John Simkin Posted October 17, 2005 Share Posted October 17, 2005 On 22nd November, 1963, Lee Bowers was working in a high tower overlooking the Dealey Plaza in Dallas. He had a good view of the presidential motorcade and was able to tell the Warren Commission about the three cars that entered the forbidden area just before the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Bowers also reported seeing two men standing near the picket fence on the Grassy Knoll. He added: "These men were the only two strangers in the area. The others were workers whom I knew." Bowers said the two men were there while the shots were fired. Mark Lane interviewed Bowers for his book Rush to Judgment (1966): "At the time of the shooting, in the vicinity of where the two men I have described were, there was a flash of light or, as far as I am concerned, something I could not identify, but there was something which occurred which caught my eye in this immediate area on the embankment. Now, what this was, I could not state at that time and at this time I could not identify it, other than there was some unusual occurrence - a flash of light or smoke or something which caused me to feel like something out of the ordinary had occurred there." According to W. Penn Jones Jr, the editor of the Texas Midlothian Mirror, Bowers received death threats after giving evidence to the Warren Commission and Mark Lane. On 9th August, 1966, Lee Bowers was killed when his car left the road and crashed into a concrete abutment in Midlothian, Texas. Robert J. Groden later reported "Lee Bowers was heading west here on highway sixty-seven heading from Midlothian down to Cleburne and according to an eyewitness he was driven off the road by a black car. Drove him into this bridge abutment. He didn't die immediately, he held on for four hours and during that time he was talking to the ambulance people and told them that he felt he had been drugged when he stopped for coffee back there a few miles in Midlothian." Namebase entry for Lee Bowers: http://www.namebase.org/main3/Lee-Bowers-Jr.html DiEugenio,J. Destiny Betrayed. 1992 (173-4) Duffy,J. Ricci,V. The Assassination of John F. Kennedy. 1992 (84-5) Furiati,C. ZR Rifle. 1994 (98) Garrison,J. On the Trail of the Assassins. 1988 (16, 18-9) Groden,R. Livingstone,H. High Treason. 1990 (129, 134-5) Marrs,J. Crossfire. 1990 (75-8, 332, 560) Scheim,D. Contract on America. 1988 (24, 35) Scott,P.D... The Assassinations: Dallas and Beyond. 1976 (206-7) Stich,R. Defrauding America. 1994 (437) Thomas,K. Popular Alienation: A Steamshovel Press Reader. 1995 (173) Turner,W. Rearview Mirror. 2001 (134) Vankin,J. Conspiracies, Cover-ups, and Crimes. 1991 (134) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Unger Posted October 17, 2005 Share Posted October 17, 2005 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Ecker Posted October 17, 2005 Share Posted October 17, 2005 Robin, The guy with the cap in the center of the photo you posted looks like he could be the Whatley lookalike who was photographed in the DPD or sheriff's office. It looks like the same cap. (I have a print-out of the lookalike photo but no way to post it.) Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stephen Turner Posted October 17, 2005 Share Posted October 17, 2005 It was also bowers was it not, that first reported sighting the "Three tramps" to the police. Its interesting how much time, and effort Posner puts in to discredit Bowers, possibly more than any other eyewitness, the reason for this is Bowers is a credible witness, and as such very damaging to the W/C version of events. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Ecker Posted October 17, 2005 Share Posted October 17, 2005 There are inconsistencies in the story of Bowers and the tramps. Bowers described (I believe to Mark Lane, but I can’t readily find it) the arrest of transients apparently in the rail yard behind the knoll, and he remarked how scared they must have been to see all those cops. But according to officer Marvin Wise, the tower controller (Bowers) told him that he had seen three men run and get in a train car (variously described in reports as a boxcar, coal car, and grain car) “several hundred yards” or “a quarter of a mile” to the south. Wise and other officers went down the tracks to the car in question and removed the tramps, marching them north to the TSBD area, where the officers were instructed to take them to the sheriff’s office. If these latter tramps were somehow involved in the assassination, they must have done whatever they did in the south knoll area, much closer than the north knoll to the train car they jumped into. So were these two different sets of tramps, one set apprehended to the south, the other in the north knoll area? There seems no way to tell. Bowers testified that some transients were “taken on at least one train.” According to the above, Bowers should have said “at least two trains.” But WC staffer Mr. Ball cut Bowers off on this subject, saying that they had already “talked this over” before the deposition. Isn’t that great? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Ecker Posted October 17, 2005 Share Posted October 17, 2005 Robert J. Groden later reported "Lee Bowers was heading west here on highway sixty-seven heading from Midlothian down to Cleburne and according to an eyewitness he was driven off the road by a black car. Drove him into this bridge abutment. He didn't die immediately, he held on for four hours and during that time he was talking to the ambulance people and told them that he felt he had been drugged when he stopped for coffee back there a few miles in Midlothian." These details are highly questionable according to an article by Dave Perry, who interviewed quite a few people in researching the Bowers story. (The article is on McAdams's website, and is a good example of the valuable material that can be found on that site despite the webmaster's lone-nut dogmatism.) http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/bowers.txt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Unger Posted October 18, 2005 Share Posted October 18, 2005 Robin,The guy with the cap in the center of the photo you posted looks like he could be the Whatley lookalike who was photographed in the DPD or sheriff's office. It looks like the same cap. (I have a print-out of the lookalike photo but no way to post it.) Ron Hi Ron. Is this the guy you are reffering to: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Richards Posted October 18, 2005 Share Posted October 18, 2005 That's him, Robin. I put this comparison together some time back. It should be pointed out that Howard K. Davis told me catagorically that the man in question is NOT Richard Whatley. FWIW. James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Unger Posted October 18, 2005 Share Posted October 18, 2005 Thanks James. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Richards Posted October 18, 2005 Share Posted October 18, 2005 To piggy back Wise's statement, this piece below comes from May of 1975. James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Ecker Posted October 18, 2005 Share Posted October 18, 2005 Robin and James, Yes, the comparison photo of Whatley and Unknown is the one I had a print-out of. I had not seen the other photo before. Thanks. The guy with the cap in the parking lot looks like either the same man or some kind of co-worker (railroad worker or parking lot attendant) with an identical cap. I would guess a railroad worker, as I would think that whoever ran the parking lot would give the attendants some decent-looking caps to wear. Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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