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Bicycle in Dealey Plaza


Lee Forman

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One film taken in Dealey Plaza [i believe from the Press Car?] shows a bicycle parked on the sidewalk, just beyond the Fort Worth Expressway sign.

Does anyone have any additional information regarding this bicycle? The time stamp seems to be within a minute to a minute and a half after the motorcade left the plaza. The bicycle appears in several frames.

a. This inset is an example of a 1960 Schwinn touring bicycle.

b. This is an enhanced frame from the film. The film can be viewed on Groden's 'The case for Conspiracy.'

c. This is one of the Warren Report exhibits, 875, in which I have attempted to locate the bicycle.

One interesting item about this bicycle is that it fails to appear in any other photo or film of the area. I have heard that a story concerning an incident which occurred with this bicycle was once published in a book concerning the assassination, but I have yet to find a reference.

Any additional information would be appreciated.

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Gary Mack informed me that the film in question was from Malcolm Couch, who travelled in the press car. This would place the bicycle in that location within minutes of the shooting.

Mr. COUCH - Well, I picked up my camera. As I recall, I had it in my hand, but it was down leaning against my legs. And I picked it up and made a quick glance at a setting and raised it to my eye. And - uh - you can see from my film that we were just turning the corner. We start the turn and we turn the corner, and you can see people running. As I recall, there's a quick glance at the front entrance of the Texas Depository Book Building. You can see people running and you can see about the first three cars, maybe four, in front of me as we complete the turn.

And then I took pictures of - uh -a few people on my left and a group, or a sweeping, of the crowd on my right standing on the corner.

Mr. BELIN - Did you take any pictures of the School Book Depository Building itself?

Mr. COUCH - Not of the south side at the moment.

After we went, say, 50 to 75 feet on down elm, uh - we began to hang on because the driver picked up speed. We got down under the - I think there's three trestles there, three crossings underneath the - uh - at the very bottom of Elm Street -

Mr. BELIN - Is that what they call the triple-underpass?

Mr. COUCH - Right.

And - uh - I think, as I recall, right after we made the turn on Elm, one or two of the fellows jumped out. But after we got all the way down underneath the three trestles we finally persuaded the driver - who wasn't to anxious to stop - to stop and - uh - we all jumped out.

And I ran, I guess it was about 75 yards or a little more back up to the School Depository Building and took some sweeping pictures of the crowd standing around. I didn't stay there long.

Rather unconventional - but I'd like to offer a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue [1 liter] or the equivalent in dollars, pounds, euros, etc, to anyone that can produce a photo of the rider on that bicycle. B)

- lee

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:bike MANAGED TO CAPTURE THIS LEE, DO I QUALIFY FOR THE SCOTCH ;)

Sorry Stephen. That one doesn't even qualify for Clan MacGregor. :blink:

I searched again - can't find that bicycle anywhere else in any other photo or film. I had heard that a photo was taken of the bicycle in question with the rider. This was allegedly published in Dallas in the 1964 timeframe. I can't find the book or the photo.

- lee

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:bike MANAGED TO CAPTURE THIS LEE, DO I QUALIFY FOR THE SCOTCH ;)

Sorry Stephen. That one doesn't even qualify for Clan MacGregor. :blink:

I searched again - can't find that bicycle anywhere else in any other photo or film. I had heard that a photo was taken of the bicycle in question with the rider. This was allegedly published in Dallas in the 1964 timeframe. I can't find the book or the photo.

- lee

Lee, one place I thought of looking was the other side of the triple underpass I remember seeing one with some schoolage children as the limo was racing up the street

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B) MANAGED TO CAPTURE THIS LEE, DO I QUALIFY FOR THE SCOTCH ;)

Sorry Stephen. That one doesn't even qualify for Clan MacGregor. :)

I searched again - can't find that bicycle anywhere else in any other photo or film. I had heard that a photo was taken of the bicycle in question with the rider. This was allegedly published in Dallas in the 1964 timeframe. I can't find the book or the photo.

- lee

Lee, one place I thought of looking was the other side of the triple underpass I remember seeing one with some schoolage children as the limo was racing up the street

John.

You must have read my mind. !

Anyone on the other side of the Underpass seeing the Limo speed by with Hill on the back and guns drawn in the follow up car, surely would have been curious and have wandered down to Dealey Plaza to see what all the commotion was about.

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Thanks all.

I will take another look.  Just using speculation, a bicycle is normally parked in the direction from whence it was ridden?

- lee

Yes, either that or along a contour to stop it from rolling. Is that a second bike lying down next to sign?

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Thanks all.

I will take another look.  Just using speculation, a bicycle is normally parked in the direction from whence it was ridden?

- lee

Yes, either that or along a contour to stop it from rolling. Is that a second bike lying down next to sign?

John,

I wasn't able to figure out what that was. I purposely bought a new pc with a DVD drive so that I could rip down frames - thinking I'd be working in high quality land. What I have managed to determine is that I need 8mm stock, and a high quality scanner. Lot's of money, and the films in 8mm format are hard to come by. James Richards posted version is much higher quality than what I was able to achieve by ripping.

- lee

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  • 9 years later...

There was, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, November 34, 1963, a 14 year old named Alan Smith who witnessed the JFK shooting on November 22, 1963. The article didn't mention his having a bicycle, but did say he had his parents permission to stay home for the drive through Dallas. He was, in his words about 10 feet from JFK's limo at the time of the shots...He was a ninth-grade student at Stockard Junior High School...FWST "Boy Tell's of Seeing Shooting"

I didn't realize Chris Scally had written about this

http://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=146599&search=Bicycle#relPageId=40&tab=page

Edited by Robert Howard
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