Jack Martin
Dave Reitzes
site, I came across this item.
> Subject: Re: Jack Martin
> Date: 08/24/1999
> Author: Blackburst <black...@aol.com>
[...]
> 2) To the best of my knowledge, [Jack] Martin never tied [Clay] Shaw to anybody.
I was under the impression (sorry, no available source \:^) that Martin's
HSCA interviews contained an allegation or two about Shaw. Have I been
misled yet again?
Dave
Perpetual Starlight
http://www4.50megs.com/reitzes
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Emmatyler
the grassy knoll if he felt it suited his purposes.
Steve
Redcurrant
Martin's reasons:
'As for Jack Martin's reasons for calling attention to Ferrie
as a suspect in the assassination, they may not have been based
on personal knowledge. Martin never claimed such information
but his action seems to have been based on sincere concerns
and some legitimate suspicions'.
Redcurrant
********
Emmatyler <emma...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20000922110354...@ng-cj1.aol.com...
Dave Reitzes
>
>To paraphrase Tom Bethell, I'm afraid Jack Martin would linked Sirhan Sirhan
>to
>the grassy knoll if he felt it suited his purposes.
>
>Steve
Respected researcher Haizen Paige has repeatedly claimed that Jack Martin
linked Clay Shaw to Lee Harvey Oswald and Guy Banister, a claim that not
even respected researcher Oliver Stone ever made (see Mr. Stone's research
notes in the *JFK* annotated screenplay). If such a claim has no basis in
fact, I would like to see the record set straight.
Dave Reitzes
>The HSCA came to the following conclusion on Jack
>Martin's reasons:
>
>'As for Jack Martin's reasons for calling attention to Ferrie
>as a suspect in the assassination, they may not have been based
>on personal knowledge. Martin never claimed such information
>but his action seems to have been based on sincere concerns
>and some legitimate suspicions'.
>
>Redcurrant
>********
The HSCA's opinion is rather unique.
In his 1988 memoirs, Garrison states of Martin, "I had long regarded him
as a quick-witted and highly observant, if slightly disorganized, private
detective." (Jim Garrison, On the Trail of the Assassins, 1991 ed., 32.)
This is something of a contrast to remarks Garrison made to Richard
Billings in December 1966 - that Martin was "an undependable drunk,"
(Richard Billings, contemporaneous notes, undated entry from December 1966
[p. 2]) "a totally unreliable witness" (Ibid.) and "a liar." (Ibid.,
December 29, 1966 [p. 4].) Garrison generously avoids mention of the
lawsuit Martin had filed against him in the summer of 1963, which had been
withdrawn). After questioning Martin on one occasion, Assistant DA Lou
Ivon referred to him as "evasive" (Ibid., January 25, 1967 [p. 8]) and
called him "a lush and a bum." (Ibid.)
Aaron Kohn, head of New Orleans' Metropolitan Crime Commission, an
influential citizens' watchdog committee, told the House Select Committee
on Assassinations, "Jack Martin has always been a kind of harassing
influence around here, somebody who wastes a lot of time, but you discover
the best thing to do is to let him waste your time when he has things on
his mind or else he wastes a lot more of your time when he gets drunk,
waking you up in the middle of the night, threatening to kill you . . ."
(HSCA 180-10087-10439, p. 75; Jerry Shinley, Newsgroup post of January 1,
1999.) "After years of all kinds of wild allegations," Kohn continues, ".
. . I threw him out of my office after he wound down to the point where he
was 'turn-offable,' if there is any such thing." Martin wasn't merely
giving information to Garrison in the fall of 1966, either: "Jack Martin,"
Kohn stated, "is the man who came in here about August 1966 to tell me the
theory of the JFK assassination that came out of Jim Garrison's mouth in
January 1967."
Kohn also noted that Martin's real name was Suggs, and vaguely recalled
his having been "incarcerated in an institution over in Texas" under that
name. (HSCA 180-10087-10439, p. 75; Jerry Shinley, Newsgroup post of
January 1, 1999.) Kohn's memory served him well.
Jack S. Martin, born Edward Stewart Suggs, had a rap sheet stretching back
to October 1944, and spanning the US from California to Arkansas to Texas
to Louisiana. He was arrested in January 1945 in Fort Worth, Texas, for
carrying a pistol; he was fingerprinted in Los Angeles in December 1945;
he was arrested in December 1947 for disturbing the peace in San Diego and
again in May 1949 in Dallas. (FBI 62-109060-4539; A. J. Weberman Web site,
Nodule 24, 2 [http://www.weberman.com/htdocs/24/24-2.htm].)
In 1952, Martin became a suspect in a Houston murder investigation, and
was arrested in May of that year for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution
for that crime. On May 16, 1952, he was charged with murder; the charges
were later dropped, and he became a witness in the case. He was arrested a
year later in Los Angeles, and held until it was determined he was no
longer wanted in Texas. In March 1954, he was fingerprinted in Galveston
for vagrancy and a drunk and disorderly charge. (Ibid.)
An FBI report reads, "Our files also disclose that in January 1957, we
received information from a local store in New Orleans that Suggs had
become involved in an altercation with a woman he claimed to be his wife
in the store and, as a result, was ejected from the store. Suggs exhibited
identification to store authorities and claimed to be an FBI agent. We
instituted inquiries in this matter at that time to locate Suggs and
determined that he was in a psychiatric ward [at] Charity Hospital, New
Orleans as of January 17, 1957. His psychiatrist informed our agents that
Suggs was suffering from a character disorder . . ." (Ibid.)
Another FBI document reports that Suggs was a patient in a psychiatric
ward in 1956 through 1957. (Ibid.) An 'Informative Note' in Martin's FBI
file states, "Several sources have reported Martin is a mental case."
(Lambert, 30.) The actual diagnosis was "sociopathic personality disorder,
antisocial type." (Ibid.) Onetime Garrison investigator Pershing Gervais
described Martin as "absolutely crazy." (Lambert, 30 fn.) Gervais said
that Martin "had a way of breathing up stories and being very positive
about things. He would concoct things about someone and then he would talk
to that someone" and construct a story "that would kind of jibe." When
asked about Martin's reliability, Gervais laughed and said, "He couldn't
be reliable if he intended to be." (Lambert, 296 fn. 24, citing her
personal interview with Pershing Gervais, September 3, 1993.) Garrison
investigator Lynn Loisel - who was nothing if not loyal to his boss -
referred to Martin at that time as a "sack of roaches." (Hugh Exnicios,
Lynn Loisel, and Al Beauboeuf, "Conference," twenty-nine-page transcript,
March 10, 1967, cited in Lambert, 230, 329 fn. 9.)
The FBI interviewed Edward Suggs in 1960 about impersonating an FBI agent
(FBI 62-109060-4539; A. J. Weberman Web site, Nodule 24, 2.) When Martin
later informed the FBI that an associate of his, Carl Stanley, "was
involved in illegal activities including Fraud Against the Government,"
the "FBI ultimately concluded both men were mentally ill. According to
Carl Stanley, Edward Suggs said he had worked for the CIA. No documents
supported this." (Ibid.)
Secret Service agent Anthony Gerrets interviewed Martin in December 1963,
noting that Martin "has the appearance of being an alcoholic." (Secret
Service report, December 13, 1963, Anthony Gerrets, New Orleans [Warren
Commission Document 87; cited in House Select Committee Hearings Vol. IX,
105-6].) Gerrets' report states flatly, "Martin had admitted to being a
heavy drinker . . ." and "has the reputation of furnishing incorrect
information to law enforcement officers, attorneys, etc." (Ibid.)
A November 28, 1963, New Orleans FBI teletype stated that all the
allegations linking David Ferrie to the assassination or to Lee Harvey
Oswald personally in the summer of 1963 "stem from Jack S. Martin who was
previously confined to the psychiatric ward of Charity Hospital, New
Orleans, for character disorder. Martin is well known to New Orleans
office and is considered thoroughly unreliable." (House Select Committee
Hearings Vol. IX, 106; FBI airtel from New Orleans to Director and Dallas
office, Nov. 28, 1963, David W. Ferrie file.)
The Mob-thirsty House Select Committee on Assassinations was extremely
interested in linking Oswald to David Ferrie, who had been a part-time
investigator New Orleans Mob kingpin Carlos Marcello's attorney, G. Wray
Gill. The committee could not accept Martin's testimony, however. (House
Select Committee Hearings Vol. X, 130.)
Author Anthony Summers calls Jack Martin "an odd character," (Anthony
Summers, Conspiracy, 1989 ed., 489) and notes "some justifiable doubt"
about his tales. (Summers, 304) Peter Dale Scott goes further. Calling
David Ferrie's denials of involvement in the assassination "quite
plausible," (Peter Dale Scott, Deep Politics and the Death of JFK, 247)
Scott writes, "More suspicious than Ferrie, in my view, is . . . Jack
Martin, [who] made much of Ferrie's alleged membership in a phony church.
However . . . Ferrie had testified that he 'became involved with these
religious orders only to assist Martin in [an] investigation into the sale
of phony certificates of ordination and consecration.' The Select
Committee, after investigating Ferrie extensively, agreed that 'Martin . .
. and Ferrie had performed some investigative work on a case involving an
illegitimate religious order in Louisville, Ky.'" (Scott, 247, citing
House Select Committee Hearings, X, 130, cf. 110; House Select Committee
Final Report, citing House Select Committee Hearings, X, 110; cf. Warren
Commission Document 75, p. 293.) "[T]his finding radically discredits
Martin's multiple allegations against Ferrie." (Scott, 247.) Martin
himself obtained a mail-order pastoral certification for his onetime
friend, Thomas Beckham (Orleans Parish Grand Jury testimony of Thomas
Edward Beckham, February 15, 1968, pp. 17-8.)
After Dave Ferrie passed away, Martin's friend David F. Lewis tried to
implicate Beckham in the assassination, just as Martin and Lewis had
previously done with Ferrie (cf. Tom Bethell journal, February 15, 1968;
Beckham testimony, pp. 106, 138, 140).
Beckham told the New Orleans Times-Picayune that "he was being framed by
Garrison and Jack Martin." (New Orleans Times-Picayune, February 16, 1968;
Jerry Shinley, Newsgroup post of January 7, 1999.) A. J. Weberman also
notes, "On July 7, 1960, Edward S. Suggs [aka Jack S. Martin] advised the
FBI that Thomas Edward Beckham, age 17, was in California, allegedly
passing fraudulent checks on his father's account." Weberman also cites an
FBI report noting, "The information that Thomas Beckham was one of
Garrison's witnesses was furnished this Bureau by Edward Suggs . . ."
Edward Stewart Suggs, aka Jack S. Martin, summed up his life quite aptly
during one of his bouts in an institution. In December 1956, at Mercy
Hospital, Martin said, "I ruin everything I get my hands on." (Lambert,
23, citing Mercy Hospital records, December 27, 1956.)
It was Suggs, aka Jack Martin, who started all of the rumors about Oswald
and Ferrie. For more info, see:
http://www4.50megs.com/reitzes/jpsjmfbi63.html
http://www4.50megs.com/reitzes/dbjmaadf.html
Blackburst
>I was under the impression (sorry, no available source \:^) that Martin's
>HSCA interviews contained an allegation or two about Shaw. Have I been
>misled yet again?
I just quickly doublechecked Martin's HSCA letter of 9/19/77, and interviews of
11/22/77, 12/5/77, and 12/6/77 and did not see Clay Shaw's name mentioned. I
will read them through more carefully. I will also check all my other Martin
material.
FYI, my files are now very scattered as I have been making copies and
responding to a few inquiries. I hope to get everything back in it's correct
folder soon.
If I have inadvertently given inaccurate info while quickly answering off the
top of my head, I apologize!
David
Jerry
"Redcurrant" <redcu...@lineone.net> wrote:
> The HSCA came to the following conclusion on Jack
> Martin's reasons:
> 'As for Jack Martin's reasons for calling attention to Ferrie
> as a suspect in the assassination, they may not have been based
> on personal knowledge. Martin never claimed such information
> but his action seems to have been based on sincere concerns
> and some legitimate suspicions'.
Sure, Jack Martin was sincere and got more and more sincere as he drank
himself shitfaced, sincere about wanting to "torpedo" David Ferrie.
Obviously, with the number of calls he made and the manner of the calls
he showed few of the qualities of the concerned citizen and many of the
qualities of somebody with an axe to grind.
The HSCA tarnished their reputation with the material on Ferrie and the
so-called Clinton witnesses, not to mention their nonsense about Ruby
and organized crime.
Jerry
> Redcurrant
> ********
>
> Emmatyler <emma...@aol.com> wrote in message
> news:20000922110354...@ng-cj1.aol.com...
> > To paraphrase Tom Bethell, I'm afraid Jack Martin would linked Sirhan
> Sirhan to
> > the grassy knoll if he felt it suited his purposes.
> >
> > Steve
> >
>
>
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