The theories

E. Howard Hunt and the three tramps

A Watergate burglar, a deathbed chart, and three men marched across Dealey Plaza.

RECORD / AT A GLANCE

Tramps identified; Hunt’s chart is hearsay

False that the three tramps were Hunt, Sturgis or other named conspirators; their arrest records surfaced and the FBI interviewed two of them in 1992. Documented that Hunt lost a 1985 libel retrial over a claim he was in Dallas, though the jury found no malice, not that the claim was true. Unproven that Hunt knew of a plot; his son’s account of his notes is not corroborated, and Hunt denied involvement until he died.

THE EVENTS / THE INVESTIGATION / THE STORY

The chronology.

READ THE FILE

Evidence & assessment.

Open an article for its evidence, labeled AI assessment and numbered sources. Read the complete static edition ↗

WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT THIS FILE

The claims, rated.

3 claims people make about this file, each rated documented, partly true, disputed, unproven or false. Think a rating is wrong? Use Dispute or Support, or join the Discussion.

All 155 rated claims ↗

OPEN THE RECORD

Sources & limits.

Numbered citations in each article identify the relevant sources. These records have different purposes and evidentiary weight.

  1. Los Angeles Times: “Two of the ‘tramps’ questioned,” 4 March 1992 ↗

    The FBI finds John Gedney and Harold Doyle after their Dallas arrest sheets surface; Gus Abrams is probably dead.

  2. Washington Post: “FBI questions ‘tramps’ at JFK slaying site,” 4 March 1992 ↗

    Same story. Blocks scripted fetches; confirmed by search.

  3. HSCA final report, part I-B: scientific acoustical evidence of a second gunman ↗

    The committee’s acoustics finding: a “high probability” that two gunmen fired, one from the knoll.

  4. Los Angeles Times: “Jury rules against Hunt in libel suit,” 7 February 1985 ↗

    Liberty Lobby wins the retrial of Hunt’s libel suit over a 1978 Spotlight article; a juror says no malice was shown.

  5. Rolling Stone: “The Last Confessions of E. Howard Hunt,” 2007 (archived copy) ↗

    St. John Hunt’s account of his father’s notes and tape.

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