Gerald Posner vs Rose Cheramie
by Martin Shackelford
Item Number Two:Posner vs. Rose Cheramie POSNER (footnote, p. 446): "As Garrison developed the story, Cheramie had warned the hospital staff that JFK would be killed in Dallas...Dr. Victor Weiss, a treating physician, told investigators that he did not hear her say anything about the assassination until November 25, the day after
Ruby killed Oswald (HSCA Vol. X, p. 200)." (Note: he implies Garrison's witnesses were limited to hospital staff, and only mentions the testimony of one doctor; he adds that she made up stories on other occasions, leaving the impression that she was a chronic liar who told this story only after Ruby shot Oswald.)
HSCA Vol. X: pp. 200-201: "[According to Dr. Victor Weiss] Dr. Bowers allegedly told Weiss that the patient, Rose Cheramie, had stated before the assassination that President Kennedy was going to be killed. Weiss questioned Cheramie about her statements."p. 201: "Francis Fruge, a lieutenant with the Louisiana State Police in 1963, was the police officer who first came to Cheramie's assistance on November 20, 1963, had her committed to the State Hospital, and later released her into his custody after the assassination to investigate her allegations. *** "Fruge said that during the '1 to 2 hour' ride to Jackson, he asked Cheramie some 'routine' questions. *** "Fruge asked Cheramie what she was going to do in Dallas:'She said she was going to, number one, pick up some money, pick up her baby, and to kill Kennedy.'...Fruge had Cheramie admitted the the hospital late on November 20." (Note: Fruge got additional details after the assassination, checked out as much of her story as he could, and what he could check out did check out; p. 202). p. 203 (regarding Cheramie's credibility): "...in 1965, FBI agents investigated a tip from Rozella Clinkscales, alias Melba Marcades, alias Rose Cheramie...she claimed she had information about a heroin deal operating from a New Orleans ship. A call to the Coast Guard verified an ongoing narcotics investigation of the ship." (She apparently tended to provide authorities with a mixture of true and false information.)Fruge was also interviewed in 1978 by Anthony Summers (Conspiracy) p. 591 note 83): "On the way to the hospital, Cheramie--Fruge told me--mentioned that she had heard the two men discussing a plot to kill the President in Dallas."p. 592: "Fruge told the Committee that during a later follow-up inquiry, he checked with the owner of the Silver Slipper Lounge--the brothel where Cheramie had been with her two companions. He examined a number of photographs shown to him by Fruge, and picked out one of Sergio Arcacha Smith [an associate of David Ferrie, Guy Banister and Carlos Marcello] and another of a Cuban exile Fruge named 'Osanto.' When I interviewed Fruge, he said he learned of the identity of Cheramie's companions from her initial conversation with him."Item Number Three:Posner's "Obliterated" throat woundPOSNER:p. 289: "That surgical procedure cut directly over the exit wound on the throat, and therefore, within minutes of the President's arrival, that wound was obliterated by Dr. Perry's larger incision."p. 305: "Moreover, the tracheotomy done by Dr. Perry at Parkland had obliterated the neck wound..."Dr. Perry's accounts: Dr. Perry's handwritten admission note (CE 392, WC XVII pp. 6-7) doesn't address the issue one way or another. Dr. Perry briefly mentioned the issue in his Warren Commission testimony (WC III p. 369): "I then began the tracheotomy making a transverse incision right through the wound in the neck." The semi-circular margins of the original wound are clearly visible at the top and bottom center of the tracheotomy wound in the autopsy photos designated Fox 1 and Fox 2, and in the HSCA's enlargement of the wound (HSCA VII p. 92, Figure 9). Photographically, or with a computer (as was done below), they can easily be rejoined to provide an image of the original, "unobliterated" wound.Item Number Four:Posner and the TSBD Roll Call POSNER (p. 272): "By the time Day left for the lab, the police, with Roy Truly, had gathered every one of the Depository's employees on the first floor. The only one missing was Lee Oswald." (No source is cited for this). ROY TRULY: (WC 3 p. 229-30): "Mr. Truly: [After police sealed off the TSBD] I noticed some of my boys were over in the west corner of the shipping department, and there were several officers over there taking their names and addresses, and so forth. "There were other officers in other parts of the building taking other employees, like office people's names. I noticed that Lee Oswald was not among these boys.*** "I asked Bill Shelley if he had seen him, he looked around and said no.*** "So Mr. Campbell is standing there, and I said 'I have a boy over here missing. I don't know whether to report it or not.' Because I had another one or two out then...He said,'Well, we better do it anyway.'... "So I picked the phone up then and called Mr. Aiken, at the warehouse, and got the boy's name and general description and telephone number and address at Irving.***[Mr. H.S. Aiken, company bookkeeper, was twice interviewed by the FBI, but never asked about Truly's phone call.] "Mr. Belin: Why didn't you ask for any other employees? "Mr. Truly: That is the only one that I could be certain right then was missing.*** "Mr. Truly: Chief Lumpkin of the Dallas Police Department was standing a few feet from me. I told Chief Lumpkin that I had a boy missing over here--'I don't know whether it amounts to anything or not.' " [Lumpkin took him to Captain Fritz on the 6th floor, Truly added.] "Mr. Truly:...Chief Lumpkin stepped over and told Captain Fritz that I had something that I wanted to tell him....And I told him about this boy missing."(WC 3 p. 239): "Representative Ford: Do you know about what time that was that you told the police? "Mr. Truly: ...I think it was around 15--between 15 and 20 minutes after the shots...I could be as far off as 5 minutes or so...I did not seem to think it was very long." (WC 7 p. 382-3): "Mr. Truly: When I noticed this boy was missing, I told Chief Lumpkin that,'We have a man here that's missing.' I said,'It may not mean anything, but he isn't here.' *** "Mr. Ball: Was he the only man missing? "Mr. Truly: The only one I noticed at that time. Now, I think there was one or two more, possibly Charles Givens, but I had seen him out in front walking up the street just before the firing of the gun. *** "Mr. Ball: Did you make a check of your employees afterwards? "Mr. Truly: No, no; not complete. No, I just saw a group of the employees over there on the floor and I noticed this boy wasn't with them. With no thought in my mind except that I had seen him a short time before in the building, I noticed he wasn't there. "Mr. Ball: What do you mean 'a short time before'? "Mr. Truly: I would say 10 or 12 minutes. "Mr. Ball: You mean that's when you saw him in the lunchroom? "Mr. Truly: In the lunchroom...I asked Bill Shelley if he had seen him around, and he said 'No'." ***(WC 7 p. 384) "Mr. Truly: ...Chief Lumpkin told Captain Fritz that Mr. Truly had something to tell him, which I would like to tell him, so he stepped over 4 or 5 feet to where I was, away from the other men...and I repeated the words to Captain Fritz."(Note: In neither appearance before the Commission did Truly mention a roll call or anything resembling a roll call of all employees.)CAPTAIN WILL FRITZ:(WC 4 p. 206): "Mr. Fritz: That was about the time we finished Mr. Truly came and told me that one of his employees had left the building, and I asked his name and he gave me his name, Lee Harvey Oswald, and I asked his address and he gave me the Irving address. "Mr. Ball: This was after the rifle was found? "Mr. Fritz: Yes, sir; after the rifle was found. "Mr. Ball: Another witness has testified that the rifle was found at 1:22 p.m...."(Note: Nowhere in his testimony does Capt. Fritz mention a roll call or anything resembling a roll call: just Truly telling him an employee had left the building. He did say that immediately after Truly told him the name, Fritz left the TSBD to return to headquarters and follow up this lead; unlikely if Truly is correct about the time.)Mr. Posner seems to rely on the Warren Commission, which in turn relied on a second-hand account supported by neither of the first-hand witnesses: it was from Sgt. Gerald Hill:(WC 7 p. 59): "And I asked the captain why he wanted him [Oswald], and he said, 'Well, he was employed down at the Book Depository and he had not been present for a roll call of the employees.' "It is clear that either Capt. Fritz misinterpreted the situation and assumed that Truly had based his report on a roll call, or that Sgt. Hill misinterpreted what he was told by Capt. Fritz. It is also clear that there was no roll call, no gathering of "every" employee "on the first floor." Truly specifically notes that employees were being questioned by police in various parts of the building. He also notes that Oswald wasn't "the only one missing." Eddie Piper described the police questioning as "the lineup...they lined us all up and told us to give our name and address." (WC 7 p. 389), but also made it clear that police were taking people's names and addresses before allowing them to leave the building, rather than a formal sort of roll call. It was "about 1 p.m." according to his affidavit (WC XIX p. 499).Besides Truly, Bonnie Ray Williams noted the absence of Charles Givens (WC 3 p. 183): "He wasn't in the building at the time. He was downtown somewhere."Givens indicated the building was sealed off by the time he returned, and the officer wouldn't let him enter (WC 6 p. 355). Edward Shields testified that he was with Givens, and also wasn't allowed back into the building (WC 7 p. 395). Item Number Five:Posner vs. Oswald-Banister link (4-30-96 update)POSNER (p. 141): "There simply is no credible evidence that Oswald ever had an office at 544 Camp Street or, much less, that he knew Guy Banister." Posner notes: 1. The HSCA "questioned six other individuals who worked for Guy Banister during the summer of 1963, and none of them recalled seeing Oswald at 544 Camp." (p. 139). The HSCA (X p. 128) lists seven witnesses who didn't see Oswald there: 4 worked there in the summer of 1963, one left in 1958, one left in January 1962, and one was a visitor who visited only through 1962. "Several witnesses recommended the Committee speak with Jack Martin or Delphine Roberts since they were in most contact with Banister." (HSCA X p. 129)Posner dismisses the following: 1. Oswald's leaflets were stamped "544 Camp St.," the address of the building in which Banister's office was housed. Posner correctly notes that Sam Newman, the building's owner, told the FBI he never rented to Oswald (HSCA X p. 123). This avoids the question of whether someone else rented an office for him, which is what might be expected if Oswald was working for Banister. 2. The testimony of Jack Martin, who said he saw Oswald with David Ferrie in Banister's office in 1963 (HSCA X p. 130). He was a not particularly reliable drunk who worked as an investigator for Banister. Sam Newman told HSCA that Martin was in Banister's office "90 percent of the time; every day almost" and he "kept up with all that stuff."(HSCA X p. 135, note 104) 3. The testimony of Delphine Roberts, Banister's secretary and mistress, that Banister kept a file on Oswald that "was kept out of the original files" (the Louisiana State Police confirmed Banister had a file on the FPCC and Oswald: HSCA X p. 131), that Banister was angry Oswald stamped 544 Camp St. on his leaflets, and that Oswald came into the office "on several occasions."(HSCA X p. 129) She also said Banister told her, when she reported Oswald's leafletting to him, that "He's with us. He's associated with the office." (Anthony Summers, Conspiracy, 1991 ed., p. 295) Posner notes that she is extreme right-wing, a religious nut and was paid for her interview with Anthony Summers (pp. 140-41), none of which proves she was lying. Banister friend and associate Ivan Nitschke told HSCA:"If you were trying to explore this to the fullest extent, I would say that Delphine would be No. 1."(HSCA X p. 135, note 104). Roberts told Summers Oswald worked for Banister. (Conspiracy, op. cit., pp. 294-5).He ignores the following: 1. James Arthus' statement to the Secret Service that a man whose name he didn't recall had tried to rent an office at 544 Camp Street. (HSCA X p. 125); he gave them the name of the woman who had dealt with the man, but she was never questioned. (Just as Banister was never asked about Oswald.) 2. The statement of Ross Banister, Guy's brother, that he knew Guy had an interest in Oswald, though he didn't think they were connected (HSCA X p. 128). 3. The statement of Ivan Nitschke, the Banister friend and associate, that Banister had some of Oswald's handbills in his office (HSCA X p. 128). 4. Banister's widow Mary confirmed this to Andrew Sciambra of Jim Garrison's office (Anthony Summers, Conspiracy, op. cit., p. 292). She found a supply of the leaflets in her late husband's storeroom (Warren Hinckle and William Turner, Deadly Secrets, p. 234). 5. Banister employees Allen and Daniel Campbell. Daniel reported that Oswald came into Banister's office and used the desk phone. Allen reports that instead of reacting with his usual anger at pro-Castro activities, Banister merely laughed when Oswald's leafletting was mentioned. (Conspiracy, op. cit., p. 293). 6. Another young Banister employee, George Higginbothan, said he kidded Banister "about sharing a building with people papering the streets with leftist literature." Banister responded:"Cool it--one of them is mine." (Hinckle and Turner, Deadly Secrets, pp. 234-5) 7. Adrian Alba, whose office Oswald regularly visited, reported seeing Oswald in Mancuso's restaurant, on the ground floor of 544 Camp St. (Conspiracy, op. cit., p. 296). The restaurant was frequented by Banister. The restaurant's owner described Banister, David Ferrie and Jack Martin as regular customers.(HSCA X p. 125). 8. CIA operative William George Gaudet reported seeing Oswald with Banister. (Conspiracy op. cit., p. 444). 9. Southern Louisiana University historian Michael Kurtz knew that Oswald and Banister twice visited the Louisiana State University campus together and engaged in heated discussions with students; he was, at the time, one of the students. He also saw the two together at Mancuso's (Kurtz, Crime of the Century, 1993 edition, p. 203, xxxix). Witnesses he interviewed for an earlier article reported seeing Oswald and Banister together at Mancuso's "with David Ferrie and Carlos Quiroga"; Oswald was seen entering Banister's office "several times"; one of Oswald's co-workers at the Reily Coffee Co. saw Oswald and Banister walking together on Camp St.; another witness reported the two attended a White Citizens' Council meeting (reminiscent of the meetings Oswald is known to have attended in Dallas). (Kurtz, "Lee Harvey Oswald in New Orleans: A Reappraisal," Louisiana History vol. 21, Winter 1980). 10. Another intriguing confirmation comes from Chuck Giancana, brother of Chicago Mafia boss Sam Giancana, who reported Sam told him that Banister was affiliated with the Chicago Mob from his FBI days in Chicago: "We know [him]...real well." (Sam and Chuck Giancana, Double Cross, p. 211) He was transferred to Marcello in New Orleans (ibid., p. 255), where the Chicago-affiliated roving Mob ambassador Johnny Rosselli kept in touch with him and approved his manipulation of Oswald (ibid., pp. 332-3). 11. Further confirmation comes from Through the Looking Glass: The Mysterious World of Clay Shaw by William Davy: New Orleans attorney Tommy Baumler, formerly an infiltrator of left-wing college groups for Banister, told interviewers in 1981 that "Oswald worked for Banister." Item Number Six:Posner vs. the Photographs: Walker homePOSNER (p. 117, footnote 2): "An issue was later created when the Warren Commission showed Marina one of the surviving five photographs Lee had taken of the Walker residence, and she said that a hole in the print, which more than obliterated the license plate on a car parked in front of Walker's house, had been added since Lee had shown it to her. But Marina may be mistaken. A photo of evidence taken from Oswald's flat after the assassination shows the hole was in the print at that time. Also, the photo was taken from such a distance that the license plate of the car would not have been legible in any case..."Question 1. Was the hole in the photograph when the police found it?:WARREN COMMISSION (XVI p. 7):The photograph referred to, with the hole, is CE 5.CHIEF JESSE CURRY (Dallas Police): On p. 113 of his book JFK Assassination File (1969, American Poster & Printing Company), Chief Curry includes a full-page photo of evidence found at the Paine home (also reprinted full-page on p. 46 of Cover-up by Gary Shaw and Larry Harris, with detail on p. 47, and also on p. 124 of The Killing of a President by Robert J. Groden, 1993, Viking Studio). In the lower left hand corner is the photo which became CE 5. Although an envelope partially covers the photo, it doesn't cover the area where the hole later appeared; this area has no hole. Question 2. Would the license plate not have been legible at that distance?WARREN COMMISSION (XXI p. 714): Walker exhibit No. 3 is an FBI reconstruction photo showing approximately the same view as CE 5. It appears to have been taken from the same distance, or slightly farther away than CE 5. Even in the printed version, less than half the size of CE 5, the license number of the car is clearly discernible and nearly readable. It would be easily readable in a photographic print, or a printed version the same size as CE 5. The Car from CE 5 The car from DPD photo The car from Walker ------------------------------ end -----------------------------------