Dead Secret Service Agent in Dallas?

[J. Raymond Carroll]

I believe this is Justice of the Peace, David Johnston.

He presided over Oswald's arraignment at 7:05 and the alleged arraignment at 1:30 on the morning of the 23rd.

He was certainly in the thick of things.

Steve Thomas

Subject to confirmation, it appears that there were serious anomalies involving both these Arraignments.

My understanding is that an Arraignment is an official public proceeding under Texas law then and now, while Johnston conducted both proceedings in secret.

Furthermore, Johnston did not arrange for an official record of either proceeding, and the Warren Commission could not figure out what was said at either Arraignment, or even who was present.

Mr. Justice-of-the-Peace Johnston is worthy of detailed scrutiny, all the more so since we now have reason to suspect that he was involved in spreading a false rumor that afternoon.

[Robin Unger]

J.,

Suggested interpretation: “I have Judge Johnston here with (me at ) Parkland. Was there just one (victim) from the shooting from the Presid… party?”

One possible inference from this is that Judge Johnston was wearing more than one hat that day.

I believe this is Justice of the Peace, David Johnston.

Here is what he told the Warren Commission:

"I was attending the luncheon, when one of the sergeants of the Dallas Police Department came to my table and asked me to please come with him, and I was then informed of what had happened, and was asked to go immediately to Parkland Hospital, and upon arriving there found Judge Theron Ward, the justice of the peace, Precinct 3, from Garland, handling the inquest on President Kennedy. They did not know Judge Ward and that's the reason they had called me, not knowing he was already there."

Johnston would have an interesting story to tell.

He signed the search warrant for 1026 N. Beckley and participated in its search.

He was present for the midnight press conference.

He presided over Oswald's arraignment at 7:05 and the alleged arraignment at 1:30 on the morning of the 23rd.

He was certainly in the thick of things.

Steve Thomas

Hi Steve.

Scan of Johnston.

Edited April 6, 2007 by Robin Unger

[J. Raymond Carroll]

Hi Steve.

Scan of Johnston.

Great photo. Are there any others in the sequence? Any idea of the source or where the photo first appeared.

[Robin Unger]

Hi Steve.

Scan of Johnston.

Great photo. Are there any others in the sequence? Any idea of the source or where the photo first appeared.

Hi Raymond.

The two Scans i provided are from Trask's book.

That day in Dallas.

[J. Raymond Carroll]

Hi Raymond.

The two Scans i provided are from Trask's book.

That day in Dallas.

Thank you Robin. Must get "That Day".

Can anyone identify the lady on the right. Was she perchance a stenographer (and a notary public)?

[Robert Howard]

Some of the following has already been posted, however some of it has not; interesting would be an understatement........

Gems from the 26 Volumes: by Vince Palamara

SETH KANTOR ON THE "DEAD" SECRET SERVICE AGENT

20 H 410: "A Western Union man who had been with us since we came down from Andrews Air Force Base came into the [Parkland Hospital] office.A nurse asked him about a report that a Secret Service agent had been killed out on the street. HE SAID THAT IT WAS TRUE. This was one of the immediate rumors which sprung up. It took several days for this particular rumor not to be believed in Dallas itself (FELLOW IN JAGGARS-CHILES-STOVALL who got it from a friend who got it from a POSTMAN* supposed to have been at the death scene that the shot and bleeding SS man was in on the plot to kill the President.)" [emphasis added]

*the 1/22/77 issue of "The Continuing Inquiry" contains an article written by Penn Jones and Gary Shaw re: the "dead" agent incident as reported in a letter sent to Jim Garrison during the Clay Shaw trial:

"A Mr. Robertson, Assistant Director of the Dallas or Fort Worth Secret Service office, confided to [friend of writer who requested anonymity] in 1963 that a plot to kill President Kennedy was planned and he did not want any part of it. On November 22, 1963, my friend was in the office of Mr. Robertson when all phones began to ring, about the time Kennedy was arriving at Carswell Air Force Base [in Fort Worth], Mr. Robertson then said, 'Well, this is it' and left the office. Sinc that time Mr. Robertson's family of seven children and wife have not seen or heard from him, yet his paychecks continue to be mailed to his home."

Jones/ Shaw: "Our 1965 investigation lead us to believe Robertson was in Dallas but was posing as a POSTAL INSPECTOR, but it was reported to us that he had left Dallas. We also learned from newsmen that something unusual did happen on Harwood [street] shortly before the turn to Main Street. No one wanted credit for this, but we were told by reliable newsmen that a man jumped in front of Kennedy's car on Harwood shouting, "Stop, I must tell you." The man, according to ther report, was promptly wresteled to the ground and hustled away." [emphasis added]

----- To my great surprise, there are FOUR reports that corroborate the above article, in conjunction with the overlooked Kantor report:

The first is the actual LETTER sent to Garrison from an "Amy Britvar" dated 2/21/68 and originating from Turtle Creek Blvd. in Dallas, TX. [thanks go to John Armstrong and Jack White for the copy of this letter]! An internet people search for Britvar drew a blank, although there ARE other Britvars in Texas (further work will be done on locating this person).

The second is a Treasury Department (U.S. Customs Service) document, dated 1/17/80, from Joseph G. Forrester, U.S. Customs, to Attorney General Benjamin R. Civiletti [thanks go to John Armstrong and Ed Sherry for this document]. The letter reads in part:

"My interest in the Kennedy murder started in 1966 when I met ab Air Force Master Sergeant at St. Albans Naval Hospital, Queens, New York. This sergeant, an elderly man, was suffering from terminal cancer. He stated that on November 22,1963 he was attached to Air Force One as an electronics technician. He further stated that after the President was shot a message was received over a military frequency that multiple assassins had attacked the President...a Secret Service agent, Mr. Robertson, stationed in the Dallas-Fort Worth area disappeared on November 22,1963 yet his family still receives his paychecks. The disappearance of an individual is not unusual except that it has been said that Mr. Robertson became aware of an assassins plot against the president. An assassin plot had been unearthed in Chicago a short time before President Kennedy's Dallas trip. Please do not misconstrue this letter. I am not a crank; but I am sincerely interested in this crucial investigation. I am willing to join an investigative team and if that is not possible, will make myself available for an interview by investigative officers."

The third is a lengthy memorandum written by Vince Salandria, dated 1/31/67, regarding an interview with Rita Rollins, a Navy Nurse with an interesting story to tell.---the crucial part in question reads as follows:

"The name of the person in Dallas...is Inez Robertson. CHUCK ROBERTSON, HER HUSBAND, WORKS AT THE POST OFFICE...Inez Robertson, actually saw them [men with guns] make a breakdown of the rifles. This tall man with long grey or white hair[-]he was in the station wagon. There is a luggage rack on the station wagon. It was a Rambler station wagon. This fellow with the mixed grey hair carried them [the armed men] to the airport...This tall man had been around Dallas the day before the assassination...THIS EPISODE HAS CAUSED FRICTION BETWEEN CHUCK ROBERTSON AND INEZ ROBERTSON. HE IS NOT IN DALLAS NOW." [emphasis added]

The fourth can be found in the WC volumes: 17 H 749 (CE 705: the DPD Channel 2 transcripts)---

"One of the SECRET SERVICE MEN ON THE FIELD---ELM AND HOUSTON; said it came over the teletype that one of the Secret Service men had been killed." [emphasis added]

-----

Finally, here are excerpts from my article about the "dead" agent:

In the July, 1997 JFK Deep Politics Quarterly article "Jim Fox and the Dead Secret Service Agent Story," Mark Crouch raised some fascinating possibilities. In fact, I was so inspired by that article that I finally decided to do something I should have done a long time ago: namely, detail every scrap of data concerning this mystery, as well as the one concerning the "agent(s)" of unknown repute spotted in Dealey Plaza immediately after the assassination.

First things first, however -- here is every known reference to the dead agent I could find as reported in the media on November 22, 1963.

Eddie Barker, KRLD-TV, a CBS affiliate, noted, "The word is that the President was killed, one of his agents is dead, and Governor Connally was wounded."

ABC News in Washington reported, "A Secret Service agent apparently was shot by one of the assassin's bullets."

ABC's Bill Lord report included, "Did confirm the death of the secret service agent... one of the Secret Service agents was killed...Secret Service agents usually walk right beside the car."

ABC Washington also noted, "One of the Secret Service agents traveling with the President was killed today."

The Associated Press (AP) was quoted on WFAA (ABC):"A Secret Service agent and a Dallas policeman were shot and killed some distance from where the President was shot."

At 12:45 p.m. CST, KRLD-TV, a CBS affiliate, reported that a Secret Service agent had been killed along with the President.

At 1:23 pm, CST, CBS's Walter Cronkite reported, "A Secret Service man was also killed in the fusillade of shots."

Seth Kantor, a reporter for Scripps-Howard, would write in his notebook, which was published by the Warren Commission [20H 410] "They even have to die in secret."

At 2:14, the AP again made note: "A Secret Service Agent and a Dallas policeman were shot and killed today.

The Dallas Police radio, channel two, also carried the story: (2:40 p.m.) "One of the Secret Service men on the field--Elm and Houston, said that it came over his Teletype that one of the Secret Service men had been killed."

The Dallas Times Herald , dateline November 22, 1963, added, "From the Secret Service office in Dallas--a spokesman could neither confirm or deny the report: 'All I've heard is the same reports you've heard [sic]'."

At 3:40 p.m. Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Robert A. Wallace reported, "No Secret Service man was injured in the attack on President Kennedy," a denial of sorts, but it does not indicate if one was killed, or if there was violence away from "the attack on President Kennedy."

Beyond this, several authors, this one included, have come upon information that, in one way or another, appears to corroborate the story to a certain extent. What follows is a listing of these findings.

In High Treason 2 (p. 439), DNC advance man Marty Underwood said to Harry Livingstone-- "There were a couple of suicides in the thing, with the Secret Service and everything..." Livingstone: "Do you remember who committed suicide?" Underwood: "I don't remember. I think there were a couple...." [He is then cut off by Livingstone.]

Secondly, in this author's book The Third Alternative (p. 36): "While all three major television networks reported that "A Secret Service agent and a Dallas policeman were shot and killed' on 11/22/63, only to be officially corrected later by Secret Service officials, this author learned from Crouch, [Mark Crouch,friend and confidante of PRS agent/photographer James K. "Jack" Fox] that Agent Fox stated that the story was true!! According to Crouch, Fox was working in theExecutive Office Building on 11/ 22/63 (where the PRS office was), when he was asked by SAIC of PRS Robert Bouck to get ready a detail of four to six agents to assist in retrieving the body and casket of the unnamed Secret Service agent. Fox told Crouch, "We lost a man that day- our man ,' and qualified his remarks by stating that he was not referring to JFK!

This was a deathbed confession of sorts, -- Fox died not long after telling Crouch this in the early 1980's [ed. note: Fox died in 1987]. (Interestingly, although having heard the news reports that stated that the President's limousine raced to Parkland Hospital after the shooting, Mrs. Bill Greer thought for several hours that her husband had perished that day! Since she knew that Greer was the driver of JFK's car, this appears to be a strange admission. See Death of a President, p. 354, 1988 edition; interview of Richard Greer, 10/7/91)";

Third, from Richard Trask's Pictures of the Pain, (p. 50): Mrs. Cecil Stoughton had similar concerns about her husband to those of Mrs. Greer cited above, no doubt due to these same reports...

RE: MOTORCYCLES--- 20 H 489: DPD Captain Perdue Lawrence (rode in the advance car) Exhibit re: motorcycle distribution DATED NOVEMBER 21, 1963, the day before the assassination [handwritten comments from 7/24/64]:

In addition to DPD motorcycles officers B.W. Hargis and B.J. Martin, H.B. MCLAIN AND J.W. COURSON WERE SLATED TO RIDE ON THE LEFT SIDE OF JFK'S LIMOUSINE. Also, in addition to DPD motorcycl officers D.L.Jackson and J.M. Chaney, C.A. HAYGOOD AND M.L. BAKER WERE SLATED TO RIDE ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF JFK'S LIMOUSINE!

3 H 244: DPD motorcycle officer M.L. Baker testified that there was a last minute change made at Love Field-told to stay to the rear of limousine [baker evidently interpreted this as WAY back];

6 H 293: DPD motorcycle officer B.J. Martin testified that they were instructed to stay to the rear of the limousine;

7 H 580-581: DPD Captain Perdue Lawrence testified that the Secret Service told them to stay to the rear on the evening of 11/21/63 [based off JFK's alleged "desires", debunked by my Secret Service interviews and previous motorcades, inc. in Texas and Florida in November 1963: how convenient---JFK's "desires" coincided with his assassination!];

21 H 571: DPD Asst. Chief Charles Batchelor----"[DPD Captain Perdue] Lawrence then said there would be four (4) motorcycles on either side of the motorcade immediately to the rear of the President's vehicle [as borne out by his 11/21/63 report]. MR. LAWSON [OF THE SECRET SERVICE] STATED THAT THIS WAS TOO MANY, that HE thought two (2) motorcycles on either side would be sufficient, about even with the rear fender of the President's car." [emphasis added];

4 H 338: Secret Service agent Winston G. Lawson--- DULLES: "...do you recall that any orders were given by or on behalf of the President with regard to the location of those motorcycles that were particularly attached to his car?' LAWSON: "NOT SPECIFICALLY AT THIS INSTANCE ORDERS FROM HIM." [emphasis added---Lawson would go on to say that "it was my understanding that he did not like a lot of motorcycles surrounding the car", something not borne out by very recent prior motorcades!!!];

20 H 453; 463-465: DPD Captain Glen King---stated that the Secret Service was PRIMARILY responsible for the President's security, while the role of the DPD was a SUPPORTIVE one [in keeping with all prior motorcades in 1963]

-------- WILL FRITZ'S MEN OUT OF THE MOTORCADE: 20 H 391: Seth Kantor's notes----"Will Fritz's men called off nite before by SS. Had planned to ride closed car w/ machine guns in car behind Pres." [which could mean someplace behind JFK's car, as was the case in New York on 11/15/63];

--------- PRESS OUT OF THE PICTURE: 6 H 163: DMN reporter Tom Dillard---"We lost our position at the airport. I understood we were to have been quite a bit closer. We were assigned as the prime photographic car which, as you probably know, NORMALLY A TRUCK PRECEDS THE PRESIDENT ON THESE THINGS [MOTORCADES] AND CERTAIN REPRESENTATIVES OF THE PHOTOGRAPHIC PRESS RIDE WITH THE TRUCK. In this case, as you know, we didn't have any and this car That I was in was to take photographs which was of spot-news nature." [emphasis added]. Dillard forcefully said the same thing on C-Span on 11/20/93, telling the tv audience that the flatbed truck was "cancelled at the last minute" and they were put in Chevrolet convertibles "which totally put us out of the picture." [all previous trips, inc. Florida, has press/ photographers very close in front and behind JFk's limousine, inc. WH photographer Cecil Stoughton, who rode in the SS follow-up car from July 1963 until 11/21/63---he was relegated to one of the aforementioned convertibles and would NOT tell me who placed him away from the limo!

In addition, Godfrey McHugh was told, for the first time, to please not ride in the limousine, as he and/ or Ted Clifton often did; however, bith the Secret Service and (recently) Ken O'Donnell have been blamed for this, although McHugh earlier had mentioned only the SS to CFTR radio in 1976, years before the Ralph Martin book!];

--------- MOTORCADE ROUTE: 4 H 169: DPD Chief Jesse Curry---testified that he was not consulted about the motorcade route!; >From WC document-Griffin to Rankin re: Dallas PD: "From an administrative standpoint, (DPD's Charles) Batchelor believed that the failure of the Secret Service to inform the police adequately in advance of the exact route to be taken by the president prevented them from adequately organizing their men and taking the necessary security precautions.";

-------- OVERPASSES (AND THE UMBRELLA MAN)-DISTRACTIONS?: 21 H 564: DPD Asst. Chief Charles Batchelor---"He [Lawson of the SECRET SERVICE] also stated that we should have men on each railroad and traffic overpass that the presidential party would go under, and that these people should be instructed NOT TO LET ANYONE STAND OVER THE IMMEDIATE PATH OF THE PRESIDENTIAL PARTY." [emphasisi added---not adhered to in Dealey Plaza!];

4 H 327: Secret Service agent Winston G. Lawson himself testifies that "any citizen", no exceptions, were to be kept off overpasses. In fact, 4 H 351: Lawson testified: "I recall thinking we were coming to an overpass now, so I glanced up to see if it was clear, the way most of them had been, THE WAY ALL OF THEM HAD BEEN UP UNTIL THAT TIME ON THE WAY DOWNTOWN, AND IT WAS NOT...And I was looking for the officer WHO SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE, HAD BEEN REQUESTED TO BE THERE...and I made a kind of motion through the windshield trying to get his attention to move the people from over our path THE WAY IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN...we were just approaching this overpass when I heard a shot." [emphasis added---was this a visual distraction, as the umbrella man was? In the new Z-film video---the sprocket area---Secret Service agent Clint Hill, in particular, is seemingly transfixed on the umbrella man DURING the initial shooting!];

See

http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/parnell/vp1.htm

As a followup, I would strongly suggest doing the following.......

Clock on the link below

http://www.otrcat.com/jfk.htm

Download the audio file, within the yellow box

ASSASSINATION

1:45pm coverage

What you will hear will probably shock the hell out of you, but that is just my opinion

Robert

[Evan Marshall]

Some of the following has already been posted, however some of it has not; interesting would be an understatement........

Gems from the 26 Volumes: by Vince Palamara

SETH KANTOR ON THE "DEAD" SECRET SERVICE AGENT

20 H 410: "A Western Union man who had been with us since we came down from Andrews Air Force Base came into the [Parkland Hospital] office.A nurse asked him about a report that a Secret Service agent had been killed out on the street. HE SAID THAT IT WAS TRUE. This was one of the immediate rumors which sprung up. It took several days for this particular rumor not to be believed in Dallas itself (FELLOW IN JAGGARS-CHILES-STOVALL who got it from a friend who got it from a POSTMAN* supposed to have been at the death scene that the shot and bleeding SS man was in on the plot to kill the President.)" [emphasis added]

*the 1/22/77 issue of "The Continuing Inquiry" contains an article written by Penn Jones and Gary Shaw re: the "dead" agent incident as reported in a letter sent to Jim Garrison during the Clay Shaw trial:

"A Mr. Robertson, Assistant Director of the Dallas or Fort Worth Secret Service office, confided to [friend of writer who requested anonymity] in 1963 that a plot to kill President Kennedy was planned and he did not want any part of it. On November 22, 1963, my friend was in the office of Mr. Robertson when all phones began to ring, about the time Kennedy was arriving at Carswell Air Force Base [in Fort Worth], Mr. Robertson then said, 'Well, this is it' and left the office. Sinc that time Mr. Robertson's family of seven children and wife have not seen or heard from him, yet his paychecks continue to be mailed to his home."

Jones/ Shaw: "Our 1965 investigation lead us to believe Robertson was in Dallas but was posing as a POSTAL INSPECTOR, but it was reported to us that he had left Dallas. We also learned from newsmen that something unusual did happen on Harwood [street] shortly before the turn to Main Street. No one wanted credit for this, but we were told by reliable newsmen that a man jumped in front of Kennedy's car on Harwood shouting, "Stop, I must tell you." The man, according to ther report, was promptly wresteled to the ground and hustled away." [emphasis added]

----- To my great surprise, there are FOUR reports that corroborate the above article, in conjunction with the overlooked Kantor report:

The first is the actual LETTER sent to Garrison from an "Amy Britvar" dated 2/21/68 and originating from Turtle Creek Blvd. in Dallas, TX. [thanks go to John Armstrong and Jack White for the copy of this letter]! An internet people search for Britvar drew a blank, although there ARE other Britvars in Texas (further work will be done on locating this person).

The second is a Treasury Department (U.S. Customs Service) document, dated 1/17/80, from Joseph G. Forrester, U.S. Customs, to Attorney General Benjamin R. Civiletti [thanks go to John Armstrong and Ed Sherry for this document]. The letter reads in part:

"My interest in the Kennedy murder started in 1966 when I met ab Air Force Master Sergeant at St. Albans Naval Hospital, Queens, New York. This sergeant, an elderly man, was suffering from terminal cancer. He stated that on November 22,1963 he was attached to Air Force One as an electronics technician. He further stated that after the President was shot a message was received over a military frequency that multiple assassins had attacked the President...a Secret Service agent, Mr. Robertson, stationed in the Dallas-Fort Worth area disappeared on November 22,1963 yet his family still receives his paychecks. The disappearance of an individual is not unusual except that it has been said that Mr. Robertson became aware of an assassins plot against the president. An assassin plot had been unearthed in Chicago a short time before President Kennedy's Dallas trip. Please do not misconstrue this letter. I am not a crank; but I am sincerely interested in this crucial investigation. I am willing to join an investigative team and if that is not possible, will make myself available for an interview by investigative officers."

The third is a lengthy memorandum written by Vince Salandria, dated 1/31/67, regarding an interview with Rita Rollins, a Navy Nurse with an interesting story to tell.---the crucial part in question reads as follows:

"The name of the person in Dallas...is Inez Robertson. CHUCK ROBERTSON, HER HUSBAND, WORKS AT THE POST OFFICE...Inez Robertson, actually saw them [men with guns] make a breakdown of the rifles. This tall man with long grey or white hair[-]he was in the station wagon. There is a luggage rack on the station wagon. It was a Rambler station wagon. This fellow with the mixed grey hair carried them [the armed men] to the airport...This tall man had been around Dallas the day before the assassination...THIS EPISODE HAS CAUSED FRICTION BETWEEN CHUCK ROBERTSON AND INEZ ROBERTSON. HE IS NOT IN DALLAS NOW." [emphasis added]

The fourth can be found in the WC volumes: 17 H 749 (CE 705: the DPD Channel 2 transcripts)---

"One of the SECRET SERVICE MEN ON THE FIELD---ELM AND HOUSTON; said it came over the teletype that one of the Secret Service men had been killed." [emphasis added]

-----

Finally, here are excerpts from my article about the "dead" agent:

In the July, 1997 JFK Deep Politics Quarterly article "Jim Fox and the Dead Secret Service Agent Story," Mark Crouch raised some fascinating possibilities. In fact, I was so inspired by that article that I finally decided to do something I should have done a long time ago: namely, detail every scrap of data concerning this mystery, as well as the one concerning the "agent(s)" of unknown repute spotted in Dealey Plaza immediately after the assassination.

First things first, however -- here is every known reference to the dead agent I could find as reported in the media on November 22, 1963.

Eddie Barker, KRLD-TV, a CBS affiliate, noted, "The word is that the President was killed, one of his agents is dead, and Governor Connally was wounded."

ABC News in Washington reported, "A Secret Service agent apparently was shot by one of the assassin's bullets."

ABC's Bill Lord report included, "Did confirm the death of the secret service agent... one of the Secret Service agents was killed...Secret Service agents usually walk right beside the car."

ABC Washington also noted, "One of the Secret Service agents traveling with the President was killed today."

The Associated Press (AP) was quoted on WFAA (ABC):"A Secret Service agent and a Dallas policeman were shot and killed some distance from where the President was shot."

At 12:45 p.m. CST, KRLD-TV, a CBS affiliate, reported that a Secret Service agent had been killed along with the President.

At 1:23 pm, CST, CBS's Walter Cronkite reported, "A Secret Service man was also killed in the fusillade of shots."

Seth Kantor, a reporter for Scripps-Howard, would write in his notebook, which was published by the Warren Commission [20H 410] "They even have to die in secret."

At 2:14, the AP again made note: "A Secret Service Agent and a Dallas policeman were shot and killed today.

The Dallas Police radio, channel two, also carried the story: (2:40 p.m.) "One of the Secret Service men on the field--Elm and Houston, said that it came over his Teletype that one of the Secret Service men had been killed."

The Dallas Times Herald , dateline November 22, 1963, added, "From the Secret Service office in Dallas--a spokesman could neither confirm or deny the report: 'All I've heard is the same reports you've heard [sic]'."

At 3:40 p.m. Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Robert A. Wallace reported, "No Secret Service man was injured in the attack on President Kennedy," a denial of sorts, but it does not indicate if one was killed, or if there was violence away from "the attack on President Kennedy."

Beyond this, several authors, this one included, have come upon information that, in one way or another, appears to corroborate the story to a certain extent. What follows is a listing of these findings.

In High Treason 2 (p. 439), DNC advance man Marty Underwood said to Harry Livingstone-- "There were a couple of suicides in the thing, with the Secret Service and everything..." Livingstone: "Do you remember who committed suicide?" Underwood: "I don't remember. I think there were a couple...." [He is then cut off by Livingstone.]

Secondly, in this author's book The Third Alternative (p. 36): "While all three major television networks reported that "A Secret Service agent and a Dallas policeman were shot and killed' on 11/22/63, only to be officially corrected later by Secret Service officials, this author learned from Crouch, [Mark Crouch,friend and confidante of PRS agent/photographer James K. "Jack" Fox] that Agent Fox stated that the story was true!! According to Crouch, Fox was working in theExecutive Office Building on 11/ 22/63 (where the PRS office was), when he was asked by SAIC of PRS Robert Bouck to get ready a detail of four to six agents to assist in retrieving the body and casket of the unnamed Secret Service agent. Fox told Crouch, "We lost a man that day- our man ,' and qualified his remarks by stating that he was not referring to JFK!

This was a deathbed confession of sorts, -- Fox died not long after telling Crouch this in the early 1980's [ed. note: Fox died in 1987]. (Interestingly, although having heard the news reports that stated that the President's limousine raced to Parkland Hospital after the shooting, Mrs. Bill Greer thought for several hours that her husband had perished that day! Since she knew that Greer was the driver of JFK's car, this appears to be a strange admission. See Death of a President, p. 354, 1988 edition; interview of Richard Greer, 10/7/91)";

Third, from Richard Trask's Pictures of the Pain, (p. 50): Mrs. Cecil Stoughton had similar concerns about her husband to those of Mrs. Greer cited above, no doubt due to these same reports...

RE: MOTORCYCLES--- 20 H 489: DPD Captain Perdue Lawrence (rode in the advance car) Exhibit re: motorcycle distribution DATED NOVEMBER 21, 1963, the day before the assassination [handwritten comments from 7/24/64]:

In addition to DPD motorcycles officers B.W. Hargis and B.J. Martin, H.B. MCLAIN AND J.W. COURSON WERE SLATED TO RIDE ON THE LEFT SIDE OF JFK'S LIMOUSINE. Also, in addition to DPD motorcycl officers D.L.Jackson and J.M. Chaney, C.A. HAYGOOD AND M.L. BAKER WERE SLATED TO RIDE ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF JFK'S LIMOUSINE!

3 H 244: DPD motorcycle officer M.L. Baker testified that there was a last minute change made at Love Field-told to stay to the rear of limousine [baker evidently interpreted this as WAY back];

6 H 293: DPD motorcycle officer B.J. Martin testified that they were instructed to stay to the rear of the limousine;

7 H 580-581: DPD Captain Perdue Lawrence testified that the Secret Service told them to stay to the rear on the evening of 11/21/63 [based off JFK's alleged "desires", debunked by my Secret Service interviews and previous motorcades, inc. in Texas and Florida in November 1963: how convenient---JFK's "desires" coincided with his assassination!];

21 H 571: DPD Asst. Chief Charles Batchelor----"[DPD Captain Perdue] Lawrence then said there would be four (4) motorcycles on either side of the motorcade immediately to the rear of the President's vehicle [as borne out by his 11/21/63 report]. MR. LAWSON [OF THE SECRET SERVICE] STATED THAT THIS WAS TOO MANY, that HE thought two (2) motorcycles on either side would be sufficient, about even with the rear fender of the President's car." [emphasis added];

4 H 338: Secret Service agent Winston G. Lawson--- DULLES: "...do you recall that any orders were given by or on behalf of the President with regard to the location of those motorcycles that were particularly attached to his car?' LAWSON: "NOT SPECIFICALLY AT THIS INSTANCE ORDERS FROM HIM." [emphasis added---Lawson would go on to say that "it was my understanding that he did not like a lot of motorcycles surrounding the car", something not borne out by very recent prior motorcades!!!];

20 H 453; 463-465: DPD Captain Glen King---stated that the Secret Service was PRIMARILY responsible for the President's security, while the role of the DPD was a SUPPORTIVE one [in keeping with all prior motorcades in 1963]

-------- WILL FRITZ'S MEN OUT OF THE MOTORCADE: 20 H 391: Seth Kantor's notes----"Will Fritz's men called off nite before by SS. Had planned to ride closed car w/ machine guns in car behind Pres." [which could mean someplace behind JFK's car, as was the case in New York on 11/15/63];

--------- PRESS OUT OF THE PICTURE: 6 H 163: DMN reporter Tom Dillard---"We lost our position at the airport. I understood we were to have been quite a bit closer. We were assigned as the prime photographic car which, as you probably know, NORMALLY A TRUCK PRECEDS THE PRESIDENT ON THESE THINGS [MOTORCADES] AND CERTAIN REPRESENTATIVES OF THE PHOTOGRAPHIC PRESS RIDE WITH THE TRUCK. In this case, as you know, we didn't have any and this car That I was in was to take photographs which was of spot-news nature." [emphasis added]. Dillard forcefully said the same thing on C-Span on 11/20/93, telling the tv audience that the flatbed truck was "cancelled at the last minute" and they were put in Chevrolet convertibles "which totally put us out of the picture." [all previous trips, inc. Florida, has press/ photographers very close in front and behind JFk's limousine, inc. WH photographer Cecil Stoughton, who rode in the SS follow-up car from July 1963 until 11/21/63---he was relegated to one of the aforementioned convertibles and would NOT tell me who placed him away from the limo!

In addition, Godfrey McHugh was told, for the first time, to please not ride in the limousine, as he and/ or Ted Clifton often did; however, bith the Secret Service and (recently) Ken O'Donnell have been blamed for this, although McHugh earlier had mentioned only the SS to CFTR radio in 1976, years before the Ralph Martin book!];

--------- MOTORCADE ROUTE: 4 H 169: DPD Chief Jesse Curry---testified that he was not consulted about the motorcade route!; >From WC document-Griffin to Rankin re: Dallas PD: "From an administrative standpoint, (DPD's Charles) Batchelor believed that the failure of the Secret Service to inform the police adequately in advance of the exact route to be taken by the president prevented them from adequately organizing their men and taking the necessary security precautions.";

-------- OVERPASSES (AND THE UMBRELLA MAN)-DISTRACTIONS?: 21 H 564: DPD Asst. Chief Charles Batchelor---"He [Lawson of the SECRET SERVICE] also stated that we should have men on each railroad and traffic overpass that the presidential party would go under, and that these people should be instructed NOT TO LET ANYONE STAND OVER THE IMMEDIATE PATH OF THE PRESIDENTIAL PARTY." [emphasisi added---not adhered to in Dealey Plaza!];

4 H 327: Secret Service agent Winston G. Lawson himself testifies that "any citizen", no exceptions, were to be kept off overpasses. In fact, 4 H 351: Lawson testified: "I recall thinking we were coming to an overpass now, so I glanced up to see if it was clear, the way most of them had been, THE WAY ALL OF THEM HAD BEEN UP UNTIL THAT TIME ON THE WAY DOWNTOWN, AND IT WAS NOT...And I was looking for the officer WHO SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE, HAD BEEN REQUESTED TO BE THERE...and I made a kind of motion through the windshield trying to get his attention to move the people from over our path THE WAY IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN...we were just approaching this overpass when I heard a shot." [emphasis added---was this a visual distraction, as the umbrella man was? In the new Z-film video---the sprocket area---Secret Service agent Clint Hill, in particular, is seemingly transfixed on the umbrella man DURING the initial shooting!];

See

http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/parnell/vp1.htm

As a followup, I would strongly suggest doing the following.......

Clock on the link below

http://www.otrcat.com/jfk.htm

Download the audio file, within the yellow box

ASSASSINATION

1:45pm coverage

What you will hear will probably shock the hell out of you, but that is just my opinion

Robert

no, what shocked you?

[J. Raymond Carroll]

Johnston would have an interesting story to tell.

Steve Thomas

Johnston may well have had an interesting story to tell, but he wasn't telling anyone, and won't be.

David L. Johnston: former Dallas County justice of the peace

10:00 AM CDT on Sunday, April 22, 2007

By JOE SIMNACHER / The Dallas Morning News

jsimnacher@dallasnews.com

During his two terms as a Dallas County justice of the peace, David L. Johnston had jurisdiction over misdemeanor civil and criminal matters. At the time, he was also an acting coroner, ruling on the cause of death in many cases.

But from the afternoon of Nov. 22, 1963, and into the following morning, Mr. Johnston presided over legal proceedings followed around the world.

That Friday afternoon he issued a search warrant for a suspect's room on North Beckley Avenue. That evening, he arraigned the renter, Lee Harvey Oswald, with the charge of murder with malice in the death of Dallas police Officer J.D. Tippit. Shortly after midnight, he formally charged Oswald with the murder of President John F. Kennedy.

Mr. Johnston, 80, died Tuesday of an apparent stroke at his East Dallas home.

Services were Saturday at Sparkman/Hillcrest Funeral Home. He will be entombed in Hillcrest Mausoleum.

While Mr. Johnston's role in history attracted considerable media attention, he rarely discussed those events with anyone outside his family, said his son Thomas Johnston of Mesquite.

"Every five years or so – when there would be a significant anniversary like 25 or 30 [years] – some reporter somewhere would find his name and call him up," his son said. "My dad would routinely tell them, 'Look, President Kennedy is dead, Johnson's dead, Oswald's dead, Ruby's dead. Everybody's dead – who cares?' and hang up on them. That's how he was."

Born in Dallas, Mr. Johnston grew up in Lakewood and attended Woodrow Wilson High School and Crozier Technical High School.

He served for 2 ½ years in the Navy in the Pacific during World War II. His brother, Lt. Arnold G. Johnston, was killed in a 1943 training flight in California.

Mr. Johnston married Martha Bailey in 1947. Mrs. Johnston died in 1991.

He served 9 ½ years as a Dallas County deputy sheriff in the department's criminal and civil units and as head of the communications section. He graduated from the Oklahoma Homicide Investigators School while he was a deputy sheriff.

In 1957, Mr. Johnston was elected president of the Texas Police Dispatchers Association, which changed its name to the Texas Law Enforcement Dispatchers Association.

In 1958, Mr. Johnston resigned from the Sheriff's Department to run for justice of the peace Precinct 2, which included parts of Carrollton, Farmers Branch, Addison and Richardson. His starting salary was $275 per month. The incumbent, Perry Ford, was ruled ineligible for the Democratic primary because he had moved to Precinct 1 to care for his mother. Mr. Johnston had no Republican opposition in the November election.

Mr. Johnston was elected to a second four-year term in 1962 and served until Dec. 31, 1966.

In November 1963, Mr. Johnston was among those waiting to hear the president speak at a luncheon. After the shooting, law-enforcement officers who recognized the justice of the peace from his days as a deputy summoned him to Parkland Memorial Hospital, beginning his involvement in the event.

Mr. Johnston asserted that when he arraigned Oswald, the suspect came under Dallas County jurisdiction and should have been transferred to the county jail and not returned to the city jail.

"My dad always said that had they transferred Oswald in the middle of the night – as soon as he had been arraigned – no one would have known any better and no one would have been able to get to him," Thomas Johnston said.

Had Oswald not been killed by Jack Ruby on the morning of Nov. 24, 1963, Mr. Johnston was to have arraigned him on charges of assault to murder Gov. John Connally the following week.

Mr. Johnston did not seek re-election in 1966 and became business manager for Dallas Medical and Surgical Clinic, where he had worked after World War II before becoming a deputy sheriff.

He had been a member of First Presbyterian Church in Dallas and was a Mason for more than 50 years.

In addition to his son, Mr. Johnston is survived by two daughters, Linda J. Woolsey of Arlington and Kerri Bailey of Plano; another son, David M. Johnston of Irving; two sisters, Muriel E. Johnston of Berkeley, Calif., and Sheila J. Bauer of Mesquite; eight grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

Memorials may be made to the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children or a charity of choice.

[Steve Thomas]

J.,

Mr. Johnston asserted that when he arraigned Oswald, the suspect came under Dallas County jurisdiction and should have been transferred to the county jail and not returned to the city jail.

"My dad always said that had they transferred Oswald in the middle of the night – as soon as he had been arraigned – no one would have known any better and no one would have been able to get to him," Thomas Johnston said.

I ran across that the other day. Johnston told the Warren Commission that in both arraignments, Oswald was remanded to the custody of the Dallas County Sheriff's Department.

What was he still doing in the hands of the Dallas City Police Department 48 hours later?

Steve Thomas

[Myra Bronstein]

J.,

Mr. Johnston asserted that when he arraigned Oswald, the suspect came under Dallas County jurisdiction and should have been transferred to the county jail and not returned to the city jail.

"My dad always said that had they transferred Oswald in the middle of the night – as soon as he had been arraigned – no one would have known any better and no one would have been able to get to him," Thomas Johnston said.

I ran across that the other day. Johnston told the Warren Commission that in both arraignments, Oswald was remanded to the custody of the Dallas County Sheriff's Department.

What was he still doing in the hands of the Dallas City Police Department 48 hours later?

Steve Thomas

Remaining in the hands of insiders so they could plan his execution by Ruby.

[J. Raymond Carroll]

This may be relevant to the false rumor about a dead SSA man.

Herbert Blenner has that rare gift, it seems, of noticing things that did not happen and that should have happened, like the dog that did not bark. Herbert has spotted something I for one never noticed before, namely that communications over the secret service radio channels were withheld from the Warren Commission.

http://www.jfklancerforum.com/dc/dcboard.p...ing_type=search

[David Andrews]

Is it possible that the dead SS agent or intel op was smuggled out of Dallas to DC on Air Force One or Two, as part of the Kennedy pre-autopsy body switch? There is a report in either Rich DellaRosa's new paper on the autopsies, or in a document quoted in it, of an anonymous cremation at Gawler's funeral parlor near the end of November.

Also - in rereading the account of Dan Rather's coverage of the SS death rumor that begins this thread (which I now recall hearing on CBS as a child home sick from kindergarten that Friday) - is it possible that the dead SS agent report may have been generated by Clint Hill spreadeagled over the back seat on the exit from Dealey? I seem to recall that there was once some dispute over JFK's foot hanging over the right rear door which was settled by a pic showing that it was Hill's foot. So - panic and prone bodies can make for rumor.

Edited June 18, 2009 by David Andrews

[Will Emaus]

The dead SS agent "rumor" did come straight from the Dallas police early on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRTfBZZR9-s&fmt=18 @5:47 of the clip.

3 things are announced concurrently as reported by Bill Lord on ABC

- The Sheriff's Office in Dallas says an SS agent was dead

- 4 shots have now been fired

- A young man has been taken in for questioning

I'm just curious and maybe there's a good answer but how would the sheriff's office know that a 4th shot needed to be added in order to justify the SS agent story, when Kennedy's death hadn't even been announced yet?

[John Dolva]

I've never remotely thought this, but I plead insanity,

A:The Sheriff's Office in Dallas says an SS agent was dead

- 4 shots have now been fired

- A young man has been taken in for questioning

B:The Sheriff's Office in Dallas says a patrol officer was dead

- 4 shots have now been fired

- A young man has been taken in for questioning

so A kinda equals B

Could this possibly in some twisted dimension mean that ''THE'' patrol officer = an SS agent*? Was Kennedy officially declared dead..when?

EDIT ADD : *who then became a patrol officer named Tippit

Edited January 26, 2010 by John Dolva

[Kathleen Collins]

Gil,

It is also my opinion, that this Major could likely be the misidentified "dead secret service agent" that vanished into history.

I do not know if these are related, but...

In a statement written by Parkland Hospital RN Triage nurse, Bertha Lozano, she wrote that on Friday afternoon after the President had arrived and after the little boy with the cut chin had arrived, "A technician came to the desk and asked me to expect a private patient who was bleeding." She also wrote, "Blood technicians came to ask me who "Mr. X" was who did not have an ER number. Hematology also came with the same problem and was told the same thing."

No information about what the Blood Technicians and Hematology were told.

Price Exhibit 20 in 21H214

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...p;relPageId=238

Steve Thomas

This probably isn't relevant, but I'm curious. What happened to the kid with the cut chin? Apparently it was so bad his mother nearly fainted.

Kathy C