The Harassment Of Roger Craig: the case history of an uncooperative witness by Harry Irwin

              THE HARASSMENT OF ROGER CRAIG
The Case History of an Uncooperative Witness
by Harry Irwin
EDITOR'S NOTE: This month marks the second anniversary of the death of
Roger Dean Craig, who took his own life on May 15, 1975. The following
account was written by Harry Irwin of Belfast, Ireland. Irwin has done
extensive research on the JFK murder and cover-ilp, and is a co-editor
of a monthly newsletter (JFK Assassination Forum) published in Ireland
and England. He is also co-editor (with Hazel Hale) of a bibliography
of books, newspapers and magazine articles published in English out­side
the United States, related to the Kennedy assassination.
In the atmosphere of 1977 with the promise of a new investigation into the Dallas
assassination, it is now almost fashionable to express disbelief in the official
Warren Commission explanation of those events.
It was not always so.
This is the account of one of the many strange aspects of the John F. Kennedy
murder. It is the imsavoury tale of the experiences of one man, Roger Dean
Craig, who was brave enough not to compromise. The intention is not to intrude
on the privacy or grief of him or his family, but rather to present a belated
tribute to one who followed the dictates of his conscience and who observed
that the Emperor was, indeed, naked, whilst so many of his professional collegues
failed.
Readers may already be conversant with many of the basic details, but the hope
is that the reproduction, for the first time, of correspondence from the Craig
family will serve to better describe the state of affairs that existed between
1963 and 1975-
The prospects for Roger Craig in the Dallas Sheriff Department in the summer of
1963 were excellent. In I960 he was the Sheriff Department Officer of the Year
and he had earned four promotions for his excellent police work.
November 22, 1963 changed everything.
After the assassination of JFK Craig insisted on sticking to his allegations of
the events that he had witnessed that day despite pressures from his superiors.
Two of his statements did not tally with the official version that was being
aired:
(1) He alleged that 10-15 minutes after the shooting he saw Lee Harvey
Oswald race down the grassy knoll, get into a Station Wagon being driven by a
Latin-complexioned man, and drive off. '
(2) His continued assertion that the assassination weapon discovered in the
Texas School Book Depository was a German Mauser 7-65 rifle and NOT the Mann-licher-
Carcano 6.5 carbine.