Some Questions For Buell Wesley Frazier

[David Von Pein]

 

The above one-hour interview with JFK assassination witness Buell Wesley Frazier took place on November 22, 2021, at the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. It is one of several interviews and public appearances that Mr. Frazier has done in the last few years. (Others can be found at my Buell Frazier webpage here.)

I've always been very fond of Buell Wesley Frazier. I've enjoyed listening to him tell his story over the years about how he and his 1963 co-worker, Lee Harvey Oswald, would ride to work together to the Texas School Book Depository in Dallas.

And despite the fact that Buell has added a few hard-to-believe chapters to his assassination story in the last 20 years or so (such as the episodes talked about here and here and here), I must admit, I am still quite fond of Mr. Buell Wesley Frazier. That doesn't mean that I accept as fact all of the things that Buell has tacked on to his story since about 2002. Not at all. In fact, I think he's done a bit of—shall we say—"embellishing" (or "enhancing") of his story during these last twenty years.

Frazier's latest embellishment/enhancement, which was added for the first time to his account of the events of 11/22/63 in the pages of Buell's new 2021 book, "Steering Truth: My Eternal Connection To JFK And Lee Harvey Oswald", is a tale about how Buell allegedly encountered a man with a rifle on the Elm Street extension road just outside the Book Depository Building within minutes of the shooting of President Kennedy.

This impeccably-dressed rifleman, wearing clothes and shoes that apparently (per Frazier) only a "professional" could afford, threw his weapon into the trunk of his car and then drove off, never to be seen or heard from again.

I could be wrong, but Buell's new late-arriving tale about a dapper gun-toting assassin (?), who was evidently displaying his rifle out in the open in front of the Depository for everybody to potentially see, is very likely an addendum to Mr. Frazier's story that even most hardened conspiracy theorists will have a hard time swallowing.

The above 2021 interview with Mr. Frazier prompted me to create this post, but not mainly for the purpose of scoffing at the latest addition to his November 22nd story (although scoff I must), but instead I wanted to take the opportunity to ask Buell Wesley Frazier a few questions (on paper only) that I do not think have ever been asked of him during any of the several interviews he has participated in since the assassination occurred in 1963. I'm very curious as to what Buell's reactions and responses might be if he were to ever be confronted with questions put to him in the following manner....

#1. Buell, you do realize, don't you, that the rifle that was found on the sixth floor of the Depository on 11/22/63 was a rifle that was proven by the totality of the evidence in this case to have been owned and possessed by Lee Harvey Oswald?

#1a. And you also realize that that exact rifle was proven to have been the weapon that murdered President Kennedy, don't you?

#2. And you also realize, don't you, that the empty brown paper bag that was found near the Sniper's Nest on the sixth floor had the fingerprints of Lee Oswald on it?

#2a. Plus, that same paper bag had fibers inside of it that generally matched fibers from the blanket in Ruth Paine's garage, which is a blanket that was known to have been the place where Oswald's rifle was kept in storage in the weeks just before the assassination. You know that fact too, don't you Buell?

#3. Don't you ever wonder, Buell, why Lee Oswald told you that big fat lie about the "curtain rods"? And he twice told that lie to you—once on Thursday morning (November 21st) and then again on the morning of November 22nd when you and he got into your car at your sister's house.

We know now that Lee's "curtain rods" story was definitely a lie. We know this because....

....No curtain rods were ever found inside the Book Depository after the assassination.

....No curtain rods were found among Oswald's possessions at his roominghouse at 1026 North Beckley Avenue in Oak Cliff.

....No curtain rods were found on the bus or in the taxicab that Oswald rode in on 11/22/63.

....And no curtain rods were found on Oswald himself after the assassination.

#3a. So, why do you think Lee would feel the need to tell such a lie about "curtain rods"? And if the item that was inside Oswald's package on 11/22/63 had really been curtain rods, then where did those rods disappear to? Did Lee ditch them in a trash dumpster on Elm Street after he left the Depository?

Those questions about the "rods" are very important ones, wouldn't you agree Buell?

#4. And what about the murder of policeman J.D. Tippit? Do you think Lee was innocent of killing Officer Tippit too? I don't think any interviewer has ever asked you that question, have they?

The evidence against Oswald in the Tippit shooting couldn't be any more powerful and concrete (as my next question clearly illustrates).

#5. If you are of the opinion that Lee Oswald did not kill J.D. Tippit, then how can you explain the fact that Lee was arrested in the Texas Theater with the Tippit murder weapon in his very own hands just 35 minutes after Officer Tippit was gunned down nearby?

Given this fact concerning the Tippit murder weapon, about the only way for Lee Harvey Oswald to be innocent is to believe silliness like this.

#6. And if Lee Oswald was innocent of shooting both John Kennedy and J.D. Tippit, then why did Lee pull a gun on a police officer in the Texas Theater on 11/22/63?

And why did Lee fight like a wild man with Dallas Patrolman M.N. McDonald in the theater?

Are those the actions of a person who had done nothing wrong on November 22, 1963?

#7. And then there's the attempted murder of General Edwin Walker on April 10, 1963. Do you think Lee Oswald took that shot at General Walker, Buell? If not, then how do you explain what Lee wrote to his wife, Marina, in Warren Commission Exhibit No. 1 (which is in Oswald's own handwriting)?

#7a. And if you do accept the fact that Lee took that shot at Walker (and the evidence clearly indicates that he did), then wouldn't you agree with me that Lee Harvey Oswald definitely had murder running through his veins just seven months before President Kennedy went to Dallas? And wouldn't you agree with me that if a person is willing to take a gun and shoot at another human being in April, then it's quite possible that that same person (namely Lee Oswald) might have a similar desire to aim that same gun at another political figure in November?

#8. With all of the above individual facts piled up against the door (plus these additional pieces of evidence), which are facts that are just dying to be strung together to form a cohesive whole known as "The Totality Of Evidence In The JFK Murder Case", can you, Buell Wesley Frazier, possibly still cling to the notion that Lee Harvey Oswald, merely because he was kind to you and the children who lived near you in Irving, was innocent of killing President John F. Kennedy?

I truly wonder if Mr. Frazier has ever once examined the evidence against Oswald in an objective way in which his friendship with the accused assassin was set aside in order to let the evidence speak for itself. I doubt that he has.

David Von Pein
January 12, 2022

http://jfk-archives.blogspot.com/2022/01/jfk-assassination-arguments-part-1349.html

 

Edited June 27, 2023 by David Von Pein

[David Von Pein]

POSTSCRIPT....

I thought of another question that I would like to ask Buell Wesley Frazier (which I don't think any interviewer has ever asked him before). It's this question:

During the mid-morning hours on November 22, 1963, when you realized that President Kennedy's motorcade was going to pass right in front of the Book Depository that day, and after you had confirmed through your boss that the TSBD employees would be allowed to take a break and watch the Presidential parade pass by the building, did it ever cross your mind to approach Lee Harvey Oswald and ask him this?:

"Hey, Lee, I just found out that the President is coming right past this building at noontime today and we're going to be allowed to watch the parade. I'm going to watch it from the front steps of the Depository. Do you want to join me out there? What do you say?"

If such a question had been put to Lee Oswald on the morning of 11/22/63, I can't help but wonder what Lee's answer to Buell would have been.

I wonder if Oswald, wheels turning in his head as he made his assassination plans throughout that morning, would have accepted Frazier's invitation, but then just not show up on the front steps to join Frazier?

But, from Oswald's point-of-view that morning (given his murderous intentions), such an agreement to meet Mr. Frazier out on the steps (or anyplace else inside or outside the TSBD Building) might have been a risky thing for Lee to do, because Oswald might then have thought that Frazier just might come looking for him in the building during the minutes prior to JFK's motorcade arriving in Dealey Plaza. Would Lee want to take such a risk? Nobody now, of course, can ever answer such a question.

Or, perhaps, Oswald's answer to Frazier's invitation to watch the motorcade together might have been:

No thanks, Wesley. I'm not the slightest bit interested in seeing the President.

Or, LHO could have brushed Frazier off with this reply:

Thanks, Wes, but I'm just too busy filling my book orders to stop and watch a Presidential parade.

Or Lee could have used this wishy-washy response:

Well, Wesley, I might join you to watch the parade---but only if I get the time. I'm not making any promises. So maybe you should go on outside by yourself, and perhaps a little later I'll get out there too.

But regardless of what Oswald's answer might have been if such an "invitation" had been put in front of Lee Harvey Oswald for his consideration on 11/22/63 by Buell Wesley Frazier (or by anyone else, for that matter), it would have added yet another "Food For Thought" topic to the large mountain of such subjects relating to President John F. Kennedy's assassination.

It's kind of fun, though, to think about such "What If?" questions, isn't it?
 

Edited June 27, 2023 by David Von Pein

[Cory Santos]

Except asking questions like those  which you asked above are pointless.  

Edited June 27, 2023 by Cory Santos

[David Von Pein]

1 minute ago, Cory Santos said:

Except asking questions like those you asked are pointless.  

Thanks for your expert (and pointless) response.

 

[Cory Santos]

Your welcome.  I’m surprised you thought those points were relevant.   Next.  

[David Von Pein]

33 minutes ago, Cory Santos said:

I’m surprised you thought those points were relevant.

They're relevant with respect to Buell Frazier's current mindset about whether or not Oswald was guilty or innocent.

And, as I said above...

"I truly wonder if Mr. Frazier has ever once examined the evidence against Oswald in an objective way in which his friendship with the accused assassin was set aside in order to let the evidence speak for itself."

Do you think Buell has ever performed such an examination of the evidence, Cory?

 

Edited June 27, 2023 by David Von Pein

[Cory Santos]

46 minutes ago, David Von Pein said:

They're relevant with respect to Buell Frazier's current mindset about whether or not Oswald was guilty or innocent.

And, as I said above...

"I truly wonder if Mr. Frazier has ever once examined the evidence against Oswald in an objective way in which his friendship with the accused assassin was set aside in order to let the evidence speak for itself."

Do you think Buell has ever performed such an examination of the evidence, Cory?

 

I cannot speak for him.  However, asking him if he knows something is a fact because the Warren Commission says so is no more relevant than asking him his thoughts on the autopsy or shirt evidence.   The key is he cannot confirm a rifle was brought into the building.  He cannot provide any insight into Oswald’s mindset which establishes he planned to kill a president that day.  So asking him about the ownership of the rifle, for example, is pointless.  

Edited June 27, 2023 by Cory Santos

[Greg Doudna]

1 hour ago, David Von Pein said:

Frazier's latest embellishment/enhancement, which was added for the first time to his account of the events of 11/22/63 in the pages of Buell's new 2021 book, "Steering Truth: My Eternal Connection To JFK And Lee Harvey Oswald", is a tale about how Buell allegedly encountered a man with a rifle on the Elm Street extension road just outside the Book Depository Building within minutes of the shooting of President Kennedy.

This impeccably-dressed rifleman, wearing clothes and shoes that apparently (per Frazier) only a "professional" could afford, threw his weapon into the trunk of his car and then drove off, never to be seen or heard from again.

I could be wrong, but Buell's new late-arriving tale about a dapper gun-toting assassin (?), who was evidently displaying his rifle out in the open in front of the Depository for everybody to potentially see, is very likely an addendum to Mr. Frazier's story that even most hardened conspiracy theorists will have a hard time swallowing.

I too like Buell Wesley Frazier. I have a different interpretation of the incident you mention however. I have Frazier's book, Steering Truth, in which he tells of it. I believe it, and I also believe his story about being terrified for his and his family's lives by seeing a man in a car with a weapon outside their house a night or two after the assassination. Frazier recounts both of those incidents as being so frightening that he never spoke of them until so many decades later in writing his book. He literally thinks his knowing to keep his mouth shut about those two things may have saved his life.

No, those two things happened. They were just innocuous and misunderstood, is how I read it. The man in front of the TSBD with the rifle was a plain-clothed deputy sheriff. There are photos of deputy sheriffs that day with plenty of shotguns and rifles. The man in the car outside Frazier's house (whom Frazier saw an Irving police car pull up next to and speak to in a friendly way) was some security there to watch out for and protect either the Frazier/Linnie Mae family or the Ruth Paine house, not intent on doing them any harm.

That's it. That's what I think those two things were. Frazier frightened over two things that were innocent and misunderstood, but how would he have known. He had been verbally brutalized, apparently almost turning physical, by none other than Capt. Fritz at midnight, accused of having been part of the assassination, had no idea who did what and found himself in the middle of something a whole lot bigger than he was. Totally understandable reactions. Not fabrications or embellishments. Just misunderstandings (in those two particular instances).   

[Joe Bauer]

B.W. Frazier was just 19 years old when he was thrust right into the middle of this earth shaking hurricane event.

He himself was picked up just hours after the shooting of JFK and taken to police headquarters and treated aggressively as a possible co-conspiring suspect!

Imagine the mind set of this young man during that shocking and even scary whirlwind ordeal day?

After being aggressively picked up and brought to DPD headquarters, Will Fritz himself tried to get Buell F. to sign some type of confession document that Frazier instinctively sensed was not a good idea. He refused to sign it.

A raging, red faced Fritz then pulled his arm and hand back as if to slap Frazier's face which brought out a surprising courage in Frazier to tell Fritz ... " I know there's some policemens outside that door, but before they comes in if you hit me we's gonna have one hell of a fight and I'm going to get some good licks on you!"

Wow ... tell em Buell!   Fritz backed off.

Just hours earlier before Fritz's red faced rage and fist raised threat this 19 year old self-described country boy witnessed the president of the United States being shot and killed just a couple hundred feet from him!

Just hours after that Frazier was visiting a sick relative ( his stepfather ) in a local hospital.

And right in the hospital as Frazier was visiting his step-father he then gets roughly confronted, frisked and arrested by DPD detectives Rose and Stoval and driven first to his sister's home in Irvine and then to the Dallas Police department where he detained and interrogated into the late hours of the night.

I could imagine young Buell Frazier thinking ..." Golly, what in tarnation is going on here?" 

He was held for hours and exhaustively questioned until late in the evening by hostile, worked up police ( he almost got his face slapped ) who tried to get him to confess to some sinister involvement in the JFKA! 

Was Frazier ever offered any legal assistance during that aggressive marathon interrogation?

Frazier always came across to me as something more than a poor country raised boy, sleeping on a couch at his sister's house, driving an inexpensive used car whose battery would often fail, and who was simply trying to get his life going through a minimum wage job in the big city which he gave his all to.

He exuded a simple unsophisticated honesty imo. 

Frasier also seemed to be a sincerely kind and generous young man and treated Oswald with a thoughtful respect in their time together. Didn't ask him too many questions or pressure him to speak at all.

"When Oswald needed to ride with BWF to Ruth Paine's home on Fridays and back to work on Monday mornings, young, kind, innocent Buell didn't hesitate to accommodate him. Saying "you can ride with me anytime Lee."

And never once did this young man ever ask Lee for even a nickel to help with gas as it was a 15 mile trip each way from the Paine home to the Texas School Book Depository building.

I hope Frazier has made some income for his sharing of his place in history as innocent and happenstance as it was.

If this young country boy hadn't been so kind, generous and easy going friendly with Lee Oswald...he wouldn't have been a part of the Oswald story.

Surprised a major folk song writer never came out with one about Frazier and his serendipitous place in such a hugely important yet tragic part of our history.

Some Bob Dylan type ditty.

Sung to the tune of John Wesley Harding:

Buell Wesley Frazier was a friend to all.
He worked with a clipboard in his hand
All through his work place he opened a-many a door
And he was never known to let down a needing man

'Twas down in Dallas County, a time they talk about
With his sister by his side he took a stand
And soon the situation there was all but straightened out
For he was always known to lend a helping hand

All across the news wires his name, it did resound
But no charge held against him could they prove
And there was no man around, who could break or slap him down
Not even Captain Fritz ... for this honest country boy could not be moved.

 

2:59NOW PLAYING

 

 

Bob Dylan - John Wesley Harding (Official Audio)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 28, 2023 by Joe Bauer

[Charles Blackmon]

10 minutes ago, Joe Bauer said:

 

Surprised a major folk song writer never came out with one about Frazier and his serendipitous place in such a hugely important yet tragic part of our history.

Some Bob Dylan type ditty.

Sung to the tune of John Wesley Harding:

Buell Wesley Frazier was a friend to all.
He worked with a clipboard in his hand
All through his work place he opened a-many a door
And he was never known to let down a needy man

'Twas down in Dallas County, a time they talk about
With his sister by his side he took a stand
And soon the situation there was all but straightened out
For he was always known to lend a helping hand

All across the news wires his name, it did resound
But no charge held against him could they prove
And there was no man around, who could break or slap him down
Not even Captain Fritz ... for this country boy was honest and true.

 

 

You might have a hit on your hands Joe. You got the lyrics, now maybe try ChatGPT or other A.I. to come up with a chord structure. 

 

 

 

Edited June 27, 2023 by Charles Blackmon

[Bill Brown]

Q: Mr. Frazier, have you been in the Armed Services of the United States?
A: Yes, sir, I have.
Q: What branch of the Service?
A: Army.
Q: Were you in the Infantry?
A: Yes, sir, I have had Infantry training.
Q: Did you have any rifle training?
A: Yes, sir, I did.
Q: During the course of that training did you ever have occasion to break a rifle down?
A: Yes, sir, quite frequently.
Q: What kind of rifle did you use in the Service?
A: An M14.
Q: Approximately how long was the M14 that you used?
A: I believe the correct length is 30 some odd inches long.
Q: 30 something inches long?
A: Yes.
Q: Did you ever break that rifle down?
A: Yes, sir, I broke it down many times.
 

Buell Frazier's M14 was just over 44 inches long.

 

[Pat Speer]

12 hours ago, David Von Pein said:

They're relevant with respect to Buell Frazier's current mindset about whether or not Oswald was guilty or innocent.

And, as I said above...

"I truly wonder if Mr. Frazier has ever once examined the evidence against Oswald in an objective way in which his friendship with the accused assassin was set aside in order to let the evidence speak for itself."

Do you think Buell has ever performed such an examination of the evidence, Cory?

 

Has anyone related to the case performed a detailed analysis of the evidence? Has Marina? Almost certainly not. Has Ruth? Almost certainly not. I have spoken to Frazier on three occasions, for a total of an hour or more. As I recall, he had trouble believing it was Lee, but accepted as much seeing as the authorities told him it was. But he also knew--as much as he could know--that the bag was not as big as these authorities wanted it to be. It was only years later that he realized there were a number of other pieces that didn't fit. And this led him to where he is today: a believer in Lee's innocence. 

I mean, think about it. There's Lee, who you considered a friend. And then there's a bunch of slick lawyers in Washington trying to trick you into saying what you don't believe to be true. Who would you believe? 

P.S. If you say the latter, well, I feel sorry for your friends, LOL. 

[Micah Mileto]

I just now heard of Frazier's new story. WTF! Is this Frazier's way of half-way confessing to being a xxxx, by telling such an outlandish story so late?

[Paul Cummings]

Ole Buell needs to pull a "Red" from Shawshank when he meets the parole board for the last time. 

[Andrej Stancak]

There are couple of questions I would like to ask Mr Buell Wesley Frazier and receive truthful answers. I am afraid Mr Frazier would not answer any questions.

Back in March 2021 when Mr Frazier's autobiography book was just freshly published, I asked him the question related to this section of his book:

Page 52 in Steering Truth:

" I'd later learn that Jack Ruby owned two nightclubs, the Vegas Club in Oaklawn and the Carousel Club, which was on Commerce Street in Downtown Dallas, just a few blocks east of the Texas School Book Depository. There were several occassions leading up to the assassination when some of the guys I worked with would invite me to join after work for a beer. One of the places they went to was the Carousel Club. I was trying to save money, so I never joined them. I cant't tell you the numebr of times I've thought about what would have happened or where I would have been right now if I had walked into that nightclub with my coworkers"

This thing clearly bothered Mr Frazier, however, when I asked him on his Facebook page who the coworkers who frequented the Carousel Club were, he did not reply. If anyone has a chance to ask him who from the Depository employees was spending time in Carousel Club after work, please ask. It may be one of the missing bits in context of the question if there could be an insider in the Depository who unwittingly or wittingly may have contributed to the assassination plot.