Ian Griggs

John, Please refer to pages 305-307 of my book "No Case To Answer" for details of my examination and explanation of the Christchurch Star mystery. I believe I have put this one to rest. IAN

Smitty, Isn't that just the genius of the entire scheme - the sheer, breathtaking effrontery of it? You're also quite right about the explanatory power of the Greer-did model: so much falls into place. If you wanted proof of its potency, watch the lies, smears and evasions to follow! Have a great New Year, Paul Cant wait! lol! Thanks, and the same to you and yours. -smitty

Smitty, Isn't that just the genius of the entire scheme - the sheer, breathtaking effrontery of it? You're also quite right about the explanatory power of the Greer-did model: so much falls into place. If you wanted proof of its potency, watch the lies, smears and evasions to follow! Have a great New Year, Paul Cant wait! lol! Thanks, and the same to you and yours. -smitty

I would advise extreme caution with the book "Oswald Talked". I once wrote a review of it in just three words: "No he didn't!" Please see chapter 11 of my book "No Case To Answer". It is entitled "A repudiation of the claim that Lee Harvey Oswald shared a Dallas jail cell with John Franklin Elrod". As well as disproving the shared-a-cell theory, it also describes some of Oswald's living conditions during his short incarceration. IAN

The mysterious Smith & Wesson revolver, serial number 893265, is mentioned briefly on page 247 of my book "No Case To Answer". This is in a chapter on Ruby stripper Kathy Kay. I stated "There is nothing to give credence to a story which circulated a few years ago to the effect that she (Kathy) may have been the blonde lady in her mid-20s who was seen to drop a paper bag, later found to contain a pistol, somewhere in the 'immediate vicinity of the assassination'. This was alleged to have occurred within minutes of the Dealey Plaza shots." My source note here directs the reader to J. Gary Shaw's comprehensive article 'A Smoking Gun for the Grassy Knoll' published in Dateline Dallas, vol. 1, no. 4 dated 30th December 1994. In his article, Gary cites Waren Commission document CD5, p. 127. This is a Dallas FBI report of an interview on 24th November 1963 of Deputy Constable Seymour Weitzman. Part of this report is as follows: "Weitzman stated that during the time he was running from the intersection of Main and Houston, he observed a blonde woman, 25 to 30 years old, drop a lunch sack at a point about half a block west of the Texas School Book Depository building, but thought nothing of it at the time. He advised, however, that it was later determoned this lunch sack was very similar to the lunch sack found at the sixth floor window where the assassin apparently stationed himself and fired the fatal shot." The article went on to name three of Ruby's girls - Little Lynn, Kathy Kay and Shari Angel - as being the blonde mystery woman. However, they were by no means the only mid-twenties blondes in Dallas that day. I would urge everyone interested in learning more about this strange incident, plus a lot of basic information on that pistol, to seek out Gary Shaw's article on the subject. There is far more than I have time and space to mention here. IAN

The mysterious Smith & Wesson revolver, serial number 893265, is mentioned briefly on page 247 of my book "No Case To Answer". This is in a chapter on Ruby stripper Kathy Kay. I stated "There is nothing to give credence to a story which circulated a few years ago to the effect that she (Kathy) may have been the blonde lady in her mid-20s who was seen to drop a paper bag, later found to contain a pistol, somewhere in the 'immediate vicinity of the assassination'. This was alleged to have occurred within minutes of the Dealey Plaza shots." My source note here directs the reader to J. Gary Shaw's comprehensive article 'A Smoking Gun for the Grassy Knoll' published in Dateline Dallas, vol. 1, no. 4 dated 30th December 1994. In his article, Gary cites Waren Commission document CD5, p. 127. This is a Dallas FBI report of an interview on 24th November 1963 of Deputy Constable Seymour Weitzman. Part of this report is as follows: "Weitzman stated that during the time he was running from the intersection of Main and Houston, he observed a blonde woman, 25 to 30 years old, drop a lunch sack at a point about half a block west of the Texas School Book Depository building, but thought nothing of it at the time. He advised, however, that it was later determoned this lunch sack was very similar to the lunch sack found at the sixth floor window where the assassin apparently stationed himself and fired the fatal shot." The article went on to name three of Ruby's girls - Little Lynn, Kathy Kay and Shari Angel - as being the blonde mystery woman. However, they were by no means the only mid-twenties blondes in Dallas that day. I would urge everyone interested in learning more about this strange incident, plus a lot of basic information on that pistol, to seek out Gary Shaw's article on the subject. There is far more than I have time and space to mention here. IAN

I believe Ian is a member of this forum, and I would appreciate his comments. Am I correct in thinking that the reporter either misheard or misunderstood Ian on this issue? The Dallas police files and the testimony of Forrest Sorrels show that Brennan DID attend a witness lineup on Friday night, but "failed to identify" anyone. Lee Oswald was in that lineup, according to Sorrels and Dallas police records. BTW, quite a photogenic bunch, and the photo has just the right look and feel for a group investigating the world's greatest murder mystery. I recognize Ian's trademark moustache, but perhaps John Simkin would identify the other researchers in the photograph. Ray, You will find the answer(s) to your query about Brennan's non-attendance at any Oswald lineup in my book "No Case To Answr" (published by Lancer, 2005). The whole of Chapter 10 (24 pages) is devoted to it. Ironically, I have used published extracts from the 26 Volumes as my sources. We were very pushed for space in the article. I would llove to have expanded on it. Regards, IAN

______________________________ Jack, Nope. Sorry. --Thomas ______________________________ Jack, I remember it well. It was at the Holiday Inn, Olathe, KS in October 1994. The occasion was The Larry Howard First Annual Student Symposium On The Kennedy Assassination. Speakers, as well as you and I, included Marina, Craig Roberts, Beverly and Ed Hoffman. That M/C which Beverly is holding was the rifle from Larry's old AIC in the West End Marketplace in Dallas. At the end of the five-day symposium, do you remember Beverly entertaining us all with a professional ventriloquist performance featuring "Eric"? The opening 20 mins. Were all about you and the closing 20 mins. were all about me. I have never been so embarrassed! I believe that symposium was the last time Marina ever spoke in public. Regards, IAN

I have just established contact with former DPD Detective (polygrah examiner) Paul Bentley. He is possibly best recalled as the man with the big cigar in the picures as Oswald is placed into the police car outside the theatre. Progress is fairly slow as Bentley is not on the net so we are corresponding by snail mail. He is getting on in years but is lucid, helpful and blessed with a good memory. It is also an advantage that he and I share a past in LE. IAN

Hi John, I have the following on Jada: (1) Direct from my book: (QUOTE) JADA (Janet Mole Adams Bonney Cuffari Smallwood Conforto Washington). When his star performer, Shari Angel, was obviously going to be absent for some time through sickness (peritonitis), Jack Ruby went to New Orleas where he signed up Jada from the Sho-Bar. She was one of the best-known club strippers on the scene in the early-60s and she commanded higher wages than any othe Carousel Club performer. She began work at the Carousl Club on 17th Juy 1963 and extensions to her contract would have kept her there until 1st January 1964. She caused Ruby many problems. In particular, she had a habit of going too far with her act and on occasion Ruby would turn the lights out on her. Local journalist Seth Kantor described her as being "supercharged with animalism" in his 1978 book "Who Was Jack Ruby?" Following arguments and disagreements with Ruby, Jada quit the Carousel Club during the first week of November 1963. She was killed in Albuquerque, New Mexico on 9th May 1980 when the motorcycle she was riding was in collision with a school bus. She was 44 years old. Jada was one of the stars of the 1960s burlesque film "Naughty Dallas" (available on video). (UNQUOTE) (2) In March 2001, "The Dealey Plaza Echo" published an interesting and well-researched piece by Kansas researcher Mark K. Colgan entitled "When a mysterious death is no lnger mysterious." This dealt solely with the life and death of Jada and Mark included pictures of her crypt and the cemetery and also a press cutting about her death (including a photograph of her mangled motorbike). He also included a cutting of her press obituary. Among her many husbands (look at all the surnames in her full name!), perhaps the most interesting would have been Ralph C. Smallwood. Mark Colgan's extensive research revealed that Mr. Smallwood was a jockey. The story goes that she used to ride around Dallas in an open pink Cadillac. I have heard the story of her being involved in a traffic accident on the morning of the assassination but whether that was in a white Cadillac or the well-known pink one I don't know. I believe that if she had been murdered, it would have been done a lot earlier than 1980. I hope this helps. IAN

This is the HDH pcture taken by Larry Sneed immediately after he had interviewed Holmes for his (Sneed's) book "No More Sience." With most of his subjects, Larry published the picture he took alongside one from 1963 or thereabouts. The fact that he published only this one indicates the scarcity of HDH pix from the sixties. As with almost all of the photos Larry took, the subject has signed it. Larry's book was published in 1998 but he obviously interviewed HDH at least ten years before that as HDH died in October 1989. I would estimate that this pic dates back to around the mid or late eighties. I will contact Larry (he's an Overseas Member of our research group) and see if he has any record of when he interviewed HDH. Incidentally, I am not certain that Harry D. Holmes was a true-born American. I'll leave you guys to chew that one over! Also, before somebody asks, I never did ascertain his middle name. Great result finding the photo, James! Regards to all, IAN

John, I have more info and opinions about HDH which I would be delighted to share and perhaps debate with you. At this stage I am loath to announce them on a public forum - perhaps that can come later. If you would care to contact me direct at <bjorkian@yahoo.com> I am sure it would be of mutual benefit. Regards from Pommieland! Cheers, IAN

A picture of Harry D. Holmes can be found in the illustrations section of "No More Silence" between pages 166-167.

Ian Griggs was a Ministry of Defence Police Officer (1971 to 1994). He has been involved in researching the assassination of John F. Kennedy since 1966. He has visited Dallas on twelve occasions and has travelled extensively throughout the United States in order to study the case. He has met and liaised with numerous eyewitnesses to the assassination, fellow researchers, journalists, police officers, authors, etc. in the USA, Canada and Europe. In 1993 Ian Griggs appeared on BBC-TV Breakfast Time. He was also a guest on the live San Francisco cable TV show Assassination Update and at other times on various US television and radio stations. In 1994 he was a member of the International Perspectives panel at the Assassination Symposium on John F. Kennedy (ASK) held in Dallas, Texas. Ian Griggs presented major research papers to the COPA Conference in Washington DC in October 1995, to the First Conference of The Fourth Decade in Fredonia, NY in July 1996 and to five November in Dallas conferences of JFK-Lancer in Dallas (1996-2000). In 1998 he received the JFK-Lancer New Frontier Award "in appreciation of your contribution of new evidence and furthering the study of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy." He has had five major articles published in leading US journal The Fourth Decade and is a regular contributor to the quarterly US research journal The Assassination Chronicles. He has contributed research articles to US journal JFK/Deep Politics Quarterly and to British journals Dallas '63 and The Dealey Plaza Echo. He has also contributed research articles to internet journals Fair Play Magazine, JFK: The Voice of Reason (UK) and JFK Link (Australia). His comprehensive research manuscript on the assassination, Kennedy Assassinated! - Oswald Murdered! was published in Dallas in November 1994. It deals with the manner in which the British media handled the news of the two killings in November 1963. He conducted audio and video-recorded interviews of several witnesses including Shari Angel, Beverly Oliver, Bobby Hargis, Johnny Calvin Brewer and Bill Newman. Transcripts of the Newman interview was included in the 1998 book November Patriots by Constance Kritzberg and Larry Hancock. He has also conducted UK-based research on behalf of US author/researcher David Lifton. His article The President, the Press and the Patsy was included in the Commentary and Theory section of Specter of Treason by J.E. Ballantyne, Jr. in 1997. Ian Griggs was advisor to the BBC Radio 5 Conspiracy Theories programme (20th September 1998). He was also advisor to Principal Films (UK) on the Dealey Plaza segment of their It Happened Here TV series, that was shown in 2002.

Mark, I can confirm that there was nobody with the surname ADEY employed in any capacity with the City of Dallas Police Department at the time of the Kennedy Assassination. For the past few years I have been working on a comprehesive listing of all DPD employees of November 1963. The total number of employees was 1,286 of whom 220 were civilians (everything from Stenographers who were also Notaries Public, to Wrecker Drivers). I have now completed the listing of all these people, showing their full name, rank or grade, unit, locations and (important!) sources. I have identified 493 (but the number does tend to keep growing) people who took some active part in the events of 22nd/24th November 1963. These range from Chief Jesse Curry and Patrolman 'Catfish' Hansen (who had arrested the guitarist who bit off Jack Ruby's finger some years previously) to Jail Matron Jerreldean Little. It is expected to publish this research in book form (probably 200+ pages) either this year or next. It will, I hope, act as a permanent record and provide all researchers with an instant guide to 'who did what' within the DPD over the assassination weekend. Just to go back to your original query - nobody with the surbame ADEY on the strength of the department at that time. Regards, IAN

Ville, I appreciate and applaud what you are trying to do here - but you need to be more specific. What do you mean by 'best'? The best written? The most persuasive in favour of conspiracy? The most persuasive against conspiracy? The book with the best illustrations? The one with the best document reproductions? The best book for beginners? For what it's worth, here is a short list of the books I personally feel are the most important (no particular order): The Warren Report. The most important book of all. If you do not know what the lies are, then you can hardly criticize them! Accessories After The Fact. Remains the best criticism of the above. Cover-Up (Stuart Galenor). Highly recommended for all newcomers to the case. Pictures Of The Pain. Well-written and studiously compiled. A very important book. No More Silence. Larry Snead's masterpiece gives us the opportunity to learn exactly what so many important eyewitnesses saw, heard and did. We should all be gratfeul to Larry for getting to these people and recording their thoughts. AsI have stressed many times before, you cannot interview a name on a tombstone. Larry got there first! With Malice. A deeply-resesarched work, brilliantly illustrated and with valuable document reproductions. Okay, in the opinion of many of us, Dale Myers comes to the wrong conclusion but that does not mean that all his research is flawed. This should be on every researcher's bookshelf. Kill Zone (Craig Roberts). An acknowledged expert marksman (USMC) exp[lains that Oswald could not have pulled off that feat of marksmanship because he (Roberts) couldn't have done it. Just my own ideas. I doubt that any two people would produce the same list. Ready for the flak! IAN

Lee, In an article entitled "Firearms, Photographs and Lee Harvey Oswald" jointly written by Melanie Swift and myself and published in The Assassination Chronicles Vol. 1, Issue 1 (March 30, 1995), we list and describe five 'backyard photographs'. The fifth is the one of Oswald holding a rifle above his head which Marina carried around in her shoe before destroying it by tearing it up, burning it and then flushing it down the loo. I believe I am correct in saying that until Marina confirmed to me that this was a 'backyard photograph' that fact was not known. We had been wondering if it had been a photo taken of Oswald in Russia. This article may have found its way on to John Kelin's 'Fair Play' internet site. IAN

Antti, Concerning the claim that Oswald carried a rifle to work on 22nd November 1963, I think you will find a few of the answers in my extensive article "The Paper Bag That Never Was" in the Articles section of the Dealey Plaza UK website at www.dealeyplazauk.co.uk Please feel free to contact me by private email if I can expand on anything there. Incidentally, I visited your beautiful city in August 2000, staying at the Torni Hotel at Yrjönkatu 26 - just at Oswald had done back in 1959. I also visited the Klaus Kurki Hotel but was unable to study the hotel books and records as these had been lost when both hotels were sold to their present owners, the Sokos Hotel Group, in the early 1970s. My few days in Helsinki demonstrated to me how odd it was that someone like Oswald - said to be some sort of penniless drifter - was able to stay at two such expensive hotels for five nights. Regards, IAN