Which is the real JFK "sniper perch"?
tribune
-- the window where Lee Harvey Oswald propped his rifle to take his
fatal shots at President John F. Kennedy -- lands Monday in a Dallas court
Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123517243943836945.html
Walt
wrote:
Very interesting article...... DH Byrd, a friend of LBJ, and owner of
the TSBD had the window removed from the SOUTH WEST corner of the
sixth floor of his building ( The TSBD) just six weeks after the
murder of President Kennedy. Byrd KNEW which window Howard Brennan
had seen the sniper firing a hunting rifle from, so he had workmen
remove that window.
Seven years later Aubrey Mayhew bought the TSBD from DH Byrd and in
1971 he had the SOUTH EAST corner window removed to keep as a
valuable collectors item.
There's little doubt that DH Byrd has the window that was removed from
the SOUTH WEST corner of the TSBD and Mayhw has the window that was
removed from the SOUTH EAST corner of the TSBD. The question is
Which of them has the window from which a sniper fired a rifle??
Thre's no doubt in my mind that Mr. Byrd has the window that brennan
saw the sniper with a hunting rifle fire from. That window was on the
SOUTH WEST corner of the sixth floor. The Sniper who Brennan saw and
DESCRIBED was NOT Lee Harvey Oswald, nor was the rifle in the sniper's
hands a MILITARY rifle like a Mannlicher Carcano. DH Byrd KNEW which
window the sniper had stood behind and had that window removed. Mayhwe
fell victim to the BS put out by the Warren Commission and believed
that the sniper was Oswald and he had fired from the SOUTH EAST corner
of the sixth floor. Mr. Byrd has the sniper's window.
Raymond
The real sniper's window was to be the fifth floor west window facing
the overpass and the picket fence area. But because of Jack Dougherty
and other human traffic, "Didi" had to go to the farthest spot in the
building to make his shots.
I don't believe that he intended to shot from the sixth floor. Why
would he go to the higher floor when he didn't have to? I would have
used the fifth floor and I would not have shot from the front facing
Elm St. and the crowd.
In a photograph taken minutes after the shooting, two windows on the
southwest corner of the building facing the overpass , are shown to be
open. That would have been my choice.. The first four floors contained
offices where employees were stationary. The fifth, sixth and seventh
floors were used for stock and during lunch would be void of
employees. It would have been a closer and easier shot.
To shoot at the car on Houston St. should have been suicide for the
gunman. With all of the police, Secret Service and others, the
building should have been surrounded within seconds and the shooter
should never have reached the rear of the building and an exit.
However, since the first shot (a diversionary shot from Jim Braden's .
38 cal pistol into the air) drew the crowd and the authorities away
from the building, "El Indio" was able to get out before the building
became the point of interest.
Obviously, the fifth floor had to be abandoned because of human
traffic. In addition to Norman, Jarman, and Williams, who joined them
at 12;20, was Jack Dougherty, an employee who had returned to work
early and was filling a book order on the fifth floor at the time of
the shooting. He testified that he took the west elevator to the first
floor after hearing a noise which sounded like a backfire.
Since the fifth floor had to be abandoned, why wasn't a window on the
southwest corner of the sixth floor used then? Because Williams was
munchin on his chicken sandwich and sippin on his Dr. Pepper until
12;20 and would have seen anyone in that corner. If Williams had not
left the sixth floor when he did, he probably would have been another
victim of the shooting.
WR claimed :"... two bullet fragments were found in the front of the
President's car....The bullet fragments weighed 44.6 and 21.0 grains
respectively. The heavier fragment was a portion of a bullet's
nose area as shown by its rounded contour and the character markings
it bore. The lighter fragment consisted of a bullet's base portion....
The two fragmebts were both mutilated and it was not possible to
determine from the fragments themselves whether they comprised the
base and nose of one bullet or of two separate bullets...."WR ,pp.
557-558.
If one bullet missed the car, one was found complete with nose and
base at Parkland, and the final bullet hit the President's head, then
we must believe that the fragments in the car were from the same
projectile and it was the head shot.( According to the authorities,
not to my humble judgement).
The final conclusion of the Washington Wizards was that three shots
were fired; one shot missed completely; one shot hit Kennedy and
Connally, and the final shot hit JFK in the head. Using elementary
reasoning: If the bullet that hit JFK and JC became the near pristine
bullet found at Parkland, and one bullet missed the limo completely,
how could anyone possibly conclude that the fragments in the car came
from any other shot than the shot to the President's head?
I believe: There was no missed shot. There was a "report" from the
Knoll that everyone believed was gunfire (My diversion shot by Gene
Brading (Braden)).
The first shot FROM the TSBD hit the two men in the Lincoln and
remained in the car (the fragments described above), and the head shot
fragmented into many pieces and went all over Dealey Plaza (including
the fragment that hit Tague. He said he was not sure which of the
shots was responsible for his wound.)
See pp. 110-111 of the Warren Report. "The consensus among the
witnesses at the scene was that three shots were fired . However, some
heard only two shots. THE MOST CONVINCING EVIDENCE relating to the
number of shots was provided by the presence on the sixth floor of
three spent cartridges. THIS LED the Commission to conclude that there
were three shots... "
"The physical and other evidence examined by the Commission compels
the conclusion that AT LEAST TWO SHOTS WERE FIRED... It is possible
that the assassin carried an EMPTY SHELL IN THE RIFLE AND FIRED ONLY
TWO SHOTS with the witnesses hearing multiple noises made by the same
shot."
There was no missed shot. No one can prove that including the FBI. I
will not argue that there was not three "reports " that were gunfire,
but the first one did not come from the TSBD. I SPECULATE
that it was a diversionary shot into the air from the Knoll to draw
the police away from the building while my shooter got out of the
TSBD. And the bent cartridge (CE 543) could not have been fired from
the MC that day or any other day. (Even Hoover rejected the casing as
being fired from the MC that day. However, Hoover was giving out
DISINFORMATION FROM THE VERY BEGINING. )
On the tapes, Hoover is heard telling LBJ:
"The third shot is a complete bullet and that rolled out of the
President's head and-a-in trying to massage his heart-at the hospital-
on the way to the hospital, they apparently loosened that and that
fell onto the stretcher."
At the end of the news piece, Tom Petit, the NBC announcer is heard
to say:
"All the Johnson transcripts and tapes are gradually being made
public, but there is no bombshell in any of them so far."
I have seen many such casings. The damage is caused when a round is
void of the projectile and does not
line up to enter the breech of the barrel and instead hits the edge of
the opening. It often happens when "dry-firing."
See Tink Thompson's Six Seconds In Dallas.
The only two pieces of real evidence against LHO was the bullet and
the serial number on the murder weapon he allegedly bought in March. I
would not have wanted to be the prosecutor that had so little to take
to court. Johnny Cochran would have had Lee playing golf with O.J. in
no time flat.
"The Magic Bullet is like the Immaculate Conception. You either
believe it or you don't."
----- Wm. F. Alexander, Ass't District Attorney, Dallas County
(1963).
But, the Tippit murder is a different story. For that one Lee would
have fried.
Walt
> On Feb 21, 9:04 am, tribune <Use-Author-Supplied-Address-Header@[127.1]
>
> > wrote:
> > A decades-long dispute over who owns the authentic "sniper's perch"
> > -- the window where Lee Harvey Oswald propped his rifle to take his
> > fatal shots at President John F. Kennedy -- lands Monday in a Dallas court
>
> > Wall Street Journal:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123517243943836945.html
>
> The real sniper's window was to be the fifth floor west window facing
> the overpass and the picket fence area. But because of Jack Dougherty
> and other human traffic, "Didi" had to go to the farthest spot in the
> building to make his shots.
>
> I don't believe that he intended to shot from the sixth floor. Why
> would he go to the higher floor when he didn't have to?
Any floor lower than the sixth floor put trees in the line of fire.
A sniper on the fifth floor would have been in plain sight of Bonnie
Ray Williams, Harold ( shorty) Norman, and Junior Jarman, and he could
not have seen JFK because of the trees .
Raymond
The Paper Bag Revolver
The first shot (a diversionary shot from Jim Braden's . 38 cal pistol
into the air) drew the crowd and the authorities away from the
building. There are still several questions to be answer regarding the
revolver and the FBI investigation.
Second Gun or Second Guessing?
The Story of the Revolver in the Paper Bag
By Bill Adams
The AIB Discovers a Mystery
The FBI unleashed a controversy in 1978 when they released 100,000
pages of documents concerning its investigation into the assassination
of President Kennedy. Within those 100,000 pages was a very intriguing
FBI document. That same year the Assassination Information Bureau
(AIB) reviewed the FBI document release and reported the discovery of
various documents in the AIB's newsletter, "Clandestine America." One
issue of the newsletter mentioned that a .38 caliber revolver was
discovered "in a paper bag in the immediate vicinity of the
assassination site."
Re-discovering a Mystery
In the Fall of 1991 I was reading through Paul Hoch's collection of
"Clandestine America" when I came across the AIB article on the
revolver [1]. I was intrigued by the potential implications of a
second gun being found in Dealey Plaza. Over the next few months I
contacted many assassination researchers and was disappointed to learn
that none of them had ever heard of the revolver. Late in 1991 I
finally located a copy of a document concerning the revolver.
Researcher John Woods II had a copy of the document in a collection of
documents he had obtained regarding the HSCA investigation into the
assassination. The document contained the following information:
...For the information of the Boston office on the morning of November
Twentythree, last, a snub nose thirty eight caliber Smith and Wesson,
serial number eight nine three two six five, with the word quote
England unquote on the cylinder was found at approximately seven
thirty AM, in a brown paper sack in the general area of where the
assassination of President Kennedy took place. [2]
I soon realized that this document was not the document mentioned by
the AIB, as the article stated the revolver was found, "in the
immediate vicinity of the assassination site." Wood's document,
however claimed the revolver was found "in the general area of where
the assassination of President Kennedy took place." Either there was
more than one document or the AIB had misrepresented the contents of
the revolver document.
FOIA Requests
At this point I decided to use the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
to obtain any additional revolver documents that existed. During the
last few days of 1991 I filed the first of many FOIA requests with the
FBI regarding the revolver. My first request went to FBI Headquarters
in Washington, DC. Two months later the FBI responded to my request by
sending copies of "2 pages of preprocessed material." [3] I was making
progress faster than I expected and now possessed three documents
concerning the revolver. The new documents provided more detail about
the FBI investigation of the revolver and claimed the revolver had
been found "in [the] immediate vicinity of the assassination area." I
now could confirm that the AIB and Woods did in fact have two
different documents on the revolver. These documents had apparently
also been released as part of the FBI's 1978 release but had not been
reported by the AIB. Four years later, as I write this article, I am
still awaiting the FBI's closure of this request and/or release of
additional documents responsive to my request.
During the Summer of 1993 I gave up waiting for the FBI to complete my
1991 FOIA request. I filed a new FOIA request with each of the
involved FBI Field Offices - Boston, Dallas, Philadelphia, and
Springfield. Within a month I had responses from all four Field
Offices. Springfield said they had no responsive documents but would
refer me to FBI Headquarters. Both Dallas and Philadelphia referred me
to FBI Headquarters as well. Boston however provided a bizarre
response: they were "currently unable to locate [their] file
pertaining to the assassination." Boston assured me that "when/if the
file is located, processing of [my] request will continue and [I
would] be advised of the results." Apparently they never did find
their file as Boston has never sent another reply to my FOIA request.
The Release of a New Document
As a result of the Assassination Records Collection Act (ARCA) of 1992
the FBI files reviewed by the HSCA were released to the National
Archives. One of these FBI files turned out to be a two page document
concerning the FBI's attempts to trace the revolver. [4] This document
also mentions that the revolver was "found in a paper bag in the
immediate vicinity of the assassination area." I obtained this
document from another researcher and now possessed four different
revolver documents.
Nashville Assassination Attempt
During my search for the revolver documents I also was researching
Thomas Vallee (a threat to JFK in Chicago in November of 1963) and his
connections to a JFK visit to Nashville, Tennessee in May of 1963. A
Canadian researcher, Sheldon Inkol, informed me of a tabloid newspaper
carrying a story about an assassination attempt against JFK during his
Nashville trip. I was able to obtain the original Nashville newspaper
articles as well as the tabloid article concerning the new revelation.
The following quote from the article was very interesting in light of
my ongoing revolver investigation:
The Nashville Congressman - the son of the late Governor Frank
Clement, the president's host during a May 1963 visit - said the
incident at Overton High School was kept quiet in order to keep from
encouraging similar scares. "At Overton High School there was a man
who approached with a gun underneath a sack. He was grabbed by the
Secret Service." [5]
Was it possible that an individual had planned to approach JFK in
Dealey Plaza with the revolver in the paper bag just as had happened
six months before in Nashville? My revolver research intensified.
However I was dismayed to learn that the Nashville potential assassin
has never been identified and no documents have ever been released
regarding this individual. I was back where I started with only the
four revolver documents to go on.
Second Guessing
It is amazing how fast a "new discovery" or the "re-discovery" of
assassination information gets spread through the researcher
community. It is also very disappointing to see how a story "gets
better" each time it is told and passed on. I began telling the story
of the revolver and my analysis of the documents to anyone who would
listen. I felt the terminology used in the documents could safely be
interpreted to mean the revolver was at least found in the area of
Dealey Plaza but not necessarily the area of the Texas School Book
Depository (TSBD) or grassy knoll. In 1994 Anthony Summers interviewed
me for an article he was writing for "Vanity Fair" magazine. He had
heard of my research concerning the revolver and asked for copies of
the documents I had uncovered. Summers had told me he had heard the
revolver was found by the TSBD. I made it clear to Summers that there
was no known documentation to support the conclusion that the revolver
was found by the TSBD -- however I did feel the documentation
supported the conclusion that the revolver was found in Dealey Plaza.
Summers must have had another source as to the location of the
revolver, as is shown in the following quote from his "Vanity Fair"
article of December 1994:
... So a revolver was found near the Book Depository -- "In THE
IMMEDIATE VICINITY," according to other FBI reports. [italics added]
[6]
Nigel Turner visited me in November 1994 and also told me he had heard
the revolver was found by the TSBD. Both Turner and Summers must have
had another source that they did not identify. Had someone found the
missing document that disclosed the location where the revolver was
found? Why had my FOIA requests not produced this apparent document? I
then began to hear rumors that a couple of Dallas area researchers had
been on the local TV and/or radio claiming the revolver was found
behind the fence on the grassy knoll. In fact, Larry Howard may have
even stated he feared for his life because of his knowledge of the
revolver shortly before he died of a heart attack. Speculation was
rampant regarding the revolver. What had I missed? How could Anthony
Summers and Nigel Turner have proof the revolver was found by the TSBD
while other researchers claimed it was found behind the fence on the
grassy knoll? I intensified my search for the documents these
researchers must have found and I had failed to discover.
Well, I was very disappointed when I discovered the apparent source
used by Summers, Turner and the other researchers. It involved the
unpublished manuscript, "A 'Smoking Gun' for the Grassy Knoll?", by J.
Gary Shaw and Larry Ray Harris. [7] This manuscript should never have
been used as a source for the location of the revolver. The manuscript
relies on speculation to imply the revolver was dropped by a blonde
woman, who may have been one of Ruby's strippers, near the TSBD. Let
us analyze a few of the implications in the unpublished manuscript:
1) The revolver was dropped in a paper bag near the TSBD
The manuscript provides the following quote from Warren Commission
Document number five, page 127 to support it's implication that the
revolver was found near the TSBD:
. . . Weitzman stated that during the time he was running from the
intersection of Main and Houston, he observed a blonde woman, 20 to 25
years old, drop a lunch sack at a point about half a block west of the
Texas School Book Depository Building, but thought nothing of it at
the time. . .
The authors of the manuscript fail to mention the obvious -- there
were hundreds of people in Dealey Plaza and the surrounding buildings
who were at lunch at the time of the assassination. Might we assume
there were dozens if not hundreds of paper bags in Dealey Plaza and
the surrounding buildings? Several other paper bags are mentioned in
assassination documents and literature: (1) the paper bag carried by
Gus Abrams (one of the three tramps); (2) the paper bag allegedly used
to transport the rifle; (3) the TSBD sixth floor "chicken lunch" paper
bag; (4) the paper bags carried by the black couple behind the
concrete wall on the grassy knoll.
2) The blonde woman was one of Ruby's strippers
The manuscript provides the following quote from Warren Commission
Document number five, page 127 in support of it's implication of
involvement by one of Ruby's strippers:
. . . he observed a blonde woman, 20 to 25 years old, drop a lunch
sack. . .
There were many blonde women in Dealey Plaza and the surrounding
buildings. There is absolutely no basis for implying the woman who
dropped the bag was one of Ruby's strippers.
Therefore, I was back where I started with four revolver documents and
nothing more. My search for answers continued into 1995.
The Answers are Rediscovered
Early in 1995 Paul Hoch sent me a copy of another AIB discovered
document concerning the revolver. He discovered this document while
looking for other material I had requested, unrelated to the revolver
investigation. This document was also apparently included in the 1978
FBI document release. This document was a new fifth document that I
had never seen before and my FOIA requests had not uncovered. The
document provides the missing piece to the revolver puzzle. The
document not only reveals where the revolver was found but who found
it. The following quote from this document shows just how wrong I and
other researchers were:
On 11/23/63, Patrolman J. Raz brought into the Homicide and Robbery
Bureau, Dallas PD, a brown paper sack which contained a snub-nosed .38
caliber Smith & Wesson, SN 893265 . . . had been found . . . near the
curb at the corner of Ross and Lamar Streets and was turned in by one
Willie Flat . . . [8]
The corner of Ross Avenue and Lamar Street is several blocks north of
the TSBD. The location is not "by the TSBD" or "behind the fence on
the grassy knoll."
"Immediate Vicinity"
Another example of misleading wording in documents and researcher
speculation and assumptions involves the report of two men sighting-in
a rifle.
. . . The police have interviewed a witness who has stated that a man
fitting subject's description in company of another man were observed
by this witness on 20 Nov 63 in the immediate vicinity of the place
where President Kennedy was killed. These men were observed sighting-
in a rifle at two silhouette targets . . . [9]
This document also appears to have been incorrectly interpreted by
various researchers who have reported the men were seen sighting-in a
rifle on the grassy knoll. The following quote from an FBI document
clarifies where the alleged incident took place.
. . . had heard on Friday afternoon, November 22, 1963, while at the
Dallas Police Department that the Police Department had received a
call Wednesday at night regarding two men sighting-in a rifle on
Continental Street . . .
Continental Street crosses over Stemmons Freeway beyond the area of
Dealey Plaza and is no where near the grassy knoll.
Questions Still Unanswered
There are still several questions to be answer regarding the revolver
and the FBI investigation.
Who was Willie Flat?
Was he interviewed by the DPD or FBI?
Where are the documents regarding Willie Flat?
Where are the teletypes from 11/23/63 through 11/29/63 that originally
informed FBI Headquarters of the revolver?
Where is the revolver now?
"2nd Guessing"
I hope this article will serve as a warning to other researchers.
Assumptions can lead you into false conclusions, and speculation
turned into fact will lead to embarrassment and ridicule by other
researchers and the public at large.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Footnotes
Assassination Information Bureau, " ", Clandestine America Volume 2,
Number 1, 1978
FBI Dallas Field Office [89-43-???] to FBI HQ [62-109060-485] and
Boston Field Office, November 29, 1963.
FBI Springfield Field Office [89-23-???] to FBI HQ [62-109060-858;
42-24016], November 30, 1963; FBI Philadelphia Field Office
[157-916-???] to FBI HQ [62-109060-638], Dallas Field Office,
Springfield Field Office, and Boston Field Office.
FBI Boston Field Office [89-43-???] to FBI HQ [62-109060-857], Dallas
Field Office, Philadelphia Feld Office, November 29, 1963.
Nashville Banner, January 25, 1992, pg A-1.
Anthony and Robbyn Summers, "J.F.K.: Case Reopened," Vanity Fair,
December 1994.
J. Gary Shaw and Larry Ray Harris, "A 'Smoking Gun' for the Grassy
Knoll?", Unpublished manuscript, 1994.
FBI Dallas Field Office SA [89-43-636] to FBI Dallas Field Office SAC,
November 25, 1963.
112th Army Intelligence Group, Spot report #419, November 22, 1963;
FBI Dallas Field Office [89-43-23818B].
Copyright Bill Adams 1996
http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/weberman/tfdrev.htm
Reprinted with permission of the author.
---------------------------------------
Walt
wrote:
On page 392 of Volume XX there is a copy of a page from Seth Kantor's
notebook.
Seth Kantor was a reporter following President Kennedy's visit to
Dallas, and he scribbled notes of events as they happened. On the
afternoon of Sunday November 24, 1963 he was in Dealy Plaza taking
notes of the scene where JFK had been murdered. He noted that Ruby
was now in jail only two hundred feet from Dealey Plaza. He looked up
at the TSBD sixth floor and wrote: Quote..." Orange brick bldg-- 6th
floor window now replaced"...unqoute
There are a couple of pages that are ommitted from the WC exhibit.
On them Kantor had scribbled that a sixth floor floor window appeared
to have been struck by a bullet, because the window appeared to have
spider web like cracks where a bullet hit.
Kantor was describing a window at the WEST end of the sixth floor.
Larry Schnapf
Raymond- who is "didI" and who are the "Washington Wizards"?