Jump to content
The Education Forum

Dead Secret Service Agent in Dallas?


Recommended Posts

There have been several attempts to explain away this report of a dead secret service agent.

There might have been something to the story.

When you put together the pool of blood reportedly found in the plaza, along with the reports of

people in Dealey Plaza reportedly carrying SS ID, you might arrive at the conclusion that someone

carrying SS ID was shot and killed in the plaza...could this have been the origin of this story?

Naturally, if this person was not a SS agent, the death would have to be suppressed in order to be

able to determine that there had been no conspiracy involved in the killing of JFK.

Sure, this is speculation, but is it unreasonable in light of those early reports?

Possibility 1 = Non SS agent with SS "shoes" shot dead and story suppressed. (As Chuck suggested.)

Possibility 2 = CIA Penetration Agent (infiltrating for life) within SS shot dead and story suppressed.

Possibility 3 = Real SS agent (whether in on the plot or not) shot dead with telltale high blood alcohol level and/or drugs in his system and story suppressed.

what blood?where? any photos or reports?

if somebody actually got wacked I suspect it would have been an imposter as it would have been pretty difficult to "disappear" a SS Agent. Also, was the agent assaulted by the SS early on at Parkland ever ID? Yrs ago, I seem to remember reading something CIA being at Parkland.

Edited by Evan Marshall
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 69
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

There is no book from CBS in any form, comprehensive or otherwise. I doubt that you'd be able to get the transcripts from CBS. However, there are a few locations around the country that have copies. One such location is the University of California, San Diego. The transcripts there are on microfiche. Another location is The Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin (The Scheffler Papers). The official title for 11/22/63 is "The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy as broadcast over the CBS Television Network Friday, November 22, 1963." This 267 page transcript is a must for all researchers. Good luck.

Ken

Ken: Many thanks for this information. If we could only get someone to copy the transcript and make it available online....

Vince Palamara discusses the rumor in Chapter 9 of SURVIVOR'S GUILT, beginning at Page 5:

"All three major television networks—ABC, NBC, and CBS—reported that “a Se-

cret Service agent and a Dallas policeman were shot and killed” on Novem-

ber 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 appar-

ently was shot by one of the assassin’s bullets.” ABC’s Bill Lord stated: “ 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. Central Stan-

dard Time (CST), KRLD–TV 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 re-

porter for Scripps-Howard, would write in his notebook (which was published

by the Warren Commission): “They even have to die in secret.”

26

At 2:14 pm, the AP again made note: “A Secret Service Agent and a Dallas policeman were shot

and killed today.”

The Dallas Police radio, Channel 2, 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.”

27

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]’.”

However, 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 [emphasis

added]”, 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”.

Still, these stories could have served the purpose of supplying the Secret Service with the much-

needed jurisdiction to take over and steal the body of JFK from the Dallas au-

thorities (which is what, in fact, they did). Remember, while the murder of the

President was not a federal crime in 1963, the murder of a Secret Service agent

was a federal crime.

28

Perhaps this explains the proliferation of the tale of the “dead” agent on November 22, 1963."

http://www.assassinationresearch.com/v4n1.html

Palamara goes on to discuss claims that the story is true, but I think we can say with confidence, more than forty years after after the fact, that no Secret Service agent suffered so much as a scratch in that agency's "efforts" to protect JFK. The story about a dead Secret Service agent was simply a false rumor, apparently spread by SOMEONE in the DPD. The Warren Commission should have tracked down the source of this rumor, but did not.

Palamara's guess that SSA spread the rumor to create a cover for Federal Jurisdiction is just that, a guess.

For people listening to radio and TV that day it would have seemed odd if there was no mention of the Secret Service, who were supposed to be protecting the President. These initial reports created the immediate illusion that the Secret Service had in fact tried to protect the President, and would have served the function of calming the public mind. The "story" of a fearless SSA agent who gave his life defending his President meant that the American system of government was working, even if not completely perfect.

If members of the Secret Service were involved in the plot to kill JFK, it would make good sense to spread a false rumor that would show their agency in a heroic light. First impressions are the most important, and this rumor gave Americans the first impression that the Secret Service had done their job.

All that remained was to make sure attention now focused on Lee Oswald, and the Secret Service's dereliction of duty would be forgotten.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There was a story about an SS agent in Dallas named Robertson who was killed or disappeared because he wouldn't go along with the conspiracy. His wife continued to receive his paycheck.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

...

what blood?where? any photos or reports?

...

I don't know for sure, but I recall hearing about a pool of blood on the sidewalk near the TSBD, and possibly one near the cement steps on the knoll.

...

if somebody actually got wacked I suspect it would have been an imposter as it would have been pretty difficult to "disappear" a SS Agent.

...

Seriously?

They murdered the President of the United States and got away with it.

Clearly they could "disappear" anyone they wanted.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is no book from CBS in any form, comprehensive or otherwise. I doubt that you'd be able to get the transcripts from CBS. However, there are a few locations around the country that have copies. One such location is the University of California, San Diego. The transcripts there are on microfiche. Another location is The Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin (The Scheffler Papers). The official title for 11/22/63 is "The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy as broadcast over the CBS Television Network Friday, November 22, 1963." This 267 page transcript is a must for all researchers. Good luck.

Ken

Ken: Many thanks for this information. If we could only get someone to copy the transcript and make it available online....

Vince Palamara discusses the rumor in Chapter 9 of SURVIVOR'S GUILT, beginning at Page 5:

"All three major television networks—ABC, NBC, and CBS—reported that “a Se-

cret Service agent and a Dallas policeman were shot and killed” on Novem-

ber 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 appar-

ently was shot by one of the assassin’s bullets.” ABC’s Bill Lord stated: “ 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. Central Stan-

dard Time (CST), KRLD–TV 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 re-

porter for Scripps-Howard, would write in his notebook (which was published

by the Warren Commission): “They even have to die in secret.”

26

At 2:14 pm, the AP again made note: “A Secret Service Agent and a Dallas policeman were shot

and killed today.”

The Dallas Police radio, Channel 2, 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.”

27

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]’.”

However, 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 [emphasis

added]”, 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”.

Still, these stories could have served the purpose of supplying the Secret Service with the much-

needed jurisdiction to take over and steal the body of JFK from the Dallas au-

thorities (which is what, in fact, they did). Remember, while the murder of the

President was not a federal crime in 1963, the murder of a Secret Service agent

was a federal crime.

28

Perhaps this explains the proliferation of the tale of the “dead” agent on November 22, 1963."

http://www.assassinationresearch.com/v4n1.html

Palamara goes on to discuss claims that the story is true, but I think we can say with confidence, more than forty years after after the fact, that no Secret Service agent suffered so much as a scratch in that agency's "efforts" to protect JFK. The story about a dead Secret Service agent was simply a false rumor, apparently spread by SOMEONE in the DPD. The Warren Commission should have tracked down the source of this rumor, but did not.

Palamara's guess that SSA spread the rumor to create a cover for Federal Jurisdiction is just that, a guess.

For people listening to radio and TV that day it would have seemed odd if there was no mention of the Secret Service, who were supposed to be protecting the President. These initial reports created the immediate illusion that the Secret Service had in fact tried to protect the President, and would have served the function of calming the public mind. The "story" of a fearless SSA agent who gave his life defending his President meant that the American system of government was working, even if not completely perfect.

If members of the Secret Service were involved in the plot to kill JFK, it would make good sense to spread a false rumor that would show their agency in a heroic light. First impressions are the most important, and this rumor gave Americans the first impression that the Secret Service had done their job.

All that remained was to make sure attention now focused on Lee Oswald, and the Secret Service's dereliction of duty would be forgotten.

Good summary J. Ray, thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

...

what blood?where? any photos or reports?

...

I don't know for sure, but I recall hearing about a pool of blood on the sidewalk near the TSBD, and possibly one near the cement steps on the knoll.

...

if somebody actually got wacked I suspect it would have been an imposter as it would have been pretty difficult to "disappear" a SS Agent.

...

Seriously?

They murdered the President of the United States and got away with it.

Clearly they could "disappear" anyone they wanted.

I worked Homicide twice-it ain't that easy-murdering the President is easier than making some one disapear from everybody memory and numerous records of their existance-there's an appalling tnendecy to grant these folks magical powers and to explain away such inconvenient facts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

J,

The Dallas Police radio, Channel 2, 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.”

http://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk...Vol23_0484a.htm

At approximately 2:37pm, Sergeant R.E. Dugger (18) radios in on Channel 2:

“I have Judge Johnston here with (illegible) Parkland. Was there just one (illegible) from the shooting from the Presid… party?”

The following exchange takes place:

Dispatcher (illegible) I had on it 18

Dispatcher: 18, There were some more injured, but I don’t know who they were, or how severe.

Dugger: I didn’t read you. You know anything about an injured Secret Service Agent?

Dispatcher: No, I do not. There were some more injured, but I don’t know who they were.

Patrolman J.W. Brooks (174): 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.

Dispatcher: Well, 10-4. I don’t have that information.

Dugger: I believe this is going to be incorrect. He’s not at Parkland. Can you have someone canvas the major hospitals please?

Garbled

Patrolman L.H. Marshall (139): I have a man out here that doesn’t know anything about that.

Vince Palamara alt.conspiracy.jfk 11/26/03

“One final clue to both the mystery of the "dead" agent and the

"unknown agent" in Dealey Plaza on November 22 may come from the statements of former Dallas agent Robert A. Steuart, as revealed in Bill Sloan's 1993 work, JFK--Breaking the Silence (pp 1-5). Although the agent who spoke to Sloan was unnamed in the book, Sloan confirmed to me the agent's identity based on my firm conviction

that this agent HAD to have been Steuart. Why? Because, as I told Sloan, the agent used the identical language with me during my two "attempted" interviews with him in 1992 and 1993; in any event, Sloan confirmed my suspicions. So, just what did Steuart say to Sloan (and me)? Sworn to absolute secrecy about the "Kennedy thing," Steuart went on to say, "I can't talk about it...There are so many things I could tell you, but I just can't... I can't tell you anything... I'd like to, but I can't.... It was a very heavy deal, and they would

know. Someone would know. It's...too dangerous, even now."

Needless to say, more work is being done on these leads.”

Steuart had been stationed at the Trade Mart and gone to Parkland Hospital following the assassination. In his official Report, Steuart wrote, “After the President’s death was announced, I returned to the Dallas District Office and took over duties at the telephone, to correlate activities of other agents.”64. There is the possibility that Steuart might not have remained at the Dallas District Office. In his case report on Lee Harvey Oswald, Captain Fritz has the following notation, “Detective C.N. Dhority #476 “Made copies of defendant’s identification for Mr. Stewart of Secret Service. Prepared case report.”65. I believe that Fritz meant Steuart. Dhority makes no mention of this in his after-action report.

64. Report from Robert A. Steuart. Letter from the Secret Service to the Commission, dated June 11, 1964, with attached statements of Secret Service personnel, named below. Warren Commission Hearings and Exhibits, volume XVIII, p. 797, Commission Exhibit 1024, as cited in the History Matters Archive, http://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk...Vol18_0406a.htm

65. Case Report, by J. W. Fritz. Case report on Lee Harvey Oswald includes officers as

witnesses. Dallas Police Archives Box 15, Folder# 1, Item# 92: as cited in the City of Dallas Archives – JFK Collection, http://jfk.ci.dallas.tx.us/box15.htm

Steve Thomas

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have an interest in this issue & definitely don't know what to make of it.....Ron Ecker is correct in saying that the Continuing Inquiry segments dealing with the story present someone named Robertson who knew the assassination was going to take place and wasn't going along with it, the only thing is, I wouldn't think he would have been near Dealey Plaza, [knowing that the Secret Service was complicit in the assassination, one would think they would have seen to it he wasn't] let alone shot near the motorcade......Like I said, I don't know what to make of it. The thing to do would be to post the original article('s) from the Continuing Inquiry.

I have posted the link to an article by Alan Houston - The Vanishing Pool of Blood http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=48688&relPageId=21

The really interesting article though, is Wallace Chariton's

The Pool of Vanishing Blood........

The only contribution to the thread I can make is mentioning that I searched the Warren Commission files to read the FBI interview of Jerry Coley & Charlie Mulkey....I was unable to find one.......

So, it appears that there are 2 conclusions that can be drawn from that, either the FBI decided not to provide the interview to the Warren Commission, or the Warren Commission decided not to include it in the 26 Volumes, or, that if the story is indeed a valid one, that the individuals interviewing Coley and Mulkey were not agent's at all.....

While I believe that there was a Secret Service agent taken out that day, I generally tend to be very suspicious of any employees of the Dallas Morning News, at the time of the assassination, given the politics of that newspaper and its owner.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

“One final clue to both the mystery of the "dead" agent and the

"unknown agent" in Dealey Plaza on November 22 may come from the statements of former Dallas agent Robert A. Steuart, as revealed in Bill Sloan's 1993 work, JFK--Breaking the Silence (pp 1-5). Although the agent who spoke to Sloan was unnamed in the book, Sloan confirmed to me the agent's identity based on my firm conviction

that this agent HAD to have been Steuart. Why? Because, as I told Sloan, the agent used the identical language with me during my two "attempted" interviews with him in 1992 and 1993; in any event, Sloan confirmed my suspicions. So, just what did Steuart say to Sloan (and me)? Sworn to absolute secrecy about the "Kennedy thing," Steuart went on to say, "I can't talk about it...There are so many things I could tell you, but I just can't... I can't tell you anything... I'd like to, but I can't.... It was a very heavy deal, and they would

know. Someone would know. It's...too dangerous, even now." (Steve Thomas quoting text)

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned before but during WW2, Robert A. Steuart was with Army Intelligence in the Eighth Service Command.

An interesting person to interview about this would be Lillian Ryan. She was working in the Dallas Secret Service office at the time. I wonder if she is still alive?

James

Edited by James Richards
Link to comment
Share on other sites

At approximately 2:37pm, Sergeant R.E. Dugger (18) radios in on Channel 2:

“I have Judge Johnston here with (illegible) Parkland. Was there just one (illegible) from the shooting from the Presid… party?”

Steve Thomas

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There may be something of interest below..

Mr. COUCH - Part-time television news cameraman with WFAA-TV Dallas.

snip...

Mr. BELIN - Where was he at the time you made this statement?

Mr. COUCH - Uh - he was standing on that little sidewalk that runs between the - I met him on the little sidewalk between the Book Depository property and the beginning of the parkway.

Mr. BELIN - That would be the west side of the Depository Building?

Mr. COUCH - That's right; that's right. It's there that I saw blood on the sidewalk.

Mr. BELIN - All right. Now, you say you saw blood on the sidewalk, Mr. Couch?

Mr. COUCH - That's right.

Mr. BELIN - Where was that?

Mr. COUCH - This was the little walkway - steps and walkway that leads up to the corner, the west corner, the southwest corner of the book Depository Building. Another little sidewalk, as I recall, turns west and forms that little parkway and archway right next to the Book Depository Building.

Mr. BELIN - Did this appear to be freshly created blood?

Mr. COUCH - Yes; right.

Mr. BELIN - About how large was this spot of blood that you saw?

Mr. COUCH - Uh - from 8 to 10 inches in diameter.

Mr. BELIN - Did people around there say how it happened to get there, or not?

Mr. COUCH - No; no one knew. People were watching it - that is watching it carefully and walking and pointing to it. Uh - just as I ran up, policemen ran around the west corner and ran - uh - northward on the side of the building. And my first impression was that - uh - that they had chased someone out of the building around that corner, or possibly they had wounded someone. All of those policemen had their pistols pulled. And people were pointing back around those shrubs and that west corner and - uh - you would think that there was a chase going on in that direction.

Again, the reason that I didn't follow was because A.J. had come up, and my first concern was to get back with the President.

Mr. BELIN - This pool of blood - about how far would it have been north of the curbline of Elm Street as Elm Street goes under the expressway?

Mr. COUCH - I'd say - uh - well, from Elm Street, you mean, itself?

Mr. BELIN - Yes. This is from that part of Elm Street that goes into the expressway?

Mr. COUCH - I'd say - uh - 50 to 60 feet, and about 10 to 15 feet from the corner of the Texas Depository Building.

Mr. BELIN - It would be somewhere along that park area there?

Mr. COUCH - Right.

Mr. BELIN - Was there anything else you noticed by this pool of blood?

Mr. COUCH - No. There were no objects on the ground. We looked for something. We thought there would be something else, but -

http://jfkassassination.net/russ/testimony/couch.htm

************************

The "Dead" Secret Service Agent Saga

and the Agent(s) on the Knoll

by Vince Palamara

This article by DPQ Associate Editor Vince Palamara originally appeared in the October 1997 issue of JFK Deep Politics Quarterly. Used by permission of the author.

All rights reserved.

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, inthis 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.

These tidbits, seemingly corroborative data concerning this mysterious, unnamed "dead" agent, tantalize us with the sheer volume of their credibility. With this in mind, I decided to "get specific" and try to FIND this deceased Secret Service Agent. Initially, I thought I might have found him: ATSAIC Stewart G. "Stu" Stout , stationed at the Trade Mart on November 22, 1963, died--cause unknown--immediately after Dallas, according to Agents Sam Kinney and Floyd Boring (author's interviews, 1994). In fact, Boring initially doubted that Stout was even in Dallas ("Gee, I don't think so...then again, I guess I should have known he was there because he died shortly thereafter.") Ironically, S/A Stout rode in the hearse [JFK's] (presumably upright, and breathing) from Parkland Hospital to Love Field on November 22, 1963!! [stout had also been involved in protecting Truman at Blair House during the assassination attempt on November 1, 1950 along with Floyd Boring, as well as having been with Vice President Nixon in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1958.] However, three items of data appear to quash this initial identification of the "dead" agent: First, Stout's report of his activities, dated 11/29/63 (18H 785); secondly, Stout's report, dated April 29, 1964, concerning the infamous drinking incident (18H 680); finally, an actual film clip of Stout with LBJ in California in 1964 as depicted in the 1992 PBS video "LBJ." Reports of Stout's demise apparently were, at least initially, exaggerated.

So the use of the word "immediately" by Kinney and Boring appears to be a slight case of hyperbole on their part. So I then focused on the other two agents, Emory Roberts, and Henry Rybka, who always aroused my suspicions in regard to this matter.

Fellow ATSAIC Emory P. Roberts died of unknown causes, the very same time an unnamed agent took his life in the... "Sixties, in Washington, with his own weapon. There were signs he was beginning to buckle," as former agent Chick Rochner explained to fellow former agent Marty Venker ! ("Confessions of an Ex-Secret Service Agent," pp. 216-217) As for Agent Rybka, the only written confirmation of his appearance after November 22,1963, is his alleged report found on 25H 787. However, unlike every other report found in volumes 18 and 25, save Agent Greer's, it is undated. In addition, there is a strange lack of detail and content, and there is no approval stamp by SAIC Behn. Keeping in mind the three documents that place him in the follow-up car on November 22, when he actually was left behind at Love Field (see JFK/Deep Politics Quarterly , October, 1996), something appears to be amiss.

Unfortunately for this specific quest, Roberts and the "unnamed" agent died in the late 1960s, while Rybka's presence as late as November 27 is confirmed by S/A Roy Kellerman in his WC testimony (2H 86), ...so much for that. Still, there HAD to be something to these tales of the "dead" agent; I decided to look still further. After an exhaustive examination of EVERY agent even remotely associated with the Texas trip (using the Warren Report, the 26 volumes, the HSCA materials, newly released interviews, plus Secret Service shift reports as sources), I have come to the conclusion I feel I can state most firmly: the only agent who is a real viable candidate for possibly being the dead agent is Dennis R. Halterman, a White House Detail agent who, as the shift reports bear out, was in San Antonio with the President on November 21 but who, for all intents and purposes, "disappears" from the record after that date. In essence, there is no written record of if, when, how, or where he went after that stop on the Texas tour: to Houston? Dallas? Austin? Washington? Halterman's name was known to me before I obtained the shift reports last year, as he is listed as being a member of the WH Detail in an alphabetical listing provided by Fred Ciacelli of the traveling JFK Museum to me in late 1993. It was also from this list that I asked Sam Kinney if Halterman--along with several heretofore unknown agents of the WHD present on this list--were still alive back in March, 1994. Kinney told me Halterman was deceased, but did not say when or how he died, mainly because I did not ASK him at that time. I have since tried to ask the question to former S/A Kinney, but have not been able to contact him.

But that is it--no other reference is made to Halterman anywhere else, and he is the only agent who could possible be a candidate for the "dead" agent, based on my personal research.

Equally intense was my search for the "agent" of unknown repute who appears in Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963. Was he real? Was he an illusion? Was it a case of mistaken identity? Was he a fake agent? Was he a real agent? These were the questions I had to answer, or try to, to the best of my ability. As we shall see shortly, I chose the last option as being the correct choice.

As a precondition, we shall discard the problematic "identifications" of Jean Hill, as she testified to being encountered by a Secret Service agent who was most likely Dallas Times Herald reporter Jim Featherstone; equally valueless was the statement of Lee Oswald (see 24H 479), as the "agent" he pointed to a phone booth in the TSBD after the shooting was most likely WFAA newsman Pierce Allman or the more commonly identified Robert MacNeil after all. We do not need to rely on these accounts, as there are other sources. The following people stated that they encountered an "agent" in Dealey Plaza, or they gave information that definitely tends to strengthen the accounts of others on this issue.

Law enforcement officers noted the presence of an agent in the plaza: Joe Marshall Smith, who even saw credentials (7H 535), D.V. Harkness (6H 312), Constable Seymour Weitzman (7H 107), and Deputy Sheriff Roger Craig (cited in Crossfire, 330). Spectators Malcolm Summers (quoted on "Nova," November, 1988), Gordon Arnold, (Dallas Morning News, August 27, 1978), and Ronald Fischer (6H 196), all saw or corroborated other "sightings."

What does the "official" record reveal about these alleged 'sightings'? Yeah, we know...or do we? Going back to the original "official" statement, or party line, was quite an

eye opening experience: "All the Secret Service agents assigned to the motorcade stayed with the motorcade all the way to the hospital. None remained at the scene of the shooting, and none entered the School Book Depository at or immediately after the time of the shooting." (Commission Document 3, p. 44--emphasis added)

So, in actual fact, this statement, drafted by Secretary of the Treasury C. Douglas Dillon and General Counsel G. d'Andelot Belin, only accounts for the sixteen agents traveling in the motorcade--two in the lead car (Lawson and Sorrels), two in the limousine (Greer and

Kellerman), eight in the follow up (Kinney, Roberts, Hill, McIntyre, Ready, Landis, Bennett, Hickey), one in LBJ's car (Youngblood), and the three in the VP follow-up car (Johns, Taylor and Kivett)!! Discarding the notion that "Lem" Johns was the agent (he was left behind VERY briefly on the ROAD and hitched a ride in one of the camera cars as verified by the film record), and stipulating that the other WHD agents assigned to the Trade Mart, Love Field, Austin, and other places, based on the "official" record, really were there the whole time, what does that leave us with?

For one thing, there were, "officially"speaking, seven agents in the Dallas field office of the Secret Service: SAIC Sorrels, as noted, in the lead car; Robert Steuart and John Joe Howlett, at the Trade Mart; Roger C. Warner, and William H. Patterson, both stationed at Love Field. But, as you note, that is only five of the seven agents. And there's the rub--the Secret Service reports in Volume XVIII alone confirm what five of the seven of the Dallas agents were doing on November 22--what about the other two--Charles E. Kunkel and James F. "Mike" Howard?

There are NO reports from these two men in the volumes (quite a strange departure), and NO testimony was taken from them either (although with no testimony taken from seven of the eight SS agents in the follow up, that should not surprise us). Coincidentally, both of these agents would go on to guard the Oswald family after the assassination and subsequent death of LHO; in fact, good old Marguerite Oswald felt that these agents were involved in the actual conspiracy itself (1H 169-170)! Howard, who would go on to join the WHD onMarch 29, 1964, was interviewed in an AP story related in the "Fresno Bee" on 11/22/93, the 30th anniversary of JFK's murder. Despite the obvious need to focus on the assassination, there was no mention in that interview of where either Howard (or Kunkel..) were during the critical time of the shooting in he middle of Elm Street! Are there any candidates from the WHD who are "eligible" to have been the "real agent" In Dealey Plaza on November 22? Yes, the aforementioned Dennis R. Halterman, and for the very same reasons, another new and obscure name: Ronald M. Pontius. Pontius, in Houston on November 21, also "disappears" from the detailed, written record and, like Halterman, this omission stands out noticeably from the shift reports and other documents--if one applies Peter Dale Scott's "negative template" hypothesis: if something is not there that SHOULD be there, something's amiss. Interestingly, during my interview of Houston DNC advance man Marty Underwood, he mentioned that the one agent I should contact about these matters was none other than Pontius himself, a completely unknown name to be then (Oct., 1992), and still a pretty obscure name now. Finally, as readers of my book, The Third Alternative, know, former agent Abraham W. Bolden, Sr., expressed much suspicion about fellow former agent Harvey Henderson as being a possible candidate for the "agent" in Dealey Plaza. At that time, Henderson was "removed" from the WHD-- if you believe Bolden, because he was extremely bitter towards JFK, and this removal happened shortly before Dallas. I have been unable to confirm or deny the story conclusively, as Henderson passed away in early 1994 just as I was seeking to interview him.

One final clue to both the mystery of the "dead" agent and the "unknown agent" in Dealey Plaza on November 22 may come from the statements of former Dallas agent Robert A. Steuart, as revealed in Bill Sloan's 1993 work, JFK--Breaking the Silence (pp 1-5). Although the agent who spoke to Sloan was unnamed in the book, Sloan confirmed to me the agent's identity based on my firm conviction that this agent HAD to have been Steuart. Why? Because, as I told Sloan, the agent used the identical language with me during my two "attempted" interviews with him in 1992 and 1993; in any event, Sloan confirmed my suspicions. So, just what did Steuart say to Sloan (and me)? Sworn to absolute secrecy about the "Kennedy thing," Steuart went on to say, "I can't talk about it...There are so many things I could tell you, but I just can't... I can't tell you anything... I'd like to, but I can't.... It

was a very heavy deal, and they would know. Someone would know. It's...too dangerous, even now."

This, from a local agent, stationed at the Trade Mart on November 22, 1963.

Were the stories about the "dead" Secret Service agent true? Quite possibly, for there is one viable candidate. What about the "agent" in Dealey Plaza? He most likely was a GENUINE agent, for there are five potential candidates: two local agents, two Washington agents, and one bitter renegade agent, whereabouts unknown, on that fateful day in Dallas. One thing is sure: if the man on the knoll was the renegade, it was one hell of a conspiracy, and if an agent was killed, why the silence?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A special note and addendum from the author (November 28, 1997)

I have received a lot of acclaim for my article in the the October 1997 JFK/DPQ, which is very much appreciated. While I still stand behind all the documentation in the article (and feel especially strong about the agent-in-the-plaza info), one major correction and one addition should be noted. I just returned from the JFK/Lancer conference in Dallas to discover over 300 pages of Secret Service survey reports and many Secret Service agent letters in my mail!

One of the documents, RIF-154-10002-10424, eliminates Secret Service Agent Dennis R. Halterman as being a candidate for the "dead" agent (but not the agent in the plaza, along with the four other candidates). However, while at the conference, researcher John Armstrong gave me a Treasury Department document regarding a U.S. Customs Official's allegations that a "[fnu] Mr. Robertson" of the Secret Service disappeared on 11/22/63 (Robertson was stationed in the Dallas/Fort Worth area). I am currently checking up on this new lead.

Also, Mrs. Hazel Kinney wrote me, telling me that her husband Sam Kinney (the driver of the follow-up car on 11/22/63 and a member of the Secret Service from 1950 to 1967) passed away on 7/21/97 while they were traveling in Iowa. I am the only person to have gotten Sam on the record in detail (even more so than the 1996 HSCA release). I am in the process of developing a list of surviving Secret Service agents to bring to the Review Board; needless to say, this was a great loss. I am forever grateful to the extended time Sam gave me in 1992 through 1994.

Recently, I've received letters from agents Floyd Boring, Bill Livingood, G. d'Andelot Belin, and others; hopefully there's many more to come as the research continues...

Thank you.

***************

Photo by Jack White.....

B

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bernice,

Thanks for your post.

(1)The portion of Couch's statement which I have highlighted below in boldface type, merits serious consideration, I suggest :

Mr. BELIN - That would be the west side of the Depository Building?

Mr. COUCH - That's right; that's right. It's there that I saw blood on the sidewalk.

Mr. BELIN - All right. Now, you say you saw blood on the sidewalk, Mr. Couch?

Mr. COUCH - That's right.

Mr. BELIN - Where was that?

Mr. COUCH - This was the little walkway - steps and walkway that leads up to the corner, the west corner, the southwest corner of the book Depository Building. Another little sidewalk, as I recall, turns west and forms that little parkway and archway right next to the Book Depository Building.

Mr. BELIN - Did this appear to be freshly created blood?

Mr. COUCH - Yes; right.

Mr. BELIN - About how large was this spot of blood that you saw?

Mr. COUCH - Uh - from 8 to 10 inches in diameter.

Mr. BELIN - Did people around there say how it happened to get there, or not?

Mr. COUCH - No; no one knew. People were watching it - that is watching it carefully and walking and pointing to it. Uh - just as I ran up, policemen ran around the west corner and ran - uh - northward on the side of the building. And my first impression was that - uh - that they had chased someone out of the building around that corner, or possibly they had wounded someone. All of those policemen had their pistols pulled. And people were pointing back around those shrubs and that west corner and - uh - you would think that there was a chase going on in that direction. Again, the reason that I didn't follow was because A.J. had come up, and my first concern was to get back with the President.

(2) The following:

From Decker Exhibit No. 5323

WCH 19, p. 477

The statement of Philip Ben Hathaway, age 28, taken 11/22/63:

Just before noon today, my friend John Stevens Rutter Lawrence, who works with me, and I and two other friends left the Texaco Building where we work going to the parade. We were walking down Commerce up to Main and Main to Akard and while we were walking up Akard towards Main Street we passed a man who was carrying a rifle in a gun case. I saw this man walking towards me, walking towards Commerce, and took particular attention to him because of his size. I am 6'5" and weigh 200 pounds. This man was very tall, approx [sic] 6'6" or 6'7" over 250 pounds, very thick and big through the chest, in his 30's, dirty blonde hair worn in a crew cut. Was wearing a grey colored business suit with white dress shirt, fair complexion. I remarked to my friend that there was a guy carrying a gun in all this crowd and made the remark that he was probably a secret service man. I could very easily identify this man if I ever saw him again. The gun case was holding a rifle because I could tell there was a gun in it as it was a combination leather and cloth gun case and without a gun, it would have been limp, but it was heavy and he was carrying it by the handle and the barrell of the gun was up at a 45 degree angle. It was beige or tan leather and olive drab material.

We can place the time that we saw this man walking with the gun as I recall someone in the crowd asking for the time and they said it was 11:50A.M.

Philip Ben Hathaway

(3) Revisit the thread 'Metal shed...there or not....' by clicking on

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.ph...c=6745&st=0

Here's what I suggest may have happened:

-Hathaway and his companions saw the man carrying the rifle on Akard St. heading towards Commerce St. He was on his way towards the postal -annex. Upon arrival there, he identified himself as an SS agent , and accordingly was admitted to the upper part of the building, and then made his way up to the roof where he took up a sniping position. His rifle was both 'scope' and silencer equipped. It was he who fired at JFK, but missed and hit John Connally . He fired again and the bullet struck JFK in the back of his head. Return fire from the GK fatally wounded this assassin. DPD officers immediately went up to the roof and discovered his body. They knew he was an assassin, and to leave his body on the roof of the postal-annex would have totally destroyed the 'bogus' assassination plot which was intended to have people believe that the only shots that were fired came from the TSBD. The best place for the body of this assassin to be found was, of course, the TSBD, and so they put the bleeding body of the deceased in the back seat of a cruiser, and drove it over to the TSBD. (3) shows the cruiser parked alongside the fence, and that is also the spot where Couch saw the pool of blood. The body was removed from the back seat in front of the pathway decribed by Couch. By opening the rear door of the cruiser and hustling the body speedily up the steps surrounded by a group of policemen with guns drawn, those spectators standing further up the street had little chance of seeing what was actually taking place. Unfortunately by that time the word was already out that an SS man had been shot, and to put an end to that damaging tale , any further consideration of leaving the body in the TSBD had to be abandoned. If one goes back to (3), I have suggested that the body was crated , and then hoisted onto the back of a tow-truck. The fence by that time had been covered over with the pulled-down awning, in order to hide what was taking place.

That's but a very short description of what I suggest occurred. I am interested only in stimulating thinking. Doubtless there will be questions in regard to the 'bogus' assassination and shots being fired from the GK. However, I stand by what I have stated in the past, namely that there was a bogus conspiracy which was hijacked halfway down Elm St. and turned into the real thing. Shots fired from the TSBD were not aimed at JFK. Riflemen located on the GK were part of the bogus assassination scenario, and were part of the so-called 'abort team'. If things had gone as planned, there would have been two dead Cubans and a dead 'red' in Dealey Plaza that day courtesty of the 'abort team' . It did not work out exactly as planned , and so when JFK was actually shot, the 'abort' team responded by returning fire at the assassin on the roof of the annex.

The man's body was put aboard Air Force One and flown to Andrew's AFB. JFK's body was taken out the front of the aircraft and then to Bethesda Hospital. The second body was removed via the rear of the plane and 'choppered' to Walter Reed Hospital. The tale of the dead SS man ties in with the tale of the two coffins, and also the tale of how JFK's body left Dallas wrapped in a bodybag and arrived at Andrews AFB in a casket.

Just one final observation : The question comes up continually as to why JFk was not assassinated when the limousine was approaching the TSBD along Houston St. The answer is quite simple, the 'bogus assassination' plot depended on JFK leaving Dallas very much alive that day. I say again, shots fired from both the TSBD and the GK were not aimed at JFK.

Edited by Ed O'Hagan
Link to comment
Share on other sites

...

(2) The following:

From Decker Exhibit No. 5323

WCH 19, p. 477

The statement of Philip Ben Hathaway, age 28, taken 11/22/63:

Just before noon today, my friend John Stevens Rutter Lawrence, who works with me, and I and two other friends left the Texaco Building where we work going to the parade. We were walking down Commerce up to Main and Main to Akard and while we were walking up Akard towards Main Street we passed a man who was carrying a rifle in a gun case. I saw this man walking towards me, walking towards Commerce, and took particular attention to him because of his size. I am 6'5" and weigh 200 pounds. This man was very tall, approx [sic] 6'6" or 6'7" over 250 pounds, very thick and big through the chest, in his 30's, dirty blonde hair worn in a crew cut. Was wearing a grey colored business suit with white dress shirt, fair complexion. I remarked to my friend that there was a guy carrying a gun in all this crowd and made the remark that he was probably a secret service man. I could very easily identify this man if I ever saw him again. The gun case was holding a rifle because I could tell there was a gun in it as it was a combination leather and cloth gun case and without a gun, it would have been limp, but it was heavy and he was carrying it by the handle and the barrell of the gun was up at a 45 degree angle. It was beige or tan leather and olive drab material.

We can place the time that we saw this man walking with the gun as I recall someone in the crowd asking for the time and they said it was 11:50A.M.

Philip Ben Hathaway

...

Of course this is the description quoted at http://www.manuscriptservice.com/FFiDP/ that matches Hemming.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://www.manuscriptservice.com/FFiDP/

The above cited website article states that John Lawrence's attention was called ( i.e. not drawn) to a man carrying a rifle . It goes on to state that Mr. Lawrence's companion, Philip Ben Hathaway, provided a similar description of a man carrying a heavy gun case, in a voluntary police statement on 11/22/63.

Jim Marrs writes in Crossfire /The Crowd as follows:

Hathaway said the case was made of leather and cloth and was not limp, but obviously contained a rifle. He remarked to Lawrence that it must be a Secret Service man. Lawrence also saw the big blond man, but did not see the rifle due to the growing crowd around them. Lawrence said the man gave him the impression of being "a professional football player".

It's interesting how one author credits Lawrence with seeing the rifle, but the other does not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...