User:Cullen328/sandbox/Hendrix2

On December 9, 1969, the Globe and Mail reported: "He agreed with Mr. O'Driscoll that Hendrix was conspicuous, wearing a headband and obviously mod clothing. Mr. Wilson said he found no spoons, pipes, cigarette papers or hypodermic needles in Hendrix's luggage."

Over 42 years later, on May 12, 2012, The Torontoist, a media partner of the Globe and Mail, reported: "In cross examination, however, O’Driscoll began casting doubt about the ownership of the narcotics. First, Wilson agreed with the defence lawyer that Hendrix had been a conspicuous sight at the airport, drawing attention to himself with his loud clothing. Then, Wilson admitted that the flight bag contained none of the paraphernalia usually associated with drug use—spoons, cigarette papers, or pipes. And Matheson confirmed that the police at the airport had found no needle marks on the musician’s arms." Wilson and Matheson were Canadian government employees and prosecution witnesses. The May 31, 1969 coverage in the Rolling Stone was written by two very prestigious rock journalists in the early days of their careers, Ritchie Yorke and Ben Fong-Torres. Yorke was based in Toronto at the time, and Fong-Torres in San Francisco. Both were known to be close to the Hendrix camp, and Yorke published a lengthy interview with Hendrix the following year. I believe that their story can be seen at least partially as an expression of the views of Hendrix and his team in the immediate aftermath of the arrest. This is shown by phrases such as "According to sources at the scene" and "There is talk that the defense – logically – will claim Hendrix to be the victim of a plant", and access to witnesses to the arrest like limo driver Louis Goldblatt whose comments led to a summary of the developing defense strategy, describing drug gifts to the stars, "This is most often done as a token of love, but sometimes for spite. And if somebody was out to 'get' Hendrix by laying a surprise stash on him – in his suitcase, more precisely, then phoning ahead to tip off the Mounties – there was plenty of time that this might have been accomplished, from the time he left off the suitcase at Detroit to when it arrived back in his hands at Toronto.". This May comment clearly anticipates and predicts the December defense strategy, and also theorizing in many reliable sources over the years about where those drugs came from, including the possibility that someone may have planted them deliberately to weaken or damage Hendrix.

Now, we come to the speculative statement that has been so controversial in this discussion: "The populace of Toronto are a very conservative lot, and tend to look with suspicion upon anybody who looks and dresses a little different from themselves. Hendrix looks a lot different. Make an example of this freaky, frizzy-haired psychedelic spade (if you go by this reasoning) and maybe you can scare the freaks out of Yorkeville.". This is a comment that didn't really stand up six months later in its full implications, but it was a comment that presaged the broader point that his attire would be an issue at his trial. I readily admit that this comment does not report specifically on the details of his attire at the airport. But I believe that it originated from statements made to one or both of the reporters by people in the Hendrix camp that Hendrix had been flamboyant in behavior and dress at the airport, and that this would be an element of his defense. It was, and that defense strategy was successful. Hendrix was acquitted.