Charles W Webster.

I was introduced to Charles W Webster in a post at ROKC by Greg Parker entitled “Send Lawyers, Guns and Money  Part 2“and needed to include him in my Interrogations paper as he was present on the 22nd at the DPD. How and why and as to in what capacity Webster was inside D.P.D. is a bit of an enigma.

Charles W Webster. Click pic to enlarge.

Through some searching I came across a lot of articles that brought Charles Webster in contact with the job of psychologically evaluating General Edwin Walker in 1962. And his name is also brought up with this during the Jack Ruby trial in 1964.

Thanks to Steve Roe.

We know that Webster was there on the 22nd inside City Hall while Oswald was incarcerate. Perhaps we can speculate that he was there to psychologically evaluate, be it from a distance, Lee Harvey Oswald.

Charles Webster is being mentioned by Greg Olds in his Warren Commission Testimony. Greg Olds, Greer Raggio, Otto Mulinax and L.N.D. Wells arrived in the late evening to check up on Oswald and the status of his legal representation.

Mr. STERN. Excuse me. Did Captain Fritz say that Oswald did not want counsel at that time, or that he was trying to obtain his own counsel?
Mr. OLDS. What I was told, that he had been given the opportunity and had not made any requests. So, I called our board member back and conferred with him and he suggested that we go down and see about it at the police department, in person, to get further assurances. And he and I and two others of our organization met down there at the Plaza Hotel lobby about 11:15, directly across the street from the police station, and we discussed the matter there, and I called Mayor Earle Cabell at his office, but was told that he was busy at the moment so we went then over to the police station, and we got in there. Let’s see, it was up on the I guess the third or fourth floor, wherever Oswald was being questioned, and Chuck Webster, a lawyer–professor of law, who was known to the other three men with me said he had been there a good part of the time since the assassination, and that–we told him what we were there for, and he said he thought he knew who we could see to get our assurances. Did you have something?
Mr. STERN. No.
Mr. OLDS. We went to–first, we talked-conferred with Captain King, I believe is the right name, who is, I believe, assistant to the chief of police. I’m not sure on that. We all went in with Mr. Webster, and this was shortly after 11:35, or 11:40, and Captain King was, at this time, talking to somebody and said that Oswald had just been charged with the assassination of President Kennedy. He had here earlier been charged with the assassination–I mean the murder of the policeman, Tippit, and we told Captain King what we were there for, and he said, he assured us that Oswald had not made any requests for counsel. And we went outside of the office and went downstairs, at least–I didn’t, but two of the others, I believe, went downstairs to the basement where Justice of the Peace David Johnston was. He was the one that had held the I believe an arraignment, I believe is the right term, at 7:30 when the first charge of murder was filed against Oswald, and he also assured us that there had been an opportunity of–Oswald’s rights had been explained, and he had declined counsel. Said nothing beyond that. I think that was the extent of our inquiry.
Mr. STERN. What happened next?
Mr. OLDS. Also we were–I believe Chief Curry was quoted to us as having said some–also that Oswald had been advised of his rights to counsel. I am not sure who told me that. I believe that it was Mr. Webster. That was about all. We felt fairly well satisfied that Oswald probably had not been deprived of his rights, so, we then broke up. I think the other men went home, and I went downstairs. I heard that there was going to be a press conference, so I thought I could stand in on that and–do you want me to go ahead and detail that?

Charles W Webster (2nd from left) in 1959. From Legal Center News SMU. Click pic to enlarge.

Bill Alexander, an extremist to say the least had few kind words to say about Charles Webster. From a document that I found in the Malcolm Blunt Archives.

Bill Alexander on Charles W Webster. In a Manning Clements Report. Click pic to enlarge. From the Malcolm Blunt Archives.

The above document with William Alexander’s quotes is slanderous to say the least and that is probably the whole thing has been buried for quite some time only for Malcolm Blunt to dig it out at the National Archives.

But looking at this file from R. S Westphal to W.P. Gannaway that even from a large suspected group of people who are suspected with their affiliation with the ACLU Webster’s name is nowhere to be seen.

Dallas Criminal Intelligence Unit Report on the Dallas ACLU. Click to enlarge.

Dallas Criminal Intelligence Unit Report on the Dallas ACLU. Click to enlarge.