Fix the Bus

The story of Rose Cherami is fascinating.

Do I believe it?

No.

The story is too good to be true.

It is a captivating story.

A young woman, after being hit by a car on the side of the road near Eunice, Louisiana, is brought to the emergency room in Eunice by the driver who hit her.

When she gets to the emergency room, she doesn’t look too bad, but is felt to be on some type of drugs. So, the police are called  to investigate and take care of the matter.

Young officer, Francis Fruse, appears, and takes Rose Cherami  to the jail in Eunice.  He then leaves to go to a policeman’s ball.

While away, the girl appears to go into withdrawal symptoms. The young officer is called back.  A doctor is also  summoned.  

The doctor recommends that the woman be transferred to the state hospital about an hour away in Jackson, Louisiana.

The date is 11/20/62.  

On the way to the hospital, the girl begins to talk about her situation.  She tells the officer that she has been accompanied by two men either Latino or Italian on their way from Florida to Dallas. They were heading to Dallas in order for her to pick up her child and $8000.

Once they have the $8000, they were going to go to Galveston to buy heroin from a young seaman who was importing the heroin for them. From there, they were going into Mexico – presumably to sell or deliver the heroin.

Somewhere in Eunice, the two men either left Rose Cherami, or threw her out of the car.

That is how she ended up on the side of the road where she was struck by another driver.

Rose Cherami tells the young officer that the men were heading up to Dallas in order to kill JFK.

The young officer listens, but not too intently because the young woman is apparently on drugs.

The woman is left off at the hospital, and Francis Fruge goes about his life.

Well, as the story goes, Cherami gradually recovers from her drug withdrawal over the next two days. As she becomes more lucid, we approach that faithful day of 11/22/63.  

According to whoever’s account, you wish to believe, as JFK‘s car approaches the underpass in Dealey Plaza, Cherami, watching television of the JFK motorcade procession, states that this is where they’re going to kill JFK. She states this to the nurses who are presumably at her bedside.  

From here, the legend seems to grow.

After Kennedy is assassinated, young Francis Fruge calls the hospital and tells them not to release the patient, Rose Cherami.

Fruge then enlists the support of his superior in transporting Rose Cherami to Houston by plane where she will apparently tell her story to the authorities.

This never happens, but on the way, Rose Cherami spots a newspaper article stating that Oswald and Ruby did not know each other,. Cherami laughs and states that they did indeed know each other and that they were bed mates thus insinuating, a homosexual relationship.

At any rate, Rose Cherami never testifies before the authorities. Essentially she is ignored.

This has not stopped conspiracy theorists though from latching on to this story.

(Note: I am a conspiracy theorist, just not one who gravitates to lousy theories)

This is unfortunate because I do not believe that Rose Cherami had any foreknowledge of the assassination.

The story is just too good to be true.

Is also too difficult to pass up because it provides a reasonable link between the Carlos Marcello organization, and the JFK assassination.

Perhaps that is why it is supported by many prominent researchers.

Rose Cherami, being a prostitute, thief, drug courier, and drug addict has been alleged to be a lower member of the Marcello organization. Her tale of two men from Miami, perhaps Cuban or Italian, loans a tenuous link to Marcello. Also, the fact that she seems to hang around the Eunice area where Marcello has some contacts further strengthens this link. Source: A Rose by Any Other Name by Todd C. Elliott.

Well, I’m not buying it.

There are too many holes in her story. Here are my issues with the seemingly compelling tale.

1. Rose Cherami is a streetwise pretender, grifter and alias maker. Why should we trust her?
2. The JFK motorcade was not televised. If it had been, we would not have needed the Zapruder film. Therefore it is unlikely that Cherami would be able to tell any nurses: “This is where JFK gets it.”
3. It is also unlikely that Oswald, if he did plan the assassination, would tell anyone what his plans would be. Remember, LHO’s favorite show as a child was I Led Three Lives in which the protagonist, Herbert Philbrick, always kept his plans close to the vest. Oswald being a Marine certainly would have known that loose lips sink ships.
4. Cherami also reportedly stated that Ruby and Oswald had been shacking up for years. Well, that must have been news to George Senator, Ruby’s roommate. Indeed, no where is there any testimony (that I can find) is either Oswald or Ruby definitively identified as gay.
5. Why would the two men accompanying Cherami abandon her? Does it make sense that someone would agree to work on a drug transaction and then walk out on the deal midway. Try that with any mob outfit and se how long you live.
6. Who was providing the $8,000. Eight grand may not sound like much today, but eight grand in 1963 is equal to $80,000 today. Who is going to trust that kind of money to Rose Cherami? No one sane.
7. Rose Cherami had been previously labeled criminally insane. Her visit to the state hospital courtesy of Office Francis Fruge was her second visit.
8. Jim DiEugenio in his article has pointed out that Rose was heading up to Dallas to pick up her baby. Well, her baby wasn’t a baby. He was ten year old boy living with his grandparents. Source: A Rose by Any Other Name by Todd C. Elliott.

Well, those are a few reasons I can think up right now. I can see why though that this story is so attractive. It helps cement this crazy idea that Oswald and his buddies cooked up this assassination plot on their own, possibly with some help from either Italians or Cubans.

Copyright 2023 Archer Crosley All Rights Reserved