Rose Cheramie

[Jaxie Stewart Fisher]

I am a 57 year old retired nurse living in Virginia Beach, Virginia with my husband and two cats. I was born in Tokyo, Japan while my father was stationed there. He was a colonel in the Army and we lived in Germany and all over the U.S. I attended Arizona State University and later got my nursing license.

Melba Christine Youngblood was only known to me as Aunt Pippy when I was growing up. I always knew there were scandalous incidents involving her but was never told much until I was older. All I knew of her was that she was very beautiful when I was young and always had time to play with me. I knew my cousin Mike was her son and he was being raised by my grandparents...Tom and Minnie Bell Youngblood. Before my Mother died she told me some of the history and I was so surprized. I am very much interested in learning anything I can as I do have good reason to care.

Melba Christine Youngblood was better known as Rose Cheramie. I have always felt many things were withheld from my grandmother and grandfather. I do know some interesting things about her young life also as I lived with her off and on as a child and my parents were involved in many of her mishaps.

[John Simkin]

Rose Cheramie was found unconsciousness by the side of the road at Eunice, Louisiana, on 20th November, 1963. Lieutenant Francis Frugé of the Louisiana State Police took her to the state hospital. On the journey Cheramie said that she had been thrown out of a car by two gangsters who worked for Jack Ruby. She claimed that the men were involved in a plot to kill John F. Kennedy. Cheramie added that Kennedy would be killed in Dallas within a few days. Later she told the same story to doctors and nurses who treated her. As she appeared to be under the influence of drugs her story was ignored.

Following the assassination, Cheramie was interviewed by the police. She claimed that Lee Harvey Oswald had visited Ruby's night club. In fact, she believed the two men were having a homosexual relationship.

Rose Cheramie was found dead on 4th September, 1965. At first it appeared she had been involved in a road accident. Later it was argued that she had been shot in the head before being run over by by a car in order to disguise the original wound. However, the Louisiana State Police Memo reported: "Cheramie died of injuries received from an automobile accident on a strip of highway near Big Sandy, Texas, in the early morning of September 4, 1965. The driver stated Cheramie had been lying in the roadway and although he attempted to avoid hitting her, he ran over the top of her skull, causing fatal injuries. An investigation into the accident and the possibility of a relationship between the victim and the driver produced no evidence of foul play. The case was closed"

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKcheramie.htm

[Wim Dankbaar]

Jaxie,

Do you know if that poor driver, Jerry Don Moore, is still alive?

And let me ask you point blank: Do you believe, as Mike, that she was murdered?

Wim

[Bernice Moore]

I am a 57 year old retired nurse living in Virginia Beach, Virginia with my husband and two cats. I was born in Tokyo, Japan while my father was stationed there. He was a colonel in the Army and we lived in Germany and all over the U.S. I attended Arizona State University and later got my nursing license.

Melba Christine Youngblood was only known to me as Aunt Pippy when I was growing up. I always knew there were scandalous incidents involving her but was never told much until I was older. All I knew of her was that she was very beautiful when I was young and always had time to play with me. I knew my cousin Mike was her son and he was being raised by my grandparents...Tom and Minnie Bell Youngblood. Before my Mother died she told me some of the history and I was so surprized. I am very much interested in learning anything I can as I do have good reason to care.

Melba Christine Youngblood was better known as Rose Cheramie. I have always felt many things were withheld from my grandmother and grandfather. I do know some interesting things about her young life also as I lived with her off and on as a child and my parents were involved in many of her mishaps.

*************

Hi Jaxie:

You will be interested in the following article that was researched and presented by Chris Mills, and a much

better photo of your Aunt, who was very lovely as a young woman..found these in my files.....the story is much deeper and complicated than what has been related to you, so far....FYI..

His address is also attached..

B..

----------------------------- RAMBLING ROSE -----------------------

by Chris Mills

The hymn that was played as the body was ushered to its final resting

place could hardly have been more apt. With heads bowed, the mourners

heard the strains of "Take your Burden to the Lord and leave it there."

As Melba Christine Marcades was eased into the next life, it was to be

hoped it would prove more successful than the one she had recently

departed. At 2.00 pm, Monday, 6 September 1965 the world threw its last

handful of dirt on one of the most intriguing mysteries surrounding the

JFK assassination. It had cost just eighty-five dollars to bury the

truth.1

Early life

Melba had begun life on 14 October 1923(2) and had managed to squeeze a

great deal of sadness into her 41 years. Her mother still lived in her

home town of Houston, Texas. A State Police rap-sheet stretched back to

1941, detailing 28 offences until her untimely but nonetheless

predictable demise. All of the early listed offences could be regarded

as minor, ranging from vagrancy to car theft, and during the war years

"aiding soldiers to escape." By 1947, however, she was being reported as

criminally insane, and had been arrested on charges of prostitution;

this, presumably to feed the drink problem that had also become

apparent. Ms Marcades had used many names during her career of petty

crime. Between the ages of 18 and 24 she would normally give a name

based loosely upon her genuine one - Melba Christine Youngblood, her

father being one Thomas J. Youngblood. Notably among her many aliases

she never chose to use her mother Minnie's maiden name of Stroud. By

1956 Melba had married and gained the name of Marcades. This appears on

her record, along with several invented names, throughout the next four

years, until 1960, by which time it appears she was no longer using her

husband's name. Her death certificate states that she was a divorcee but

does not give the date that her marriage ended. Only once, prior to her

death, does the name by which most JFK assassination students know her,

show up on the State Police records. Roselle Renee Cheramie was charged

on the 21 October 1964 with vagrancy, her behaviour being described as

loud and erratic.3

Having studied the assassination of JFK for some years, I was familiar

with the story - touched upon briefly in several books - that slightly

prior to the shooting, a woman had been found apparently thrown from a

car and taken to hospital. During her stay, she was said to have made

numerous statements to police and doctors to the effect that President

Kennedy would be killed during his forthcoming trip to Dallas. I was,

initially, reasonably satisfied that as several respected "Warren

Commission Critics" had mentioned it in their writings, and the HSCA had

apparently investigated these allegations, there could be little here

but unsubstantiated rumour. The brief mention given to Cheramie in James

Hepburn's "Farewell America" made me reconsider.

Ruby connection?

In what is almost a throwaway line Hepburn says "Ruby dispatched her on

18.11.63 to Miami" as a drugs courier.5 James Hepburn was a pseudonym.

Even now the true identity of the writer remains a mystery. The

publishing company "Frontiers Publishing" did not exist either. The book

was not released in the USA, and the combination of these factors gave

the author licence to say whatever he liked without the fear of

retribution either through the courts or otherwise. Could it be true

that this woman worked for Ruby? What information did she have

concerning the assassination and, more importantly, when did she have it?

Accident victim

On the evening of 20 November 1963 Lt Francis Fruge, of the Louisiana

State Police, was on duty patrolling Highway 190, near Eunice, when he

came upon a woman who seemed to be the victim of a road traffic

accident. Although she did not seem badly injured Fruge thought it

prudent to take her to The Moosa Hospital in Eunice to be examined.

During the journey the woman told Fruge that her name was Rose

Cheramie, explaining that she was en-route from Miami to Houston via

Dallas, when an argument developed between herself and the two "latin"

type men she was travelling with. This concluded with them abandoning

her on the road after which she was stuck by another vehicle. Cheramie

was examined at the hospital and found to be suffering from minor

abrasions consistent with being struck by a car. As the Moosa was a

private hospital and the patient had "no financial basis," the medical

staff informed Fruge that they would discharge her. By now it had become

obvious that Cheramie was suffering withdrawal symptoms from narcotics.

In fact she was a nine-year, mainlining heroin addict having had her

last fix at 2.00pm that afternoon. Fruge decided, as was usual in these

situations, to take her to Eunice Jail to "sober up."

Things did not go quite according to plan. At 10.30pm, as Cheramies

condition deteriorated, medical help, in the form of Assistant Corone

of St. Landry Parish Dr F J DeRouen, was summoned. The doctor

administered a sedative, although he described the patient as being

"coherent" at that time. The medication seemed to have little effect.

DeRouen was recalled later that evening when Cheramie became violent,

stripped off her clothing, and began to cut her ankles. The doctor

agreed to commit her to Jackson East Louisiana State Hospital for

treatment. It fell to Fruge to accompany the patient on the journey of

between 1 and 2 hours .

It was during this journey that the police officer began to ask Cheramie

a few routine questions. Fruge later stated to the HSCA:

"She related to me that she was coming to Dallas with two men who were

Italians, or resembled Italians. They had stopped at this lounge and

they'd had a few drinks and had gotten into an argument or something.

The manger of the lounge threw her out and she got on the road and

hitch-hiked to catch a ride, this is when she got hit by a vehicle."

The lounge from which she had been ejected was in fact a brothel called

the Silver Slipper. When questioned about her business in Dallas, she

replied that she intended to "number one, pick up some money, pick up

her baby, and kill Kennedy."6

Although Fruge later described Cheramie as "quite lucid" at this time,

he understandably chose to ignore this warning as being the ramblings of

a dope addict going cold-turkey. Late on the night of 20 November Fruge

deposited his charge at the hospital where she was duly admitted. An

initial examination indicated that the patient was suffering from heroin

withdrawal and clinical shock. This hospital was not a new environment

to Rose Cheramie, she had been admitted here in March of 1961 suffering

from alcoholism and narcotics addiction.7

Arrest

Two days later, when Fruge heard the news of President Kennedy's

assassination, he immediately telephoned the hospital and asked them not

to release Cheramie until he had spoken with her. Unfortunately the

officer had to be patient. Cheramie was apparently not well enough to be

questioned on the 22nd and Fruge was told he would have to wait. By

Monday 25th Cheramie had recovered enough to be transferred to a ward

and was interviewed by Fruge.8

Now the policeman was taking more notice of what Cheramie had to say.

The story she told was that as a result of connections made while

working for Jack Ruby, she was involved in a drugs run. Cheramie and her

two companions were to go to Dallas where she believed her two

companions would kill the president - she had overheard this in a

conversation between the two men - she would then collect $8000 from a

person she could not, or would not, identify, and proceed on to Houston

where the trio would purchase 8 kilos of heroin from a seaman who was

bringing it in by boat to the port of Galveston. The final part of the

plan involved escaping to Mexico. Cheramie furnished the officer with

details of not only the names of her companions, but also the name of

the ship that was bringing the drugs into Galveston and the name of the

hotel in Houston where the transaction would take place.9 Armed with

this information, Fruge informed his superiors who told him to follow up

on it. On Thursday 25th she was released into his custody, and place

under arrest.10 Now, Fruge set out to verify what he could of her story.

Most of what could be investigated checked out: Fruge contacted customs

officers at the port of Galveston and not only established that the

correct ship was due to dock at the time Cheramie specified, but also

the seaman that she had named was indeed on board. The customs officer

had trailed the seaman as he left the ship but unfortunately lost him

shortly after. Years later Fruge was to state that he believed the

customs officer in Galveston was also able to verify the name of the man

whom Cheramie had said was holding her son.11

Drugs deal

According to Cheramie, the drug transaction was due to take place in the

Rice Hotel in Houston.12 Fruge took Cheramie on a flight to verify this,

and other aspects of her story. On the return journey she caught sight

of a newspaper with headlines that indicated that the police were unable

to find a link between Oswald and his killer, Jack Ruby. Cheramie

laughed out loud, telling the officer that she had worked for Ruby, or

"Pinky" as she knew him, in his Dallas nightclub and that Oswald and

Ruby "had been shacking up for years...They were bed-mates."13 Taken

literally, this is unlikely to be true. There is neither evidence to

suggest a long term relationship between Oswald and his killer, nor a

sexual relationship between the two. It is possible, however that

Cheramie was simply using colloquial phrases to describe how close she

believed the two men to be, or she may simply have been exaggerating the

little knowledge she actually did possess.

As much of what the woman had told him checked out, Fruge telephoned the

Dallas Police Department and managed to get through to Captain Fritz.

Amazingly, Fritz was dismissive of Fruge's information and said that,

as the assassin was dead and his assailant in custody, he was "not

interested."14 Due to the lack of enthusiasm he had encountered, Fruge

released Cheramie and his own investigation was wound up. Thus ended the

first part of the Cheramie story. It was not until four years later that

anyone again showed any interest in the ramblings of Ms Roselle Renee

Cheramie.

Garrison

On 23 February 1967, Detective Frank Meloche sent a memorandum to Jim

Garrison, the then District Attorney of New Orleans. Garrison had

re-opened an investigation into the murder of JFK after becoming

disillusioned with the Warren Commission's official version of events.

The memorandum was the statement of one Mr A H Magruder, who explained

that, during the Christmas holidays of 1963, he had been on a hunting

trip with a Dr Victor J Weiss. The two men had fallen into conversation

at Magruder's home, when Weiss began to relate some curious events that

had occurred at the East Louisiana State Hospital around about the time

of the assassination. Weiss allegedly explained that he was one of the

doctors who had treated a woman who was brought in as a narcotics addict

and who had supposedly been thrown from an automobile. According to

Magruder, Weiss then repeated the story the woman had told to him, which

varied little from that which Cheramie had told Fruge when first

interviewed. She included details of her employment by Ruby as a dope

runner and the plot to kill the President.15 This became one of many

leads Garrison was to follow. He asked Frank Meloche to investigate

further. The detective soon found that the woman Magruder had referred

to was Rose Cheramie, and before long he had the name of the state

trooper who had taken her to the Hospital. Now that Garrison had Fruge

and all the information that nobody had wanted four years previously, he

needed to find Cheramie. Fruge was detailed to work for Garrison. He met

Meloche in Houston, on 6 March 1967, and began to search for Ms

Cheramie. They were soon to be disappointed. In Dallas, Meloche found a

Mrs Morris Wall who told him that her sister, Melba Christine Marcades,

was dead.16

Death

The events surrounding the death of Marcades/Cheramie are almost as

intriguing as the statements that she made two years earlier. It seems,

at least according to the official version, that Cheramie had a penchant

for walking lonely roads at night. In the early morning of 4 September

1965 she was involved in an accident on Highway 155, 1.7 miles east of

the town of Big Sandy, Upshur County, Texas and died later that day of

head injuries received.17 What actually happened deserves closer

scrutiny.

At approximately 2.30 am that morning, Jerry Don Moore was driving out

of Big Sandy towards his home in Tyler. As Moore drew level with a

roadside parking area, he noticed three or four suitcases laid along the

yellow line in the middle of the road. Naturally he swerved to his

right, to avoid them. Suddenly, looking up, he saw the prone figure of a

woman lying at ninety degrees to the highway, with her head on the road.

Moore braked as hard as he could. "I don't know exactly whether I hit

her or not. There was a sound but it could have been a brake shoe

hitting on that old car." Neither the car, nor it's driver were in good

shape. Moore admitted that he was "speeding pretty heavy" and had been

drinking, while he described his vehicle as having only one headlight

and slick (treadless) tyres. Moore managed to stop only after he had

passed the woman. He then returned to where she lay to offer help. Rose

Cheramie was still alive, although unconscious. As Moore sought the

assistance of a group of black men and women who were driving north on

the highway, he noticed a red Chevrolet, which he thought to be either a

1963 or 1964 model parked in the lay-by opposite where the woman lay. He

had no recollection of seeing it, or the suitcases, when he passed this

area about 15 minutes earlier. There then followed a bizarre series of

events as Moore attempted to obtain first aid for the injured woman.

Firstly, he asked the occupants of the car that he had stopped to move

the cases to prevent further accidents, then he put the unconscious

Cheramie into his car and raced off to Big Sandy where he asked for the

nearest doctor. He was told that there was a doctor in Hawkins, a nearby

town, and once again set off at breakneck speed. Once in Hawkins Moore

found a cop who escorted him to a doctor's house where Cheramie was laid

out in the yard. "She was still breathing, but had pretty good brain

damage." The doctor gave her a few shots before the ambulance arrived to

take the patient to Gladewater Hospital.18 What happened at the hospital

remains a subject of some conjecture. In three places on Melba Marcades

death certificate are the letters D.O.A. (dead on arrival), and yet on

the very same document we are told that there was a period of nine hours

between onset of injury and death. The certificate also states the time

of death as 11 am - approximately nine hours after she was admitted. Did

the doctors work for all this time on a corpse?19

Punctate stellate wound

The cause of death was "Traumatic head wound with subdural &

subarachnoid & Petechial Hemorrage to the brain caused by being struck

by auto".20 There was an autopsy performed but, unfortunately, the

hospital is now unable to locate these records. There are three further

points which should be mentioned about Rose's death. Firstly, Moore

noticed definite tread patterns on the head of the injured woman - the

tyres of his vehicle were treadless. There was very little blood to be

found on the road where she lay, and none at all on Moore's car.21

Secondly, the case was investigated at the time by Officer J A Andrews

of the Texas Highway Patrol. Andrews tried to establish a connection

between the driver and victim but was unable to do so. Due to the

unusual nature of the accident he had doubts about the information

received. As the relatives of Cheramie did not wish to pursue the case,

it was closed.22 Finally, it should be noted that Cheramie's hospital

records state that in addition to her other injuries, she had suffered a

"deep punctate stellate wound above her right forehead." 23 This type of

injury, according to medical textbooks, often occurs as the result of a

contact gunshot wound. When a gun is fired touching flesh, the resultant

gasses, trapped between a layer of skin and the underlying bone, can

cause a bursting, tearing effect on the surrounding tissue leaving a

star-shaped (punctate stellate meaning star-shaped puncture) wound.

Fruge interviewed Officer Andrews and reported back to Garrison that

although the police report on the incident would lead one to believe

that Cheramie was involved in an unfortunate accident whilst trying to

hitch-hike, in his opinion this was not a likely scenario. He found, as

well as the aforementioned irregularities, that Highway 155 was a

farm-to-market road running parallel to US Highways 271 and 80, these

would have offered a much better chance of a ride. In his report to

Garrison, Fruge also stated that back in November 1963, when Cheramie

had been in police custody, she had volunteered "that she onfiltered=

for Jack Ruby as a stripper, which was verified." 24

As Cheramie herself was no longer available for interrogation, Fruge

pursued other avenues of enquiry that had not been followed up in 1963,

but as the Garrison investigation gathered momentum, and attracted the

unwelcome attention of the media, Fruge's work was almost forgotten. In

Clay Shaw, the New Orleans D.A. had found a bigger fish to fry.

The HSCA

The critics, however, had most certainly not forgotten and in many books

published in the late sixties and early seventies, there was reference

to the Cheramie rumour. When the House Select Committee on

Assassinations re-investigated the killing of JFK in the late seventies,

one of the witnesses they called was Dr Victor Weiss. Weiss was the

doctor mentioned in the Magruder statement that had set Garrison on

Cheramie's trail. Now Weiss' story was slightly different from the one

he allegedly told to Magruder. Weiss, a resident physician at Jackson in

1963, said that on 25 November of that year he was called by a

colleague, Dr Bowers, to examine a patient who had been committed a few

days previously. Bowers explained that the woman, Rose Cheramie, had

stated before the assassination that the president was going to be

killed. Under questioning from Weiss, Cheramie said she worked for Ruby

and stated that "the word in the underworld" was that Kennedy would be

hit.25 The good doctor was very precise about his dates before the HSCA,

certainly more so than he was ten years earlier when questioned by

Garrison investigator Frank Meloche. At that time, says Meloche, Weiss

stated that he "doesn't recall whether this was told to him before or

after the assassination.26 The doctor also went on to say on the Jack

Anderson TV Special "American Expose: Who Killed JFK" that "On the 20th

November....she (Cheramie) quite openly and readily told a number of the

staff, including the doctors attending her that she was aware the

President was going to be assassinated." Dr Bowers, unfortunately, was

not interviewed by the Committee and I am unable to find records of him

being interviewed by anyone else.

Of all the information that the HSCA received during it's investigation

of Cheramie, by far the most difficult to dismiss came from none other

than the policeman who first found her. When he had interviewed Rose

Cheramie at the hospital, Fruge said she had given him the names of her

travelling companions. One, she divulged, had been called Osanto, the

other was Sergio Arcacha Smith.27 During his period working for the

Garrison investigation, Fruge had visited the Silver Slipper lounge and

interviewed the owner, Mr Mac Manual. The Silver Slipper was the bar

where Cheramie said the argument had taken place between herself and her

two companions. Manual remembered the incident clearly, and picked out

mug shots of both Arcacha Smith and Osanto from the stack that Fruge

showed to him. There had been an argument, stated the bar owner, the

woman had become drunk and abusive and was taken out side and "slapped

around" by Smith and Osanto. Mr Manual said he recognised the two men as

regular transporters of prostitutes in and out of Miami.28 Who was

Sergio Arcacha Smith?

Sergio Arcacha Smith

In the month of March 1952 Fulgencio Batista accomplished a coup d'etat

similar to one that he had successfully carried out twelve years

previously. Once again he was President of Cuba. Batista encouraged

tourism. Gangsters of all types were welcome, crooked casinos flourished

and the bourgeois and the rich grew richer. Behind this thin veneer of

prosperity seethed a restless under-class. They lived on the streets,

ate when they could, formed a guerilla group and bided their time. That

time came on 1st January 1958. Although the leader of the rebels

opposing Batista was still in Oriente, some five hundred miles from

Havana, the dictator had fled the country late the previous night and

Cuba had itself a new president - Fidel Castro.

544 Camp Street

Fearful of Castro's reprisals against Batista's corrupt officials, many

of them followed their leader's example and ran for safety. One such

ex-diplomat was Sergio Arcacha Smith who settled in Miami along with

many of his exiled countrymen. Here they plotted the overthrow of the

rebel president and dreamed of a return to the good old days. One of

their number formed them into a cohesive group and, with the help and

encouragement of the CIA, leading exiles moulded the Cuban Democratic

Revolutionary Front. Various cities in the USA had branches of the

movement and in 1961 Sergio Arcacha Smith was sent to be the head of the

new group in New Orleans. The address of his new office - 544 Camp

Street, may raise an eyebrow on many an assassination student.29 This

was the same address that would appear on hand-bills issued by Lee

Oswald three years later, the same address where Guy Bannister, ex-FBI

man and CIA contact, had his private investigators office, the same

office in which witnesses claim to have seen both David William Ferrie

(a major suspect in the Garrison investigation) and Lee Oswald. Was this

just coincidence? Let us look closer.

It is likely that the infamous CIA agent, E Howard Hunt, had helped

Arcacha Smith to find the office.30 Bannister, Hunt, Ferrie and Smith

were active in the 1961 "Bay of Pigs invasion" that went tragically

wrong for the exiles when, at the eleventh hour, Kennedy refused air

-support. The attack was a debacle, with many of the invaders being cut

down on the beaches by Castro's forces before they could make any

headway. The CIA and the surviving Cuban Exiles held the American

President responsible. The exiles continued to train, encouraged and

funded by the CIA, in the southern states of the USA hoping for a better

result on their next attempt. Ferrie, who had reportedly been a pilot on

the ill-fated invasion, set to work moulding the Cuban recruits into a

fighting force. The base for this training camp was a ranch owned by the

family of Mafia money-man Meyer Lanskey.31 According to an April 1961

FBI report, New Orleans Mafia boss Carlos Marcello was funding Smith and

his group in return for favours in Havana when Castro was toppled and

the exiles regained power.32 Marcello, Hunt, Bannister, and Ferrie have

all been strongly linked to the investigation into the assassination of

JFK.

Ferrie letter

During the Garrison investigation of 1967 Smith was accused of a

munitions robbery from Schlumberger Well Surveying Company. His accuser

was Gordon Novel, a self confessed CIA agent. The stolen goods were

apparently deposited at Guy Bannister's office.33 David Lewis stated

that he saw Quiroga, a close associate of Smith, in the late summer of

1963, in a restaurant on Camp Street in the company of Lee Harvey

Oswald.34

When the CDRF folded, the CIA helped form The Cuban Revolutionary

Council (CRV) of which Smith became a delegate. As an illustration of

his ties to David Ferrie, consider the following: when Ferrie, a

homosexual, was dismissed as a pilot by Eastern Airlines, a letter of

support was sent to the company describing his heroic efforts on behalf

of the Cuban cause. It's author - Sergio Arcacha Smith.35 There are many

other witnesses and statements connecting Smith to Ferrie, Bannister,

Marcello and Hunt. Smith was finally relieved of his post as a result of

funds being mis-appropriated. He moved to Dallas and in 1967 Garrison,

despite pleas to the Texas authorities, was unable to extradite him. It

was actually John Conally himself who refused Garrison's request.36

If Cheramie is to be believed, and her travelling companion was indeed

Arcacha Smith, then by virtue of his connections in New Orleans it is

possible he did have foreknowledge of the assassination.

As a final footnote to Smith's alleged involvement - on 17 September

1963 Lee Harvey Oswald, or someone using his name, applied for a Mexican

tourist visa. The next visa was issued - by pure coincidence, of course

- to CIA operative, William Gaudet. This agent denied knowing Oswald

but, in a later interview, said "another vital person is Sergio Arcacha

Smith. I know he knew Oswald, and knows more about the Kennedy affair

than he ever admitted."

This is not intended to be a definitive article on Arcacha Smith, he

deserves much deeper investigation, but it has hopefully exposed how

unlikely it would be that Rose Cheramie should pluck this man's name out

of thin air. I am aware that others are currently researching the

Cheramie incident and am confident that the last word has not yet been

heard on the predictions of "Rambling" Rose Cheramie.

Notes

1) Statement from "Malcolm Stone Funeral Home". 4 September 1965.

2) Death Certificate - Melba Christine Marcades. Texas State File No.

AX-8-3976 ( The HSCA give the date of birth as 1932. I believe this to

be incorrect. Not only does the death cert., contradict this, but

accepting the HSCA's date would mean that her first criminal offence of

vagrancy occurred when she was only nine years old!)

3) Louisiana State Police record. Document No.256375

4)James Hepburn, Farewell America, (Frontiers Publishing 1968).

5) Hepburn, pp. 349.

6) Memorandum, Det. Frank Meloche to Jim Garrison, 13 March 1967, and

House Select Committee on Assassinations Volume 10 pp. 201.

7) HSCA, Vol. 10, pp. 200.

8) HSCA, Vol. 10, pp. 201, 202. and Memorandum, Det. Frank Meloche to

Jim Garrison, 13 March 1967.

9) HSCA, Vol. 10, pp. 202. and Anthony Summers interview with Lt.

Francis Fruge 1978

10) Memorandum, Det. Frank Meloche to Jim Garrison, 13 March 1967.

11) HSCA, Vol. 10, pp. 202.

12) HSCA, Vol. 10, pp. 202.

13) HSCA, Vol. 10, pp. 202. and R Groden and H E Livingstone, High

Treason, Conservatory Press, 1989. pp.122.

14) Memorandum, Meloche to Garrison 13 March 1967.

15) Memorandum, Det. Frank Meloche to Jim Garrison, re- statement A H

Magruder 23 February 1967.

16) Memo. Meloche - Garrison 13 March 1967.

17) Death cert. Marcades.

18) Interview of Jerry Don Moore by J H West and J Gary Shaw.

19) Death cert. Marcades.

20) Death cert. Marcades.

21) Interview of Jerry Don Moore by J H West and J Gary Shaw.

22) Francis Fruge's staement to Garrison. 4 April 1967. re interview

with officer J A Andrews.

23) J Gary Shaw, "Case Closed" or Posner's Pompous & Presumtuous

Postulations, Dateline Dallas, Nov 1993 pp. 12.

24) Francis Fruge's staement to Garrison. 4 April 1967.

25) HSCA, Vol. 10, pp. 200, 201.

26) Memo. Meloche to Garrison 13 March 1967.

27) Summers, Interview with Fruge 1978.

28) Summers, Interview with Fruge 1978. and HSCA, Vol. 10, pp. 202.

29) Weberman & Canfield, Coup d'etat in America, Quick American

Archives, 1992, pp.36.

30) Weberman & Canfield, Coup d'etat in America, Quick American

Archives, 1992, pp.36.

31) Bob Callhan, Who Shot JFK, Simon Schuster, 1993, pp.86.

32) Weberman & Canfield, pp. 44. and J H Davis, Mafia Kingfish, McGraw

Hill, 1989. pp. 85.

33) R S Anson, They've Killed the President, Bantam, 1975, pp.108.

34) Wardlaw & James, Plot or Politics, Pelican Publishing, 1967, pp.

49.

35) Callahan, pp. 8.

36) Milton Brener, The Garrison Case, Clarkson N Potter, 1969, pp. 184.

Acknowledgements

For providing information, documents, access to the HSCA Vols., Warren

Commission Vols., and their valuable time: J Gary Shaw, Ian Griggs,

Walter Anderson and John Rudd.

Chris Mills

76 Main Street Burton Joyce Nottingham NG14 5EH

email: des3millscc@ntu.ac.uk

------------------------------- end ----------------------------------

[Dawn Meredith]

Thanx B-- Rose is a hero to many. If only people had listened to her.

Wim: of course she was murdered. Geez

Dawn

[Jaxie Stewart Fisher]

Jaxie,

Do you know if that poor driver, Jerry Don Moore, is still alive?

And let me ask you point blank: Do you believe, as Mike, that she was murdered?

Wim

Wim, I have no idea if the driver is alive. I have no doubt that she was murdered. Are you referring to

my cousin Mike? I have not been in touch with any of my family in Texas for some years so I do not

know what he thinks.

[Wim Dankbaar]

Yes your cousin Mike.

He was easy to find on the Internet.

Wim

[John Dolva]

quote"Sergio Arcacha Smith was sent to be the head of the

new group in New Orleans. The address of his new office - 544 Camp

Street"

In July7 he wrote to the Governor of Mississippi to get permission to solicit funds in that state.

The address he used was 207 Balter Building in New Orleans. ph JA 5-8508.

It may be a mispelling but he reportedly used the name Serfio.

http://www.mdah.state.ms.us/arlib/contents...8|1|1|1|23884|A

One thing I've learnt about the MSC files is that they don't list all the documents they have online, and the actual letter from Arcacha is not listed.

_____________________

Jaxie, welcome to the Forum.

_____________________

who was Osanto? have you heard the names Beckham or Evans in connection with aunt Pippy?

Edited October 1, 2006 by John Dolva

[Wim Dankbaar]

My two cents:

http://jfkmurdersolved.com/film/nbcroswell.rm

[Jaxie Stewart Fisher]

quote"Sergio Arcacha Smith was sent to be the head of the

new group in New Orleans. The address of his new office - 544 Camp

Street"

In July7 he wrote to the Governor of Mississippi to get permission to solicit funds in that state.

The address he used was 207 Balter Building in New Orleans. ph JA 5-8508.

It may be a mispelling but he reportedly used the name Serfio.

http://www.mdah.state.ms.us/arlib/contents...8|1|1|1|23884|A

One thing I've learnt about the MSC files is that they don't list all the documents they have online, and the actual letter from Arcacha is not listed.

_____________________

Jaxie, welcome to the Forum.

_____________________

who was Osanto? have you heard the names Beckham or Evans in connection with aunt Pippy?

John, thanks for the welcome. I have never participated in a forum before so this is all new to me. The last time I saw my aunt was in Virginia while she was a patient in Saint Elizabeth mental hospital. I remember she still had some of her beauty left and still had her radiant smile. At that time I do not believe she was involved with Jack Ruby but I was just 13 or so and we never discussed her personal problems. The names you mentioned are unfamiliar to me. I only learned of her involvement in the JFK affair long after the fact. I am looking forward to learning more from this forum. I knew her as a dear aunt who had a long history of pain and lonliness. Thanks again for the welcome, Jaxie

[Robert Howard]

quote"Sergio Arcacha Smith was sent to be the head of the

new group in New Orleans. The address of his new office - 544 Camp

Street"

In July7 he wrote to the Governor of Mississippi to get permission to solicit funds in that state.

The address he used was 207 Balter Building in New Orleans. ph JA 5-8508.

It may be a mispelling but he reportedly used the name Serfio.

http://www.mdah.state.ms.us/arlib/contents...8|1|1|1|23884|A

One thing I've learnt about the MSC files is that they don't list all the documents they have online, and the actual letter from Arcacha is not listed.

_____________________

Jaxie, welcome to the Forum.

_____________________

who was Osanto? have you heard the names Beckham or Evans in connection with aunt Pippy?

John, thanks for the welcome. I have never participated in a forum before so this is all new to me. The last time I saw my aunt was in Virginia while she was a patient in Saint Elizabeth mental hospital. I remember she still had some of her beauty left and still had her radiant smile. At that time I do not believe she was involved with Jack Ruby but I was just 13 or so and we never discussed her personal problems. The names you mentioned are unfamiliar to me. I only learned of her involvement in the JFK affair long after the fact. I am looking forward to learning more from this forum. I knew her as a dear aunt who had a long history of pain and lonliness. Thanks again for the welcome, Jaxie

[Robert Howard]

quote"Sergio Arcacha Smith was sent to be the head of the

new group in New Orleans. The address of his new office - 544 Camp

Street"

In July7 he wrote to the Governor of Mississippi to get permission to solicit funds in that state.

The address he used was 207 Balter Building in New Orleans. ph JA 5-8508.

It may be a mispelling but he reportedly used the name Serfio.

http://www.mdah.state.ms.us/arlib/contents...8|1|1|1|23884|A

One thing I've learnt about the MSC files is that they don't list all the documents they have online, and the actual letter from Arcacha is not listed.

_____________________

Jaxie, welcome to the Forum.

_____________________

who was Osanto? have you heard the names Beckham or Evans in connection with aunt Pippy?

John, thanks for the welcome. I have never participated in a forum before so this is all new to me. The last time I saw my aunt was in Virginia while she was a patient in Saint Elizabeth mental hospital. I remember she still had some of her beauty left and still had her radiant smile. At that time I do not believe she was involved with Jack Ruby but I was just 13 or so and we never discussed her personal problems. The names you mentioned are unfamiliar to me. I only learned of her involvement in the JFK affair long after the fact. I am looking forward to learning more from this forum. I knew her as a dear aunt who had a long history of pain and lonliness. Thanks again for the welcome, Jaxie

I was not aware that there were two different threads on Rose Cherami on the Education Forum. I was wondering if Jaxie still posts on the Forum.

John, is it possible that this thread could be added to the larger Cherami thread?