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Mary Bledsoe and the Bus Pt. 2

By John Washburn

If it was Larry Crafard on the Marsalis bus and the purpose of that journey was to give the impression that a lone Lee Oswald was stopping at 1026 N Beckley to pick up a gun, and be witnessed by Earlene Roberts, then the question arises why Earlene Roberts wouldn’t have realised it wasn’t Oswald she saw if it was Oswald who was staying there. 

The Commission Staff note of 10 March 1964 (page 24, of the Mary Bledsoe file – Click here for document) from Counsels Leon Hubert and Burt Griffin asked David Belin and Joe Ball to investigate whether the behaviour patterns of the person who stayed at 1026 N Beckley matched those of the person who stayed at Mary Bledsoe’s house. 

“In light of our memorandum of 6 March and our previous observations with respect to Earlene Roberts, Mrs. Bledsoe should be carefully examined to ascertain the following:

Whether or not Oswald’s pattern of activities as a roomer while at the Bledsoe house differ in any particular respect from his pattern of activity as described by Mrs. Roberts and Mrs. Johnson at 1026 N. Beckley”

A reason behind all of that conjecture was the link between Jack Ruby and Larry Crafard and the link between Jack Ruby and Bertha Cheek, the sister of Earlene Roberts. 

The note also says about William Whaley the taxi driver who took Oswald to Beckley that Counsel should be: 

“Carefully questioning Whaley with respect to his identification of Oswald including questioning as to identifying scars, marks, dress which might distinguish between Oswald and Crafard or any other persons who may resemble Oswald”. 

There is no evidence Ball or Belin did that. There is also nothing in Earlene Roberts’ testimony session of 8 April 1964 where habits were questioned, such as Oswald speaking Russian. Mary Bledsoe on 2 April 1964 for example did refer to Oswald speaking to his wife on the telephone in a foreign language.

But the glaring omission – particularly in the light of what Mary Bledsoe and Roy Milton Jones said – is that neither Mary Bledsoe, Earlene Roberts nor Mr. & Mrs. Johnson—who owned the Beckley residence– were shown photographs of Crafard and Oswald to clear up any confusion. 

That is even more extraordinary given this exchange with Ruth Paine on 20 March 1964, hence before Mary Bledsoe and Earlene Roberts testified. (Vol III p94)

Mr. JENNER. There have been marked as Commission’s exhibits in this series 451 and 453 to 456, a series of five colored photographs purporting to be photographs of one Curtis LaVerne Crafard, taken on the 28th day of November 1963.

Mrs. Paine would you be good enough to look at each of those, and after you have looked at them, I wish to ask you a question.

Mrs. PAINE. I have looked at them all.

Mr. JENNER. Calling on your recollection of the physiognomy and appearance of Lee Oswald, do you detect a resemblance between the man depicted in those photographs, the exhibit numbers of which I have given, and Lee Oswald?

Mrs. PAINE. Yes; I do.

Mr. JENNER. To the best of your present recollection, do you recall whether you have ever seen the person whose features are reflected on those photographs?

Mrs. PAINE. No; I have not seen him.

The CHAIRMAN. May I see those, please?

Mrs. PAINE. Should I say that one picture in particular struck me as looking similar to Lee?

Mr. JENNER. Yes. When the Chief Justice has concluded his examination I will have you pick out that one in particular. Thank you, sir. When you see it will you give the exhibit number which appears on the reverse side?

Mrs. PAINE. Exhibit No. 153. Clearly the shoulders are broader than with Lee, but it is a quality about the face that recalls Oswald to my mind. Click here for photo.

So, a line of inquiry that Oswald, who was already suspected of being been impersonated in Mexico City, this was complemented by what Ruth Paine said and again by Mary Bledsoe’s observation of a “distorted face”.  Milton Jones’ “dark hair” observation was closed down at just the point it was leading somewhere.

II

Crafard himself was interviewed by Counsel Griffin on 9 April 1964. There’s no mention of him looking like Oswald. That date unfortunately avoided him coming face to face with either Bledsoe, the Johnsons or Roberts whilst waiting to testify. They had testified in the days before. 

Furthermore, when it did come to the cross examination of Mary Bledsoe and Earlene Roberts the Commission failed to identify that the person who stayed at 1026 N. Beckley and the person who stayed at Mary Bledsoe’s had different luggage.

Lee Harvey Oswald lived at Mary Bledsoe’s house from 7 October to 14 October (affidavit of 23 November 1964) and he moved out on Monday 14 October 1963, between 9 and 10am. 

This is her Commission testimony of 2 April 1964.

Mr. BALL. Let me ask you some questions before we commence the grocery store part of it. When you first saw him, did he have his luggage with him?

Mrs. BLEDSOE. Yes.

Mr. BALL. What did he have with him?

Mrs. BLEDSOE, A bag.

Mr. BALL. Will you describe the bag?

Mrs. BLEDSOE. I don’t remember where, seemed like it was a kind of a duffelbag.

Mr. BALL. The kind the men in the service put their clothes in?

Mrs. BLEDSOE. Yes; and had some on his arm, these coathangers, you know.

Mr. BALL. Had some things on a coathanger?

Mrs. BLEDSOE. And had a clock.

Mr. BALL. Had what?

Mrs. BLEDSOE. A clock, wrapped up.

Mr. BALL. What color was this duffelbag?

Mrs. BLEDSOE. I think it was blue.

Mr. BALL. That was the only bag he had with him?

Mrs. BLEDSOE. No, he went off to town and got another one.

Mr. BALL. Then he went off to town and brought another bag back, would you describe that?

Mrs. BLEDSOE. No, I didn’t pay any attention to it.

Mr. BALL. Was it leather or-

Mrs. BLEDSOE. I couldn’t say.

Mr. BALL. Could you give me any idea of the size of it?

Mrs. BLEDSOE. Well, it was big. About like that [indicating].

Mr. BALL. About like that, you mean, oh, 3 feet long, 2 feet, 2½?

Mrs. BLEDSOE. No; about like that.

Mr. BALL. About-

Mrs. BLEDSOE. As well as I remember.

Mr. BALL. About 2 feet long? Was it brown?

Mrs. BLEDSO. I just couldn’t remember. I didn’t pay any attention to it.

Mr. BALL. Do you remember the color?

Mrs. BLEDSOE. No.

Mr. BALL. Do you remember him carrying it into the room?

Mrs. BLEDSOE. Yes; I remember he went in.

Mr. BALL. Now-

Mrs. BLEDSOE. But, I didn’t pay any attention. He rented the room, and I didn’t pay any attention.

Mr. BALl. Did he carry it by a handle, or in his arms?

Mrs. BLEDSOE. I guess he carried it by a handle, but I don’t know.

Mr. BALL. He brought two bags into this room?

Mrs. BLEDSOE. Yes; wasn’t but one when he come in, but next time he went off-

Mr. BALL. He brought another one back?

How did he come out there, do you know?

Mrs. BLEDSOE. I don’t know. I don’t know whether he come here-he come and just knocked on the door. I was in the backyard.

Mr. BALL. After he moved, after he put his bags in his room, did he leave?

Mrs. BLEDSOE. No; he said–—

Mr. BALL. I mean, did he leave to go Downtown to get the other bag?

NIrs. BLEDSOE. Uh-huh, and come back.

Mr. BALL. Did you see him leave?

Mrs. BLEDSOE. No; I didn’t see him.

Mr. BALL. The time he went to get the other bag, did you see him?

Mrs. BLEDSOE. No.

III

Earlene Roberts, the Beckley manager, puts Oswald as moving in on 14 October 1963 between 5pm and 6pm. In her testimony of 8 April 1964 there was this exchange. 

Mr. Ball. Did you rent it to him, or did Mrs. Johnson?

Mrs. Roberts. I rented the room to him.

Mr. Ball. You did?

Mrs. Roberts. She talked to him, and she had to go back to work and that was what I was supposed to do, I rented the rooms she didn’t know what vacancies she had.

Mr. Ball. Did you have “room for rent” sign out in the front?

Mrs. Roberts. Yes.

Mr. Ball. What time of day did he come in there?

Mrs. Roberts. Oh, it was in the early afternoon—I imagine between 1 and 2 o’clock when he came in and looked at the room; and he rented it and paid for it; and then left, and went and got his things and I don’t know-it must have been around 5 or 6 o’clock when he come back in.

Mr. Ball. You say he went and got his things-what did he have with him at first when he came there?

Mrs. Roberts. Just a little satchel bag and some clothes on a hanger.

Mr. Ball. What kind of a satchel bag?

Mrs. Roberts. One of them little zip kinds.

Mr. Ball. What color was it?

Mrs. Roberts. It was just-don’t ask me that for I can’t answer that. It was just a dark bag is all I know.

The light amount of luggage begs the question as to how often the inhabitant of Room 0, 1026 N Beckley actually stayed there. It was so small that it was normally used for grandchildren of Earlene Roberts when visiting.

That evidence that there was an imposter is additional to the evidence of Deputy Sheriff Roger Craig who said he saw a man who he thought was Oswald getting into a Nash Rambler at approximately 12:40pm. Then there were the statements by Texas Theater manager Butch Burroughs that Oswald entered the Theater just after 1:00 pm and then bought popcorn, thus 40 minutes before the fugitive Oswald was said to have entered. The arrest record from Officer Stringfellow said Oswald was arrested in the balcony of the Texas Theater. But Oswald was arrested on the floor and then taken out the front. Adjacent shoe owner Bernard Haire said he had seen Oswald taken out the back entrance and was shocked when years later he saw the photograph of him being taken out the front.

There is even more evidence in the statements of Mary Lawrence, she told the FBI on 5 December 1963 and the DPD on 30 January 1964 that she had seen Oswald with Ruby in the early morning of 22 November in Lucas B&B Downtown Dallas.  She came forward having seen a photograph of Oswald on TV. She said that he had dark hair and she could identify Oswald if he had a scar on his cheek. That detail describes Crafard. A few days after the assassination she received an anonymous telephone call “telling her to get out of town or she would die”. Click here for document.

With Beckley there was another Jack Ruby connection, as Ruby associate Bertha Cheek was the sister of Earlene Roberts.  Ruby could have been aware of the accommodations there – and the presence of a housekeeper. Roberts does describe different behaviour to that Mary Bledsoe did. He wouldn’t talk.

“Mr. BALL. Did you ever talk to him about anything?

Mrs. ROBERTS. No ; because he wouldn’t talk.

Mr. BALL. Did he say “Hello”?

Mrs. ROBERTS. No.

Mr. BALL Or, “Goodbye”?

Mrs. ROBERTS. No.

Mr. BALL. Or anything?

Mrs. ROBERTS. He wouldn’t say nothing.

Mr. BALL. Did you ever speak to him?

Mrs. ROBERTS. Well, yes-I would say, “Good afternoon,” and he would just maybe look at me-give me a dirty look and keep walking and go on to his room.”

 

Mrs. ROBERTS. He would leave on Friday nights-he did say this much-he said, “Now, over weekends I will be out of town.” He didn’t say what town. He said, “I will be going out of town visiting friends.” He would leave Friday morning for work and he wouldn’t come back any more until Monday afternoon.”

 

That is a different behaviour to that described by Mary Bledsoe. Oswald had registered with her as Lee Oswald, not as in 1026 N Beckley, H Lee. And Oswald had discussed his wife and family in Irving, and showing photographs;  which isn’t “friends”, and isn’t the behaviour of someone who “wouldn’t say nothing”. But a problem. if Crafard was an impersonator, was if he opened his mouth, having lost his front teeth in a recent fight. 

Remember: the Commission timeline that needed Oswald to be on the bus for only 4 minutes. Then it required Oswald getting a cab at 12:48 pm from Greyhound bus station on Lamar Street.  Then to be taken by driver William Whaley to the 700 block of N Beckley. 

Was this probable?  Was it even possible?

 

THE CAB

William Whaley – eyewitness

The Commission timeline required a pickup of Oswald at 12:48pm by cab from Greyhound Bus Station at Lamar. That was decided despite the trip sheet manifest showing a 12:30pm pick-up which dropped someone off in the 700 block of N Beckley–6 blocks and 600 yards south of 1026 N Beckley–for a fare of 95 cents (CE382).

A leading question from Counsel Ball led Whaley to say he might be 15 minutes out as he rounded things to the quarter hours/15 minutes. But other rides on the same sheet show that answer to be untrue. It is also doesn’t explain why a 12:48 pm pick-up would be marked as 12:30pm, as on the rounding basis it would be 12:45pm.

However, there is another comment that that scotches the time of 12:48 pm. Whaley’s, trip sheet manifest (CE370) has a 12:00 noon time reservation pick-up from the Travis Hotel for a 12:15 pm drop off at Continental bus station (code #16#) for the minimum fare of 55 cents. With another 55 cents ride at 12:15pm from there dropping off at 12:30pm at Greyhound bus station. 

What is relevant here is whether the actual time of what he marked as a 12:30 pm pickup can also be determined by other means. And it can. This is from Whaley’s testimony (WH Vol 16), and another leading question that gets an inconvenient answer. 

“Mr. Ball. Were you standing at the Greyhound, at your cab stand at the Greyhound, long before you picked up another passenger?

Mr. Whaley. No, sir, there was no one at the Greyhound stand and when I unloaded at the door I just pulled up about 30 feet to the stand and stopped and then I wanted a package of cigarettes, I was out so I started to get out and I saw this passenger coming so I waited for him.”

But he is asked about that journey. He mentions sirens going (the result of the assassination). 

Mr. Whaley. He said, “May I have the cab?” I said, “You sure can. Get in.” And instead of opening the back door he opened the front door, which is allowable there, and got in.

Mr. Ball. Got in the front door?

Mr. Whaley. Yes, sir. The front seat. And about that time an old lady, I think she was an old lady, I don’t remember nothing but her sticking her head down past him in the door and said, “Driver, will you call me a cab down here?” She had seen him get this cab and she wanted one, too, and he opened the door a little bit like he was going to get out and he said, “I will let you have this one,” and she says, “No, the driver can call me one.” So, I didn’t call one because I knew before I could call one, one would come around the block and keep it pretty well covered.

Mr. Ball. Is that what you said?

Mr. Whaley. No, sir; that is not what I said, but that is the reason I didn’t call one at the time and I asked him where he wanted to go. And he said, “500 North Beckley.” Well, I started up, I started to that address, and the police cars, the sirens was going, running crisscrossing everywhere, just a big uproar in that end of townand I said, “What the hell. I wonder what the hell is the uproar?” And he never said anything. So I figured he was one of these people that don’t like to talk so I never said any more to him. But when I got pretty close to 500 block at Neches and North Beckley which is the 500 block, he said, “This will do fine,” and I pulled over to the curb right there. He gave me a dollar bill, the trip was 95 cents. He gave me a dollar bill and didn’t say anything, just got out and closed the door and walked around the front of the cab over to the other side of the street. Of course, traffic was moving through there and I put it in gear and moved on, that is the last I saw of him.

An immediate observation is what sort of fugitive offers to give their cab up? But, by the Commission account, the 12:48 pm pick up of Oswald would have been immediately after a 12:48 pm drop off of the (12:15pm) ride from Continental bus station. 

But Kennedy was shot at 12:30pm and there are Downtown sirens on the DPD police tape immediately after the tape resumes from jamming at 12:33pm. 

Whaley’s comments on first hearing sirens when he had started his journey to 500 N Beckley indicates there were no remarkable sirens at the time of his 12:30 pm drop off – when he started to get out of his car.  But sirens appeared in the early part of the 12:30 pm pick up. That couldn’t have occurred at 12:48 pm as the sirens would have already been going for at least 15 minutes.

IV

Finally, the Commission questioning with this leading question shot itself in the foot with this exchange.  The 12:15 pick-up for 12:30pm drop-off hadn’t even been 15 minutes but 9. 

Mr. BALL. In other words, it took you about 15 minutes to go – 

Mr. WHALEY. It actually took about nine minutes, sir.

Mr. BALL. And you put the trip ending Greyhound around 12:30?

Mr. WHALEY. Yes, sir.

By the arguments the Commission was using to fix the times to suit the timeline then the 12:15pm pick-up – being only 9 minutes – would have been out by 24 minutes, 12:39pm rather than the 12:15pm recorded. 

The story that Oswald took a cab past 1026 N Beckley to the 700 block and then doubled back was explained away by the Commission as some kind of spy craft like technique. But the simple explanation could be that there was no passenger of relevance. Just someone else who got a cab at 12:30 pm who intended to go to 500 N Beckley but got out earlier when the meter showed 95 cents as they wanted to use only a dollar. 

Indeed, the person to quote Whaley “got out and closed the door and walked around the front of the cab over to the other side of the street.” That’s not someone who is heading back to the 1,000 block, that is someone got out and is still heading to their intended destination of the 500 block.

Whaley’s first of two sessions with Ball was on 12 March 1964. He gave evidence again on 8 April 1964. This time Belin was  the attorney (WH Vol. II, pp. 253, 292. Vol. VI, p. 428).

Mr. BELIN. I will take you back to November 22. You turned south on Beckley and then where did you go as you turned south on Beckley?

Mr. WHALEY. I went right up on Beckley headed toward the 500 block.

Mr. BELIN. Then what happened?

Mr. WHALEY. When I got to Beckley almost to the intersection of Beckley and Neely, he said, “This will do right here.” and I pulled up to the curb.

Mr. BELIN. Was that the 500 block of North Beckley?

Mr. WHALEY. No, sir; that was the 700 block.

Mr. BELIN. You let him out not at the 500 block but the 700 block of North Beckley?

Mr. WHALEY. Yes, sir.

Mr. BELIN. Had you crossed Neely Street yet when you let him off?

Mr. WHALEY. No, sir.

Mr. BELIN. About how far north of Neely Street did you let the man off?

Mr. WHALEY. About 20 feet.

In his FBI statement of 29 November 1963, Whaley said he arrived back at Union Station from his N Beckley trip, at 12:45pm as he checked by his watch. He also confirmed that the 12:30 pm passenger “angled south” when he exited the vehicle at 700 block N Beckley. Click here for document.

So Whaley was back at 12:45bpm before he had picked Oswald up at 12:48pm! If it was in fact 1:00 pm then his watch would have to have been 15 minutes slow. But if it was 15 minutes slow he would have been 15 minutes late for his reserved ride at 12:00 noon at the Travis Hotel.

V

It also slipped out that his ID of Oswald in a line up was predetermined. 

“Mr. WHALEY. I signed that statement before they carried me down to see the lineup. I signed this statement, and then they carried me down to the lineup at 2:30 in the afternoon.

Mr. BELIN. You signed this affidavit before you saw the lineup?

Mr. WHALEY. Well, now, let’s get this straight. You are getting me confused.

Mr. BELIN. Now, I will put it this way. There was an FBI reporter, FBI interviewer with you?

Mr. WHALEY. Yes, sir; there was.

Mr. BELIN. And there was an interview with the Dallas Police Department?

Mr. WHALEY. Yes. And Bill Alexander from the District attorney’s office was there, also.

Mr. BELIN. All right, now, the last sentence.

Mr. WHALEY. Let me tell you how they fixed this up. They had me in the office saying that. They were writing it out on paper, and they wrote it out on paper, and this officer, Leavelle, I think that is his name, before he finished and before I signed he wanted me to go with him to the lineup, so I went to the lineup, and I come back and he asked me which one it was, which number it was, and I identified the man, and we went back up in the office again, and so then they had me sign this. That is as near as I can remember.”

Also, Whaley’s separate testimony to Ball on 12 March 1964 has information relating to condition of the passenger’s clothing.

Mr. BALL. Did he look dirty? 

Mr. WHALEY. He looked like his clothes had been slept in, sir, but he wasn’t actually dirty. The T-shirt was a little soiled around the collar but the bottom part of it was white. You have to know those winos, or they will get in and ride with you and there isn’t nothing you can do but call the police, the city gets the fine and you get nothing. 

 

Oswald, even on arrest, didn’t photograph looking like his clothes had been slept in, or a wino. A simple explanation for why someone looks like they’ve slept in their clothes when picked up from a Greyhound Bus station is because they have just arrived off an overnight Greyhound bus!

There is also unmistakable evidence Whaley was intimidated by the DPD. What normal witness is subject to having to pose for a sideways mugshot? Whaley was. Given that DPD licensed cabs in Dallas it’s hardly surprising he might say what was wanted. But in cross examination he let inconvenient things slip. The same as Mary Bledsoe and Cecil McWatters did. Click here for document.

The story of the cab is not only not credible, but the number of holes in it would indicate it wasn’t part of something that was pre-planned. The need to make up a taxi ride to deal with ‘Oswald’ getting off the bus adds weight to a presumption that the need for the person to get off the bus was because of an enforced change of plans. Again, consistent with Tippit messing up plans.

By 12:45pm it had been announced on the police radio that the President’s head “was practically blown off”. That would be a reason for someone getting cold feet. Bill Simpich has said that it seems that “things went south after Kennedy was shot”. 

If it wasn’t Oswald on the bus, and if there was no taxi ride, but the person did go to 1026 N Beckley and was there by 1:00 pm, then there is one strong possibility. That person was driven there following the police intervention to get “Oswald” off the bus.

That will be covered by the next article. 

 

(Photo of Crafard on left and Oswald on right)

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Mary Bledsoe and the Bus Pt. 1

By John Washburn

This article deals with anomalies in Commission testimonies of police officers.  And also  previously uncommented upon side comments from citizen witnesses, such as Mary Bledsoe, Lee Oswald’s former landlady, and the bus driver Cecil McWatters.

What emerges from all this is that the Marsalis Street bus that Oswald was said to have been on for 4 minutes, that bus was singled out for different treatment than other buses.  And also witnesses Mary Bledsoe and Roy Milton Jones described someone better resembling perhaps Larry Crafard, who worked for Jack Ruby,  than Lee Oswald.

My prior articles have set out how Officers Angell, Parker, Lewis and Nelson were at the ends of strategic viaducts, meaning routes out of Dealey Plaza.  But that none of those positions were by overt order as a reaction to the shots fired at Kennedy. Indeed, R. C. Nelson was in place before 12:30pm, the time of the shooting. 

Commission Exhibit 2645, which was an inventory of police officer movements at around 1:00 pm on 22 November, refers to roadblocks set up in Northeast Dallas, North Dallas and Northwest Dallas in response to the assassination. Those were north and east of the Trinity River. 

But the logical place to place roadblocks, given the routes out of Dealey Plaza, would have been south and west of the Trinity River. But instead of that, several DPD officers were already on that side of the river, out of District. The opposite of setting up a roadblock is being in position to assist a getaway.

II

Below is an FBI map of the supposed getaway route taken by Oswald. But blue stars have been added for the places, where Nelson, J. D. Tippit, Lewis and Parker were: from the top, Commerce St Viaduct (Gloco Service Station), Houston St Viaduct, Cadiz Viaduct, Corinth Viaduct. A green star is the common location of Tippit and Angell at Lansing and Eighth (at different times). A yellow star is where Angell then went. The red line is Tippit’s route from Top Ten Records, up Bishop, along Sunset to Beckley and 10^th, dotted for the final stage to the murder site where he was killed at 1:09pm. The purple dot is Luby’s where William Mentzel was. The red dot is where Mentzel was cruising at 1:07pm. The black star is where Jerry Hill says he was at approximately 1:21pm. 

The map also illustrates that, if Nelson in his position, heard the gunshots at 12:30 pm then service station workers at Gloco could have as well. The time of arrival of Nelson in Dealey Plaza, his then departure and then re-arrival via the Houston Street viaduct would be consistent with that scenario, both timewise and direction. With the one-way system, a car would leave via Commerce Street Viaduct in the Oak Cliff direction and loop back via Houston Street Viaduct. The time between his “clear” and “on south end Houston Street viaduct” is 11-12 minutes hence he’s by then coming from the south. Google maps, which doesn’t assume police car travel time, has 14 minutes for that journey which averaging 20 mph, 11 minutes would be 25 mph.

A possible scenario to consider is that that it wasn’t Oswald escaping Downtown Dallas on the Marsalis bus but an imposter, with the objective of giving the appearance Oswald had left Downtown Dallas by that method, to visit 1026 N Beckley and then go to the Texas Theater. That would breathe meaning into the presence of Tippit at the Gloco station. 

There were two assassination attempts prior to Dallas. Chicago on 2 November 1963 (motorcade cancelled by the Secret Service) and Tampa on 18 November 1963 which did not take place; perhaps due to the heavy protection Kennedy had that day.  A possible patsy for the Chicago plan has been identified as Thomas Vallee, and for Tampa, Gilberto Lopez. Click here for document.

To address the possibility of an imposter, then close attention needs to be on the full statements of witnesses on the bus. Particularly so because whomsoever was on the bus got off Downtown before reaching Gloco, and Tippit left Gloco. 

What is relevant to this line of inquiry are descriptions of the passenger identified as Oswald, the time he got off and the circumstances around the time that he got off. 

ON THE BUS

Mary Bledsoe – eyewitness

Mary Bledsoe, Lee Oswald’s former landlady in Dallas for the five days from 7 October 1963, was the only witness in any way relevant to the shooting of Tippit who knew Oswald before 22 November 1964. She was on the Marsalis bus when the person said to have been Oswald got on and then got off. 

Mary Bledsoe’s testimony of 2 April 1964 (Vol VI, p 439) says two conflicting things concerning the facial appearance of the person.

“He was looking for a job, and called on the phone, wanted different ones, and I got the book, and papers, and tried to look for him a job, because he was a nice-looking boy, and wanted a job”. [p404], 

But she later said of him on the bus. 

“Mr. Ball. Did he look at you as he went by? Did he look at you?

Mrs. Bledsoe. I don’t know. I didn’t look at him. That is—I was just— he looked so bad in his face, and his face was so distorted. [p409]”.

Although Oswald under arrest an hour later had a black eye from his arrest, his appearance stood up remarkably well to press coverage and questioning at the police department in film and TV footage. His face is only ‘distorted’ at the point Jack Ruby shoots him. It follows that whoever Mary Bledsoe saw on the bus probably wasn’t Oswald . It may have been Crafard. Any facial distortion could be explained by the fact Crafard had no front teeth. 

Mary Bledsoe came forward as a witness as a result of knowing that Oswald had been arrested, rather than simply recognising him on the bus. 

(Photo of Crafard on left and Oswald on right)

Roy Milton Jones – eyewitness

Roy Milton Jones was also a passenger on the Marsalis bus. He was an 11^th grade student of 17 who regularly used the bus and knew driver Cecil McWatters. This is from his FBI statement (CE2641) of 20 March 1964. 

“JONES advised that before the bus was stopped the driver made his last passenger pickup six blocks before Houston Street, that one was a blonde-haired woman, and the other was a dark-haired man. He said the man sat in the seat directly behind him and the woman occupied the seat further to the rear of the bus.

“JONES said that after the driver mentioned this and from his recollection of OSWALD’s picture as it appeared on television and in the newspapers, he thought it was possible it could have been OSWALD. He emphasized, however, that he did not have a good view of this man at any time and could not positively identify him as being identical with LEE HARVEY OSWALD. He said he was inclined to think it might have been OSWALD only because the bus driver told him so.”

“He said the man was not carrying any packages and he certainly did not see a gun in his possession at any time. He said the man did not seem to appear nervous or excited and seemed to him to be an ordinary passenger.”  (Emphasis added)

That doesn’t merely indicate that the person might not have been Oswald, but it also indicates that what Mary Bledsoe saw as a “distorted face” wasn’t due to nervous pressure and distress of Oswald being on the run. 

Furthermore, a Commission memorandum, reference 100-10461 (p 26) (Click here for document) states that bus driver Cecil McWatters on 26 March 1964 (6 days after Milton Jones’ statement above) withdrew his identification of Oswald and said that the person he recognised was Roy Milton Jones.

Consistent with all of that, the first police description of the fugitive from the Tippit murder scene put out on police radio at 1:17pm (corrected time) was a man with black hair. Also, Domingo Benavides a witness at the Tippit murder scene who as well as being a mechanic was a mortuary barber, said the assailant wasn’t Oswald as the assailant had a square neckline and Oswald’s was tapered–a military-type cut. (Vol. VI, p. 444). 

The stop at which “Oswald” got on the bus at Field and Elm was the closest stop to Jack Ruby’s Carousel Club at Field and Commerce (the streets ran parallel, Elm, Main, Commerce). That is where Larry Crafard said he slept the night of 21/22 Nov 1963 – and slept in past the time of the assassination – but then left Dallas in a rush on 23 November 1963. 

The rest of this article explores evidence that may explain when, how and why did that person, assumed to be Crafard, then got off the bus when they did, and then do all of the things attributed to Oswald.

In normal traffic conditions the bus would have arrived at Gloco between 12:45 and 12:50pm. But the traffic was not normal. As covered later. 

A logical deduction, given the witnesses who saw Tippit arrive and then leave Gloco at speed heading in the direction of Lancaster Avenue, is that the person would get off the bus – by being removed – if Tippit was no longer waiting. 

If Tippit was no longer waiting, then he’d be a marked man if other confederates had by then committed capital crimes. Events after Kennedy was shot, point to elements of an intended plan falling apart, with the result that Tippit was shot and Oswald, the patsy, was not killed at the Texas Theater.

The Commission line was that only Oswald and a “blonde lady” got off the Marsalis bus at the same time in the vicinity of Lamar/Griffin and Elm. But once again, the evidence of Mary Bledsoe is interesting, and has been missed by the Commission’s assertions and most if not all subsequent researchers. In two separate statements in her testimony she lets something slip. Cecil McWatters the driver also let somethings slip. 

III

The Commission timeline for Oswald’s purported movements required 4 minutes for the bus to travel from Elm at Field  to Elm at Lamar. The sequence of parallel cross streets from east to west being Field, Murphy, Griffin, Poydras, Lamar. (Murphy and Poydras are now built over at Elm but still present elsewhere). 

Commission Report page 190 sets out that:

“In a reconstruction of this bus trip, agents of the Secret Service and the FBI walked the seven blocks from the front entrance of the Depository Building to Murphy and Elm three times, averaging 6.5 minutes for the three trips. A bus moving through heavy traffic on Elm from Murphy to Lamar was timed at 4 minutes.

“If Oswald left the Depository Building at 12:33 p.m., walked seven blocks directly to Murphy and Elm, and boarded a bus almost immediately, he would have boarded the bus at approximately 12:40 p.m. and left it at approximately 12:44 p.m. (See Commission Exhibit No.1119-A, p. 158.)” 

That timeline was tight as it needed to sit with Oswald then walking from Elm, over Main and Commerce along Lamar and getting a cab from Greyhound Bus Station at 12:48pm. 

However, a detailed read of testimonies shows that simulation doesn’t fit the facts. One obvious problem is that the 4-minute simulation for the Commission was a bus “moving through heavy traffic”. Those were not the conditions on 22^nd November 1963. The traffic was static because there was obstruction on Elm Street in Dealey Plaza – the road lanes Kennedy was shot in. Elm was three lanes one way, buses in the right-hand curb-side lane would stack back eastwards along Elm. 

Furthermore, Roy Milton Jones said in his statement to the FBI that the bus was held up for about an hour not merely because of traffic conditions but also because police got on and detained them. This is his FBI statement on 30 March 1964 (CE2641). 

“JONES advised that the bus proceeded in the direction of Houston Street and, approximately four blocks before Houston Street, was completely stopped by traffic which was backed up in this area.

“He recalled that at this time a policeman notified the driver the President had been shot and he told the driver no one was to leave the bus until police officers had talked to each passenger. JONES estimated that there were more than about fifteen people on the bus at this time and two police officers boarded the bus and checked each passenger to see if any were carrying firearms.”

“JONES estimated the bus was held up by the police officers for about one hour and, after they were permitted to resume, they crossed the Marsalis Bridge.”

None of that appears in the Commission Report as a matter of interest despite the questions it begs. 

Mary Bledsoe, said in her Commission examination that she got off the bus and got onto another bus that was behind with the “blonde woman” who’d got off when ‘Oswald‘ got off as the blonde woman was anxious that the holdup would make her miss her 1:00pm train from Union Station, which is on Houston Street. This is the exchange,

“Mr. BALL. Did she ask for a transfer?

Mrs. BLEDSOE. Yes; she had the man give her one, because she caught the bus before she got to the train station.

Mr. BALL. How do you know that?

Mrs. BLEDSOE. Well, I saw her.

Mr. BALL. You saw her catch another bus?

Mrs. BLEDSOE. She got on when we did. She rode a block.

Mr. BALL. Did anybody get off when the lady got off? Anybody that was going to the train station?

Mrs. BLEDSOE. No.” 

Mr. BALL. Was there traffic? Was the traffic heavy? Mrs. 

BLEDSOE. Oh, it was awful in the city, and then they had roped off that around where the President was killed, shot, and we were the first car that come around there, and then all of us were talking about the man, and we were looking up to see where he was shot and looking-and then they had one man and taking him, already got him in jail, and we got-“Well, I am glad they found him.” 

Mr. BALL. You were looking up at where? 

Mrs. BLEDSOE. At where the boy was shot. 

Mr. BALL. You mean the Texas Book Depository? 

Mrs. BLEDSOE. Yes, uh-huh.

(p410)

That blows apart the line that only Oswald and the blonde lady got off. But it is consistent with what is logical. Police boarding a bus would let the women off. Mary Bledsoe’s getting off the bus also throws into to the air the story of only two bus transfers, one for Oswald (and purportedly found on him) and one for the blonde lady. There would have been at least three given that Mary Bledsoe also got off the bus to get on another one.

Cecil McWatters – eyewitness

 

McWatters’ testimony (Vol II p 62) omits the police getting on the bus as well as omitting Mary Bledsoe getting off. But he does say someone got out of a car and spoke to him. He also says the bus was stalled. 

“Mr. BALL. Where were you when you first heard the President had been shot?

Mr. McWATTERS. Well, I was sitting in the bus, there was some gentleman in front of me in a car, and he came back and walked up to the bus and I opened the doorand he said, “I have heard over my radio in my car that the President has been —” I believe he used the word-“has been shot.” 

Mr. BALL. Is that when you were stalled in traffic?

Mr. McWATTERS. That is right. That is when I was stalled right there.

Mr. BALL. Was that before or after the man got off the bus that asked for the transfer?

Mr. McWATTERS. That was before. In other words, at that time no one had gotten off the bus.

Mr. BALL. What was your location then, near what street?

Mr. McWATTERS. Between Poydras and Lamar, in other words, because I stayed stopped there for, I guess oh, 3 or 4 minutes anyway before I made any progress at that one stop right there and that is where the gentleman got off the bus. fact, I was talking to the man, the man that come out of the car; in other words, he just stepped up in the door of the bus, and was telling me that what he had heard over his radio and that is when the lady who was standing there decided she would walk and when the other gentleman decided he would also get off at that point.”(p265)

“Mr. BALL. Do you remember what he said to you when he asked you for the transfer?

Mr. McWATTERS. Well, the reason I recall the incident, I had—there was a lady that when I stopped in this traffic, who had a suitcase and she said “I have to make a 1 o’clock train at Union Station” she said “I don’t believe – from the looks of this traffic you are going to be held up.” She said, “Would you give me a transfer and I am going to walk on down,” which is about from where I was at that time about 7 or 8 blocks to Union Station and she asked me if I would give her a transfer in case I did get through the traffic if I would pick her up on the way. So, I said, “I sure will.” So I gave her a transfer and opened the door and as she was going out the gentleman I had picked up about 2 blocks asked for transfer and got off at the same place in the middle of the block where the lady did.” (P264)

Mary Bledsoe’s affidavit of 23^rd November 1963 said

“The traffic was heavy and it took quite some time to travel two or three blocks. During that time someone made the statement that the President had been shotand while the bus was stopped due to the heavy traffic, Oswald got off the bus and I didn’t see him again.” 

IV

Therefore the testimonies of Bledsoe and Milton Jones, and the slipping out of things by McWatters don’t accord with the Commission account. The bus was not slow but static, there was an intervention by which people on the bus knew that the president had been shot, and the bus was held for up to an hour by police. ‘Oswald’ got off when a man got out of a car and asked for the bus door to be opened. Roy Milton Jones said that was a policeman. 

As to the delay, McWatters in the Dallas Morning News 28 November 1963 said 

“By the time we had gone to the middle block of Poydras and Elm, traffic was held up. We were stalled there in the traffic. A man about 55 and dressed in working clothes got out of his car in front of us and walked towards the bus, I knew I hadn’t done anything to offend him.”

McWatters’ testimony also says:

 “Mr. McWATTERS. Yes, sir. As I left Field Street, I pulled out into the, in other words, the first lane of traffic and traffic was beginning to back up then; in other words, it was blocked further down the street, and after I pulled out in it for a short distance there I come to a complete stop, and when I did, someone come up and beat on the door of the bus, and that is about even with Griffin Street. In other words, it is a street that dead ends into Elm Street which there is no bus stop at this street, because I stopped across Field Street in the middle of the intersection and it is just a short distance onto Griffin Street, and that is when someone, a man, came up and knocked on the door of the bus, and I opened the door of the bus and he got on.”

So, by all that, Oswald didn’t get off having been on the for bus 4 minutes from where he got on. The normal time to travel those two blocks would be 1-2 minutes. The 3–4-minute delay at that one stop added to the normal travel time would have used up the time allowed of 4 minutes, and the bus had already been stuck in traffic and delayed before that stop. 

The Commission time, of only two minutes more than the usual two minutes it would have normally taken, is not long enough for someone to become not only agitated about the delay but agitated enough so that others on the bus would know about it. 

But there is another issue. The bus transfer that was purported to have been found in Oswald chest pocket was cut for 1:00pm, and hence valid until 1:15pm. Transfers were cut rounding up to the next quarter hour and valid for the 15 minutes after that. Had any passenger – including Oswald – got off the bus at 12:44pm, then the transfer should have been cut for 12:45pm and hence valid until 1:00pm. So, the transfer rather than supporting the Commission line puts the time of disembarkation somewhere between 12:45 and 1:00pm

As we shall see later, there is relevance in where the bus halted based on this exchange. 

Mr. BALL. You were beyond Field and before you got to Griffin?

Mr. McWATTERS. That is right. It was along about even with Griffin Street before I was stopped in the traffic.

Mr. BALL. And that is about seven or, eight blocks from the Texas Book Depository Building, isn’t it?

Mr. McWATTERS. Yes, sir. It would be seven, I would say that is seven, it would be about seven blocks.

Mr. BALL. From there?

Mr. McWATTERS. From there, yes, sir.

This part of the testimony with questions from then Rep. Gerald Ford is also clear that the man in the car caused the door to open and ‘Oswald’ and the woman got off. 

“Representative FORD. You gave her a transfer?

Mr. McWATTERS. Yes, sir.

Representative FORD. What happened?

Mr. McWATTERS. She got off and by the time when she was talking to me that is when he got up, this gentleman here in the seat got up, at seat “M” got off. In other words, the door was never closed of the bus from the time the gentleman stepped up in the door of that there, in other words, when he said what he did, and got on back in his car, in other words, the lady got off, and the man got off, too, both at the same stop.”(P273)”

McWaters does slip out that his bus was singled out and treated differently traffic-wise. He gives that away as he said that other buses behind him were let through when the authorities ‘opened up a lane’. Wholly consistent with what Mary Bledsoe said. 

Mr. BALL. Was traffic still heavy along there?

Mr. McWATTERS. Yes, sir; the traffic was still tied up, but the police, they opened up a lane there, they had so many buses and everything that was tied up, they opened up, moved traffic around that they run quite a few of these buses through there. In other words, from two blocks on this side of where the incident happened they had, in other words, they was turning all the traffic to the right and to the left, in other words, north and south.

Mr. BALL. You went on down to Houston viaduct then?

He later says, 

Mr. McWATTERS. Yes, I turned after they finally let—they weren’t letting any cars through at that time but they just run a bunch of those buses through there.

Mr. BALL. This is west. You are going west on Elm.

Mr. McWATTERS. In other words, I am going-right here is where the police had all traffic, they weren’t allowing anything to go any further than Market Street here. In other words, all the traffic there they were moving was turning either to the right or left, on Market Street. But after they held us up there so long, of course, they run these buses in this right lane here and they did open up and let a bunch of these buses go right on down here to Houston, of course, a lot of them go straight on and a lot of them turn left to Houston Street, a lot of them go under the underpass here. (P266)

He can only have known “quite a few” if – as Milton Jones said – they were held up for a considerable time and saw several other buses overtaking his bus. You wouldn’t know a “bunch of buses” had got through if you’d already got through”.

McWatter’s statement to the FBI on 23 November 1964 put the delay of the bus as “fifteen to twenty minutes”. A question is was that the delay to that one stop, or the whole journey. Click here for document.

V

It is of note that, McWatters was reported in the Dallas Morning News of 28 November 1963, which puts him at Jefferson and Marsalis after 1:30pm.

“The cashier of the Texas Theater immediately called the police- —who had just sped en masse to a false alarm at the Dallas Library branch on Jefferson, further to the east. The police sirens wailed again. Oddly enough it was at the library that McWatters, the bus driver who, unknowingly, had Oswald as a passenger earlier, had his second brush with fate. His bus pulled up at the intersection as a swarm of 10 or 15 police cars zeroed in on the library, *I couldn’t imagine what was going on” said McWatters. “Little did I know!*

This incident at the library at Marsalis and Jefferson, appears on the police radio just after 1:30pm. Given the bus in ordinary conditions should have been there at 12:50pm (CE378), then the bus was more than 40 minutes late getting there. That is closer to Milton Jones’ estimate of a delay of up to an hour. Click here for document.

To summarise all that. The bus was more than 4 minutes late, past 12:45pm destroying the Commission timeline. A person, possibly a police officer in civilian clothes approached the bus and alerted people to the fact the President was shot. Mary Bledsoe and the blonde lady also got off at the place Oswald did. The men remaining on the bus were detained for about 40 minutes by other police officers. 

A rational deduction is that the man was a policeman in plain clothes and that ‘Oswald’ got off as a result of an intervention that was applied to that bus, not the others.

There was no  credible ID of Oswald by Milton Jones or McWatters, and the man Milton Jones saw did not appear distressed, so that is not consistent with Oswald’s face being distorted due to stress or exertion from of long walk at speed from Dealey Plaza. Oswald did not have dark hair, or a distorted face. 

Milton Jones also describes the man as wearing a light blue jacket. That is consistent with the Eisenhower jacket supposedly discarded by the assailant at Ballew Texaco Service Station near the Tippit murder scene that was found, despite the persons who saw him running there didn’t see him take it off.

Click here to read part 2.