Secret Service Report on Dean Andrews and "Clay Bertrand"
Warren Commission Exhibit No. 3094
Warren Commission Hearings Vol. XXVI, pp. 704-06

 

 

ORIGIN Field

OFFICE New Orleans

FILE NO. 00-2-34,030

STATUS Continued

TITLE OR CAPTION   Lee Harvey Oswald
                                      Assassination of President Kennedy

TYPE OF CASE Assassination of President

INVESTIGATION MADE AT New Orleans, Louisiana

PERIOD COVERED 11/25/63-12/4/63

INVESTIGATION MADE BY Special Agents Anthony W. Gerrets and Roger D. Counts and SAIC John W. Rice

DETAILS

 

SYNOPSIS

Dean Andrews, Jr., Attorney, New Orleans, advised that Oswald had visited his office on approximately three occasions in June-July, relative to his citizenship status, his wife's status and his undesirable discharge from the Marine Corps. On 11/23/63 Attorney Andrews was contacted by telephone by a Clay Bertrand, who inquired if he would be interested in defending Oswald. Inquiries made at Tulane University re Clay Bertrand and A. J. Hidell.

DETAILS OF THE INVESTIGATION

Reference is made to previous reports submitted in this case.

On 11/25/63 Attorney Dean A. Andrews, Jr., who is well known to this office, contacted SAIC Rice by telephone from the Hotel Dieu Hospital in New Orleans, where he was confined as a patient.

He advised that in June and July, 1963, dates unrecalled, Lee H. Oswald had visited his office on three occasions and expressed concern about (1) his citizenship status; (2) his wife's status; and (3) his undesirable discharge from the Marine Corps which he claimed had made it impossible to obtain suitable employment.

Mr. Andrews said that Oswald was accompanied by a total of approximately five persons during the three visits. He said that he knew two of the subjects by sight, and that on two occasions he was accompanied by a young man of Mexican extraction (not Cuban), whom he did not know. He said he believed that all of Oswald's companions were homosexuals who possibly frequent the Gaslight Bar in the French Quarter, where such individuals congregate. He said Oswald was supposed to furnish him $20.00 and also his Marine Corps serial number in order to obtain copies of pertinent records from the Marine Corps. He sad that Oswald did not comply, and that he did not establish a file on him, or receive a fee.

He further advised that in about August, 1963, he saw Oswald on Canal Street passing out literature favoring Castro, and that when he more or less admonished him, Oswald indicated that he was receiving $25.00 a day for this work.

Attorney Andrews also advised that on Saturday, November 23, 1963, between 6:30 pm and 9:00 pm, while he was in the hospital, under sedation, he received a telephone call, believed to a [sic] local call, although he could not be positive, from a man giving the name of Clay Bertrand, who inquired if he would be willing to defend Oswald in the murder and assassination case. He said that Bertrand indicated that he would visit him at the hospital later, but failed to do so; and that the following day he learned that Oswald had been murdered.

He seems to feel that he had been previously contacted by Clay Bertrand in connection with another case, but he could not place him or furnish any information to assist in identifying or locating him. He said that he had asked his secretary to check the records at his office concerning Oswald and Bertrand, but that she had been unable to locate any records pertaining to either of them. He said that when he returned to his office he would personally check his files and advise us of the results. He indicated that he believed that Bertrand was a homosexual.

On 11/26/63 Inspector Thomas J. Kelley was furnished this information by telephone at Dallas. Deputy Chief Paul J. Paterni and SAIC Robert I. Bouck, PRS, were also furnished the information in telephone conversation on 11/29/63, as indicated in confirmation memorandum of the same date.

It was ascertained that Attorney Andrews had also furnished the same information to SA Regis Kennedy, FBI, New Orleans.

On 11/27/63 SA Anthony E. Gerrets inquired of the Police Department Intelligence Division concerning Clay Bertrand, with negative results. During the period November 27-29, 1963, SA Gerrets also made inquiries at the Bureaus of Identification, Detective Division, Narcotics Squad and Vice Squad, New Orleans Police Department, and no record of Clay Bertrand was located.

On 11/29/63 SA Roger D. Counts personally interviewed Attorney Dean Andrews, Jr., at his residence, and exhibited to him photographs of Oswald and an unidentified subject passing out Fair Play for Cuba literature in front of the International Trade Mart in New Orleans. Mr. Andrews said he did not recognize the other man, and that he obviously was not one of the several persons who had accompanied Oswald to his office as indicated above.

During the period 11/29/63 to 12/4/63 SA Counts also made inquiries relative to Clay Bertrand of the following persons: Mr. Lance A. Gracia, Asst. Manager, New Orleans Credit Bureau; Mr. John E. Hevron, Assistant Secretary-Treasurer, Public Library; Mr. Jack Sullivan and Mr. Killeen, Louisiana State Employment Service; Mr. Bennerfield, employment office in Oretna, Louisiana. Clay Bertrand was not of record at any of these places.

On 12/2/63 Attorney Dean Andrews, Jr., advised by telephone that he had returned to work, and that a check of his office files had failed to disclose any record of Oswald or Clay Bertrand. He said he would continue to make inquiries in an effort to identify Clay Bertrand, and that he would advise this office of the results.

On 12/2/63 SA Counts and SAIC Rice visited Tulane University, New Orleans, and interviewed Dr. M.E. Lapham, Provost. He was informed that Oswald reportedly told Charles H. Steele, Jr., that the Fair Play for Cuba Committee circulars which they were passing out had originated at Tulane University; and that we had also been informed that Oswald told an attorney (Dean Andrews, Jr.) that he received $25.00 a day to pass out the literature. Dr. Lapham said that he had not seen any of the circulars on the campus and knew of no one connected with the Fair Play for Cuba Committee. He was requested to have a record check made for Clay Bertrand and Alek James Hidell.

On 12/3/63 Dr. Lapham advised by telephone that a careful check had been made of all students, faculty members and employees of the University, and no record was located on Clay Bertrand or Alek James Hidell, or similar names. He said that he had made inquiries of appropriate officials and none had any information relative to Fair Play for Cuba Committee.

Dr. Lapham was not informed that we had established a connection between Oswald and Dr. Leonard Reissman, a professor at Tulane, the latter reportedly being active in the New Orleans Council for Peaceful Alternatives, also know as Ban the Bomb.

Dr. Leonard Reissman, referred to in report dated 12/3/63 by SA A. G. Vial, is of record in the subversive files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, New Orleans. ASAC Joseph Sylvester, FBI, has requested that this office not interview Reissman because of their interest in him. It is understood that the FBI office desires to interview him and that he has been out of the city recently.

On 12/3/63 SA Regis Kennedy, FBI, advised that he had made extensive inquiries relative to Clay Bertrand, and to date had been unable to identify him. He said he would notify this office in the event he should develop any information regarding this subject.

SA Kennedy also advised that his office had been unable to date to identify the young man shown in photograph with Oswald passing out Fair Play for Cuba literature.

UNDEVELOPED LEADS

Investigation is continued in the New Orleans Office relative to other phases of this inquiry.