Canadian believes father took photo of 2nd assassin

[Douglas Caddy]

 

Canadian believes father took photo of 2nd assassin

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm-XJ-VQAHo

[Jim Hargrove]

Interesting little piece, in which a man claims his father took a photo of two men in the TSBD sixth floor window about the time of the hit.  The photo, he says, disappeared after it was given to a Canadian newspaper in 1964.

Many Dealey Plaza witnesses said they saw two men in the window, among them Charles L. Bronson, Carolyn Walter, Ruby Henderson, Dallas Morning News photographer Tom Dillard, and many inmates on the 5th floor of the County Jail, including Johnny L. Powell who said, “Quite a few of us jail inmates saw two men in the 6th floor window of the Book Depository. Everybody was trying to watch the parade and all that. We were looking across the street at the Book Depository because it was directly straight across. The first thing I thought is, it was security guards .... I remember the guys."

[Gary Murr]

20 hours ago, Douglas Caddy said:

 

Canadian believes father took photo of 2nd assassin

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm-XJ-VQAHo

As the first researcher to personally interview Norman Similas, something I did on two occasions in November and December of 1967, I remain convinced that much of the Similas story was "made up" for reasons that to this day I cannot explain. I was made aware of Norman Similas via Harold Weisberg as Weisberg was constructing "Photographic Whitewash." As I explained in correspondence to both Harold and Richard Sprague, Similas was long on promises of producing photographic evidence he claimed to have possessed but short on presenting any such evidence to me when given ample opportunity to do so. He was continually evasive and vague when I interviewed him, refusing to allow me to tape record any of our conversations nor allow notes to be taken by myself or an individual verse in short-hand dictation whom I had accompany me on my first Similas contact. I do believe Similas was in Dallas on November 22, 1963, and may have even been in/around the Dealey Plaza area at the time of the assassination. However, I do not believe he personally witnessed events as he described. Though his son, Kirk, mentions in this video news clip that his father had three camera's with him on that day, Similas never indicated as such to me during my interviews with him. Indeed, he even refused to tell me what make and model of camera he had theoretically taken to Dallas on that weekend and used to photograph the south face of the TSBD. I spent the better part of several months in late 1967, early 1968 attempting to track the Similas materials, in particular the alleged photograph and or their negatives. I was allowed free access to the archives of the Toronto Telegram but found nothing. I also was in contact with individuals who had formerly worked at Liberty magazine, but again found no photographic evidence to substantiate the Similas story. Having met the man on more than once occasion only a few years removed from the assassination event I also spent a considerable amount of time examining photographs taken in and around Dealey Plaza prior to and after the assassination in an effort to “find” Similas in any pictures that exist. As I recall, because I no longer have any of this material, this effort on my part came up empty, though I do seem to recall the possibility of Similas appearing in one of the Wilma Bond slide images taken after the motorcade had left the plaza. But again, positive identification on my part of anyone who looked like Similas in Dealey Plaza came up empty – and in particular I do not recall an image of a slightly built individual with three camera’s on his person anywhere in the area prior to or after the assassination. My notes on Similas can be found in the Richard Sprague Papers, Special Divisions Collections, Georgetown University Library, Washington, D. C.

 

FWIW

 

Gary Murr

Edited May 21, 2018 by Gary Murr
To remove strike through markings

[Larry Hancock]

Thanks Gary, I thought this was an oldie and a questionable one at that.  Another commonly referenced source on people in the sixth floor window may also be questionable:

"many inmates on the 5th floor of the County Jail, including Johnny L. Powell who said, “Quite a few of us jail inmates saw two men in the 6th floor window of the Book Depository".

I explored that claim with Jim Marrs among others and was told that the holding areas for prisoners in that building did not have a view of the sixth floor of the TSBD.  I visited the county jail cells which DPD officers told me were the holding area and those most certainly did not have a view....neither Jim nor I could never confirm if there was another area in use that day which would have offered Powell and others a view so I removed to claim from the 2010 edition of SWHT because I couldn't verify it one way or another...

 

[Jim Hargrove]

I wouldn't dismiss this so quickly.  Tom Dillard was the top news photographer for the Dallas Morning News, and he testified as follows:

Mr. BALL - How many forms did you see in the window below? 
Mr. DILLARD - I saw two men in the windows, at least the arched windows. I saw them in my picture. I was making the picture my eyes were covering. 
Mr. BALL - You saw them as you were taking the picture? 
Mr. DILLARD - I may have; I don't know. 
Mr. BALL - Do you remember if you saw two or three figures? 
Mr. DILLARD - I don't remember. 
Mr. BALL - But you did see some figures and you can not be accurate? 
Mr. DILLARD - Right. 

[Larry Hancock]

Jim, I wasn't dismissing all the observations, just specifically the Powell/inmates ones.  As far as Dillard goes I did my first book with Connie Kritzberg who worked with him and had the opportunity to discuss his memories with him a number of times including immediately following the events of that day. 

I do think there are a number of witnesses who raise the very real possibility of multiple people in the windows, people who don't fit the official story.  On the other hand, its important to challenge witnesses that have "issues", which is what Gary did and what I was attempting. 

[Guest]

7 hours ago, Jim Hargrove said:

I wouldn't dismiss this so quickly.  Tom Dillard was the top news photographer for the Dallas Morning News, and he testified as follows:

Mr. BALL - How many forms did you see in the window below? 
Mr. DILLARD - I saw two men in the windows, at least the arched windows. I saw them in my picture. I was making the picture my eyes were covering. 
Mr. BALL - You saw them as you were taking the picture? 
Mr. DILLARD - I may have; I don't know. 
Mr. BALL - Do you remember if you saw two or three figures? 
Mr. DILLARD - I don't remember. 
Mr. BALL - But you did see some figures and you can not be accurate? 
Mr. DILLARD - Right. 

That testimony is referring to BRW, JJ and HN on the 5th fl. ( and not the possible shooter(s) on the 6th fl.

 

Dillard close-up, scan by ROKC from the Richard E Sprague archives at NARA

Edited May 22, 2018 by Bart Kamp

[Jim Hargrove]

Bart,

Yes, I think you're correct.  Thanks.  After looking at the testimony again, it seems like Bob Jackson referred Dillard to the sixth floor window, and Dillard saw the men in the window below it.

[Jim Hargrove]

16 hours ago, Larry Hancock said:

Thanks Gary, I thought this was an oldie and a questionable one at that.  Another commonly referenced source on people in the sixth floor window may also be questionable:

"many inmates on the 5th floor of the County Jail, including Johnny L. Powell who said, “Quite a few of us jail inmates saw two men in the 6th floor window of the Book Depository".

I explored that claim with Jim Marrs among others and was told that the holding areas for prisoners in that building did not have a view of the sixth floor of the TSBD.  I visited the county jail cells which DPD officers told me were the holding area and those most certainly did not have a view....neither Jim nor I could never confirm if there was another area in use that day which would have offered Powell and others a view so I removed to claim from the 2010 edition of SWHT because I couldn't verify it one way or another...

 

Larry,

That’s interesting.  According to the 1978 Earl Golz story (see below), a Ruby attorney told a WC investigator that the prisoners “had a good view of what took place.”  Do you know anything about that?
 

[Larry Hancock]

Yes Jim, I'm aware of it and that was the primary source for the Powell story as I recall.  That's why I originally included it in my first edition.  However a couple of readers very familiar with Dallas raised the issue of visibility and that's when I began to check into it further.  Jim Marrs was familiar with this same original claim and had accepted it but then when we began looking into it he couldn't actually verify the line of sight either.  And I had no luck myself.  Factually it all comes down to finding some corroboration that the prisoners holding area had the proper line of sight; when I went there personally I was taken to a location which did not and the DPD officer escorting us had been with the department throughout that era.  Perhaps he was wrong but its one of those things that - as with the story Gary Murr commented on originally - that in the end I could not verify so I ended up taking it out of the book. 

[Jim Hargrove]

So few things are simple in this case, and it seems as if Gary Murr took as hard a look at this particular story as is humanly possible.The general topic of the jail sightings was apparently discussed here pretty thoroughly in 2005.  The following post by Ron Ecker was particularly interesting, I thought.

The described FBI report (which I didn't turn up in a brief search) apparently indicates that the "sniper's nest" window was visible from at least some windows in the fifth floor of the jail, but the sixth floor jail windows weren't discussed, at least in the summary.  

Edited May 22, 2018 by Jim Hargrove

[Josh Cron]

Hope you don't mind me posting this Gary 😛

 

Letter from Richard Sprauge to Gary Murr, 1/4/68 (Weisberg Archives)

 

I talked to and corresponded with Similas last summer with the same sort of results you have had and finally gave up… I explained to him who I was and about my research and he said if I would write to him he would consider letting me see his pictures. I wrote and when I didn’t hear from him I called again. This time he said he would send me a full set of his photos (13). When I quizzed him about where he was standing and what the pictures showed, I got the same kind of hazy answers you did… After two weeks I phoned again and he told me his secretary had mailed the photos. I said we’d better put a tracer on them because they had not arrived. He said he would check with his secretary and find out where they had been mailed to, my office or my club in New York where I live.

After another two weeks, I called again, this time at his hardware store which he told me he owned. He said he would send me another set of photos. (13) This time I asked him again what they showed and he said three of them showed Kennedy on Elm Street with the Depository Building in the background. He said at least one of the photos showed the sixth floor window with no one in it between the first and the last shot… Anyway, the photos never did arrive. After a little more time, I asked my secretary to phone his secretary and find out when and where she had mailed them. She couldn’t reach anyone at first. When she finally got through to the hardware store, another man answered. When she asked for Similas’ secretary the man said, “Are you kidding, he doesn’t have a secretary.” When she tried his unlisted number his wife answered and said he was out of town and couldn’t be reached.

My secretary kept trying both numbers for several days with the same results, till one day the hardware store number was disconnected. That’s when I gave up.

I called Ray Jefferies at Associated Press in Chicago. He says Similas had several rolls of film and that all photos on all rolls were of the convention Similas attended, except for two photos on one roll. One of these showed the front of a car and the other showed the rear end of a car. Neither photo showed the occupants of the car or anything in the background which would give Jeffries a clue as to where and when they were taken.

However, Jeffries was looking at negatives, developed on the spot in Chicago, and would not necessarily have had any way of knowing whether those two photos or any of the others were taken in Dealey Plaza.

[Gary Murr]

Thanks for posting this, Josh; helps to jog my [aging] memory - and as indicated, Richard got about as much info out of Similas as I did!!

 

Gary