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

This is a frame from the KRLD film that occurred right after the shot. It was the Wizard who found it. And it shows that after firing, the Garage Shooter immediately lowered the gun and did not try to fire at Oswald or anyone else again. 

 But now, let's consider the pack of lies that were told about this. There was Leavelle who went on and on about how LC Graves saved his life, that he wouldn't be here if not for his partner. And there were multiple detectives who quoted Ruby as saying that he didn't think anyone would be able to stop him before he shot the son of a bitch three times, as he intended. And they said these things not just to reporters but in court, under oath, at Ruby's trial. 

And I am really amazed that Ruby's lawyers, including the illustrious Melvin Belli, bought all that crap. I mean: they interacted with Ruby. They saw how he was, how submissive and childlike. However, I don't know about Belli, but I have to think that Tonahill was dirty. He spent the rest of his life defending not only the official story of the Oswald shooting, but the official story of the JFK shooting as well. And he stuck to the defense that he and Belli used in court, that Ruby shot Oswald due to an epileptic seizure, and that is ridiculous. If you know anything about epilepsy, you know that it is a random firing of nerves. But, he cited Ruby's use of his middle finger to fire the gun, as seen in the Jackson photo, as evidence that it was due to epilepsy, since there was no logical reason why Ruby would have done that. But, that's not it. The Jackson photo was staged in the garage BEFORE the televised spectacle, and the reason James Bookhout used his middle finger is because he and others must have mistakenly believed that it was Ruby's right index finger that was partially amputated. But, that was incorrect; it was his left- not his right. But, it was definitely something that Bookhout did, use his middle finger, because you can see it in the Beers photo as well. 

That is definitely the tip of his middle finger hanging out. 

So, did the go to Ruby and ask him why he used his middle finger? If they did, he undoubtedly told him that he didn't know, that he had no memory of doing it at all, and that he gave no thought to doing it with his middle finger. 

But remember that hot gases explode through the cylinder gap, and if his index finger were there, that it would have been affected. Here's an Aussie guy talking about, and he says that fingers have been amputated that way. Then he demonstrates with a piece of paper. 

And here he is with his index finger forward, the way Ruby's supposedly did it, and you can hear him say that you would at least scorch your finger. But, Ruby's hand was clean and unmarred. He didn't fire the gun that way. He didn't fire the gun any way. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtreyi15Wf0


There is a lot available on this. Here's a guy using a hot dog as a surrogate for the index finger. Guess what happens to it.

https://www.guns.com/news/2011/05/07/mind-the-gap-cylinder-gaps-in-revolvers-and-their-effect-on-power-and-fingers

So, what happened to Bookhout? It depends on how much gunpowder there was in the blank he shot. As you recall, it didn't make much sound, just a little pop. And the Colt Detective Special is known to be very loud. But, I think we should assume there was some visible mark on his finger from having it exposed to whatever gases there were.