Buell Wesley Frazier, curtain rods and the lack of blaming Frazier

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Very interesting excerpt (page 187) of The Lone Star Speaks: Untold Texas Stories About the JFK Assassination by Sara Peterson and K.W. Zachry (2020)

PAT SPEER:

I've talked to Wes on three occasions for a total of maybe an hour. I think he tells the truth as he remembers it. The record is clear, moreover, that he was one of the most problematic witnesses for the DPD, FBI, and WC. He said from day one that the bag they believed Oswald had used to bring in the rifle was 1) not the bag the DPD placed into evidence, and 2) too small to have held the rifle. After I explained to him that the official-story has Oswald bringing shipping paper and tape from the TSBD out to the Paine's house on the 21st, to wrap up his rifle, moreover, Frazier became adamant on another point. He declared that this did not happen. Period. (FWIW, it seems clear he was never asked about this by WC counsel Joe Ball because Ball knew what Frazier would say...and was afraid it would further "dirty" up the record...) 

Posted 6 hours ago

  13 hours ago, Gil Jesus said:

Well, Let's see if Ruth Paine said the wrapped items were blinds and shades, or curtain rods.

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I think this is from Ruth Paine's Washington testimony. Jenner went back with her to Dallas and they found two curtain rods in the garage that were not wrapped. It seems possible then that Oswald did indeed take two wrapped curtain rods to work on the 22nd.

I looked into this a great deal a few years back and added a chapter to my website about it. I discovered that...

1. Neither Ruth Paine nor Michael Paine took a close look to see if any curtain rods were missing until 4 months after the assassination. (Michael took a quick look a few days after the shooting but saw a wrapped package that actually held blinds, not curtain rods.) 

2. The wrapped package containing curtain rods Ruth remembered placing in her garage was the exact size of the package Frazier said he saw in Oswald's possession.

3. The curtain rod in Oswald's rented room was damaged as of the evening of 11-22-63. No investigation was performed to find out how or when it was damaged. Oswald's landlady said it was damaged by the DPD, and at another time the press, but it appears she really had no idea when it was damaged and was only assuming someone other than Oswald had damaged the curtain rod.

4. The date on the FBI's memo informing the WC that the curtain rod had been damaged was typed over, which made it appear the WC did not know about this until after Oswald's landlady was interviewed by Ball. In any event, he asked her no questions regarding this, and failed to follow up on the FBI report in any way.

5. The set of curtain rods tested by the DPD for fingerprints were tested before the curtain rods retrieved from Mrs. Paine's garage by Jenner were retrieved. This should lead us to suspect, then, that there was another set of curtain rods that were made to disappear. This is supported, moreover, by the fact the rods tested by the DPD had prints on them, and the rods placed into evidence by the WC (presumably the rods retrieved from the garage) show no signs (such as a piece of tape with an arrow) of ever bearing a print.

 

In sum, then, this strongly suggests Oswald helped himself to a set of Mrs. Paine's curtain rods, and that this set was later found (perhaps at the TSBD). But then made to disappear...