Post by Gil Jesus on Aug 24, 2022 8:21:54 GMT -5
A Question of Credibility
For many years now, Warren Commission apologists and many researchers alike have questioned the credibility of the officers who found the rifle on the sixth floor.
Their solution to the credibility issue is simple: in anything Boone and Weitzman saw or heard, they were mistaken. Craig was a liar.
But the real credibility problem may lie with the man who brought the two rifles into the building two days before the motorcade.
The Conflicting Accounts of Warren Caster
On December 5, 1963, Warren Caster was interviewed by the FBI. He told them that the rifle he purchased was an American-made 30.06, that he showed it to Mr. Truly in Truly's office on the second floor and that he did not show the two rifles to anyone else.
But Truly's office was on the first floor and Truly testified that they examined the rifle on the counter near the front door on the first floor. ( 7 H 382 ) William Shelley also testified that he picked up and handled the .22 rifle. ( 7 H 390 )
In his short deposition, Caster completely reversed what he told the FBI on December 5th and admitted that Shelley was present when he showed the rifle to Truly and that "there were workers there at the time." (7 H 388)
He also gave conflicting accounts of when exactly the rifles left the building. He told the FBI that he took the rifles and put them in the trunk of his car at "approximately 4:30 pm" on the 20th.
He told the Warren Commission he left for the day "around 4 o'clock". (Ibid.)
In addition, there's no witness to support his claim that he removed the rifles from the building when he left for the day.
He told the FBI that his rifle was an American-made rifle manufactured by Kodiak Arms of North Haven Connecticut.
But William Shelley examined the rifle and said it was a "foreign make" converted to a 30.06. (7 H 390)
On March 19, 1964, Caster provided the FBI with an alibi for the first time, which it never looked into, that he was having lunch with Professor Vernon V. Payne at North Texas State University in Denton when the President was assassinated.
Professor Payne was head of the Business School at NTSU and one wonders if his wife happened to be another "Mrs. Payne" who owned a station wagon.
North Texas State University was a hotbed of right-wing extremism and its political groups were aligned with General Walker and his anti-Kennedy stand.
A Hot Potato
The Warren Commission did everything it could to avoid the issue of rifles in the building until May 14, 1964, when it deposed Warren Caster.
And when they finally deposed him, they did so with the utmost dispatch. His testimony covered a whole two pages. Just two pages for a man who brought two rifles into the Texas School Book Depository two days before the assassination.
In comparison, they published over 18 pages of testimony from William Crowe, the emcee of Jack Ruby's club.
An Upper Floor Encounter
In his original affidavit, Dallas Officer Marrion Baker said that in their climb up rear stairwell, he and Roy Truly encountered a man on "the third or fourth floor" who was "walking away from the stairway" and who Truly vouched for. This man, Baker said was wearing "a light brown jacket".
I suggest that this was NOT the second floor Oswald-in-the-lunchroom-vestibule encounter. He didn't even match Oswald's description. This was a second, separate encounter with a man who was coming down the rear stairwell, heard the commotion on the second floor and tried to duck out on the floor he was on.
That's why Baker saw him walking away from the stairway.
Who was this man? Was it Truly's pal Warren Caster? Is that who Truly vouched for?
Only Truly would know and he was never asked.
The FBI fails ---- Again
Caster's conflicting accounts should have been a red flag for the FBI to look further into him.
They should have examined his rifle to see if it had a scope and the sales records of its purchase.
They should have checked his alibi.
They should have looked at the cars Professor Payne owned.
They should have included his picture in a picture lineup and shown that lineup to witnesses who claimed to have seen the man with the rifle on the sixth floor, if for no other reason, than to eliminate him as a suspect.
The FBI's interviews of 72 witnesses who worked in the building centered on their having seen a stranger in the building on the day of the assassination. But not one was asked if they had seen Warren Caster in the building on that day.
They should have looked into both Caster and Prof. Payne to ascertain if they had any connection to the anti-Castro Cubans or the Young Republican Club at NTSU that was planning to "rub Kennedy's dick in the ground" when he came to Dallas. (17 H 539)
A man who brings two rifles into the building two days before the motorcade is to pass by, warrants IMO, a longer deposition than two pages. This guy should have been pressured to prove everything he said. Everything.
That's what they should have and would have done in a normal criminal investigation.
Instead they just took his word and let it die.
That was because this was not a normal investigation.
This was an investigation to gather evidence against Oswald and Oswald alone.
The Katzenbach Memo laid out the foundation for the coverup: "the public must be satisfied that Oswald was the sole assassin, that he did not have confederates who are still at large, and the evidence was such that he would have been convicted at trial".
And with that goal in mind, evidence to the contrary was ignored, suppressed or simply vanished into thin air.
Just like the Mauser did.
For many years now, Warren Commission apologists and many researchers alike have questioned the credibility of the officers who found the rifle on the sixth floor.
Their solution to the credibility issue is simple: in anything Boone and Weitzman saw or heard, they were mistaken. Craig was a liar.
But the real credibility problem may lie with the man who brought the two rifles into the building two days before the motorcade.
The Conflicting Accounts of Warren Caster
On December 5, 1963, Warren Caster was interviewed by the FBI. He told them that the rifle he purchased was an American-made 30.06, that he showed it to Mr. Truly in Truly's office on the second floor and that he did not show the two rifles to anyone else.
But Truly's office was on the first floor and Truly testified that they examined the rifle on the counter near the front door on the first floor. ( 7 H 382 ) William Shelley also testified that he picked up and handled the .22 rifle. ( 7 H 390 )
In his short deposition, Caster completely reversed what he told the FBI on December 5th and admitted that Shelley was present when he showed the rifle to Truly and that "there were workers there at the time." (7 H 388)
He also gave conflicting accounts of when exactly the rifles left the building. He told the FBI that he took the rifles and put them in the trunk of his car at "approximately 4:30 pm" on the 20th.
He told the Warren Commission he left for the day "around 4 o'clock". (Ibid.)
In addition, there's no witness to support his claim that he removed the rifles from the building when he left for the day.
He told the FBI that his rifle was an American-made rifle manufactured by Kodiak Arms of North Haven Connecticut.
But William Shelley examined the rifle and said it was a "foreign make" converted to a 30.06. (7 H 390)
On March 19, 1964, Caster provided the FBI with an alibi for the first time, which it never looked into, that he was having lunch with Professor Vernon V. Payne at North Texas State University in Denton when the President was assassinated.
Professor Payne was head of the Business School at NTSU and one wonders if his wife happened to be another "Mrs. Payne" who owned a station wagon.
North Texas State University was a hotbed of right-wing extremism and its political groups were aligned with General Walker and his anti-Kennedy stand.
A Hot Potato
The Warren Commission did everything it could to avoid the issue of rifles in the building until May 14, 1964, when it deposed Warren Caster.
And when they finally deposed him, they did so with the utmost dispatch. His testimony covered a whole two pages. Just two pages for a man who brought two rifles into the Texas School Book Depository two days before the assassination.
In comparison, they published over 18 pages of testimony from William Crowe, the emcee of Jack Ruby's club.
An Upper Floor Encounter
In his original affidavit, Dallas Officer Marrion Baker said that in their climb up rear stairwell, he and Roy Truly encountered a man on "the third or fourth floor" who was "walking away from the stairway" and who Truly vouched for. This man, Baker said was wearing "a light brown jacket".
I suggest that this was NOT the second floor Oswald-in-the-lunchroom-vestibule encounter. He didn't even match Oswald's description. This was a second, separate encounter with a man who was coming down the rear stairwell, heard the commotion on the second floor and tried to duck out on the floor he was on.
That's why Baker saw him walking away from the stairway.
Who was this man? Was it Truly's pal Warren Caster? Is that who Truly vouched for?
Only Truly would know and he was never asked.
The FBI fails ---- Again
Caster's conflicting accounts should have been a red flag for the FBI to look further into him.
They should have examined his rifle to see if it had a scope and the sales records of its purchase.
They should have checked his alibi.
They should have looked at the cars Professor Payne owned.
They should have included his picture in a picture lineup and shown that lineup to witnesses who claimed to have seen the man with the rifle on the sixth floor, if for no other reason, than to eliminate him as a suspect.
The FBI's interviews of 72 witnesses who worked in the building centered on their having seen a stranger in the building on the day of the assassination. But not one was asked if they had seen Warren Caster in the building on that day.
They should have looked into both Caster and Prof. Payne to ascertain if they had any connection to the anti-Castro Cubans or the Young Republican Club at NTSU that was planning to "rub Kennedy's dick in the ground" when he came to Dallas. (17 H 539)
A man who brings two rifles into the building two days before the motorcade is to pass by, warrants IMO, a longer deposition than two pages. This guy should have been pressured to prove everything he said. Everything.
That's what they should have and would have done in a normal criminal investigation.
Instead they just took his word and let it die.
That was because this was not a normal investigation.
This was an investigation to gather evidence against Oswald and Oswald alone.
The Katzenbach Memo laid out the foundation for the coverup: "the public must be satisfied that Oswald was the sole assassin, that he did not have confederates who are still at large, and the evidence was such that he would have been convicted at trial".
And with that goal in mind, evidence to the contrary was ignored, suppressed or simply vanished into thin air.
Just like the Mauser did.