First to Second Evolution – Part 15

We have seen Roy Truly's lunchroom story evolve over the first ten days or so through the following stages:

● The officer saw Oswald in the lunchroom...

● The officer saw Oswald sitting at one of the tables in the lunchroom...

● The officer saw Oswald leaning against a counter in the lunchroom...

● The officer (what's his name again?) saw Oswald standing at the Coke machine sipping a Coke in the lunchroom...

Yet Truly's Warren Commission testimony made it clear that Truly himself could have seen none of these things. All he actually said he saw was the officer standing at the lunchroom door with his gun up against Oswald, who was standing just inside the lunchroom door.

Listen to Truly 'splain it all:

Warren Commission Testimony of Roy S. Truly, 3.24.1964

Mr. TRULY: I don't know. I think I opened the door. I feel like I did. I don't remember.

Mr. BELIN: It could have been open or it could have been closed, you do not remember?

Mr. TRULY: The chances are it was closed.

Mr. BELIN: You thought you opened it?

Mr. TRULY: I think I opened it. I opened the door back and leaned in this way.

Mr. BELIN: What did you see?

Mr. TRULY: I saw the officer almost directly in the doorway of the lunch-room facing Lee Harvey Oswald.

Mr. BELIN: And where was Lee Harvey Oswald at the time you saw him?

Mr. TRULY: He was at the front of the lunchroom, not very far inside he was just inside the lunchroom door.

Mr. BELIN: All right.

Mr. TRULY: 2 or 3 feet, possibly.

Mr. BELIN: …What did you see or hear the officer say or do?

Mr. TRULY: When I reached there, the officer had his gun pointing at Oswald. The officer turned this way and said, "This man work here?" And I said, "Yes."

Mr. BELIN: And then what happened?

Mr. TRULY: Then we left Lee Harvey Oswald immediately and continued to run up the stairways until we reached the fifth floor.

Mr. BELIN: All right. Let me ask you this now. How far was the officer's gun from Lee Harvey Oswald when he asked the question?

Mr. TRULY: It would be hard for me to say, but it seemed to me like it was almost touching him.

Mr. BELIN: What portion of his body?

Mr. TRULY: Towards the middle portion of his body.

Mr. BELIN: Could you see Lee Harvey Oswald's hands?

Mr. TRULY: Yes.

Mr. BELIN: Could you see--

Mr. TRULY: I am sure I could, yes. I could see most of him, because I was looking in the room on an angle, and they were this way.

Mr. BELIN: When you say you were looking in the room on an angle--

Mr. TRULY: What I mean--this door offsets the lunchroom door.

Mr. BELIN: By this door, you mean door No. 23 is at an angle to door No. 24?

Mr. TRULY: Yes. One this way and the other one is this way.

Mr. BELIN: All right. Could you see whether or not Lee Harvey Oswald had anything in either hand?

Mr. TRULY: I noticed nothing in either hand.

Mr. BELIN: Did you see both of his hands?

Mr. TRULY: I am sure I did. I could be wrong, but I am almost sure. I did.

Mr. BELIN: About how long did Officer Baker stand there with Lee Harvey Oswald after you saw them?

Mr. TRULY: He left him immediately after I told him--after he asked me, does this man work here. I said, yes. The officer left him immediately.

Mr. BELIN: Did you hear Lee Harvey Oswald say anything?

Mr. TRULY: Not a thing.

Mr. BELIN: Did you see any expression on his face? Or weren't you paying attention?

Mr. TRULY: He didn't seem to be excited or overly afraid or anything. He might have been a bit startled, like I might have been if somebody confronted me. But I cannot recall any change in expression of any kind on his face.

…

Mr. DULLES: May I ask you a question? Do you know why it was that the officer didn't follow you up the stairs, but instead was distracted, as it were, and went with Lee Harvey Oswald into the lunchroom?

Mr. TRULY: I never knew until a day or two ago that he said he saw a movement, saw a man going away from him.

Mr. DULLES: As he was going up the stairs?

Mr. TRULY: As he got to the second floor landing. While I was going around, he saw a movement.

Mr. DULLES: And he followed that?

Mr. TRULY: That is right.

Representative FORD: He saw a movement in the lunchroom or a man go into the lunchroom?

Mr. TRULY: He saw the back of a man inside the door--I suppose door No. 23. But that isn't my statement. I didn't learn about that, you see, until the other day.

…

Mr. BELIN: Now, by the way, I have used the name Officer Baker. When did you find out what his name was?

Mr. TRULY: I never did know for sure what his name was until he was down to the building and you were interviewing him last week.

Mr. BELIN: This was on Friday, March 20th.

Mr. TRULY: I had heard his name was Baker or Burton or various other names. But I never did try to find out what his name was.

("Never did try to find out what his name was"…huh?)

This is where First to Second Evolution has taken us.

But are we done yet?