Gene Davis and Clay Bertrand
Subject: Gene Davis and Clay Bertrand
Date: 19 Jan 2000 00:00:00 GMT
Message-ID: <864dmg$1vs$1@nnrp1.deja.com>
Jim Garrison, OTTOA, p. 86 (Sheridan Square 1988 edition)
Gradually my men began encountering one person after another in the French Quarter who confirmed that it was common knowledge that "Clay Bertrand" was the name Clay Shaw went by. However, no one would authorize the use of his name or even sign a statement to be kept confidential. No one wanted to get involved. This was quite curious considering Shaw's reputation throughout the city as a man of decorum and distinction.
Finally, we located a young man named William Morris who had met Shaw at the Masquerade Bar on St. Louis Street in the French Quarter. He had been introduced to Shaw by Gene Davis, who worked at the Court of the Two Sisters. Davis had introduced Shaw to Morris as "Clay Bertrand." Morris had become a friend of Shaw's, not only visiting Shaw's apartment, but encountering him at one private party and, on occasion, again at the Masquerade Bar. Morris said that his tall friend was always referred to as Bertrand.
[end of excerpt]
William Davy, Let Justice Be Done, pp 119-120
Later in the probe, other Vieux Carre denizens would confirm to the DA's office that [Clay] Shaw was [Clay] Bertrand. William Morris would later state to Garrison's team that he had been introduced to Shaw as Bertrand at the Masquerade Bar, a gay nightclub in the Quarter. In fact, he was introduced to Shaw by Gene Davis, owner of several gay bars in the French Quarter.(2)
p. 302, footnote 2
NODA interview of William Morris by William Boxley and William Martin, July 12, 1967. Gene Davis was later accused, by an obviously scared Dean Andrews, of being Clay Bertrand. Andrews was subsequently convicted of perjury for his efforts. Morris was introduced to Bertrand in 1958 and believed Shaw "resembled" this person.
[end of excerpts]
Orleans Parish Grand Jury Proceedings of June 28, 1967
Present: Mr. Jim Garrison, District Attorney, Messrs. Alvin Oser, James Alcock, Richard Burnes, Andrew Sciambra and William Martin, Assistants.
Members of the Orleans Parish Grand Jury
Special Investigation
Witness: Eugene C. Davis (Gene Davis)
[excerpts:]
p. 4
[Questions by Alcock, answers by Davis]
Q. Have you ever used Dean Andrews to parole or get any one out of jail for homosexuality charges?
A. If I did I don't know about it. I won't say for sure cause I am not positive, but I don't think I ever did.
p. 5
Q. To your knowledge you have never had any relationship where you called Dean Andrews to recommend him for the arrests of homosexuals?
A. I don't remember, but I don't believe I ever did. I won't say for sure.
p. 6
Q. Have you ever used the name of Clay Bertrand?
A. Never in my life. No sir.
[...]
Q. You have never told anyone that you are Clay or Clem Bertrand?
A. No, never.
Q. You have never used that name, either of them.
A. No sir, never.
p. 9
Q. Did you know Lee Harvey Oswald?
A. No sir, I do not. [...]
[But later he was asked about an anonymous call received by Garrison that Oswald used to hang out in Wanda's Bar and that Gene Davis would know about this. Davis still denied knowing Oswald.]
p. 10
A. [...] If there is anything, gentlemen, that I knew that could help this man in his investigation I'd be the first one to tell him. Believe me I would. Members of his staff will tell you, its on record, they have come to me many times and I have cooperated with them and helped them in many ways...
Mr. Garrison:
That is true.
A. And if I thought for a minute there was some little flaw in this case I could give them I would be the first one to go to Mr. Garrison, because I don't think he has ever hurt me as I know of, and I don't think he ever will.
pp 11-12
[Questions by Garrison]
Q. Do you know Clay Shaw?
A. Do I know him. I know him very well. I lived across the street from him at 512-516, the house where the old lady I take care of, right across the street is 509 and him and two old ladies used to get in and out of a car during the years he lived there, now as for seeing anything at night I could not say because I was gone all night working, worked all them years as night manager of the Court [of Two Sisters] and I wasn't home. I couldn't say, but I did see him in the daytime when I would have occasion to go see about this old woman I take care of. I would see him and two elderly women get in a long black car. I didn't know his name then - I didn't know he was Clay Shaw.
[More questions about the car, but Shaw didn't live at this house in 1963.]
p. 15
[Question by Burnes]
Q. You say you have come to know Clay Shaw better since his indictment, what do you mean by that?
A. No, I said I know him through the papers, that is the only way I know him. I have never spoke one word to Clay Shaw in my life.
p. 19
by juror:
Have you heard the name Clay Bertrand used? Or Clem Bertrand?
A. That comes out in the paper if they are sitting there they discuss it in that way, people I don't even know who they are. But before that I never did, never in my life. I didn't know there was such a person living before that and I still don't believe there is such a person.
[end of testimony excerpts]
New Orleans Times-Picayune August 14, 1967 S1-P1
Jury Deliberating Fate of Andrews [at Perjury Trial]
Given Choice of Three Possible Verdicts
[...]
Eugene C. Davis, a French Quarter bar owner, was called to the stand at 2:50 p.m. as a state rebuttal witness; and under questioning by assistant district attorney James L. Alcock, he denied he was Clay Bertrand or that he ever used the name.
Alcock asked Davis: "Have you ever heard of a person named Clay Bertrand?"
Davis replied: "Not until this investigation."
When asked if he ever called Dean Andrews and used the name Clay Bertrand, Davis said no.
[...]
[end of article]
Who is the credible witness, William Morris, who Garrison cites in his book, or Gene Davis, who Garrison's office put on the witness stand at Dean Andrews' and Clay Shaw's trials. According to Davy, Morris' statement was dated July 12, 1967, over a month before Davis' appearance at the Andrews perjury trial. Morris says Davis introduced him to Clay Bertrand. Davis said he had never heard of anyone by the name before the Garrison investigation. Davis also said he had never spoken to Clay Shaw in his life.
Davis not only contradicts Morris' story, he refutes Garrison claim that is was "common knowledge" that Shaw used the name Bertrand. As a French Quarter bar owner, Davis was in a position to know. Yet, Garrison's office presented this man to two juries as a witness.
Jerry Shinley
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