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Spaulden Jones Photos at the Sixth Floor Museum

Spaulden Jones Photos at the Sixth Floor Museum

 

Spaulden Jones. Thanks to Phil Hopley.

A few weeks back the Sixth Floor Museum published a set of colour photographs taken by Spaulden Jones inside the Texas School Book Depository. Jones was a regional manager of Macmillan and Company, which were housed on the third floor of the TSBD.  Spaulden Jones believed that he was on the elevator with Lee Harvey Oswald on November 22, 1963 at 08:30 as per his notes seen below.

Click pic to enlarge. Photo: Spaulden Jones – Sixth Floor Museum.

The next day on the morning of the 23rd, Jones took a series of color photographs on the sixth floor of the Depository, and it is just amazing to see the so called ‘scene’ in colour for a change.

I like the photo of the two men in the so called sniper’s nest with one on the phone and the other being close to the sniper’s position and is fairly well concealed from view unless from relative closeness which this shot perfectly demonstrates. Those pipes look like a bother for a right handed shooter.

Click pic to enlarge. Photo: Spaulden Jones – Sixth Floor Museum.

Two other photos stood out to me as they were not  taken on the third floor, where the MacMillan office was based inside the TSBD.

They are of the second floor front entrance of the TSBD office of which there is a similar FBI photograph that was published by the Warren Commission in 1964. A quick comparison immediately shows this to be the same front entrance.

Click pic to enlarge. Photo: Spaulden Jones – Sixth Floor Museum.

Click to enlarge. Photo:  Spaulden Jones – Sixth Floor Museum.

 

Second floor office space entrance, click pic to enlarge. From MFF.

I reckon that potential clients of the companies housed inside the TSBD where received through the second floor front entrance. And that also goes for the conference room photo pasted below. There is no other conference room in the building than on the second floor in the back where the upper management such as Jack Cason and Ochus Campbell had their offices. It is nice to see what the conference room looked like. Obviously the books belong to the publishing companies housed on the second, third and fourth floors. No idea of identifying the people in the photographs above the shelf unit are. Nor the Emblem, could be an award?

Click to enlarge. Second floor conference room TSBD. Photo: Spaulden Jones – Sixth Floor Museum.

Click to enlarge. Second floor conference room TSBD, back of image. Photo: Spaulden Jones – Sixth Floor Museum.

And for more clarification I share the 2nd and 3rd floor plans made by the FBI. For some strange reason rooms 302, 303 and 304 are missing on the third floor plans.

Add on April 14th 2023.

Jones also did an Oral History Interview with the Sixth Floor Museum in 1996.

Spaulden Jones being interviewed in April 1996. Pic.: Sixth Floor Museum. Click to enlarge.

During the first ten minutes he explains what he had done during his career and his position inside the TSBD as a manager for MacMillan book publishing company, he worked from the fourth floor and he had six secretaries working for him.

  • He knew Roy Truly very well. Truly was in charge of the physical shipping of the books.
  • Jones was out for lunch with Herbert Junker (one of his sales reps) at the closeby Blue Front restaurant when JFK was killed.
  • They returned to the TSBD straight after hearing the news. His estimation was that about five or ten minutes had passed.
  • He noticed that there was a lot of confusion.
  • He had five of his office ladies down out in front of the TSBD when he returned.
  • When asking them how many shots they had heard many of them could not precisely recall as to how many they thought they had heard. It differed from 2-4 shots.
  • Some of the women were near the front entrance and some were further down Elm St.
  • He was milling around and he mentions meeting Wes Wise, but also a suited gentleman who was holding a shoe box  which contained a piece of Kennedy’s skull and which he saw being handed over.
  • People were listening to their radios where they would hear that the President was at Parkland hospital. But upon seeing that piece of skull Jones had not much faith in JFK still being alive.
  • They, the office people, were let back into the TSBD, but they couldn’t leave.
  • Upon return inside the women were very much upset and before they let anyone go they were being interviewed in their office. Strangely enough he cannot remember who questioned them, only that they were not wearing uniforms. He thinks they were FBI or USSS. The ladies were interviewed first.
  • He mentions seeing and talking to Doris Burns afterwards. They had questioned her already but would not let her go. After which one of the other older ladies remarked “She won’t tell them her age.”
  • When asked what questions he was asked at that time he states: “How many shots did you hear? Where were you standing?”

 

 

With special thanks to Gary Murr (for the drawings) and Ed Ledoux for some additional research.

Then went outside to watch P. parade

As I have mentioned before on the Prayer Man FB page  I have been quite busy with putting a new website together for Dealey Plaza UK. Part of that website was trying to put some archives in there as well. It started with the Harold Rydberg materials, but shortly after I was asked to do the Harry Livingstone archives, or part of that as well. Malcolm Blunt asked me to do this to which I readily agreed. The work is still ongoing and means less online appearances unless there is something worthwhile to make mention of.

This research then also led to me digitising parts of Malcolm Blunt’s old Dallas collection. Malcolm does a lot of deep agency research and the Dallas  material is from the period before that when he stayed in Dallas and in Washington in the 90’s.

So here I will show you a note made by Jim Hosty no one else has seen before or even bothered to share or simply overlooked it . It comes from the National Archives and it was Malcolm who found it. Who else as hardly anyone spends any real time at the National Archives in Washington than Malcolm!

Written on the backside of a D.P.D. affidavit sheet of paper, Hosty outlines what Oswald’s movements were and what he said.

Hand written notes by Jim Hosty. Click to enlarge.

What do you think P. stand for? Presidential? Yeah I agree. Presidential parade.

What this document does is:

1/ kills off a so called second floor lunch room encounter.

2/ places Lee Oswald outside while the Presidential motorcade went past the building.

This document is hand in hand with Will Fritz’s handwritten notes that mentions “Out with Bill Shelley in front”

Will Fritz handwritten note of Oswald’s interrogation.. Click pic. to enlarge.

Both attendees to the first interrogation of Lee Oswald wrote down where he claimed he was, not on the 6th floor, not waiting in the lunch room.

But outside with Bill Shelley while the Presidential parade went past.

Lee Oswald is the Prayer Man!

Prayer Man a.k.a. Lee Harvey Oswald. Click pic. to enlarge.

James Bookhout ID

Thanks to Denis Morissette and Steve Roe and our ROKC scan we have a James Bookhout ID.

Awesome work lads!

1968 newspaper clipping, thanks to Steve Roe.

James Bookhout (light suit and smoking a pipe). Pic Jim Murray-Black Star. ROKC Scan from the Richard E Sprague collection at the National Archives.

 

The 6th floor window in the Robert Hughes film

Robert Hughes

Robert Hughes

On Nov 26th 1963 Robert Hughes hands over his film which he shot while the motorcade was turning from Houston on to Elm St. on Nov 22nd 1963.

The FBI initially investigates and reckons there is a person visible in the window where the so called sniper’s nest is located. But they change their mind once the film is being studied in Washington.

Although the FBI had the Hughes film in its possession 4 days (Nov 26th 1963) after the Big Event, the WC decided not to use it. This is an important FACT! Actually the WC barely used anything from that day while they were aware of most photographs and film footage they choose not to admit it into evidence.

In a memo dated Nov 26th it says it appears that there may be someone in the 6th floor window.

This is repeated in a memo on Nov 28th by A. Rosen to Alan Belmont

Alan Belmont  writes on Nov 28th, the same day he received the memo from Rosen without any further evidence besides jumping on the band wagon that he can see one person in the window.

A memo by Robert Barrett makes the same claim, let’s also add that this particular finding comes from Dallas first and foremost. The FBI lab in Wa. has not had their hands on the Hughes film yet and investigate this particular claim. And this shift from Dallas to Washington is where things seem to change!!!

The FBI makes 10 copies of the film according to the memo on Dec 9th (check out all the signatures!) and guess what? They reported they could NOT SEE ANY HUMAN FORM in that window.

But it is getting better! In a memo (which includes Belmont as one of the recipients btw!) from Dec 10th  by W.D. Griffth it is repeated that no human form is visible.

Not only does the FBI investigate this in WA. and comes to the conclusion I just mentioned.. They want a second opinion and the FBI sends it to the Navy Photographic Interpretation Centre and they conclude the same.  

Richard E. Sprague adds on that there is no rifle showing either. From a timing perspective this makes it rather difficult to conclude that 3 shots have been fired from that very same window.

 

Memo Nov 26th 1963

Memo Nov 26th 1963

FBI Memo Rosen to Belmont Nov 28th 1963

FBI Memo Rosen to Belmont Nov 28th 1963

Memo by Robert Barrert Nov 30th 1963

Memo Dec 9th FBI-10 copies of Hughes film made

Memo Dec 9th 1963-1

Memo Dec 9th 1963-2

Memo Dec 9th 1963-2

FBI Report stating they can not see any human form in Hughes-1

FBI Report stating they can not see any human form in Hughes-1

FBI Report stating they can not see any human form in Hughes-2

FBI Report stating they can not see any human form in Hughes-2

WD Griffth Memo Dec 10 1963

Sprague, Richard E., Monographs

Prayer Man Update

Stan Dane’s book is out and I am jealous, the man is a machine!!!!

Stan, it’s a fabulous piece of work and a welcome addition to  JFK Assassination research. Anyone whois interested in JFK assassination research should get this, I mean $ 9.00, it’s a steal.

Get it!!!!

PM Book Cover Stan Dane

 

Buy the Kindle edition HERE

Print editions to follow.