User:Mike Regan/"Gettin' A Kick Out Of Truth"... What The Warren Commission Missed

"Gettin' A Kick Out Of Truth" About Dealey Plaza by Mike Regan Photo (Available On Request) by Thomas Dillard shows black men on floor beneath the one from where Oswald supposedly fired. In the procession, Dillard was in camera car number three as he took the picture (left) only three seconds after the shooting, about ten seconds after the first shot. In this one picture one can see which windows were open and which were closed at that time. The photo was then enhanced and severely cropped by the Warren Commission and all that survived is depicted within the right photo. The negative, along with enhancement portions leading to the west side of the building simply vanished. SOLUTION TO THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY

The enclosed pages of material examines specific facts of which have been overlooked during the course of these past thirty eight years which eliminate, quite clearly, any possibility that Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. This material also presents the extreme probability of events that actually did occur that afternoon in Dealey Plaza. Primarily based on Warren Commission testimony, including statements made by the actual assassin, the examination presents a summary of minor events, beginning on the Wednesday afternoon of November 20th, 1963 and concluding with the catastrophic event of the firing of the three shots by James Jarman, Jr. from the assassin's lair of the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository at 12:30 P.M. on Friday, November 22nd, 1963. POINTS OF FACT WITH REGARD TO THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT JOHN F! . KENNEDY WHICH INDICATE THAT IT WAS NOT LEE HARVEY OSWALD WHO PULLED THE TRIGGER THAT AFTERNOON IN DEALEY PLAZA Point #1 - Eye-witness, Amos Euins, put special emphasis on the fact that the assassin had a "white spot" on the back of his head as he sighted down the rifle barrel. Judging a position indicating that the back of the man's head could have been visible to a person on the street below, as the third shot was sighted and fired, strongly suggests that the assassin was left-handed. Eye-witness, Arnold Rowland, testified before the Warren Commission that just prior to the assassination he saw a man standing in the far left window (south-west corner) of the Texas School Book Depository's sixth floor. The man, according to Rowland, held what he thought to be a high-powered rifle in a military port-arms position. The barrel is pointed over the man's right shoulder, as he faced Rowland, toward the nearest wall (west). Further indication that the gunman was left! -handed. Two of the three expended rifle shells were found against the wall, immediately below the south-west window from which the shots were fired, thus indicating that as the hulls were ejected from the rifle they struct the left-handed assassin's chest and dropped to the floor parallel to his body. If the gunman had been right-handed, the hulls would have ejected with a clear path off to the right. The third expended shell, more that likely the last to be fired, was found some distance off to the right. This suggests that the assassin had unshouldered the weapon, stood, and ejected the final round as he left the scene. Point #2 - Dallas police officer, M.N.McDonald, testified that Lee Harvey Oswald punched him with his left fist during the fracus at the movie theator and grabbed for a pistol in his belt with his right hand. In addition, the published photograph of Oswald taken by his wife, Marina, in the back yard of their New Orlean's home indi! cates a pistol, holstered, attached to Oswald's right hip. Other photos show that Oswald parted his hair on the left and wore his wristwatch on his left wrist. Lee Harvey Oswald was right-handed. Point #3 - Though it is a proven fact that five of the Depository's employees moved the boxes into position and which formed a shield in front of the south-east corner window of the building's sixth floor, not a single one of their finger prints was found on these boxes when analyzed by the FBI. The suggestion is strong that special care was taken by at least some of these employees to eliminate detection of the fact that they had handled the boxes.

Point #4 - These five employees, including one named Bonnie Ray Williams, had spent the morning of November 22nd, 1963 placing a new plywood floor on the sixth floor of the TSBD. The "white debris" which became such a point of concern, bordering close to paranoia, for Williams and two other employees, James Jarman, Jr. and Harold Norman (not associated with the floor construction), during testimony before the Commission in which they unanimously stated had fallen on their hair from the fifth floor ceiling and caused by the cartridge shell explosions taking place on the floor above was, in actuality, bits of white plaster which had accumulated in their hair from the ceiling of the sixth floor as the new plywood was being hammered into place. Though Jarman and Norman were not members of the construction crew, it has been testified by Norman, himself, that he made regular visits to the sixth floor for the purpose of "shooting the breeze". According to Williams! testimony, however, Norman did more that simply "shoot the breeze". Norman would "help us move stock around". Based on Warren Commission testimony, it is not possible to place James Jarman, Jr. on the sixth floor during the morning prior to the assassination but the events that would occur, just after the crew would break for lunch will suggest strongly that he was present on the floor. At least for a period of time long enough for "white debris" to accumulate in his hair. Point #5 - James Jarman Jr., though consistantly mentioned by various reports, including the Warren Commission's, as having been on the fifth floor with Norman and Williams at the time of the assassination, and even referred to when the Dillard photograph is discussed (he is NOT in the picture, though it was snapped by Tom Dillard within seconds of the shooting), in extreme probability, committed the assassination. The added fact that he was employed at the Texas School Book Depository as a wrapper and regularly utilized paper and tape, exact in make-up, as the paper and tape used to package the murder weapon indicates, again quite strongly, that it was he who prepared and provided the make-shift bag for Oswald when Oswald returned home on the evening of November 21st, 1963. Probably under the pretext that Jarman would purchase the weapon on the following day. It being known that Oswald, after being taken into custody had $13.87 on his person and shortly before had spen! t $1.00 on a cab ride and about .40c in loose change for a bus ticket and a coca-cola, presents the strong possibility that Jarman actually did purchase the assassination weapon from Oswald on the morning of the 22nd far an agreed upon price of $15.00. Oswald's own frame of mind at this point in time was likely to be that he was glad at the opportunity to rid himself of a weapon, and evidence, which easily tied him into his own attempt to take the life of General Walker some months earlier. Point #6 - The "white spot" seen on the back of the head of the assassin by eye-witness, Amos Euins, was, in reality, the bits of white plaster in the hair of James Jarman, Jr. Jarman's paranoia before the Warren Commission when testifying about the plaster was simply due to the fact that he had forgotten to bruse the powder from his hair before pulling the trigger. Point #7 - The appearance, two weeks after the assassination, of a hand made paper bag, similar to the one used to package the murder weapon, at the dead-letter office of the Post Office near Dallas suggests that one of the conspirators attempted to guide investigators toward the appropriate direction. Perhaps in fear for his own life. *NOTE* The assassination was most likely the result of circumstances which existed in Dallas on the afternoon Of November 22nd,1963 including the following; Point #8 - The arrival, of course, of the presidential motorcade to the front of the Tex! as Schoolbook Depository on Elm Street (Jarman had read the papers and testified to his previous knowledge of this fact). The presence of a high powered rifle in the hands of a minimum of three employees of the TSBD on the morning of the assassination. The existence of a combined group mentality of a six year old child ("I dare ya'!!", "Oh Yeah!?", "Yeah!!", "OK, Watch Me!!") Point #9 - The presence of a man fully capable (Jarman's eight years military experience, alone, indicates familiarity with weapons. His testified use of the word "action" when describing the metalic sounds he heard from the weapon, in addition, suggests his capability. It is a word commonly used among rifle enthusiasts), of sighting down the barrel of a Mannlicher-Carcano, pulling the trigger three times and ending the life of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

SUMMATION

Sadily, the series of small events that would lead up to the catastrofic event which would take place in Dealey Plaza began on Wednesday afternoon, November 20th, 1963. Warren Caster, an assistant manager for Southwestern Publishing Company, with offices at the Depository's 411 Elm Street address had purchased two rifles during the noon break. A Remington, single shot, .22 caliber rifle, to be given his son for Christmas and a .30odd.06 sporterized Mauser, intended for his own! use in hunting. On a counter just outside supervisor Roy Truly's office, Caster proudly displayed the two rifles to fellow employees. According to Caster's testimony, present were, "Mr. Shelly was there ---and Mr. Roy Truly". Additionally, "There were workers there at the time, but I'm not sure how many. I couldn't even tell you their names. I don't know the TSBD workers there in the shipping department". Also present, however, was Lee Harvey Oswald. Oswald mentioned the incident to Dallas Police after his arrest.

As Caster displayed the rifles, Oswald, probably in an attempt to relate to fellow employees (along with ridding himself of incriminating evidence), mentioned to one of the shipping department employees present that he, too, owned a rifle and that it might be for sale. This employee, in extreme likelihood, was James Jarman, Jr., the shipping department's wrapper. Jarman's probable suggestion to Oswald was that he bring the rifle in the following day. That he would be interested toward the purchase of the weapon. When Oswald appeared the following day without the rifle, he indicated to Jarman that he lacked the carrying case necessary to transport the rifle. Jarman, quick to oblige because of a sincere interest in the weapon, walked to his wrapping station, un-rolled a long sheet of wrapping paper and, utilizing tape at the same table, constructed the paper bag. He then gave it to Oswald. Oswald folded the hand made sack (FBI analysis would later uncover! eight fold indentations on the paper) to a size suitable to either hip pocket or toward placing the bag into his belt and went on his way. Having returned home that evening with fellow worker, Buell Wesley Frazier, Oswald would package the Mannlicher- Carcano and return the following morning, again with Frazier, and complete the sale with Jarman. Oswald's frame of mind at this point was that he was glad to be rid of the rifle. It is even possible to conclude that he was attempting to pull his life together. Fearful of losing his wife and family because of his erratic and demented behaviour of the previous months (including his attempt to shoot General Walker, of which Marina was aware), he responded to his wife's complaints about hand washing the laundry by leaving all his cash, $170.00, on the dresser before leaving for work on Friday, the 22nd. As the motorcade approached Dealey Plaza that afternoon, Oswald sat in the first floor lunch room in a semi-state of bliss. After spending some six months living with fear that, at any day, police detectives could show up at his door, handcuffs at the ready, and haul him off for the attempted murder of General Walker, he was now free of the single piece of evidence that would convict him. The Mannlicher-Carcano.

Oswald's state of bliss, however, would soon be shattered. Having just left the first floor lunch room to purchase a cola from a vending machine in a lounge on the second floor, he would be confronted by Dallas Police officer Marrion L Baker. In all reality, Oswald hadn't even known as he was being challenged by Officer Baker that shots had been fired at the motorcade and would not know until a moment later. Mrs. Reid, a secretary for the TSBD, would comment to a confused Oswald as they passed each other and just after Oswald had left the lounge, "Oh, the President has been shot, but maybe they didn't hit him!". Upon learning this, something bordering on phsychotic probably snapped within Oswald. Common sense had told him, especially since an armed police officer had rushed into the Depository, that the Mannlicher-Carcano he had sold to Jarman only hours earlier was involved in the shooting. All hope was lost. From this point on, Oswald was running from the furries and would culminate, some forty minutes later, with his fatal shooting of Officer Tippit on a residential street in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas. Just when and where James Jarman, Jr. acquired the Mannlicher-Carcano from Oswald is difficult to determine, but in light of the surprisingly candid elements of testimony by Jarman, the exchange may have taken place in the morning hours of the 22nd on the first floor. When asked by Warren Commission attorney, Joseph A. Ball, when he had met with Oswald on that day, Jarman replied, "I had him correct an order. I don't know what time it was". When pressed by Ball, Jarman said, "It was around, it was between 8 and 9 I would say". Concerning a second meeting he had with Oswald that morning Jarman replied, "It was between 9:30 and 10:00 o'clock, I believe". Responding to Joseph Ball's question as to where this meeting took place Jarman said, "In between two rows of bins. On the first floor". It is between these same two rows of bins, near the front windows, that Jarman will eat his lunch, alone, just before noon. He will be shortly joined at this same location by Charles Douglas Givens (a member of the floor construction crew) and Harold Norman. What is quite possible is that the rifle had been concealed within this same general area for much of the morning hours. Together, they will leave the building, stand for awhile out in front and begin to walk toward the intersection of Elm and Huston Streets. Here, they separate. According to the Depository's Supervisory, Roy S. Truly, "I noticed them there on the corner and starting across the street, but whether they completed it, I don't know". Given's did, however, complete the trek across the intersection, continue east up Elm to eventually join with James and Edward Shields to observe the motorcade from the intersection of Main and Records streets. As for Jarman and Norman they will, according to Jarman's own testimony, turn left o! n Huston, head north along the side of the Book Depository and disappear back into the building through a rear entrance. If the Manlicher-Carcano had not been on the sixth floor at this point, the weapon was most likely retrieved from between the two rows of bins on the first floor by Jarman and Norman and carried, via the west rear freight elevator, and on up to the sixth floor assassin's lair. Having already surveyed Dealy Plaza and satisfied themselves that most of the Depository's employees, especially the supervisors, were in front of the building anxiously awaiting the arrival of the motorcade, Jarman's and Norman's movements about the building were done quite freely. They would even take a moment to insure that Oswald was out of the way. Oswald, sitting in the first floor lunch room eating a cheese sandwich and a piece of fruit at the time, would later mention the encounter to the Dallas Police. Now on the sixth floor, Jarman will familiarize himself further with the weapon by dry-loading rounds into the chamber (FBI later concluded that at least one shell had markings indicating that it had been loaded and reloaded within the chamber a number of times) and moving from window to window to determine the clearest shot. Soon, he will be standing, with rifle in a military port arms position, at the south-west corner window. Observing from the street below is Arnold Rowland. About Norman's movements as Jarman peers from the south-west window, Rowland will later testify to Warren Commission counsel member, Representative Gerald R. Ford that, "At the time I saw the man in the other window, I saw the man hanging out the window first. It was a colored man, I think". Questioned further by Ford, who wanted Rowland to be more clear about the man hanging from the window, Rowland responded, "The east, south-east corner". Harold Norman was making a final survey to insure that! their activities on the sixth floor went on un-disturbed. Bonnie Ray Williams, quite possibly an unwilling participant also enters into the conspiracy at this point. Where and when is difficult to determine, but he could very well have stumbled accidentally onto the scene when he went up to the sixth floor to meet with Danny Arce and Billy Lovelady, two fellow members of the floor laying crew he had pre-arranged to meet for the purpose of viewing the motorcade. Without informing Williams, however, Arce and Lovelady had joined most of the Depository's employees outside the building and when Williams arrived on the floor, lunch in hand, he found himself alone. The time was about noon. When counsel member Joseph Ball, asked him how long he stayed on the floor, Williams replied, "I was there from 5, 10,maybe 12 minutes". Upon hearing window movement on the floor immediately below him, Williams will descend to the fifth floor in the east elevator to find Jarman and Norman near the south-east corner. Up to this moment, it is easy to conclude that Williams had no prior knowledge to the events that were about to take place on the sixth floor but, whether he wanted to or not, he now became a part. Otherwise he would not have backed up Jarman's testimony that he (Jarman) had been on the fifth floor with Norman and himself (Williams) at the time of the shooting. Since the bulk of testified time elements place William's on the sixth floor before Jarman and Norman, it is highly likely that these two prime players in the conspiracy, after becoming aware of William's presence on the sixth floor, created a rouse that would draw William's away from the sixth floor assassin's lair. Both Jarman and Norman testified that before leaving the first floor aboard the west elevator, they had "peered up the elevator shaft" and observed that the east elevator was on the sixth floor. At the very least, they knew that someone was up there. The rouse they would use simply amounted to making their presence known by sliding windows just below where Williams was sitting. It worked, and William's joined then on the fifth floor.

Events would now escalate to a near frenzy. With adrenaline flowing, Jarman and Norman will ascend to the sixth floor assassin's lair. Considering that Williams had been on the same floor from noon to "5, 10, maybe 12 minutes", Jarman and Norman had more than fifteen minutes to complete final preparations for the assassination. As the motorcade made it's turn onto Huston from Main Street, Jarman was probably already in place as Norman descended back down to rejoin William's on the fifth floor. Most likely, if Williams was unaware of the plot, to keep him occupied as Jarman completed his task on the floor above. What would follow next can best be explained in Jarman's own words. As Warren Commission counsel, Joseph Ball, questioned Jarman about the three shots, Jarman would dismiss the first shot as, "A back-fire or an officer giving a salute to the President". It is Jarman's referral to the second shot, though which would set a wheel turning ! in the mind of another counsel member. As Jarman replied, with reference to this shot, "And then the second shot was fired, and that is when the people started falling on the ground and the motorcade car jumped forward ---", Representative Gerald R. Ford would listen, allow that single statement to sink in and sit in silence as a full five pages of testimony would continue to be recorded. About fifteen minutes. In Ford's mind, he knew that something was amiss. Having been privy to a film of the presidential limousine taken by Abraham Zapruder as the assassination took place, a film that had not been made public and would not for many years, Ford knew that the car did not "Jump forward", as Jarman had indicated, after the second shot. Agent William Greer would not accelerate the car until after agent Clint Hill, having just leaped from the follow-up car to assist Mrs. Kennedy (who was attempting to retrieve a portion of her husband's skull) back into the rear sea! t after the third shot, had a secure hand hold on the rear-left portion of the automobile. It was then, and only then, that the car, and to use the words of agent Roy Kellerman, "Just literally jumped out of the god-damned road!!". As Representative Ford continued to sit in silence, a suspicion that may have begun to formulate is that a target may give the illusion of "Jumping forward" to an assassin peering through a scope. The car did not jump forward. The rifle and assassin, because of recoil, had jerked backwards. Ford's suspicion was probably confirmed minutes later after hearing Jarman's response to another question by council member, John J. McCloy. McCloy had asked, "Did you see the President actually hit by the bullets?". Jarman's reply was, "No sir, I couldn't say that I actually saw him hit, but after the second shot, I presumed that he was, because I had my eye on his car from the time it came down Huston until the time it started toward the freeway".

Again, any suspicion that Ford had that Jarman was describing events as viewed through a high-powered scope were confirmed at this point as he heard Jarman use the word "eye", not in the plural sense, but in the singular sense. After hearing Jarman respond to McCloy"s question, "You saw him crumble, you saw him fall, did you?", by saying, "I saw him lean his head", Representative Ford had had enough.

He interrupted with a question concerning the statement Jarman had made much earlier. The following exchange took place between Gerald Ford and James Jarman, Jr. Representative Ford: "You actually saw the car lurch forward did you?" James Jarman: "Yes sir" Representative Ford: "That is a distinct impression?" James Jarman: "Yes" Representative Ford: "And you followed it as it turned from Main onto Huston and followed it as it turned from Huston onto Elm?" James Jarman: "Right, sir". Representative Ford: "Had your eye on the car all the time?" James Jarman: "Yes, sir" Representative Ford: "Where did you think the sound of the first shot come from? Do you have a distinct impression of that?" James Jarman: "Well, it sounded at first it had come from below. That is what I thought" Representative Ford:" As you looked out the window and you were looking at the President's car" James Jarman: "Yes, sir" Representative Ford: "Did you have a distinct impression as to whether the sound came from your left or came from your right?" James Jarman: "I am sure it came from the left" Repres! entative Ford: "But your first reaction, that it was from below?" James Jarman: "Yes, sir" Representative Ford: "When the second shot came, do you have any different recollection?" James Jarman: "Well, they all sounded just about the same" Representative Ford: "You distinctly recall three shots?" James Jarman: "Yes, sir" Representative Ford: "And at what point did you get up from where you were on your knees in the window?" James Jarman: "When the motorcar picked up speed" Representative Ford: "Was this after you thought was the third shot?" James Jarman: "The third shot; yes". Representative Ford: "Have you ever been in trouble with the police or did you ever have any disciplinary troubles in the army?" James Jarman: "No, sir". We can only speculate as to just where Representative Ford's questioning would have eventually led if fellow council, Joseph Ball, had not interrupted at this point to lead Jarman into a completely different line of questioning that would concern the style of clothes worn by Lee Harvey Oswald on the day of the assassination. Obviously, Ford was quite suspicious of this 34 year old shipping department employee. Speaking in terms of boxing it can be said that Ford had Jarman on the ropes just before Joseph Ball's untimely interruption. Further, it is plausible to conclude, that if Representative Gerald R. Ford had been allowed free reign, he may have ended his questioning, in his own time, with, "Mr. Jarman, did you shoot President John Fitzgerald Kennedy?". James Jarman, Jr., considering the amazing level of candor possessed by this assassin, would have answered simply, "Yes, sir". To the reader- I felt it necessary, in order to provide a steady flow while describing escalating major events unfolding within and outside the Depository, to speculate with regard to minor events. For this, I apologize. Hopefully, simple testimony, time frames and fact will out-weigh all. Two final notes

1st -Though not mentioned in the above scenario of the events which unfolded that afternoon in Dallas, a journalist and Assistant News Director of Dallas's KRLD Television & Radio, James R. Underwood, was riding with fellow journalists in a limousine which had just turned off Main Street onto Huston Street as the salvo of shots rang out. Jumping from the limo and running to the front of the Depository, he met briefly with Amos Euins, an African American teenager. Amos Euins, who later turned out to be the only viable witness who actually watched the assassin aim and fire the rifle, responded to the journalist's question as to whether the gunman was white or black, Euins responded, "It was a colored man". I said (Underwood), "Are you sure?". Euins responded, "Yes, sir". 2nd - Last, but definitely not least, the stenographer, an unnamed and unsung hero of the Warren Commission, is worthy of mention. If someone, whether it be council or witness, paused in ! speech with the same audible sound we all utter from time to time, she would record the word "Uh". Movements not pertaining to testimony she would record between a pair of parenthesis. Seconds after Representative Gerald R. Ford was interrupted in his questioning of James Jarman, Jr., he was approached by someone, whispered too, and than left the room. Returning shortly (also recorded by our hero), he returned to his seat and sat silently for quite a length of time. The question no longer is who shot President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. The Warren Commission Report, in reality, was a glamorized version of J. Edgar Hoover's FBI Report to President Johnson and the Commission, simply put, was a collaboration of both men. The burning question now appears to be, "Who, within the upper echelon, knew the actual truth ?".

Warren Commission Testimony

Roy S. Truly - Depository Superintendent Vol.#7-Pg.380, 591 Warren Caster - Employee Vol.#7-Pg,386 Arnold Rowland - Eyewitness Vol.#2-Pg.165 Amos Lee Euins - Eyewitness Vol.#2-Pg.201 Bonnie Williams - Possible Co-Conspirator Vol.#3-161 Harold Norman - Co-Conspirator Vol.#3-Pg.186 James Jarman, Jr. - Assassin Vol.#3-Pg.198 James R. Underwood - Witness Vol.#6-Pg.167, 170 Stenographer - GOD BLESS HER

To all: I've enclosed (below) a copy of Jarman's signed affidavit to the Dallas Police on Nov. 23rd, 1963. Hopefully, you will pick up on his strong insinuation, "before" he was aware of photographic evidence being in play, that he watched the motorcade from curb-side.

Sincere regards, Mike Regan

AFFIDAVIT IN ANY FACT THE STATE OF TEXAS

COUNTY OF DALLAS

BEFORE ME, Patsy Collins, a Notary Public in and for said County, State of Texas, on this day personally appeared James Earl Jarman, Jr., c/m 33, 3942 Atlanta Street, Dallas, Texas HA8-1837 who, after being by me duly sworn, on oath deposes and says:

I work for the Texas School Book Depository, 411 Elm Street, as a Checker on the first floor for Mr. Roy S. Truly. On Friday, November 22, 1963, I got to work at 8:05 a.m. The first time I saw Lee Oswald on Friday, November 22, 1963 was about 8:15 a.m. He was filling orders on the first floor. A little after 9:00 a.m. Lee Oswald asked me what all the people were doing standing on the street. I told him that the President was supposed to come this way sometime this morning. He asked me, "Which way do you think he is coming?". I told him that the President would probably come down Main Street and turn on Houston and then go down Elm Street. He said, "Yes, I see". I only talked with him for about three or four minutes. The last time I saw Lee Oswald on Friday, November 22, 1963 was between 11:30 a.m. and 12:00 noon when he was taking the elevator upstairs to go get some boxes. At about 11:45 a.m. all of the employees who were working on the 6th floor came downstairs and we w! ere all out on the street at about 12:00 o'clock noon. These employees were: Bill Shelley, Charles Givens, Billy Lovelady, Bonnie Ray (last name not known) and a Spanish boy (his name I cannot remember). To my knowledge Lee Oswald was not with us while we were watching the parade.

/s/ James Earl Jarman, Jr.

SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN BEFORE ME THIS 23rd DAY OF November A.D. 1963

/s/ Patsy Collins

Notary Public, Dallas County, Texas

Shots From The West...???

With hope of dispelling, at least within the thoughts of some of you, many of the theories with regard to frontal shots (storm drains, grassy knolls, picket fences, etc...), I've enclosed an excellent article by Jerry Organ.

Smoking Gun Found! By Jerry Organ

So little has changed in Dealey Plaza that -- if one could ignore the towering monoliths of post-1963 Dallas -- it is easy to imagine the motorcade is about to arrive. The Zapruder film has now become familiar to the public, and it stands as the best-quality film taken from a near-ideal vantage point. But we are also familiar with footage of the aftermath, thanks in good measure to broadcast-quality newsreel film taken by several cameramen back in the motorcade. This was the footage that was shown on the networks as that awful afternoon unfolded.

The Rush to the Knoll!

In the immediate aftermath of the assassination, numerous witnesses and policemen found themselves in the parking lot atop the infamous Grassy Knoll. Their presence is often cited as evidence of an assassin firing from behind the fence.

The "rush" to the knoll actually occurred over a minute after the shots, and was triggered by a Dallas motorcycle policeman in the parade, Clyde Haygood, who had no firsthand knowledge of the shot direction. Officer Haygood was a block away when he heard the first of three shots. After racing to Elm Street, he stopped just pass the fallen Newman family, parked his cycle, and ran up to confer with a policemen he saw on the railbridge. Only then did people start running up after him, falsely thinking he was after a culprit.

The "rush" up through the walkway by the Bryan Colonnade occurred even later. Prominent witnesses like the Newmans didn't begin for over a minute; Jean Hill didn't cross the street for over two minutes. The initial reaction of most people close to the shooting was to simply drop to the ground or seek cover. Later, media reports and affidavits from witnesses would describe their impression -- perhaps aided by the sight of Haygood and the tricky acoustics of the Plaza -- that shots seemed to come from the area to the front of the car.

Initially, the Grassy Knoll wasn't suspected by researchers as a source of shots. Thomas Buchanan, in his 1964 book Who Killed Kennedy? based a shot from the Triple Underpass on a "bullet hole" that reportedly passed through the limousine's windshield. Only when the Warren Commission demonstrated the windshield could only have been hit from the interior (probably a lead fragment from the fatal shot), and released the testimony of Sam Holland, did attention shift onto the knoll.

The Grassy Knoll has since been a favorite of researchers, who've deduced "assassins" and "puffs of smoke" from numerous photographs that captured the area. In 1967 came the sensational announcement that a "classic gunman" shape was apparent on a frame of the poor-quality 8mm film taken by Orville Nix. Within months, Josiah Thompson had laid that one to rest, noting the same shadow pattern effect in a frame taken long after the assassination.

In 1965, critic David Lifton studied copies of the Moorman Polaroid, which included much of the Grassy Knoll at the near-instance of the fatal shot. Lifton thought one of the bushes on the knoll was an artificial blind for a sn iper.

In 1976, yet another shape materialized from the shadows in a Moorman blowup in Robert Groden's book JFK: The Case for Conspiracy. From the same image, Texas researchers Gary Mack and Jack White presented a shape they called "Badgeman" in the 1988 documentary The Men Who Killed Kennedy. That same year, at NOVA's request, technicians at MIT analyzed the shape, concluding it "took some imagination" to render it into a human figure.

One shape on the knoll has been confirmed as human; the "Black Dog Man" figure at the Bryan Colonnade's retaining wall seen in the Willis and Betzner photographs as the limousine moves down Elm. Critics have made much of this shape, some even suggesting he was holding a "rifle." But a long-forgotten interview of Marilyn Sitzman by Josiah Thompson determined the shape was quite benign.

Who Was Black Dog Man?

The 1993 book Killing of a President by Robert Groden offers enlargements from the Moorman Polaroid, and Muchmore and Nix films that purport to show Black Dog Man at the corner of the retaining wall. On an episode of Geraldo in 1991, Groden played a rotoscoped sequence of the Nix film showing a "tan-colored object [dropping] downward and to the left" as evidence of Black Dog Man's suspicious activity.

That program opened with a live remote from Dealey Plaza that included one of the last interviews with the late Marilyn Sitzman, the secretary who steadied Abraham Zapruder as he filmed atop an abutment of the Bryan Colonnade. Pointing towards the corner of the retaining wall, Sitzman recalled:

"What had happened, there was a couple sitting right over here in a park bench and they dropped a pop bottle, right after the car went under the Triple Underpass. And when that pop bottle hit the cement, it kind of woke us up. And both Mr. Z and I was still standing up here. Everybody else was laying down flat. And all's I can remember then, was going through my mind: 'What am I doing standing up here?'" The movements in the Nix film Groden later showed on the same program do resemble the event recalled by Sitzman. The couple were gone when Zapruder panned over the retaining wall seconds later, having fled "towards the back." Two years later, Groden still had not connected the couple to the grainy shapes at the retaining wall he presented in the most suspicious light in The Killing of a President.

Nor, apparently, did Josiah Thompson care to associate the couple Sitzman first described to him in 1966 with the errant "fourth" shot recalled by the featured witness of his 1967 book Six Seconds in Dallas. Sam Holland, signal supervisor for the Union Terminal Railroad, who witnessed the assassination from atop the Triple Underpass.

Sitzman told Thompson of a young black couple who were eating lunch and drinking Cokes on a bench behind the retaining wall. When the motorcade arrived, the Willis and Betzner photographs showed they had repositioned themselves near the wall's corner, apparently leaning with their elbows on top of the wall.

Sitzman recalled hearing "a crush of glass and I looked over there and the kids had thrown down their Coke bottles, just threw them down." Her description of the bottle-breaking being "much louder than the shots were" and the possibility that sunlight reflected from the flying shards would account for Holland's claim of gunfire and a puff of smoke from the knoll.

Thompson doesn't acknowledge it, but a likely reason Holland looked towards the knoll area in the first place was because -- from Holland's position atop the railbridge -- the Oswald window loomed above it. Holland later thought he could distinguish three shots from "the north end of Houston Street," also in the vicinity of the Oswald window. Holland's alleged shot from "under the trees" becomes an aberration of the exploding Coke bottle.

Sitzman's revelation to Thompson was re-discovered by Massachusett archivist Richard Trask in 1985, who "in 1991 located the bench photo and put the scenario of the black couple together." Trask's 1994 landmark book, Pictures of the Pain, publishes an image taken on the afternoon of the assassination by Dallas Morning News photographer Johnny Flynn showing:

"Two plainclothes men, one with a stenographer's note pad in hand, leaning over and examining a paper lunch bag, and a wrapper marked 'Tom Thumb 8 Buns 25 cents.' The lunch leavings are resting on an odd-looking metal frame slat bench positioned perpendicular to the concrete wall and next to the walkway leading to the stairs at the knoll."

The black couple have never been identified -- they may very well be the elusive "smoking gun" needed to crack the so-called "great mystery" of the Kennedy assassination.

Smoke and Mirrors

Holland's co-workers on the rail-bridge also described "smoke" but take a closer look. Austin Miller located the incident "coming from a group of trees north of Elm off the railroad tracks." This is the tree grouping, at the retaining wall, described by Holland. Miller testified: "I turned and looked toward the -- there is a little plaza sitting on the hill. I looked over to see if anything was there, who threw the firecracker or whatever it was." The "little plaza" is the concrete pergola structure, that includes the retaining wall. Nothing about gunfire from the fence.

James Simmons located it "near the embankment in front of the TSBD." The wall is closer and more "in front of the TSBD" than the fence. In 1966, Simmons told Mark Lane it "came from the left and in front of us, toward the wooden fence, and there was a puff of smoke that came underneath the trees on the embankment." Simmons stood next to Holland -- the only cluster of trees from their vantage point was that later described by Holland.

Marilyn Sitzman was a lot closer to the stockade fence corner than Holland, yet the only unusual event she noticed was the bottle-smashing by the black couple -- nothing about gunfire. That same day she told a police detective the shots came from the Depository.

Likewise, Emmett Hudson, the Dealey Plaza groundskeeper, was standing halfway up the steps on the knoll, and heard nothing like a gunshot from the fence, a few feet behind him. Hudson would clarify for the HSCA that he meant the Depository when he described the shots as coming from "behind" him; critics had misused him as a second-gunman witness for years.

The "haze of gunfire" Groden presents on page 204 of The Killing of a President is, of course, a burst of fall foliage as better revealed in the blow-up on page 46. There is little doubt that what David Lifton purports to be "smoke" on a Nix film frame is simply the tree shadow pattern on the sunlit portion of the retaining wall, seen clearer on the Moorman and Bond photos. The Nix film did, however, unmistakably capture the swinging motion of the bottle-breaking.

Many of the witnesses who indirectly saw or heard the bottle-breaking and the couple's dark shapes immediately running from the scene understandably associated the events at the wall with the President's head explosion so nearby. The witnesses' insistence that what they saw was a "puff of smoke," the Parkland doctors' snap judgment of frontal shots, the failure of the black couple to come forward -- and later on, the "rearward" head snap as seen on the Zapruder film -- left the Grassy Knoll open to all sorts of speculation.

The sad part is that Sam Holland gave an honest impression of what he saw which critics later molded to fit their agenda. Josiah Thompson had the opportunity in 1966 to ask Holland whether the "puff of smoke" could have been the bottle-breaking recalled by Sitzman, but it would have challenged his hypothesis of a simultaneous double-impact on the President's head.

Ironically, Sam Holland had complained to Thompson about the subterfuge of an alias used by Mark Lane to gain a interview. Having been a Dallas Deputy Sheriff for 17 years, Holland had checked out Thompson with his old friend, Dallas County Sheriff Bill Decker. Thompson's credibility was no doubt helped by being Life magazine's Special Consultant on the assassination. In Thompson's words, Holland complained that critics:

"Had lied to him about the use to which his words would be put and had badgered him unceasingly, trying to prove one point and then another. Thus the first part of the evening was spent in salving the wounds Holland had suffered in earlier interviews." Despite assurances that Thompson "wished to plead no special case," Thompson admits to an agenda: "Holland's story fitted the last piece into a jigsaw puzzle … whose shape I had first perceived some five months earlier."

Newman and the Umbrella

The November 22, 1963 affidavits of the Newman couple were published in Volume XIX of the Hearings; subsequently to be misrepresented by critics like Meagher, Thompson and Marrs. It wasn't until 1984, in the TV production On Trial: Lee Harvey Oswald, that Vincent Bugliosi simply asked William Newman to specify the bit about the "garden directly behind me" that was in his affidavit of November 22, 1963. Newman specified the area to the east of the pergola; between the Depository and Newman's position on November 22 is a landscaped walkway.

In his affidavit, Newman thought the shots came from the direction of the Depository, but was unsure as to the shooter's elevation and so looked no higher than the "garden." The Moorman photo shows the fence on the Grassy Knoll is more to Newman's right than rear, whereas the "garden" -- and Depository -- are more rearward. To millions of viewers of the Zapruder film, it does initially appear that, in Newman's words, a shot "hit the President in the side of the temple." The autopsy finding and discovery of the Z312-313 forward movement reveal the explosion of the upper right skull was actually an exit wound.

In the JFK movie, a man with an umbrella in the heart of Dealey Plaza acts as a visual signalman for the assassination teams. No, Stone didn't make this up; there was a man pumping an open umbrella as the limousine passed him. But what Stone left out was that the man has been identified.

In his Select Committee testimony, Louie Steven Witt recalled his symbolic protest action in the Plaza using an umbrella. To many researchers, Witt offered the type of innocent explanation Thompson thought “most likely” in 1967. There was another protester, with a handwritten sign across Elm from Witt. Both Witt and that man, like many others, lingered in the Plaza long after the assassination.

Witt told the Committee that he wanted to taunt Kennedy, since the umbrella was supposedly symbolic of Joseph Kennedy's sympathy for Neville Chamberlain's attempts to appease Germany before the start of World War II. Chamberlain's famous "peace for our time" was read -- in front of newsreel cameras -- under an umbrella at a rainy airport. During the cajoling of convention delegates on the day JFK received the nomination in 1960, Lyndon Johnson chided his opponent’s father, saying "I was never any Chamberlain umbrella man."

Critics note Witt said he didn't see "the President shot or his movements" because Witt was preoccupied walking towards the sidewalk and raising up the umbrella. Photographs show the Umbrella Man was already stationed on the sidewalk with a raised umbrella, and thus a clear view of the approaching motorcade. But consider the dynamics of the moment, such as the possibility that the first and second loud reports diverted Witt's attention towards the Depository as the President neared.

Recall that Witt was in the Plaza to protest against the President -- at the last moment, Witt could have seen the Secret Service agents and Mrs. Kennedy, realized the absurdity of his silly protest, and just couldn't face the President. Years later, he would not be able to recall the exact sequence.

Louie Witt's open admission should have ended speculation over the Umbrella Man. Like other conspiracy candidates, such myths die a hard death in the critical community. It may be the questionable principals and skewed analysis of conspiracy authors that's the ultimate "smoking gun" in this case. They continue to lead millions on a wild-goose-chase up the Grassy Knoll.

© copyright 2000 Jerry Organ. All rights reserved.

Could This Be A Final Note...??? YES

There also appears to be a major level of research concentration on the autopsy and it's results. In consideration of the simple fact that numerous doctors and nurses were attempting to save a man's life, hopes for any evidence (after their heroic efforts) even remotely viable to the puzzle should be regarded as minimal. With special regard to the throat wound. Insertion of the tracheotomy tube shortly after the arrival of President Kennedy vertually insured the complete obliteration of that evidence and to take serious any of the speculation (which I believe is at about 50/50 concerning "exit" or "entrance") offered by these hospital personnel, with extreme limitations in ballistic science, is a mistake.

With the above in mind, my own thought is that research concentration should be guided toward existing "physical" evidence within the TSBD. With a bit of emphasis on the construction of the assassin's lair.

Concerning these boxes, it is already an established "Fact" that they were placed during the course of the morning work hours by members of the floor-laying crew, an obvious "Prep" to assist the intention of an assassin. Not just a few minutes before the shooting.

What's left to debate is who, and how many, within the construction crew were involved in this prep and toward whom was the assist intended. There has been some suggestion that some sort of stranger, perhaps a member of a yet to be identified "Black Ops" performing for yet another unknown group of high level conspirators. Yet, with the exception of Danny Arce's guidance of an elderly man to a first floor toilet as the parade was getting under way (Observed leaving moments later after completing his call to nature.), no employee of the TSBD, and I mean nobody, ever testified about seeing any kind of "stranger" in the building that day.

Trying to keep this as objective as possible, the debate is whether the assassin fired the three shots, swiftly fled down the entire length of the east wall, turned left, and continued the entire length of the north wall (A diagonal run was impossible.), properly placed the rifle in an upright position near the N/W stairwell, not tossed, mind you, in a mad scramble to allude potential captors, and concluded his dash down four flights of stairs to be observed, in a cool, calm and collective manner, some ninety seconds (give or take thirty) later by a Dallas motorcycle police officer.

Or as to whether the assassin did all of the above up until after placement of the rifle. And in this scenario, simply boarded an elevator or dashed down a single flight of stairs to join up with buddies (Norman & Williams) at the S/E corner of the fifth floor. But not before Tom Dillard, having just turned onto Huston from Main Street, had snapped the photograph of that same corner. A photographic image which would "EXCLUDE" evidence of his "testified" 5th floor presence at the time of the shooting.

So now you're left with a process of elimination. Dump one of these guys in your mind and you've hit on the culprit. Would any member of the crew risk facing accessory charges to the assassination of a world leader to satisfy the whim of some fellow they had been working with for a grand total of 38 days (Actually, it rings up to about 26 when weekends are omitted.)..?? By prepping up his "lair"..?? And have you ever lifted a box of books..!!?

Other than ridding himself of evidence linking him to his shot at General Walker the previous April, Oswald does'nt fit into the assassination scenario in any way, shape or form. He truly was what he declared to the national media. A "Patsy".

Jarman, on the other hand, had a well established working relationship with two members of the floor-laying crew. Both Harold Norman and Charles (Slim) Givens. These are the fellows who represent the "only" conspiracy which existed that day in Dallas. Bonnie Ray Williams probably represents the most fascinating witness. He, like Oswald, was a young and fairly new employee at the Texas School Book Depository, caught within the same escalation of events that were out of their control. And could, if he's still kicking around, provide the ultimate closure. If relieved of whatever fear may exist, and prodded by appropriate authorities in law enforcement.

Sincere regards, Mike Regan

" JFK Forever" The story regards a small group of Marines, haggard and tired from day's events, sitting at their jungle outpost as night approaches and attempting to find solice after the loss of friends in battle. Cerimony, designed to sooth, and which normally surrounds loss of those close to us is not to be. Mingling among family and friends at the wake, kind words from the preacher, the funeral procession to the cemetery for more kind words and capped off with roast turkey, drinks and even a bit of laughter as the pleasant memories take over. To be able to pay respect. In a proper way, to a friend. None of this was to be. Simply there one moment, with talk of the future and, of course, tales about the incredible babes back in "The World". And gone the next moment, with the unceremonious zipping of a body bag. For reasons only an infantryman can fathom, the talk turns to the atom. It seems, according to one Marine, that every thing as we know it, the wind, the rain, the hub cap off a '55 Chevy, even those of us, are made up of different combinations of only eighty some odd atoms. Each with it's select number of electrons orbiting at various levels above a proton/neutron nucleus. "Did ya' know?", he adds, "That the ratio of the nearest electron to it's nucleus is greater in distance as compared to the earth from the sun.". His friends are impressed. "Not only would you need a million atoms, piled on top of each other, to equal the thickness of a page, but to be able to compress the electrons into the nucleus would also mean that you could fit an entire sky-scraper into the eraser head of a pencil.". Now his friends are amazed. A few moments of silence. "Kinda' makes you wonder about the guys.", another Marine suggests. "I mean, if all those millions of bucks were spent to split a single atom, are they really dead? Seems to me that those electrons are still goin' through a spin cycle." Discussion continues, cigarettes are smoked in cupped hands and, bingo, ARE is founded. Atomic Recovery Employment systems. Until someone pointed out that --- would be ticked off if recovered with the head of a moose. A long moment of laughter, and they pondered some more. To the scientist, there is the atom. To the theologian, there is spirit. To that young group of Marines, having found their solace, there is Comparable Atomic Recovery Employment systems. CARE. Seeming to sum things up, one of the Marine's who has remained silent throughout, simply listening, finally speaks. "You guys are gonna' think me wacko on this one, but when I was a kid my family went on a cross-country trip and at one point I found myself in one of those rare moments in a large family. I was standing alone with my dad. We were at the very lip of the Grand Canyon, gazing at the incredible beauty, when he says to me, completely out of the blue, and we're not talking a religious fanatic here, "Ya' know, sport, I think this is what Christ had in mind when He said, probably in frustration, "The Kingdom of Heaven is here, now." Heads nod, cigarettes are snuffed, and talk comes to an end as a Marine glances at his watch, stands with an M-16, and heads off to guard duty. "Catch you guys later.", he concludes. Semper Fi' (Always Faithful), Michael Regan