Texas Man Sells Original “Kennedy Slain” Printing Plate

Posted Friday, December 9, 2011 12:00 am

By: Heidi Kulicke

Every once in a while, a rare and historically significant find surfaces online. Such was the case in Dallas-Fort Worth this summer when a resident of Red Oak, Texas, offered for sale the printing plate from The Dallas Morning News front page announcing John F. Kennedy’s assassination.

Reporting for the Dallas Observer, Robert Wilonsky called the seller to find out more about the plate. The unnamed man had acquired the plate from Robert Jealouse, a former Texas judge who died in July 1999.

According to his obituary in the Morning News, Jealouse was a newspaperman before his involvement with the judicial system. His career dated back to the 1950s and included stints at the San Francisco Chronicle, Philadelphia Inquirer, Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald, and the Dallas Morning News. It was in Dallas where he joined the production staff before eventually working his way up to assistant production manager and platemaking superintendent.

When the seller decided he no longer wanted the plate, he advertised it on Craigslist for $1,000. The post is no longer online, so presumably another newspaper buff is the happy owner of a piece of history.

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Texas Man Sells Original “Kennedy Slain” Printing Plate

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