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

The Wizard has provided me with some interesting information about Detective Elmer Boyd. 

Around the time of the 50th, Boyd was in demand. He said in an interview that he received autograph requests from all over the world. He said that he was a good friend of JD Tippit and often patrolled with him. 

“We’d been partners for years,” Boyd said of Tippit. “Our kids played together. We were close.”

Here's the source on that:

http://www.corsicanadailysun.com/news/local_news/boyd-recounts-jfk-memories/article_d9b9cff4-0241-5cc4-898e-1bc5b13fbfe9.html

To me, that is very significant because the willingness of the Dallas Police to snuff out Oswald, and I do believe the order came from LBJ and Hoover, was probably based more on Tippit than JFK.

From the time of Oswald's arrest, Boyd and his partner at the time, Detective Richard Sims, were Oswald's designated escorts at the Dallas PD. 

“I was with him 75 to 80 percent of the time he was out of jail,” Boyd said. “The only time I wasn’t with him was the morning he got shot.”

Boyd claimed not to be working the Sunday morning that Oswald got shot. He said he was off-duty and having lunch with his in-laws in Irving. But then he said he went in to work and was there for the interrogation of Ruby. 

But, I'd like to know how he could get there so fast. We have this image of Boyd and Ruby in which Ruby is still wearing his own shirt, so it was before he was "stripped". 

 That is Boyd on the right, and Ruby is still wearing his own dress shirt. That is not the cabana shirt that they gave him to change into. So, it was before he changed his clothes. 

So, let's see: Boyd was eating lunch with his in-laws in Irving, and the tv was on, and they caught the shooting. So, I guess they were watching the Today Show. But, if they were already eating at 11:20, when did they start? What, did they sit down for lunch on 11:00? And didn't they go to Church that morning? Do you know that he claimed to work through Saturday until 3 AM. So, if he worked til 3, then he had to travel home. So, what time did he get to bed? You figure, what, 4? And then he was eating lunch with his in-laws at 11? Now, you see, I find that hard to believe. 

Alright, so he sees it on tv, and he puts his fork down, makes his apologies, and rushes out and heads to the PD. 

And fortunately, he was dressed appropriately. In the above image, Ruby is being taken to his first appearance before a judge. So, how did he go from having the day off to being the one to lead Ruby around?

But then, there's this image:

That had to be VERY soon after the shooting. Keep in mind that this is very much a forbidden image. It occurs in the Fred Rheinstein 30 year retrospective on the Oswald shooting and nowhere else. I've never seen it anywhere else. And I believe I am the only one who took it from the film and made it into a photo. And I believe I am the first person to talk about it and the fact that the guy in it is NOT Jack Ruby. However, I am NOT the one who first recognized him as James Bookhout. The Wizard did that. And it is beyond doubt. That man is DEFINITELY not Jack Ruby.

 They were different men, and there is NO doubt about it. 

Now, Bookhout was hustled into the building as Jack Ruby. But, as rapidly as possible, they had to finesse replacing Bookhout with the real Jack Ruby and then release Bookhout so that he could resume being James Bookhout. And it had to happen very fast. We only have to read Bookhout's testimony. He said (falsely) that he was up in Fritz' office during the jail transfer. But, he said that they got word of the shooting very soon after it happened, and what he did next was go down to the jail office where he saw Oswald lying on the floor shot, and then he followed the ambulance workers as they rolled Oswald away to be loaded into the ambulance and transported to the hospital. And again, it was the Wizard who found this picture of it:

Now keep in mind that Bookhout said that he was there in that spot, following Oswald's stretcher out to the garage. So he placed himself right there, right then. 

So, what time was that? Oswald reportedly got to the hospital at "around 11:30" although I suspect it was after that. But, this was probably a little before 11:30. Maybe 11:27. But, that means that the previous image of Bookhout playing Jack Ruby had to come before. I don't know how much before, but let's say 11:25. And Boyd is in it.

So, how could Boyd have been eating lunch with his in-laws in Irving at 11:21 and been there at 11:25? And keep in mind that even if I'm off a little bit on the times, it doesn't matter. If he was that far away, he couldn't have gotten there until about Noon. 

Boyd went into work and was there for the interrogation of Ruby, he claimed. “I think the first thing he said was ‘Mr. Sims, are y’all mad at me?’” Boyd recalled. “He said ‘I didn’t want Jackie (Kennedy) to have to come down here for court.’ But I think he thought he’d be a big hero.”

So now he claims to have gotten there in time to hear the first thing that Jack Ruby said????????????

I'll tell you what I think. I think he's lying. I think it was decided that Leavelle and Graves would take over the escorting of Oswald (into the Valley of Death) while Boyd and Sims were held in reserve to first tend to the recyling of Bookhout after he was hustled inside and then to tend to Ruby. And that's why we have the images we do.

And it doesn't surprise me that he would lie because he wasn't in the garage during the shooting, and he had to account for that. 

And by the way, there is a conflicting account of who was involved in processing Ruby in the aftermath, and it doesn't include Boyd. I'm told that it was Detectives Clardy, McMillon and Archer. And then Haake the jailor got involved. 

"A 1963 FBI report states that Detective Don Archer informed them that,following the arrest of Ruby,three detectives and a jailer were with Ruby up until 3pm that day. Detectives Clardy, McMillon and Archer and jailer Haake were the people concerned."

Notice that it doesn't include Boyd or Sims. And Ruby did NOT immediately say anything about doing it to spare Jackie a trial, according to the other guys. And if those guys were with Ruby until 3, and the shooting took place at 11:20, that's a long time; over 3 hours. 

Boyd was questioned for the Warren Commission by good old Joseph Ball, that is, bad old Joseph Ball. And Joseph Ball asked him nothing about Jack Ruby. The name never came up.  But, there was this:

Mr. BALL. What about November 24? 
Mr. BOYD. I worked late on the night of the 23d so I wouldn't have to come back early the next morning. 
Mr. BALL. Then, you were with him (Oswald) on the 24th? 
Mr. BOYD. I wasn't with him on the 24th--I was watching on the TV at home. I wasn't at home I was out at my mother-in-law's at Irving, Tex. and I called Lieutenant Baker right after I learned about Oswald. 

Now, you think he would have said that, after that, he came in and was involved in the processing of Jack Ruby. But, he didn't say, and Joseph Ball didn't ask. It was a long interview, but the name Jack Ruby was never spoken.  Joseph Ball did not want to talk Jack Ruby with Elmer Boyd. I'll say it again: Joseph Ball did not want to talk Jack Ruby with Elmer Boyd.