Gary Murr

Jim: As I have repeatedly indicated in both writings and presentations at various conferences John Connally never received an impacting missile wound to his right wrist. The terminology of "wrist" is now and has always been incorrect. John Connally did suffer a tangential wound of impact to the lateral surface of the distal fourth [Dr. Gregory's description] of his right radius. Put in different or more simplistic terms, the point of impact was on the "bottom" end of his right radius on the lateral/side surface. While it is true that this same missile did traverse from the "back" [dorsal] surface to an exit point near the largest crease on the "bottom" [volar] surface of the Governor's actual wrist, it did not "smash" in any way, shape, or form this same wrist. I covered this particular aspect of the Governor's wounding in great detail in Volume 1 of "Controlling The Past", replete with illustrations, X-rays, et al in the accompanying appendices. The X-ray image that Tony has posted in his reply is from one of the cadaver wrist experiments conducted at Edgewood Arsenal in April/May of 1964. FWIW Gary

Hello Micah: What is handwritten under the SA Orin Bartlett line is: "11:50 p.m. (From Dep. Chief Paul Paterni & SAC Wt House detail Floyd M. Boring)

Hey Pat: Sorry - just saw your message. Were you able to use the link provided by Micah? I tried it and it works. And thanks, Micah, for helping Pat out with this; much appreciated. Gary

Just a quick FWIW - the final chapter [24] in my volume 1 of "Controlling The Past" - a chapter titled, "A Tisket, A Tasket, A Red In Warren's Basket?" -deals specifically with the "get Redlich" movement. And not that it is of great significance, but I did construct this chapter in 1999, long before the posting generated by Duke Lane, someone whom I have corresponded with in the past and in my opinion an individual who possessed a good analytical mind when it came to dealing with matters of evidence. Gary

Bart/Chris: I thank you for the comments. Hopefully you will find something "new" in this volume. Gary

Hello Everyone: I am attaching a link that will give access to Volume 2 of "Controlling The Past." There are six chapters in total, plus footnotes, cover, contents listing, and brief introduction. This link will stay active for one week [seven days]. If anyone has any questions, please let me know. I am in the process of starting to go through the third and final volume and hope to have it finished within a couple of weeks. I am also in the process of generating an index for all three volumes, but again this may take a while. Link: https://wetransfer.com/downloads/a5fcdbe71af37315db5d0b38ccb7d3b220190313151356/599b3f

Not to interject, but for those who are interested, I have a 200 page long chapter on Bonnie Ray Williams and friends in Volume 2 of "Controlling The Past". I will be posting all six chapters of Volume 2, titled "Forsaken - Tales of Straw-men and Reconstruction", within the next two or three days. Gary

James, Micah, Chris, and Gene: I thank you all for your comments. I do appreciate what has been said. As I indicated in my 2019 note at the beginning of this, volume 1, all of this writing was accomplished over a span of some two decades. Because of the vagaries of "real life" I was in the position where I was only able to write on a part time basis, usually in blocks of 3 or 4 month stretches. Over this same time span I made six trips to NARA, staying on half of these occasions in Frederick, Maryland, in order that I could visit Harold Weisberg and take advantage of his document collection. I had some trepidation in releasing this, a fear that some of the more accomplished researchers and writers who frequent this forum and have an encompassing knowledge of the events of November 22, 1963, might find some of what I cover "old" news. However, I hope that individuals new to the subject matter of the assassination event will find what is contained herein, and the volumes that will follow, of some help in understanding in particular the inner workings of those individuals and agencies given the task of examining the death of a president and the wounding of John Connally. There is, as James can attest, much more of this in volume 2 in great detail while volume 3 deals with what John Connally's aides titled "the Connally document" - the governors attempt to control his version of the past as it related to his wounding in Dealey Plaza and the aftermath that followed. Gary

Hello Adam: The VLC media format is unknown to me. However, are you able to open a PDF document?

Hi Jim: I had two brothers - both are unfortunately deceased. As far as reviewing my work... that would be nice [grin!]

I thank both of your for your kind words. As you are probably aware, links to Volume 1, "Chained To Fate", have been posted today by myself. I am currently working on Volume 2 and hope to have it finished by the end of the week. Gary

As per my email of yesterday, you will find attached herein a link that will allow access to Volume 1 of my three volume work on the wounding of Governor John Connally. I have tested the link, which is comprised of two zip files, one of which contains all of the chapters and footnotes for Volume 1 while the second zip file contains the first six appendices referred to in this work as well as a select bibliography. Both links were, as of this email, working fine. NOTE: This link will only remain available/active for one week, seven days, after which it will be withdrawn. Gary Murr LINK: https://wetransfer.com/downloads/2e80e581a0e41b53ab93a358aa6e49cf20190219145741/a24b26a978159066efcc6f5bd02d93e120190219145741/80ea29

Thank you for the kind words, Joe - much appreciated. And might I add how much I appreciated and enjoyed reading "Into The Nightmare..." Your work on the Tippit killing is exemplary and should be read by anyone with any interest in the truth of the events of November 22, 1963.

Hi Andrej: The Connally input into the Trade Mart luncheon venue decision is covered in volume 3. As to specifics between Connally and Earle Cabell, I do not recall, off the top of my head, specifics. I did put this writing aside, satisfied to myself that I was willing to let it "end" some six plus years ago. As many are aware, I have spent the bulk of my spare time over the past eight years working on a different subject matter involved in the events of November 22, 1963. I am currently in the process of working my way through volume 2, again because of the passage of over six years since I actually looked at this material. As you will see in a small addendum intro I have affixed to my initial note to the reader in volume 1, I have neither the time nor the inclination to rework a writing of this size. I do acknowledge that there have obviously been many "new" revelations, in particular document releases that have occurred over the past two years and I have made and will continue to make minor tweaks and/or additions to that which I wrote many years ago - but not to any great extent. The decision to let the work be received as it was intended is mine, consequences aside. Gary

Thanks, Jim. Now I am waiting for you to drop the other shoe - you know the one about how I am taking longer than Lifton!! Just kidding, of course. Hope you find the work of interest. One of the things that I did do in constructing this work was to really concentrate on the way the Connally wounding was approached by the Warren Commission and members of its staff. To that end I spent one entire week at NARA going through some of the 50,000+ pages that comprise the J. Lee Rankin Papers. I ended up copying about 7000 pages of documents from the Rankin collection and use their content in this work. Gary

Hello Everyone: As a result of ongoing requests from fellow researchers over the past several years, in particular recent visits to Dallas and the NID conferences, I have made a decision to make available to anyone interested my three volume work on the wounding of John Connally. Titled "Controlling The Past," this trilogy was constructed by myself over a span of some two decades beginning in the spring of 1993. It culminated with my decision to end my writing on this subject in April of 2013. In total the three volumes exceed 2400 pages in length, accompanied in turn with 5500+ footnotes and more than 180 diagrams, photographs, and exhibits, most of which are of my own construct. I will be releasing volume 1, "Chained To Fate" via a link I will post within the next 48 hours. The remaining two volumes will be made available over the next few weeks. Gary Murr

Micah et al The "Jepson" in question on the FBI WC lab card showing disposition/travel of several pieces of evidence is actually Roy Jepsen, in 1963 a member of the FBI lab, specifically the fingerprint/identification section. Jepsen was a long time employee of the FBI from 1952 until his retirement in 1975, though he was not always a member of the lab. There are several references to Jepsen in the links below. https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=165451&relPageId=7&search="jepsen" Just released April, 2018 - FBI lab employee listing with phone extensions https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=198248&relPageId=183&search="Jepsen"

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

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

Kudos on an impressive collation of research work, Bart. Speaking from experience, isn't it interesting how what originally appears as a minor "mission" grows exponentially once one really starts to dig a little deeper! Gary

Hello Geoff - and David Lifton: I never realized that Robert Holiday was not your father's true name. Mind you it never came up in discussions or meetings I had with your father and the other individual who worked on "Thou Shalt Not Kill," Clint Nickerson. As you may or may not be aware, Geoff, I was the one who got your dad and Clint to look further into this subject matter. I put them in touch with Fred Newcomb and Perry Adams, who in turn helped line up interviews for the radio show. And you are correct, the show was originally broadcast via the outlet at which they were working at that time in the early 1970's, CFTR radio. I still have some cassette copies of the show around somewhere; I also have some surviving copies of the taped interviews Clint did, as well as interviews conducted on behalf of Fred and Perry. The next time you are talking to your father, tell him Gary Murr says "Hello!"

Hi Keyvan In my opinion, and for multiple reasons, some complex but unfortunately a distraction I cannot afford at the moment, the answer to this question is no. One aspect of this wound site that you might want to consider, and this is irrespective of the makeup of the missile that did strike the distal end of the right radius, is the point of impact of this wounding missile. It is not on the “top” or backside of the end of the radius but, as described and sketched by Dr. Gregory, more to the lateral or side of the end of the radius. While there are no photographs, in my opinion the pre-op x-ray is a good image to study. Note that the displacement of the main mass of the radial end is somewhat lateral, toward the middle of the forearm if you will. This is also visible in the post op x-rays of the same wound site, though somewhat more difficult to interpret as these images were taken through the cast materials. And as I indicated yesterday, compare this damage to the avulsed nature of the “wrist” wounds seen in experiments outlined in CRDLR 3264. Supporters of the SBT will of course argue that the difference seen is as a result of different impact velocities, in the case of the SBT, much reduced. However, this is a specious argument, at best, and as I examined in my 2016 Lancer Conference presentation, the missile which traversed the Governor’s right thoracic region actually passed through tissue equivalent to or less than that known in the test goats used at Aberdeen. Gary

Hello Keyvan: Apologies for not answering sooner but a self-imposed deadline that deals with another subject matter and the completion of a manuscript takes up the majority of my spare time. Because of this I have neither the time nor the inclination at this moment in my research to delve back into the Connally wounding process in any great detail. That subject matter will be my next project to finish and rework, all 2200+ pages that it contains, plus another few hundred pages of documentation picked up along the way over the past five years. However, I do appreciate your interest in this subject matter and agree that in many ways the entire Connally wounding scenario, and in particular its treatment in the years that followed, not only by various investigative agencies but also the Connally’s themselves, has been under-researched. I will answer the questions you have posed, in the same chronological order that you have written. Did the bullet ricochet or pass through the wrist? No, if for no other reason than the missile responsible for this wound site never struck the Governor’s wrist. The wound was actually a comminuted fracture of the distal fourth – end – of the Governor’s right radius bone, not the wrist. Yes, there was internal vascular damage that involved the wrist but this was secondary to the initial point of impact. And second no, in my opinion the bullet did not pass through the wrist because the radius was not struck by a bullet, pristine, yawing, tumbling, or otherwise. No singular missile actually passed through the Governor’s wrist. That a fragment of the impacting missile is responsible for the small horizontal wound of exit is another matter altogether. There was one and only one shot that generated the damage inflicted on the Governor’s chest, singular wound sites of entrance and exit on the anterior and posterior surfaces. The fact that there is no photographic evidence in support of this wound site, as well as the same argument you advance in your next two points, is not indicative that there was more than one shot to the Governor’s chest. To postulate otherwise is to infer that doctor’s Shaw, Gregory, Shires, Red Duke, Boland and multiple other medical personnel, including anesthesiologists, x-ray technicians, nursing staff and orderlies who attended to the Governor during his stay at PMH, are liars. And yes, there was a singular entry wound to the thigh, but it was a wound of superficiality, minor in nature. And again, just because there is no photograph of this same wound site, does not mean that it did not exist as a singular entity. FWIW Gary

And of course, this is the real problem in discussing the wound to Connally's right distal radius. The wound of entry was not on the top of the distal end of the right radius but rather the point of entry was more to the side of the radius. Similarly it did not exit at the bottom of the “arm”, in truth a misnomer. If one really wants to see what happens when a bullet does strike the back of the “arm” and exits from the bottom, as hypothesized by many, look no further than the photographic images of the resulting damage exhibited in CRDLR 3264, pp 36 -37[MF link below]. The point of exit of the true wounding missile was the underside of Connally’s right wrist, virtually hidden in the creases of the wrist, and as I recall not much more than a centimeter in horizontal length. As far as Dr. Gregory’s drawing of this radial wound of entry, I asked Robert Shaw about this. As he explained it to me, this drawing, which is in the left hand margin of the first page of Dr. Gregory’s post-op notes, is oriented as it is because Dr. Gregory drew the image with his right hand while looking at his left distal radial/hand area for reference. This diagram also represents how the wound of entry looked after it was repaired by Dr. Gregory, part of the wound left open to the air, something facilitated by the cutting of a window in the cast after it had been applied to the Governor’s right distal radial ending and wrist. Link to CRDLR 3264 https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=62296&search=%22CRDLR%22#relPageId=1&tab=page

Just an opinion, but one based as you may know on my twelve year research into the Connally wounding, I think the short answer to this question is no. Part of my reasoning for an answer of this nature is based upon what to me appears to have been complete disinterest on the part of initially the FBI and eventually and more importantly a complete lack of interest in acquiring this clothing for examination by the Warren Commission – at least until it was too late. I have a complete chapter on this subject matter in my three volume as yet unpublished work on the Connally wounding. This includes a precise tracking of the clothing from the time it is removed from his body at PMH to the point of its eventual arrival at the FBI lab in April, 1964. Of course the real tragedy here is that the cleaning processes applied to the various articles of the clothing by and at the behest of Nellie Connally destroyed, to a large extent, vital evidence potentially helpful to understanding the how of the Connally wounding process. As you are probably also aware, initially the wounding of John Connally was not even scheduled to be a part of the WC investigation. As far as a lack of photographs of the Connally wound sites in their PMH state this, in my opinion, was unnecessary. However, had the Governor died as a result of his wounds unquestionably photographs would have been taken of the various wound sites, and I dare say a much better autopsy would have been performed. FWIW, or my two cents… Gary