happened, but – there were two large offices on that side of the building – offices of book publishers – Lyons and Carnahan and Southwestern Publishers. But both of them were – suspiciously locked, though she suspected people were in them. After finding the door to L&C locked and not answering her knock, she called out to a secretary she knew who worked there - “Lee” - Lee Watley, she then tried the other, but it too was locked, and no one responded to her knocks even though she could see through the door window, a secretary on the telephone.

Of course neither Mrs. Lee Watley nor the secretary on the telephone behind a locked door of an office that overlooked the murder scene were called to testify and there is no record of them being questioned, at least as far as I can find. But I do find the companies they worked for interesting. (See sidebar below)

After finding both of these offices locked, Mrs. Hine then testified that she returned to her desk, where the phone lights were now blinking and calls were coming in.

She did not see Lee Harvey Oswald walk past and did not notice Mrs. Reid at her desk at the other end of the office until after a number of people returned all at once.

Nor was she asked how long it took her to walk around the halls.

FBI Statement March 18, 1964 -
WC Deposition April 7, 1964
Http//www.history-matters.com/analysis/Witness/
jfkassassination.net/russ/testimony/hine.htm
WC 6H393
jfk.ci.dallas.tx.us/03/0369-001.gif

The TSBD Publishing Companies -

Lyons and Carnahan (L&C) was one of the companies that had an office on the second floor of the TSBD south side overlooking Dealey Plaza

It turns out that Frank Sinatra, before his singing career took off, actually worked for L & C in New York City, moving boxes of books around just like Lee Harvey Oswald. And when he left L & C Sinatra went to work for United Fruit.

Sinatra at L and C - http://sinatrafamily.com/forum/frank-sinatra-8/today-frank-sinatra-history-33848/index130.html

Southwest Publishing Company is even more interesting, as over the years it has employed Ken Starr, the federal judge, Whitewater investigator and current President of Baylor U., Hilary Clinton fundraiser David Rosen, Gov. of Texas Rick Perry, Mississippi Gov. Ronnie Musgrove and Charles Moose, the DC Sniper investigator.

Southwest employed Mr. Castor, who purchased two rifles - a 30-30 and a 22 for his son and brought them into the TSBD on Thursday, the day before the assassination, and Mr. Truly handled the 30-30 in front of Oswald.

Some Conspiracy Theorists have even said these publishers were controlled by the mob and the CIA and one of these second floor offices was a “command post” for the assassination, The 2nd Floor TSBD CIA/Mob Command Post - .alt.conspiracy.jfk
which would be an outrageous allegation if it wasn't for Bobbs-Merrell.

Besides Southwestern and L and C there were a number of other book publishers with offices in the TSBD, including McGraw Hill, Scott Foresman and Bobbs-Merrill.

Bobbs-Merrill is an Indiana based publisher that not only publishes school textbooks but also non-fictional biographies and history, including Bradley Ayers' “The War That Never Was,” which chronicles the US Army Ranger's training of anti-Castro Cubans at JMWAVE, the CIA's University of Miami base.

Unknown to Ayers at the time, his book was vetted by CIA officers connected to Bobbs-Merrill, who deleted a number of names from the manuscript including that of Ayers' JMWAVE boss Gordon Campbell, chief of JMWAVE maritime operations. When William Harvey, the CIA's former chief of Cuban operations retired from the CIA he got a job in Indiana with Bobbs-Merrill, and was officially listed as a legal advisor.

Bayard Stockton's book "Flawed Patriot" contains a photo of William Harvey's Bobbs-Merrell Employee ID.