Oswald in the doorway: the blog of the Oswald Innocence Campaign, by Ralph Cinque

With friends like Walt, who needs an assault?

An idiot named Walt on McAdams forum thinks that Oswald's encounter with Jarman and Norman happened at 12:28. But, it happened much earlier than that.

Amazingly, Walt claims that Oswald told Fritz that just two minutes before the assassination, he was eating lunch in the Domino room where he saw Jarman and Norman. But, that's not what happened. It was much earlier than that. 

At the time of the shots, Junior Jarman and Harold Norman (and also Bonnie Ray Williams) were perched at the 5th floor window, right below the Sniper's Nest. And we have a picture of them. 

But, how did they get there? They didn't go there directly from the first floor. Jarman and Norman had their encounter with Oswald, and then they went outside. They were originally going to watch the event from outside, like most others. So, they went outside, and they were hanging around outside, but then they changed their minds. They decided to go up to the 5th floor to watch the event from the window. 

Now, for some reason, Walt wants to claim that they saw Oswald on their way to the 5th floor, and he places the time at 12:28. But, that is totally unfounded. It was much earlier than that. Let's look at what Jarman said.

Jarman said that when they decided to go up to the 5th floor, they walked around to the back of the building and re-entered there and took the west elevator up to the 5th floor. Here's a diagram of the 1st floor. The Domino room where Oswald ate lunch was the small room on the right, second from the back. 

So,  Jarman and Norman walked outside the building, down the block to the back door. Walt assumes that Oswald was in the Domino room where he caught a glimpse of Jarman and Norman as they were going to the elevator.  But how could that possibly be interpreted as Oswald having lunch with them?

Mr. BALL. Did you ask him what happened that day; where he had been? 
Mr. FRITZ. Yes, sir. 
Mr. BALL. What did he say? 
Mr. FRITZ. Well he told me that he was eating lunch with some of the employees when this happened.

Walt, you think that from the Domino Room Oswald saw Jarman and Norman going to the elevator? But why? Oswald was in the confines of the Domino room. Wasn't he looking at his food? Why assume that he was facing the door and observing what was going on by the elevator? Isn't that presumptuous? And even if he did see them, you think that would somehow be interpreted as him having lunch with them? But, look at this:  

Mr. BALL - What did you do about lunch that day? 
Mr. JARMAN - I got a sandwich off the carrying truck. 
Mr. BALL - About what time of day? 
Mr. JARMAN - It was about 10 or a little after 10, maybe. 
Mr. BALL Where did you put it, keep it until lunch? 
Mr. JARMAN - In the domino room. 
Mr. BALL - Where in the domino room? 
Mr. JARMAN - Well, they have two little windows, they have two sets of windows in there and I put it in the window. 


So, Jarman stored his sandwich in the Domino room, which means that he had to go in there to get it. And that is where Oswald ate, which means that Jarman probably went in there to get his sandwich to eat it right when Oswald was in there. Don't you think that is when Oswald saw Jarman, when he came in to get his sandwich? And that certainly didn't happen when Jarman was relocating to the 5th floor. 

Vincent Bugliosi agrees that it was well before the shooting. He places the time of the Oswald/Jarman encounter at 12:15, and it couldn't have been much later than that. 

We know beyond any doubt that at 12:30 sharp, Oswald was standing outside in the doorway, and it's because we have a photo of him there: his face, his build, his clothes, etc. 

So, that's crystal, and it doesn't matter what anybody said. So, why did Fritz tell the Warren Commission that Oswald told him he was "eating lunch with other employees" at the time of the shots? 

It's because Fritz lied. When Ball asked Fritz point-blank about Oswald's alibi, Fritz couldn't tell him the truth because at that point, Fritz understood the situation and what was expected of him. So, Fritz lied knowing full-well that they wanted him to lie. He told them what they wanted to hear.  

It was well before the assassination that Oswald ate lunch in the Domino Room in the sight of Jarman and Norman. Walt, YOU have the order wrong. The proper order was: Oswald eating lunch in the Domino room and seeing Jarman and Norman come in there; Jarman and Norman going outside; then Jarman and Norman going upstairs to the 5th floor. 

And another thing: like everyone else, Oswald got off work at 11:45, which was 45 minutes before the motorcade passed. So why would he wait until 12:28 to eat lunch as you allege? Why do you think Oswald preferred to do other things only to have to skip the Presidential motorcade just to eat a cheese sandwich and apple right when the leader of the free world was passing by, a man whom he respected, admired, and defended? Why do you attribute such weird behavior to Oswald? 


You're no friend of his, Walt. In fact, you do him more harm than his outright enemies.