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Now, a little more than a year since the nation observed the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination, the latest chapter in the tale of Mr. Oswald’s original coffin is playing out in a Fort Worth court.
After learning that Baumgardner Funeral Home sold the coffin through a Los Angeles auction house for $87,468, Lee Harvey Oswald’s brother filed suit to block the sale, contending that marketing the crumbling coffin was “ghoulish” and had no historical value.
The funeral home is fighting back, defending its right to the coffin and contending that Robert Oswald, now 80, relinquished his legal claim by making it a “gift” to his dead brother.
State District Judge Don Cosby of Fort Worth heard testimony and arguments in a two-day trial that ended Tuesday. Lawyers say the judge is not expected to rule before Christmas.
Mr. Oswald, who lives in Wichita Falls, Tex., about 115 miles northwest of Fort Worth, did not appear at the trial because of declining health, lawyers said, but he aired his opposition to the sale in a 77-minute video deposition shown in court.
Mr. Oswald, who had gray hair and wore glasses, called the sale of the coffin “bad taste” in the video and described himself as its rightful owner. He has also said that he thought the coffin had been destroyed after the exhumation until he learned of the 2010 sale through the Nate D. Sanders Inc. auction house.
“He doesn’t want money. He doesn’t want the casket in a museum,” said Mr. Oswald’s lawyer, Gant Grimes of Wichita Falls. “He wants the thing destroyed. There’s got to be a limit somewhere on what the public deserves as part of historical curiosity and just good taste.”
In his video deposition, Mr. Oswald said he knew of “no case where anyone has ever bought a used coffin.”
A differing perspective comes from Allen Baumgardner Sr., the funeral home owner. He acquired Miller Funeral Home, which performed the original burial, changing its name, and he assisted in the 1981 exhumation.
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Continue reading the main story
When the coffin was exhumed, it was too badly damaged to be reused, and Mr. Baumgardner, who also testified during the trial, kept it in a storage room in the funeral home for 30 years before putting it up for auction four years ago, according to news media accounts and court documents.
He said that his funeral home became the rightful owner of the coffin because no one else claimed it, and that he believes the coffin should not be destroyed because it is “part of history.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/12/u...fight-for-lee-harvey-oswalds-coffin.html?_r=0
Now, a little more than a year since the nation observed the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination, the latest chapter in the tale of Mr. Oswald’s original coffin is playing out in a Fort Worth court.
After learning that Baumgardner Funeral Home sold the coffin through a Los Angeles auction house for $87,468, Lee Harvey Oswald’s brother filed suit to block the sale, contending that marketing the crumbling coffin was “ghoulish” and had no historical value.
The funeral home is fighting back, defending its right to the coffin and contending that Robert Oswald, now 80, relinquished his legal claim by making it a “gift” to his dead brother.
State District Judge Don Cosby of Fort Worth heard testimony and arguments in a two-day trial that ended Tuesday. Lawyers say the judge is not expected to rule before Christmas.
Mr. Oswald, who lives in Wichita Falls, Tex., about 115 miles northwest of Fort Worth, did not appear at the trial because of declining health, lawyers said, but he aired his opposition to the sale in a 77-minute video deposition shown in court.
Mr. Oswald, who had gray hair and wore glasses, called the sale of the coffin “bad taste” in the video and described himself as its rightful owner. He has also said that he thought the coffin had been destroyed after the exhumation until he learned of the 2010 sale through the Nate D. Sanders Inc. auction house.
“He doesn’t want money. He doesn’t want the casket in a museum,” said Mr. Oswald’s lawyer, Gant Grimes of Wichita Falls. “He wants the thing destroyed. There’s got to be a limit somewhere on what the public deserves as part of historical curiosity and just good taste.”
In his video deposition, Mr. Oswald said he knew of “no case where anyone has ever bought a used coffin.”
A differing perspective comes from Allen Baumgardner Sr., the funeral home owner. He acquired Miller Funeral Home, which performed the original burial, changing its name, and he assisted in the 1981 exhumation.
Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story
Continue reading the main story
When the coffin was exhumed, it was too badly damaged to be reused, and Mr. Baumgardner, who also testified during the trial, kept it in a storage room in the funeral home for 30 years before putting it up for auction four years ago, according to news media accounts and court documents.
He said that his funeral home became the rightful owner of the coffin because no one else claimed it, and that he believes the coffin should not be destroyed because it is “part of history.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/12/u...fight-for-lee-harvey-oswalds-coffin.html?_r=0