Seymour
Weitzman was born in Dallas, Texas. During the Second
World War he served in the United States
Air Force (USAAF) but he was shot down and became a prisoner of
war in Japan.
Weitzman
graduated from Indiana Engineering School in 1945. He returned to
Dallas and was district supervisor and manager for Holly's Dress Shops
for 15 years.
In
1960 Weitzman began work for the Dallas Police Department. On 22nd
November, 1963, Weitzman and Roger
Craig
discovered
the rifle on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository.
He initially described it as a 7.65 Mauser. Later he changed his mind
and said it was a Mannlicher-Carcano.
Weitzman
later gave evidence to the Warren Commission,
and the CBS: The Warren Report.
Open
Debate on the Kennedy Assassination
(1)
Seymour Weitzman, interviewed by Joe Ball on behalf of the Warren
Commission on 1st April, 1964.
Joe Ball:
On November 22, 1963, around noon, where were you?
Seymour Weitzman: I was
standing on the corner of Main and Houston.
Joe Ball: Did you see the
President's car pass?
Seymour Weitzman: Yes,
sir; we did. We watched the President pass and we turned and started
back to the courthouse when we heard the shots.
Joe Ball: You say you turned
and were starting back to the courthouse - what courthouse and what
is the location of that courthouse?
Seymour Weitzman: Sitting
on Main, Houston, Record and so forth. We were at the back side and
we turned around and were going into the Main Street entrance. We
made maybe three or four steps when we heard what we thought at that
time was either a rifle shot or a firecracker, I mean at that second.
Joe Ball: How many shots
did you hear?
Seymour Weitzman: Three
distinct shots.
Joe Ball: How were they
spaced?
Seymour Weitzman: First
one, then the second two seemed to be simultaneously.
Joe Ball: You mean the
first and then there was a pause?
Seymour Weitzman: There
was a little period in between the second and third shot.
Joe Ball: What was the
longest, between the first and second or the second and third shot;
which had the longest time lapse in there?
Seymour Weitzman: Between
the first and second shot.
Joe Ball: What did you
do then?
Seymour Weitzman: I immediately
ran toward the President's car. Of course, it was speeding away and
somebody said the shots or the firecrackers, whatever it was at that
time, we still didn't know the President was shot, came from the wall.
I immediately scaled that wall.
Joe Ball: What is the location
of that wall?
Seymour Weitzman: It would
be between the railroad overpass and I can't remember the name of
that little street that runs off Elm; it's cater-corner - the section
there between the - what do you call it - the monument section...
Joe Ball: What did you
do after that?
Seymour Weitzman: After
that, we entered the building and started to search floor to floor
and we started on the first floor, second floor, third floor and on
up, when we got up to the fifth or sixth floor, I forget, I believe
it was the sixth floor, the chief deputy or whoever was in charge
of the floor, I forget the officer's name, from the sheriff's office,
said he wanted that floor torn apart. He wanted that gun and it was
there somewhere, so myself and another officer from the sheriff's
department, I can't remember his name, he and I proceeded until we...
Joe Ball: Was his name
Boone?
Seymour Weitzman: That
is correct, Boone and I, and as he was looking over the rear section
of the building, I would say the northwest corner, I was on the floor
looking under the flat at the same time he was looking on the top
side and we saw the gun, I would say, simultaneously and I said, "There
it is" and he started hollering, "We got it." It was
covered with boxes. It was well protected as far as the naked eye
because I would venture to say eight or nine of us stumbled over that
gun a couple times before we thoroughly searched the building.
Joe Ball: Did you touch
it?
Seymour Weitzman: No, sir;
we made a man-tight barricade until the crime lab came up and removed
the gun itself.
Joe Ball: The crime lab
from the Dallas Police Department?
Seymour Weitzman: Yes,
sir...
Joe Ball: In the statement
that you made to the Dallas Police Department that afternoon, you
referred to the rifle as a 7.65 Mauser bolt action?
Seymour Weitzman: In a
glance, that's what it looked like.
Joe Ball: That's what it
looked like did you say that or someone else say that?
Seymour Weitzman: No; I
said that. I thought it was one.
Joe Ball: Are you fairly
familiar with rifles?
Seymour Weitzman: Fairly
familiar because I was in the sporting goods business awhile....
Joe Ball: Now, in your
statement to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, you gave a description
of the rifle, how it looked.
Seymour Weitzman: I said
it was a Mauser-type action, didn't I?
Joe Ball: Mauser bolt action.
Seymour Weitzman: And at
the time I looked at it, I believe I said it was 2.5 scope on it and
I believe I said it was a Weaver but it wasn't; it turned out to be
anything but a Weaver, but that was at a glance.
Joe Ball: You also said
it was a gun metal color?
Seymour Weitzman: Yes.
Joe Ball: Gray or blue?
Seymour Weitzman: Blue
metal.
(2)
Matthew
Smith, JFK: The Second Plot
(1992)
During a thorough
search of the sixth floor of the School Book Depository a rifle was
found. Unhappily for the Warren Commissioners, the four police officers
present at the time it was discovered, unanimously identified it as
a German
7.65 Mauser. Deputy Sheriff Eugene Boone found the rifle following
the movement of book boxes by Deputy Sheriff Luke Mooney and called
Deputy Constable Seymour Weitzman to witness his discovery. Another
Deputy Sheriff, Roger Craig, was thereabouts and he saw the gun and
heard the conversations of the others. The officers had no doubts
about their identification and affidavits were drawn up by Boone and
Weitzman, who described the weapon in detail, noting the colour of
the sling and the scope. Police Captain Will Fritz was also present
at the scene and he, also, is claimed to have agreed that the rifle
was a 7.65 Mauser. District Attorney Henry M. Wade, in a television
interview, referred to the sixth-floor discovery and quoted the weapon
as a Mauser, a statement picked up by the press and reported widely.
Following the finding of the gun, however, it was collected by Lieutenant.
C. Day and taken to Police Headquarters, where it was logged as a
6.5 Mannlicher-Carcano, an Italian carbine, bearing the serial number
C2766. Mannlicher-Carcano Italian carbine No. C2766, it was claimed,
belonged to Lee Harvey Oswald.
Those concerned with the
finding of the rifle at the Book Depository and who had written affidavits,
Boone and Weitzman, were pressed, under questioning by the Commission,
to review their identification of it. The Mannlicher-Carcano, at first
glance, looked very much like 7.65 Mauser, it is true. How would they
account, though, for a situation in which they had been close enough
to describe the colour of the sling and yet had made an error in identifying
the rifle itself? After all, the Mannlicher-Carcano bears the legend
'Made in Italy' on the butt, whereas the German gun has the name 'Mauser'
stamped on the barrel! Were these officers unable to read? In spite
of any argument which might be brought to bear, they both, nonetheless,
changed their testimony and conceded they had made a mistake.
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