What's your favorite reason for believing Oswald didn't do it?

[Jack Nessan]

Chicken Bone Story as compiled by Colin Crow


Two lunches. There was BRW’s lunch with a pop bottle and Fritos bag right where he stated it was located, 3rd aisle. In addition, there was a single piece of chicken on a carton used as a barricade with an explanation from Mr. Shelley. Not one of these officers statements mention the frito bag or pop bottle.

Mr. BALL - Now you say that you thought that you had seen someone had eaten fried chicken that morning?
Mr. SHELLEY - I thought I had; those colored boys are always eating chicken
 
Bonnie Ray Williams stated that he ate his lunch near the 3rd set of windows on the south side of the sixth floor.

-----------------------------
 
Luke Mooney was first on the scene of the SN. His initial report mentions the lunch.
 
COUNTY OF DALLAS
SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT
SUPPLEMENTARY INVESTIGATION REPORT
ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY
Deputy Sheriff Luke Mooney, Dallas County Sheriff's Department.
Date: November 23 1963
I was standing in front of the Sheriff's office at 505 Main Street, Dallas, When President Kennedy and the motorcade passed by. Within a few seconds after he had passed me and the motorcade had turned the corner I heard a shot and I immediately started running towards the front of the motorcade and within seconds heard a second and a third shot. I started running across Houston Street and down across the lawn to the triple underpass and up the terrace to the railroad yards. I searched along with many other officers, this area, when Sheriff Bill Decker came up and told me and the Officers Sam Webster and Billy Joe Vickery to surround the Texas School Book Depository building. As we approached the two big steel wire gates to the building dock at the back of the building on Elm Street side, we saw that the loading dock had locks on it and I then pulled the steel gates closed and requested of a citizen standing there to see that no-one came out or went in until I could get a uniformed officer there, which he did. Officers Webster, Victory, and myself took to the building. Officers Webster and Victory took the stairs and I told them I would take the freight elevator. At the time I got on the elevator two women who work in the building got on the elevator, saying they wanted to go to their office. As the elevator started up, we went up one floor and the power to the elevator was cut off. I got out on the floor with these women and looked around in their office and I then took to the stairs and went to the 6th floor, and Officers Webster and Vickery went up to the 7th floor. I was the only person on the 6th floor when I searched it and was reasonably sure that there was no one else on this floor as I searched it and then criss-crossed it, seeing only stacks of cartons of books. I was at that time also checking for open windows and fire escapes. I found where someone had been using a skill saw in laying some flooring in one corner of this floor and I then went to the 7th floor and was assisting in searching it out and crawled into the attic opening and decided it was too dark and came down to order flash lights. I then went on back to the 6th floor and went direct to the far corner and then discovered a cubby hole which had been constructed out of cartons which protected it from sight and found where someone had been in an area of perhaps 2 feet surrounded by cardboard cartons of books. Inside this cubby hole affair was three more boxes so arranged as to provide what appeared to be a rest for a rifle. On one of these cartons was a half-eaten piece of chicken. The minute that I saw the expended shells on the floor, I hung my head out of the half opened window and signalled to Sheriff Bill Decker and Captain Will Fritz who were outside the building and advised them to send up the Crime Lab Officers at once that I had located the area from which the shots had been fired. At this time, Officers Webster, Victory, and McCurley came over to this spot and we guarded this spot until Crime Lab Officers got upstairs within a matter of a few minutes. We then turned this area over to Captain Fritz and his officers for processing. At this time I continued to search this 6th floor along with many other officers and within a few minutes, I heard Deputy Sheriff Eugene Boone holler out that he had found the rifle near the staircase between some rows of cartons. We continued to search the building for a suspect.
 
Note that Mooney does not mention the lunch prior to discovery of the SN.
 
McCurley's Report
 
 
Officer A. D. McCurley, Deputy Sheriff, Dallas County Sheriff's Office (Statement 11/22/63)
 
Officer Jack Faulkner and I, together with several other City officers went to the building and started checking the floors. We were searching the 6th floor when Deputy Sheriff Mooney, who was also on the 6th floor, hollered that he had found the place where the assassin had fired from. I went over and saw 3 expended shells laying by the window that faced onto Elm Street, along with a half-eaten piece of chicken that was laying on a cardboard carton. It appeared as if the assassin had piled up a bunch of boxes to hide from the view of anyone who happened to come up on that floor and had arranged 3 other cartons of books next to the window as though to make a rifle rest. This area was roped off and guarded until Captain Will Fritz of Dallas Police Department Homicide Bureau arrived. It was about this same time that Deputy Sheriff Eugene Boone yelled that he had found the rifle which had been placed between some rows of cardboard boxes near the staircase which leads down to the 5th floor.
 
Officer Jack Faulkner
 
There were also some chicken bones. Evidently he had chicken for his lunch. There were people that worked with him that had left maybe at noon. I don't know where they went because I didn't investigate that part of it. I've also heard of a bag which carried the rifle, but I never saw that. It could have been there, but I didn't notice it.
From "No More Silence: An Oral History of the Assassination of President Kennedy" - Larry A. Sneed
 
Officer Roger Craig, Deputy Sheriff
Mr. BELIN - About how soon after they were found did you see them, laying on the floor?
Mr. CRAIG - Oh, a couple of minutes. I went right on over there. I was at the far north end of the building. The cartridges were on the southeast corner.
Mr. BELIN - Well, how did you know they had been found there? Did someone yell---or what?
Mr. CRAIG - Yes; someone yelled across the room that "here's the shells."
Mr. BELIN - Do you remember who that was?
Mr. CRAIG - No; I couldn't recognize the voice.
Mr. BELIN - All right. Then, what did you do?
Mr. CRAIG - I went over there and--uh--didn't get too close because the shells were laying on the ground and there was--uh--oh, a sack and a bunch of things laying over there. So, you know, not to bother the area, I just went back across.
Mr. BELIN - Now, you say there was a sack laying there?
Mr. CRAIG - Yes; I believe it was laying on top of a box, if I'm not mistaken.
Mr. BELIN - How big a sack was that?
Mr. CRAIG - It was a paper bag (indicating with hands)--a small paper bag.
Mr. BELIN - Well, the kind-of paper bag that you carry your lunch in?
Mr. CRAIG - Yeah,--uh-huh.
 
Gerald Hill also recalls the finding of the SN and the Chicken Leg and Bag of top of the SN Boxes
 
Mr. HILL. We hadn't been there but a minute until someone yelled, "Here it is," or words to that effect.
I moved over and found they had found an area where the boxes had been stacked in sort of a triangle shape with three sides over near the window.
Mr. BELIN. What did you see over there?
Mr. HILL. There was the boxes. The boxes were stacked in sort of a three-sided shield.
That would have concealed from general view, unless somebody specifically walked up and looked over them, anyone who was in a sitting or crouched position between them and the window. In front of this window and to the left or east corner of the window, there were two boxes, cardboard boxes that had the words "Roller books," on them.
On top of the larger stack of boxes that would have been used for concealment, there was a chicken leg bone and a paper sack which appeared to have been about the size normally used for a lunch sack. I wouldn't know what the sizes were. It was a sack, I would say extended, it would probably be 12 inches high, 10 inches long, and about 4 inches thick.
 
At this point, I asked the deputy sheriff to guard the scene, not to let anybody touch anything, and I went over still further west to another window about the middle of the building on the south side and yelled down to the street for them to send us the crime lab.
 
 
 
Harry Weatherford
 
The 11-23-63 report of Deputy Sheriff Harry Weatherford notes "I came down to the 6th floor, and while searching this floor, Deputy Luke Mooney said "here are some shells." I went over to where he was and saw 3 expended rifle shells, a sack on the floor and a partially eaten piece of chicken on top of one of the cartons which was used as a sort of barricade."
 
Officer Brewer
Mr. BELIN. Did you go and take a look at the cartridge cases?
Mr. BREWER. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. How many cartridge cases did you see?
Mr. BREWER. Three.
Mr. BELIN. Where were they?
Mr. BREWER. They were there under, by the window.
Mr. BELIN. What window?
Mr. BREWER. In the southeast corner of the building, facing south.
Mr. BELIN. See anything else there at the time by the window?
Mr. BREWER. Paper lunch sack and some chicken bones or partially eaten piece of chicken, or a piece at chicken.
 
Officer Haygood
Mr. BELIN. You saw some shells there?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Where did you see them?
Mr. HAYGOOD. They were there under the window.
Mr. BELIN. Which window?
Mr. HAYGOOD. On the southeast corner.
Mr. BELIN. South side or east side?
Mr. HAYGOOD. On the southeast corner facing south.
Mr. BELIN. See any paper bags or anything around there?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Yes; there was a lunch bag there. You could call it a lunch bag.
Mr. BALL. Where was that?
Mr. HAYGOOD. There at the same location where the shells were.
 
Eugene Boone
 
Mentions seeing the chicken before discovering the rifle in his Oral History with the 6th Floor Museum.

 

[Dan O'meara]

Chicken Bone Story as compiled by Colin Crow


Two lunches. There was BRW’s lunch with a pop bottle and Fritos bag right where he stated it was located, 3rd aisle. In addition, there was a single piece of chicken on a carton used as a barricade with an explanation from Mr. Shelley. Not one of these officers statements mention the frito bag or pop bottle.

Mr. BALL - Now you say that you thought that you had seen someone had eaten fried chicken that morning?
Mr. SHELLEY - I thought I had; those colored boys are always eating chicken
 
Bonnie Ray Williams stated that he ate his lunch near the 3rd set of windows on the south side of the sixth floor.

-----------------------------
 
Luke Mooney was first on the scene of the SN. His initial report mentions the lunch.
 
COUNTY OF DALLAS
SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT
SUPPLEMENTARY INVESTIGATION REPORT
ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY
Deputy Sheriff Luke Mooney, Dallas County Sheriff's Department.
Date: November 23 1963
I was standing in front of the Sheriff's office at 505 Main Street, Dallas, When President Kennedy and the motorcade passed by. Within a few seconds after he had passed me and the motorcade had turned the corner I heard a shot and I immediately started running towards the front of the motorcade and within seconds heard a second and a third shot. I started running across Houston Street and down across the lawn to the triple underpass and up the terrace to the railroad yards. I searched along with many other officers, this area, when Sheriff Bill Decker came up and told me and the Officers Sam Webster and Billy Joe Vickery to surround the Texas School Book Depository building. As we approached the two big steel wire gates to the building dock at the back of the building on Elm Street side, we saw that the loading dock had locks on it and I then pulled the steel gates closed and requested of a citizen standing there to see that no-one came out or went in until I could get a uniformed officer there, which he did. Officers Webster, Victory, and myself took to the building. Officers Webster and Victory took the stairs and I told them I would take the freight elevator. At the time I got on the elevator two women who work in the building got on the elevator, saying they wanted to go to their office. As the elevator started up, we went up one floor and the power to the elevator was cut off. I got out on the floor with these women and looked around in their office and I then took to the stairs and went to the 6th floor, and Officers Webster and Vickery went up to the 7th floor. I was the only person on the 6th floor when I searched it and was reasonably sure that there was no one else on this floor as I searched it and then criss-crossed it, seeing only stacks of cartons of books. I was at that time also checking for open windows and fire escapes. I found where someone had been using a skill saw in laying some flooring in one corner of this floor and I then went to the 7th floor and was assisting in searching it out and crawled into the attic opening and decided it was too dark and came down to order flash lights. I then went on back to the 6th floor and went direct to the far corner and then discovered a cubby hole which had been constructed out of cartons which protected it from sight and found where someone had been in an area of perhaps 2 feet surrounded by cardboard cartons of books. Inside this cubby hole affair was three more boxes so arranged as to provide what appeared to be a rest for a rifle. On one of these cartons was a half-eaten piece of chicken. The minute that I saw the expended shells on the floor, I hung my head out of the half opened window and signalled to Sheriff Bill Decker and Captain Will Fritz who were outside the building and advised them to send up the Crime Lab Officers at once that I had located the area from which the shots had been fired. At this time, Officers Webster, Victory, and McCurley came over to this spot and we guarded this spot until Crime Lab Officers got upstairs within a matter of a few minutes. We then turned this area over to Captain Fritz and his officers for processing. At this time I continued to search this 6th floor along with many other officers and within a few minutes, I heard Deputy Sheriff Eugene Boone holler out that he had found the rifle near the staircase between some rows of cartons. We continued to search the building for a suspect.
 
Note that Mooney does not mention the lunch prior to discovery of the SN.
 
McCurley's Report
 
 
Officer A. D. McCurley, Deputy Sheriff, Dallas County Sheriff's Office (Statement 11/22/63)
 
Officer Jack Faulkner and I, together with several other City officers went to the building and started checking the floors. We were searching the 6th floor when Deputy Sheriff Mooney, who was also on the 6th floor, hollered that he had found the place where the assassin had fired from. I went over and saw 3 expended shells laying by the window that faced onto Elm Street, along with a half-eaten piece of chicken that was laying on a cardboard carton. It appeared as if the assassin had piled up a bunch of boxes to hide from the view of anyone who happened to come up on that floor and had arranged 3 other cartons of books next to the window as though to make a rifle rest. This area was roped off and guarded until Captain Will Fritz of Dallas Police Department Homicide Bureau arrived. It was about this same time that Deputy Sheriff Eugene Boone yelled that he had found the rifle which had been placed between some rows of cardboard boxes near the staircase which leads down to the 5th floor.
 
Officer Jack Faulkner
 
There were also some chicken bones. Evidently he had chicken for his lunch. There were people that worked with him that had left maybe at noon. I don't know where they went because I didn't investigate that part of it. I've also heard of a bag which carried the rifle, but I never saw that. It could have been there, but I didn't notice it.
From "No More Silence: An Oral History of the Assassination of President Kennedy" - Larry A. Sneed
 
Officer Roger Craig, Deputy Sheriff
Mr. BELIN - About how soon after they were found did you see them, laying on the floor?
Mr. CRAIG - Oh, a couple of minutes. I went right on over there. I was at the far north end of the building. The cartridges were on the southeast corner.
Mr. BELIN - Well, how did you know they had been found there? Did someone yell---or what?
Mr. CRAIG - Yes; someone yelled across the room that "here's the shells."
Mr. BELIN - Do you remember who that was?
Mr. CRAIG - No; I couldn't recognize the voice.
Mr. BELIN - All right. Then, what did you do?
Mr. CRAIG - I went over there and--uh--didn't get too close because the shells were laying on the ground and there was--uh--oh, a sack and a bunch of things laying over there. So, you know, not to bother the area, I just went back across.
Mr. BELIN - Now, you say there was a sack laying there?
Mr. CRAIG - Yes; I believe it was laying on top of a box, if I'm not mistaken.
Mr. BELIN - How big a sack was that?
Mr. CRAIG - It was a paper bag (indicating with hands)--a small paper bag.
Mr. BELIN - Well, the kind-of paper bag that you carry your lunch in?
Mr. CRAIG - Yeah,--uh-huh.
 
Gerald Hill also recalls the finding of the SN and the Chicken Leg and Bag of top of the SN Boxes
 
Mr. HILL. We hadn't been there but a minute until someone yelled, "Here it is," or words to that effect.
I moved over and found they had found an area where the boxes had been stacked in sort of a triangle shape with three sides over near the window.
Mr. BELIN. What did you see over there?
Mr. HILL. There was the boxes. The boxes were stacked in sort of a three-sided shield.
That would have concealed from general view, unless somebody specifically walked up and looked over them, anyone who was in a sitting or crouched position between them and the window. In front of this window and to the left or east corner of the window, there were two boxes, cardboard boxes that had the words "Roller books," on them.
On top of the larger stack of boxes that would have been used for concealment, there was a chicken leg bone and a paper sack which appeared to have been about the size normally used for a lunch sack. I wouldn't know what the sizes were. It was a sack, I would say extended, it would probably be 12 inches high, 10 inches long, and about 4 inches thick.
 
At this point, I asked the deputy sheriff to guard the scene, not to let anybody touch anything, and I went over still further west to another window about the middle of the building on the south side and yelled down to the street for them to send us the crime lab.
 
 
 
Harry Weatherford
 
The 11-23-63 report of Deputy Sheriff Harry Weatherford notes "I came down to the 6th floor, and while searching this floor, Deputy Luke Mooney said "here are some shells." I went over to where he was and saw 3 expended rifle shells, a sack on the floor and a partially eaten piece of chicken on top of one of the cartons which was used as a sort of barricade."
 
Officer Brewer
Mr. BELIN. Did you go and take a look at the cartridge cases?
Mr. BREWER. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. How many cartridge cases did you see?
Mr. BREWER. Three.
Mr. BELIN. Where were they?
Mr. BREWER. They were there under, by the window.
Mr. BELIN. What window?
Mr. BREWER. In the southeast corner of the building, facing south.
Mr. BELIN. See anything else there at the time by the window?
Mr. BREWER. Paper lunch sack and some chicken bones or partially eaten piece of chicken, or a piece at chicken.
 
Officer Haygood
Mr. BELIN. You saw some shells there?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Where did you see them?
Mr. HAYGOOD. They were there under the window.
Mr. BELIN. Which window?
Mr. HAYGOOD. On the southeast corner.
Mr. BELIN. South side or east side?
Mr. HAYGOOD. On the southeast corner facing south.
Mr. BELIN. See any paper bags or anything around there?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Yes; there was a lunch bag there. You could call it a lunch bag.
Mr. BALL. Where was that?
Mr. HAYGOOD. There at the same location where the shells were.
 
Eugene Boone
 
Mentions seeing the chicken before discovering the rifle in his Oral History with the 6th Floor Museum.

Two lunches. There was BRW’s lunch with a pop bottle and Fritos bag right where he stated it was located, 3rd aisle. In addition, there was a single piece of chicken on a carton used as a barricade with an explanation from Mr. Shelley. Not one of these officers statements mention the frito bag or pop bottle.

The "two lunches" theory is a non-starter for a number of reasons.
It's based on Shelley's supposed observation that he "thought" he saw either Givens or Williams (the only two black employees on the 6th floor) eating chicken on the 6th floor.
This is impossible as Williams had his lunch on the 6th floor while Shelley was down on the first floor (or possibly outside), and Givens left his lunch in the domino room when he arrived for work and ate his lunch outside the building.
It is possible that Shelley saw Givens eating his lunch outside but definitely not on the 6th floor.
His racist comment might indicate he saw one of them eating their lunch on the 6th floor on some other day because they were "always eating chicken", apparently.

The single piece of partially eaten chicken was no longer on the back wall of the Sniper's Nest when Studebaker arrived on the scene and he is specific that the only chicken remains found on the 6th floor were in the lunch sack.

The lunch sack was also discovered on top of the back wall of the Sniper's Nest. A number of officers saw it there, but this too had disappeared from the Sniper's Nest by the time Studebaker arrived.

The only lunch sack discovered on the 6th floor was originally discovered ON TOP of the Sniper's Nest. It was then moved to the two-wheeler truck, along with the partially eaten piece of chicken. This same lunch sack had a piece of Fritos in it.

Bonnie Ray must have taken the Fritos bag with him because it was not left on the 6th floor. No officer saw it, it wasn't in the lunch sack, it wasn't with the rest of the lunch remains photographed in the third aisle and it wasn't found in the search of the 6th floor.

Bonnie Ray testified that he took a lunch sack, chicken-on-the-bone sandwich, bag of Fritos and a Dr Pepper up to the 6th floor. A lunch sack (containing a piece of Frito and chicken bones) and a partially eaten piece of chicken were found ON TOP of the Sniper's Nest. This had all been removed by the time Studebaker showed up and placed at the end of the third aisle.

I'm also pretty sure that at least one officer noted the Dr Pepper bottle or an empty soda bottle in the southeast corner of the 6th floor, where the SN was located. I'll get back to you on that.

In short, the only lunch remains discovered on the 6th floor belonged to Bonnie Ray Williams and they were initially discovered ON TOP of the Sniper's Nest by the first officers on the scene.
This indicates that Bonnie Ray was being less than truthful when he testified that he had his lunch by the "third or fourth set of windows".
That said, he also testified that he sat in two locations when he went up to the 6th floor to watch the motorcade. In the first position he could rest with some boxes behind him while he waited for the motorcade to arrive:

"First of all, I remember there was some boxes behind me. I just kind of leaned back on the boxes first. Then I began to get a little impatient, because there wasn’t anyone coming up. So I decided to move to a two-wheeler."

 
It appears that that by the time he moved to the two-wheeler truck he had already eaten his lunch and was ready to leave:

Mr. WILLIAMS. ...So I decided to move to a two-wheeler.
Mr. BALL. A two-wheeler truck, you mean?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes, sir. I remember sitting on this two-wheeler. By that time, I was through, and I got up and I just left then.

I wonder where this first location was, where he could relax and lean back against a stack of boxes behind him while watching the goings-on in Dealey Plaza. Presumably through an open window, as opposed to the closed, dirty third set of windows, while sat on a really uncomfortable looking little truck with no leg room.

[Tom Graves]

[...]

Dear danny BOY o'meara,

Where did Billy Ray Williams eat his lunch?

Inside the Sniper's Nest ? ? ?

If so, did he share his Fritos with Lee ? ? ?

-- Tom

[Dan O'meara]

Dear danny BOY o'meara,

Where did Billy Ray Williams eat his lunch?

Inside the Sniper's Nest ? ? ?

-- Tom

If you believe Bonnie Ray ate his lunch in the third aisle then how did his lunch remains end up ON TOP of the Sniper's Nest?
You've tried to answer this question once and failed miserably.
You are the one who is spouting the Warren Commission's version of events, so it's up to you to explain this 'discrepancy'.
The truth is you can't rationally explain it.
You have been corrected on this issue time and time again and now, rather than make even more of a fool of yourself, you want me to explain it for you.
Either provide a coherent explanation, one that makes rational sense, or tell the truth...that you don't really care one way or the other and no amount of evidence is going to alter your spoon-fed beliefs.

[Tom Graves]

If you believe Bonnie Ray ate his lunch in the third aisle then how did his lunch remains end up on top of the Sniper's Nest?
You've tried to answer this question once and failed miserably. You are the one who is spouting the Warren Commission's version of events, so it's up to you to explain this 'discrepancy'. The truth is you can't rationally explain it. You have been corrected on this issue time and time again and now, rather than make even more of a fool of yourself, you want me to explain it for you. Either provide a coherent explanation, one that makes rational sense, or tell the truth...that you don't really care one way or the other and no amount of evidence is going to alter your spoon-fed beliefs.

Dear danny BOY o'meara,

Please answer my question.

Did Bonnie Ray Williams eat inside the Sniper's Nest?

If so, did he share his Fritos with Lee?

-- Tom

[Dan O'meara]

Dear danny BOY o'meara,

Please answer my question.

Did Bonnie Ray Williams eat inside the Sniper's Nest?

If so, did he share his Fritos with Lee?

-- Tom

What does the evidence suggest Thomas?

Bonnie Ray's lunch remains are found ON TOP of the Sniper's Nest?
They are then moved to the third aisle where they are photographed by Studebaker.
Bonnie Ray testifies that he had his lunch where the crime scene photos show the lunch remains - the third aisle.
But he also testifies that the first place he sat to have his lunch was a location where he could lean back against some boxes while looking out for the motorcade.

What rational explanation can you offer for all this evidence, Thomas?
You've come so far already.
Take the final step 

[Tom Graves]

What does the evidence suggest Thomas?

Bonnie Ray's lunch remains are found ON TOP of the Sniper's Nest?
They are then moved to the third aisle where they are photographed by Studebaker.
Bonnie Ray testifies that he had his lunch where the crime scene photos show the lunch remains - the third aisle.
But he also testifies that the first place he sat to have his lunch was a location where he could lean back against some boxes while looking out for the motorcade. What rational explanation can you offer for all this evidence, Thomas?
You've come so far already.Take the final step.

Dear danny BOY o'meara,

Are you afraid to say it?

-- Tom

[Dan O'meara]

It's you who is afraid to go where the evidence leads, Thomas?
My opinion on this matter has been well documented on this forum.