The Blanket and the Thread.

[Drew Phipps]

In the accounts I've ever read about the first police trip to the Paine's house, its always said that the blanket, in which Oswald kept his rifle, was tied up with twine into a roll. When the police arrive Marina is relieved to see that the blanket is still in the garage, tied up with twine; and it isn't until the officers lift the blanket that she realizes the rifle isn't inside there.

Here's what bothers me about that: Why would Oswald bother to re-tie the blanket with twine after he takes the gun out? Why would he feel the need to create the illusion that the gun was still in the garage? Ruth and Michael (allegedly) don't even know there IS a gun in their garage. Is Marina, by herself, going to call the cops and speak to them (in Russian) about Oswald and his gun, simply because the blanket has no twine on it any more?

It seems a fair guess, to me at least, that Oswald himself is the only logical target of that particular deception. Does anyone know what the Lone Nutters say about that, or even if it has already been addressed?

"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. 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.
Mr. BALL. It was tied with what kind of material?
Mr. STOVALL. It was tied with a white cord, as well as I remember.
Mr. BALL. A white what?
Mr. STOVALL. 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----"

Of course Michael Paine has a convincing account:

"Mr. LIEBELER - Can you tell us where the blanket was found?
Mr. PAINE - It doesn't really make sense as to why they would still leave the blanket there, and these things would have been discussed at that time, but I kind of remember a kind of silhouette situation, a police officer either lifted up or kicked this blanket, which was in exactly the same location that the rifle, the package had been, underneath the saw and somewhat in the sawdust. And I think he put it back there. He may have asked me at that time, "Did you know what was in this?"
Mr. LIEBELER - Do you remember that?
Mr. PAINE - And that is why I think they asked me, it may have been as early as that, whether it was a rifle, "Do you think it could have been a rifle?" I don't remember how it was posed, but I probably answered when it was suggested, it was a rifle, and there they suggested it was a rifle, because they had already learned from Marina that he had had a rifle, and it had been, perhaps, had learned it had been in that blanket."

[Jim Hargrove]

Considering the witnesses we had, Marina and the Paines, it doesn't make it easy to trust any analysis of this. But in the broadest sense, the whole blanket business smells about as bad as everything else connected to the rife.

The FBI, using laughable evidence, told the WC Classic Oswald purchased the rifle from Dallas in March. Then Oswald traveled to New Orleans, and, on his way back to Dallas, we're told, traveled through Mexico City, all the while carrying this long, heavy rifle. REALLY? Like Michael Corleone trudging through Sicily?

Ruth Paine was asked if there was a rifle in a blanket when she brought Marina and June and their belongings to her Irving house in September.

Jenner: "Now, was there a separate long package of any kind? ..... Was there a

separate package of any character wrapped in a blanket?"

Mrs. Paine: "No."

Jenner: "When you arrived in Irving, Texas were you present when your sta*

tion wagon was unpacked?"

Mrs. Paine: "Marina and I did that with the exception of the duffels."

Not one to give up, Jenner tried again:

Jenner: "Now, in the process of removing everything other than the two duffel

bags--on the occasion on the 24th of September 1963 when you reached

Irving, Texas, did you find or see any long rectangular package?"

Mrs. Paine: "I recall no such package."

Jenner: "Did you see any kind of package wrapped in the blanket?"

Mrs. Paine: "Not to my recollection .... I don't recall seeing the blanket either."

Only Marina, desperate to please U.S. authorities, ever gave any testimony that Oswald had a rifle in a blanket.

If I were to take a wild guess about the blanket wrapped in twine, I'd say it probably was found at the Paine's, it may have once held something other than a rifle, or it was simply a wrapped up blanket. OTOH, any other guesses are probably as good as mine.

[Drew Phipps]

The problem with the "desperate to please" issue is that the blanket story was the very first thing she told to police officers. No doubt had Ruth Paine known there was a rifle, she would have brought it to the door when the police arrived. I agree that Marina's eagerness to cooperate was apparent by the end of the process; however, we are told that, at the early stages, she was attempting to conceal evidence from the police (namely the BYP, which she hid in her shoe, to go visit Oswald at the jail). Nor did she volunteer that Oswald left his wedding ring in her Russian cup.

[Jim Hargrove]

I dunno, but if you want to make the case that the earliest Marina was any better than early/middle/late Marina, please be my guest. I don't trust anything she said, EVER!

Among other issues that might exist with the very first thing she told police officers, if she even said it, is the fact that she already had an existing relationship with the FBI, whose reputation in this case is... uh.... I'll bet we can agree on that!

Finally, I can't cite a reference for you, but I'll bet Marina met Dallas PD officers before 11/22/63 too. And while I'm wagering nothing, I'll bet she'd had intel training in the USSR! This babe was not exactly a newbie to spycraft, no?