Stephen Jaffe went back to talk with Reverend Raymond Broshears another time. This time, Broshears told Jaffe all about his relationship with Clay Shaw and David Ferrie. The three of them were together several times! Here is the second memo about Broshears:
You can see in the second paragraph on the first page that Jaffe showed Broshears a picture of the three tramps** and Broshears goes on to identify one of the tramps as possibly a gay hustler, or the tramp might have been the man who chauffeured Clay Shaw (third to last paragraph on the last page).
Broshears also says that Ferrie introduced Shaw as "Clara." Would Shaw really call a man who worked in civil rights a "Commie"? Then, he claims Shaw said he likes "little boys" and then slapped Broshears' rear. Shaw also gave Ferrie a large envelope with money. David Ferrie supposedly had some possessions of Lee Harvey Oswald. This was absurd - Garrison had Ferrie's apartment searched thoroughly after his death and Garrison's office even paid the rent for a few extra months to give them more time. Silly me, I am sure Ferrie got rid of those possessions.
Does any of this sound like the truth? Would you believe any of this? Well, Jaffe did and Broshears was then brought to New Orleans. We will cover what Broshears said in New Orleans in subsequent posts.
So, why didn't Garrison use Raymond Broshears as a witness in the Clay Shaw trial? He was a witness who could tie Clay Shaw to David Ferrie. Yet Broshears wasn't even included in the Tom Bethell memo listing trial witnesses. Perhaps Garrison and others realized he had no credibility. The cross-examination would have made Broshears seem like a sane Charles Spiesel.
But, Broshears was interviewed by the HSCA on May 18, 1977, and he was specifically asked this question:
That admission did not stop Garrison from resuscitating Broshears in his book. Check out page 120 from On The Trail of The Assassins:
This is straight out of the Jaffe memo, no? And this passage was enough to convince James DiEugenio to write the following on page 209 in his book, Destiny Betrayed:
Footnote 169 refers to Jim Garrison's book.
Coming up: Raymond Broshears in New Orleans - what he told Garrison; what he thought of Garrison; and Harold Weisberg's opinion of what transpired.
**Researchers like Richard Sprague thought one of the tramps was "Skinny Ralph Schlachter." Here is an excerpt from a letter that Sprague sent to Harold Weisberg, in January 1969) in which he listed witnesses that should be interviewed:
The man's real name was Ralph Schlafter and he was supposedly a member of Interpen, a group of anti-Castro mercenaries, along with Gerry Patrick Hemming.