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)