Curtis Craford information

[Greg Doudna]

On Sept 21, 2024 I talked to a daughter of Curtis Craford, Jaci, whom I had not previously met or had contact, for about 90 minutes taking a walk. She said I was the first since Peter Whitmey to ask about the 1963 stuff of her father. She said when she tells people today her dad was in the Warren Commission (report) most people say “what’s the Warren Commission?”

A few points learned:

— the blinking. She confirmed Craford was a blinker, said one of her siblings and she too had that, but not 2 other siblings, that it was something genetic, not from my guess of contact lenses (she corrected me: said Curtis wore glasses and never wore contact lenses). The blinking was real but wasn’t contacts or drugs, but some inherited feature.

— dentures. He had them and wore them always. She was almost sure he got them when he was in the Army, because Curtis talked to her and the family about one of the reasons he enlisted was to get dental work done by the Army and he had had a lot done, she assumed that was when he got his dentures.

— Her father never wrote about his story of Dallas 1963, never showed any sign of wanting to tell anything even at the end of his life. She interpreted that as part of his lifelong fear. 

— a terrible auto accident which seriously injured Curtis and two of Jaci’s siblings (Jaci was not in the car) and nearly killed her mother in April 1979 was told by their family friend auto mechanic that it was definitely a sabotaged cut steering wheel and Curtis and the family believed it was an attempt to kill Curtis out of belief he knew more than he had told, as part of JFKA assassination witness suspicious deaths. 

— Craford was left-handed. She said he was, she and one sibling also were, but her mother and two siblings were right handed. This question was a priority question to me because my analysis of the Tippit patrol car fingerprints, on the assumption those are from the killer, I analyzed as the killer had to be left-handed, firing the pistol held in the left hand while stumbling or balancing with the free right hand on that right front fender. I could not see it working if the gun was held in the right hand. I have been so convinced of this I have said in the past that being right handed I almost regarded as stand alone exculpatory indication on any individual suspect. But I could never find whether Craford was L or R handed. Now, that question is answered. However there is a curve ball here: Jaci said she is a shooter herself and even though she is left-handed, she shoots with her right hand. She could not remember which hand Curtis actually used in her memory to target shoot weapons. However there was no uncertainty on  Craford being left-handed. 

-- I asked if her father wore the same kind of hairstyle later in life as when he was in Dallas at age 22. She thought he did yes. I asked if she could remember of two men’s styles in back, block versus taper cut, which Curtis wore. She thought taper, though said she wasn’t sure. I asked and she confirmed she knew the difference in meaning. (I intend to ask her to ask her sister this same question and see if her sister might have a more confident memory of an answer to this question either way.) 

— she said she personally saw a resemblance of her father and the pictures of Oswald.

— she knew of no mob connections of Curtis nor did she remember him speaking of any. However she said he was an initiated member of a biker gang called the Gypsy Jokers, which he joined in Michigan though it has chapters nationally.

— I asked if Curtis had many friends or not. She said not many close friends other than the ones at the bar he met daily who thought they were his close buddies but really weren’t she said. She did not think he talked about things of Dallas 1963 to anyone more than her and her siblings. 

— languages Curtis could speak (I asked). German? She knew of no German from him, and doubted it since she did not remember him speaking German to her German-speaking grandparents. Any other languages he could speak I asked. “He thought he could speak Spanish but he really couldn’t” (Jaci). 

— she volunteered this curious detail re Craford’s height. Jaci said he was actually a physically small man, she said two or three times he was really 5’5” but that he would always overstate his height, claim to be taller than he was, and claimed once to be 5’9”. I commented that the FBI when they interviewed her father in late 1963 had his height as 5’8” but I added I think the way the FBI did some of those physical identification reports was by asking people how tall they were, not measurement. But Jaci volunteered without prompting from me the detail about Curtis routinely overstating his height.

— I asked was Craford religious. She said not much.

— said he worked security for Pinkerton and for a lumber mill as his jobs in Oregon, but also continued some carnival work into the 1980s.

— I asked if Curtis had talked about any theories about the JFK assassination and she said no, which she thought was a little puzzling to her but he just didn’t talk much about the JFKA or express particular theories about it.

— I asked did Curtis keep in touch with any of the people in Dallas or Carousel Club after he left Dallas, and she did not think so.

—she did not remember Curtis saying anything about belonging to the Teamsters Union (I asked). 

— she said he told them the reason he left Dallas was because of an argument with Ruby. She gave two issues Curtis told them of the argument: that Craford had been too friendly with a girlfriend of Ruby’s, a jealousy issue; and that Ruby had wrongly accused Curtis of taking money out of the till (“which he wouldn’t do”—Jaci). The way Craford explained it to his family, his leaving with no goodbyes within hours of the assassination and Tippit killing was unrelated causally and coincidence—it was because of an argument with Ruby that happened to happen then.

On the same trip I tried to find Craford’s son, about 100 miles away. I went to an address I had in a rural area and met an older man with his wife who said “we ran him off 8 years ago”. He had taken up with their daughter and they had lived there for a couple years. They said he was bad news, prison time for serious crime, violent, had tried to kill them in a rage, drug world. I asked if he had talked of his father and they said no, they knew nothing of his parents or siblings, except their daughter told them he had had a rough childhood with beatings. I asked did she say who gave the beatings growing up but they didn’t know. They didn’t know where he was or how to find him though saw him around the area from time to time. Now they were focused on trying to get their daughter into a treatment program for the drugs. Story repeated across rural America, in hollowed out economically dried up rural areas.

[Jonathan Cohen]

Greg - the copy editor in me can't help but notice that you usually spell Crafard's name wrong (as "Craford"). Or is "Crafard" in fact incorrect?

[Greg Doudna]

Yes Jonathan, sharp eyes, his correct legal name, and the name he used after Dallas 1963 for the rest of his life, was Curtis Craford, so spelled. He went by Larry Crafard when in Dallas and in his testimony to the Warren Commission.

He claimed it stemmed from a mistake, but it looked like he did the misspelling on purpose for whatever deception/alias reasons. However the daughter, Jaci, told me a slightly different version of that. According to her, it was the Army that misspelled his name, though she said the misspelling was "Crawford", and that Curtis could not cash his checks from the Army due to that accidental misspelling, and that Curtis had had to get a legal name change or something in order to get it corrected to where he could cash his checks. Don't cross-examine me on the literalness of those details, I am just passing on as best as I can what she told me. The point is, there was some issue with the spelling of his last name.

Here you can see: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/245240842/curtis_laverne-craford_crafard .

[Jonathan Cohen]

Right on Greg - thanks for clarifying.

[Jean Ceulemans]

3 hours ago, Greg Doudna said:

On Sept 21, 2024 I talked to a daughter of Curtis Craford, Jaci, whom I had not previously met or had contact, for about 90 minutes taking a walk. She said I was the first since Peter Whitmey to ask about the 1963 stuff of her father. She said when she tells people today her dad was in the Warren Commission (report) most people say “what’s the Warren Commission?”

A few points learned:

— the blinking. She confirmed Craford was a blinker, said one of her siblings and she too had that, but not 2 other siblings, that it was something genetic, not from my guess of contact lenses (she corrected me: said Curtis wore glasses and never wore contact lenses). The blinking was real but wasn’t contacts or drugs, but some inherited feature.

— dentures. He had them and wore them always. She was almost sure he got them when he was in the Army, because Curtis talked to her and the family about one of the reasons he enlisted was to get dental work done by the Army and he had had a lot done, she assumed that was when he got his dentures.

— Her father never wrote about his story of Dallas 1963, never showed any sign of wanting to tell anything even at the end of his life. She interpreted that as part of his lifelong fear. 

— a terrible auto accident which seriously injured Curtis and two of Jaci’s siblings (Jaci was not in the car) and nearly killed her mother in April 1979 was told by their family friend auto mechanic that it was definitely a sabotaged cut steering wheel and Curtis and the family believed it was an attempt to kill Curtis out of belief he knew more than he had told, as part of JFKA assassination witness suspicious deaths. 

— Craford was left-handed. She said he was, she and one sibling also were, but her mother and two siblings were right handed. This question was a priority question to me because my analysis of the Tippit patrol car fingerprints, on the assumption those are from the killer, I analyzed as the killer had to be left-handed, firing the pistol held in the left hand while stumbling or balancing with the free right hand on that right front fender. I could not see it working if the gun was held in the right hand. I have been so convinced of this I have said in the past that being right handed I almost regarded as stand alone exculpatory indication on any individual suspect. But I could never find whether Craford was L or R handed. Now, that question is answered. However there is a curve ball here: Jaci said she is a shooter herself and even though she is left-handed, she shoots with her right hand. She could not remember which hand Curtis actually used in her memory to target shoot weapons. However there was no uncertainty on  Craford being left-handed. 

-- I asked if her father wore the same kind of hairstyle later in life as when he was in Dallas at age 22. She thought he did yes. I asked if she could remember of two men’s styles in back, block versus taper cut, which Curtis wore. She thought taper, though said she wasn’t sure. I asked and she confirmed she knew the difference in meaning. (I intend to ask her to ask her sister this same question and see if her sister might have a more confident memory of an answer to this question either way.) 

— she said she personally saw a resemblance of her father and the pictures of Oswald.

— she knew of no mob connections of Curtis nor did she remember him speaking of any. However she said he was an initiated member of a biker gang called the Gypsy Jokers, which he joined in Michigan though it has chapters nationally.

— I asked if Curtis had many friends or not. She said not many close friends other than the ones at the bar he met daily who thought they were his close buddies but really weren’t she said. She did not think he talked about things of Dallas 1963 to anyone more than her and her siblings. 

— languages Curtis could speak (I asked). German? She knew of no German from him, and doubted it since she did not remember him speaking German to her German-speaking grandparents. Any other languages he could speak I asked. “He thought he could speak Spanish but he really couldn’t” (Jaci). 

— she volunteered this curious detail re Craford’s height. Jaci said he was actually a physically small man, she said two or three times he was really 5’5” but that he would always overstate his height, claim to be taller than he was, and claimed once to be 5’9”. I commented that the FBI when they interviewed her father in late 1963 had his height as 5’8” but I added I think the way the FBI did some of those physical identification reports was by asking people how tall they were, not measurement. But Jaci volunteered without prompting from me the detail about Curtis routinely overstating his height.

— I asked was Craford religious. She said not much.

— said he worked security for Pinkerton and for a lumber mill as his jobs in Oregon, but also continued some carnival work into the 1980s.

— I asked if Curtis had talked about any theories about the JFK assassination and she said no, which she thought was a little puzzling to her but he just didn’t talk much about the JFKA or express particular theories about it.

— I asked did Curtis keep in touch with any of the people in Dallas or Carousel Club after he left Dallas, and she did not think so.

—she did not remember Curtis saying anything about belonging to the Teamsters Union (I asked). 

— she said he told them the reason he left Dallas was because of an argument with Ruby. She gave two issues Curtis told them of the argument: that Craford had been too friendly with a girlfriend of Ruby’s, a jealousy issue; and that Ruby had wrongly accused Curtis of taking money out of the till (“which he wouldn’t do”—Jaci). The way Craford explained it to his family, his leaving with no goodbyes within hours of the assassination and Tippit killing was unrelated causally and coincidence—it was because of an argument with Ruby that happened to happen then.

On the same trip I tried to find Craford’s son, about 100 miles away. I went to an address I had in a rural area and met an older man with his wife who said “we ran him off 8 years ago”. He had taken up with their daughter and they had lived there for a couple years. They said he was bad news, prison time for serious crime, violent, had tried to kill them in a rage, drug world. I asked if he had talked of his father and they said no, they knew nothing of his parents or siblings, except their daughter told them he had had a rough childhood with beatings. I asked did she say who gave the beatings growing up but they didn’t know. They didn’t know where he was or how to find him though saw him around the area from time to time. Now they were focused on trying to get their daughter into a treatment program for the drugs. Story repeated across rural America, in hollowed out economically dried up rural areas.

Excellent job finding her! One never knows what some could remember.

[Benjamin Cole]

"On the same trip I tried to find Craford’s son, about 100 miles away. I went to an address I had in a rural area and met an older man with his wife who said “we ran him off 8 years ago”. He had taken up with their daughter and they had lived there for a couple years. They said he was bad news, prison time for serious crime, violent, had tried to kill them in a rage, drug world. I asked if he had talked of his father and they said no, they knew nothing of his parents or siblings, except their daughter told them he had had a rough childhood with beatings. I asked did she say who gave the beatings growing up but they didn’t know. They didn’t know where he was or how to find him though saw him around the area from time to time. Now they were focused on trying to get their daughter into a treatment program for the drugs. Story repeated across rural America, in hollowed out economically dried up rural areas."

Egads.

At one stage in my life, down on my luck, I lived in a budget rooming house on the "wrong" side of town. You never read about these people. With the drug epidemics, probably worse now.

Great reporting GD

 

[Gene Kelly]

Jonathan

Greg is correct ... Curtis passed away in 2011 and his obituary states the following:

Curtis Laverne Craford of Lafayette, Yamhill County, Oregon was born on March 10, 1941, in Fairfield, Lenawee County, Michigan and died at age 70 years old on April 19, 2011, in Lafayette, Yamhill County, OR. 

He was only 22 years old at the time of the assassination. Interestingly, he was asked the second highest number of questions by the Warren Commission out of all witnesses who were called to testify, namely 3,972. 

Gene

[Miles Massicotte]

Awesome stuff Greg, thanks for sharing it with us.

[Ron Bulman]

2 hours ago, Gene Kelly said:

He was only 22 years old at the time of the assassination. Interestingly, he was asked the second highest number of questions by the Warren Commission out of all witnesses who were called to testify, namely 3,972. 

Gene

Second only to . . . Ruth Paine.  Why so many questions, about what?  I've read a few quotes of it but still, why?  Many of hers got to be mundane, not related.

[Gene Kelly]

Ron

One resaon for all of the questions was that Burt Griffin and Leon Hubert felt that Craford was holding back and not being honest about his activities while in Dallas during a three-day Warren Commission “interrogation” in Washington D.C.  Also, the Warren Commission’s staff considered the possibility that Craford might have been posing as Oswald.  since they later stated that Craford “closely resembled Oswald.”  

Craford was interviewed at length by Griffin and Hubert in Washington D.C. which took three days and takes up over two hundred pages in the Warren volumes, Judge Griffin continued to be bothered by Craford’s abrupt departure from Dallas on Nov. 23rd in the later years.  In an interview conducted by the HSCA in November 1978, Griffin stated that “one of the most important issues we never resolved …is why Larry Crafard split town like he did.”  He went on to state that he had “always been bothered by that very much, the whole circumstance of it.  And I heard you haven’t been able to locate Crafard.” 

Craford was also called by Jack Ruby’s defense counsel as a character witness on the final day of testimony, and then a few weeks later was flown to Washington D.C. from his home in Oregon to testify at the Warren Commission hearings. During his testimony, Counsel Leon Hubert told Crafard:

“I suggest to you that [your] real motivation for leaving Dallas was that you had found out that Oswald had been in the [Carousel] club, and that the matter was getting a little too thick for you and you wanted out of it” 

According to Peter Whitmey, Hubert suspected that Crafard was involved in Officer Tippit’s murder.  Nonetheless, the Warren Report downplayed the reason why Craford had abruptly quit his job at the Carousel Club and hitchhiked all the way to Michigan. Based on Craford’s later comments to Joan Mellen and Whitmey, it was clear that he is holding back information that should have been divulged to either the FBI or the Warren Commission.   

Gene