More information regarding the supposed bus ride by LHO following the assassination.
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The Warren Commission (WC) would have liked to have had more than Mary Bledsoe to rely on for the identification on the bus Lee LHO Harvey Oswald (LHO) allegedly took when he left the Texas School Book Depository (TSBD) shortly after the shots were fired (a bus that was HEADING BACK to Dealey Plaza (DP) by the way) because as we have seen previously in this series they could NOT show Bledsoe ever saw or knew LHO prior to 11/22/63.
Initially the Dallas Police Department (DPD) got Cecil McWatters to say he identified Lee Harvey Oswald (LHO) as the man on his bus, but he quickly recanted this statement. The WC and its defenders make a big deal about a bus transfer allegedly found on LHO (I have to say this because it was NOT found for some time after he was arrested and searched), but this transfer was EXPIRED by the time LHO reached his rooming house and he said he changed shirts. So why would LHO bring an EXPIRED transfer with him? Let's look at Cecil Mcwatters' testimony regarding the transfer.
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Senator COOPER - Was the fact then that you were shown a transfer by the police that called your attention to that?
Mr. McWATTERS - I guess that would probably be--
Senator COOPER - Another man?
Mr. McWATTERS - That would probably be the reason. I don't know of any other reason that it would be unless it was the transfer, that I can recall.
Senator COOPER - Are you absolutely certain that you did see another man on that bus?
Mr. McWATTERS - Do you mean the day?
Senator COOPER - A man other than the teenager?
Mr. McWATTERS - Yes, sir; I picked up a man.
Senator COOPER - Where?
Mr. McWATTERS - Along about Griffin Street that knocked on the door of the bus.
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Senator COOPER - Why was it then that when you made this affidavit, you wouldn't remember that a man knocked on the door to get in the bus?
Mr. McWATTERS - Just like I say, I guess it never did dawn on me until I just got to thinking about it and everything, and I had this boy, I mean was the one I was referring to in that affidavit right there.
In other words, he was just kind of a slight build, so far as him and Oswald, I guess they probably somewhere in the same size, I don't know. But I was mistaken in that, in other words, that was the boy right there--
So we see he says he was mistaken for saying he gave a transfer to LHO. Let's face it, this could have been a man involved in some way that got a transfer simply to pin on LHO later on to try and show he was on this bus.
Senator COOPER - What is it about this transfer that makes you know that it was a transfer which you issued?
Mr. McWATTERS - Well, you look at that old punch mark, I guess as many times as I have punched it--
Senator COOPER - Does each--does each-driver have a different punch?
Mr. BALL - When you weren't here he showed us his punch and he punched it for us. He has got his punch.
Mr. McWATTERS - Each driver has a different punch. They all are registered. In other words, regardless of how many there are--that is my punch right there--there is some shape or form different, just like I say the superintendent has every man's name and a punch mark right on down, in other words, so when-
First of all, it is quite annoying the way McWatters was constantly cut off. Secondly, we see the transfer in evidence came from McWatters' punch gun, but since there is NO chain of custody for the transfer this is meaningless in tying it to LHO. Furthermore, the man who would have given out this transfer said it was NOT LHO too.
It becomes clear that McWatters initially confused LHO for a teenager he has on his bus a lot. Milton Jones.
Senator COOPER - Have you ever reported to the police the fact that you have carried as a passenger since November 22d the teenager whom you have now identified as having the name of Milton Jones?
Mr. McWATTERS - Did I ever report it to the police?
Senator COOPER - Yes.
Mr. McWATTERS - No, sir.
Senator COOPER - Have they ever been back to talk to you any more about this?
Mr. McWATTERS - No, sir.
I wonder why the police never followed up with him?
Senator COOPER - Have you seen photographs of a man who is named in those photographs as being Lee Oswald?
Mr. McWATTERS - Have I saw them?
Senator COOPER - Yes, sir.
Mr. McWATTERS - Yes, sir.
Senator COOPER - Well, now, you have seen this young man, Milton Jones, several times since then?
Mr. McWATTERS - Yes, sir.
Senator COOPER - Now after having seen him several times since then, and having seen these photographs of the man who is identified as Lee Oswald--
Mr. McWATTERS - Yes.
Senator COOPER - Does Milton Jones look like Lee Oswald?
Mr. McWATTERS - Well, they both, just like I say, about the same height, and same build, and everything, as far as identifying looking at a man in the face of course, I know him now, distinctly.
So we see why he confused Jones for LHO on the day of the assassination. Now for the issue of whether he would say LHO was on the bus and whether he gave him a transfer as the WC would claim.
Mr. BALL - You didn't--as I understand it, when you were at the police lineup, you told us that you didn't--weren't able to identify this man in the lineup as the man who got off, that you gave the transfer to.
Mr. McWATTERS - I told them to the best of my knowledge, I said the man that I picked out was the same height, about the same height, weight and description. But as far as actually saying that is the man I couldn't--
Mr. BALL - You couldn't do it?
Mr. McWATTERS - I wouldn't do it and I wouldn't do it now.
"This man" of course was LHO as they mention the "number 2 man" in other parts of the testimony. We see that McWatters would NOT say the man who boarded his bus and got a transfer was LHO. Again, we see the WC, and its defenders, have NO supporting evidence for their claims.
