2 of 3 ‘Tramps’ From J.F.K. Site Are Found, Deny Link to Killing

Two of the three “tramps” arrested in Dallas shortly after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963 have told the FBI that they had nothing to do with it and were not on the scene until after the shooting.

Oliver B. Revell, agent in charge of the FBI’s Dallas office, said Tuesday that John F. Gedney and Harold Doyle were found and questioned in recent days after years of anonymity. The third man, Gus W. Abrams, probably is dead, Revell said.

“Since they had not been interviewed by the FBI, I wanted to complete the record,” Revell said.

Their arrest sheets were found recently among Dallas police records on the assassination.

“We’re not reopening the Kennedy case per se, but we are factually checking out any leads that do not appear to have been adequately handled,” Revell said in a telephone interview.

Many conspiracy theorists have said the tramps, long known only by news photographs taken of them after they were arrested, were involved in the killing. They were clean-shaven and relatively well-groomed when they were found in a freight car near the assassination site not long after Kennedy was killed Nov. 22, 1963.

They were held as “investigative” prisoners on vagrancy charges and released four days later, according to their arrest records. It previously had been believed that they were released hours after being questioned.

The disappearance of the arrest reports was noted in the movie “JFK” as part of the evidence supporting theories of a conspiracy and government cover-up.

Gedney, of Melbourne, Fla., and Doyle, of Klamath Falls, Ore., told the FBI that “they had spent the night at the rescue mission and were treated very nicely,” Revell said.

“Both commented that they had gotten fresh clothes, showered, shaved and had a meal.”