Post by Rob Caprio on Dec 23, 2021 14:06:43 GMT -5
This was written by Gil Jesus years ago and it is a good recap of the Mauser evidence. The Mauser deniers rely on two things -- 1) Seymour Weitzman made a mistake, and 2) Roger Craig was a liar. That's it.
Weitzman wasn't credited with influencing anyone in the various testimonies of those who were there when the rifle was found, but the Warren Commission claimed it anyway. To this day Craig has not been shown to be a liar.
This is much more evidence then there is for the Mannlicher-Carcano claim.
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NINE DIFFERENT SOURCES OF A 7.65 MAUSER IN DEALEY PLAZA
1. After DEPUTY SHERIFF ROGER CRAIG viewed the sniper's nest, where he saw three spent 6.5 millimeter cartridges, he began to search for a weapon with Boone. "We started toward the northeast corner of the building. There was a stack of boxes at the head of the stairwell and Boone looked into it and said, 'Here it is. Here's the rifle.' We didn't touch it until Captain Fritz and Lt. Day of the Dallas police got there. They took some pictures of the rifle and Day pulled out the rifle and handed it to Captain Fritz, who held it up by the strap and asked if anyone knew what kind of rifle it was.
Deputy Constable Seymour Weitzman had joined us and Weitzman was a gun buff, and he was very good with weapons. He said, 'It looks like a Mauser.' He walked over to Fritz, and Captain Fritz was holding the rifle up in the air, and I was standing next to Weitzman, who was standing next to Fritz, and we weren't more than 6-8 inches from the rifle, and stamped right on the barrel of the rifle was '7.65 Mauser,' and that's when Weitzman said, 'It is a Mauser,' and pointed to the '7.65 Mauser' on the barrel." [21]
2. Boone later testified that CAPTAIN FRITZ also thought that the gun was a Mauser. [22]
3. BOONE testified in two written reports that the gun was a Mauser. WEITZMAN signed an affidavit the next day stating that the rifle he and Boone had found was a "7.65 Mauser bolt action equipped with a 4/18 scope, a thick leather brownish-black sling on it." [23]
Weitzman's description includes the exact calibration of the scope and the color of the sling, evidence that he examined the rifle and didn't just take a wild guess.
4. An FBI ENVELOPE (FBI Field Office Dallas 89-43-1A-122) dated 12/2/1963 that was released in 1995 by the Assassinations Record Review Board (ARRB) had a cover that detailed the contents of the envelope as being a 7.65 mm rifle shell. The shell was allegedly found in Dealey Plaza after the shooting, though nothing was known about this envelope or rifle shell until the release of the 1995 records.
The whereabouts of the 7.65 mm rifle shell is unknown. Researcher Anna Marie Kuhns-Walko first reported the envelope. The envelope had the following label: "7.65 shell found in Dealey Plaza on 12/02/1963 ...determined of no value and destroyed."
5. On the afternoon of the shooting, KBOX, a Dallas television station, broadcast that "a rifle has been found in a staircase on the fifth floor...Sheriff's deputies identify the weapon as a 7.65 Mauser..." [25]
6. Later that night at a televised press conference, DALLAS DISTRICT ATTORNEY HENRY WADE declared that the rifle found in the Depository was a 7.65 German Mauser. [28]
7. THE CIA produced a document on the 25th of November 1963 that declared "...the description of a Mannlicher-Carcano rifle in the Italian and foreign press is in error. It was a Mauser." [29]
8. LEE HARVEY OSWALD told his inquisitors that he had seen a Mauser in the Texas School Book Depository. On November 20th, Warren Caster, an employee of Southwestern Publishing Company that occupied part of the second floor in the Depository, brought a Mauser rifle for his fellow employees to look at, a fact that was verified by numerous Depository employees. [30]
Curiously, Oswald's Mannlicher-Carcano clearly has "MADE ITALY" and "CAL 6.5" stamped on the side of the barrel. Though Oswald's rifle was clearly marked, Boone, Weitzman, Craig, and Fritz at one time stated they thought the gun was a Mauser, and Lt. Day's report is not available. Weitzman's description includes the exact calibration of the scope and the color of the sling, evidence that he examined the rifle and didn't just take a wild guess at what it was.
Though it is very clear that what the officers thought they had found was a Mauser, the Warren Commission explained away this problem by stating "Weitzman did not handle the rifle and did not examine it at close range...thought it was a Mauser...[and eventually] police laboratory technicians subsequently arrived and correctly identified the weapon as a 6.5 Italian rifle." [31]
But what the officers found may very well have been a Mauser considering what Frank Ellsworth saw in the Depository that day.
Ellsworth was an agent of the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms agency and was in his office not far from the Depository when he was told of the shooting. He ran to the Depository and entered the building with Captain Will Fritz. Ellsworth claims he found the sniper's nest on the sixth floor, but the "gun was not found on the same floor as the cartridges, but on a lower floor by a couple of city detectives...I think the rifle was found on the fourth floor." [32]
Ellsworth participated in a second search of the Depository after 1:30 p.m. on November 22, 1963. The gun that was found was an Italian Mannlicher-Carcano hidden behind boxes near the "stairwell back in the northwest corner... I have the recollection that the position it was in, and where it was found, led to conjecture that as Oswald came down the stairs, he probably pitched it over behind these books." [33]
Ellsworth has stood by his original assessment of where the Mannlicher-Carcano was found in a 1993 interview with authors Ray and Mary LaFontaine.
Notes
21. Two Men in Dallas, an interview of Deputy Sheriff Roger Craig, video, Alpa Productions 1976.
22. Warren Commission Report, Hearings, v. 3, p. 395.
23. Warren Commission Exhibit, 2169.
25. Warren Commission Exhibit, 3048.
29. CIA report 104-40, WC XXIV, p. 829, 831.
30. Warren Report, 546-8.
31. Warren Commission Report, p. 645-646.
32. Russell, Dick. The Man Who Knew Too Much, Carroll and Graf, 1992, p. 568.
33. Ibid, p. 569.
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Weitzman wasn't credited with influencing anyone in the various testimonies of those who were there when the rifle was found, but the Warren Commission claimed it anyway. To this day Craig has not been shown to be a liar.
This is much more evidence then there is for the Mannlicher-Carcano claim.
Quote on
NINE DIFFERENT SOURCES OF A 7.65 MAUSER IN DEALEY PLAZA
1. After DEPUTY SHERIFF ROGER CRAIG viewed the sniper's nest, where he saw three spent 6.5 millimeter cartridges, he began to search for a weapon with Boone. "We started toward the northeast corner of the building. There was a stack of boxes at the head of the stairwell and Boone looked into it and said, 'Here it is. Here's the rifle.' We didn't touch it until Captain Fritz and Lt. Day of the Dallas police got there. They took some pictures of the rifle and Day pulled out the rifle and handed it to Captain Fritz, who held it up by the strap and asked if anyone knew what kind of rifle it was.
Deputy Constable Seymour Weitzman had joined us and Weitzman was a gun buff, and he was very good with weapons. He said, 'It looks like a Mauser.' He walked over to Fritz, and Captain Fritz was holding the rifle up in the air, and I was standing next to Weitzman, who was standing next to Fritz, and we weren't more than 6-8 inches from the rifle, and stamped right on the barrel of the rifle was '7.65 Mauser,' and that's when Weitzman said, 'It is a Mauser,' and pointed to the '7.65 Mauser' on the barrel." [21]
2. Boone later testified that CAPTAIN FRITZ also thought that the gun was a Mauser. [22]
3. BOONE testified in two written reports that the gun was a Mauser. WEITZMAN signed an affidavit the next day stating that the rifle he and Boone had found was a "7.65 Mauser bolt action equipped with a 4/18 scope, a thick leather brownish-black sling on it." [23]
Weitzman's description includes the exact calibration of the scope and the color of the sling, evidence that he examined the rifle and didn't just take a wild guess.
4. An FBI ENVELOPE (FBI Field Office Dallas 89-43-1A-122) dated 12/2/1963 that was released in 1995 by the Assassinations Record Review Board (ARRB) had a cover that detailed the contents of the envelope as being a 7.65 mm rifle shell. The shell was allegedly found in Dealey Plaza after the shooting, though nothing was known about this envelope or rifle shell until the release of the 1995 records.
The whereabouts of the 7.65 mm rifle shell is unknown. Researcher Anna Marie Kuhns-Walko first reported the envelope. The envelope had the following label: "7.65 shell found in Dealey Plaza on 12/02/1963 ...determined of no value and destroyed."
5. On the afternoon of the shooting, KBOX, a Dallas television station, broadcast that "a rifle has been found in a staircase on the fifth floor...Sheriff's deputies identify the weapon as a 7.65 Mauser..." [25]
6. Later that night at a televised press conference, DALLAS DISTRICT ATTORNEY HENRY WADE declared that the rifle found in the Depository was a 7.65 German Mauser. [28]
7. THE CIA produced a document on the 25th of November 1963 that declared "...the description of a Mannlicher-Carcano rifle in the Italian and foreign press is in error. It was a Mauser." [29]
8. LEE HARVEY OSWALD told his inquisitors that he had seen a Mauser in the Texas School Book Depository. On November 20th, Warren Caster, an employee of Southwestern Publishing Company that occupied part of the second floor in the Depository, brought a Mauser rifle for his fellow employees to look at, a fact that was verified by numerous Depository employees. [30]
Curiously, Oswald's Mannlicher-Carcano clearly has "MADE ITALY" and "CAL 6.5" stamped on the side of the barrel. Though Oswald's rifle was clearly marked, Boone, Weitzman, Craig, and Fritz at one time stated they thought the gun was a Mauser, and Lt. Day's report is not available. Weitzman's description includes the exact calibration of the scope and the color of the sling, evidence that he examined the rifle and didn't just take a wild guess at what it was.
Though it is very clear that what the officers thought they had found was a Mauser, the Warren Commission explained away this problem by stating "Weitzman did not handle the rifle and did not examine it at close range...thought it was a Mauser...[and eventually] police laboratory technicians subsequently arrived and correctly identified the weapon as a 6.5 Italian rifle." [31]
But what the officers found may very well have been a Mauser considering what Frank Ellsworth saw in the Depository that day.
Ellsworth was an agent of the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms agency and was in his office not far from the Depository when he was told of the shooting. He ran to the Depository and entered the building with Captain Will Fritz. Ellsworth claims he found the sniper's nest on the sixth floor, but the "gun was not found on the same floor as the cartridges, but on a lower floor by a couple of city detectives...I think the rifle was found on the fourth floor." [32]
Ellsworth participated in a second search of the Depository after 1:30 p.m. on November 22, 1963. The gun that was found was an Italian Mannlicher-Carcano hidden behind boxes near the "stairwell back in the northwest corner... I have the recollection that the position it was in, and where it was found, led to conjecture that as Oswald came down the stairs, he probably pitched it over behind these books." [33]
Ellsworth has stood by his original assessment of where the Mannlicher-Carcano was found in a 1993 interview with authors Ray and Mary LaFontaine.
Notes
21. Two Men in Dallas, an interview of Deputy Sheriff Roger Craig, video, Alpa Productions 1976.
22. Warren Commission Report, Hearings, v. 3, p. 395.
23. Warren Commission Exhibit, 2169.
25. Warren Commission Exhibit, 3048.
29. CIA report 104-40, WC XXIV, p. 829, 831.
30. Warren Report, 546-8.
31. Warren Commission Report, p. 645-646.
32. Russell, Dick. The Man Who Knew Too Much, Carroll and Graf, 1992, p. 568.
33. Ibid, p. 569.
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