Fact: Baker entered the TSBD looking for a shooter
Fact: As he started making his way up the stairs he pulled his pistol in anticipation.
Fact; He was scanning each floor as he passed by. This is from his WC testimony:
"I was following Mr. Truly and every time I had a chance I would look around over the building."
"Mr. Truly was ahead of me, and as I come out I was kind of scanning, you know, the rooms..."
"I didn't notice. I was looking around over the building at the time he said, "Let's take the elevator" and I just followed him on around."
Baker was doing what he should have been doing, scanning each floor to see if there was anything out of place.
He arrives on the 2nd floor to a small area that has a door with a window in it. He takes a few steps towards the door and has a quick glance in the window where he sees Oswald at the coke machine.
Fact: This is exactly what he told Burnett when he was giving his affidavit - he looked in the lunch room and saw a man standing alone drinking a coke.
Your wild speculation, that Burnett was adding details to the affidavit that Baker wasn't saying, is genuinely laughable and a source of real embarrassment.
What isn't speculation is that Baker's version of events tallies exactly with what Oswald reportedly told his interrogators.
Fact: Oswald reportedly goes up to the 2nd floor lunch room and has just purchased a coke when officer Baker comes into the lunch room.
Fact: Oswald reported he was coming up from the first floor domino room where he was having his lunch and where he saw Junior Jarman and Hank Norman
Fact: Junior and Hank report that they did indeed enter the TSBD building around 12:25 pm and moved in such a way as to be visible from the domino room.
Fact: A few weeks after the assassination, serious questions were being raised about whether Oswald could have been the shooter, and these questions revolved around whether or not Oswald was drinking a coke when confronted by Baker:
Leo Sauvage in the Lowell Sun from December 26 1963. Already displayed near the top of
this essay At that moment we are told officially Oswald was already in the lunchroom
with a Coca-Cola bottle in his hand. This means that, assuming he was the assassin, he had
to cross the floor from the window where the shots were fired to the opposite side of the
building in order to reach the staircase (after concealing the rifle behind some packing
boxes), run down four flights of stairs, walk to the lunch room, put a dime in the vending
machine and open the bottle. Truly and the policeman did not report that Oswald was
panting nor show other signs of having been running.
[Anatomy of the second floor lunch room encounter, Kemp]
And then we have your fantasy which you've literally just made up, unless I'm mistaken. Maybe you've posted this little scenario somewhere before but I did get the distinct impression that you'd just made it up out of thin air and are now really offended that I've dared to suggest you're speculating.
1] Oswald hears footsteps coming up the steps - speculation
2] he runs to the vestibule door - speculation
3] He stays there watching Truly pass by - speculation
4] He is just about to emerge when he is surprised by the arrival of Baker - speculation
5] He turns and races into the lunchroom - speculation.
Maybe you could tell us which part of your little fantasy is NOT speculation.
Why are you so offended by my pointing out that it is an exercise in pure speculation when that is exactly what it is?
Is it because when an LNer speculates it has more value? It's 'almost' the truth? Is that what it is?
Why does Oswald wait around to watch who up comes up the stairs?
Why doesn't he simply walk through the door that leads to the corridor that takes him to the exit?
Why doesn't he hear Baker's boots thundering up the stairs?
And on and on...
What facts did you base your imaginative speculation on...that Baker said so? He also said he saw the man drinking a coke.
If he saw the man drinking a coke the man was already in the lunchroom.
If he was already in the lunchroom then Baker didn't "glimpse" him move through the vestibule window.
If he didn't "glimpse" him through the window from the top of the stairs he must have moved towards the vestibule door.
See, I can speculate just as good as you...only I know when I'm speculating. You seem to think you're reporting the facts.
Baker was doing what he should have been doing, scanning each floor to see if there was anything out of place.
He arrives on the 2nd floor to a small area that has a door with a window in it. He takes a few steps towards the door and has a quick glance in the window where he sees Oswald at the coke machine.
There's so much wrong with this statement alone, where do I start?
Baker's quite clear where he was when he saw Oswald, and he even pinpoints the exact spot on CE 497.
Mr. BELIN - Now, with relation to Exhibit 497 perhaps you can try to trace your route as you came out from the stairway, as to the route you took and the point you were when you first caught a glimpse of some movement through that window or door?
Mr. BAKER - At the upper portion of this stairway leading to the second floor, I was just stepping out on to the second floor when I caught this glimpse of this man through this doorway.
Mr. BELIN - Do you want to put a spot there, with the letter "B" at the point you believe you were when you were looking through that door? You put the letter "B" on Exhibit 497 when you first saw the movement.
And here inexplicably just yesterday Dan has Baker way out on the floor and nowhere near where Baker says.
Dan O'eara: ...the "B" is Baker's approximate position when he was supposed to have seen this movement movement:
And today you have Baker even more out on the floor where you claim he can see Oswald at the coke machine, WOW!
Baker was doing what he should have been doing, scanning each floor to see if there was anything out of place.
He arrives on the 2nd floor to a small area that has a door with a window in it. He takes a few steps towards the door and has a quick glance in the window where he sees Oswald at the coke machine.
Here is yesterday's "estimate" where Dan placed Baker and I have overlayed a purple/yellow Point of View Line of Sight. Which in no way allows a view even close to the Coke Machine or even into the lunchroom itself, therefore even if Dan's fantasy placement of Baker was correct all it does is strengthen the reality that Oswald was moving into the lunchroom.
So as is obvious, CT's will invent their own evidence to fit their speculation whereas honest LNers simply use the evidence. Baker's testimony and from the physical layout of the 2nd floor, it's clear that Baker saw Oswald in the hallway at the vestibule door and next Baker saw Oswald in the lunchroom.
All I can say Dan, is next time bring your "A" game because this is way too easy.
JohnM
