Escape From The TSBD- The Fire Escape Plan

[John Butler]

Escape From The TSBD- The Fire Escape Plan

There has been a lot of discussion on how assassins could escape from the TSBD after the assassination.  Various plans have been suggested.  Some are more plausible than others but, none seem to be really fit for all to agree. 

There were assassins in the TSBD on the day President Kennedy was assassinated.  Everyone agrees that there was an assassin or, assassins in the TSBD on the 6^th floor at the time of the assassination.  Witnesses variably list one, two, or possibly a third seen in the 6^th floor Sniper’s Nest window.  Others were seen in other windows.

These were professional assassins not, a lone nut gunman without a motive or, questionable motives.  They would have an escape plan.  But, how was that done is the question.  There is an interesting statement that can be found at:  

http://jfkthelonegunmanmyth.blogspot.com/2013/01/roy-truly-truly-interesting-character_14.html

“First, let’s keep one important point in mind. The assassination of the democratically elected President was carried out in the most heinously arrogant manner. The conspirators decided to assassinate the President in full public view and in broad daylight. Furthermore, the sniper in the 6^th floor window of the TSBD had stuck the barrel of the rifle out of the window and did not use a silencer/suppressor to mask the sound of the shots.

 

Now, the sound of the shots would have undoubtedly drawn the attention of many Police Officers and witnesses in Dealey Plaza towards the TSBD – which, of course, it did. The conspirators would surely have realised that many Police Officers could have almost immediately stormed into the TSBD and apprehended the assassin(s) on the 6^th floor.”

Keep this in mind as we go over the exits available to be used in an escape plan.  These are:

1.  Doorways on the 1^st floor of the TSBD

2. The fire escape

3. Repelling out a window or off the roof

4. Helicopter escape from the roof

As we descend through this list the escape routes become increasingly improbable.  One of the 1^st floor exits seem the best way to go for assassins to escape the building.  There were numerous exits on the first floor.  Here is a 1^st floor plan for exits out of the building:

Every face of the building has an exit point on the 1^st floor.  Any floor above the 1^st floor, floors 2 through 7, has exits that will bring you down to the 1^st floor except for one.  That is the fire escape.  It takes you outside and down to the Houston Street.

Keeping in mind what was said on the jfkthelonegunmanmyth internet site, if you were an assassin would you want to exit the building on the 1^st floor?  The probability you would be seen by someone and more importantly remembered would be a risk to high to commit to for an escape route TSBD for professional assassins.  This is a point of contention that can’t be resolved.  I am choosing to decide against the 1^st floor exit plans for the sake of this argument. 

It is not important whether you actually fired from the 6^th floor Sniper’s Nest, the assassins were there and would be co-conspirators in need of an escape route just as if they were the real shooters.  If you didn’t use the exits on the 1^st floor or the fire escape then how would you escape from the building after the assassination?

[John Butler]

Part II

Let’s say the assassins had notification of when the assassination would occur, where it would occur and, the TSBD would be used as a firing platform.  The sixth floor was chosen as the best place to shoot from for various reasons.  You would stand the chance of not being identified by witnesses if you were far enough away from the site of the shooting.  This is actually what happened. 

As assassins you were notified of your mission and then given the technical details on how to accomplish the mission.  Of foremost interest to the assassins would be the ease of the shot and how to get away afterwards.  You definitely would not want to be seen by anyone.  This makes what happened in the 6^th floor Sniper’s Nest a show play for witnesses.  This would be to attract attention away from the real shooting teams.

As assassins you would like to have help getting into the building and then after the assassination out of the building.  You would like to have help with moving your assassination tools into and out of the building, except for planted evidence left behind.

Could you get help from the TSBD people?  There is some possibility of that.  The TSBD may have been a nest of crooks and with various types of criminal activity going on there in 1963 and in previous years.  Such information can be found in:

“The Spider’s Web: The Texas School Book Depository and the Dallas Conspiracy
By William Weston”

If Mr. Weston is correct could you believe anything said by Bill Shelley and Billy Lovelady?  Roy Truly?  Ochus Campbell?  Just to name a few.  Why Ochus Campbell?  That will become apparent later.

How elaborate an escape plan would the assassins need in order to evade detection and more importantly recognition by witnesses in and outside the TSBD?  I would say whatever it would take to get the job done.

[John Butler]

Part II

Let’s say the assassins had notification of when the assassination would occur, where it would occur and, the TSBD would be used as a firing platform.  The sixth floor was chosen as the best place to shoot from for various reasons.  You would stand the chance of not being identified by witnesses if you were far enough away from the site of the shooting.  This is actually what happened. 

As assassins you were notified of your mission and then given the technical details on how to accomplish the mission.  Of foremost interest to the assassins would be the ease of the shot and how to get away afterwards.  You definitely would not want to be seen by anyone.  This makes what happened in the 6^th floor Sniper’s Nest a show play for witnesses.  This would be to attract attention away from the real shooting teams.

As assassins you would like to have help getting into the building and then after the assassination out of the building.  You would like to have help with moving your assassination tools into and out of the building, except for planted evidence left behind.

Could you get help from the TSBD people?  There is some possibility of that.  The TSBD may have been a nest of crooks and with various types of criminal activity going on there in 1963 and in previous years.  Such information can be found in:

“The Spider’s Web: The Texas School Book Depository and the Dallas Conspiracy
By William Weston”

If Mr. Weston is correct could you believe anything said by Bill Shelley and Billy Lovelady?  Roy Truly?  Ochus Campbell?  Just to name a few.  Why Ochus Campbell?  That will become apparent later.

How elaborate an escape plan would the assassins need in order to evade detection and more importantly recognition by witnesses in and outside the TSBD?  I would say whatever it would take to get the job done.

Part III

The fire escape plan avoids using any exits on the 1^st floor.  It uses the fire escape to leave the building on the 2^nd floor.  That is one floor above street level on Houston Street, about 10 or 12 feet above Houston Street.  The time to exit the fire escape door and go down two flights of steps can be done in seconds.  There would be less risk of being seen and identified on Houston Street then on the first floor of the TSBD by the passenger elevator and on the front steps leaving the building or, crossing the width of the TSBD to leave by the back doors.

Outside on Houston and Elm Streets everyone’s attention would be focused on the events of the assassination and more than likely no one would be paying attention to the fire escape.  Their attention would be on the crowds running toward the Grassy Knoll.

Any photographers of the fire escape exit would have had their attention on the motorcade as it passed in front of the TSBD on the way down Elm Street toward the Triple Underpass.  The Camera Car photographers did not film anything on Houston Street and only the front of the TSBD at a low level.  Two photographers photographed the 6^th floor windows within two minutes of the assassination.  If the Camera Car photographers did photograph anything that material has not survived.  As far as films such as Robert Hughes, Hughes has been edited.  If it had anything on the fire escape then it would have been a simple matter to replace that side of the TSBD with imagery that did not have anything.

The Tina Towner film has imagery of the fire escape as the presidential limousine rounds the corner and comes unto Elm Street.  This doesn’t help since the escape would be after the assassination when no one was filming the east side of the TSBD.

If you will go back to the 1^st floor plan of the TSBD you will see that the fire escape is located in the middle set of windows on the east face of the building on Houston Street.  There are 7 sets of two windows on the east face of the building.  The middle set first window contains the door for the fire escape.  There is no really good imagery of this fire escape before it was removed from the east face. 

For the first four floors to the TSBD, the fire escape exit was located in the office of the various bosses of the TSBD or the bosses of the various book company which happed to be on a particular floor.  The floor plans available do not shown where the fire escape may be on the 5^th, 6^th, and 7^th floors.  But, an available photo shows that the fire escape, in the middle of the building, descends from the top of the building to the street.

This is taken from the Executive Action film clip 1 and will give a fair idea what the fire escape looked like as far as doors and landings go. 

This is not the fire escape as shown in the first photo.  This maybe a shot of the fire escape as it looked in 1973 rather than 1963.  This appears to be more elaborate than the 1963 fire escape.  At some point the fire escape was moved from the east side of the TSBD.  Was that done in the period 1963-1973?

Regardless, a fire escape was available for an escape plan from the TSBD.

more to come later.

Edited March 11, 2019 by John Butler

[Ron Bulman]

"more to come later".  Please no.  When your backup possibilities include rappelling or a chopper on the roof ridiculousness takes on a new meaning. 

[John Butler]

Hey Ron,

I had posted on this list earlier and included jumping out a window.  That was for humor just as rappelling etc.

I guess you must have missed the line about descending through the list with increasing improbability. 

Sorry, I have to finish the notion with what a fire escape plan would look like.  That is the more to come later. 

I have a question for you.  Do you know anything about the fire escape at the TSBD.  Particularly the one shown in the Executive Action clip 1?

[Andrej Stancak]

John:

thanks for mapping all possible escape routes from the sixth floor; this is very useful. The fire escape has been maybe the first idea of Officer Baker and a reason for his dash towards the wast corner if the building first before he entered the Depository via main entrance. Difficult to find any hard evidence after more than 55 years, is it not?

 

[John Butler]

Andrej,

Any really hard and decisive evidence is hard to come by.  Almost every thing I see is controversial.  Sometimes, you are left to informed speculation to suggest what might have happened.  I don't mind going out on a limb with certain ideas.  I really don't like making mistakes which on occasion I do.  However, I am encouraged by others making corrections.  There are a lot of sharp people on the forum and they will not tolerate any nonsense when it comes up.  That is encouraging.

I value your opinion.  Keep up the good work.

[John Butler]

Part IV

So, what would be the best use for an escape from the TSBD by the fire escape.  Well, that would be one where you spent the least amount of time on the fire escape.  You could combine this idea with the passenger elevator escape plan with apologies to the good folks harveyandlee.com for modifying their theory.  Wiser heads than mine will decide whether there is any value in this idea.  These two avenues of escape give the maximum concealment available in escaping the TSBD.

How would this escape plan work?  Well, it would require help in setting up this escape.  Someone or more than one person at the TSBD would be needed to provide certain things to help with the escape plan.

As far as establishing an entry into the passenger elevator shaft goes, this would not be a big problem.  It could be planned for in advance.  Someone could enter the TSBD at night after work and make an entrance into the shaft to get access to the 4^th floor passenger elevator.  All you would need is a skill saw, a pry bar, and a hammer.  The skill saw, set to the right depth of cut, would make a cut into and through the 2 X 6 flooring over the wooden beam attached to the metal I beam.  It would have been important to make sure the 2 X 6s were cut over the wooden beam supporting them.

The 2 X 6 planking runs east and west.  An opening cutting through 6 2 X 6 boards would allow a space of about 30 inches.  That’s big enough for a person to go through.  How long would it take to do this?  About a minute or more for measuring the correct distance from the wall, for cutting the boards, and then about the same time to pry the cut 2 X 6 planks up off of the larger wooden beam.  Less than 5 minutes. 

You probably would not need to make two cuts.  One would do to pry up the cut 2 X 6s.  This photo shows how easy that would be to do.  There is a space of about 3 feet more or less between wooden beams that run north / south.

This photo of the 6^th floor SE corner was taken sometime after the assassination.  It has a plywood floor lain to the east wall of the TSBD.  This was not the case at the time of the assassination.  This is the 6^th floor but, it shows you what the 5^th floor ceiling would look like around the elevator shaft.

This preparation for entry into the passenger elevator shaft could be done before the assassination.  The boards could have been left unnailed or nailed to the wooden beams.  Book boxes would cover any thing that looked irregular. 

Entry into the elevator shaft would not be a problem. 

Someone on the janitorial staff or management would have to provide keys for the plan to work correctly.  There would be an entry into the building at night for preparatory work.  Perhaps, the night before the assassination would work.   For the day of the assassination someone would need to provide a key for entry into the 2nd floor office of Ochus Campbell if the office was locked, and a key to the fire escape door.  They could also provide a key for the escape hatch in the passenger elevator if that was necessary.  It was necessary that Ochus Campbell be out of his office, say, eating lunch with Roy Truly.  Would Roy invite him out for lunch?  Sure.

To clean up someone would be needed to replace the shaft opening boards and re-nail them to the wooden beam.  And, once again place boxes on top of the area to avoid any irregular or suspicious appearance.  This could be accomplished within the two minutes the Warren Commission estimated that someone could be in the Sniper’s Nest moving boxes.

To recap the fire escape plan:

1. Enter the passenger elevator shaft from the 6^th floor.  Preparation could be done prior to assassination day.

2. Someone is needed to make sure the passenger elevator is on the 4^th floor and will not move.  Cutting off the electricity would do that nicely.  Have a key for the elevator escape hatch if necessary.

3. Make sure Ochus Campbell is out of his office on the second floor. 

4. Have a key to the office and the fire escape door in the second floor office of Ochus Campbell.

5. Plant evidence.

6. Leave the TSBD within just a few minutes after the assassination by avoiding the first floor.

7. Be on Houston Street to be picked up in the Nash Rambler Stations Wagon and then pick up an Oswald on Elm Street.

Edited March 12, 2019 by John Butler

[Ron Bulman]

2 hours ago, Amadeus Sitchin said:

Let's use our imagination here.  Let's assume as some have suggested, that Oswald thought he was working with the FBI to thwart an assassination on JFK.  Let's then make the leap that he did fire the Carcano rifle, not to hit anyone, but to cause the limo to speed away to safety via Stemmons Highway.  Being an employee of the building, Oswald may have been convinced he could blend in and eventually walk away from the TSBD having helped the FBI foil the plan.  Of course, if this is truly what happened, Oswald was indeed the patsy he claimed to have been.  And if this imagined scenario is indeed true, then the driver of the limo had to be in on the assassination because instead of speeding away, he actually slowed-down until the fatal headshot was delivered.  If you want to hide something, hide it in plain sight.  Oswald was simply using the magician's art of misdirection.  

Oswald wasn't using anything or anybody.  He was being used.

[Tony Krome]

Officer Barnett was at the Elm/Houston intersection. After the final shot, he ran to the north/east corner of the TSBD and kept an eye on the fire escape and the rear. He then quickly circled the building and returned to the south/east corner to continue watching the fire escape. 

Saw nothing

Barnett was then posted to control TSBD access at the front doors

[Ron Bulman]

43 minutes ago, Tony Krome said:

Officer Barnett was at the Elm/Houston intersection. After the final shot, he ran to the north/east corner of the TSBD and kept an eye on the fire escape and the rear. He then quickly circled the building and returned to the south/east corner to continue watching the fire escape. 

Saw nothing

Barnett was then posted to control TSBD access at the front doors

Interesting.  So, if the at least two men on the sixth floor didn't go down the fire escape they either crawled through the sixth floor onto the top of the passenger elevator, stopped on the top floor it went to, the fourth, the top of it being on the fifth, or they went down the freight elevator.  Since they didn't use the stairs, jump out a window or board a helicopter from the roof nobody saw or heard?

[Tony Krome]

42 minutes ago, Ron Bulman said:

Interesting.  So, if the at least two men on the sixth floor didn't go down the fire escape they either crawled through the sixth floor onto the top of the passenger elevator, stopped on the top floor it went to, the fourth, the top of it being on the fifth, or they went down the freight elevator.  Since they didn't use the stairs, jump out a window or board a helicopter from the roof nobody saw or heard?

After the final shot, both Barnett and Worrell head north on Houston to positions north/east of the TSBD

Barnett then leaves heading west around the building. Worrell hangs around longer;

Mr. WORRELL - I was there approximately 3 minutes before I saw this man come out the back door here

 

[John Butler]

Tony,

How long do you think it takes to circle the TSBD?  Or, at least 3/4 of building?  It is 100 ft per side.

Is it enough time for someone to exit the 2nd floor 10 or 12 ft to Houston St.

Where were the other two policemen assigned to the intersection?  

Who stopped the motorcade in the intersection?  And released it in groups?

Barnett was at the front entrance 2 1/2 minutes after the shooting?  Who was watching the fire escape then?

Is Officer Barnett believable?

A big thanks for bringing up Officer Barnett.  He is a treasure trove of things I am trying to prove about the assassination.

[John Butler]

Ron,

Keep at it.  You may catch on directly.

[Tony Krome]

33 minutes ago, John Butler said:

Tony,

How long do you think it takes to circle the TSBD?  Or, at least 3/4 of building?  It is 100 ft per side.

Is it enough time for someone to exit the 2nd floor 10 or 12 ft to Houston St.

Where were the other two policemen assigned to the intersection?  

Who stopped the motorcade in the intersection?  And released it in groups?

Barnett was at the front entrance 2 1/2 minutes after the shooting?  Who was watching the fire escape then?

Is Officer Barnett believable?

A big thanks for bringing up Officer Barnett.  He is a treasure trove of things I am trying to prove about the assassination.

The fire escape was one of those drop down affairs, it was suspended above the sidewalk so it didn't impede pedestrians. 

Barnett did not report that the fire escape had been lowered

There were two other officers at that intersection, both by the name of Smith, both ran west on Elm after the shots

Edited March 13, 2019 by Tony Krome