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August 9
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Lee Harvey Oswald Arrested in New Orleans New Orleans Police Department photographic records. August 9, 1963 Lee
Harvey Oswald was born in the French Hospital at 1821 Orleans Avenue in New Orleans on
October 18, 1939 to Robert Edward Lee Oswald, Sr. and Marguerite Frances Claverie. Robert, Sr. died of
a heart attack two months prior to Lee's birth. Oswald had two older siblings—brother Robert Edward Lee Oswald, Jr.
and half-brother John Edward Pic. In 1944, Oswald's mother moved the family from New Orleans to Dallas. Oswald entered
the 1st grade in 1945 and over the next half-dozen years attended several different schools in the Dallas and Fort Worth
areas through the 6th grade. As a child, Oswald was described by several people who knew him as withdrawn and temperamental.
In August 1952, when Oswald was 12, his mother took him to New York City where they lived for a short time with Oswald's
half-brother, John Pic. Oswald and his mother were later asked to leave after an argument in which Oswald allegedly struck
his mother and threatened Pic's wife with a pocket knife. Oswald attended the 7th grade in the Bronx, New York but
was often truant, which led to a psychiatric assessment at a juvenile reformatory. The reformatory psychiatrist, Dr. Renatus
Hartogs, described Oswald as immersed in a "vivid fantasy life, turning around the topics of omnipotence and power,
through which [Oswald] tries to compensate for his present shortcomings and frustrations." Dr. Hartogs detected a "personality
pattern disturbance with schizoid features and passive-aggressive tendencies" and recommended continued treatment. In January 1954, Oswald's mother returned to New Orleans, taking Oswald with her.
At the time, there was a question pending before a New York judge as to whether Oswald should be removed from the care of
his mother to finish his schooling, although Oswald's behavior appeared to improve during his last months in New York.
In New Orleans, Oswald attended Beauregard Jurnior High and Warren Easton High -- completing the 8th
and 9th grades and entering the 10th grade in 1955 but quit school after one month. After leaving school, Oswald worked
for several months as an office clerk and messenger in New Orleans. As a teenager, in 1955, Oswald attended Civil Air Patrol
meetings in New Orleans. Oswald's fellow cadets recalled him attending C.A.P. meetings "three or four" times,
or "10 or 12 times" over a one- or two-month period . Though the young Oswald had trouble spelling and writing
coherently, he read voraciously. By age 15, he claimed to be a Marxist, writing in his diary, "I was looking for a key
to my environment, and then I discovered socialist literature. I had to dig for my books in the back dusty shelves of libraries."
At 16 he wrote to the Socialist Party of America for information on their Young People's Socialist League, saying he had been
studying socialist principles for "well over fifteen months.' However, Edward Voebel, "whom the Warren
Commission had established was Oswald's closest friend during his teenage years in New Orleans...said that reports that
Oswald was already 'studying Communism' were a 'lot of baloney.' " Voebel said that "Oswald commonly read 'paperback
trash.'" In July 1956, Oswald's mother moved the family to Fort Worth, Texas and Oswald re-enrolled
in the 10th grade for the September session. A few weeks later in October, Oswald quit school at age 17 to join the Marines
he never received a high school diploma. By the age of 17, he had resided at 22 different locations and attended 12 different
schools. Oswald returned to New Orleans on April 24, 1963. What follows are some of his activities
in the city based on W. Tracy Parnell's information: In 1963 Lee Harvey Oswald, his wife Marina, and their daughter June lived in the rear of the right
half of this double at 4907 Magazine Street, April 25, 1963:
He moves in with his aunt Lillian Murret at 757 French Street in Lakeview. Murret was the sisiter of his mother,
Marguerite Oswald. April 26, 1963: He visits the employment office in New Orleans. April 28, 1963: He makes an effort to contact relatives on his father's side. April
29, 1963: Files an appeal concerning his unemployment benefits. May 9, 1963: With the help
of Myrtle Evans, a long-time friend of his mother, finds work at the William B. Reily Coffee Company whose owner, William
Reily, was a backer of the Crusade to Free Cuba Committee, an anti-Castro organization. Oswald worked as a machinery greaser
for $1.50 per hour. He also finds an apartment. May 10, 1963: Starts work
at the William B. Reily Coffee Company and moves into an apartment which was rented for $65 per month at 4907 Magazine St.
(near Upperline) owned by Mrs. J. J. Garner of 4911 Magazine. "He wouldn't speak to anyone", she said and
reported that neighbors told her that he usually stayed home "sitting on the porch reading all day long". May 11, 1963: Ruth, Marina, and June (his child) arrive at the apartment. May 26, 1963: Oswald writes to the New York
City headquarters of the pro-Castro Fair Play for Cuba Committee, proposing to rent "...a small office at my
own expense for the purpose of forming a FPCC branch here in New Orleans." May
29, 1963: The FPCC responded to Oswald's letter advising against opening a New Orleans office "at least not
... at the very beginning." In a follow-up letter, Oswald replied, "Against your advice, I have decided to take
an office from the very beginning." As the sole member of the New Orleans chapter of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee,
Oswald ordered the following items from Jones Printing Company, 422 Girod Street (near
the Reily building): 500 application forms, 300 membership cards, and 1,000 leaflets with the heading, "Hands
Off Cuba." According to Lee Oswald's wife Marina, Lee told her to sign the name "A.J. Hidell" as chapter
president on his membership card. June
3, 1963: Rents a new PO box, using A.J. Hidell as one of the people who will receive mail there. June
8, 1963: Marina is rejected for treatment at Charity Hospital, which infuriates Oswald. June
16, 1963: Distributes FPCC literature at the Dumaine Street wharf. June 24, 1963: Applies
for a new passport. July 6, 1963: Is invited by his cousin Eugene Murret to speak to a group of
students at the Jesuit House of Studies in Mobile, Alabama, where Eugene is studying to be a priest. July
11, 1963: Ruth invites Marina to live with her separately from Oswald. July
19, 1963: He is fired from the Reily Coffee Company "...because
his work was not satisfactory and because he spent too much time loitering in Adrian Alba's garage next door (at 618 Magazine
Street), where he read rifle and hunting magazines." . July 22, 1963:
He files a claim for unemployment benefits. July 25, 1963: His request for a review of
his undesirable discharge from the military is denied. July 27, 1963: Speaks to the Jesuit
group for 30 minutes on the subject of "Contemporary Russia and the Practice of Communism". August 5 and 6, 1963: According to 29 year-old anti-Castro
militant Carlos Bringuier, Oswald visited him at Casa Boca (107 Decatur Street
at Canal St. next to the Cusom House), a store he owned. Bringuier was the New Orleans delegate for the Student
Revolutionary Directorate (DRE), an anti-Castro organization. Bringuier would later tell the Warren Commission that he
believed Oswald's visits were an attempt by Oswald to infiltrate his group. August 6, 1963: Leaves
his Marine Corps manual at Bringuier's store. August 9, 1963: Oswald distrubutes
pro-Castro leaflets downtown. Bringuier confronted Oswald, claiming he was tipped off about Oswald's
activity by a friend. A scuffle ensued and Oswald, Bringuier, and two of Bringuier's friends were arrested in the 700 block
of Canal Street for disturbing the peace. He spend the night in jail. August 10, 1963: A friend of the Murrets bails him out late in the afternoon. Before leaving the police station, Oswald asked to speak with an FBI agent. Agent John
Quigley arrived and spent over an hour talking to Oswald. August
12, 1963: Pleads guilty to the charge of disturbing the peace and is fined $10. August
16, 1963: Oswald passes out Fair Play for Cuba leaflets with two hired helpers in front of the International Trade Mart.
The incident was filmed by WDSU—the local TV station. August 17,
1963: Radio commentator William Stuckey from radio station WDSU visits him and asks him to appear on the program Latin Listening
Post. He arrived at the station at 5:00 PM and taped a 37-minute segment, which was cut to 4 and a half minutes and broadcast
at 7:30 that evening. Stuckey also invites him to take part in a radio debate with Carlos Bringuier and Bringuier's
associate Edward Butler, head of the right-wing Information Council of the Americas (INCA). August
19, 1963: Accepts Stuckey's offer to debate Bringuier and Butler on live radio. August
21, 1963: Debates Bringuier and Butler, on the program Conversation Carte Blanche, which runs from 6:05 to 6:30 PM. September 17, 1963: Obtains a tourist card good for one visit to Mexico City from the Mexican
consulate in New Orleans. September
20, 1963: Ruth visits the Oswalds, and it is decided that Marina will return to Irving, Texas with Ruth for the birth of their second child. September 23, 1963: Ruth and Marina
leave for Irving. September 25, 1963: Oswald collects his unemployment
check of $33. Later that day he catches a bus bound for Houston. According to his landlord, Mrs. J. J. Garner, he owed about
15 days rent and according to his landlady "All he left was an empty carton of beer cans". A
1988 Times-Picayune article looked back at Oswald's time in New Orleans during the summer of 1963: Kerry and Diane West who
then occupied the Magazine Street home the Oswald's had rented were interviewed. Diane remembered Oswald from her childhood
when she lived in the same neighborhood. She described him as a reclusive figure who wore a old felt hat and a faded
trenchcoat who scolded his child in Russian. She remembered that he dug in neighbors' garbage cans for discarded newspapers
and magazines. She said, "He never talked to anyone. He was sneaky". Another neighbor, Catherine Schmitt
said, "Most of the time he walked backwards" and "Spent most of his time looking at the sky". She
said Marina was seldom seen outside. Adrian Alba, who owned a garage near the Reily building, had somewhat
befriended Oswald who spent much time playing hookie from work at his business. Oswald enjoyed reading Alba's gun and hunting
magazines and discussing guns with him. Oswald had even invited Alba several times to his home to see his "gun
collection" but never set a time and date. While working at Reily, Oswald, like his co-workers, often had lunch
at Martin's Restaurant at 701 Tchoupitoulas, which was near the buisness, but he sat alone in a booth near the back
of the restaurant. Marina said that she and Lee went to the French Quarter but didn't have enough money
to eat in any of the restaurants. The Oswalds took their daughter to Audubon Park and the zoo.  
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Chris Steak House was founded on February 27, 1927 by New Orleans entrepreneur Chris Matulich. It
was located at 11 Broad Street near the New Orleans Fairgrounds Racetrack, seated 60 people, and had no parking lot. During
Matulich's 38-year management, the business was sold six times, failing each time, and enabling him to buy the restaurant
back cheaply from the purchasers. In 1965, divorced single mother Ruth Fertel, realizing she needed to earn more money to
send her teenage sons to college, mortgaged her house to purchase the restaurant, ignoring the advice of her banker, lawyer,
and friends, and despite knowing nothing about the restaurant business. She initially planned to raise just $18,000 to cover
the purchase price, until it was pointed out to her that she would need an additional $4,000 to cover the cost of renovations
and food.On her first day, May 24, 1965, she sold 35 steaks at $5 each. On August 9, 2005, under President
& CEO Craig Miller, Ruth's Chris Steak House became a public company following a successful IPO (Initial public offering)
valuing the company at $235 million and an increase of 15 percent in first-day trading. (Wiki) Related reading: The Gorilla Man and the Empress of Steak: A New Orleans Family Memoir by Ruth's son Randy Fertel.
William "Bill" Russell, born on February 26, 1905 in Canton, Missouri was a music historian
and modernist composer. Born Russell William Wagner, when he decided to become a classical music composer, he dropped his
last name as it was already "taken" by Richard Wagner. In the 1930s, Russell's percussion works called for vernacular
textures such as Jack Daniels bottles, suitcases, and Haitian drums, as well as pianos. One notable performance of his "Fugue
for 8 percussion instruments" was performed at Carnegie Hall in 1933. He was also one of the leading authorities on early
New Orleans jazz, making many recordings for his American Music Records label and writing articles and books, including 3
essays in the milestone book, Jazzmen and the voluminous 720-page A Jelly Roll Morton Scrapbook - Oh Mister Jelly . Russell founded American Music Records, which helped bring many forgotten New Orleans performers, including
Bunk Johnson, to public attention and was an important force in the New Orleans jazz revival of the early 1940s. Russell moved
to New Orleans in 1956, settling in the French Quarter and opening a small record shop from which he also repaired violins.
Bill Russell also played violin with the New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra.In 1958, Russell co-founded and became the first curator
of The Hogan Jazz Archive at Tulane University. He collected a large amount of material related to the history of New Orleans,
early jazz, ragtime, blues, and gospel music, which he kept in his French Quarter apartment. During his life he shared access
to the material with serious researchers. At his death, in New Orleans on August 9, 1992, he left
the collection to The Historic New Orleans Collection, where it continues to be a valuable source for researchers. In his
obituary, The Times noted: "Russell was the single most influential figure in the revival of New Orleans jazz that began
in the 1940s". (Wiki)
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