"at the time of the search of the Texas School Book Depository building..."

[Alan Ford]

Like a large and growing number of folks, I believe the POST-ASSASSINATION lunchroom encounter between Mr. Oswald, Officer Baker and Mr. Truly is a fabrication designed to rob Mr. Oswald of his alibi.

However, a scenario might suggest itself that would help explain why the lunchroom was chosen as the location for that fictional encounter:

A man dressed as an officer goes through the building several minutes before the motorcade.

His ostensible task: to check that everyone in the building is a legitimate employee.

His real task: to make sure the sixth floor is kept clear for the motorcade.

On his way up to six, he pops his head into the lunchroom on the second floor. Mr. Truly, Mrs. Reid and Mr. Oswald are in there. The 'cop' seeks verification that Mr. Oswald is an employee. He gets it. He heads on up the rear stairway--------but before doing so, he informs those in the lunchroom (as he will inform anyone else he runs into) that the sixth floor is off limits for security reasons.

On six, he finds Mr. Bonnie Ray Williams. He tells him to get off the floor.

When Mr. Jack Dougherty goes up to six, just before the motorcade, he is told the floor is off limits.

[Alan Ford]

Lee Didn't know what officer Baker was doing....He ASSUMED that was the search which we all know started about 12:50 ....

Lee saw Baker and assumed that is what Fritz was referring to....

But there is no way Mr. Oswald would react to a cop challenging him in the lunchroom in the way later described by Officer Baker & Mr. Truly by going downstairs and just having lunch-----------UNLESS there was no doubt in his mind that the P. Parade hadn't yet arrived.

Everything changes once we factor in what Agent Hosty's draft interrogation report reveals: Mr. Oswald told Fritz he-----AFTER his visit to the lunchroom, and AFTER returning to one to eat lunch-----"went outside to watch P. Parade".

So IF Mr. Oswald really did describe a cop coming into the lunchroom, then he was revealing to his interrogators a PRE-MOTORCADE police (or 'police') presence in the building. If the cop was legit, then DPD are in for the most grievous embarrassment. If the cop was not legit, then................

[Alan Ford]

On the Saturday, Chief Jesse Curry (as quoted in the New York Times) told reporters that Mr. Oswald was seen by an officer in the lunchroom WITH OTHER EMPLOYEES

In September '64, Mr. Truly and Officer Baker are brought in to give statements that have one key purpose: to establish that Mr. Oswald was the only person in the lunchroom at the time of the encounter. A 'rumor' that a lunchroom encounter was in fact witnessed by some person or persons other than the three protagonists needs to be laid to rest............

What if there WAS a lunchroom encounter, but it happened BEFORE the motorcade's arrival?

[Alan Ford]

What if there WAS a lunchroom encounter, but it happened BEFORE the motorcade's arrival?

It would mean that Agent Bookhout's account does not, strictly speaking, tell a lie, but has been carefully worded so as to lend a false impression of TIMEFRAME:

“Oswald stated that on November 22 1963, at the time of the search of the Texas School Book Depository building by Dallas police officers [PRE-MOTORCADE], he was on the second floor of said building, having just purchased a Coca-Cola from the soft-drink machine, at which time a police officer came into the room with pistol drawn and asked him if he worked there.

Mr. Truly was present [ALREADY IN THE LUNCHROOM] and verified that he was an employee and the police officer thereafter left the room and [ON HIS OWN] continued through the building. Oswald stated that he took this Coke down to the first floor and stood around and had lunch in the employee’s lunch room. He thereafter went outside [TO WATCH THE P. PARADE] and [AFTER THE SHOTS RANG OUT LEFT THE STEPS AND] stood around for five or ten minutes with foreman Bill Shelley [BY THE RAILROAD YARDS].”

[Alan Ford]

On this scenario,

"[T]he time of the search of the Texas School Book Depository building by Dallas police officers" refers NOT to what Mr. Oswald must have known would be the open, hours-long POST-SHOOTING search of the building, BUT to what he clearly understood to have been a PRE-MOTORCADE sweep of the building

"[A]t the time of the search..." is a really strange way to give the timeframe if it refers to post-shooting

[Jerry Freeman]

Now I can't find it...somewhere in testimony or affidavit or deposition was a mention by I believe a cop that stated that as they [or he] was going up the stairs during the search...that a couple of guys were coming down. Any clue?

[Alan Ford]

Now I can't find it...somewhere in testimony or affidavit or deposition was a mention by I believe a cop that stated that as they [or he] was going up the stairs during the search...that a couple of guys were coming down. Any clue?

Deputy Luke Mooney