"I think that Oswald ordered and owned that Carcano, that the backyard photos are genuine"
I believe that you're right... Lee did order a Mannlicher Carcano using a money order that was purchased by George De Morhenschildt. Lee used that rifle to create the B.Y. photo CE 133A which he intended to convince the viewer that he was a communist revolutionary like Fidel Castro. IOW...The primary intended use of that Carcano was simply a stage prop.
Lee Oswald himself apparently pronounced ONE of the Back Yard photos to be a fake..... I believe that photo was 133c...which is the photo Roscoe White gave to his wife....and it is the photo the police used to re-enact the back yard scene.
First thing I do not believe is that the blanket in Ruth Paine garage was empty. All Marina statements were given via interpreter and we will never know what Marina really said.
In November of 1983 the DMN published a special twentieth anniversary edition of the Coup d 'e'tat ......
In that paper Marina said.." We went to the garage to get the rifle, but the rifle was not in THE SACK"
She did not say the rifle was not in the Blanket.... So I believe that Marina was recalling seeing the rifle in a paper wrapper at some point......There's no doubt that the rifle was not there in the blanket.
On 11/22 officers that went to the 2515 West Fifth Irving street were Richard Stovall, John Adamick and Guy Rose.
Stovall:
Mr. STOVALL. Shortly after that, Rose came back in carrying this blanket,
as well as I remember, it was tied at one end and the other end was open. well as I remember, it was tied at one end and the other end was open.
Mr. BALL. It was tied with what kind of material?
Mr. Srovau. It was tied with a white cord, as well as I remember.
Mr. BALL. A white what?
Mr. STDVALL. A white twine-it was thicker than a kite twine that you see
or use on kites-more like this they use for wrapping large packages and tying
them and he showed me that end, of course, he told me--
Mr. BALL. What did he tell you?
Mr. STOVALL. He told me that when he went to the garage, Marina had
pointed to the blanket there and she said something to Ruth Paine and Ruth
Paine told him that that was where Lee kept his rifle.
Adamick:
Mr. BELIN. All right, then what happened?
Mr. ADAMCIK. Well, we went through the house, if I remember correctly, and I believe the other detectives found some property. I know they found this blanket that was rolled up in the garage.
Mr. BELIN. Were you there when they saw the blanket?
Mr. ADAMCIK. No; I wasn't there. I saw the blanket later.
Mr. BELIN. Where was it when you first saw it?
Mr. ADAMCIK. I believe they took it in the house. I am pretty sure.
Mr. BELIN. Had they unrolled the blanket when they took it in the house?
Mr. ADAMCIK. No; they had a string still tied around it. Apparently had two strings, and just one of the strings were cut.
Mr. BELIN. One of the strings was cut?
Mr. ADAMCIK. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Who cut it, do you know?
Mr. ADAMCIK. I don't have any idea.
Mr. BELIN. Had it been cut by an officer of the Dallas Police Department?
Mr. ADAMCIK. No; it definitely wasn't.
Mr. BELIN. Pardon?
Mr. ADAMCIK. Definitely wasn't. As far as I know, it wasn't.
Mr. BELIN. How was the blanket rolled, do you know, offhand, approximately?
Mr. ADAMCIK. It appeared to be 4 or 5 feet, maybe.
Mr. BELIN. Was there anything in the blanket?
Mr. ADAMCIK. Not that I could see.
Mr. BELIN. Was the blanket stiff or limp?
Mr. ADAMCIK. It was a regular wool blanket, and it wasn't fairly stiff. Just from being rolled that way, it didn't appear like it was real stiff. Just normal.
Mr. BELIN. Did you see anyone carrying the blanket?
Mr. ADAMCIK. No; I didn't.
Mr. BELIN. Did you lift the blanket up?
Mr. ADAMCIK. No; I never did lift the blanket up.
Rose:
Mr. ROSE. Well, I was the senior detective that was there, and so I was sort of the spokesman for the group, I suppose, and Stovall wen into the bedroom of Marina Oswald--Marina Oswald's bedroom, and I don't remember where Adamcik went first, but I talked with Ruth Paine a few minutes and she told me that Marina was there and that she was Lee Oswald's wife and that she was a citizen of Russia, and so I called Captain Fritz on the phone and told him what I had found out there and asked him if there was any special instructions, and he said, "Well, ask her about her husband, ask her if her husband has a rifle." I turned and asked Marina, but she didn't seem to understand. She said she couldn't understand, so Ruth Paine spoke in Russian to her and Ruth Paine also interpreted for me, and she said that Marina said--first she said Marina said "No," and then a minute Marina said, "Yes, he does have." So, then I talked to Captain Fritz for a moment and hung up the phone and I asked Marina if she would show me where his rifle was and Ruth Paine interpreted and Marina pointed to the garage and she took me to the garage and she pointed to a blanket that was rolled up and laying on the floor near the wall of the garage and Ruth Paine said, "Says that that's where his rifle is." Well, at the time I couldn't tell whether there was one in there or not. It appeared to be--it was in sort of an outline of a rifle.
Mr. BALL. You mean the blanket had the outline of a rifle?
Mr. ROSE. Yes; it did.
Mr. BALL. Was it tied at one end?
Mr. ROSE. Yes, sir; it was sort of rolled up, but it was flattened out from laying down and tied near the middle, I would say, with a cord and so I went on and picked the blanket up, but it was empty--it didn't have the rifle in it.
Mr. BALL. You brought that in?
Mr. ROSE. Yes; I did.
So, three detectives did not roll the blanket out. None of them stated, we rolled the blanket out and saw it was empty.
It seems to be very unclear if the blanket was empty or not. Why wouldn't they unroll it and see that it was empty? Because it wasn't.