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

Obviously, no one would carry curtain rods by tucking them into their armpit and holding them at the bottom with their hand. That's because they are light as a feather. 

But, would you even carry a rifle that way?

Let's look again at what we're talking about:

Now, that is an actual Mannlicher-Carcano rifle, and I'm told that really it's just a Carcano. The other name is a misnomer. 

The length of the rifle when assembled is 40.12 inches. The longest piece unassembled is 34.8 inches. 

The longest Buell Frazier would go was 24 inches for the length of the bag. They got his sister to go as long as 27 inches, but still, it's a far cry from 34.8 inches.

But, Frazier said that Oswald tucked the package under his armpit with his hand cupping it at the bottom. That would mean that the package could be no no longer than the length of his arm.

I just measured the length of my downstretched arm from my armpit to my cupped hand, and it came to 22 inches. 

I'm several inches shorter than Oswald was, so we'll assume his arms were longer than mine. Let's say 2 inches longer. That would mean he would have a capacity to carry something that way up to 24 inches in length. Again, the longest piece was nearly 35 inches. So, there is no way he could have done it. There is no way he could have gotten close to doing it. 

So, what does that leave besides the whole story being a lie? The only thing left for someone to argue is that Oswald had the rifle tucked into his armpit above, and below, he gripped it from the side at some point above the bottom. 

But wait. That's not what Fraizer said, and it's his story. He said that Oswald cupped the rifle in his hand at the bottom and tucked it into his armpit on top. I've seen him demonstrate it. You can't revise his story. You can't say he probably meant this when he said that. That's because it all comes from him. There is no other source.

Here is me carrying an ax that is 2 inches shorter than the longest unassembled piece of that rifle. So, Oswald's theoretical package was at least 2 inches longer than this.

  As you can see, I am nowhere near being able to cup the bottom of the ax in my hand. I'm miles away from it. And that's the best Oswald could have done carrying it that way. His package would have been 2 inches longer than what you see here, but I doubt his arms were any more than 2 inches longer than mine. 

But, why would he bother stuffing his armpit with it? It isn't comfortable, and how does it help? No one would think of carrying an ax or a rifle that way. And when I say no one I mean nobody.

Here is me carrying the ax in a natural way. I don't have it tucked in my armpit, which is ridiculous. I'm just holding it with the weight evenly distributed. I've got the principle of counterbalance working for me. My armpit has nothing to do with it.

Actually, I was on Neighborhood Watch there, looking for tomato thieves. That's an inside joke. 

It would never enter mine or anyone's mind to carry that ax by stuffing it into one's armpit, and likewise, it would never enter mine or anyone's mind to carry a rifle by stuffing it into one's armpit.

The stock and forestock would have been the longest piece, followed by the barrel. But, after that, the pieces were small, and they would have fallen to the bottom of the bag. That's because of this thing called gravity. So, whether he had the forestock or the butt of the rifle stuffed into his armpit, the small pieces would have been bunched up at the bottom of the bag  making it hard to grasp. The idea that that was the most efficient way to carry it is ridiculous. 

I would tell you that the story is a complete fiction. And when you realize that there are problems with Frazier's story, what's the first thing you do? You go so see what Oswald said. And Oswald said that he brought nothing but his lunch to work. And I'm sure he didn't stuff his food into his armpit. No one in the history of Man has carried his food that way.  

Buell Frazier was only 19 years old, and he was being threatened with arrest for being an accomplice, and he said what they needed him to say. 

But, they can't hurt him now. He's too well known. He's too famous. If he came clean that it was Oswald in the doorway, they couldn't attack him. How would it look if a JFK witness makes a revelation and then, what, suddenly gets killed in a drive-by shooting? Dies of carbon monoxide poisoning form a faulty furnace? Has a heart attack? No one is going to buy that, and there's this thing called the Internet. Word would spread fast.