Jack Martin
andre...@my-deja.com
I'm aware of Garrison never called Martin as a witness in the trial
against Shaw. Did Garrison call Martin to testify? If he didn't he lost
an oppurtunity to tie Shaw with Oswald and Ferrie, two men that Shaw said
that he never met...
P.S. Did Garrison ever charge Shaw with perjury as he said that he would?
P.P.S. Does anyone have a picture of Clay Shaw, I have been having trouble
finding one?
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Blackburst
investigator, more so in the 1958-1961 period than later.
2) To the best of my knowledge, Martin never tied Shaw to anybody.
3) I believe Garrison did not call Matrin because he regarded Martin as
not a reliable source of information - as did others, both before and
after the assassination.
Dave Reitzes
>
>Jack Martin was Guy Bannister's secratary in his private eye business.
No, Edward Stewart Suggs, aka Jack S. Martin, was an investigator for
Banister.
As
>I'm aware of Garrison never called Martin as a witness in the trial
>against Shaw. Did Garrison call Martin to testify?
Garrison never called Martin to testify at any proceeding -- not the Shaw
trial of 1969, not the Shaw preliminary hearing of March 1967, and not a
single session before the grand jury.
In Garrison's book, *On the Trail of the Assassins* (1991 ed., p. 43), the
onetime DA even claims that Martin refused to put any of his stories in
writing or sign a formal statement about anything he knew. This simply is
not true; Martin signed a number of such statements, and they are now
available at the National Archives. Garrison had to bury these statements
because they rendered Martin non-credible.
If he didn't he lost
>an oppurtunity to tie Shaw with Oswald and Ferrie, two men that Shaw said
>that he never met...
To my knowledge, Martin never claimed to have first-hand knowledge of a
relationship between Clay Shaw and Lee Harvey Oswald, nor Clay Shaw and
David Ferrie.
If you are under the impression that Clay Shaw knew either Lee Harvey
Oswald or David Ferrie, please check out part four of my article, "Who
Speaks for Clay Shaw?" http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/shaw4.htm
The most widely credited evidence of a possible relationship between Shaw,
Ferrie and Oswald concerns an alleged visit by the trio to the rural town
of Clinton, Louisiana. Only a year ago I personally considered the Clinton
witnesses rock-solid, but seeing the witnesses' *original* statements to
Garrison's office changed my mind 100% -- these statements didn't just
call the Clinton story into question; these statements demolished the
story outright. My article detailing this episode is posted at:
http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/clinton1.htm
The site also has links to the available pre-trial statements from these
witnesses, posted in their entirety.
Back to Jack Martin . . .
A. J. Weberman (www.weberman.com) has done an extraordinary amount of
research on the New Orleans cast of characters. Concerning Martin's
background, he writes:
(quote) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The first arrest of Edward Suggs [aka Jack Martin] took place in on
October 24, 1944, in Fort Smith, Arkansas. The charge was "inv. susp." On
January 11, 1945, he was arrested for carrying a pistol in Fort Worth,
Texas and on December 12, 1946, he was fingerprinted for "Special Police,
Los Angeles, California." On December 31, 1947, Edward Suggs was arrested
for disturbing the peace in San Diego, California, and on May 17, 1949,
Edward Suggs was arrested for "P/c bond" in Dallas, Texas. On May 14,
1952, Edward Suggs was arrested for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution
for the crime of murder in Houston, Texas. On May 16, 1952, he was charged
with murder in Houston, Texas. The charges were dropped. On January 27,
1953, he was a witness in Houston, Texas. On May 2, 1953, Suggs was
picked-up in Los Angeles on a warrant that had been issued because of the
murder charge in Texas. He was released when the L.A.P.D. discovered he
was no longer wanted in Texas. On March 10, 1954, Edward Suggs was finger
printed in Galveston for vagrancy and drunk. The FBI: "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
Charity Hospital New Orleans as a of January 17, 1957. His psychiatrist
informed our agents that Suggs was suffering from a character disorder and
indicated an interview of Suggs by the Bureau at that time might prolong
his hospitalization." Another FBI document reported that Suggs was a
patient in a psychiatric ward in 1956 through 1957. [FBI 62-109060-4539]
The FBI interviewed Edward Suggs in 1960 about impersonating an FBI agent.
In the early 1960's David Ferrie stated: "I consider Mr. Suggs mentally,
emotionally unstable. He has been in Charity Hospital with psychiatric
bouts of one kind or another. I know him as a man who is commonly spoken
of as an ambivalent. He plays both sides of the street. Most of his
conversation is spent telling you how he wants to torpedo somebody . . ."
(end quote) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
It was Suggs, aka Jack Martin, who started all of the rumors about Oswald
and Ferrie, including the claim that Oswald had been arrested with David
Ferrie's library card. Weberman writes:
(quote) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
On November 23, 1963, Edward Suggs was visited by bail bondsman Hardy W.
Davis. Edward Suggs told Hardy Davis he had seen a photograph of David
Ferrie holding a rifle similar to OSWALD'S and that David Ferrie had once
discussed a short story plot which involved the shooting of the President
of the United States. The FBI: "Hardy Davis advised that they discussed
remarks made by Ferrie to the effect that he would like to kill several
Deputy Sheriffs and the Superintendent of the New Orleans Police
Department, whom Ferrie believed had been persecuting him and caused him
to be arrested for homosexual crimes." Edward Suggs told Hardy Davis that
a television program had reported that the library card of David Ferrie
had been found in the possession of OSWALD on his arrest in Dallas.
(end quote) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What on Earth would Oswald be doing with Dave Ferrie's library card
anyway? If Oswald was set up by Ferrie -- as many suggest -- would Ferrie
let his "patsy" run around with his library card on November 22, 1963? A
more detailed account of this rumor, written by researcher David
Blackburst, is posted at:
http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/lib-card.txt
A. J. Weberman has catalogued some of the kaleidoscopic variety of
allegations made by Jack Martin soon after the assassination.
(quote) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
On November 23, 1963, Edward Suggs called New Orleans Assistant District
Attorney Herman Kohlman and said that in 1955 OSWALD and David Ferrie were
in the Civil Air Patrol together and both were members of the Fair Play
for Cuba Committee in 1963. Edward Suggs told Major Presley J. Trosclair
of the New Orleans Police Dept. the same story.
On Monday, November 25, 1963, Edward Suggs went to FBI S.A. Regis Kennedy
with the story:
"Edward Suggs, 1311 North Prieur Street, New Orleans, Louisiana, advised
that he was listening to a television program on WWL-TV reported the life
of LEE HARVEY OSWALD and reporting various interviews with people in New
Orleans that were acquainted with OSWALD. Suggs stated that one of the
people interviewed whose name he not know, aged early 20's, wearing
horned-rim glasses, recalled that OSWALD had been active in the Civil Air
Patrol with David Ferrie. [This fits the physical and biographical
descriptions of Edward Voebel, who attended a few CAP meetings with Oswald
and was interviewed on TV shortly after the assassination.] Suggs stated
that when he heard this he flipped."
(end quote) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I used to believe that some of Jack Martin's earliest stories about Ferrie
knowing Oswald were true. Statements like the above should have changed my
mind. If Martin had first-hand knowledge of an Ferrie-Oswald relationship,
he would hardly have needed to make the connection through Oswald and
Ferrie's Civil Air Patrol service.
(quote) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Suggs advised that in his occupation as a private investigator he had an
occasion to develop considerable information about Ferrie and reported it
to one Richard E. Roby, Special Agent, Investigative Division, Office of
Compliance and Security, Federal Aviation Agency, Washington, D.C. who
must have a big file on Ferrie as a they conducted a complete
investigation of his activities in New Orleans several years ago. Suggs
advised that he called WWL-TV Station and furnished the station with
background information about Ferrie, particularly his homosexual
tendencies and that the fact he formerly operated the Civil Air Patrol. He
also told them that Ferrie was an amateur hypnotist and may have
hypnotized OSWALD and planted a post-hypnotic suggestion that he kill the
President."
(end quote) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Martin's report was widely publicized later.
(quote) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Suggs stated that he has visited in the home of David Ferrie and he saw a
group of photographs of various Civil Air Patrol cadet groups and in this
group he is sure he saw several years ago a photograph of LEE OSWALD as a
member of one of the classes. He stated he did not recall the group that
OSWALD was in or any other details . . ."
(end quote) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
So the sum total of Martin's knowledge would seem to be that Ferrie once
knew Oswald through the CAP, something he's apparently inventing evidence
(the non-existent photographs) to support. (Ferrie didn't have any such
photographs; he even went around to former CAP associates to see if any
such photos existed.)
(quote) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Suggs advised that he was really suspicious of Ferrie's activities when
he received a report from W. Hardy Davis, a New Orleans Bail Bondsman, who
told him that G. Wray Gill, New Orleans attorney and employer of Ferrie
had called him to locate Ferrie who lives down the street from him and at
the same time had denied to the TV station that Ferrie was an employee of
Gill's office. Davis furnished Suggs information that Ferrie had left town
for Texas on Friday evening, November 22, 1963, which information he also
made available to Mr. Kohlman."
(end quote) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
So Martin didn't even have first-hand knowledge about Ferrie leaving town
that evening; he got the information from Hardy Davis.
In none of Martin's post-assassination statements does he claim to have
personally ever met or been in the presence of Lee Harvey Oswald. He tried
his damnedest to link Oswald to Ferrie, but when his credibility was
demolished, he neglected to say the one thing that would have redeemed it:
"I *know* Ferrie knew Oswald -- I *saw* them together!" He would make no
such claim until several years later, when Jim Garrison came calling.
In Martin's post-assassination statements, he never once says that Oswald
had ever been to Guy Banister's office, nor does he link Oswald to
Banister in any way. He would not say any such thing until three years
later -- two years after Banister died of a heart attack, and was not
around to defend himself.
In Martin's post-assassination statements, he never once mentions Clay
Shaw. Even during the Garrison investigation, Martin barely acknowledged
Shaw's existence. Only in 1978 did he start including Shaw in his stories
about the goings-on in Guy Banister's office. Even though HSCA chief
counsel G. Robert Blakey wanted very much to link Oswald to Ferrie, he and
the committee had to acknowledge Martin's utter lack of credibility. (The
HSCA's only concession was that David Ferrie might have been upset by the
rumor about his library card, but the committee knew that there was no
evidence behind this rumor, and that Martin was its source.)
>P.S. Did Garrison ever charge Shaw with perjury as he said that he would?
Yes, Garrison charged Shaw with two counts of perjury, for denying to have
known Oswald and Ferrie. After a two-year court battle, US district court
judge Herbert Christenberry was petitioned to intervene. After a lengthy
questioning of Jim Garrison, during which Garrison explicitly refused to
answer many of the most pertinent questions and gave demonstrably
incorrect answers to others, Christenberry ruled that Garrison had filed
his charges against Shaw in bad faith, and enjoined the DA from taking any
further action against his alleged suspect. Just the other day, researcher
Jerry Shinley posted Christenberry's lengthy decision to this newsgroup in
two parts, in a thread entitled "CITIZEN SHAW."
>P.P.S. Does anyone have a picture of Clay Shaw, I have been having trouble
>finding one?
There is one posted at:
http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/shaw.jpg
Please check out my article, "Who Speaks for Clay Shaw?" which examines
Garrison's case against Clay Shaw *in its entirety* as well as new
evidence that has arisen in the years since.
http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/shaw1.htm
I once considered Jim Garrison an honest, reliable, courageous prosecutor.
I'm afraid that once I started looking at the actual contemporaneous
record of Garrison's investigation, everything Garrison asserted began to
fall apart. There are many more useful resources on Garrison, including
primary sources available nowhere else on-line, and links to Web sites
with opposing views, at:
http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/garrison.htm
The most accurate and thorough account to date of the Garrison
investigation is Patricia Lambert's recent book, *False Witness.*
Dave Reitzes