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

Alright, so BILL SHELLEY was Oswald's alibi. His alibi was a place and also a person, and more the person than the place.

I doubt that Oswald used the term "doorway" even though it's the term we most often use. It's only because it got started, and it stuck. It's like the term "grassy knoll." Would you have used the word "knoll" if you were naming it?

I would have called the "doorway" the entrance or the entranceway. Oswald apparently didn't call it anything. He just said he was out with Bill Shelley in front. But, the front is a big place, and that's why I say that the core of his alibi was Bill Shelley.

So, Shelley needs to be looked at. He needs to be looked at as much or more than anyone else you can name in the JFK assassination. 

And to learn about Bill Shelley, the best sources are William Weston and Elzie Glaze.

Elzie Glaze was a Dallas journalist who in 1974 met a woman who had been working for the Texas Book Depository since 1969. Her immediate supervisor was Bill Shelley.

The following narrative is by Glaze through William Weston:

"The company, she said, had a strange way of introducing new employees to their duties. She and another new employee were approached by two men, who produced I.D. wallets and identified themselves as "government agents." They were taken to an empty room and given questionnaires to fill out. These exams were full of oddly irrelevant questions, calling for opinions on various topics of the day, especially social issues. Obediently the two employees wrote out their answers. When they were done, they gave the sheets back, and in the short pause that followed, one of the examiners bluntly asked: "Have you been recruited by the FBI or the CIA?" The two employees were stunned. As ordinary office workers, they were only doing minor clerical tasks at low wages. Why would anyone think that they came from the FBI or the CIA? While it was true that the Book Depository had acquired the notoriety of being the place where Oswald shot the President, still by 1969 that should have been ancient history. Yet even more disturbing were the next questions that came to mind. If the Book Depository was just an insignificant, little company, why would it be attracting the attention of the two biggest intelligence establishments in the country? Furthermore, what was the intrigue that was spurring these "government agents" to hunt down unwanted infiltrators?" 

"Glaze asked the woman if she and her co-worker were the only ones subjected to this kind of treatment. No, they were not the only ones. Background checks on new employees were done as a routine procedure at the Book Depository. After listening to the woman's account, Glaze decided to check it out. He contacted her former supervisor, William Shelley, and asked to meet with him. Shelley agreed to this request and even allowed the reporter to take notes and use a tape recorder. The meeting took place at the Book Depository warehouse near the intersection of Royal Lane and Interstate 35 on the far northwest side of Dallas. (The company had moved from its old location on 411 Elm Street in 1970.) The information that Glaze was gathering must have been extensive, for the two men had numerous meetings together. Yet only a few disclosures are provided in the letters. The most significant one appears in the 1989 letter: 'Mr. Shelley claims to have been an intelligence officer during World War II and thereafter joined the CIA.' This extraordinary revelation goes far in explaining the mysteries of the Texas School Book Depository."

So, we  have it from Elzie Glaze direct from Shelley that he was Army Intelligence during the war and then CIA. 

How does a guy with that background settle for distributing Dick and Jane readers for little kids? 

I've heard the expression: work is work, but, come on. Shelley was there for a long time, and it doesn't add up. Was he really fascinated with Dick and Jane readers? 

"Shelley told Glaze that he had been the supervisor of Lee Harvey Oswald. He told Glaze that after the assassination, the Dallas police placed him under arrest and formally charged him with the murder of the President. (No mention was made by Glaze as to why Shelley had been arrested, nor did he say what connection this arrest had with the arrest of Oswald.) The charges against Shelley were soon dropped, and he was released. Since that day, at various times, journalists representing several newspapers and magazines approached him with offers of huge sums of money for his personal account of the assassination. These offers were all turned down. When Glaze tried to get permission to quote him in his own article, Shelley refused and insisted that even his name was not to be printed."

As far as I know, this reference to Shelley being arrested from Elzie Glaze is the only reference to it. There is certainly no official record of Shelley being arrested. We do have this image:

Look at the facial expression on the cop who is looking at Shelley. And look at the expression on Shelley. Why does he look so distraught? Compare his expression to that of Danny Arce in front. Was Shelley mourning for Kennedy? Ha, ha, ha. Don't make me laugh. He looks more like a man who was under arrest.

OK, now the story gets really interesting, like an intriguing movie. This is William Weston:

"Glaze went back to the woman and told her that he was doing a story on the Book Depository. He told her he was going to talk to the FBI hoping to get some more information. When the woman heard this, she was absolutely appalled. The very idea that he was writing an article filled her with terror. She told him that if he persisted in his efforts to publicize this story, she would emphatically deny everything she told him. The prospects for an article irretrievably came to an end, and Glaze had no choice but to go home empty-handed."

"It was not long after his departure that he felt obliged to speak to the woman again. What he intended to say is not mentioned in his letters, but perhaps he wanted to make an apology. In any case, it was only a few hours after he last saw her that he decided to see her again."

"When he arrived at her apartment, he was surprised to find it totally empty. It looked as if no one had ever lived there. Glaze knew that she had a husband and a child, and they too were gone. The mystified reporter could not understand how three people could have moved away so quickly. The next day he went to the woman's place of employment and found out that she never showed up for work, and no one knew where she was. Later inquiries revealed that she did not even stop by to pick up her final paycheck. In his quest to find them, the most promising lead Glaze had was the fact that the husband had once been a musician in "The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band." Yet even this fortuitous bit of information got him nowhere. Not one acquaintance or associate had any idea where they could have gone."

"About the same time as he was conducting his search, Glaze went to get his interview notes and tapes and found that they had inexplicably disappeared. Then one day, he heard a commotion outside his apartment. He looked out the window and saw an estimated twenty Dallas policemen pulled up in front. They lingered for nearly an hour, shouting in a highly threatening manner and pointing their pistols at his window. Frightened for his life, he immediately left the city."

"On December 12, 1977, while working as a reporter for the Avalanche Journal in Lubbock, Texas, he sent a letter to the HSCA. He wrote that he had some information regarding the assassination of President Kennedy and gave a brief sketch of his investigation of the Book Depository. In the closing paragraphs of his letter, he wrote, "I must admit that my own fear of getting involved in the investigation has prevented me from writing you earlier. I apologize." 

"Whether or not the HSCA had taken an interest in this matter is not known. The only reply it sent was a form letter, which read: "Dear Ms. Glaze [The HSCA had mistakenly thought he was a woman], Thank you for your letter. It has been directed to the Deputy Chief Counsel in charge of the investigation for his review. Your interest in the work of our Committee is appreciated. Sincerely, G. Robert Blakey, Chief Counsel and Director."

Robert Blakey- the Arlen Specter of the HSCA

Next, William Weston related his steps in trying to track down Elzie Glaze. And when he began, he didn't know the first name. In fact, he didn't even know the correct gender. He had the copy of a letter in the National Archives from the HSCA to a "Mrs. Glaze". It took him about a year to find out that that was a mistake, that Glaze was Elzie, and Elzie was a man. Though Westpn's efforts to locate Glaze were not successful, he certainly proved that he was a real person.

But, let's get back to Bill Shelley. This is what Weston says:

"According to statements made to the police and to the Warren Commission, Shelley was born in Gunter, Texas in 1925. He worked "a little bit" in defense plants. On October 29, 1945 at the age of twenty he began working for the parent company of the Texas Book Depository. Eighteen years later, in 1963, he was holding the position of assistant manager of the 'Miscellaneous Department.'  By 1975, when Glaze talked to him, he had passed his thirtieth anniversary in the company. Such a long career in one place is confirmed in the listings of the city directories. In 1947 he was listed as a clerk at the Hugh Perry Book Depository (the old name for the Texas School Book Depository), and he had a room at 515 Martinique Avenue. In 1960 he was a department manager; his wife's name was Marie; and they lived in a house on 126 Tatum Avenue. They were still living in that house at the time of the assassination."

"It would thus appear that we have an irreconcilable situation; Shelley could not have been in the CIA before his employment at the Book Depository. Yet I believe that a seemingly irresolvable problem might on closer examination yield a solution that brings a deeper understanding of the truth. Let us take a different approach. Let us suppose that the job at the Book Depository was concurrent with a career in the CIA. If we can assume that is true, then the Book Depository itself must have been a front for CIA activities.
While it is commonly acknowledged that the agency has too much influence in national affairs, it is still amazing to find its hand in such a wide diversity of organizations and institutions. These include such entities as labor unions, airlines, college student associations, foundations, law firms, banks, savings and loans, investment firms, travel agencies, police departments, post offices, publishing companies, newspapers, call girl services, and mental health institutions. Considering the far-reaching extent of control over so many different areas in American society, it does not seem reasonable to suppose that the CIA would have the moral restraint to make an exception of the Book Depository - provided, of course, that the control of it would further its goals in some way."

"If CIA operators had been working inside the building in which the Book Depository was located, they would have not been on unfriendly ground. The property itself was owned by a wealthy, right-wing Texas oilman named D. H. Byrd. He was also a colonel in the Civil Air Patrol, which included among its members Lee Harvey Oswald and David Ferrie. That Ferrie and Oswald knew each other was proven in a 1993 Frontline special on Oswald, in which former cadets Tony Atzenhoffer and Johnny Ciravola displayed a picture showing Ferrie and Oswald at a cadet campout near New Orleans. What is not so well known is that the two men also knew Colonel Byrd. Atzenhoffer told this author that Byrd was the "head honcho" of the Civil Air Patrol in Louisiana and Texas, and that he came to Moissant Airport to give speeches on special occasions, such as orientation sessions for new cadets. Since there is no question that CAP members Ferrie and Oswald were associated with the CIA, it would only be logical to assume that their commander was too."

There were lies told about what Oswald said he was doing around the time of the assassination. Some had him saying that he ate lunch AFTER the assassination, which wasn't even logistically possible time-wise since he got home to his room at 1 PM. And of course, some made it that he encountered Shelley outside AFTER the assassination even though Shelley denied it.  So, if it happened, it means Shelley lied.  He said that he and Lovelady departed together right away for the railroad tracks and then reentered the building through the back door, where they were assigned to guard the freight elevators by Roy Truly. And Lovelady said the same thing. So, there is NO CHANCE that Shelley was out in front when Oswald left for home. 

But, one thing that has always intrigued me is why Oswald used Shelley as his alibi. There were others in the doorway. Why didn't he cite Frazier or Lovelady or someone else? Why Shelley? He said that he was "out with Bill Shelley in front." To me that implies more than them both just being there. If he was "with" him, it means he was physically near him, for sure, and it also suggests some interaction. And one thing is absolute: Oswald expected Shelley to confirm that he was there. Oswald had reason to believe that Shelley was aware of his presence in the doorway. 

For instance, if Oswald was just standing behind Shelley, and Shelley never turned around, Oswald would have no reason to expect Shelley to vouch for him- even though they were both there. Oswald must have had reason to believe that Shelley knew that he was there.  

So, Oswald must have interacted with Shelley in the doorway, and "interacted" may be too soft a word. Some sort of commotion occurred in that doorway, and I'm not the first to say so: veteran image processor Roy Schaeffer is. Roy was the first to notice that NBC cameraman Dave Wiegman was filming straight ahead as he rode in the press car down Elm Street, and then something caused him to swing around to his right and capture the TSBD doorway again- a second time. Why? What was it? Something he heard? Something he saw through the corner of his eye? I suspect it was Shelley ordering Oswald to the lunch room.