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

Why did they turn off the elevators? It was to prevent anyone from going up to the 6th floor where they had their people. 

Remember I said that Oswald would have had NO WAY of insuring his privacy and exclusiveness on the 6th floor. It would have been a total crap shoot for him. "Gee, I hope nobody barges in while I'm shooting the President."

But they COULD do something. They could turn off the elevators.

How many people do you know who would walk up 6 flights of stairs if they didn't have to? 

And there was also a time restraint because if someone decided at the last minute to go up to the 6th floor to watch the motorcade, there wouldn't be time to take the stairs- even if they weren't averse to the climb. 

Most of the employees were downstairs or outside at the time, so when the conspirators shut off the elevators, they effectively cut the people off from the 6th floor. 

But, what about people who were upstairs? Victoria Adams and Sandra Styles were on the 4th floor, so it would only have been 2 flights up for them. But, what reason would they have had to go up there? Watching from the 4th floor was just as good, wasn't it? 

But, admittedly, there was a remote chance that somebody could have gone up the stairs at the wrong time and caught some people in the act. And I don't mean the act of killing Kennedy. I doubt that any of the shots that hit Kennedy came from the 6th floor. But, to control that small risk, I suspect they had someone guarding the top of the stairs to stop and engage anyone coming up. Remember, they had more than one person up there. 

So, for the conspirators, it was a very manageable situation because they could turn off the elevators and guard the stairs. But, Oswald, had he done it, would have been working alone with no way to turn off the elevators or guard the stairs. So, it would have been extremely reckless for him.

But, the guys who were inadvertently close to the action, as fate would have it, were Bonnie Ray Williams, Harold Norman, and James Jarman. 

Just think: Williams went up to the 6th floor with every intention of watching the motorcade from there. And, the only reason he didn't was because nobody else showed up.

It shows you how different people are. If that had been me, and I thought that the 6th floor was the best place to watch the motorcade, I'd have gone there, and if nobody else showed up, it wouldn't have phased me in the least. I wouldn't give a damn. I might even be glad. What do I need people for? People? They're the worst! What, do I have to talk to somebody about it? I can't enjoy it unless I'm doing that? I can't just watch it?  

But, Bonnie Ray wasn't like me. He didn't like doing things alone. So, when nobody showed up, he began to hear noises which sounded like people had arrived on the 5th floor, which was the floor below. So, he decided to go down there and see who they were. And it turned out to be his friends, Harold Norman and James Jarman. And so, he decided to remain with them and watch the motorcade from there. 

But, what would have happened if Bonnie Ray was more like me, and he stayed put on the 6th floor? What would the conspirators have done?

There is a lot of controversy about who was up on the 6th floor. Some believe it included Malcolm Wallace, LBJ's henchman, and that he left his thumbprint on a box.  I don't swear by it, but I consider it plausible.

John Armstrong believes very strongly that the other Oswald was there, and his purpose was to frame the Oswald of fame. And some believe that both Malcolm Wallace and the other Oswald were there. Of course, the Oswald that we know was not there; he was in the doorway, and we have two images of him there. 

But, my question is: what would Malcolm Wallace and the other Oswald (or whomever you think was up there at the time of the shooting) have done if Bonnie Ray Williams, after consuming his chicken sandwich and Dr. Pepper on the 6th floor, had decided to just stay up there and plant himself in the Sniper's Nest to watch the parade?

Well, I don't know. I could only speculate, and in this case, it seems pointless because it would only be a guess. If they ran him out of there, then he would know that he was run out of there, and he would undoubtedly have wound up talking to police and telling them that he was run out of there. 

And the fact is that Bonnie Ray Williams was definitely there on the 6th floor until close to 12:30. The reason I say that is because he was there until Harold Norman and James Jarman arrived on the 5th floor, and they didn't do that until close to the assassination. If you follow their timeline and all that they did from the time Oswald saw them when he was in the Domino room, you realize that they cut it close. I suspect it was 12:25 or later that they arrived on the 5th floor.  

So, what would have happened if Bonnie Ray Williams had just stayed put? I do not know. What do you think?