William Whaley: Mysterious Death?

Execution, or Traffic Accident?

Yet another implausible entry from Jim Marrs' list of "mysterious 
deaths."  Did the Conspiracy Clean-up Squad recruit an 83
year-old kamikaze to take out Whaley?  That's what we would
have to believe to see this death as "mysterious."

Read on.


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ATTACHMENT 20-2  DALLAS MORNING NEWS
DECEMBER 19, 1965

2-CAR SMASHUP KILLS OSWALD TAXI DRIVER
Dallas Man, 83, Also Dies in Crash on Trinity Viaduct
By James Ewell
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	William H. Whaley, 60, the cab drive who picked up Lee Harvey
Oswald just after President Kennedy was assassinated, was killed
Saturday in a collision that also claimed one other life.
	Whaley, of Lewisville, driving his cab, and John Henry Wells,
83 year old driver of the other car, were found dead in the wreckage
after their cars crashed head-on at Hampton Road Viaduct shortly after
8 a.m.
	A third victim, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Maurice R. Barnes, Jr., of Salt
Lake City, Utah, a passenger in Whaley's cab, was injured and reported
in critical condition late Saturday night at Parkland Hospital.
	Sheriff's deputies said the car driven by Wells, of 3102
Toronto, apparently crossed over the center stripe.  Whaley was
driving south.  The Wells car was heading north.
	Whaley, who had more seniority than any man in the taxi
system, was a Navy gunner during World War II, winning the Navy Cross
for action off Iwo Jima.
	The News broke the story of Oswald's getaway ride in the cab
on Nov. 28, 1963.
	After becoming impatient with a city bus he had hopped near
the assassination scene, Oswald ran to Whaley's cab at the Greyhound
Bus Station and asked, "Can I take this cab?"
	Whaley, commenting on the crowds milling near the Texas
Schoolbook Depository Building, drew no conversation from Oswald, he
said.  Oswald sat tight-lipped until reached the address he'd given
Whaley, a few blocks beyond the rooming house where the assassin had
been staying in Oak Cliff.
	The fare was 95 cents.  Whaley later said, "If you can call a
nickel a tip, I guess he tipped me."
	A drizzling rain was falling when the cars collided Saturday.
Lt.Cmdr. Barnes, 32, is a fighter pilot who had come to Dallas for a
weekend of reserve training at Dallas Naval Air Station.
	Whaley was also a Navy reservist, attached to the air wing
staff at the Naval Air Station.  Barnes is attached to naval Reserve
Fighter Squadron 703 at the air station.
	Sheriff's deputies said identification cards found on the
injured man indicate that Barnes is an attorney.
	Deaths in the accident raised the Dallas toll of road deaths
to 23 for the year, excluding traffic fatalities occurring within
cities.
	A motorist pulled into Fire Station No. 36 and Hampton and
Denison to report the accident. Battalion Fire Chief J.R. McKim
arrived at the scene to find one of his firemen , Wayne Wilkens, who
had  been en route to Station 36, already assisting Barnes.
	McKim said it appeared that Whaley and Wells had been killed
instantly.

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Pen Jones speculated that Oswald may have told Whaley something on
their trip.  Unfortunately, to believe that you have to disbelieve
Whaley's consistent testimony that Oswald was tight-lipped.

I do have one for you Posner haters:  Posner says that the driver of
the car that hit Whaley "had a fatal heart attack and lost control of
his car."  See page 493 of the paperback edition of CASE CLOSED.

I've been unable to find any source for the "heart attack" claim.