Oswald Leaving TSBD?

[Ray Mitcham]

Rule Brittania, Brittania rules the waves.....

Sometimes it's "Brittania waives the rules...", Bob

[Robert Prudhomme]

Rule Brittania, Brittania rules the waves.....

Sometimes it's "Brittania waives the rules...", Bob

[Vanessa Loney]

Hi Bob

A colleague who doesn't have time to post at the moment has suggested the following. I don't claim any credit for it.

James Romack and James Worrel jr both had sight of the back door of the TSBD at the time of the shooting. Neither of them mentioned Baker running down Houston Street or entering the back door.

William Weston wrote about them both in a piece called

The Man in the Dark Sports Coat.

"...James Romack, a truck driver for Coordinated Transportation3 had been watching the back door from the very moment the shots were fired. He did not cease watching it until after the police had arrived to seal off the building. He was angry that some fool could get away with putting forth such nonsense. To set the record straight, Romack contacted the authorities and told them exactly what happened.

On the morning of Nov. 22, Romack had been working at the railroad yard. He had been conversing with co- worker George Rackley at a spot 100-125 yards from the rear side of the TSBD.4 The sirens of approaching motorcycles drew their attention to the crowds gathered at Houston and Elm. Shortly thereafter, Romack heard three rifle shots. Rackley, curiously enough, did not hear the shooting, as he was 60 at the time and it is possible that his hearing might have been somewhat impaired. He did, how-ever, notice a large flock of pigeons that rose up from the roof of the TSBD.

The pedestrians near the TSBD were either falling to the ground or scattering. Conspicuous among them was the distinctive blue uniform of a policeman running along the sidewalk. He was headed towards the back area of the building. Romack told the FBI that he saw the policeman "within a minute" after the shooting.6 When he testified before the WC, he used the words "just immediately after."7 Since the meaning of the word "immediately" has some elasticity, we can thus conclude that the policeman was seen during a time period of not more than 60 seconds after the shooting.

This time estimate was confirmed by the officer, W.E.Barnett.8 As he stood near the front of the Depository, he heard what sounded like three shots that came from up high. Barnett looked up and scanned the roof line for a gunman. If he was up there, he might try to make a getaway down a fire escape, of which there was one on the building's east side. Was there another one on the rear side? To find out, he made a dash for the back end of the building.9 No fire escape was on that side, but there was a back door that no one was guarding. He decided to position himself at a spot where he could keep an eye on both the fire escape and the back door. While he stood there, two young women opened the door and came out.

Victoria Adams and Sandra Styles had been on the fourth floor, watching the parade from one of the windows.10 They heard gunfire as JFK's car disappeared behind a tree. To learn what happened, they ran down the back stairs and went out the back door. Adams estimated that she and her friend were going outside about a minute after the shooting. They were stopped by a policeman. "Get back into the building," he said.

"But I work here," Adams pleaded.

"That is tough, get back."

...

When Romack saw the back door being guarded by an officer, he assumed a suspect might be coming out. (Neither he nor Barnett mentioned the exit of the two women, apparently attaching little significance to them.) After the officer left the rear door, Romack decided to take up the task of guarding the rear door himself. He continued the approach to the TSBD he began at the time of the shots, reaching a sawhorse barrier that crossed Houston St., located approximately 25 yards from the TSBD to block northbound traffic into a road construction zone.12 This barrier, as we shall see, is crucial to this study, for it is the means by which a reconciliation can be made between Romack's testimony and Worrell's.

According to his statement to the FBI, Romack heard from somewhere behind him the sound of a car bouncing erratically over large chunks of asphalt. He turned and watched in amazement and disbelief as a shiny red 1963 Pontiac Catalina station wagon bumped and banged laboriously over the broken-up street. It followed the curve that joined Ross to Houston and stopped at the barrier on the other side of the railroad tracks.13 Painted on the side of the car was "KBOX Radio News." Two occupants were in the front seat. To give the news- men a helping hand, Romack walked in front of the barrier, and helped remove it to aid the car's access. In performing this task, Romack had tuned his back to the Depository.14 The car passed the barrier and parked about 15 yards from the n.e. corner of the building. (See map showing positions at 12:34 pm.)

Romack said that the news vehicle arrived on the scene about 3 minutes after the shooting.15 His time estimate was confirmed by Sam Pate, one of the car's occupants. He said that the car came to a stop near the Depository about 4 minutes after the shooting.16 We can thus pinpoint its arrival between 12:33 and 12:34. The importance of this cannot be overstated, for this was also the same moment when Worrell saw the man in the dark sportcoat coming out the back door. The time span when Romack had turned his back to the building could not have been more than a couple of minutes, yet it only takes a few seconds for someone to dash out of a building and run down the street.

What about other witnesses in the area, who had the door within their field of view? One man who said that no one came out was George Rackley.17 He did not close in as Romack had, but remained in his original location, over 100 yards from the TSBD. Although he would indicate he saw no one emerge, that does not necessarily prove that he had the rear door in focus the entire time. An indication of his distractibility is that fact that he missed the arrival, at a distance of 25 yards, of the KBOX news vehicle, accord-ing to his WC testimony. If his awareness of his surroundings was so limited that he failed to notice a wild feat of rugged-terrain driving only 25 yards away, how could his testimony be used to settle a controversy involving a relatively inconspicuous event over 100 yards away? No doubt the awesome panorama of crowds surging into the railroad yards was an overwhelming spectacle to Rackley, and it would be understandable if he did not notice such peripheral circumstances as the arrival of a news vehicle or the brief appearance of a solitary figure coming out of a building.

Another witness who had the back door within his view was news reporter Sam Pate.18 From his vantage point inside the station wagon, he would have had an unobstructed view of the TSBD during that crucial moment when Romack had dropped his guard. Yet Pate did not have the same awareness of the TSBD as the source of the shots that Romack had. Pate's main concern then was finding out where the action was, and at 12:33 his attention would have been riveted on the onslaught of humanity into the parking lot and the railroad yards. Any latecomer to the scene would naturally assume that whoever fired the shots was not inside the building. (This consideration would also apply to the other occupant in the car, Josh Dowdell, who apparently made no statement about his observations.)

The sum total of these considerations leads to the conclusion that there is no testimony strong enough which could effectively refute Worrell's contention that a suspect ran out the back door.

The Man in the Dark Sports Coat

by William Weston

... writing about James Worrel Jr.

At 12:30 he could see the presidential limousine as it made its successive slow turns onto Houston and Elm Streets. He could not see the President well, how-ever, as the press of the crowd again defeated his purpose. When the limousine had gone 50 to 75 feet past him, he heard a shot that sounded like it came from above. He looked up and saw about six inches of a rifle projecting from either the fifth or sixth floor window--four inches of barrel extending from two inches of stock. [The Mannlicher-Carcano barrel extends five and one half inches from the stock.] Worrell looked down the street to see where the rifle was aiming.

A second shot was fired and the President slumped down into his seat. Worrell again looked up and saw a small discharge of flash and smoke as the rifle fired again. At that instant he heard people screaming and others were yelling, "Duck." He sought cover by going around the corner of the TSBD. Just as he was rounding the corner, he heard a fourth shot.2 Continuing on towards the rear corner of the building, he turned right and crossed the street. Stopping to catch his breath at the s.e. corner of Houston and Pacific, he waited for perhaps two to three minutes, and then saw the man in the dark sportcoat come bustling out the back door, and run toward Houston and Elm, where he disappeared among other bystanders. Worrell watched him as long as he could, but after losing sight of him, he turned eastward and walked along Pacific St. Reaching his mother's office at Ross and Ervay, he took a bus from there to school, and then hitchhiked home."

http://www.manuscriptservice.com/DPQ/sports~1.htm

[Vanessa Loney]

Actually that's 5 people who had sight of the back door (not 2). Officer Barnett, Sam Pate, George Rackley plus Romack and Worrel. Apologies for that.

[Malcolm Ward]

I noted this picture on Greg Parkers forum,re Prayer Man.Someone suggests with a picture they post that PM may be holding binoclars.I have to say I agree.The fingers look curled and what PM is holding certainly looks bigger than a bottle.For those who are interested,take a look here.

http://www.reopenkennedycase.org/apps/forums/topics/show/13180628-prayer-man-s-hands-and-face

[David Josephs]

I noted this picture on Greg Parkers forum,re Prayer Man.Someone suggests with a picture they post that PM may be holding binoclars.I have to say I agree.The fingers look curled and what PM is holding certainly looks bigger than a bottle.For those who are interested,take a look here.

http://www.reopenkennedycase.org/apps/forums/topics/show/13180628-prayer-man-s-hands-and-face

What I had noticed was that in most every image of Oswald his arms are bent and he is usually just holding his own arm or hand...

I can appreciate the line of analysis yet the image is so very poor... even at the ROKC images one would expect to see something of substance in the hand area.. I tried all the Photoshop tricks I could to bring out something that may be in his hands.

[Guest Mark Valenti]

I believe you're mistaking the background for another arm. IMO his arms are folded across his chest.

[Robert Prudhomme]

"Victoria Adams and Sandra Styles had been on the fourth floor, watching the parade from one of the windows.10 They heard gunfire as JFK's car disappeared behind a tree. To learn what happened, they ran down the back stairs and went out the back door. Adams estimated that she and her friend were going outside about a minute after the shooting. They were stopped by a policeman. "Get back into the building," he said.

"But I work here," Adams pleaded.

"That is tough, get back."

William Weston is not a very thorough researcher, and if he had taken the time to read Victoria Adams' testimony, he would know that, according to Ms. Adams, the incident with the officer took place down at the rail yard, and not at the rear door of the TSBD.

Here is the full text from Weston, in which we can see how he attempted to connect Barnett to Adams and Styles:

"Victoria Adams and Sandra Styles had been on the fourth floor, watching the parade from one of the windows.10 They heard gunfire as JFK's car disappeared behind a tree. To learn what happened, they ran down the back stairs and went out the back door. Adams estimated that she and her friend were going outside about a minute after the shooting. They were stopped by a policeman. "Get back into the building," he said.

"But I work here," Adams pleaded.

"That is tough, get back."

"Well, was the president shot?"

"I don't know. Go back."

The two women obeyed, yet they complied not by returning the way they came, but rather by going all the way around the west side to reenter the TSBD through the front entrance--talking to people along the way. Technically, they were disregarding the instructions of a police officer, and Barnett should have stopped them, but he must have had too many other things on his mind than to chase two young ladies determined to satisfy their curiosity. His main worry was the front entrance. As he looked in that direction, he saw police officers and sheriff's deputies all running towards the Triple Underpass. No one seemed to realize that shots came from the building itself, putting Barnett in a quandary. Should he stay in place and hope that another officer would do likewise at the front door? Or should he, Barnett, go to the front door and alert someone to take his vacated back door spot? He decided on the latter and ran toward the front of the building."

[Thomas Graves]

"Victoria Adams and Sandra Styles had been on the fourth floor, watching the parade from one of the windows.10 They heard gunfire as JFK's car disappeared behind a tree. To learn what happened, they ran down the back stairs and went out the back door. Adams estimated that she and her friend were going outside about a minute after the shooting. They were stopped by a policeman. "Get back into the building," he said.

"But I work here," Adams pleaded.

"That is tough, get back."

William Weston is not a very thorough researcher, and if he had taken the time to read Victoria Adams' testimony, he would know that, according to Ms. Adams, the incident with the officer took place down at the rail yard, and not at the rear door of the TSBD.

Here is the full text from Weston, in which we can see how he attempted to connect Barnett to Adams and Styles:

"Victoria Adams and Sandra Styles had been on the fourth floor, watching the parade from one of the windows.10 They heard gunfire as JFK's car disappeared behind a tree. To learn what happened, they ran down the back stairs and went out the back door. Adams estimated that she and her friend were going outside about a minute after the shooting. They were stopped by a policeman. "Get back into the building," he said.

"But I work here," Adams pleaded.

"That is tough, get back."

"Well, was the president shot?"

"I don't know. Go back."

The two women obeyed, yet they complied not by returning the way they came, but rather by going all the way around the west side to reenter the TSBD through the front entrance--talking to people along the way. Technically, they were disregarding the instructions of a police officer, and Barnett should have stopped them, but he must have had too many other things on his mind than to chase two young ladies determined to satisfy their curiosity. His main worry was the front entrance. As he looked in that direction, he saw police officers and sheriff's deputies all running towards the Triple Underpass. No one seemed to realize that shots came from the building itself, putting Barnett in a quandary. Should he stay in place and hope that another officer would do likewise at the front door? Or should he, Barnett, go to the front door and alert someone to take his vacated back door spot? He decided on the latter and ran toward the front of the building."

Robert,

If Barnett indeed encountered Adams and Styles in the railway yard, some 100 yards away from the TSBD, I don't understand why he would tell them get back inside the TSBD. For their own protection? To keep "lookie lou's" out of what he thought might be the crime scene? So they could be easily found later to take reports from?

It's easier to see him telling them to get back inside the TSBD upon encountering them as they were leaving the building.

--Tommy

[Robert Prudhomme]

That is the whole point, Thomas. If Ms. Adams testified she was stopped, by a policeman in the rail yard, it could not have been Barnett.

Now, read this excerpt from Ms. Adams' WC testimony:

"Mr. BELIN - East is here. East is towards Houston, and west is towards the railroad tracks. You went east or west? Towards the railroad tracks or towards Houston Street?

Miss ADAMS - I went west towards the tracks.
Mr. BELIN - How far west did you go?
Miss ADAMS - I went approximately 2 yards within the tracks and there was an officer standing there, and he said, "Get back to the building." And I said, "But I work here."
And he said, "That is tough, get back." I said, "Well, was the President shot?" And he said, "I don't know. Go back." And I said, "All right."
Mr. BELIN - Then what did you do?
Miss ADAMS - I went back, only I went southwest."

Notice she says the officer told her to get "back to" the building and not "inside" the building? This is merely another uninformed assumption on Mr. Weston's part.

As there were no office buildings other than the TSBD adjacent to the rail yard, it is understandable for the officer to assume Ms. Adams had come from the TSBD. Or, thinking the assassin was in the rail yard, the police may have decided the area around the TSBD was safer than the rail yard, and were directing everyone back to there.

[Thomas Graves]

That is the whole point, Thomas. If Ms. Adams testified she was stopped, by a policeman in the rail yard, it could not have been Barnett.

Now, read this excerpt from Ms. Adams' WC testimony:

"Mr. BELIN - East is here. East is towards Houston, and west is towards the railroad tracks. You went east or west? Towards the railroad tracks or towards Houston Street?

Miss ADAMS - I went west towards the tracks.

Mr. BELIN - How far west did you go?

Miss ADAMS - I went approximately 2 yards within the tracks and there was an officer standing there, and he said, "Get back to the building." And I said, "But I work here."

And he said, "That is tough, get back." I said, "Well, was the President shot?" And he said, "I don't know. Go back." And I said, "All right."

Mr. BELIN - Then what did you do?

Miss ADAMS - I went back, only I went southwest."

Notice she says the officer told her to get "back to" the building and not "inside" the building? This is merely another uninformed assumption on Mr. Weston's part.

As there were no office buildings other than the TSBD adjacent to the rail yard, it is understandable for the officer to assume Ms. Adams had come from the TSBD. Or, thinking the assassin was in the rail yard, the police may have decided the area around the TSBD was safer than the rail yard, and were directing everyone back to there.

So what's your final, bottom line take on all this, Robert? Was it Baker or Barnett running towards the TSBD in Darnell/Couch? Or neither?

Hmmmm?

OK then. What's your most current tentative conclusion?

--Tommy

Edited May 8, 2015 by Thomas Graves

[Ray Mitcham]

In his WC testimony, Barnett says this.

"So since this was the only fire escape and there were officers down here watching the this back door, I returned back around to the front to watch the front of the building and the fire escape. "

​Who were the officers watching the back door?

Couldn't have been the cops on the railroad tracks they were too far away to be watching the back door.

[Vanessa Loney]

That is the whole point, Thomas. If Ms. Adams testified she was stopped, by a policeman in the rail yard, it could not have been Barnett.

Now, read this excerpt from Ms. Adams' WC testimony:

"Mr. BELIN - East is here. East is towards Houston, and west is towards the railroad tracks. You went east or west? Towards the railroad tracks or towards Houston Street?

Miss ADAMS - I went west towards the tracks.

Mr. BELIN - How far west did you go?

Miss ADAMS - I went approximately 2 yards within the tracks and there was an officer standing there, and he said, "Get back to the building." And I said, "But I work here."

And he said, "That is tough, get back." I said, "Well, was the President shot?" And he said, "I don't know. Go back." And I said, "All right."

Mr. BELIN - Then what did you do?

Miss ADAMS - I went back, only I went southwest."

Notice she says the officer told her to get "back to" the building and not "inside" the building? This is merely another uninformed assumption on Mr. Weston's part.

As there were no office buildings other than the TSBD adjacent to the rail yard, it is understandable for the officer to assume Ms. Adams had come from the TSBD. Or, thinking the assassin was in the rail yard, the police may have decided the area around the TSBD was safer than the rail yard, and were directing everyone back to there.

That is the whole point, Thomas. If Ms. Adams testified she was stopped, by a policeman in the rail yard, it could not have been Barnett.

Now, read this excerpt from Ms. Adams' WC testimony:

"Mr. BELIN - East is here. East is towards Houston, and west is towards the railroad tracks. You went east or west? Towards the railroad tracks or towards Houston Street?

Miss ADAMS - I went west towards the tracks.

Mr. BELIN - How far west did you go?

Miss ADAMS - I went approximately 2 yards within the tracks and there was an officer standing there, and he said, "Get back to the building." And I said, "But I work here."

And he said, "That is tough, get back." I said, "Well, was the President shot?" And he said, "I don't know. Go back." And I said, "All right."

Mr. BELIN - Then what did you do?

Miss ADAMS - I went back, only I went southwest."

Notice she says the officer told her to get "back to" the building and not "inside" the building? This is merely another uninformed assumption on Mr. Weston's part.

As there were no office buildings other than the TSBD adjacent to the rail yard, it is understandable for the officer to assume Ms. Adams had come from the TSBD. Or, thinking the assassin was in the rail yard, the police may have decided the area around the TSBD was safer than the rail yard, and were directing everyone back to there.

Okay Bob, but I guess the key point out of all this is that none of them saw Baker and Truly either going in the back door or around the side of the building.

You’ve still got to get those two into the building somehow. How are you going to do it my Canadian friend?

[Vanessa Loney]

That is the whole point, Thomas. If Ms. Adams testified she was stopped, by a policeman in the rail yard, it could not have been Barnett.

Now, read this excerpt from Ms. Adams' WC testimony:

"Mr. BELIN - East is here. East is towards Houston, and west is towards the railroad tracks. You went east or west? Towards the railroad tracks or towards Houston Street?

Miss ADAMS - I went west towards the tracks.

Mr. BELIN - How far west did you go?

Miss ADAMS - I went approximately 2 yards within the tracks and there was an officer standing there, and he said, "Get back to the building." And I said, "But I work here."

And he said, "That is tough, get back." I said, "Well, was the President shot?" And he said, "I don't know. Go back." And I said, "All right."

Mr. BELIN - Then what did you do?

Miss ADAMS - I went back, only I went southwest."

Notice she says the officer told her to get "back to" the building and not "inside" the building? This is merely another uninformed assumption on Mr. Weston's part.

As there were no office buildings other than the TSBD adjacent to the rail yard, it is understandable for the officer to assume Ms. Adams had come from the TSBD. Or, thinking the assassin was in the rail yard, the police may have decided the area around the TSBD was safer than the rail yard, and were directing everyone back to there.

So what's your final, bottom line take on all this, Robert? Was it Baker or Barnett running towards the TSBD in Darnell/Couch? Or neither?

Hmmmm?

OK then. What's your most current tentative conclusion?

--Tommy

That is the whole point, Thomas. If Ms. Adams testified she was stopped, by a policeman in the rail yard, it could not have been Barnett.

Now, read this excerpt from Ms. Adams' WC testimony:

"Mr. BELIN - East is here. East is towards Houston, and west is towards the railroad tracks. You went east or west? Towards the railroad tracks or towards Houston Street?

Miss ADAMS - I went west towards the tracks.

Mr. BELIN - How far west did you go?

Miss ADAMS - I went approximately 2 yards within the tracks and there was an officer standing there, and he said, "Get back to the building." And I said, "But I work here."

And he said, "That is tough, get back." I said, "Well, was the President shot?" And he said, "I don't know. Go back." And I said, "All right."

Mr. BELIN - Then what did you do?

Miss ADAMS - I went back, only I went southwest."

Notice she says the officer told her to get "back to" the building and not "inside" the building? This is merely another uninformed assumption on Mr. Weston's part.

As there were no office buildings other than the TSBD adjacent to the rail yard, it is understandable for the officer to assume Ms. Adams had come from the TSBD. Or, thinking the assassin was in the rail yard, the police may have decided the area around the TSBD was safer than the rail yard, and were directing everyone back to there.

So what's your final, bottom line take on all this, Robert? Was it Baker or Barnett running towards the TSBD in Darnell/Couch? Or neither?

Hmmmm?

OK then. What's your most current tentative conclusion?

--Tommy

Welcome back Tommy. How was your sabbatical?

[Vanessa Loney]

Oswald is putting something in his breast pocket

Oswald is putting something in his breast pocket

Hi Bart. It really does look like that doesn’t it. If Oswald was putting something in his pocket it can’t have been very large though because the pocket on his shirt is not that sturdy. Maybe a piece of paper? His bus transfer? J

But I have to say I can’t get past the curled hands. He maintains the curled hands in both Weigman and Darnell – looking a bit like a boxer – so surely he was holding something that required 2 hands to hold it (or operate it) and couldn’t be put down easily. Or else we’d expect some change in the curled position of his hands, wouldn’t we?

I’m also thinking that maybe the mark on his right wrist (that looks a bit like a watch) could possibly be a camera strap or a binocular strap?

The picture of Oswald’s binoculars shows that they are all black (as are most binoculars I think). So wouldn’t we expect to see them show up as a black spot in the film rather than the bright light we see? How could it be reflecting light if it was black?

Given the bright light issue I’m still sticking with a silver-ish camera that maybe has a strap on it??

Thanks for your thoughts.