Mary Bledsoe was Oswald's landlady for 7 days in Oct '63. She was also one of the longest witnesses on the stand, mostly fluff.
She kept records of her boarders on a calendar. Inexplicably, she no longer had Oct. in her papers.
They were trying get her to confirm the shirt she may have seen on the bus. Based on the unqualified uncertainty of her
character, most of her identification should have been rendered meaningless. Reading her entire testimony, one can see a tag
team effort by the WC attorneys, with additional help from Bledsoe's own attorney. When Bledsoe consistently proclaimed her
lack of knowledge, her own attorney objected, "Mary, pardon me, this is not for the record." WC Attorney Jenner, allowed that in.
Twice they tried to get her to say she had seen a long package or curtain rods brought in or out of the house.
She did not see any such thing.
Mr. JENNER - Anything that you thought could be curtain rods or----
Mrs. BLEDSOE - Uh-huh.
Mr. JENNER - Or shades that are on the spring, did he ever have any package that looked as though that sort of thing might be contained in it?
Mrs. BLEDSOE - No.
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Mr. JENNER - Was there ever an occasion when you saw him in possession, either in his room, or carrying a long object wrapped in paper or a blanket or---
Mrs. BLEDSOE - No.
Mr. JENNER - Or something as long as 45 inches long?
Mrs. BLEDSOE - No.
Mr. JENNER - Seven or eight inches wide?
Mrs. BLEDSOE - Didn't have anything like that with him.
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She quickly let it be known she did not like Lee very much. At one point she asked him to leave, then refused to pay his balance of rent.
One reason for eviction was he sometimes spoke in a foreign language on the phone; "
I don't like anybody talking in a foreign language."
Specifically on the shirt, she was prepared what to say by SSA Sorrels. She went over what was expected of her prior to her testimony.
Attorney Ball, did not ask her how she knew what was going to be asked. Nearly all witnesses were previewed for what they could provide.
She gave it away when Ball asked her if she had seen the shirt prior to Secret Service bring it to her. She said, "No."
Mr. BALL - It was brought out by the Secret Service man and shown to you?
Mrs. BLEDSOE - Yes.
Mr. BALL - Had you ever seen the shirt before that?
Mrs. BLEDSOE - Well---
Mr. BALL - Have you?
Mrs. BLEDSOE - No; he had it on, though.
Mr. BALL - Who had it on?
Mrs. BLEDSOE - Oswald.
Mr. BALL - Oswald had it on?
Mrs. BLEDSOE - Oswald had it on.
How could she have not seen the shirt before SS showed her, and then Oswald somehow had it on? Ball led her to say it in another round.
They are cherry picking and leading her to the answer they want. She makes conflicting statements that render any value useless.
She didn't pay attention to that shirt anymore than Frazier paid attention to the bag. Funny, how LNs work that way.
Mr. BALL - First time you ever saw the shirt was when you saw him on the bus?
Mrs. BLEDSOE - Uh-huh.
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When describing the man's trousers, she said they were "...gray, and all ragged in here...at the waist?....uh, huh.
She was then shown both Exhibits CE 156 and CE 157, she said it could not have been CE 157, because "...it was ragged at the top"
There is no confidence in her answers. Then, she conceded it must have been CE 156.
Ball was leading her to say CE157, because Brennan had said a lighter color pants but she won't do it.
Mr. BALL - This other pair of pants, 156, does that look like any of the pants he had on?
Mrs. BLEDSOE - That must have been it, but seemed like it was ragged up at the top.
Mr. BALL - But, you think 156 may have been the pair of pants he had on?
Mrs. BLEDSOE - Yes.
Mr. BALL - You think CE 157---don't pay any attention to the fact that it is cut up does CE 157 look anything like the pants he had on?
Mrs. BLEDSOE - No; I don't---
Finally, despite her vivid description of appearance and obvious dislike for Oswald, she did not connect him to the assassination even
after hearing his name.
"...they kept talking about this boy Oswald and had on a brown shirt, and all of a sudden, well, I declare..."She contacted her son, he called the police and she went down to the station the next day.
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This is a fine example of the Commission following the mandate it was given by the Katzenbach Memo back in Nov. '63.
"The public must be satisfied that Oswald was the assassin; that he did not have confederates who are still at large.."Doubts of Oswald having even been on the bus, as well as other witnesses that saw a man look like him get into a car, remain.
Deputy Sheriff Roger Craig, was directing traffic at the top of Houston and Elm St., when he heard the shrill of a whistle from just ahead.
He looked over, and saw that a white male, standing at the west end of TSBD, had signaled this same vehicle Richard Carr had just seen.
This man ran down the embankment and piled into this light colored Nash Rambler station wagon, already filled with other Spanish looking men.
Without knowing who this guy was, Craig tried to pursue the wagon, but was then slowed by excessive traffic before he could close enough to it.
https://jfk.boards.net/post/3554Roy Cooper, was following his boss,
Marvin Robinson, through Dealey Plaza on their way to drop off Marvin's car, to then return to work.
Both drivers saw the same Nash Rambler station wagon, and both saw the man run down the embankment and get into the car.
In fact, when the vehicle merged back in, "...This station wagon pulled out real fast front of the Cadillac driven by his boss
and his employer had to stop abruptly and nearly hit this Nash Rambler." Neither mean paid attention to the look of the man,
or the driver, or even the state license plate.
https://jfk.boards.net/post/3554"
Helen Forrest, witnessed the same scene Roger Craig did, but from the opposite side of the street. Forrest, told historian Michael Kurtz,
she was on the incline by the grassy knoll, when she, "...saw a man suddenly run from the rear of the Depository building, down
the incline, and then enter a Rambler station wagon." Like Roger Craig, Helen Forrest, was clear in identifying the running man.
"If it wasn't Oswald," she said, "it was his identical twin." [Quoted from: Douglass, James W. - JFK and the Unspeakable]
https://jfk.boards.net/post/7693It is not clear or reliable testimony. She had a prejudice against him, and although the two may have been on the bus. Lee got off.
Some ten minutes after the shooting, 4 witnesses, (
2 of which) said a man that looked like Lee Oswald was seen leaving the plaza in a car full of Cubans.
https://jfk.boards.net/post/7693
Topic: A hole in Bledsoe's story? (Read 1161 times)