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

Part V: So, Bookhout fired a blank, but somewhere, somehow, Oswald was fatally shot. There is no doubt about that. So, where, when, and how did it happen?

I'll start by telling where it didn't happen: it didn't happen in the ambulance. And the way I know that is because of this man: Frederick Bieberdorf.

Fred Bieberdorf was a 4th year medical student who worked for the Dallas PD as a "first aid attendant."  And he was working that day. He was either 24 or 25 depending on when his birthday occurred.

Fred rode in the ambulance with Oswald, and he listed the other occupants: the driver, the other ambulance attendant, Detective Leavelle, and two other detectives, whom we know were Graves and Dhority. 

He said that he put a cup resusitator over Oswald's mouth while they were traveling, and he said that at one point Oswald started thrashing about some. 

Now, unless one were to believe that Fred Bieberdorf was made up the way Joseph Backes thinks Mary Bledsoe was made up (she wasn't) then, I think we have to accept what he said at face value. It's obvious to me from that that Oswald was not killed in the ambulance. 

But, here's what else it says in WC Exhibit 5132 which was Fred's statement to the FBI:

He said he heard the gunshot and proceeded immediately to the basement area. He said that this took him several minutes due to the confusion. And he said that when he got to the location where it happened that he searched the area for several minutes. 

Then, he went into the jail office, which was being guarded by a detective, but the detective let him in. And there he saw Ruby lying on the floor face up, and some distance away, he saw Oswald lying on the ground face up. He said that Oswald's shirt was pulled up, his skin exposed, and he could see that he had a puncture wound in his side, his left rib cage.  He later recalled the puncture wound being a little below rib 5 or rib 6. It was actually a little above rib 7, but that was close. And he said that no external bleeding was present.

I dare say the man who was 4th year medical student could recognize a puncture wound when he saw one. That means that Oswald was already shot. So, all talk of Oswald being shot in the ambulance should be laid to rest. 

Now, why would someone pull Oswald's shirt up leaving the wound exposed? And let's talk about the meaning of "no external bleeding." I don't take it to mean no blood spurting. I take it to mean no blood at all. I assume that if he saw any blood at all that he would take that as evidence of bleeding. Therefore, I assume that what he meant was that area was clean; really clean; that it was just a hole with no blood.  

But, think about it: Oswald was supposedly shot in the garage. And then, he was picked up like a sack of potatoes, or perhaps I should say like a log. The lifting involved two men: Leavelle and another detective. So presumably, one man took Oswald's arms, and the other man took Oswald's legs. They couldn't support the middle of his body that way, and it would have put pressure on the middle, because of gravity. And that is where the wound was. 

So, how after all that, could the site of the entrance wound be clean, totally free of blood?

It couldn't. Somebody must have cleaned the blood. They must have wiped Oswald clean. Why would they do that? Maybe they knew about the photo that was going to be released showing not a drop of blood, so they wanted to show that this was a wound with absolutely no external bleeding- and that's why you don't see any in the photo.

And why would they raise Oswald's shirt up, exposing the wound? So that anybody and everybody, including reporters who were allowed to come in, could see that the wound was clean, that it wasn't bleeding, which would support the story that "all the bleeding was internal." 

I am suggesting that Oswald was killed in the Dallas Police Building-and remember that reporters were NOT allowed in right away. At first, it was cops only. 

So, Oswald was brought in, and I have to think that somehow, they sedated him. 

Now, before I go any further, I want to point out to those who don't know it, that snub-nose revolvers are known to be very loud. I have a Smith and Wesson 38, and it is extremely loud. I can't imagine shooting it without earmuffs. And shooting such a gun in the close quarters of that garage with walls on three sides, yikes, that would have been loud- really deafening. But, it sounds like a mere pop gun in the videos- which is another reason to doubt that Bookhout used a live round.  

But, obviously, Oswald was shot with a 38 since that was the size bullet that was dug out of him. But, they didn't necessarily have to use a snub-nose. Using a 38 with a 4 inch barrel would have reduced the noise volume quite a lot. And there are silencers for a 38, but they don't eliminate all the noise because, on a revolver, sound comes out of the cylinder gap as well as gases and debris. But, they do help. And there is more they could have done. They could have had a sound-proof room all set up nearby.  

Here's an interesting speculation: What if they used an 1895 Nagent? It has an action in which the cylinder is moved forward when the hammer is pulled back, closing the gap. Here is a picture of one with a silencer.

It takes a 7.62x38 cartridge. Compared to the 38 bullets I use with my Smith and Wesson, which have a diameter of .358 inches, it has a diameter of .295 inches. That's a difference of only .063 inch. Who is going to notice that? So, maybe the 38 that was dug out of Oswald was only 38-ish. 

Jim Leavelle tells the story that upon delivering Oswald to the operating room, he demanded that the doctor dig the bullet out of Oswald immediately, before they did anything else; before they tried to save the man's life. Hmm. Can you imagine? What if it had been Jim Leavelle's brother on the table? Would Jim have had the same attitude? "Before you do anything, get me that bullet." I think not. 

And let's face it: the doctors weren't going to throw the bullet away. They were going to turn it over to police- undoubtedly. So, why was Leavelle in such a hurry to get it? Maybe because of the above.

There is no reason I can think of why Oswald could not have been shot inside the police station. And I look it at it as a process of elimination. If he wasn't shot in the garage, and this video shows us that he wasn't:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYVlyuc5TK4 

and if he wasn't shot in the ambulance, and this statement shows us that he wasn't:

http://history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh19/pdf/WH19_Bieberdorf_Ex_5123.pdf

then the only place left that he could have been shot was inside the police station. 

I'll close by saying that this is currently a working hypothesis of mine, and I don't say that it's carved in stone. If someone- whether friend or foe- comes up with something that effectively disputes it- I would certainly start rethinking it. But right now, this is where my mind is at: that James Bookhout shot a blank in what was pure theater. He was swiftly rushed into the building under cover.  It was all planned and coordinated in advance. Note that we never heard anyone yell, "Let's take him inside!" They all just did it. Nobody has any other idea, such as stopping to cuff "Ruby" right there in the garage. That idea didn't occur to a single one of them. Oswald too was swiftly brought into the building- but out of camera view. He was given a fast-acting sedative, a knock-out drug. Then he was shot, and whatever bleeding there was from it was cleaned up. Then, he was left on the floor with his shirt and sweater pulled up so that everybody could see that the wound was clean- with no external bleeding. Then, they let the reporters in.