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

Oswald, apparently, tried to call a U.S. intelligence agent, John Hurt, in North Carolina. That was in the late evening on Saturday, November 23, just hours before Oswald's life would end. The call did not go through, and apparently, Fritz' men stopped it. Amazingly, the apologists have tried to spin it by saying that it was Hurt who tried to call Oswald- not the other way around. Hurt denied it when questioned by authorities, but supposedly, he was embarrassed to admit that he was drunk that night, and that he did try to call Oswald- as a prank. Huh. I believe that as much as I believe that John McAdams is a brilliant professor. It's on the record that Oswald requested to make the call to Hurt. So, we're supposed to believe that, by coincidence, Hurt, simultaneously, tried to make a prank call to him? Fat chance. 

No, Oswald definitely tried to call him. The question is: why? I have to assume that he expected Hurt to vouch for him, to explain to authorities that he knows Oswald, that they go way back, that Oswald had been an intelligence asset, and there is no chance that he could have or would have killed Kennedy. Of course, Hurt didn't say those things when he was questioned by authorities, but it wasn't the first time that someone whom Oswald expected to vouch for him didn't. When Oswald said that he was "out with Bill Shelley in front" I'm sure he mentioned Shelley because he expected that Shelley would corroborate. Of course, Shelley did not corroborate. But who knows, maybe Oswald found out. Maybe they told him, "You know, your friend Bill Shelley said he didn't see you outside during the motorcade." Doesn't it seem like Oswald would have called someone in Texas, or even in Louisiana to vouch for him? But, maybe he got the sense that he couldn't trust any of those people. He had to know, by that point, that he was being framed. Right? I mean, they were showing him a photo that he knew he didn't pose for and showing him an invoice for a rifle that he knew he didn't order, so he had to know that someone was trying to do him in. So, maybe he chose to call someone in North Carolina simply because it was far away. Maybe he figured there was no way that that guy could be involved in the frame-up.

And that brings us back to the Fritz Notes. They got progressively skimpy. The last page covers the last two interrogations: that of Saturday evening, 6:30 PM, which is the one in which Oswald went up to Bookhout in the hall and asked him a question, "What have you got against Broby?" I'm not sure about that name because it's garbled." And who knows, maybe they deliberately garbled it. But, it's the only time that Oswald ever started a conversation with anybody in the hall. So, the only person that he sought to talk to in public was James Bookhout. Fancy that. Oh, the irony of it. 

But, from that Saturday evening interrogation, the only thing that Fritz wrote down is that Oswald denied the authenticity of the Backyard photo and likewise the Klein's hardware invoice. He said that he didn't order or own any rifle. Therefore, how could he pose with a rifle? 

And then on Sunday, even though it was the longest interrogation, Fritz wrote down nothing. Nada. Squat. And that's true even though it went, presumably, from 9:30 to 11:15. And, incidentally, even though Fritz wrote nothing down, and even though Bookhout reported that Fritz told him that nothing important was said, Postal Inspector Harry Holmes said that Oswald waxed eloquent about his his pleasant sojourn to Mexico City- even though he denied ever going there in his very first interview. And yet, Fritz did not consider that noteworthy? Methinks Holmes lied through his horned teeth. 

So, in nearly two hours of interrogating, nothing important or even notable was said? That's hard to believe. What were they talking about? Sports? "How 'bout 'dem Cowboys?"

But, if Oswald tried, unsuccessfully, to reach an intelligence agent to vouch for him just hours before, maybe that was still on his mind. Maybe Oswald started dropping names. 

"Look! The whole idea that I would try to shoot the President is ridiculous; it is insane. Check with so-and-so. He'll vouch for me. He'll tell you that I have been working with U.S. intelligence for years. I went to Russia for them. It was an intelligence mission. They put me up to it. They wanted to see how the Soviets would respond to a defector like me. I had nothing against the President. I liked him. I was no more inclined to shoot him than you are. You have got the wrong guy. Whatever evidence you think you have on me is planted. I didn't order any rifle. I don't own any rifle. I didn't pose with any rifle. All of that is fake. I didn't bring any large package to work. I didn't say anything to Frazier about coming back with curtain rods. Why would I do that when there are curtains hanging in my room? I am being framed here, and you need to talk to people who know me, who will vouch for me."

I'm thinking that something like that was said, and it would explain why Fritz wrote nothing down. 

The only phone call that Oswald actually made that I have heard of is one to Ruth Paine in which he asked her to contact John Abt, and which she didn't do or try to do. But, considering that she's the source of that report, I don't know whether to believe it.