Is that Bill Shelley with Oswald in front of the Trade Mart?

[Lance Payette]

Good grief, I started on what I thought would be a 5-minute project, found that it turned into an all-afternoon head-scratcher, and now feel compelled to share the fruits of my labors with you.

You’re all familiar with these photos of Oswald handing out "Hands Off Cuba" leaflets in front of the Trade Mart in New Orleans on August 16, 1963:



The guy in the coat and tie with his hand to his face (red arrows) looks distinctly like Bill Shelley of the TSBD. Most CTers, of course, think it is Shelley. I can't disagree that it certainly looks like him, but from all my work on Shelley I likewise can't think of any reason it would be him.

Here is the full video from which the still photos are taken. It was taken by WDSU-TV.  You can see in the video that “Shelley” appears to be paying no attention to Oswald.

I stumbled onto an old Ed Forum thread where Larry Hancock asserted that “Shelley” was in fact Thomas Edward Beckham. Who? Oh, dear, sorry I asked.

If you likewise don’t know who Beckham is, suffice it to say that he might be the most interesting character in all of JFKA lore. He’s apparently still alive (at 83 or so) and living in Louisville, KY.
 
Here he is as a counselor at Life Management, Inc.: https://allcounseling.com/therapists/thomas-edward-beckham/. And here he is as a Commissioner at the Collaborative Inter-Governmental Scientific Research Institute: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-edward-beckham-a5736b32/.

This guy’s life story, true or not, would blow your mind. You’d love to have a couple of beers with him.

His son apparently has a propensity to accuse people in the JFKA community of defaming his father, so I will tread lightly here. An article entitled “The Raymond Broshears Files Part 00002: Odd Sects and Wandering Bishops” at http://historiadiscordia.com/the-raymond-broshears-files-part-00002-odd-sects-and-wandering-bishops/ will give you the idea of just how “interesting” Beckham is.

As a longtime ufologist, I was fascinated that Beckham was closely associated with Fred Crisman, one of the principals of the 1947 “Maury Island incident,” a legendary UFO hoax. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Crisman. But I digress ...

Beckham was on Jim Garrison’s radar and testified at length to the New Orleans Grand Jury in 1968. Here’s the entire 162-page transcript, which will make clear that this is no ordinary character: https://history-matters.com/archive/jfk/garr/grandjury/Beckham/html/Beckman_0001a.htm.

In his 1968 testimony, Beckham disavowed all knowledge of Oswald. He did, however, associate with Bannister (really), Ferrie and pretty much all of the usual suspects in New Orleans.

By 1978, his story had changed completely. When he testified to the HSCA on May 24, 1978, he said Oswald had been a close friend, an All-American boy (his term) who was rabidly anti-Castro. Hello?

Fred Litwin has done a lot of work on Beckham. You can see the HSCA transcript here: https://www.onthetrailofdelusion.com/post/did-thomas-beckham-know-lee-harvey-oswald. And you can find Fred’s extensive other materials on him here: https://www.onthetrailofdelusion.com/blog/tags/thomas-beckham.

What does this have to do with the photo of “Shelley,” you ask? Lots! Beckham insists “Shelley” is him! Larry Hancock believes him. Ralph Cinque believes him. See Ralph’s enthusiastic endorsement of “Shelley,” http://massinjustice.org/Kennedy%207%2016%20Billy%20Shelly%20cf%20NO%20vs%20TSBD.htm, followed by his mea culpa that it’s actually Beckham, https://oswaldinthedoorway.blogspot.com/2015/01/you-remember-thomas-beckham-affair.html?m=1.

In Farewell to Justice, Joan Mellen gives considerable credence to Beckham, including many of his wilder CIA- and assassination-related claims and specifically his claim to be “Shelley.” Mellen published the “Shelley” photo on page 78, noting in the caption that "Beckham confirms that this is indeed he [or him, as the case may be].”

It’s a bit confusing to me exactly what Beckham was saying in his HSCA testimony. He said that he had just left the French Quarter, saw Oswald handing out leaflets, and that they then got a Coke at Waterbury’s. In 1963, the Trade Mart was located at the corner of Camp and Common and Waterbury’s Drugs was at the corner of Camp and Canal, so he may have been talking about the Trade Mart. He refers to Oswald saying he would be on TV the next day; Oswald was actually on WDSU radio the next day and WDSU-TV on August 21. In any event, he apparently confirmed for Mellen that this was in front of the Trade Mart.

FWIW: According to Hancock’s recollections, Beckham was actually interested in the three Latina girls you see in the video and may have been married to one of them. Larry said he confirmed that Beckham was working in New Orleans radio at the time. You can find Larry’s contributions on this 2015 thread: https://educationforum.ipbhost.com/topic/22417-real-evidence-for-a-change-%E2%80%93-what-is-it-with-these-pictures-of-oswald-leafletting/. (Larry recollects that Beckham had recently married an underage girl and been charged with statutory rape. This is apparently confirmed by ARRB document #180-10076-10155, described as a 16-page "arrest record on Thomas E. Beckham age 19 for the rape of Gloria Mae Borja age 14." https://aarclibrary.org/joe-backes-arrb-summaries-page-12/.)

Beckham’s entire story is so “incredibly interesting” (no defamation here!) that I have difficulty taking any of it seriously. I will admit the photo certainly does look like Shelley even if I have an even more difficult time taking that claim seriously. If I were a CTer, I think I might be more enthusiastic about the photos depicting Beckham than Shelley! By any measure, Beckham is way more interesting.

In any event, here are a few photos of Beckham, one in 1962 and two at somewhat later and chubbier stages of his fascinating life. In 1963, he would’ve been 20 or 21.