Two Oswalds in the Texas Theater

[Jim Hargrove]

On 8/1/2019 at 8:58 PM, Ron Bulman said:

Jim, any more info you know of on the Hutson or Gibson noted in the diagram?

Ron,

Hutson was a Dallas cop. According to John A., “Hutson counted 7 theater patrons sitting in the south, center, and north sections of the lower level” of the theater.

John Gibson was a theater patron who originally sat on the main floor back row of the south section, the last seat near the south wall. According to John, Gibson heard a policeman yell, "Lock the doors," and ran to help the officers.¹¹⁷ 

[Ron Bulman]

On 7/22/2019 at 3:20 PM, Micah Mileto said:

Top 9 problems with Johnny Brewer I know of:

1. Brewer's first statement was made on 12/6/63, two weeks after the assassination, not the same day or the day after, which would have been preferable for an important witness. 

2. Brewer claimed to have SEEN, not heard, Police vehicles passing by a location where they almost certainly were not present.

3. Brewer claimed to have heard a description of the suspect on the radio BEFORE he saw the suspect, even though evidently no such description was circulating public airwaves at this time. 

4. Brewer claimed to SEE the suspect enter the Texas Theater without buying a ticket, yet he also claimed to have asked the clerk if the suspect bought a ticket. 

5. As summarized on harveyandlee.net:  A very close friend of Jack Ruby's, Tommy Rowe, worked at Hardy's Shoe Store with Brewer. In 1964 Rowe told friends, relatives, and JFK researchers that it was he, NOT Brewer, who pointed out (HARVEY) Oswald to the police in the dark of the Texas Theater. Rowe was so close to Jack Ruby that Rowe moved into Ruby's apartment when Ruby went to jail for killing HARVEY Oswald. (Click here to see Midlothian Mirror editorial about Tommy Rowe.)  (Click here for a 3/1/68 Los Angeles Free Press interview with Penn Jones and Roger Craig also discussing Tommy Rowe.) Unfortunately, Tommy Rowe was never interviewed by the DPD or FBI or WC or HSCA. It is worth repeating that in 1967 the New Orleans District Attorney's office interviewed Tommy Rowe, who lived in Apt. 206 at 223 S. Ewing (the same apartment occupied by Jack Ruby in 1963). Mr. Rowe said that he told shoe store manager Johnny Brewer that he saw a man wear­ing a brown shirt enter the Texas Theater on the afternoon of November 22, 1963. If Rowe's statement is true then Johnny Brewer never saw the man in the brown shirt in front of his store, enter the theater, nor did he point out (HARVEY) to the police.

6. When interviewed by Ian Griggs, Brewer claimed that two acquaintances were also present in the shoe store, who he would not identify besides to say they were employees of IBM. 

7. As summarized by Gokay Hasan Yusuf on KennedysAndKing.com: When Ian Griggs interviewed Johnny Brewer in 1996, Brewer told him that he heard Oswald shout out "It's all over"; or words to that effect (Griggs, No Case to Answer, page 64). But when Brewer testified before the Warren Commission, Brewer merely claimed that he heard some hollering, and that he couldn't make out exactly what Oswald said (WC Volume VII, page 6)

8. ibid: When Johnny Brewer testified before the Warren Commission, he claimed that he observed a gun in Oswald's hand aimed "up in the air" (WC Volume VII, page 6). During his interview with Ian Griggs in 1996, he now claimed that Oswald was trying to shoot McDonald in the head (Griggs, No Case to Answer, page 64). Yet, none of the other witnesses and the arresting Officers, let alone Nick McDonald, claimed that this is what they had seen during the scuffle. Moreover, Brewer's claim is directly contradicted by Charles Walker, who stated that the gun was pointed about waist high.

9. ibid: When Johnny Calvin Brewer, the shoe store manager who allegedly witnessed Oswald duck into the Theater without paying, testified before the Warren Commission on April 2, 1964, he claimed that he heard someone holler "He's got a gun" (ibid, page 6). Brewer explained that before he heard this, he had seen a gun "...come up and - in Oswald's hand, a gun up in the air" (ibid). But as discussed in part 1 of this writer's review of With Malice, this was most certainly a lie (see under the subheading VI: Closing in). Aside from Hill and Brewer, this writer knows of no other officer (or witness) who claimed that they heard someone yell out that Oswald had a gun. This writer is also unaware of any officer/witness who took credit for yelling out that Oswald had a gun.

This was a great post Micah.  I'd never read most of this on Brewer.  He's almost worth a thread on his own.  Actually one of the crucial witnesses for the whole Theater arrest to work.  As you point out, two weeks before his statement.  Time for his story to be "developed" by the DPD, FBI, SS (kind of like Malcom Perry's was "evolved")?  Then when it got to the Warren Omission testimony it was refined and he was coached?  Lot's of discrepancies and embellishment between it and what he told Ian Griggs (RIP) in 1996.  

[Jim Hargrove]

Nearly half a century ago, Penn Jones pointed out that Brewer was probably a shill for Ruby’s friend Tommy Rowe, who also worked at Hardy’s Shoe Store.  Rowe said that it was he, not Brewer, who claimed “Oswald” entered the theater.  Rowe was so close to Ruby that he moved into his apartment after Ruby was put in jail.  Yet another indication that Ruby was far more intimately connected with the events of 11/22/63 than we were led to believe.

See the brief Penn Jones article here:

MIDLOTHIAN MIRROR
 

[John Kozlowski]

52 minutes ago, Jim Hargrove said:

Nearly half a century ago, Penn Jones pointed out that Brewer was probably a shill for Ruby’s friend Tommy Rowe, who also worked at Hardy’s Shoe Store.  Rowe said that it was he, not Brewer, who claimed “Oswald” entered the theater.  Rowe was so close to Ruby that he moved into his apartment after Ruby was put in jail.  Yet another indication that Ruby was far more intimately connected with the events of 11/22/63 than we were led to believe.

See the brief Penn Jones article here:

MIDLOTHIAN MIRROR
 

Do you think Ruby had direct contact with intelligence or was he getting his orders from somewhere else?

[Jim Hargrove]

John,

There’s considerable evidence that Ruby ran guns to Cuba during several different time periods.  This was surely known by the CIA, which, although it helped prosecute many others for doing the same thing, apparently protected Ruby from prosecution.

At the same time, Ruby was closely associated with KLIF radio’s Gordon McLendon, childhood friend of the Agency's David Atlee Phillips. McLendon was co-founder with Phillips of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO) .  Ruby notoriously spend time at KLIF the night of the assassination and continued to correspond with McLendon from prison. 

I think Ruby was the direct contact between JFK’s assassin plotters (Phillips et al.) and the cover-up team.

 

[John Kozlowski]

1 hour ago, Jim Hargrove said:

John,

There’s considerable evidence that Ruby ran guns to Cuba during several different time periods.  This was surely known by the CIA, which, although it helped prosecute many others for doing the same thing, apparently protected Ruby from prosecution.

At the same time, Ruby was closely associated with KLIF radio’s Gordon McLendon, childhood friend of the Agency's David Atlee Phillips. McLendon was co-founder with Phillips of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO) .  Ruby notoriously spend time at KLIF the night of the assassination and continued to correspond with McLendon from prison. 

I think Ruby was the direct contact between JFK’s assassin plotters (Phillips et al.) and the cover-up team.

 

Thanks Jim. I knew about the guns and jeeps with Cuba but was wondering if there was anything Intelligence wise that could connect him directly with the shooting of Oswald or Oswald in general. I’d imagine they were just using cutouts in the mob like McWillie(I believe it was McWillie but could be wrong) or the radio DJ Gordon to give him orders. 

[Paul Jolliffe]

On 7/22/2019 at 4:20 PM, Micah Mileto said:

Top 9 problems with Johnny Brewer I know of:

1. Brewer's first statement was made on 12/6/63, two weeks after the assassination, not the same day or the day after, which would have been preferable for an important witness. 

2. Brewer claimed to have SEEN, not heard, Police vehicles passing by a location where they almost certainly were not present.

3. Brewer claimed to have heard a description of the suspect on the radio BEFORE he saw the suspect, even though evidently no such description was circulating public airwaves at this time. 

4. Brewer claimed to SEE the suspect enter the Texas Theater without buying a ticket, yet he also claimed to have asked the clerk if the suspect bought a ticket. 

5. As summarized on harveyandlee.net:  A very close friend of Jack Ruby's, Tommy Rowe, worked at Hardy's Shoe Store with Brewer. In 1964 Rowe told friends, relatives, and JFK researchers that it was he, NOT Brewer, who pointed out (HARVEY) Oswald to the police in the dark of the Texas Theater. Rowe was so close to Jack Ruby that Rowe moved into Ruby's apartment when Ruby went to jail for killing HARVEY Oswald. (Click here to see Midlothian Mirror editorial about Tommy Rowe.)  (Click here for a 3/1/68 Los Angeles Free Press interview with Penn Jones and Roger Craig also discussing Tommy Rowe.) Unfortunately, Tommy Rowe was never interviewed by the DPD or FBI or WC or HSCA. It is worth repeating that in 1967 the New Orleans District Attorney's office interviewed Tommy Rowe, who lived in Apt. 206 at 223 S. Ewing (the same apartment occupied by Jack Ruby in 1963). Mr. Rowe said that he told shoe store manager Johnny Brewer that he saw a man wear­ing a brown shirt enter the Texas Theater on the afternoon of November 22, 1963. If Rowe's statement is true then Johnny Brewer never saw the man in the brown shirt in front of his store, enter the theater, nor did he point out (HARVEY) to the police.

6. When interviewed by Ian Griggs, Brewer claimed that two acquaintances were also present in the shoe store, who he would not identify besides to say they were employees of IBM. 

7. As summarized by Gokay Hasan Yusuf on KennedysAndKing.com: When Ian Griggs interviewed Johnny Brewer in 1996, Brewer told him that he heard Oswald shout out "It's all over"; or words to that effect (Griggs, No Case to Answer, page 64). But when Brewer testified before the Warren Commission, Brewer merely claimed that he heard some hollering, and that he couldn't make out exactly what Oswald said (WC Volume VII, page 6)

8. ibid: When Johnny Brewer testified before the Warren Commission, he claimed that he observed a gun in Oswald's hand aimed "up in the air" (WC Volume VII, page 6). During his interview with Ian Griggs in 1996, he now claimed that Oswald was trying to shoot McDonald in the head (Griggs, No Case to Answer, page 64). Yet, none of the other witnesses and the arresting Officers, let alone Nick McDonald, claimed that this is what they had seen during the scuffle. Moreover, Brewer's claim is directly contradicted by Charles Walker, who stated that the gun was pointed about waist high.

9. ibid: When Johnny Calvin Brewer, the shoe store manager who allegedly witnessed Oswald duck into the Theater without paying, testified before the Warren Commission on April 2, 1964, he claimed that he heard someone holler "He's got a gun" (ibid, page 6). Brewer explained that before he heard this, he had seen a gun "...come up and - in Oswald's hand, a gun up in the air" (ibid). But as discussed in part 1 of this writer's review of With Malice, this was most certainly a lie (see under the subheading VI: Closing in). Aside from Hill and Brewer, this writer knows of no other officer (or witness) who claimed that they heard someone yell out that Oswald had a gun. This writer is also unaware of any officer/witness who took credit for yelling out that Oswald had a gun.

Micah,

You left out the best part:

Johnny Brewer knew "Oswald" from before and did not like him! (He called "Oswald" a "jerk" and a "pain in the butt"!)

That's right - "Oswald" was NOT UNKNOWN to Brewer before 11/22/63!

Brewer did not identify a stranger - he identified a man that he remembered as an unpleasant customer!

"Oswald" had been to Hardy's Shoes, had been waited on by Brewer and apparently was arrogant or insolent to the point where Brewer disliked him!

Brewer even started to describe that encounter in his Warren Commission testimony, but David Belin quickly changed the question!

Mr. BELIN - Why did you happen to watch this particular man? 
Mr. BREWER - He just looked funny to me. Well, in the first place, I had seen him some place before. I think he had been in my store before. And when you wait on somebody, you recognize them, and he just seemed funny. His hair was sort of messed up and looked like he had been running, and he looked seared, and he looked funny. 
Mr. BELIN - Did you notice any of his actions when he was standing in your lobby there? 
Mr. BREWER - No; he just stood there and stared. 

How do I know that Brewer remembered "Oswald" in detail?

Because Brewer remembered the exact shoes that "Oswald" purchased!

Read what Brewer himself in 1996 told Ian Griggs about his encounter with "Oswald" several weeks (or more) before the assassination:

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=16235#relPageId=8&tab=page

 

[Paul Jolliffe]

On 7/22/2019 at 7:34 AM, David Von Pein said:

I think it's possible that some of the confusion about the alleged "two arrests" could have been initially sparked by the fact that Johnny Brewer was briefly held at gunpoint as a suspect by the police at the back of the theater. And Brewer, like Oswald, was a slender white male in his 20s.

I can't find anything in the records that indicates whether or not Brewer was actually dragged outside into the alley behind the theater when he was held at gunpoint....and, of course, Brewer wasn't actually placed into a police car....but if someone did see the incident between the police and Johnny Brewer at the back of the theater, this could certainly have elevated the confusion of any witnesses as to how many people were being detained by the police at the theater.

JOHNNY BREWER (WC Testimony) -- "I heard a noise outside, and I opened the door, and the alley, I guess it was filled with police cars and policemen were on the fire exits and stacked around the alley, and they grabbed me, a couple of them, and held and searched me and asked me what I was doing there, and I told them that there was a guy in the theatre that I was suspicious of, and he asked me if he was still there."

JOHNNY BREWER (1986 Mock Trial Testimony) -- "...a gun was held on me."

 

No David.

You are completely wrong to imply witnesses may have physically confused Brewer with "Oswald"  - Johnny Brewer DID NOT RESEMBLE "OSWALD".

Don't believe me?

Here's what Johnny Brewer himself said, under oath, in 1964:

Mr. BELIN - Will you describe the man you saw? 
Mr. BREWER - He was a little man, about 5'9", and weighed about 150 pounds is all. 
Mr. BELIN - How tall are you, by the way? 
Mr. BREWER - Six three. 

 

David, your own youtube videos make it obvious that the tall, broad-shouldered Brewer could NEVER have been mistaken for '"Oswald."

Just watch Brewer stride into the courtroom - he towers over everyone there!

 

 

Edited August 9, 2019 by Paul Jolliffe

[Ron Bulman]

I'd never read the stuff about Tommy Rowe before it came up in this thread.   It's interesting about him claiming to be the one to point out Oswald to the police.  To me it's even more interesting that he was close friends with Ruby, then moved into Ruby's apartment for a year after Ruby was arrested.  Throw in him working for Brewer who remembered Oswald buying shoes from him previously and being surly and this all gets interesting enough to keep looking.  

Regarding the part about Rowe moving into Ruby's apartment after his arrest I'd never heard of this story from Roger Craig about guns, ammo and grenades in Ruby's storage shed behind his apartment.  Until I saw Micha's link.  

 

As Craig unknowingly alludes to in a way in the last paragraph, do Ruby's now known previous gun running activities lend credence to the possibility of this story being true?  Craig does state his source was an officer in the Intelligence Bureau of the DPD.

I don't know how quick this find might have happened.  But I'd think early on he'd want someone "close" to watch over all his personal stuff.  I've read the stories that he thought he'd be seen as a hero and out in no time (with the promise of high powered legal assistance, from unnamed sources).

[Jim Hargrove]

11 hours ago, John Kozlowski said:

Thanks Jim. I knew about the guns and jeeps with Cuba but was wondering if there was anything Intelligence wise that could connect him directly with the shooting of Oswald or Oswald in general.

One of the Oswalds worked closely with Ruby.  Hoover managed to bury the direct proof, but a trainload of hearsay evidence comes roaring through for anyone willing to look for it.

If you’re interested, go to the following link, scroll down the page, and read around the picture below:

THE BARE FACTS ABOUT JACK RUBY

 

[John Kozlowski]

24 minutes ago, Jim Hargrove said:

One of the Oswalds worked closely with Ruby.  Hoover managed to bury the direct proof, but a trainload of hearsay evidence comes roaring through for anyone willing to look for it.

If you’re interested, go to the following link, scroll down the page, and read around the picture below:

THE BARE FACTS ABOUT JACK RUBY

 

Will do thank you!

  I don’t think that pic is of Oswald at all. While the pic is small the guy is a lot different in the face and while you see him sitting at a table it seems like he’s a big guy.

[Ron Bulman]

1 hour ago, Ron Bulman said:

I'd never read the stuff about Tommy Rowe before it came up in this thread.   It's interesting about him claiming to be the one to point out Oswald to the police.  To me it's even more interesting that he was close friends with Ruby, then moved into Ruby's apartment for a year after Ruby was arrested.  Throw in him working for Brewer who remembered Oswald buying shoes from him previously and being surly and this all gets interesting enough to keep looking.  

Regarding the part about Rowe moving into Ruby's apartment after his arrest I'd never heard of this story from Roger Craig about guns, ammo and grenades in Ruby's storage shed behind his apartment.  Until I saw Micha's link.  

 

As Craig unknowingly alludes to in a way in the last paragraph, do Ruby's now known previous gun running activities lend credence to the possibility of this story being true?  Craig does state his source was an officer in the Intelligence Bureau of the DPD.

I don't know how quick this find might have happened.  But I'd think early on he'd want someone "close" to watch over all his personal stuff.  I've read the stories that he thought he'd be seen as a hero and out in no time (with the promise of high powered legal assistance, from unnamed sources).

I'm about a third of the way through the John Armstrong article on Jack Ruby and gun running provided in Jim Hargrove's post one minute after the one above.  What timing we have Jim, no posts in 10 hours then this happens.  Seems to me the post's relate.  I was not aware of more than a couple or three references about gun running going back to 1957-8.  The depth John documents going back to the early 50's is quite enlightening for me.  For me it enhances the chance of authenticity regarding Roger Craig's second hand knowledge, reputedly by him from a reliable source, that in essence, Ruby was still running guns in 1963.

Craig was given his fair share, maybe more (?) of attention to discretization in the aftermath.  

[Steve Thomas]

I've been interested in the IBM links to Brewer's store, and the possible links to the 507th Army Security Agency Group.

Here's some notes I have:

 

Ian Lloyd, Why the Texas Theatre? Jfk assassination forum

http://www.jfkassassinationforum.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=da10693a75f6fceb0ce372badd010bff&topic=1633.msg24228#msg24228

 

According to Ian Griggs' "No Case To Answer" Brewer mentions "2 IBM men" who he says he didn't actually know, but were in his shop when Oswald ducked into the doorway but, when Brewer came back to his shop, they had disappeared never to be seen again?

 

Lee Farley, “Oswald's Escape Plan? Jfk assassination forum

http://www.jfkassassinationforum.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=da10693a75f6fceb0ce372badd010bff&topic=3304.msg61982#msg61982

 

“The main reason I place suspicion on Brewer is because when Oswald first entered Hardy's Shoe Store, Brewer claims he was with two people that he had known for over a year.  These two men, he says, worked for IBM. They were in the neighborhood and they popped in and were "killing time" and "lounging around." The Dallas Police didn't seek these individuals to find out who they were and what they saw. No one, it appears, was interested in them in the slightest. They just disappeared from existence.

Brewer had an interview with British researcher Ian Griggs in 1996. Brewer brought up the two men who were in his store (who worked for IBM) and he stated that in his absence they "locked up" for him. Lo and behold, Brewer says that although he had known these men for over a year, and they regularly came into his store to "kill time" he couldn't remember either of their names.”

 

You can see a reference to this system on page 6 in the document entitled: “DCI John McCone and the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy”

http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB493/docs/intell_ebb_026.PDF

that Douglas Caddy referred to in his thread, “CIA report concluded director led JFK assassination coverup

 

According to Wikipedia, Walnut used an IBM 1360 data retrieval and name trace system employing IBM punch cards and microfilm. Paper documents were microfilmed and then the pages were scanned and input into IBM punch cards. The cards were keyword searchable.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_1360

 

I had been doing some reading on the 507^th Army Security Agency Group in Germany in the 1950's and 60's. The soldiers talked about using IBM punch cards in their work. Several said that there was a job waiting for them at IBM when their hitch was over.

 

(Source: Email from John O'Neil) (served in 1960)

https://www.usarmygermany.com/Sont.htm?https&&&www.usarmygermany.com/Units/ASA%20Europe/USAREUR_ASAE.htm

 

My next duty station (after Vint Hill Farms) was with the 507th USASA Group (Field Army) at Heilbronn am Neckar. We had 4 -2½ ton trucks with expandable sides that held all our IBM equipment that ran off portable diesel generators (one per truck).

 

Jim Campbell in his email said “(When I was in, no 206 had ever re-enlisted - IBM had a job ready for them when they got out.)” When I got out I went to the IBM office in San Francisco, showed them my diploma with TJ Watson’s signature and asked for a job, they asked me what I knew about computers, so I told them I’d seen one in Germany. I got the hint when they said ‘Goodbye, thanks for stopping in”.

Late in 1962 was not the time to look for a job repairing the soon to be obsolete IBM punched card machines! It all turned out for the best. I worked as a tab operator while I taught myself computer programming and all that stuff and lived happily ever after. My wife, our three children and I moved to Australia 40 years ago.

 

Hielbronn was where Dennis Ofstein of Jaggers-Chiles-Stovall fame and Thomas H. Crigler were stationed.

Thomas Crigler worked as an Army recruiter. There was a recruiting office about one or two blocks from the Texas Theater and Brewer's Shoe store in Oak Cliff. Crigler lived at 1705 McAdams in Oak Cliff.

 

On December 6, 1963 Thomas Crigler was interviewed by the FBI. He said that he met Olfstein “accidentally” on the street.

See FBI interview of Crigler December 6, 1963:

CD 205 p. 478

https://maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=10672#relPageId=481&tab=page

 

Thomas H. Crigler, Jr., 1705 McAdams, advised he is currently a Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army Security Agency, Field Representative, assigned to U.S. Army Recruiting Station, Dallas. He advised that he and Dennis Ofstein were assigned to the same U.S. Army branch in Europe and that he knew Ofstein from about June, 1960 to December, 1960 purely as another person attached to the same unit with him. He said that he had never become socially or well acquainted with Ofstein at that time. He said the caption of their group was the 507^th USASA Group, Heilbron, West Germany.”

(This is actually spelled Heilbronn)

However, he said later in his FBI interview that about a week after meeting Ofstein in the street in August, Ofstein and his family came to Crigler's house, and that twice more he and his wife visited Ofstein at his (Ofstein's) house.

 

Steve Thomas

 

[Paul Jolliffe]

22 hours ago, Jim Hargrove said:

John,

There’s considerable evidence that Ruby ran guns to Cuba during several different time periods.  This was surely known by the CIA, which, although it helped prosecute many others for doing the same thing, apparently protected Ruby from prosecution.

At the same time, Ruby was closely associated with KLIF radio’s Gordon McLendon, childhood friend of the Agency's David Atlee Phillips. McLendon was co-founder with Phillips of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO) .  Ruby notoriously spend time at KLIF the night of the assassination and continued to correspond with McLendon from prison. 

I think Ruby was the direct contact between JFK’s assassin plotters (Phillips et al.) and the cover-up team.

 

Jim,

The "Clifton T. Bowes, Jr." mentioned at the bottom of the first page who refused to corroborate Blaney Mack Johnson's (FBI informant T-2) allegation about Jack Ruby is interesting.

Clifton T. Bowes, Jr. was one of the founding charter members of the Civil Air Patrol in 1941 and was so honored in Washington in 2001.

https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/atlanta/obituary.aspx?n=clifton-t-bowes&pid=1570903

As we all know, another one of the CAP's charter members was D.H. Byrd, Texas oilman who just happened to own the Texas School Book Depository building. 

(From Wikipedia: "The Civil Air Patrol was conceived in the late 1930s by aviation advocate Gill Robb Wilson, who foresaw general aviation's potential to supplement America's military operations. With the help of New York Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia, in his capacity as then-Director of the Office of Civilian Defense, CAP was created with Administrative Order 9, signed by LaGuardia on 1 December 1941 and published 8 December 1941. The Civil Air Patrol had 90 days to prove themselves to Congress. Major General John F. Curry was appointed as the first national commander.^[6] Texas oilman David Harold Byrd was a co-founder of CAP.^[7])

So, this means that Byrd (in Dallas) and Bowes had known each other for decades. 

Also, since (according to FBI informant T-2, Blaney Mack Johnson) Bowes knew Ruby well enough to verify that Ruby was running guns to Cuba, it is likely that Byrd knew Ruby. 

And, if William Weston's speculation about the TSBD as a storage site for illegal arms shipments to Cuba is correct - and I would bet very serious money it is correct -  then Byrd was an active participant with Ruby to run guns to Cuba! 

(I have linked both of Weston's articles below. Both are crucial to this thread and must be read in their entirety if we are to get anywhere.)

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=48681#relPageId=24

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=16259&relPageId=7

 

If the TSBD really was being used as an arsenal/repository/clandestine warehouse for arms by CIA operatives, then it is no wonder that the FBI and the Warren Commission shut down all references to Jack Ruby's gunrunning/arms deals to Cuba!

 

 

Edited August 10, 2019 by Paul Jolliffe

[Micah Mileto]

On 8/9/2019 at 11:53 AM, Paul Jolliffe said:

Micah,

You left out the best part:

Johnny Brewer knew "Oswald" from before and did not like him! (He called "Oswald" a "jerk" and a "pain in the butt"!)

That's right - "Oswald" was NOT UNKNOWN to Brewer before 11/22/63!

Brewer did not identify a stranger - he identified a man that he remembered as an unpleasant customer!

"Oswald" had been to Hardy's Shoes, had been waited on by Brewer and apparently was arrogant or insolent to the point where Brewer disliked him!

Brewer even started to describe that encounter in his Warren Commission testimony, but David Belin quickly changed the question!

Mr. BELIN - Why did you happen to watch this particular man? 
Mr. BREWER - He just looked funny to me. Well, in the first place, I had seen him some place before. I think he had been in my store before. And when you wait on somebody, you recognize them, and he just seemed funny. His hair was sort of messed up and looked like he had been running, and he looked seared, and he looked funny. 
Mr. BELIN - Did you notice any of his actions when he was standing in your lobby there? 
Mr. BREWER - No; he just stood there and stared. 

How do I know that Brewer remembered "Oswald" in detail?

Because Brewer remembered the exact shoes that "Oswald" purchased!

Read what Brewer himself in 1996 told Ian Griggs about his encounter with "Oswald" several weeks (or more) before the assassination:

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=16235#relPageId=8&tab=page

 

Is it possible he made up the story based on something he read earlier about Oswald's shoes?