The TSBD rollcall that doubtfully happened

[Alan Ford]

Mr. Ball. At that time didn't you know that one of your officers, Baker, had seen Oswald on the second floor?
Mr. Fritz. They told me about that down at the bookstore; I believe Mr. Truly or someone told me about it, told me they had met him--I think he told me, person who told me about, I believe told me that they met him on the stairway, but our investigation shows that he actually saw him in a lunchroom...

Captain Fritz gets noticeably flustered here!

What he's actually letting slip is something quite starling: he was told one thing down at the bookstore ("they met him on the stairway"), but upon further investigation it turned out that the location was quite a different place ("in a lunchroom").

In other words: the story he was told by "Mr. Truly or someone" was not the lunchroom story.

ON THE STAIRWAY: These words confirm that Officer Baker's affidavit description of a "man walking away from the stairway" was in fact a description of a man caught walking away from the stairway---------a stairway he had evidently been in the process of descending. There is simply no way to reconcile this with the lunchroom story later told by Officer Baker.

Now! We know from Tom Alyea's footage that Officer Baker-----------contrary to his WC testimony-----------did NOT leave the Depository immediately after coming back downstairs with Mr Truly:



Did Officer Baker tell other law enforcement at this time that he saw nothing upstairs, aside from an employee who was walking away from the stairway?

If so, did word of this reach Captain Fritz when HE arrived at the Depository?

Did Captain Fritz ask Mr Truly about this?

Did Mr Truly decide, in panic, to explain away the non-employee caught walking away from the rear stairway by saying, 'Oh yes, that was one of our men, Lee Oswald'?

Was this, rather than any roll call, the real reason Mr Oswald was singled out by Mr Truly?

If so, then it was a high-risk piece of escapology on Mr Truly's part. And it very nearly exploded in his face. For word had got around that he and the officer had in fact encountered Mr Oswald at the front door----------------indeed, DPD would soon be telling the press all about this!

[Jerry Freeman]

Roy Truly was recalled by the Commission. Incidentally..he [apparently] did not verify Oswald's application for employment---
https://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh17/pdf/WH17_CE_496.pdf
Note some falsities on that.
Joe Ball took the assignment.....

Mr. BALL. Before the assassination, was there any other occasion besides the one we are inquiring about, when you saw guns in the Texas School Book Depository Building?
Mr. TRULY. Never.
Mr. BALL. On November 20, 1963, you saw two guns owned by Mr. Warren Caster.....

Why did Truly say that he had never see guns in his building- before they had carried the suspect rifle out?
When just two days before ..he was playing mighty hunter with his buddy---inspecting a Mauser and a .22 [not described in testimony]
Also Truly did not recall Oswald being present when it was Lee who told the cops that he was!
Odd isn't it that Truly didn't see Oswald when he was present but missed him when he wasn't?-------

Mr. BALL. Who else was there besides you and Mr. Caster?
Mr. TRULY. Well, the only person I can recall being there was Mr. Shelley.

Mr. BALL. Now, what did you tell Chief Lumpkin when you came down from the roof of the building?
Mr. TRULY. When I noticed this boy was missing, I told Chief Lumpkin that "We have a man here that's missing." I said, "It may not mean anything, but he isn't here." I first called down to the other warehouse and had Mr. Akin pull the application of the boy so I could get--quickly get his address in Irving and his general description, so I could be more accurate than I would be.

That's NOT exactly what he stated at his previous testimony but then he had a refresher to smooth out the yarn account.

Mr. BALL. All right. Now, was it before or after you told Captain Fritz the name and address of Lee Oswald, that you learned that the rifle was found?
Mr. TRULY. I can't remember, I believe it was afterwards.
Mr. BALL. You are sure it was after you told Captain Fritz---after what, you tell me?
Mr. TRULY. I told--well, when Chief Lumpkin and I went to the sixth floor, Captain Fritz was standing in ,the area where I later learned they had found the gun, and Chief Lumpkin told Captain Fritz that Mr. Truly had something to tell him, which I would like to tell him, so he stepped over 4 or 5 feet to where I was, away from the other men---officers and reporters, I would say, that were on the floor, and I repeated the words to Captain Fritz.
Mr. BALL. What did you tell him?
Mr. TRULY. I told him that we had a man missing---I told him what his name was and his Irving address and he said, "All right, thank you, Mr. Truly. We will get right on it,"
Mr. BALL. Was he the only man missing?
Mr. TRULY. The only one I noticed at that time.

We'll get right on it 

[Walt Cakebread]

Mr. Ball. At that time didn't you know that one of your officers, Baker, had seen Oswald on the second floor?
Mr. Fritz. They told me about that down at the bookstore; I believe Mr. Truly or someone told me about it, told me they had met him--I think he told me, person who told me about, I believe told me that they met him on the stairway, but our investigation shows that he actually saw him in a lunchroom...

Captain Fritz gets noticeably flustered here!

What he's actually letting slip is something quite starling: he was told one thing down at the bookstore ("they met him on the stairway"), but upon further investigation it turned out that the location was quite a different place ("in a lunchroom").

In other words: the story he was told by "Mr. Truly or someone" was not the lunchroom story.

Now! We know from Tom Alyea's footage that Officer Baker-----------contrary to his WC testimony-----------did NOT leave the Depository immediately after coming back downstairs with Mr Truly:



Did Officer Baker tell other law enforcement at this time that he saw nothing upstairs, aside from an employee who walking away from the stairway?

If so, did word of this reach Captain Fritz when HE arrived at the Depository?

Did Captain Fritz ask Mr Truly about this?

Did Mr Truly decide, in panic, to explain away the non-employee caught walking away from the rear stairway by saying, 'Oh yes, that was one of our men, Lee Oswald'?

Was this, rather than any roll call, the real reason Mr Oswald was singled out by Mr Truly?

If so, then it was a high-risk piece of escapology on Mr Truly's part. And it very nearly exploded in his face. For word had got around that he and the officer had in fact encountered Mr Oswald at the front door----------------indeed, DPD would soon be telling the press all about this!

If anybody wants to see a picture of the epitome of " a very worried man"......  Look at Roy Truly in this photo.....

[Alan Ford]

Let's continue this segment of Captain Fritz's WC testimony----------------

Mr. Ball. Did you question Oswald about that?
Mr. Fritz. Yes, sir; I asked him about that and he knew that the officer stopped him all right.
Mr. Ball. Did you ask him what he was doing in the lunchroom?
Mr. Fritz. He said he was having his lunch. He had a cheese sandwich and a Coca-Cola.
Mr. Ball. Did he tell you he was up there to get a Coca-Cola?
Mr. Fritz. He said he had a Coca-Cola.

Captain Fritz's responses are a masterclass in jesuitical evasion! He manages to answer Mr Ball's questions here WITHOUT telling a straight lie:

-Yes, Mr Oswald knew that the officer 'stopped' him (but NB! the lunchroom story does NOT involve Mr Oswald's being 'stopped')
-Yes, Mr Oswald did talk about going to the lunchroom
-Yes, Mr Oswald did say he had a Coca-Cola WHEN THE OFFICER 'STOPPED' HIM (at the front entrance), and Captain Fritz takes care NOT to say that yes, Mr Oswald said he was "up there" in the lunchroom when the officer stopped him------------he merely had the Coke which he HAD EARLIER BOUGHT up there in his hand and had since come downstairs.

What we're seeing here is the true role of the final version of the lunchroom fiction: to have a MOBILE Mr Oswald challenged; to involve a COKE; to get Mr Oswald AWAY from the front entrance seconds after the shooting; to make the NON-EMPLOYEE caught walking away from the rear stairway on the third or fourth floor disappear

Postscript!

As late as 23 December, Captain Fritz STILL believed what he had been told initially at the Depository: a suspicious employee was caught on the rear stairway by Officer Baker...............



"Our investigation"----------the one that showed it ACTUALLY happened in the lunchroom-----------must have been pretty darned slow. Captain Fritz is STILL going by what "Mr Truly or somebody" told him 11/22/63 in the Depository! 

[Alan Ford]

If anybody wants to see a picture of the epitome of " a very worried man"......  Look at Roy Truly in this photo.....

Indeed------------Officer Baker may well be telling the others the one noteworthy piece of information he has:

We came across a guy walking away from the back stairs on the third or fourth floor, but I cut him loose when this gentleman here told me he worked here................

[Alan Ford]

If so, then it was a high-risk piece of escapology on Mr Truly's part. And it very nearly exploded in his face. For word had got around that he and the officer had in fact encountered Mr Oswald at the front door----------------indeed, DPD would soon be telling the press all about this!

Question!

Why didn't Mr Truly just stick with the story that the man caught walking away from the rear stairway on the third or fourth floor was Mr Oswald?

Answer!

Because he soon KNEW that word of Mr Oswald's encounter with the cop at the front entrance HAD GOTTEN OUT. The lunchroom was now the ONLY viable location for a fictional encounter because it allowed for TWO very different scenarios:
a) Mr Oswald shot JFK and hurried downstairs to the lunchroom
b) Mr Oswald was out front for the P. Parade and hurried upstairs to the lunchroom

Mr Truly (and Officer Baker, for that matter) needed INSURANCE in case undeniable proof of b) emerged in the coming days...........

That Mr Oswald's claim to have gone "outside to watch P. Parade" be suppressed from the official record, and that any witness apt to confirm his presence on those steps (starting with Mr Frazier and Mr Molina and Mr Shelley and Mr Lovelady) be pressurized into silence, thus became a matter of HIGHEST priority

 

[Jerry Freeman]

Roy Truly provided a hand written undated statement.
A higher quality view can be seen here----
https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth338979/m1/1/

 

I am still searching for a mention of a roll call. The belief is that Oswald was not present at this alleged roster and therefore a hunt for him was instituted.   
It is now quite apparent that the search for Oswald was spontaneous.



                                                                Roy S Truly

[Alan Ford]

Roy Truly provided a hand written undated statement.

Yes, this is written on the Saturday. At the bottom of the last page is written 'Mrs Reed': the woman (actually Reid) who worked directly under Mr Truly and would be brought in that same day to bolster his lunchroom fiction

I am still searching for a mention of a roll call. The belief is that Oswald was not present at this alleged roster and therefore a hunt for him was instituted.   
It is now quite apparent that the search for Oswald was spontaneous.

If Mr Oswald's name was dropped by Mr Truly in order to explain away the 'employee' caught walking away from the rear stairway on the third or fourth floor, then the need to later pretend that it was a roll call that quickly identified Mr Oswald as uniquely missing and suspicious is explained. A story was required that made Mr Truly's singling out of Mr Oswald seem innocent