The time was approximately 12:40 p.m. I had just turned the Rowlands over to Lummy Lewis when I met E. R. (Buddy) Walthers, a small man with a very arrogant manner. He was, without a doubt, Decker's favorite pupil. He wore dark-rimmed glasses and a small-brimmed hat because effecting them meant that he would resemble Bill Decker. Walthers had worked for the Yellow Cab Company of Dallas before coming to the Sheriff's Office, about a year before I began working there. His termination from the cab company was the result of several shortages of money. He came to the Sheriff's Department as a patrolman but because of his close connection with Justice of the Peace Bill Richburg - one of Decker's closest allies - Buddy soon was promoted to detective. He had absolutely no ability as a law enforcement officer. However, he was fast climbing the ladder of success by lying to Decker and squealing on his fellow officers.

Walthers' ambition was to become Sheriff of Dallas County and he would do anything or anybody to reach that goal. It was very clear Buddy enjoyed more job security with Decker than anyone else did.

Decker carried him for years by breaking a case for him or taking a case which had been broken by another officer and putting Walthers' name on the arrest sheet. Soon after he was promoted to detective he became intimate with such people as W. O. Bankston, the flamboyant Oldsmobile dealer in Dallas who furnished Decker with a new Fire Engine Red Olds every year and who was arrested several times for Driving while Intoxicated but never served any jail time.

Buddy's acquaintances also included several independent oil operators throughout Texas, several anti-Castro Cubans and many underworld characters - especially women! He was frequently crashing parties which were given by wealthy friends of Decker's - of course while he was on duty. He often became drunk and belligerent at these parties and at one point, when asked to leave, he threatened to pull his gun on the host. This information can be verified by Billy Courson, who was Buddy's partner at that time.

Walthers hit the big time when, in 1961, two Federal Narcotics Agents came to Decker's office with charges that Buddy was growing marijuana in the back yard of his home at 2527 Boyd Street in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas. This could be considered conduct unbecoming to a police officer - but not for Buddy! After a secret meeting between the Federal Agents, Decker and Buddy, the matter was dropped and - needless to say - covered up, thus enabling Buddy to continue his career as Decker's Representative of Law and Order in Dallas County.

However, the Dallas Police began receiving complaints that Buddy was shaking down underworld characters for loot taken in several burglaries and selling the stuff himself. After several reports the Dallas Police began to investigate and, finally, obtained a search warrant for Buddy's home. Their big mistake was securing the warrant from Judge Richburg - which was bad enough - but Buddy's wife also worked for Richburg and this made matters worse.

Strangely enough, they did not find anything. However, a few weeks later they were a little more careful and made a surprise visit to Buddy's home, where they indeed recovered such things as toasters, clothing and various items - just as their informers had said. It would seem they had him this time, wouldn't it? But not so. Buddy explained that he had recovered the merchandise from where it had been hidden and had not had time to make a report on them and turn them in to the Property Room! The Dallas Police didn't buy this story but the pressure was again brought to bear by our Protector, Bill Decker, and the Dallas Police were left out in the cold - no charges filed! They were certainly furious but what could they do? If we as citizens cannot fight the Establishment, how can the Establishment fight the Establishment?

It was clear in my mind - and if the people with whom I worked could talk, I am sure they would agree - that Buddy had a powerful hold on Decker. I base this on the fact that Buddy's popularity with Decker greatly increased after the assassination. Buddy was a chronic liar - he was always telling Decker things he thought were happening in the County which he was checking on. Things which he was not doing. He also told Decker that he was in the theater when Oswald was captured and that he, in fact, helped the Dallas Police. This was completely untrue. Buddy never entered the Texas Theater - his partner, Bill Courson, did.

Buddy also told Decker about a family of anti-Castro Cubans living in the Oak Cliff area and said that he was watching them. This part may have been true because we received the same information from the Dallas Police Intelligence Division. But one day Buddy made a visit to the house in Oak Cliff and when the Police and Sheriff's Deputies went to question them a few days later, they were gone. Did Buddy warn them? After all, he was very, very close to Jack Ruby. In fact, every time Buddy was in trouble with one of Jack Ruby's employees - especially Nancy Perrin Rich - Decker would send Buddy to straighten things out and put Nancy in her place - with the help of Judge Richburg. Touching Jack Ruby was a no-no!

In another group of pictures taken at Dealey Plaza shortly after the assassination by Jim Murray of Blackstar Photo Service and William Allen of the Dallas Times-Herald... Deputy Sheriff Buddy Walthers is shown looking down at a bullet while a neatly dressed blond man is reaching down to pick it up... The bullet was never seen again. The Warren Commission did not ask Walthers about the bullet or the blond man... and he did not volunteer anything about them. Walthers subsequently was murdered, so it is safe to conclude that this bullet will remain on the long list of missing or destroyed evidence.

I was standing at the front entrance of the Dallas Sheriff's Office when the motorcade with President Kennedy passed. I was watching the remainder of the President's party when within a few seconds I heard a retort and I immediately recognized it to be a rifle shot. I immediately started running west across Houston Street and ran across Elm Street and up into the Railroad yards. At this time it was not determined if, in fact, this first retort and two succeeding retorts were of a rifle, however, in my own mind, I knew. Upon reaching the railroad yard and seeing other officers coming, I immediately went to the triple underpass on Elm Street in an effort to locate possible marks left by stray bullets. While I was looking for possible marks, some unknown person stated to me that something had hit his face while he was parked on Main Street, the next lane south from Elm, as the traffic had been stopped for the parade. Upon examining the curb and pavement in this vicinity, I found where a bullet had splattered on the top edge of the curb on Main Street which would place the direction firing high and behind the position the President's car was in when he was shot. Due to the fact that the projectile struck so near the underpass, it was, in my opinion, probably the last shot that was fired and had apparently went high and above the President's car. At about this time word was passed through the crowd that the President had been shot, as well as Governor Connally. The only building that was likely to have a shot fired from in this area was the Texas School Book Depository Building on the northwest corner of Elm and Houston streets which, by this time, was fast becoming surrounded by police officers. Upon returning to the front of this building, I met Allen Sweatt, Chief Criminal Deputy of the Dallas Sheriff's Office and immediately escorted 5 witnesses to the shooting which he turned over to me and took them to Sheriff Bill Decker's office and placed them in the custody of Deputy Harold Elkins until they could be questioned. At this time Deputy Allen Sweatt told me that a police officer had been killed in Oak Cliff area somewhere on Jefferson Street.

Wesley Liebeler: There has also been a story, some sort of story that you were supposed to have found a spent bullet.

Buddy Walthers: Yes; that's what the story was in this book, and man, I've never made a statement about finding a spent bullet.

Wesley Liebeler: And you never found any spent bullet?

Buddy Walthers: No; me and Allan Sweatt 2 or 3 days after the assassination did go back down there and make a pretty diligent search in there all up where that bullet might have hit, thinking that maybe the bullet hit the cement and laid down on some of them beams but we looked all up there and everywhere and I never did find one. I never did in all of my life tell anybody I found a bullet other than where it hit.

In another group of pictures taken at Dealey Plaza shortly after the assassination by Jim Murray of Blackstar Photo Service and William Allen of the Dallas Times-Herald... Deputy Sheriff Buddy Walthers is shown looking down at a bullet while a neatly dressed blond man is reaching down to pick it up... The bullet was never seen again. The Warren Commission did not ask Walthers about the bullet or the blond man... and he did not volunteer anything about them. Walthers subsequently was murdered, so it is safe to conclude that this bullet will remain on the long list of missing or destroyed evidence.

A Dallas County sheriff's deputy was shot to death and his partner wounded Friday in a motel room shootout with an escaped convict and his woman companion.

The convict, also injured by gunfire, and the 23-year-old woman were captured three hours later after one of the largest manhunts here in recent years.

Criminal investigator E. R. (Buddy) Walthers, 40, died of a gunshot wound in the chest. Investigator Alvin Maddox, 28, was shot in the foot and hand and beaten on the head.

James Walter Cherry, 40, an escapee from Putnam County Work Camp in Georgia where he was sent for life on a robbery conviction, was shot in the chest and leg during the exchange of gunfire at Eastern Hills Motel, 3422 Samuell, in East Dallas.

He and Twyna L. Blankenship of Dallas were charged later Friday with murder with malice. They were ordered held without bond.

They were arrested without resistance when deputies blocked off an area in the 9400 block of Laneyvale in the Pleasant Grove area.

Sheriff Bill Decker and other law enforcement sources reported this chain of events:

Walthers and Maddox, tipped by a Mesquite officer that an escaped fugitive was at the motel, entered the motel room and ordered the pair to dress. Cherry pulled a .38-caliber pistol, first shooting Maddox in the hand. During the struggle, Maddox was shot twice more in the foot.

Walthers reportedly lunged at Cherry, but the convict fired from near point-blank range. The bullet struck near his heart.

Maddox regained his feet, but was struck on the head with a lamp and a bottle hurled by the woman. Maddox, after he was shot, fired two bullets into Cherry, who fled with the woman.

One of them (Maddox) hollered for help," receptionist Mary E. DeWeese said. "He said help us."

Mrs. DeWeese and other witnesses said the sound of "firecrackers" called their attention to the shooting.

Paul Lewis, the motel manager, rushed into the parking lot with a pistol and emptied it into the car. There were varying reports on whether his shots hit the car.

Lawmen who rushed to the scene found Walthers face down beside a bed in the small room. Maddox was in the doorway.

Narcotics and narcotics paraphernalia were found in the room.

Identification found at the scene caused police to issue an all-points bulletin on an Irving man. He later turned himself in to officers and explained his identification had been stolen about three months ago.

Sheriff's deputies found a notation in Maddox's notebook which indicated he had been searching for a man 6-feet-4, had been linked with a woman with the same first name Maddox had listed.

"We began checking the haunts of the girl," Sheriff Decker said.

Deputies J. L. Oxford and Alvis Brock spotted a car matching the description given by motel employees at a home on Laneyvale, where the woman companion reportedly had lived. Nine other deputies were called to the scene. Mrs. Blankenship was arrested minutes later, leaving the home in a car with another man.

At the same time, other deputies rushed to a car parked in the driveway. Cherry was inside.

"They yelled for him to come out, and he raised his hands and came out," Oxford said.

Cherry was taken to Parkland Hospital, where he was listed in critical condition. Mrs. Blankenship was taken to the sheriff's office, where she was arraigned and questioned. The third man was brought in for questioning. Officers said he had not been at the motel.

The news of the arrest came when Sheriff Decker received a call from deputies and announced, "Cherry's hit. Maddox hit him. We got the girl, too."

Cherry, whose arrest record dates to 1944, "had been on every (wanted) list in the country, Decker said. He is under indictment for possession of heroin and as an ex-convict carrying a pistol in Dallas. He escaped from the Georgia prison May 29, 1968.

Cherry was well known by area officers, including Walthers and Maddox, for his many arrests in the Dallas area. He has served prison time in Texas for burglaries.

Walthers, a deputy since Dec. 17, 1955, was the father of three. He played a prominent part in the investigation of Lee Harvey Oswald after the assassination of President Kennedy.

In June, 1968, Walthers reported a bombing outside his home in Oak Cliff. That case is still under investigation.

There were many other things which made Buddy suspect as a not- so-law abiding lawman, such as the swimming pool he built in his back yard (on his salary?). The concrete was furnished by a local contractor free of charge. Buddy used many pills he carried in the trunk of his unmarked squad car for trading with certain underworld characters - pills for information. I learned from what I consider a reliable source that these pills had been confiscated (although no reports were made nor the pills turned in). Most of those involved in this exchange were women. It would seem that Buddy Walthers could not be terminated from the Sheriff's Department, no matter what.

One incident in 1966 which would have resulted in the firing of any other deputy occurred when Buddy was sent to Nevada to transfer a suspect wanted in Dallas. It seemed Buddy was given a certain amount of travel money which he lost at the gambling table in Las Vegas. Broke and in trouble, Buddy called none other than W. O. Bankston, who wired him enough money to bring his prisoner back to Dallas. Many times I wondered who was really Sheriff but Buddy was about to reach the end of his rope.

In late 1968, when the Clay Shaw trial was being prepared, there was talk of bringing Buddy to New Orleans to testify. Well, that was a blow to the power which ruled Dallas. They could not have this half-wit on the witness stand. When the word reached Dallas, Decker was working on a double-murder which occurred in his county and had a lead on the suspect in January of 1969. The Shaw trial was scheduled for February and Decker sent Buddy and his partner, Alvin Maddox (who was about as efficient as a nutty professor), to a motel on Samuell Boulevard in Dallas to question a Walter Cherry about the killings. Cherry was an escaped convict and a suspect in the double-murder. Decker sent them to talk to Cherry without a warrant. When they entered the room at the motel Buddy was shot dead and Maddox wounded in the foot. Coincidence? Maybe! At any rate Buddy had been silenced. One more point for Dallas!

I was looking in the general direction toward the School Book Depository. The first noise had a firecracker sound, which I am one of many witnesses to that. It was a pop. I want to be very emphatic about that. I grew up on a farm. I’ve handled rifles, and I grew up with a rifle in my hands. I know what a rifle shot sounds like, and I know what a firecracker sounds like. The first shot was very clearly like the sound of a firecracker. My first thought was, “Oh, God, somebody is throwing firecrackers with the President going by.” Then I heard the crack of a rifle, and it caught my attention and then the crack of another shot.

(Deputy Sheriff Buddy Walters and I) walked across the street… maybe a minute later…to where two or three people were standing around a motorcycle policeman. As we walked up, this one gentleman was sobbing, “His head exploded. His head exploded,” and somebody said, “Whose?” He said, “The President.” One of my clearest memories is this Deputy Sheriff Buddy Walters kicking the grass with his foot, “Damn, Damn, Damn.” We both sat there and looked at each other speechless for a moment, and he said, “You’ve got blood on your face.” I reached up to the side and there was a couple or three drops of blood, and I said, “Well, yeah.” At that point I remembered during the shooting that something has stung me. He asked me, “Where were you standing?” I said, “Well, back there where you ran up to me.” As we were standing over on Elm to cross back to the division between Commerce and Main, he said, “Look at that mark on the curb.” We could see it from quite a distance away… I remember Buddy pulled his pen out - a nice, gold, fancy pen—and tried to draw a maker out of it. I said, “Hey, you are going to ruin your pen.”

Another interesting part of the book is how it deals with the experiences of the late Dallas detective Buddy Walthers. This is based on a rare manuscript about the man by author Eric Tagg. Walthers was part of at least three major evidentiary finds in Dallas. Through his wife, he discovered the meetings at the house on Harlendale Avenue by Alpha 66 in the fall of 1963. Second, he was with FBI agent Robert Barrett when he picked up what appears to be a bullet slug in the grass at Dealey Plaza. And third, something I was unaware of until the work of John Armstrong and is also in this book, Walthers was at the house of Ruth and Michael Paine when the Dallas Police searched it on Friday afternoon. Walthers told Tagg that they "found six or seven metal filing cabinets full of letters, maps, records and index cards with names of pro-Castro sympathizers." (Hancock places this statement in his footnotes on p. 552.) This is absolutely startling of course since, combined with the work of Carol Hewett, Steve Jones, and Barbara La Monica, it essentially cinches the case that the Paines were domestic surveillance agents in the Cold War against communism. (Hancock notes how the Warren Commission and Wesley Liebeler forced Walthers to backtrack on this point and then made it disappear in the "Speculation and Rumors" part of the report.)