“Though the fingerprints other than Oswald's on the boxes thus provide no indication of the presence of an accomplice at the window, two Depository employees are known to have been present briefly on the sixth floor during the period between 11:45 a.m., when the floor-laying crew stopped for lunch, and the moment of the assassination. One of these was Charles Givens, a member of the floor-laying crew, who went down on the elevator with the others and then, returned to the sixth floor to get his jacket and cigarettes. He saw Oswald walking away from the southeast corner, but saw no one else on the sixth floor at that time. He then took one of the elevators back to the first floor at approximately 11:55 a.m.”
[Warren Commission Report pg 249, 250]
The discovery of the lunch remains on the SN was simply ignored by the Warren Commission in it's report because it undermined the Oswald-Did-It [ODI] narrative they were trying to sell.
Ignoring evidence is one thing but fabricating evidence is another thing entirely. This is what happened with Charles Givens and his tale about returning to the 6th floor.
Charles Givens never returned to the 6th floor for his jacket and cigarettes. He wasn't even wearing a jacket that day:
Mr. BELIN.
Did you wear a jacket to work that day?
Mr. GIVENS.
I wore a raincoat, I believe. It was misting that morning.
Mr. BELIN.
Did you hang up your coat in that room [Domino Room], too?
Mr. GIVENS.
Yes, sir.
Givens never went back up to the 6th floor and he never saw Oswald “walking away from the southeast corner”. Givens had been questioned in detail many times before without mentioning anything about going back up to the 6th floor, let alone seeing Oswald walking away from the southeast corner. This brand new addition to his story should have come as an immense surprise to Warren Commission counsel David Belin, the lawyer interviewing Givens, instead it was treated as gospel and the fact that Givens had failed to mention it in many previous statements was simply overlooked.
This incredibly suspicious addition to Givens' story is dealt with in detail by Sylvia Meagher (“Accessories After the Fact” and “The Curious Testimony of Mr Givens”) and, in particular, by Pat Speer on his website (in the chapter entitled “Pinning The Tail On Oswald”). [https://www.patspeer.com/chapter4-pinning-the-tale-on-the-oswald]
“In February 2012, I stumbled across the FBI's first teletype regarding Givens. (This teletype can be found in FBI file 62-109060 sec 9 p54 on the Mary Ferrell Foundation website.) Here, only hours after he'd been interviewed, it was claimed "Charles Douglas Givens, Employee, TSBD, worked on sixth floor until about eleven thirty A.M. Left at this time going down on elevator. Saw Oswald on fifth floor as left going down. Oswald told him to close the gates when he got to first floor so Oswald could signal for elevator later. Givens stayed on first floor until twelve o'clock and then walked out of the building to watch the parade pass. Oswald was reading paper in the first floor domino room seven-fifty A.M. November twenty two last when Givens came to work."
Speer's in-depth analysis of this issue leaves no doubt that Givens lied about returning to the 6th floor and that Warren Commission counsel David Belin was instrumental in constructing this fabrication. The whole point of this was so that the Commission could conclude the following:
Additional testimony linking Oswald with the point from which the shots were fired was provided by the testimony of Charles Givens, who was the last known employee to see Oswald inside the building prior to the assassination.
The truth is that Givens was not the last employee to see Oswald inside the building. That was Eddie Piper:
Mr. BALL.
Did you leave the first floor from then on until lunch time, from 11:30 until 12?
Mr. PIPER.
No.
Mr. BALL.
What time was it that you spoke to Oswald and said you thought you would have your lunch?
Mr. PIPER.
Just about 12 o'clock.
Mr. BALL.
And do you remember exactly what he said?
Mr. PIPER.
No, sir; I don't remember exactly. All I remember him was muttering out something---I didn't know whether he said he was going up or going out.
This was a real problem for the WC's ODI narrative. They needed a window of opportunity for Oswald to assemble his rifle and prepare the SN. The only available window was in between the time the floor-laying crew broke for lunch and Bonnie Ray arriving back on the 6th floor. The very last thing they needed was for Oswald to go down to the first floor at lunch time but this is exactly what he did.
The collective testimonies and statements of the floor-laying crew reveal that around 11:45 am they broke for lunch. Everyday they had been having a race down to the first floor in the elevators. As they were passing the 5th floor Oswald called out to Givens to let him on the elevator but, presumably because he was involved in the race, Givens refused. Oswald called after them to close the gate on the elevator so he could call it back up.
Far from hiding in the shadows, biding his time, Oswald was looking to come down to the first floor.
Piper's testimony confirms he did that.
At around 12:00 pm Oswald was on the first floor and Bonnie Ray was on his way up to the 6th floor (presumably to have his lunch in the Sniper's Nest!)
This narrative had to be changed so in stepped Givens with his obvious fabrication and out went Piper's testimony. The pattern of 'ignored testimony' features heavily with the WC.
The WC could now claim that the last employee to see Oswald saw him on the 6th floor somewhere near the southeast corner. Oswald could now assemble his rifle, prepare the SN and silently hide for almost half an hour while Bonnie Ray had his lunch (sat right next to him?).
Anyone genuinely interested in this should check out the work of Meagher and Speer.
