John Thomas Masen photo

[Guest Tom Scully]

I forgot what doc I pulled this from:

Dallas T-1 (Frank Ellsworth) advised the remainder of the information originally reported by this informant is still correct as far as he knows.

‘They did tell me that about six weeks prior to November 22, 1963 one of the members of the Minute Men (they said they could not recall who) came to their house about 9:30 pm. He came to the front door and told the Informant’s wife that he wanted some ammunition. A man was with him. Both men stayed in the yard and did not enter the house. The INFORMANT got the ammunition and gave it to them. Neither thought any more about it until November 22, 1963 when he saw a newspaper photograph of Lee Harvey Oswald. Both noticed a close resemblance between Oswald and the man who was with the Minute Man a few weeks before. Both were afraid that he was Oswald and were afraid to say anything. Both said they felt that the Minute Men were involved in the assassination although that very little was said by members they knew following the assassination except to express satisfaction that it happened. I told INFORMANT I had someone in Dallas I wanted him to see and we arranged to do so on Oct. 28.

…Dallas T-1 advised “I picked up informant about 4:00 pm (10/28/64) and drove him to Dallas, Texas. I drove him to the vicinity of The Gun Shop, 7402 Harry Hines Blvd., a business operated by one JOHN THOMAS MASEN. I pointed out the business to the INFORMANT. We then drove by and observed several men in the front of the shop. The INFORMANT picked out MASEN from the group and identified him as the man he thought was OSWALD. I parked around the corner and the informant walked back to the shop. He returned about ten minutes later and said that MASEN recognized him when he entered the shop and appeared glad to see him. That they talked about guns a few minutes and Masen invited him to come back. The INFORMANT stated that he does not know if Masen is a member of the Minute Men or not.

Masen sells guns and ammunition from his storefront, and spends an evening collecting ammunition at 9:30 pm, waiting in the front yard of a residence for his friend's ammo order to be filled by someone unknown to Masen?

Masen at 5' 5", 130 lbs., standing in the shadows in the yard, must have made quite an impression to this unknown person feeding Ellsworth, six weeks later, with his tale of his and his wife's recognition, to their own horror.

Edited April 1, 2012 by Tom Scully