I. A MYSTERIOUS VIDEO GETS THE BALL ROLLING
The subject of Rose Cheramie (Melba Christine Marcades) came to me randomly by way of a video I experienced on YouTube. The video is a mystery to me but was posted on May 16, 2008 in connection with a film titled Le Piage Americain. I know nothing about this film, but apparently it’s an obscure Canadian movie with the usual Cold War conspiracy plot.
The unknown actress gives a compelling performance of a shadow of history, Rose Cheramie, and relates her desperate story to a ghost of a police detective. Her hair is disheveled and she puffs on a cigarette towards the end. The frame of the camera is in a talking head style with only the top of her head down to the nape of her neck exposed in frame. By the last shot we tremble with disbelief, a vicarious sharing of her burden in a crystal ball of sorrow, frozen words trickle from chapped lips.
Upon viewing this remarkable art film on an obscure blip from the pages of conspiracy theories, I recollected the opening scene in Oliver Stones’ movie JFK. The actress Sally Kirkland plays a frantic Rose Cheramie abandoned on the side of the road who, while in a drug stupor, foretells the President’s demise. My curiosity compelled me to seek out facts regarding the true-to-life annals of Rose Cheramie.
I engaged in some serious research on the internet and a productive visit to The University of Texas General Libraries led me to several books that contained a finite cache of known facts, laced with the narrative of misery, the trifles of a mostly forgotten life of one Rose Cheramie. Naked truth pegs Rose as a petty criminal, a lifelong prostitute, and a hard-core narcotics addict that ran with a fast-track, reprehensible bunch.
The one exception to her identity as yet another lost soul of humanity, is her shocking bevy of foreknowledge about the assassination of John Kennedy, as well as her awareness of the shadowy parties who would commit such villainous deeds as to kill a President. To add to this, her own demise is riddled with questions that have no easy, accessible answer. Quibbles, quibbles, let’s get on the bus!
II. THE GAL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
While it is true that Cheramie was a heroin addict and was under the influence of a mild sedative at the time of this transportation, Lt. Fruge testified to the House Select Committee that Rose was very lucid during the two hour trip. Fruge shrugged off these comments about the President being killed until after the assassination actually occurred.
Fruge took Rose Cheramie into custody; now his interest in her story was genuine. Rose provided the details of her trip from Florida to Dallas. There was a big drug deal going down which was ordered by Jack Ruby. (For specifics about the drug deal, see page 202 in the HSCA report).
Her companions, two Latin men, were in cahoots with Rose on this drug deal. They stopped for drinks at the Silver Slipper on November 20th, and it was at this time that Rose was kicked out on the street. (Another version has them pushing her out of a moving car.) While hitchhiking she was struck by a car, but only sustained minor injuries. Fruge was able to verify the particulars of the drug deal (page 202 in HSCA report).
III. MANY WITNESSES HAD HEARD ROSE CHERAMIE’S PREDICTION OF JFK’S ASSASSINATION PRIOR TO THE ACTUAL DEED
The most important witness to this important timing issue is Lt. Francis Fruge. He heard Rose’s claims on November 20th. Where did he she hear the claims of what was in the cards for President Kennedy? She heard it at Ruby’s rowdy nightclub in Dallas, The Carousel Club.
Another witness to Rose’s claims was Dr. Victor J. Weiss, who at the time (November 1963) was the Clinical Director of East Louisiana State Hospital in Jackson. This comes from a statement of A.H. Magruder (see Memorandum to Jim Garrison, dated February 23, 1967), who took a hunting trip with Dr. Weiss during the holidays, December of 1963.
Other nurses and interns also heard Rose’s prognostication. Unfortunately, the only name I can give you is Dr. Wayne Owen. Dr. Wayne Owen had been interning at LSU at the time and later provided his information to the Madison Capital Times. Owens had remembered Ruby’s name being mentioned in the plot also.
I heard about Dr. Owens testimony in Probe: Rose Cheramie: How She Predicted the JFK Assassination, written by Jim DiEugenio. I believe Jim got this from a source titled: Memo of Frank Meloche to Louis Ivon, 5/22/67. I have not been able to locate a copy of this document so far. But what we have here is three credible witnesses who all heard Rose’s prediction prior to its realization. Perhaps the other nurses and interns were too scared to come forward?
IV. JACK RUBY AND LEE HARVEY OSWALD WERE SEEN TOGETHER MANY TIMES BY MANY PEOPLE
Lt. Fruge had to take Cheramie on a flight to Houston to get a deposition. On the flight Rose noticed a newspaper headline that said investigators were not able to establish a connection between Jack Ruby and Lee Oswald. Cheramie laughed at this and said she had worked for Jack Ruby, who she called ‘Pinky.’ Rose said that the two “had been shacking up for years.”
Rose verified that Jack and Lee were acquainted, but nobody seemed to take her too seriously. Remember, she was a junkie and a prostitute. Captain Fritz, head of the Homicide Bureau with the Dallas Police, wanted nothing to do with Rose’s testimony. From a lifetime of my own research on this case of national interest, I’m convinced more than ever that Jack and Lee knew each other.
I have counted no less than thirteen witnesses who have remembered seeing these two together. I wrote a piece about a waitress, Mary Lawrence, who worked at the Lucas B & B, who testified to the Warren Commission that she saw Ruby and Oswald together, having breakfast a few days before John Kennedy was killed. When Mary saw Oswald on TV she recognized him as the man who had been in this familiar eatery in Dallas.
No one believed Rose, but what about these other thirteen people? This issue is not my central concern for consideration today, but you should definitely read Jim Marrs’ (pages 402-414 in Crossfire) section on these connections. I will insert one starling tidbit for you, however. Madeleine Brown, allegedly the mistress of LBJ, once said that she heard Jack Ruby blurt out at the Carousel Club, in the spring of 1963, that he (Ruby) knew that Lee Oswald was the one who shot at General Edwin A. Walker.
I will list for you now the thirteen people who clearly observed that Oswald and Ruby knew each other. It’s up to you to check out their accounts and determine whether you believe they are credible. I will say this, it is certainly feasible that one of them is not telling the whole truth, but all thirteen? That’s not so probable. Anyway, here goes:
Beverly Arnold, General Edwin A. Walker, Madeleine Brown, Raymond Cummings, William D. Crowe, Carroll Jarnagin, Jr., Karen Bennett Carlin, Jada, Bobby Louise Meserole, Kathy Kay, Walter Wally Weston, Ester Ann Mash and Lucas B & B waitress, Mary Lawrence. Before I leave this crucial topic, I will ask you to once again review the tape of Ruby shooting Oswald point blank in the gut. Did you notice a glimmer of recognition in Lee’s eye right as Jack enters the frame?
V. WHO WAS SERGIO ARCHACA SMITH?
One of the men positively identified as accompanying Rose on her trip from Miami to Dallas was Sergio Archaca Smith. When working for Jim Garrison, Lt. Fruge went back and interviewed the owner of the Silver Slipper, the bar where Cheramie had been beaten up and kicked out on the street by one of these shady characters. The owner’s name was Mac Manual, and he recognized a photo he was shown by Fruge as being Sergio Archaca Smith.
Mac Manual easily recognized Smith as being a man who frequently transported prostitutes in and out of Miami. Smith has also been identified as a zealous anti-Castro Cuban who was trying to organize a coup of Castro’s government. He can also be tied to David Ferrie and to Carlos Marcello, who was funding this movement to topple Castro. They (Marcello and company) wanted the good old days to return, where gambling in Havanna would be returned to their control.
Smith can be tied in with the CIA also. Garrison confirms this fact in his book On the Trail of the Assassins (page 180). As is reported, Smith was involved in a munitions robbery of Schlumberger Well Surveying Company. Actually, these munitions were destined for use in the Bay of Pigs operation on Cuba. Smith’s involvement in this robbery is verified by a confirmed CIA agent, Gordon Novel. Smith has been linked to David Ferrie, Guy Banister, Carlos Marcello and even E. Howard Hunt.
Rose Cheramie has further tied him into the assassination in Dallas. Smith’s exact role in Dallas is unknown. What was his mission in Dallas on November 22, 1963? One thing is clear, is the role he played in New Orleans during the summer of 1963. This was the gestation period, plans were finalized, details were ironed out. Now the plan was in motion. Each performed their duties with an utmost dedication for destiny.
VI. DID ROSE CHERAMIE DIE FROM INJURIES WHEN HIT BY A CAR, OR WAS SHE MURDERED TO HUSH HER UP?
A speeding motorist swerves to miss some suitcases positioned right in the middle of the road. This happened at 2:30 in the morning and the driver, Jerry Don Moore, had been drinking heavily; a further concern is that his vehicle is in bad need of repair. To the side of the road a woman is lying with her head just slightly in the street. Moore is not able to avoid her and runs over her head, though he finds himself in denial of this gruesome fact.
This is seemingly the way in which Rose Cheramie met her untimely death. This incident occurred on September 4, 1965 on an obscure Texas Highway 155, 1.7 miles east of the town of Big Sandy. What Rose was doing there is anybody’s guess. It is known, however, that she frequently hitchhiked around. Exactly what she was up to on these hitchhiking soirees is a good subject for conjecture.
I will ask you to read Chris Mills’ paper titled Rambling Rose for quite a bit of interesting detail on Rose’s death. But I must disclose a few items for you so that you can see just how many loose ends exist in the shaky circumstances surrounding her death. One thing is that Lt. Fruge, in his investigation for Jim Garrison, had observed that Highway 155 was a farm to market road.
This implies that it is unlikely that Rose would be seeking a ride on this lonely road. It also implies that she may have been placed there, in such a way that she would most certainly be hit by a vehicle. The placement of the suitcases would force a car to swerve around them and to hit a horizontally planted, unconscious Rose. Also, Jerry Don Moore noticed a 1963 or 1964 red Chevrolet parked at a rest stop across from the scene of the accident.
The suspicious occupants of this red Chevrolet may have staged this scene to cover up a deliberate murder, and make it look like an accident. Just a few other things before we leave this unresolved ending to Rose’s life. An autopsy was performed, but this document was lost. However, hospital records do confirm that the victim had a “deep punctuate stellate wound above her right forehead.”
This wound is generally associated with a contact gunshot wound. This would mean that Rose was shot, then placed in the road purposely to try and force an accident. An investigating officer with the Texas Highway Patrol, J.A. Andrews, when interviewed by Lt. Fruge, did not believe this was just a random accident. I am certain myself that Rose was murdered to shut her up, but of course I can’t prove it.
VII. CONDUITS OF INFORMATION FOR ROSE’S REVELATIONS OF CONSPIRACY
You can find most of the sources of material on Rose Cheramie right on the internet. Just to stimulate your interest I would suggest that you begin with the fascinating video on YouTube: Rose Cheramie Testimony. I have no idea who did it or who the actress is, but I sense this was an intentional ingredient of their game plan. From there I will send you over to the Mary Ferrell Foundation page. This page will link you to many other significant documents.
If you have the time I would encourage you to seek out all of these significant links. There are essential links, however, you should click on, so you will need to master the material on some of them, if you want to get at the truth about these telling events. You will have to study the Statement of A. H. Magruder, February 23. 1967 and the Memorandum to Jim Garrison from Frank Meloche, March 13, 1967.
The very best document for your perusal is Rambling Rose by Chris Mills. This more resembles an academic paper with actual end notes and was published on August 22, 1996. Its strength is that it provides more biographical data on Rose Cheramie, such as the escapades in her early days, than I’ve seen elsewhere. Another strength is that it provides more analysis on the puzzling death of Rose, shedding more light on inconsistencies in the conclusion that her death was merely the result of an accident.
A good source for the fact that Ruby and Oswald knew one another is Jim Marrs’ book CROSSFIRE: The Plot That Killed Kennedy. Jim Marrs’ 625 volume is an essential tool for any serious student of the assassination. The Ruby/Oswald connection is given ample attention on pp. 402-414. However, for detailed coverage of Rose Cheramie’s own knowledge that the two were well acquainted, I highly recommend Rambling Rose by Chris Mills.
A primary document for Rose Cheramie is the Staff Report of the Select Committee on Assassinations-U.S. House of Representatives-Ninety-fifth Congress-Second Session-March 1979. While very dry and as a matter of fact, such as government reports usually are, it is nonetheless chalk full of the fundamental facts of this case. And I would be amiss if I didn’t mention the merits of the short video ARRB: witnesses verified Cheramie story.
Sweeping in its scope, the video earmarks the relevance of Rose Cheramie’s confessions, and isolates how this important foreknowledge of hers brings together all the moving parts of the conspiracy. The roads of conspiracy converge at the East Louisiana State Hospital, where heroin acted as a truth sermon for a woman with too much on her mind. Like Rose said, she was heading for Dallas to pick up her kid, sell some junk, and kill a president.
ROSE CHERAMIE TESTIMONY
ARRB: witnesses verified Cheramie story
MARY FERRELL FOUNDATION-ROSE CHERAMI
http://www.maryferrell.org/wiki/index.php/Rose_Cherami
RAMBLING ROSE BY CHRIS MILLS
http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/cheramie.txt
ROSE CHERAMIE-Staff Report of the Select Committee on Assassination-U.S. House of Representatives-Ninety-fifth Congress-Second Session-March 1979
http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?absPageId=156201