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

It is laughable; it is ludicrous; and it is lamentable to think that Lovelady ever said the things attributed to him by the FBI. The only authentic part of the statement was when they admitted that Doorman resembled Lee Harvey Oswald. 

They said Lovelady IMMEDIATELY identified himself as Doorman, and that there was NO QUESTION about it- and not just no question but no question WHATSOEVER about it.

Wow! Lovelady really talked like that?????

Well, why didn't he talk that way to Joseph Ball?????

Joseph Ball never asked him directly if he was Doorman- in fact, he carefully skirted the issue. But, if Lovelady had been that outspoken, that adamant, and that insistent with the FBI, wouldn't he have acted the same with Joseph Ball? Where was all that confidence he had in proclaiming his Doormanity to the FBI? 

Lovelady wasn't stupid. This lowly warehouse worker rose up to become the owner of his own trucking company in Denver. It was a rags to riches story. And although his productive output stopped at the tender age of 41 because he had a "heart attack", his widow Patricia lived long and died a wealthy woman with extensive real estate holdings across Colorado. 

So, on April 7, 1964 when Joseph Ball interviewed him, Lovelady had to know what Ball wanted to know, which was: who was Doorman. So, why didn't Lovelady just blurt it out? Why didn't he state confidently and with attitude that he was Doroman, as he supposedly did with the FBI? 

And why didn't Old Joe simply ask Lovelady what he wanted to know? He asked him if he was in the photograph, and Lovelady responded yes. So, why didn't he follow it up with, "Which one are you?" OR "Point to yourself." Instead, he went with this: 

Mr. BALL - I have got a picture here, Commission Exhibit 369. Are you on that picture?
Mr. LOVELADY - Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL - Take a pen or pencil and mark an arrow where you are. 

Who does shit like that? He didn't do shit like that with Danny Arce: 

Mr. BALL. Just 1 minute, I want to show you a picture. I show you Commission Exhibit No. 369. I show you this picture. See this man in this picture?
Mr. ARCE. Yeah.
Mr. BALL. Recognize him?
Mr. ARCE. Yes, that's Billy Lovelady. 
  
Why the Hell didn't Joseph Ball treat Lovelady the same way he did Arce? He interviewed them both on the same day: April 7, 1964. Arce went first at 2:15, and Lovelady followed at 3:50. 

So, why didn't Ball say, "see this man? who is he?" to Lovelady? And just as telling, why didn't Lovelady be direct with Ball? As soon as Ball asked him if he was in the photo, why didn't Lovelady say, "Yes, I'm the guy people have been talking about; the one standing at the top whom people think looks like Oswald. But, that really was me." 

If Lovelady has been so outspoken with the FBI, where was all that verve and personality and declarartion when he was with Ball?

And look how Ball followed it up with Arce; he kept hitting it: 

Mr. BALL. Now, there is only one face that is clearly shown within the entrance-way of the Texas School Book Depository Building, isn't there? 
Mr. ARCE. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. And only one face of a person who is standing on the steps of the Depository Building entrance?
Mr. ARCE. Yeah.
Mr. BALL. And that one man you see there---
Mr. ARCE. Yes, that's Billy Lovelady. 

But, it was very different with Lovelady where Ball was in a hurry to change the subject: 

Mr. BALL - I have got a picture here, Commission Exhibit 369. Are you on that picture?
Mr. LOVELADY - Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL - Take a pen or pencil and mark an arrow where you are.
Mr. LOVELADY - Where I thought the shots are?
Mr. BALL - No; you in the picture.
Mr. LOVELADY - Oh, here (indicating).
Mr. BALL - Draw an arrow down to that; do it in the dark. You got an arrow in the dark and one in the white pointing toward you. Where were you when the picture was taken? 

Where were you when the picture was taken? What the fuck? Ball could see where he was. And look how it went down with Frazier: 

Mr. BALL - Do you recognize this fellow?
Mr. FRAZIER - That is Billy, that is Billy Lovelady.
Mr. BALL - Billy?
Mr. FRAZIER - Right
Mr. BALL - Let's take a marker and make an arrow down that way. That mark is Billy Lovelady?
Mr. FRAZIER - Right.
Mr. BALL - That is where you told us you were standing a moment ago.
Mr. FRAZIER - Right.
Mr. BALL - In front of you to the right over to the wall?
Mr. FRAZIER - Yes. 

Do you recognize this fellow? Sure, that's what Ball wanted to know of Frazier but why didn't he ask that of Lovelady?

It's because Joseph Ball was scared shitless to ask that of Lovelady. It's because Joseph Ball must have been warned by the FBI not to ask that of Lovelady because he was NOT a good witness. It means that all that bravado the FBI attributed to Lovelady in proclaiming himself to be Doorman was pure bull shit. The fuckers lied! 

And then there is the arrow: Lovelady's arrow. 

Keep in mind that if bpete denies that that is Lovelady's arrow, he has a very simple, easy, and direct recourse: to find an alternate arrow for Lovelady. 

We know his arrow is there. We know where to look for it. We know it should be visible to some extent- even if drawn completely in the black. 

Why doesn't bpete just find Lovelady's arrow? 

It's because the little shit can't. You think he hasn't looked? 

The mark I found is the only other mark on the photograph. So, it must be the tail of Lovelady's arrow. 

Look at this version in which I played around with the lighting:

Notice that now you can see the head of Frazier's arrow in its entirety. No problema. It's plain as day, right? 

If Lovelady had drawn an arrow in the black to Doorman, don't you think we'd see it? At least partially? To some extent? And don't you think that he would have taken his cue from Frazier and drawn his arrow about the same size? So, why did he draw it so small? 

It's because Lovelady didn't want to add insult to injury. He knew he was disappointing Ball- and that's putting it mildly. He knew he was freaking the hell out of Ball. But, he wasn't going to upset the man more than necessary, and drawing a big arrow would have been that much worse. So, he kept it small. 

This comes down to default. If this is the only other mark on the photo, then it must be Lovelady's arrow.  And, it IS the only other mark on the photo. 

My hunch is that Billy Lovelady wasn't a very good liar, and they knew it. Sure, he posed in a plaid shirt a few times, but he didn't have to open his mouth to do that. Why didn't they let him do live interviews with reporters? Why didn't the HSCA drag him to DC and interview him for the record? They did it with others. But, they knew about Joseph Ball's dog and pony show with Lovelady, and they weren't going to go through that again. And even if he was willing to claim to be Doorman, maybe he wasn't very convincing about it. And maybe that's why he wound up suddenly dead at the tender age of 41 shortly before the HSCA Final Report was issued. Dead men tell no tales.