John Thomas Masen

On this page there is a video with the title Mannlicher Carcano rifle

https://www.wpafilmlibrary.com/exhibit/Lee_Harvey_Oswald

Could the unidentified gunshop owner be John Thomas Masen?

From memory there were only 2 shops that stocked ammo for the rifle in Dallas. The other guy has a Latino name (from memory). The guy sounds Texan to me and they talk of him ever mounting a left hand scope. To my mind this makes sense only if the interview was conducted in Dallas. If he is Masen he does indeed bear a resemblance to LHO.

This is supposedly Masen

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7217/6890109748_a448a86874_b.jpg

Yeah, I've seen that pic. It was when he was 18 and from a school yearbook. I also saw a modern day interview with him on video.....he looked nothing like the geeky high school pic. Do you think the interview indicates that it was done in Dallas?

Do a Google for John Thomas Masen JFK.....see what you get. Any pics that look like the guy being interviewed?

This looks like it's been cropped from the film. It probably is Masen, but I'd also bet that the person who labelled him as Masen was making an assumption.

I think you are right Greg. Do you think the guy interviewed was a Dallas gunshop owner? Do you think he looks a better match for Oswald than the other high school photo?

Colin Crow wrote:I think you are right Greg. Do you think the guy interviewed was a Dallas gunshop owner? Do you think he looks a better match for Oswald than the other high school photo?

Owner or employee. And yes, a far better match. It still could be the same person in both photos, but I am definitely not saying it is.

Colin Crow wrote: wrote:On this page there is a video with the title Mannlicher Carcano rifle

https://www.wpafilmlibrary.com/exhibit/Lee_Harvey_Oswald

Could the unidentified gunshop owner be John Thomas Masen?

https://d2rymvp8p5hlxw.cloudfront.net/540162_1_wm.mp4

That is Dial Duwayne Ryder.

CBS-TY
Thursday, November 28, 1963
INTERVIEW WITH DIAL RYDER, IRVING GUNSMITH SHOP,
DALLAS, TEXAS

Q. You have attached a lot of scopes, telescopic sights
recently . Row would you mount a scope on a gun like that?

RYDER. Well, actually there is really one way to mount
it on there. It would be with a side mount, and I don't recall
putting a side mount on any bolt action that I've Worked on.

Hmm, he does have a Lee Oswald resemblance.

Colin Crow wrote:On this page there is a video with the title Mannlicher Carcano rifle

https://www.wpafilmlibrary.com/exhibit/Lee_Harvey_Oswald

Could the unidentified gunshop owner be John Thomas Masen?

Colin,

Letter from Blakey to Carpentier of the CIA. John Thomas Masen. Date of birth; August 15, 1940.
https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=51018&relPageId=3&search="John_Thomas%20Masen"

Does the man in your video look 23 (or whenever that video was shot?)

I don't have an opinion. Just asking.

Steve Thomas

Steve Thomas wrote:

Colin Crow wrote:On this page there is a video with the title Mannlicher Carcano rifle

https://www.wpafilmlibrary.com/exhibit/Lee_Harvey_Oswald

Could the unidentified gunshop owner be John Thomas Masen?

Does the man in your video look 23 (or whenever that video was shot?)

I don't have an opinion. Just asking.

Steve Thomas

From CD 778 page 15.
It lists the colleges Masen said he attended.
https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=11176&search="John_Thomas+Masen"#relPageId=19&tab=page

A person could research the alumni associations of those colleges.
Those alumni associations never forget anybody. 
I'm still getting letters 40 years later *smile*

Steve Thomas

1957 Irving High School.
Judy Riley, Lanny Money, Margaret Andrew, Dial Ryder, Jamae Applewhite, Bull Smith, Odis Jarosh

Crap shoot as to which is Dial though in that pic.

But he was born 1938 died 2011.
Ryder Dial 1957 - 6-12-1938 ~ 10-20-2011. Married to Peggy Jones Ryder (1959)

I thought of Ryder, but didn't he claim Oswald had been in to have some work done on a rifle?

Yeah he did Greg...I think he was the one that reported scoping the Carcano.

I could be wrong but didn't Ryder appear on one of the early CBS specials? The one I am thinking of had Garland Slack also.

In the CBS special he denies it as it would only be a side mount.
As I posted above the man in the film is Ryder.

Sorry Ed.....just noticed your post. Many thanks.

My recollection of Ryder's story was not quite right.

Found this was interesting.....

https://2img.net/h/i863.photobucket.com/albums/ab192/col_crow/83df7bc21050cc62515dfc5b3f674d7a_zpstydhaxar.jpg

Masen got my attention due to ATF's Frank Ellsworth in Dick Russel's book The Man Who Knew Too Much. Russel interviewed him, overall I thought he was bigging his presence up a little too much. But he did say that Masen was a dead ringer for Oswald. And said that when he saw Oswald in custody he at first thought he had let slip Masen though his fingers and ending up killing JFK

Article by Mark Bridger
http://dealeyplazauk.org.uk/pdfArticles/John_Masen.pdf

Most interesting. Whois the informant?
https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=147384#relPageId=8&tab=page

And T-1 whose ID is still a mystery.

My guess for T-1 was most probably Frank Ellsworth of the ATF. 
Thanks to David Butler I can confirm that.
https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=136073&relPageId=2&search=%22Frank_Ellsworth%22%20t-1%20informant

Mark Bridger on Masen.
https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dealeyplazauk.org.uk%2FpdfArticles%2FJohn_Masen.pdf

Same same - or not

Mick_Purdy wrote:

Same same - or not

Mick, I was never convinced that middle guy was Masen - who was supposedly an Oswald lookalike. Looks much more like a MAD mafazine character than Oswald. The top one is far more Oswald-like amd does appear to own a gun shop.

While I'm here, I have to agree with  @Greg_Doudna who ID'd Masen as the person at the Sports Dome rifle range. 

The person there was real sharp shooter. He was also there AFTER the assassination - which not only rules Oswald out - it rules out this neing any sort of delibrate impersonation.

Mr. LIEBELER. The Sunday before Thanksgiving--that's the last time you saw him at the rifle range?
Mr. PRICE. That's the last time that I was down at the rifle range the last time I went there until after, oh, a month or so after the assassination.
Mr. LIEBELER. You mean it was the Sunday immediately preceding Thanksgiving?
Mr. PRICE. That's right; I was down there for the turkey shoot we had.
Mr. LIEBELER. You saw him at the rifle range that day?
Mr. PRICE. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. Well, the last Sunday before Thanksgiving was after assassination.
Mr. PRICE. It was after?
Mr. LIEBELER. Yes; and you saw this man at the rifle range, you saw Oswald at the rifle range after the assassination?
Mr. PRICE. I believe I did, because that was the last time that I went down there.
Mr. LIEBELER. And the time you saw him the last time and looked through the scope was the last time you were down at the rifle range?
Mr. PRICE. Yes; that was the last day I was down there.
Mr. LIEBELER, What makes you say it was the Sunday preceding Thanksgiving, are you sure about that?
Mr. PRICE. Well, I'm not exactly positive but it was getting close to Thanksgiving because I was trying to get a turkey.
Mr. LIEBELER. Do you remember whether you saw him after the assassination?
Mr. PRICE. No.
Mr. LIEBELER. You are not sure one way or the other?
Mr. PRICE. I know I haven't seen him after the assassination, but it was before this assassination--I was down there the last time and I was thinking it

He was positive about it being the Sunday prior to Thanksgiving... until he found out that was impossible... and then it becomes two sSundays prior/ Of course, it was nly impossible if it was Oswald he saw. MPt impossible - in fact,logical - if it was Masen. 

In a TV news post-assassination with Masen in his shop, he clearly has what looks like an M-C.

If it wasn't Masen, it was some other random who looked like a generic 24 year old whilte male.

Load of files on Masen, with thanks to Malcolm Blunt.

180 MB