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Out of the Blank #1366

I had a chat with Robbie Robertson two weeks ago. Was not really in the mood, but got ‘chatted’ into doing it. I ended up talking about the fingerprints, palm prints and the nitrate tests and also a bit on Oswald at Youth House. An article on that is in the works. It is an element that had to be added to the interrogations chapter.

Furthermore I am working hard on the book. I hope to have it done in electronic form in about 2-3 weeks (famous last words….). A physical copy follows in and around May/June. There will be some exclusive content in that book. Watch this space.

Also I am doing another Quick Hits show with Doug Campbell and Rob Clark in April, so more to come.

Lee Harvey Oswald’s Palm Prints

Lee Harvey Oswald’s Palm Prints.

 

The palm print is of major interest and that is because eventually Oswald’s palm print was linked to the rifle, but before it got to that it went through some interesting moves. I will share all my available information that I have managed to gather and my special thanks go to Malcolm Blunt for some of the documentation, Terry Martin for the scans of the hallway photographs. Also NARAMFFAARC and UNT. And additional research by Michael T GriffithHarold WeisbergHenry Hurt and David Lifton. Sylvia Meagher is one of the very first ones, in Dec. 1964, who writes about this.

The palm print cards.

There are two sets of Nov. 22nd palm prints known to me. Both signed by Hicks, and referred to as CE 735 & 736. A better quality set is also at the Malcolm Blunt archive in a FBI report from May 19 1978.

Then at UNT, the second set (left & right) is also signed again by Hicks and the images are referred to as the Commission Exhibits. This means that these photos come from the WC and are not reproductions from the DPD themselves. The black edging and numbering give that away. These sets are not originals.

These sets differ from each other once you check the annotations and the positions of the printed fingers of the palm prints in the photographic reproductions.

Carl Day and the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle.

Taking a closer look at Carl Day and his statements about the alleged palm print lift. It was allegedly underneath the barrel and ‘protected’ by the wood stock. Day was the only person who handled the rifle.

Lieutenant Day is seen in this Helmer Reenberg compilation of various clips handling the weapon on the sixth floor of the TSBD, near the front entrance and inside the third floor corridor of the DPD. Below a set of photos of Day in the third floor corridor on his way to Room 317 of Robbery & Homicide which was Will Fritz’s office and where Marina Oswald was to be shown the rifle for identification. She was of no help to them. There are no reports of Marina positively identifying the rifle there and then.

In his W.C. testimony he explains where he found the print and what happened during the process of developing the palm print.

Mr. DAY. I took it to the office and tried to bring out the two prints I had seen on the side of the gun at the bookstore. They still were rather unclear. Due to the roughness of the metal, I photographed them rather than try to lift them. I could also see a trace of a print on the side of the barrel that extended under the woodstock. I started to take the woodstock off and noted traces of a palmprint near the firing end of the barrel about 3 inches under the wood-stock when I took the woodstock loose.
Mr. BELIN. You mean 3 inches from the small end of the woodstock?
Mr. DAY. Right–yes, sir.
Mr. McCLOY. From the firing end of the barrel, you mean the muzzle?
Mr. DAY. The muzzle; yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Let me clarify the record. By that you mean you found it on the metal or you mean you found it on the wood?
Mr. DAY. On the metal, after removing the wood.
Mr. BELIN. The wood. You removed the wood, and then underneath the wood is where you found the print?
Mr. DAY. On the bottom side of the barrel which was covered by the wood, I found traces of a palmprint. I dusted these and tried lifting them, the prints, with scotch tape in the usual manner. A faint palmprint came off. I could still see traces of the print under the barrel and was going to try to use photography to bring off or bring out a better print. About this time I received instructions from the chief’s office to go no further with the processing, it was to be released to the FBI for them to complete. I did not process the underside of the barrel under the scopic sight, did not get to this area of the gun.

Mr. BELIN. At what time did these same photographs which are the same as Commission Exhibit 720 and 721 of this print—-
Mr. DAY. About 8 o’clock, somewhere around 8 o’clock, in that neighbourhood.
Mr. BELIN. Of what date?
Mr. DAY. November 22, 1963.
Mr. BELIN. What about the lift which has previously been marked as Commission Exhibit 637?
Mr. DAY. About what?
Mr. BELIN. When did you turn that over to the FBI?
Mr. DAY. I released that to them on November 26, 1963. I did not release this—-
Mr. BELIN. You are referring now—-
Mr. DAY. On November 22.
Mr. BELIN. You are referring to Commission Exhibit 637?
Mr. DAY. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Is there any particular reason why this was not released on the 22d?
Mr. DAY. The gun was being sent in to them for process of prints. Actually I thought the print on the gun was their best bet, still remained on there, and, too, there was another print, I thought possibly under the wood part up near the trigger housing.
Mr. BELIN. You mean the remaining traces of the powder you had when you got the lift, Exhibit 637, is that what you mean by the lift of the remaining print on the gun?
Mr. DAY. Yes, sir. Actually it was dried ridges on there. There were traces of ridges still on the gun barrel.
Mr. BELIN. Can you tell the circumstances under which you sent Commission Exhibit No. 637 to the FBI?
Mr. DAY. We released certain evidence to the FBI, including the gun, on November 22. It was returned to us on November 24. Then on November 26 we received instructions to send back to the FBI everything that we had.
Mr. BELIN. Did you do that?
Mr. DAY. Yes, sir; and at that time I sent the lift marked—-
Mr. BELIN. 637.

But then Day admits photographing the rifle again. He had another chance to photograph the rifle but did not bother about that all important lift again!

Mr. BELIN. I am now going to hand you No. 737 and ask you to state if you know what this is.
Mr. DAY. Yes, sir. This is the rifle found on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository November 22, 1963.
Mr. BELIN. Who took that picture?
Mr. DAY. I took it myself.
Mr. BELIN. When?
Mr. DAY. About 9 or 9:30 p.m., November 22, on the fourth floor of the City Hall in my office.

Carl Day and the Mannlicher Carcano. Click to enlarge.

Day will not confirm for 100% that Oswald’s palm print is CE 637 without checking it first.

Mr. BELIN. Based on your experience, I will ask you now for a definitive statement as to whether or not you can positively identify the print shown on Commission Commission Exhibit No. 637 as being from the right palm of Lee Harvey Oswald as shown on Commission Exhibit 629?
Mr. DAY. Maybe I shouldn’t absolutely make a positive statement without further checking that. I think it is his, but I would have to sit down and take two glasses to make an additional comparison before I would say absolutely, excluding all possibility, it is. I think it is, but I would have to do some more work on that.

He is questioned about the palm print at the very end by John J McCloy and his statement is very telling.

Mr. McCLOY. Can you restate again for the record what you can positively identify in terms of fingerprints or palm prints and Oswald’s—-
Mr. DAY. The palmprint on the box he apparently sat on I can definitely say it is his without being in fear of any error. The other, I think it is his, but I couldn’t say definitely on a witness stand.
Mr. McCLOY. By the other, you mean the other palmprint?
Mr. DAY. The palmprint and that tracer print aside the trigger housing or the magazine housing.

In an FBI interview from Sept. 9 1964 J.C. Day states on page 4: It appeared probable these prints were from the right palm and fingers of Lee Harvey Oswald, but the rifle was released to the FBI, to be sent to Washington, D .C. before the examination was completed and positive identification of the prints could be made. The prints were not very good for comparison purposes.

Later on he states that after the palm print lift he only told Jessy Curry and Will Fritz about it that evening. He was not able to state the exact time of the discovery nor when he relayed the result to Curry and Fritz. He only knows it is prior Vincent Drain’s collection of the evidence. Yet Curry is asked about the fingerprints that same evening and Will Fritz early on the 23rd and both answered negative.

Hard to believe this as Fritz would have used this there and then since he had nothing that tied Oswald to the rifle at that time. On Dec. 23 1963 Will Fritz has a report made up about the evidence and the palm print is briefly summarised in it. All irregularities are swept under the carpet.

Carl Day and the Mannlicher-Carcano. Click to enlarge.

In Carl Day’s HSCA interview on Oct. 18 1977 he states that Will Fritz ordered him to bring it downstairs and display it to Marina Oswald. Day could not understand whether she recognised the rifle or not. Only after his return to the fourth floor does he ‘discover’ part of a print on the metal bit underneath the barrel where it sits on the stock.

Will Fritz tells him twice to stop as the FBI is taking the rifle with them. No mention of Jesse Curry who was originally stated as the man who told Day to cease his work on the rifle.

He did not give the FBI the print lift as he thought the FBI would do a better job. When the rifle returns to Dallas, Day is disappointed that the FBI did not find the print on the barrel. And once the FBI requires the rifle to be sent back again. Day sent the print lift alongside with the rifle.

He did not make a positive ID with the print he lifted off the barrel as belonging to Oswald. He felt (!) it was Oswald’s, but would not have testified that it was, under oath without further examination.

 Henry Hurt for his book Reasonable Doubt interviewed Carl Day and Vince Drain in 1984 (page 109). Day remains adamant that the Oswald print was on the rifle when he first examined it a few hours after the shooting. Moreover, Day stated that when he gave the rifle to Agent Drain, he pointed out to the FBI man both the area where the print could be seen and the fingerprint dust used to bring it out. Lieutenant Day states that he cautioned Drain to be sure the area was not disturbed while the rifle was in transit to the FBI laboratory. Drain flatly disputes this, claiming that Day never showed him such a print. “I just don’t believe there was ever a print,” said Drain. He noted that there was increasing pressure on the Dallas police to build evidence in the case. Asked to explain what might have happened, Agent Drain stated, “All I can figure is that it [Oswald’s print] was some sort of cushion, because they were getting a lot of heat by Sunday night. You could take the print off Oswald’s card and put it on the rifle. Something like that happened.”

In First Day Evidence by Gary Savage & Rusty Livingstone Savage writes Captain Doughty came in at about 20:30 – 21:00 hrs and told Day to stop working on the rifle (p 108).

Also in the book, on page 108, “He then placed a strip of 2” scotch tape over the developed print and rubbed it down before finally lifting the tape containing the print off and placed it on a card. He said he then compared the lift to Oswald’s palm print card and was certain (!) that it was Oswald’s. He also said that after the lift, he could still see an impression of the palm print left on the barrel.

This is hard to believe when Day stated previously stated that he did not do such a thing.

Next, Lieutenant Day had intended to photograph the area of the rifle barrel from which the palm print lift had been made, but was again interrupted by Captain Doughty at about 10:00 pm. He was told once again to stop working on the gun and release it to FBI Agent Drain, who would arrive about 11:30 pm. Lieutenant Day did not have time to write any reports about what he had found, but did have time to reassemble the rifle before Drain arrived.

 So we have a third person entering the fold as to teling Day to stop working on the rifle! He is at first told by Will Fritz to cease working on the rifle, then Max Doughty tells him twice at 22:00 and then in a statement made by Day to the FBI (page 5) he said that the call from Jesse Curry to get the evidence ready for the FBI to collect came just before midnight! Curry btw makes no mention of this in any of his WC testimony.

Day said that a few days after the evidence was turned over, an FBI agent came to his house. He wanted too know when Lieutenant Day had lifted the palm print included in the evidence they had received because they had positively identified it themselves as Oswald’s palm print. Lieutenant Day got the impression that they had missed it and he could “envision J Edgar Hoover going into orbit.” (pages 109&110).

Lieutenant Day believed at the time that he had not completely obliterated the palm print on the barrel after his lift and later stated he had pointed out the area of the palm print to FBI agent Drain when turning the rifle over to him. Drain on the other hand did not recall being show the palm print (page 110).

 In this ARRB document from Dec. 19 1996 they question the course of the narrative regarding the palm print and the lack of contemporaneous evidence and wonder whether they should question Carl Day again.

Henry Wade.

It is Dallas DA Henry Wade who mentions the alleged palm prints first and that is during the press conference on Nov 24, while Oswald is dead.

 The FBI.

he FBI‘s Vincent Drain collects the rifle. Day and others reports state that he handed the rifle over to Drain at 23:45. This time is hard to accept as being correct. When Oswald speaks to the press at 00:15 he is still wearing his shirt. That shirt was part of the collection of evidence taken by Drain to Washington. Furthermore Henry Wade held a press conference after Oswald’s and Drain is seen standing next to Wade. The earliest Drain could have collected it and taken it away with him would have been 00:30.

The FBI (J Edgar Hoover) writes on Nov. 23rd to DPD Chief Jesse Curry and have found nothing. He states the following on page 7: The latent prints appearing in the photograph taken of the rifle K1, by the Dallas Police Department, are too fragmentary and indistinct to be of any value for identification purposes. Photographs of this weapon taken by this Bureau have failed to produce prints of sufficient legibility for comparison purposes.

After processing the rifle the FBI returns the rifle to the Dallas Police on Nov. 24. The FBI could not find anything, but the DPD produces a palm print lift four days after the evidence has travelled back and forth from Dallas to Washington already.

Then the evidence is turned back over to the FBI by Carl Day to Vincent Drain on Nov. 26th. And this time the palm print lift is included with the rest of the evidence. The official report by Day.

The FBI states in a report, titled “LATENT FINGERPRINTS EXAMINATIONS”, from Nov. 28 that fingerprints and palm prints have been discovered on certain items, but there is no mention of any found on the rifle.

On Nov 29. 1963 the rifle is back in FBI custody after it had been back in DPD custody from Nov 24.

In this report by the ARRB all rifle transporations are logged.

The FBI on Feb. 23 1964 questions the initial missing photographs of the palm print (page 2).

Sebastian Latona.

Sebastian Latona, who is the FBI’s supervisor of the latent fingerprint section of the identity division, in his WC testimony states the following about the quality of the weapon and its connection to fingerprints:

 

Representative BOGGS. Now, does a weapon lend itself to retaining fingerprints?

Mr. LATONA. This particular weapon here, first of all, in my opinion, the metal is very poorly finished. It is absorbent. Believe it or not, there is a certain amount of absorption into this metal itself. It is not finished in the sense that it is highly polished.

Representative BOGGS. So this would be conducive to getting a good print, or would it?

Mr. LATONA. It would not.

Representative BOGGS. I see-because it would absorb the moisture.

Mr. LATONA. That’s right. Now, there are other guns-for example, Smith and Wesson, which have exceptionally nice finishes, the blue metal finishes are better surfaces for latent prints. Where you have a nickel-plated or silver plated revolvers, where it is smooth-they are much more conducive to latent prints than some of these other things, say like the army type, the weapons used in wartime that are dull, to avoid reflection-things of that type-they are not as good.

Latona has various photographs taken of the rifle and also looks for any other prints.

So I made arrangements to immediately have a photographer come in and see if he could improve on the photographs that were taken by the Dallas Police Department. Well, we spent, between the two of us, setting up the camera, looking at prints,… highlighting, sidelighting, every type of lighting that we could conceivably think of, checking back and forth in the darkroom-we could not improve the condition of these latent prints. So, accordingly, the final conclusion was simply that the latent print on this gun was of no value, the fragments that were there. After that had been determined, I then proceeded to completely process the entire rifle, to see if there were any other prints of any significance or value any prints of value I would not know what the significance would be, but to see if there were any other prints. I completely covered the rifle.

Then he is asked whether he dusted the rifle himself.

Mr. EISENBERG. We will get other evidence in the record at a subsequent time to shon those were the prints of Oswald. Mr. Latona you were saying that you had worked over that rifle by applying a gray powder to it. Did you develop any fingerprints?

Mr. LATONA. I was not successful in developing any prints at all on the weapon. I also had one of the firearms examiners dismantle the weapon and I processed the complete weapon, all parts, everything else. And no latent prints of value were developed.

When it comes to the palm print Latona’s testimony confirms that they had no knowledge of it until seven days after the murder. They only knew of the trigger guard prints wrapped in cellophane. Nor did he see any trace of markings of a lifting on the gun.

Mr. EISENBERG. Now, Mr. Latona, as I understand it, on November 23, ‘therefore, the FBI had not succeeded in making an identification of a fingerprint or palmprint on the rifle, but several days later virtue of the receipt of this lift, which did not come with the weapon originally, the FBI did succeed in identifying a print on Exhibit 1303

Mr. LATONA. That is right.

Mr. EISENBERG. Which may explain any inconsistent or apparently inconsistent statements, which I believe appeared in the press, as to an identification?

Mr. LATONA. We had no personal knowledge of any palmprint having been developed on the rifle. The only prints that we knew of were the fragmentary prints which I previously pointed out had been indicated by the cellophane on the trigger guard. There was no indication on this rifle as to the existence of any other prints. This print which indicates it came from the underside of the gun barrel, evidently the lifting had heen so complete that there was nothing left to show any marking on the gun itself as to the existence of such even an attempt on the part of anyone else to process the rifle.

Mr. DULLES. Do I understand then that if there is a lifting of this kind, that it may obliterate—

Mr. LATONA. Completely.

Mr. DULLES. The original print?

Mr. LATONA. That is right.

Mr. EISENBERG. So that you personally,

Mr. Latona, did not know anything about a print being on the rifle which was identifiable until you received, actually received the lift, Exhibit 637?

Mr. LATONA. On the 29th of November.

Mr. EISENBERG. Seven days after the assassination. And in the intervening period, correspondicgly, the FBI had no such knowledge?

Mr. LATONA. As far as I know.

The WC and the FBI try to iron out the creases.

On Aug 28 1964 Wesley Liebeler reports to J Lee Rankin and mentions the Carl Day’s WC testimony and points out the issues regarding the lift of the palm print. He makes mention of FBI agent Sebastian Latona who makes contradicting statements about the barrel, the fingerprint powder, the prints and the lack thereof.

On Aug 28 1964 in a FBI document to Alan Belmont it is noted that the Warren Commission has some questions about the timing of the actual lift of the palm print. They also wonder aloud whether Day had taken actual photographs of the lift or the barrel and this is something he had not done.

In WC Exhibit 2637, a letter from J Edgar Hoover on Sep 4 1964 to J Lee Rankin. Hoover states that the attached photos of the palm print are the ones that were found under the barrel of the rifle.

In a DOJ document of Sep 11 1964 Day is mentioned as having lifted the palm print and that it belonged to Oswald. And that the FBI also tested it and came to the same conclusion. This record is based on the Sep 9 interview (see previous paragraph) of Carl Day by the FBI.

And when the Warren report is published the whole ‘discovery of the palm print’ is rubber stamped.

 

 

Related: Lee Harvey Oswald’s Fingerprints.

JFK Revisited Through The Looking Glass & Destiny Betrayed

JFK Revisited Through The Looking Glass & Destiny Betrayed

 

Last November 2021 the new Oliver Stone & Jim DiEugenio documentary film JFK Revisited Through The Looking Glass was released. Oliver Stone had quite a mission getting this documentary shared to the masses as National Geographic and Netflix had passed on screening it. It was his visit and showing at the Cannes festival that got things on track and he managed find distributors. I have watched a fair bit of JFK assassination documentaries these last 20 years, but I always have an issue with all of them, they all intend to cram in as much info as possible in them. Take a detective like Jim Leavelle i/e who was there over the three day period and summarises it in two or three sentences, where is the value in that? It never seems to work, the real evidence is missing and it is only his opinion. Also due to this assassination from a subject p.o.v. being so widespread, there is simply too much information available to squeeze in the allotted time. It is a recipe for failure. These two documentaries suffer the same issue a bit, but this one also has a huge advantage over all the others, it is evidence based for almost 100%. The people you see talking on the screen are the ones that went to the archives in Washington and pulled the records out. Not opinionated lone nutters or conspiracy theorists who never hunted for the evidence ever before. Actually labelling these people in the documentaries as conspiracy theorists is a massive insult especially when it is only archival evidence that is presented. Some reviews of these two films seem to have missed that particular meeting or just have a grudge against Stone from the word go. These type of clowns were there 30 odd years ago and obviously they are present now.

For the record I watched the 2 hour version on Showtime in Nov. 2021 and Feb 2022. And the four hour version on SKY in Dec 2021 and Feb 2022. It appears that the rest of the world gets its chance early March. I will try not to spoil too much, if you cannot handle a spoiler here and there then I suggest you quit now.

The 2 hour version, by the looks of it, uses the same material as the four hour version, but it is edited in a different way and there are some bits that get more prominence in the two hour version than they have in the 4 hour one. I will start with the two hour version titled “JFK: Revisited Through The Looking Glass”. The documentary starts with the announcements of JFK, eventually being shot and next it goes to footage of Parkland hospital where the DPD is busy cordoning the entrance off. The first thing you notice is that some of the HD film scans look very lush. At the same time some of the grainier material looks even grainier. Digitising film either makes it look great or just the opposite, there is no middle ground here. But when it does look great it really does.

DPD and USSS in front of the limo at Parkland hospital. Malcolm Kilduff in the centre of the pic. Click to enlarge.

There is also a shot of reporters leaving the press bus and make their way towards the area above. In this shot we can see at least four Dallas P.D. detectives, wearing their distinctive hats, conferring in front of this bus in the background.

Dallas PD detectives in front of press bus at Parkland hospital while the reporters rush towards the entrance. Click to enlarge

Following is a sequence of footage of Oswald in the third floor corridor inside City Hall, getting shot by Ruby and also the Warren Commission. This sequence differs with the four hour version. The issue I have with it is that there is no proper chronology factor in the footage present and everything is just mixed up and even the audio is just randomly mixed in. It is for dramatic effect, and not much else. Trying to put it in the right order is very difficult, I know as I have tried and managed to put some segments at the right time in my Anatomy of Lee Harvey Oswald’s Interrogations paper (new updated version out in April 2022), but there are also some bits where I have no exact timestamp since some of the footage is silent.

Then the bullets and especially the magic bullet are discussed. The interactive sequence showing the NARA pictures of the Magic bullet (CE 399) and also the chain of evidence is very convincingly presented. The rifle is next with Brian Edwards adding his commentary. I am just over 30 minutes in and the evidence presented up till then is already the death of the Warren Commission’s conclusion and moreover crucifies the sloppy and contradictory work of the DPD, USSS and the FBI.

Barry Ernest and his work on Victoria Adams is next and I will get back about this later as it has more in the longer documentary. The autopsy and its photographs and the people who are involved with them are next. Especially the photographic aspect of it all is lapped up by me, I simply love it.

Parkland hospital and nurses – JFK headshot. Click to enlarge.

New Orleans is next, we get to see William Gaudet of which Malcolm Blunt gathered a fair bit of documents here and here and the other usual aspects such as David Ferrie, Guy banister and Clay Shaw are featured. The James P Doyle film of Oswald handing out pamphlets of the FPCC is of good quality. Then we move to various subjects such as Oswald/CIA/Defection to Russia/Chicago Plot/Africa that are discussed in more detail in the four hour version further below. Overall the two hour version has some really good bits, there is more emphasis on specific elements like the magic bullet in this film. And if you like(d) the two hour version then you will be in hog heaven with the four hour one: JFK: Destiny Betrayed.

The intro music and footage of this one is superb, it is the same music brought to everyone back in the early 90s with Stone’s film, that tension element of it hasn’t aged one single bit. The film starts with the antics of the Warren Commission.

Members of the Warren Commission on their Dallas visit in 1964. Click to enlarge.

There is a bit of Cuba and the CIA/Anti-Castro matters entwined that were being played out in the late 50’s and early 60s. Then it is back to more WC. And then the documentary goes further afield by bringing the mess that the Belgians had left behind in Congo and the CIA is heavily involved with removing and killing Patrice Lumumba and all this is dropped in JFK’s lap and he works hard on getting things sorted. This episode by itself is very interesting to read about. There is also a very good documentary about this era called Murder in the Bush: Cold Case Hammarskjöld. I suggest you try and find it.

Just when you have settled in with a subject matter things change into a different direction. I understand there is only that much time for putting a case forward, but why present it this fragmented? And some of these subjects do return in following chapters. I am reasonably well read on the entire subject matter, but the majority of viewers are not and may be getting confused by this scattered approach. While the Africa segment is good, it deserves some more time. It then switches to the committees such as Church, Schweiker and the HSCA. There are still many documents from these three commissions redacted, classified or simply gone without a trace. My time with Malcolm Blunt’s huge personal archive has given me some good insights about what was going on, but even with what I was able to digitise it still is largely incomplete. Richard Schweiker’s remark on Jack Ruby and the Warren Commission is simply priceless. I will not spoil it any further.

Next is Robert Groden, a person I am not too comfortable with due to his truth economics. I have seen and read a couple myself and I have issues with that. I also find his Zapruder film copy not that good now shown in 2K, that is if it actually has been scanned recently and is not the same copy of what was used in Stone’s movie 30 years ago. I am looking forward seeing this all in 4K. For someone who does not own one iota of copyright on all these films and photos he has submitted for usage he sure has turned it into a lucrative business over the last 40 years. He is credited as a photographic consultant. It seems that the Sixth Floor Museum would not assist Stone with their cache of film and photo materials and this does get brought up somewhat, i/e with the Zapruder film. The Sixth Floor Museum should have cooperated with the Stone crew since they have a goldmine of great quality material. This likewise deserves a frown….it tends to point as to what side they are still on.  I reckon Groden, who was part responsible for the HSCA creation and Stone whose film got the ARRB erected have something in common and in part can credit themselves for what they did in retrospect.

Robert Groden, Dealey Plaza. Click to enlarge.

Next thing the first episode of the documentary brings up is Oswald’s alibi and I can only conclude that the makers make a whopper of a mistake by solely relying on the research of Barry Ernest and that is just not good enough. Perhaps ten years ago it may have carried some weight, but not any more. Plus if you can go all guns blazing on the autopsy related matters and bring a set of researchers forward then why not on Oswald’s last 46 hours. In the last ten years there has been a wagon load of new evidence brought up. This website digs a lot deeper than what Ernest wrote and a huge opportunity to set the record straight was missed. I am not sure whether this is because certain politics are being played in the background and only put forward a theory which many older conspiracy theorists have subscribed and cemented themselves to. This is something an uber liar like Will Fritz and fellow law enforcement personnel have put forward and has been a ‘belief’ of these conspiracy theorists ever since. There is a ton of evidence which disputes this lunchroom encounter ever happening. Furthermore there is nothing put forward with regards Oswald’s interrogations and the reports thereof and where and what he was doing during these crucial moments of the JFK Assassination. The job done on this segment of the documentary is a letdown, to say the least. I wish to make clear that I am not putting myself forward as someone that should have been part of this documentary. I will be doing my own thing later this year. The case I have to present will be multi faceted and would not stand a chance, due to time constraints, on a platform as this docu.

Episode two and it’s autopsy time, quite a few heavy hitters are there and it is fact after fact that gets presented to the viewer and I have to say that it is great to see them doing this, for the 2 hour version this was my fave section. The medical & autopsy sections, could fill more than a solid hour by itself. Again the facts obliterate the official version. What does deserve a separate mention is Malcolm Perry who stated during a press conference, of which all audio has been suppressed/confiscated/stolen fill in by yourself, but a transcript 1327 C still exists, and I suggest to check out page 5. The throat wound is an entrance wound and ‘people’ called Dr Perry that same evening and wanted him to change that. That amounts to two frontal shots…….

Then it is back to foreign policy; Vietnam, Algeria, Iran, Guatemala, Indonesia and so on. Followed by more Warren Commission and the shooting sequence, the rifle and the bullets.

Carl Day and the Carcano.

Then Oswald gets his chance to appear and there is a fair bit of hallway footage of which most is already available on YouTube, this is just better quality, but there is too much cutting for my liking. Nor is there any chronology in this segment. Pivotal bits are left out. BUT! The biggest faux pas is the horn honking in the basement sequence just before Ruby kills Oswald and is presented as some sort of ‘go’ signal for the killing to be happening. Nothing could be further removed from the truth. If you watch the entire sequence of film taken way before the shooting you would understand that several times horns are honking as the armored truck which was supposed to be taking Oswald to prison was replaced for Fritz’s car. In the video you can see a car coming in and going out and the horn is being used to alert the gathered cops and press of their movements. The first double honk is at 11:10, the next one at 11:44, then 11:48, at 12:25 a car is coming through and the press needs to break up at roughly the spot where Ruby was positioned before he leaped out, 12:51 another honk, at 13:21 Will Fritz becomes visible and the horn honks again and finally at 13:25 just while Ruby is leaping out the final honk. Nothing funny nor conspiratorial about it. The car is actually coming down the ramp while Oswald is being shot. As you can see Ruby’s jacket is being lit up by the front head light and the car rolled down the ramp while Ruby had jumped in. The car slightly touches Ruby and makes him lose his balance a tad, and is enough for the cops to jump on him and wrestle the gun away from him. This is a blemish on otherwise a very strong documentary. And that is because it did not check the evidence properly.

Jack Ruby shoots Lee Harvey Oswald. Will Fritz has a so called ‘HUH’ moment. Click to enlarge.

That this whole transfer was as amateurish as a local village cabaret show is beyond any reasonable doubt. Will Fritz walked way too far ahead of Oswald and his escort and created a gap for Ruby to jump in to kill him.  Fritz’s response to this ‘thing’ was even more laughable and can be seen in the shot above when Ruby has shot Oswald already.

George G Burkley. Click to enlarge.

Episode three starts of with Rear Admiral George G Burkley and more of the autopsy, and he does not care to be quoted on how many bullets entered Kennedy’s body. Well if that isn’t telling then what is. Then over the next 30 or so minutes more facts are coming forward related to the autopsy itself, the photos, the brain and so on, all this has a significant meaning. I will not spoil it any further, see it for yourself while you are machine gunned with documentation and statements. Then it goes into the bullets and the limo. And then it changes direction with Washington politics and the rest of the world. Latin America, Middle East, Cuba and Vietnam are for obvious reasons part of it. All of it is very interesting. John Newman, Doug Horne, James K Galbraith are the select few to add their knowledge to it. Lastly we get to the Air Force One tapes and General Curtis LeMay and the Bethesda autopsy where he was present and smoking a cigar.

The fourth and final episode begins with the intelligence angle(s) related to this case. Oswald being at the centre of it all while in Russia and the intelligence games surrounding it. Tennent ” Pete” Bagley is part of this segment, Bagley is someone Malcolm Blunt has been researching deeply and has been in contact with several times while he visited him in Brussels.

Malcolm Blunt & Oliver Stone. Click to enlarge.

Then it moves to whether the CIA was fully briefed and had records on Oswald and as Jefferson Morley points out that they had him on their radar once he defected to Russia in 1959. Up to a week before the assassination reports were being sent, a find by the ARRB. This is followed by the New Orleans chapter and of course the usual suspects pass by Guy Banister, David Ferrie, Clay Shaw, George Joannides and of course the DRE . The New Orleans chapter by itself would need at least an hour to do it some justice as the material that is around is vast (I should know as I scanned loads of it in).

Then the destruction of the Secret Service records is next, they did this after the ARRB had requested them. They were held in complete disregard and the USSS went along with the destruction anyway. This is then followed by the FBI’s cancellation (by Marvin Gheesling) of the Oswald FLASH only a few weeks before the assassination of JFK. It would mean that Lee Harvey Oswald was not on the security index and the Secret Service would not deem him to be a person of interest. If he had been then they would make sure he would not be in close vicinity of The President’s motorcade. The Chicago and Tampa plots are brought up as well, and it is especially the Chicago one that has some very disturbing facts to present. Jim Gochenaur talked to Elmer Moore and I suggest you check out some of these YouTube interviews after watching his part in this documentary. It is a pity Abraham Bolden is missing from this documentary.

Next are the Civil Rights issues that were a huge thing in the south of the US at that time. The funny thing is that this is very much overlooked when it comes to discussing the JFK Assassination. I myself find elements protruding into the investigation of the TSBD and the DPD in general. People rather avoid talking about it, yet it was quite a big part of Southern society at that time when the after effects of the horrific Jim Crow laws were still in play.

Finally it is back to foreign policy, better yet the change thereof after the assassination of JFK. John Newman shines a strong light on NSAM 273 of which some of the lingo is being deleted and re-written which is ordered by LBJ. Then the final moments are of MLK and RFK, as they were assassinated too. All three in a 5 year timespan.

Overall and taken both works into consideration my end verdict is 8.5/10. Of course there are bits that could have been done better, but take all of it into account and you are looking at a very solid documentary. It baffles me how some people review this documentary and try to nitpick through the wealth of evidence presented and then try to sow doubt or just hammer on about a small dispute without providing one iota of evidence against it. These losers deserve nothing but scorn for their agenda driven rubbish.

I say go watch them both, maybe not all in one go, but there is nothing else of this calibre around. I am upping the ante a tad more by stating that most other JFK assassination documentaries look like dog shit in comparison to the Stone & DiEugenio attempt.

It’s on SKY in the UK.

The links to some of the documents are from Malcolm Blunt’s archive. With thanks.

TSBD Descent Timing by the HSCA

TSBD Descent Timing by the HSCA

 

Too good to keep hidden for any time longer while I am still scanning in for  Malcolm Blunt’s Archives. This document mentions the descent by HSCA Staff members inside the TSBD while on their trip in Sept 1977. From the 19th on to the 29th of that month various staff members, a total of 9 persons, of the HSCA were on a Dallas trip to ascertain more info from several witnesses.

While browsing I came across the following on the last two pages (p 11 & 12) from the bottom paragraph. They met ‘en masse’ at the TSBD, where they took notes and photographs but they also did something much more significant and that was that they timed their descent from the 6th floor (the so called sniper’s window) down to the 2nd floor lunch room via the stairway which could be done in 46 seconds……which compared to the Secret Service Report which claimed it was around a minute and a half and the re-enactment the WC allegedly did.  The Warren Commission made mention of it during the sessions in March 1964. But no one in Dallas while the W.C. was there could attest to this particular re-enactment actually happening!

Still 46 seconds is half the time compared to what both the Warren Commission and the Secret Service came up with about an event that did not take place in the first place ;)

HSCA Dallas Trip Sep 1977. Click pic to enlarge.

HSCA Dallas Trip Sep 1977. Click pic to enlarge.

 

The whole document is at the Malcolm Blunt Archives.

The Malcolm Blunt Archives Update

The Malcolm Blunt Archives Update. 

Greetings and happy new year.  Hope you have had, under these difficult circumstances, a somewhat decent X-Mas break. I know I have not posted that much and the reason for that is that the Malcolm Blunt Archives have kept me occupied for quite some time now. And especially the second half of 2020 has been a very busy period scanning tens of thousands of pages in. I have been working on this project for more than two years now.

Harry Livingstone’s Files April 2019. Click pic to enlarge.

Starting with Harry Livingstone’s material which then slowly transcended into scanning Malcolm’s files, little did I know how much there was, yet at the same time has proven to be an absolute goldmine filled with rare and never before published documents, audio & video recordings.

Documents, tapes and videos. Click pic to enlarge.

Early Dec 2020, while there was a gap in Covid 19 travel restrictions, Peter Antill and I made our way to Malcolm to see what we could get our hands on to take back with us. Peter and I offloaded the 14 bags we had brought with us, yet I managed to bring ten bags back with me and that was only with 90 minutes left to do so. Two bags fill a drawer of a filing cabinet and contain anything between 2-3,000 pages. If you are wondering what type of content there is, well…..almost anything.

This is by far one of the best document collections when it comes to the JFK Assassination, but also for Dallas matters, anti-Castro, CIA, New Orleans, the ARRB, HSCA and a handful of other commissions investigating. At this point I have created roughly 10,000 PDFs. Scanning will continue for most part of this year trying to complete the digitisation of Malcolm Blunt’s entire archive.

For the first time in 18 months I managed to get access to the files I had worked on in the first half of 2019 while in Tetbury. These files have been kept at a storage site and I was very happy being able to regain access to them. The files in here are much more within my remit.

Click to enlarge.

The coloured boxes are of course Harry Livingstone’s files. Malcolm’s materials in here refer a lot to Dallas Police and FBI. Due to some finds of great documents I am preparing a handful of articles which I will start working on more this month when I am taking a break from scanning.

Click to enlarge.

While the Covid 19 restrictions are in place I will not be able to regain access until some time in March this year. But I have plenty to get on with for now and I reckon I will be working on this archive for the rest of the year. Expect a few cool articles to come in the next six months. And of course The Papers I have been working on these past few years and which are being crammed full with not before seen material, so plenty to look out for.

Dallas Police & Sheriff H.S.C.A. statements

Dallas Police & Sheriff H.S.C.A. statements

 

This year I have spent countless hours on gathering, scanning and organising many thousands of pages of documents from a few archives. This H.S.C.A. material of thirteen D.P.D. personnel comes from the Malcolm Blunt archives and there are a few bits that provide some little interesting bits of information with regards the assassination, the aftermath, the searches and the happenings inside City Hall.

See for yourself.

With thanks to Malcolm Blunt.

 

Woodrow Wiggins in charge of the jail on Sunday Nov 24th.

 

Fay M. Turner

 

Bobby Joe Dale

 

Luke Mooney

 

Gus Rose

 

Henry M. Moore

 

James Gilmore

 

 

Pat Gannaway

 

Paul Bentley

There was another Paul Bentley HSCA report released through NARA.

 

Paul McCaghren

 

 

Richard Stovall (one page missing) Page 3 is here.

 

Stavis Ellis

 

Walter Eugene Potts

 

Updates:

Aug 11 2019.:

Tom G. Tilson.

Murray Jackson.

William Westbrook.

George Edward Butler.

Herbert Sawyer.

Harry Weatherford.

Charles Truman Walker.

Gus Rose.

Robert Studebaker.

Elmo Cunningham.

Ray Hawkins.

Marrion Baker.

Charles Dhority.

Perdue W. Lawrence.

 

March 14th 2020:

Lt. Donald Archer.

 

May 3rd 2020:

James W. Johnson Irving P.D.

 

Feb 21th 2021:

Paul Bentley HSCA report added.

 

June 11th 2021:

Charles Rodgers (READ!!).

Ralph Alvin Waters.

 

June 27 2021:

William Mentzell.

 

Sept 13th 2021:

William G Lumpkin.

Alfred D Hodge

Alfred D. Hodge was a gun store owner and also owned a bar next door to that store and was called late in the evening by Will Fritz to come down to City Hall on the 3rd floor to his office to have a look at the Carcano rifle and the pistol supposedly both owned by Oswald.

The other thing that may be of interest to others is Hodge’s elevator journey with two detectives and Jack Ruby, but I am not going further into this. Read more about this HERE.

What got my interest was this passage from Hodge’s W.C. testimony.

Mr. HUBERT. Who was in Captain Fritz’ office when you went in first?
Mr. HODGE. Well—
Mr. HUBERT. Was Oswald there?
Mr. HODGE. I didn’t see Oswald. I have never seen him except on TV, but Captain Fritz has one office I don’t know which office is his, but the one on the left has a glass window in it, and when I went in this hallway, out in the hallway where all the TV cameras was, there was another hallway, and Captain Fritz waved at me–he seen me through this glass and there was several people in there with him, and I went on in a little office not quite as big as this and sat down.

But in his HSCA testimony (thanks to Malcolm Blunt) he describes three (!) sightings, in a very short period, of Oswald being interrogated by Fritz on his own.

Fritz on his own? Was that not the thing, that Fritz couldn’t do this as various F.B.I., Secret Service, A.T.F. and other law enforcement agents were constantly present while Oswald was being interrogated. Quite a few other D.P.D. personnel made mention of the fact that Fritz was hindered by this and could not get Oswald to confess. Personally I doubt he would have ever ‘cracked’ Oswald. But this HSCA statement smells……

Gifts From Uncle Malcolm Part 5

Thanks again to Malcolm Blunt for some mega interesting documents.

Photo: Alan Dale

Some of these files are as PDFs, so click on the link to get access.

HSCA Sidney A Martin 210877

Richard Randolph Carr-Handwritten FBI Statement 030264

James Files

James Files, click pic to enlarge.

James Malley.

James Malley, click pic to enlarge.

James Malley, click pic to enlarge.

Walter E. Nelson.

Walter E Nelson, click pic to enlarge.

Walter E Nelson, click pic to enlarge.