My new book, A Heritage of Nonsense: Jim Garrison's Tales of Mystery and Imagination, has a chapter on Larry Crafard, Jack Ruby's handyman who many conspiracy theorists believed impersonated Lee Harvey Oswald.
It's all complete nonsense, and there is not one iota to support the allegation.
Of course, there was a resemblance between the two:
And it is quite possible that some visitors to the Carousel Club mistook Crafard for Oswald.
Unpublished WC papers in a dossier now in the Kennedy files show that Warren Commission staff had a suspicion that Laverne “Larry Crafard” was 1 of 4 persons who they suspected might be impersonating Oswald. (Memo from Burt Griffin to staff, March 13, 1964)
There is nothing in that memo about impersonation. The Warren Commission was simply interested in mistaken identities.
Then the article veers into silliness:
The purpose of an impersonation in the form of Crafard would be a decoy operation to establish the narrative that the person to be blamed for the assassination of Kennedy, namely Oswald, was a lone gunman who’d escaped without assistance. A duped Oswald would need to be shot, and blamed. Case closed.
A decoy operation? Really?
James DiEugenio is back at it with two new articles by John Washburn alleging that Crafard impersonated Oswald.
What emerges from all this is that the Marsalis Street bus that Oswald was said to have been on for 4 minutes, that bus was singled out for different treatment than other buses. And also witnesses Mary Bledsoe and Roy Milton Jones described someone better resembling perhaps Larry Crafard, who worked for Jack Ruby, than Lee Oswald.
Better resembling Larry Crafard? How so?
Although Oswald under arrest an hour later had a black eye from his arrest, his appearance stood up remarkably well to press coverage and questioning at the police department in film and TV footage. His face is only ‘distorted’ at the point Jack Ruby shoots him. It follows that whoever Mary Bledsoe saw on the bus probably wasn’t Oswald. It may have been Crafard. Any facial distortion could be explained by the fact Crafard had no front teeth.
Distorted because Crafard had no front teeth? Does this sound convincing?
If it was Larry Crafard on the Marsalis bus and the purpose of that journey was to give the impression that a lone Lee Oswald was stopping at 1026 N Beckley to pick up a gun, and be witnessed by Earlene Roberts, then the question arises why Earlene Roberts wouldn’t have realised it wasn’t Oswald she saw if it was Oswald who was staying there.
Washburn never really answers his own question.
He then goes on to quote a Warren Commission document that brings up the Crafard-Oswald resemblance:
Washburn complains that the Warren Commission did not further question Whaley. Probably because they realized that their scenario above was ridiculous and that they were satisfied that Oswald was in Whaley's taxicab.
But Washburn is upset:
But the glaring omission – particularly in the light of what Mary Bledsoe and Roy Milton Jones said - is that neither Mary Bledsoe, Earlene Roberts nor Mr. & Mrs. Johnson—who owned the Beckley residence-- were shown photographs of Crafard and Oswald to clear up any confusion.
This is because while Crafard might have been mistaken for Oswald at the Carousel Club, there was no evidence that he was impersonating Oswald.
There is even more evidence in the statements of Mary Lawrence, she told the FBI on 5 December 1963 and the DPD on 30 January 1964 that she had seen Oswald with Ruby in the early morning of 22 November in Lucas B&B Downtown Dallas. She came forward having seen a photograph of Oswald on TV. She said that he had dark hair and she could identify Oswald if he had a scar on his cheek. That detail describes Crafard. A few days after the assassination she received an anonymous telephone call “telling her to get out of town or she would die”.
Washburn then gives us some other examples of Oswald being impersonated including Roger Craig:
That evidence that there was an imposter is additional to the evidence of Deputy Sheriff Roger Craig who said he saw a man who he thought was Oswald getting into a Nash Rambler at approximately 12:40pm.
He doesn't discuss the credibility of Roger Craig. There is firm evidence that Oswald left the Depository in a bus and then a taxi.
And then Washburn brings up Butch Burroughs:
Then there were the statements by Texas Theater manager Butch Burroughs that Oswald entered the Theater just after 1:00 pm and then bought popcorn, thus 40 minutes before the fugitive Oswald was said to have entered.
He quotes a statement by Burroughs to Jim Marrs in 1987. But when Burroughs testified before the Warren Commission, he said he did not know when Oswald entered the theater:
and then he said this:
Burroughs didn't say anything about selling Oswald popcorn.
Washburn then brings up Bernard Haire:
The arrest record from Officer Stringfellow said Oswald was arrested in the balcony of the Texas Theater. But Oswald was arrested on the floor and then taken out the front. Adjacent shoe owner Bernard Haire said he had seen Oswald taken out the back entrance and was shocked when years later he saw the photograph of him being taken out the front.
The statements by Haire comes from an interview with Jim Marrs some twenty-five years after the assassination.
Here is what Marrs writes: (page 344 of the second edition of Crossfire)
On November 22, 1963, Haire, who was unaware of the assassination, saw the street in front of his business fill up with police cars. He went outside and saw a crowd gathered at the Texas Theater but could not see what was happening. Haire was captured at the rear of the crowed in at least one photograph taken when Oswald was brought from the theater by police.
So, Haire did not see Oswald being arrested out front.
Marrs continues (page 344)
Haire walked through his store and went into the alley, which he said was also filled with police cars. Walking toward the theater, Haire was opposite the rear door when police brought out a young white man out. He said the man was dressed in a pull-over shirt and slacks and appeared to be flushed as if having been in a struggle. Although Haire was unable to see if the man was handcuffed, he was certainly under the impression that the man was under arrest. Haire watched police put the man in a patrol car and drive off.
Haire might have thought it was Oswald, but it might have just been a witness. Haire
didn't see handcuffs and he just assumed the man was under arrest.
What would be the purpose of arresting an Oswald impersonator in the back of the theater while Oswald himself was being led away from the front?
I will await with bated breath the next installment of Washburn's series on impersonation.
Previous Relevant Blog Posts
Garrison told a journalist that Larry Crafard was a gunman on the grassy knoll.
Was Garrison the second Oswald?
Garrison tried to convince the HSCA that Thornley was lying about Oswald's height.
Garrison was convinced Thornley was the second Oswald.
Garrison sent the HSCA a wacky memo about Thornley.
Now here is a really wacky memo.