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

 This is weird. When you watch the KRLD footage, when you first see Blackie Harrison, it's at the 5 second mark, and he's got his hand on the cigar. We don't know how long he had his hand on it before that. Then, at the 6 second mark, though he's reaching for the Shooter, he's still got his hand on the cigar. At 7 seconds, his left hand is still preoccupied with the cigar. At 8 second, it is still preoccupied with the cigar. And at 9 seconds, it is still preoccupied with the cigar. Finally, at 10 seconds, he lets go of the cigar and uses two hands against the offender.

But, why did he need to hold the cigar for 5 seconds during a fight? How could he do that? Doesn't it seem like human nature would make him forget about the cigar and just concentrate on the fight? How could he be so cigar-focused at a time like that?

He couldn't possibly be so cigar-focused at a time like that. So, here's what I think happened: Blackie wasn't there for the Jackson photo-shoot. He was busy getting the real Jack Ruby squared away on the 5th floor. But, when he came back, they told him that they used Hosty as a surrogate for him, and that they had him holding a cigar as he reached for the "Ruby." So, in order to be consistent with that, they told him to hold his cigar and make a big deal of it in the beginning. And so he did.

Now, if you are going to dispute that, you have to explain how a cop who was struggling with a violent criminal could do it with just one hand for 5 seconds because he was busy holding his cigar with his other hand.