Two Oswalds in the Texas Theater

[Ron Bulman]

3 hours ago, Jim Hargrove said:

I found a Warren H. Burroughs, age 78, listed on truepeoplesearch.com with mailing addresses going back to 1990 in Lancaster TX, Dallas TX, Desoto TX and more recently (2016-2017) in Maine.

Could this be our man?  If it sounds possible, I can start queries on several email addresses given and quite a few phone numbers as well, but I’d like to establish that this contact meets some basic criteria before starting to ask around. Anyone?

I'm not sure what you mean by basic criteria Jim.  Verification of identity?  Still lucid memory?  Any interview recorded?  

Regarding questions.  You did see the man known to the world now as Oswald taken out the front door?  You did see another man resembling him, in your words he looked like his brother, taken out the back door by police?  Any idea if this man was brought down from the balcony?  Who was the manager on duty at the time all this happened?  Who was the projectionist?  You sold Oswald, the one taken out the front, pop corn, saw him face to face before he was arrested?

Was the guy taken out the back door handcuffed?  Do you recall seeing anyone you maybe later recognized as Jack Ruby?

Edited November 7, 2019 by Ron Bulman

[Jim Hargrove]

Thanks, Ron....

I'll add those questions to the list if I reach Mr. Burroughs and he turns out to be our guy.  Some, but not all, of this was covered by James Douglass.  What is really a shot in the dark, though, is identifying the manager or acting manager or bogus manager or whatever he turns out to be.  Who turned up the house lights for the police?  Did Callahan really leave at the same time the 1:30 pm Oswald arrived at the theater?

[Karl Hilliard]

On 10/26/2019 at 11:50 AM, Steve Thomas said:

Johnny Brewer and Julia Postal are both listening to the radio on their transistor radios. Johnny Brewer hears on his radio that a policeman has been shot in Oak Cliff. 

Apologies if this info has been posted before---

     Brewer 'heard'? Impossible. I have listened to and timed the available recordings of the major Dallas radio Nov 22 broadcasts WBAP WFAA KBOX KLIF [available on line] and reports of the shooting of a Dallas policeman were not made until after 1:50 PM Dallas time. Oswald had already been confronted at the theater! Therefore Johnny Brewer could not have heard about Tippit's shooting before 1:30 [the time he said he saw 'Oswald'] Now, the myth has morphed into...Brewer had heard that a cop was KILLED before he followed his suspect. Brewer was made a hero for doing absolutely nothing except lying and then keeping his mouth shut.

http://jfkfiles.blogspot.com/2011/11/johnny-calvin-brewer-man-who-helped.html

 

 

[Bill Simpich]

I reached Burroughs a couple weeks ago and I am working out an interview.  Any questions you want me to ask?  

[Stu Wexler]

[If he confirms what he saw]: Did anyone else see what he saw?  Who?  

[Ron Bulman]

3 hours ago, Bill Simpich said:

I reached Burroughs a couple weeks ago and I am working out an interview.  Any questions you want me to ask?  

Wow.  History in motion.  Thank you Bill for your efforts!  I'm kind of stunned by this at the moment.  Just got home from watching sixman football.  I'll stick with the questions I mentioned to Jim H for tonight.  I imagine you might improve on them.

[Jim Hargrove]

17 hours ago, Bill Simpich said:

I reached Burroughs a couple weeks ago and I am working out an interview.  Any questions you want me to ask?  

Awesome!  I’ll stop trying to reach him.  Suggestions for questions:

1. Who was your boss at the Texas Theater?
2. Is the name John Callahan familiar to you?  If so, was Mr. Callahan the manager of your theater?  Do you know if he managed other theaters in the area as well?  Was Mr. Callahan at the theater that afternoon?  When did he leave?
3. During the arrest(s), a man apparently told Dallas policeman John Toney that he was the “manager on duty.” Do you know who that man might be?  Did a title such as “manager on duty” actually exist?
4. Who turned on the house lights prior to the arrest(s)?
5. When you saw the Oswald lookalike handcuffed by police, was there any indication he had been brought down from the balcony?  Do you recall anything about the clothing worn by the lookalike?  For example, the color of his shirt?
6. Why did you wait several decades before talking about the Oswald lookalike?
7. Have you ever suspected that any of your statements to authorities were altered?
8. Did you see Dallas policeman interviewing theater patrons and taking notes? If so, how long did that process take?
9. One theater patron said he saw a man who looked like Jack Ruby at the rear of the theater.  Did you see anyone resembling Ruby there?
10. Do you have any idea what time the Oswald lookalike arrived at the theater?
11. Do you think Julia Postal sold the first Oswald a ticket?

Edited November 9, 2019 by Jim Hargrove

[John Butler]

5 hours ago, Jim Hargrove said:

Awesome!  I’ll stop trying to reach him.  Suggestions for questions:

1. Who was your boss at the Texas Theater?
2. Is the name John Callahan familiar to you?  If so, was Mr. Callahan the manager of your theater?  Do you know if he managed other theaters in the area as well?  Was Mr. Callahan at the theater that afternoon?  When did he leave?
3. During the arrest(s), a man apparently told Dallas policeman John Toney that he was the “manager on duty.” Do you know who that man might be?  Did a title such as “manager on duty” actually exist?
4. Who turned on the house lights prior to the arrest(s)?
5. When you saw the Oswald lookalike handcuffed by police, was there any indication he had been brought down from the balcony?  Do you recall anything about the clothing worn by the lookalike?  For example, the color of his shirt?
6. Why did you wait several decades before talking about the Oswald lookalike?
7. Have you ever suspected that any of your statements to authorities were altered?
8. Did you see Dallas policeman interviewing theater patrons and taking notes? If so, how long did that process take?
9. One theater patron said he saw a man who looked like Jack Ruby at the rear of the theater.  Did you see anyone resembling Ruby there?
10. Do you have any idea what time the Oswald lookalike arrived at the theater?
11. Do you think Julia Postal sold the first Oswald a ticket?

Here's one I would like to add to Jim's list:

12.  Who was the projectionist in the projection booth.  Was there one or two operators?  If so, who was the second?

[Bill Simpich]

Thank you.  Keep the suggestions coming!

[Ron Bulman]

Starting off a bit more subtly, establishing background.  What was the normal procedure of operation of the theater?  Did a manager or assistant manager come in to oversee opening it.  Did they normally leave after it did? 

What was your first inkling that something was amiss?

Did anything catch your attention about Oswald when you sold him popcorn?  Did he seem nervous, looking around or maybe pull out half of a torn in half dollar bill?

Were you aware the manager left (to see what was happening, where all the passing police were going) at the time the second Oswald was entering the theater?

[Ron Bulman]

Have you ever been discouraged about speaking on this subject?  At the time or in the years afterwards?

[Ron Bulman]

On 11/8/2019 at 1:55 PM, Karl Hilliard said:

Apologies if this info has been posted before---

     Brewer 'heard'? Impossible. I have listened to and timed the available recordings of the major Dallas radio Nov 22 broadcasts WBAP WFAA KBOX KLIF [available on line] and reports of the shooting of a Dallas policeman were not made until after 1:50 PM Dallas time. Oswald had already been confronted at the theater! Therefore Johnny Brewer could not have heard about Tippit's shooting before 1:30 [the time he said he saw 'Oswald'] Now, the myth has morphed into...Brewer had heard that a cop was KILLED before he followed his suspect. Brewer was made a hero for doing absolutely nothing except lying and then keeping his mouth shut.

http://jfkfiles.blogspot.com/2011/11/johnny-calvin-brewer-man-who-helped.html

 

 

An interview of Brewer by someone along the lines of Bill could be interesting here as well.

About these two IBM employee's, why did they hang out in a shoe store, over a period of time?  That seems unusual in itself, enough one would think you'd remember thier names.  

Did you know before the assassination your co worker was tight with Ruby?  Did you know Ruby?

For starters.

[Paul Jolliffe]

On 11/9/2019 at 10:10 PM, Ron Bulman said:

An interview of Brewer by someone along the lines of Bill could be interesting here as well.

About these two IBM employee's, why did they hang out in a shoe store, over a period of time?  That seems unusual in itself, enough one would think you'd remember thier names.  

Did you know before the assassination your co worker was tight with Ruby?  Did you know Ruby?

For starters.

Ron,

I agree that interviewing Brewer is a must. However, there is a fundamental difference between Burroughs and Brewer: we believe Butch Burroughs was essentially telling the truth as he remembered it.

However, I believe that Johnny Brewer has long suspected that he was used by someone else (the "IBM men", Tommy Rowe, someone else) who urged/cajoled/ordered Brewer to follow the stranger to the Texas Theater and to call the DPD. In other words, Johnny Brewer knows he has been telling a fundamentally dishonest story for 56 years, a story for which he has been lauded a hero.  I believe Johnny Brewer has been covering for the person/people who remained back at Hardy's Shoes that day, the ones who sent him chasing after the stranger to the Texas Theater. There is something sensitive about that person/people, something investigators did not want to touch. Brewer may yet be an informative source, even if, as I suspect, he will be hostile. 

[Steve Thomas]

On 11/9/2019 at 3:43 PM, Bill Simpich said:

Thank you.  Keep the suggestions coming!

Bill.

 

Had Burroughs ever seen Oswald in the movies before?

Or anywhere else for that matter?

I don't think the WC asked him.

 

Steve Thomas

[Jim Hargrove]

Since Mr. Burroughs and Mr. Brewer (the “shoe salesman” in Burroughs’ testimony) clearly communicated that afternoon, it might be interesting to ask Mr. Burroughs for everything he could recall that Brewer said.  It was more than half a century ago, but that day surely was memorable for everyone present at the theater, and so there might yet be some detail overlooked for all these years.