Malcolm Wallace

Malcolm Everett "Mac" Wallace (October 15, 1921 – January 7, 1971) was an economist for the United States Department of Agriculture [1] and served as a press secretary for President Lyndon B. Johnson.[2] On October 22, 1951, Wallace fatally shot John Douglas Kinser in the clubhouse of an Austin golf course owned by Kinser.[2] Wallace is most widely known for his alleged participation in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963.[3]

Malcolm Everett Wallace
BornOctober 15, 1921
Mount Pleasant, Texas, United States
DiedJanuary 7, 1971(1971-01-07) (aged 49)
Pittsburg, Texas, United States
Resting placeNevills Chapel Cemetery, Mount Pleasant, Texas
Alma materUniversity of Texas at Austin
Known forAlleged participation in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Spouse(s)Mary Andre Dubose Barton
Virginia Ledgerwood
Childrenone son, two daughters

Early life

Wallace was a native of Mount Pleasant, Texas.[4] He was the son of Alvin James Wallace, Sr. (1895-1973), a cement and construction contractor, according to the 1930 US Census, and Alice Marie Riddle (1897-1959). In 1939, Wallace graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in Dallas.[5] He served in the United States Marine Corps.[4][6]

Wallace attended the University of Texas at Austin where he was a member of the Tejas Club, Texas Cowboys, and the president of the student body.[1][4][7][6] He led a 1944 protest against the ouster of UT president Homer P. Rainey and graduated in 1947.[4] Wallace was also a student in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Columbia University, from September 1947 to May 1948 but did not graduate with a degree. By early August 1951, Wallace was working as an economist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C. while his wife, a draftsman with the Planning Survey Division Texas Department of Transportation, and children lived with his mother in Austin.[6] In October 1951, Wallace was visiting Austin and Dallas while on vacation from his position in Washington.[6]

Murder of John Douglas Kinser

On October 22, 1951 in Austin, John Douglas Kinser, a 33-year-old sophomore student at the University of Texas, was shot to death in the clubhouse of the Pitch and Putt Golf Course that he operated.[8] Immediately after the first shot, one golfer outside the clubhouse observed a man inside holding a revolver.[8] He heard two or three additional shots after leaving to attract the attention of three other golfers on the course.[8] The three golfers on the course observed the man running from the clubhouse and getting into his car, and one of them noted the car's make and license plate number.[8] The men ran to the clubhouse where they found Kinser's body, then telephoned the police who radioed the car's description and license information to state and city patrol cars.[8] Three patrolmen with the Texas Highway Patrol spotted then stopped the car nine miles from Austin on the Burnet Highway.[8] According to one of the patrolmen, the driver perfectly fit the description provided by the golfers and his shirt was torn and bloodied.[8] The suspect and witness were taken to the headquarters of the Austin Police Department for questioning.[8]

Wallace was identified as the man leaving the scene with a snubnosed pistol, and three bullet shells were found near Kinser's body.[6] He was arrested by highway patrolmen on the Burnet Highway shortly after the shooting.[6] Detectives revealed no motive in the killing as Wallace refused to answer their questions.[6] He was charged the following day with murder and the Justice of the peace set bail at $30,000.[6]

Two days after the killing, the district attorney accused the local sheriff of "obstructing the investigation" stating that he had refused to transport Wallace to the Texas Department of Public Safety for identification testing.[9] According to the sheriff, Wallace protested the move and his defense attorney, Polk Shelton, had asked that Wallace not be moved.[9] Wallace was represented at the trial by John Cofer, longtime lawyer to Lyndon Johnson, who had also represented LBJ during his contested election to the United States Senate in 1948 that was tainted by allegations of voter fraud.[10]

During the trial, FBI special agent Joseph L. Schott stated that he had known Wallace for 12 years and in 1946 had given Wallace a German-made 6.35 mm Schmeisser automatic pistol that he (Schott) had acquired while serving in the United States Army in Germany.[11] A firearms expert for the Department of Public Safety testified that the slugs and shells from the murder scene could have been fired from the Schmeisser.[11] A chemist/toxicology expert, also with the Department of Public Safety, said that a paraffin test on Wallace's hands tested positive for gunshot residue and that blood on his shirt matched blood found at the club house at the golf course.[11]

Testimony was completed on February 25, 1952 and Judge Charles O' Betts recessed court in order to finalize the jury instructions prior to closing arguments.[12] The prosecution did not attempt to establish a motive for the shooting, nor did it produce an eyewitness to it or the murder weapon.[12] The following day, the prosecution and defense completed their closing arguments and the jury was charged that afternoon.[13][nb 1] After deliberating into the evening, the jury was sequestered within the courthouse dormitory.[13] After listening to 29.5 hours of testimony from 23 different witnesses, on February 27 the jury returned its verdict finding Wallace guilty of "murder with malice".[14] After a short recess, O' Betts sentenced Wallace to a five-year sentence that was suspended.[10][14] Questioned as to why the prosecution did not attempt to provide a motive, defense attorney Polk Shelton stated that it was "probably because they couldn't."[14] Kinser's sister-in-law later stated that Kinser was killed because he had been having an affair with Wallace's wife.[2]

Later life

Wallace was the manager of the purchasing department of Ling-Temco-Vought.[4] He attended an Episcopal church in Dallas.[4]

On January 7, 1971, Wallace died when his car ran off the road 3.5 miles south of Pittsburg, Texas on U.S. Route 271.[4] Noting that the highway was neither icy nor wet, the investigating patrolman stated that Wallace had struck a bridge abutment after apparently losing control of his car.[15] He was buried in the Nevills Chapel Cemetery in Mount Pleasant.[4]

Posthumous allegations

In 1984, Billie Sol Estes told a grand jury investigating the 1961 shooting death of Henry Marshall, an official with the Department of Agriculture, that Wallace was his murderer.[1] Estes, who was convicted in 1963 on federal charges related to non-existent fertilizer businesses, said that Marshall possessed information linking Estes' fraudulent schemes to a heavily-funded political slush fund run by Lyndon B. Johnson.[1] According to Estes, he and Johnson discussed the need to stop Marshall from making their illegal ties public.[1] In exchange for immunity from prosecution, Estes was also prepared to provide the United States Department of Justice information of eight killings orchestrated by Johnson, including the assassination of John F. Kennedy.[16] He claimed that Wallace persuaded Jack Ruby to recruit Lee Harvey Oswald and that Wallace fired a shot that struck Kennedy.[16]

Glen Sample and Mark Collom implicated Wallace in a conspiracy to assassinate Kennedy in their mid-1990s book The Men on the Sixth Floor.[17] According to the authors, Collom met Loy Factor while confined in a hospital isolation ward in 1971 where Factor implicated himself, Wallace, and a woman named "Ruth Ann" in the assassination of Kennedy.[17] Conspiracy debunker Dave Perry charged the authors of relying upon unreliable witnesses, including Foy, Estes, and Madeleine Duncan Brown.[18]

Barr McClellan, author of Blood, Money & Power: How LBJ Killed JFK, reiterated many of Estes claims in 2003 stating that Johnson, Wallace, Estes, and Cliff Carter were responsible for the death of Marshall.[19] According to McClellan, Wallace fired one shot at Kennedy from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository, then ran to escape.[19] He stated that fingerprints and an eyewitness placed Wallace in that location and that Wallace could be seen as a "shadowy figure" in photos of the building.[19] However, author Joan Mellen pointed out in her 2016 book Faustian Bargains that the fingerprint claim has been discredited.[20]

Roger Stone, author of the 2013 book The Man Who Killed Kennedy: The Case Against LBJ, called Wallace "Lyndon Johnson's personal hit man" and also said that Wallace shot Kennedy from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository.[21] Similar to McClellan's account, Stone said six eyewitnesses placed Wallace in that location and that a fingerprint found on a box in the sniper's nest was his.[21] Expert Robert Garrett, who assisted Mellen in her investigation, stated that the fingerprint image, which was preserved in the National Archives, did not match that of Wallace.[20]

Notes
  1. The Daily Texan wrote: "The jury can acquit Wallace or render a verdict of from two to five years—or death. If it renders from two to five years, then it can also suspend the sentence, but if the verdict is over five years it cannot suspend the sentence."[13]

References
  1. Jones, Garth (August 14, 1985). "Federal Official's Death Certificate Ordered Changed". The Victoria Advocate. Victoria, Texas. AP. p. 8A. Retrieved June 16, 2014.
  2. Dalton, Kyle. "Butler Pitch and Putt in Austin: Murder in the clubhouse, fun on the golf course". www.golftexas.com. Retrieved June 16, 2014.
  3. http://www.whokilledjfk.net/malcolm_wallace.htm
  4. "M.E. Wallace Services set for Sunday". The Dallas Morning News. Dallas, Texas. January 10, 1971.
  5. Crozier, Kelly; Dow, Gene (October 24, 1951). "Ex Student President Charged With Murder" (pdf). The Daily Texan. 51 (49). Austin, Texas: University of Texas. p. 1. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
  6. "TU EX-Student Leader Jailed In Slaying; Malcolm E. Wallace Charged in Death of Golf Professional". Valley Morning Star. Harlingen, Texas. October 24, 1951. p. 1.
  7. TEXAS BOARD OUSTS UNIVERSITY HEAD: Students March on Capitol to demand Governor call meeting on discharge of Rainey. New York Times Nov 3, 1944, p 38.
  8. Dow, Gene (October 23, 1951). "UT Student Shot to Death At Pitch and Putt Course" (pdf). The Daily Texan. 51 (48). Austin, Texas: University of Texas. p. 1. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  9. "Sheriff 'Obstructs' Probe of Murder Case, DA Charges". The Abilene Reporter-News. Abilene, Texas. October 25, 1951.
  10. Hanners, David (March 23, 1984). "Billie Sol links LBJ to murder plot; Sources say grand jury also told of plot" (pdf). Dallas Morning News. p. 4. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
  11. "States Hears Testimony of 2 Surprise Witnesses" (pdf). The Daily Texan. 51 (113). Austin, Texas: University of Texas. February 24, 1952. p. 1. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
  12. "Judge to Charge Jury Today In Wallace Trial; Final Arguments Should Begin At 10 o'Clock" (pdf). The Daily Texan. 51 (114). Austin, Texas: University of Texas. February 26, 1952. p. 1. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
  13. "Wallace Jurors Retire Tuesday Without Verdict; Debate Wind-up Lasts Four Hours; Court Opens at 9" (pdf). The Daily Texan. 51 (115). Austin, Texas: University of Texas. February 27, 1952. p. 1. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
  14. Kirkpatrick, Joel (February 28, 1952). "Mac Wallace Gets Suspended Sentence" (pdf). The Daily Texan. 51 (116). Austin, Texas: University of Texas. p. 1. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
  15. "Etex Accident Fatal For One". Longview News-Journal. Longview, Texas. January 8, 1971. p. 1A-2A.
  16. McFadden, Robert D. (May 14, 2013). "Billie Sol Estes, Texas Con Man Whose Fall Shook Up Washington, Dies at 88". The New York Times. New York. Retrieved June 16, 2014.
  17. McClellan, Dennis (January 16, 1996). "JFK Death Revisited: A Garden Grove sign shop owner says he and a real estate agent have solved the crime. Their self-published book lays the blame on LBJ". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
  18. McClellan, Dennis (January 16, 1996). "Researcher Disputes O.C. Author's Conclusions". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
  19. "An interview with Barr McClellan, author of Blood, Money & Power: How L.B.J. Killed J.F.K." news.findlaw.com. CourtTV. December 1, 2003. Retrieved June 17, 2014.
  20. http://jfkfacts.org/new-look-lbj-joan-mellen-debunks-mac-wallace-myth/
  21. Ames, Michael (November 22, 2013). "This Man is Positive LBJ Hired a Man to Kill Kennedy. And He Knows That Man's Name". Esquire. Retrieved June 17, 2014.
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