Post by John Duncan on Dec 9, 2022 17:22:30 GMT -5
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McWatters Fooled Us All
By Donald Willis -- 7/2022
[Edited by John Duncan]
Note: The JFK Assassination Board does NOT believe that Lee Harvey Oswald boarded any bus, but certainly not the bus driven by Cecil McWatters. This post shows that the Warren Commission couldn't even get where Oswald would have boarded the bus correctly.
One word can make all the difference. Hank [Seizant] and I have been having a back-and-forth re:bus driver [Cecil] McWatters' 11/22/63 affidavit. But we've both been basing it on the wrong word. And the person who got us started off on the wrong foot was McWatters himself. He may at times have seemed scatterbrained, but he could get very precise when he needed to. And he had to be precise regarding when and where he picked up [Lee Harvey] Oswald. One wrong word--in the right place--and McW picks up Oswald on Elm and doesn't deposit him until Oak Cliff.
To begin to clarify, I'll flash forward to McW's Commission testimony. Hank summarizes, "The pickup spot for Oswald in McWatter's testimony was between Field and Griffin." McW himself:
Mr. McWatters - ...Griffin Street....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.
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.
So, whether McW's confusing testimony here means that he stopped "across Field Street in the middle of the intersection" or "even with Griffin", or "between Field and Griffin" (as Hank says), there ain't no bus stop for McW's bus to stop at. Just like Elm and Houston.
McW answers counsel Joseph Ball's question re the pickup spot as stated in his affidavit, "Do you have a bus stop at Houston and Elm?" by saying,
Mr. McWATTERS - Yes, sir; there is a bus stop there for the buses that go on under the underpass.
Mr. BALL - Is there a bus stop for the buses that go south on Houston?
Mr. McWATTERS - No, sir; all the buses, we have to get in, this is a one-way street and you have to get over in this lane here.
Mr. BALL - By the lane you mean the extreme left lane?
Mr. McWATTERS - The extreme left lane to make--
Mr. BALL - To make the left turn south on Houston Street?
Mr. McWATTERS - Yes.
So, no stop for McW's bus at Elm and Houston, as there was no bus stop between Field and Griffin. It's a wonder Oswald was allowed on the bus at all. But Ball is asking the wrong question. ("Do you have a bus stop at Houston and Elm?") And McW goes to far as to "correct" him when he asks the right question:
Mr. BALL - Do you remember having picked up any man around the lower end of town at Elm around Houston?
Mr. McWATTERS - Elm and Houston?
Mr. BALL - Yes.
And so McW--by just slightly rewording Ball's question--deftly gets him back on the wrong track.
For this is the actual statement in the 11/22 affidavit:
"I picked up a man on the lower end of town on Elm around Houston."
"Elm around Houston". Not the same thing as "Elm and Houston", Mr. McW. Just as (in McW's testimony) the revised site would, it seems, have to be "Elm around Field" or "Elm around Griffin", not Elm and Field or Elm and Griffin. (McW, you may have noticed, was unclear--he seems to start his stop near Field and end it near Griffin--a long, slow braking.) The issue here is not, Is there or is there not a bus stop for those turning left at Elm and Houston? The question is, rather, a broader one, Where exactly did McW pick up Oswald? Unfortunately, we can't be more exact than "Elm around Houston", which might mean Elm and Record, which latter is one block from Elm and was, according to:
Mr. McWATTERS - In other words, my last stop, in other words at this corner right here on Record Street, all buses turning to the left have to stop at this corner right here.
Mr. BALL - At Record and Elm?
Mr. McWATTERS - At Record and Elm.
"Elm around Houston" might also mean halfway between Record and Houston or just west of Elm and Record. "Around" isn't specific. But whether McW meant Record, or just west of Record, or halfway between Record and Houston, "around" might apply. "Around Houston" would NOT apply, however, to Elm and/around Field, or Griffin, which, as McW noted, was about 7 blocks from the depository.
What's the difference, you might ask, whether Oswald boarded the bus near Record or near Griffin? Well, the whole story re McW's bus and Whaley's cab depends on the pickup spot. If the latter is near Griffin, the story flies. If it's near Record, it doesn't, because--as McW himself insisted--Record was his last stop on Elm. And the official story was, of course, on and off on Elm. Didn't happen. And the "off" couldn't have happened on Houston, no traffic backed up or held up there that I've ever heard. So no reason for Oswald to disembark, catch a cab...and get to Oak Cliff in time to be J.D. Tippit's killer. Any statement by McW which begins with a pickup of Oswald anywhere other than "Elm around Houston" is fraudulent.
McW could have explained what he meant by "around", but apparently thought that is was more important to misdirect Ball.
But, yes, we're so very used to the received version of the events of that day. I found myself wondering why Oswald would opt to walk 7 blocks to catch a bus up Elm rather than walk one or two to catch that same bus, a little later, on Houston, at Main or Commerce. But McW's bus was apparently actually closer (as suggested above) than even Main or Commerce. In fact, it may have been so close that "around Houston" meant that it was much closer to Houston than to Record. That scene in which Oswald is banging on the door of the bus may really have happened, but at a different spot, very near Houston, that is, rather than Field. Picture Oswald seeing his quickest chance to get away from the scene of his crime about to leave without him. He's a desperate man. He zigzags, dangerously, through traffic, to get to McW's bus--famously, in the far left lane--before it can reach the point of beginning the turn south. He makes it, just in time, and frantically--and at the same time relieved--bangs on the bus door, and McW reluctantly relents, and the door swings open. Saved! Same scene, different context. "around Houston" Maybe that's what McW meant by that phrase. And if, subsequently, he cannot explain the latter, we must do it for him. Glad to oblige, McW, you sly dog you. Pretty good ruse--you had us all going. The wrong way....
dcw
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McWatters Fooled Us All
By Donald Willis -- 7/2022
[Edited by John Duncan]
Note: The JFK Assassination Board does NOT believe that Lee Harvey Oswald boarded any bus, but certainly not the bus driven by Cecil McWatters. This post shows that the Warren Commission couldn't even get where Oswald would have boarded the bus correctly.
One word can make all the difference. Hank [Seizant] and I have been having a back-and-forth re:bus driver [Cecil] McWatters' 11/22/63 affidavit. But we've both been basing it on the wrong word. And the person who got us started off on the wrong foot was McWatters himself. He may at times have seemed scatterbrained, but he could get very precise when he needed to. And he had to be precise regarding when and where he picked up [Lee Harvey] Oswald. One wrong word--in the right place--and McW picks up Oswald on Elm and doesn't deposit him until Oak Cliff.
To begin to clarify, I'll flash forward to McW's Commission testimony. Hank summarizes, "The pickup spot for Oswald in McWatter's testimony was between Field and Griffin." McW himself:
Mr. McWatters - ...Griffin Street....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.
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.
So, whether McW's confusing testimony here means that he stopped "across Field Street in the middle of the intersection" or "even with Griffin", or "between Field and Griffin" (as Hank says), there ain't no bus stop for McW's bus to stop at. Just like Elm and Houston.
McW answers counsel Joseph Ball's question re the pickup spot as stated in his affidavit, "Do you have a bus stop at Houston and Elm?" by saying,
Mr. McWATTERS - Yes, sir; there is a bus stop there for the buses that go on under the underpass.
Mr. BALL - Is there a bus stop for the buses that go south on Houston?
Mr. McWATTERS - No, sir; all the buses, we have to get in, this is a one-way street and you have to get over in this lane here.
Mr. BALL - By the lane you mean the extreme left lane?
Mr. McWATTERS - The extreme left lane to make--
Mr. BALL - To make the left turn south on Houston Street?
Mr. McWATTERS - Yes.
So, no stop for McW's bus at Elm and Houston, as there was no bus stop between Field and Griffin. It's a wonder Oswald was allowed on the bus at all. But Ball is asking the wrong question. ("Do you have a bus stop at Houston and Elm?") And McW goes to far as to "correct" him when he asks the right question:
Mr. BALL - Do you remember having picked up any man around the lower end of town at Elm around Houston?
Mr. McWATTERS - Elm and Houston?
Mr. BALL - Yes.
And so McW--by just slightly rewording Ball's question--deftly gets him back on the wrong track.
For this is the actual statement in the 11/22 affidavit:
"I picked up a man on the lower end of town on Elm around Houston."
"Elm around Houston". Not the same thing as "Elm and Houston", Mr. McW. Just as (in McW's testimony) the revised site would, it seems, have to be "Elm around Field" or "Elm around Griffin", not Elm and Field or Elm and Griffin. (McW, you may have noticed, was unclear--he seems to start his stop near Field and end it near Griffin--a long, slow braking.) The issue here is not, Is there or is there not a bus stop for those turning left at Elm and Houston? The question is, rather, a broader one, Where exactly did McW pick up Oswald? Unfortunately, we can't be more exact than "Elm around Houston", which might mean Elm and Record, which latter is one block from Elm and was, according to:
Mr. McWATTERS - In other words, my last stop, in other words at this corner right here on Record Street, all buses turning to the left have to stop at this corner right here.
Mr. BALL - At Record and Elm?
Mr. McWATTERS - At Record and Elm.
"Elm around Houston" might also mean halfway between Record and Houston or just west of Elm and Record. "Around" isn't specific. But whether McW meant Record, or just west of Record, or halfway between Record and Houston, "around" might apply. "Around Houston" would NOT apply, however, to Elm and/around Field, or Griffin, which, as McW noted, was about 7 blocks from the depository.
What's the difference, you might ask, whether Oswald boarded the bus near Record or near Griffin? Well, the whole story re McW's bus and Whaley's cab depends on the pickup spot. If the latter is near Griffin, the story flies. If it's near Record, it doesn't, because--as McW himself insisted--Record was his last stop on Elm. And the official story was, of course, on and off on Elm. Didn't happen. And the "off" couldn't have happened on Houston, no traffic backed up or held up there that I've ever heard. So no reason for Oswald to disembark, catch a cab...and get to Oak Cliff in time to be J.D. Tippit's killer. Any statement by McW which begins with a pickup of Oswald anywhere other than "Elm around Houston" is fraudulent.
McW could have explained what he meant by "around", but apparently thought that is was more important to misdirect Ball.
But, yes, we're so very used to the received version of the events of that day. I found myself wondering why Oswald would opt to walk 7 blocks to catch a bus up Elm rather than walk one or two to catch that same bus, a little later, on Houston, at Main or Commerce. But McW's bus was apparently actually closer (as suggested above) than even Main or Commerce. In fact, it may have been so close that "around Houston" meant that it was much closer to Houston than to Record. That scene in which Oswald is banging on the door of the bus may really have happened, but at a different spot, very near Houston, that is, rather than Field. Picture Oswald seeing his quickest chance to get away from the scene of his crime about to leave without him. He's a desperate man. He zigzags, dangerously, through traffic, to get to McW's bus--famously, in the far left lane--before it can reach the point of beginning the turn south. He makes it, just in time, and frantically--and at the same time relieved--bangs on the bus door, and McW reluctantly relents, and the door swings open. Saved! Same scene, different context. "around Houston" Maybe that's what McW meant by that phrase. And if, subsequently, he cannot explain the latter, we must do it for him. Glad to oblige, McW, you sly dog you. Pretty good ruse--you had us all going. The wrong way....
dcw