Paul Trejo

On 4/6/2018 at 4:26 PM, Cory Santos said:

Thanks Paul.

I was aware of the interview you provided.  I was not aware of the meeting with Guy Bannister.

I would like more information and proof of that.

No, I was looking for a very detailed day by day of his movements, communications, etc.

I thought you might have some information like that.

Guilty people do guilty people things.

I would therefore want to analyze his movements closely before and after.  Not just merely that he called a paper.  While relevant, especially because how did he know it was LHO who shot at him, but, I want to see where exactly he was.  Close people to him, what did they say?  Where exactly was he?  Etc.

Tell me, what if any were his connections to big oil, could you name the companies he was associated closely with, if any?

Cory,

I have been trying for years to trace the day by day activities of General Walker before and after the JFK Assassination.

Until this year, the most significant help has been from Jeff Caufield.

I think much more is possible.  Yet that will require more hands.  

As for Big Oil, I personally see no connection aside from HL Hunt who financed General Walker's campaign for Texas Governor.

I believe that the Hunt family also owned the house on Turtle Creek Boulevard that Walker was renting (with no Army pension).

Regards,
--Paul Trejo

7 hours ago, Mervyn Hagger said:

Hi Paul

...You wrote that you knew nothing about Bernald until recently, but your comment "Eugene Bernald (1908-2000) .... worked like a fiend until he founded the Pan American Broadcasting Company, and yes, he did have a large investment in the Overseas Weekly" is intriguing.

I am trying to form a working profile of this man, and therefore I am interested in your source for your observation that "he did have a large investment in Overseas Weekly."

 ...All of this brings us back to November 22, 1963 and the events that surrounded it - beginning with someone who took a pot shot at Major General Walker.

As previously stated, forget Russia, forget communists, the trail leads to the fractured interests of CIA and Mafia working together for common cause in Dealey Plaza.

Mervyn

Hi Mervyn,

My source was the obituary of Eugene Bernald, partly written by his children.   Here's the link.

http://obits.lohud.com/obituaries/lohud/obituary.aspx?n=eugene-bernald&pid=148823391

As for General Walker's question to Frank Church -- "Please tell me if the CIA was involved in this..." I take that to be a sideways question.   Walker's real question, I suppose, was, "Please tell me if RFK was involved in this."    But that would have been too touchy -- so he asked about the CIA instead, hoping for clues.

Walker, being a JBS rightist, had no more respect for the CIA than he had for the KGB -- they were the same organization according to the JBS -- they were both working for the International Bankers of New York City.    JFK and RFK were once their puppets, he still believed.

Why is he still asking in 1975?   The answer is given by James Martin in the Warren Commission Hearings, volume 1.   In December 1963, Mr. "Morris" visited James Martin to ask Marina Oswald a few questions on behalf of General Walker.   Walker was terrified that his second shooter was still on the loose -- seeking to kill Walker.   Walker demanded to know who he was.   James Martin sent "Morris" away, saying that Marina knew nothing more about it.

Yet this was General Walker's mental state -- even in 1975.  Is my second shooter still on the loose?   As Sigmund Freud noted in 1925, such paranoia is common among closeted homosexuals -- the paranoid fantasy is a reversal of the original fantasy.

All best,
--Paul

5 hours ago, Mervyn Hagger said:

Jason, I am interested in knowing whether there is any truth to these statements:

"The President went to Dallas knowing and protecting his November assassin Lee H. Oswald from prosecution for his April Crime "Attempted Assassination of the former General working at his desk in his Dallas home, 9:00 p.m. April 10." "The Kennedy protection included an early-morning, secret release of the \ prime suspect Lee H. Oswald, from Dallas Police Custody on Kennedy | orders, April 11."

Was Oswald arrested and released?

Mervyn

Mervyn,

This statement by General Walker was printed in the Kerrville Daily Times in 1992.   Here's the full article:

http://www.pet880.com/images/19920119_EAW_Oswald_arrested.pdf

Walker long held this claim -- although he continually changed its details.   In my reading, this means that there is some truth in it, and some political and psychological fantasy.  Here's my interpretation:

1.  Starting with Dick Russell's excellent book, The Man Who Knew Too Much (1992), Dick interviewed Mrs. Natasha Voshinin who told him that four days after the Walker shooting (i.e. on Easter Sunday, April 14, 1963) George De Mohrenschildt visited her husband Igor and her, and told them that he and Jeanne suspected Lee Harvey Oswald of shooting at General Walker four days ago.

2.  Natasha Voshinin told Dick Russell that she ordered George to tell the FBI, but he refused.  So, after George left, she herself called the FBI and told them.

3.  The person she probably told was Dallas FBI agent James Hosty, because he was working the Oswald case at the time.

4.  FBI agent James Hosty (says Penn Jones Jr.) had been the bridge partner for Robert Alan Surrey for many years.   Surrey had his office at General Walker's home address.

5.  In my CT, James Hosty was "turned" by Walker and Surrey to join the Radical Right civilian plot against JFK, as early as the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.

6.  For this reason, instead of logging the call as normal, James Hosty immediately reported the involvement of Lee Harvey Oswald in the Walker shooting to General Walker personally -- on Easter Sunday, April 14, 1963.

7.  This explains why Walker would later write to Senator Frank Church in 1975, that he knew Lee Harvey Oswald was his shooter "within days" of the shooting.   Here is the letter again:  http://www.pet880.com/images/19750623_EAW_to_Frank_Church.pdf

8.  In that letter, General Walker does not name James Hosty -- but on the contrary -- conceals the name and rank of Hosty.   Nevertheless, Walker is convinced that Hosty is an honest reporter, and that the basic information is true and correct.

9.  Now -- we must also add in this mix that General Walker was diagnosed as "mildly paranoid" by two psychiatrists, following the Ole Miss riots of 1962.   This was after JFK and RFK had sent Walker to an insane asylum.

10.   Walker was always worried that RFK was out to get him after that point.  He was convinced that RFK had sent somebody to kill him.  Now he was convinced that RFK sent LHO to kill him.

11.  In his paranoid imagination, then (and this is my reading) General Walker was convinced that Oswald was arrested (i.e. the FBI knew about Oswald) but that RFK had released Oswald (i.e. RFK would not allow the FBI to arrest Oswald).   It was fairly close -- and it sounded more dramatic so, General Walker stuck with that version of the story.  It got him lots of sympathy among the Radical Right.

12.  So, the origin of Walker's belief was a half-truth -- it was a fantasy based on the fact of the phone call by Natasha Voshinin to James Hosty on Easter Sunday, April 14, 1963.

All best,
--Paul

7 hours ago, Cory Santos said:

Question for Paul, you seem to have studied Gen. Walker, tell me, with documents/evidence, can you give me a day by day account for Gen. Walker several days before the assassination and several days after?  What were his actions?  Do you feel they were suspicious?  How so?

Cory,

General Walker, in the days before the JFK Assassination, was in Louisiana, meeting with Radical Right leaders like Leander Perez, Kent Courtney and Guy Banister.   A.J. Weberman documented this decades ago.

On the day after the JFK Assassination,  General Walker contacted the German newspaper, Deutsche Nationalzeitung, to tell its editor, Gerhard Frey, and its reporter, Helmut Muench (alias Hasso Thornstein) that Lee Harvey Oswald had been his shooter back in April, 1963, and Oswald was captured, but RFK let him go.   Here's a snippet:

http://www.pet880.com/images/19631129_Deutsche_NZ.jpg

Regards,
--Paul Trejo

29 minutes ago, Paul Brancato said:

You should change the name of this thread to Dallas Police, unless you have evidence of Walker in league with them. 

Paul B.,

Jeff Caufield (2015) has General Walker as the leader of the JFK plot in Dallas, through the Minutemen -- of whom several members were also Dallas Police.    

We're getting around to the direct connection -- but first we must review the Warren Commission testimony of the Dallas Police in and around Dealey Plaza on 11/22/1963.    It's crucial.    Roscoe White is vital.   JD Tippit is vital.   Austin's BBQ is vital.

When the review of DPD testimony is complete, then a portrait will be formed which will focus on a hierarchy.   Then we will bring Jeff Caufield's work back into focus.

Regards,
--Paul Trejo

37 minutes ago, Jason Ward said:

<SNIP> 

Overall, Sgt Croy is almost incoherent as a witness.  He has missing periods of time and provides no precise time in anything he says.  He is the first at Tippit's murder scene and then he goes to Austin's Barbecue - both of which to me make Croy a prime candidate for extreme further scrutiny.

Jason,

Great work on DPD Sergeant Kenneth Croy.   Not only is his behavior extremely suspicious -- but your notation that Croy's timing matches that of Captain W.R. Westbrook so closely -- from the DPD to the Tippit murder scene -- is outstanding.

Again, the JD Tippit murder scene is crucially important on 11/22/1963, yet the DPD witnesses have almost nothing to say about it -- and their testimony on Tippit is confused, contradictory and as you say "incoherent." 

I agree wholeheartedly that Croy's testimony and background merits microscopic scrutiny.   

Here's the little bit that I can offer about Austin's BBQ for now:  (1) the chapter of the John Birch Society that met at Austin's BBQ was founded by Robert Alan Surrey and his wife, Mary; and (2) General Walker was the leader of that chapter of the John Birch Society in 1963.   

Several Dallas Police were members of the John Birch Society, according to former FBI agent, William Turner.

All best,
--Paul

6 hours ago, Jason Ward said:

Police and Sheriff testimony in the Warren Commission Part 18: DPD Captain W R Westbrook (46)

<SNIP> 

CONCERNS:

1. My impression is that in 1963 Westbrook's personnel department role is a place to put officers of less enthusiasm or ability in the nuts and bolts of police work, such as investigations.   His initial testimony reads as someone who was at a loss because they weren't invited to the party.   Is Westbrook's part in the day's events trivial or is the questioning too cursory?  What explains Westbrook's seemingly lacklustre role in 22November even though he's in all 4 critical places that day and is a police captain?
2. Westbrook's job is nominally as head of HR, so it seems odd that he has difficulty remembering the names of so many officers that day; how does he not even know who drove him around?  Shouldn't he know more officers than most?
3.  Although Westbrook is in 4 important scenes that day, he offers no meaningful details.  Why isn't he asked more details about the TSBD, the Tippit murder scene, and the Texas Theatre?   Why isn't he asked to explain more about why the personnel office is used to process the weapon found with Oswald?
4. Westbrook complains in his testimony that he was brought before the Warren Commission immediately upon return from vacation without time to prepare. He also makes light of the Keystone Cops style arrest scene at the Texas Theatre. Is it too much to ask that Westbrook take the assassination of a US president seriously, even so seriously as to justify his testimony so soon after his precious personal vacation?
5. Why is Westbrook's testimony around finding the jacket so confused and stuttering?   What are the true facts about finding this jacket?   Why is the chain of custody missing?  Was a jacket found at all?
6. What else happens at the Tippit murder scene?  Witnesses say what?  What other evidence is found?
7. Does Westbrook's testimony around bullets with the gun in his office match testimony given elsewhere about where and when the bullets were found?
8. Westbrook's walk to the TSBD is suspicous.  Is this true or is he really trying to hide other activities in this time period?   Who else sees him at TSBD?
9. Westbrook's explanation for McDonald's presence in his office is suspicious.   Is Westbrook helping manufacture evidence around the gun and bullets?
10. Initially Westbrook comes off as a useless third wheel, he is abandoned and car-less as the big event is happening.  But is this simply a ruse so that he doesn't have to account for his time?
11. Westbrook's rank gives him the freedom of movement, and no one questions the fact that no one is ordering him to these different scenes. Can he not remember his drivers because of something he's hiding - like, perhaps, he drove himself?  Or with someone else? 
12. Is his role at the Tippit crime scene really so useless?  Or does Westbrook's vague and seemingly less important testimony show a masterstroke of conspiracy which in fact allows him all afternoon to do whatever he wants in unaccountable fashion?

Westbrook is either the DPD's unloved useless idiot who has no important role in anything - or - he has a big role and simply comes off as an unimportant third wheel on 22 November.  I can't decide which is true.  

Hi Jason,

Here are my responses to your concerns about DPD Captain William R. Westbrook: 

1.  Your question about Westbrook, IMHO, is excellent, namely, What explains Captain Westbrook's seemingly lackluster role, even though he's in all four critical places on 11/22/1963?

2.  Though many DPD officers offer few details, Westbrook offers perhaps the fewest, compared with his key role in Oak Cliff, and in the arrest of Lee Harvey Oswald.  

3.  The WC is happy to let him "read his script" and get off the witness stand quickly.  You and I, however, would have asked Westbrook many, many more questions. 

4.  It is also disturbing to me that Westbrook felt blithe enough to joke about the events of 11/22/1963.  Not just the death of JFK, but also the death of JD Tippit.  Westbrook remembers the funny parts.   It seems a nervous distraction -- like he's hiding something.

5.  Your question about Oswald's white jacket is interesting, Jason, because another DPD officer of few words, Tom Hutson, said something like, "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you about the jacket we found."  He made a point to get it on the record.

5.1.  Hutson also identified Exhibit #162 as that white jacket.  Yet there is so much DPD stuttering that I wonder if this jacket was really found at Oswald's rooming house, and then made part of a "Master Story."  

6.  It is sad that in one of the key events of US History, the shooting of JD Tippit, those DPD cops at the scene say almost nothing about it.  Secrets are being held, IMHO. 

7.  Let's keep our finger on Westbrook's testimony about Oswald's gun and bullets -- we will hear more about them in later WC testimony. 

8.  I agree with your suspicion about Westbrook's walk to the TSBD, Jason.  Despite his ho-hum attitude about the events of 11/22/1963, I find his behavior very suspicious -- mainly because he's a Personnel Officer, and he accidentally happens to be where the action is.   I think that his role in the JFK plot is larger than meets the eye.

All best,
--Paul

5 hours ago, Mervyn Hagger said:

Hi Paul

Walker said nothing about the Overseas Weekly being a communist publication, but he did ask if the assassination of JFK had anything to do with CIA.

Walker also drew a connecting line from Overseas Weekly to Pan American Broadcasting - even though they were not the publishers - but apparently there was some form of corporate linkage. Walker also singled out Radio Swan and Radio Elizabethville, and it is my firm impression that Eugene Bernald was acting as a sub-contracting 'front' for CIA interests. Bernald had a lot of input in Europe with the placing of 'The World Tomorrow' on all of the main British offshore radio stations of the Sixties. There is much to suspect that this program was also a sub-contracting CIA front, and without it the 'Swinging Sixties' would have fizzled in the UK very quickly since there was no regular, daily domestic outlet for British beat music - apart from the so-called 'pirate' stations.

Listening to Welch and Walker on YouTube it sounds as if their agenda is now being implemented by Donald Trump, and if anything I would certainly label Obama and Clinton as the nearest attempt to introduce a quasi-communist agenda.

I think that there is too much opinionated rhetoric being thrown around today and very little in the way of documented substance. While I am not prepared to state the LHO was not involved in the shooting of JFK, I am certainly not going to suggest that he was a lone gunman. From Walker to Tippett there are just too many 'coincidences' and 'accidents' in serendipitous happenstance to totally destroy the mythology of the Warren Report and its apologists.

Mervyn

Hi Mervyn,

I admit that I know next to nothing about Eugene Bernald except what I have learned this week.   What is relevant, IMHO, is that when General Walker testified before the Senate Subcommittee on Military Preparedness in April 1962, he did not mention the name of Eugene Bernald.

Instead, Walker targeted three people in his many pages of testimony against the Overseas Weekly, namely, reporter Siegfried Naujocks , as well as Editor in Chief, John Dornborg, and finally the newspaper’s owner and publisher Marion von Rospach.   General Walker went on and on about how these men were "subversives."

Let me first say about the Overseas Weekly, which I have perused in microfiche, that it is different from the National Enquirer in many ways.  First, the readership of the Overseas Weekly was almost entirely US Army enlisted men -- mostly bachelors.   For this reason, the articles were peppered with photographs of pin-up girls, from cover to cover.   

You don't see that in the National Enquirer.

General Walker cited this fact several times to the Senate Subcommittee, hoping to prejudice them about how "subversive" this newspaper was -- demoralizing the troops.   So, the second thing I would say about General Walker's long rant against the Overseas Weekly newspaper is how utterly foolish he sounds.   Did Walker really think that American GI's would be better off without photographs of pin-up girls?   Seriously?   If he did, then he was further out of touch with the US Army than he knew.

Otherwise, the quality of writing of the Overseas Weekly was very good -- far above the fluff served up by the National Enquirer.   Again, Walker's hatred of the Overseas Weekly newspaper was partly motivated by the fact that they had a filing cabinet full of dirt about him, so that anything he could say to discredit them would be too little.

Eugene Bernald (1908-2000) is remembered as a kid from Russia who grew up in New York's "Hell's Kitchen."   He worked like a fiend until he founded the Pan American Broadcasting Company, and yes, he did have a large investment in the Overseas Weekly.   As a contributing writer, he once interviewed Mahatma Ghandi in India.   So, he was no slouch.   Bernald became wealthy.   In later life he became a philanthropist and an art collector in New York City.   

You didn't become wealthy in the USA by joining the Reds.   It seems to me that General Walker just wanted to lash out against anyone connected with the Overseas Weekly.  Besides -- Eugene Bernald was from Russia.

As for the CIA -- since they are responsible for fighting crime off-shore, it is guaranteed that they would try to cozy up to every single American businessman doing business off-shore.  That should never come as a surprise.

Finally, as for the Warren Report -- although its conclusion of a Lone Shooter is ridiculous given the facts -- the litany of several hundred witnesses brought forward to cover the field of the JFK assassination is truly historical, and 90% of the data is priceless to historians.  It's that 10% web of lies that we need to unpack.

All best,
--Paul

23 hours ago, Jason Ward said:

Hi Paul,

Interesting to me is that Hoover was aware of the intense effort the Right made to make sure the assassination was not blamed on a lone nut, not blamed on the Right, not blamed on the CIA, but instead blamed on a communist, in conspiracy with Castro and Moscow.  Most of below is from The Cross and The Flag, a newsletter put out by Christian conservative leader Gerald L K Smith.

Warren Commission Document 781:

:

6. Earl Warren is very feared: were they afraid of what the WR would reveal?

7. Oswald's summer in New Orleans proves he is a Castro-loving communist

8. JFK - dead at the hands of communists, but JFK's own friends won't admit it:

.....and are Marina's alleged families ties to Soviet intelligence generally known to the public in March, 1964 when Smith wrote this?

Hi Jason,

Gerald K. Smith -- an Anti-Semite -- got his inside information about the JFK Assassination from General Walker himself.   That's how he knew so many details.

Also, Earl Warren was no so much feared as despised.  That was because of the Brown Decision (1954) to racially integrate US Public Schools.

As for Oswald's summer in New Orleans -- General Walker and Gerald K. Smith were probably updated about this from Dallas FBI agent James Hosty.

The same goes for Marina's alleged ties to Soviet Intelligence -- James Hosty was on top of this from the beginning of 1963.   He and General Walker despised anything that came out of Russia.   

All best,
--Paul

12 hours ago, Mervyn Hagger said:

...So why did Walker veer off target (ownership of 'Overseas Weekly'), and blast Eugene Bernald?

There must be a LOT more to the background of this accusation by Walker.

Mervyn,

In my opinion, Ex-General Walker was making more Anticommunist rhetoric -- and he wanted to deflect attention from his own weak points.   Walker wanted to give an impression that the US Army newspaper, Overseas Weekly, was a Communist front.

Walker probably had fresh information (since the JBS often had fresh information on Reds) that Eugene Bernald was a Communist.   If Walker could taint the Overseas Weekly in any way, he was going to do it.  He was the sworn enemy of the Overseas Weekly.  In his opinion, it was because of them that he lost his post in Germany.  

Of course -- Walker would never consider the possibility that he really lost his post because of his difficulty in remaining in the closet in Germany, and that he had to keep lying to the US Army about his homosexuality -- even after 30 years of loyal, combat service. 

All best,
--Paul

The thing to remember about General Walker is that he became a propagandist for the Birchers.  He was converted to the power of propaganda during the Korean War, and he later called it the Fourth Dimension of warfare.  The first three dimensions were land warfare (the oldest), sea warfare and air warfare (the modern).   But Fourth Dimension warfare -- propaganda -- was the new wave of war -- also called the Cold War.

in this role, Walker learned to play fast and loose with the facts.   It was all politics.

Yet, General Walker had to continually hide or to deflect attention from the fact that he was gay, and that he had lived as a homosexual all his life -- even as a US Army officer -- which in those days had been illegal.  Also, Walker was seriously planning to become a millionaire from public speaking, like Reverend Billy James Hargis had done. 

Also, the Overseas Weekly had only reported a small fraction of the facts they had on General Walker.  Walker wanted them destroyed -- and especially wanted them to be labeled Communist -- a part of Red propaganda in 1961.

Walker wanted to propagate a myth that the was kicked off his post in Germany by the Communists, because the Communists were afraid of him, personally.   The US Pentagon had kicked him off his post -- yet Walker told the Senate Subcommittee in 1962 that he even suspected that there were Communists in the Pentagon itself.

Although Walker resigned from the US Army, he had no problem when people presumed that JFK had "fired" him from the Army, just as Harry Truman had "fired" General Douglas MacArthur from his post.   Walker even cited MacArthur in his speeches in this context.

All best,
--Paul

On 4/4/2018 at 2:04 PM, Mervyn Hagger said:

Hi Paul, I have joined this read - after posting a related thread concerning Walker.

I must say that I don't get your 'take' from this Walker letter, but I do like the question posed by him at the end of his letter to which he received no reply.

My reason for liking his question has to do with why Walker ended up in Dallas after quitting the Army.

He was accused of promoting the agenda of the John Birch Society to troops stationed in West Germany, but his accuser was not the US Army, but a National Enquirer type tabloid called 'Overseas Weekly'.

In his rebuttal before resigning, Walker provided the press with a response that took up one and half broadsheet pages in a daily US newspaper. Walker named names. He accused Eugene Bernald who operated Pan American Broadcasting Company which was affiliated to the publisher of the 'Overseas Weekly' of being behind the smear.

Why this important is because Eugene Bernald represented the CIA 'front' stations of Radio Swan (later Radio Americas), and Radio Elizabethville in Kantanga (Congo). Both stations also carried 'The World Tomorrow'. Why that is of importance is found in my co-authored academic article which may be read here: http://foundthreads.com/09.html

It would seem that the key is in Walker's question about the CIA, and in Walker's accusation that Eugene Bernald was behind the smear to bring him down.

Hi Mervyn,

When I click on the link you provided, I get to an academic article with your name on it, entitled, Mystery on the Bayou: Of Addicts, Apparitions, Artists, Awards and a Buried Page of History (2011).   I began reading it, and saw nothing about General Walker in it, so I wonder if this was the link you intended.

In any case, I agree with you entirely about the Overseas Weekly smear campaign against General Walker on April 17, 1961.  General Walker talks about it for hours to the US Senate Subcommittee on Military Preparedness in April, 1962.  He complains of other employees of the Overseas Weekly to them.   No active US Generals came to his side during those Subcommittee hearings.  

General Walker was not fired from the US Army -- he was only fired from his command in Augsburg over 10,000 troops and their families.   Also, it was not because of the John Birch Society -- the Pentagon didn't give a damn about that.  It was because General Walker refused to get along with others -- in particular the Overseas Weekly newspaper staff.

I did a study about this chapter of General Walker's career with historian H.W. Brands in 2013.  What historians rarely mention is that in 1960, General Walker sued the Overseas Weekly in a German civil court, and Walker won.  He really stirred up the hornet's nest with that action.  But he really had no choice -- the newspaper writers of the Overseas Weekly had been spying on General Walker for months -- probably trying to pin him on being gay.   Walker had to fight rough, because in 1960 that could bring a Court Martial.

The newspaper writers were following up on rumors.  Walker was the only unmarried General on the base, and he was never seen with any girlfriend at any time.   Also, when the other officers had dinners, dances and other Officer's couples gatherings, General Walker always left the base.   Where did he go?

Walker's official explanation (even to his family in the USA) was that he was worried that he had a brain tumor, so he was visiting doctors all over Germany.   The Overseas Weekly then began to follow him -- he was not visiting any doctors, from what they saw.

After Walker successfully sued that newspaper, they got really angry with him, and produced the famous smear campaign of April 17, 1961, with headlines and two full pages of articles portraying Walker as a John Birch Society fanatic.   The very next day, the Pentagon yanked Walker from his command, and that was that.   JFK was not even bothered with it.   It was a military "shore flap" during the Cold War.   The Pentagon wouldn't tolerate that. 

To prevent General Walker from complaining too much, JFK offered Walker a new command in Hawaii -- also in an educational post.  (So we can see that the John Birch Society really had nothing to do with Walker's removal from his command at the Berlin Wall.)   But Walker turned that offer down and resigned from the US Army in November, 1961, after 30 years of service.   

This was not retirement -- with Army resignation you forfeit your Army pension.   This was the second time that Walker tried to resign, however.   The first time was in 1959,  after two years of Army service in Little Rock, Arkansas, when he converted to the John Birch Society -- and he heard that Ike was Red -- and he believed it.

JFK reluctantly accepted Walker's resignation, because this meant that the Radical Right in the USA had a new propagandist -- a former US Army General.  Here's the Newsweek cover story in December, 1961. 

 http://www.pet880.com/images/19611204_Newsweek_Cover.JPG

All best,
--Paul

6 hours ago, Jason Ward said:

Police and Sheriff testimony in the Warren Commission Part 17: DPD Officer Joe Smith (32)

• <SNIP>

CONCERNS:

1. Officer Smith comes across as a thoughtful, detailed, and literate witness.   His responsiveness is unusual among the DPD witnesses and this is a resource I would look to for more information.
2. The big glaring take away from his testimony is around time; in particular: What time was the TSBD really sealed off?
3. Smith says it was after 1pm when he and Barnett sealed the building; OTOH, DPD Officer Welcome Barnett testifies (above in this thread) that the TSBD remained unsealed for no longer than 3 minutes after the gun shots.
4. Smith and Barnett present dramatically different versions of the sequence of events leading to their assumption of guard duty at the front door of the TSBD.  Smith says he on his own initiative began searching the bushes and parked cars around the TSBD, but then was ordered to guard the front door along with Barnett after perhaps 25 minutes of searching.  OTOH, DPD Officer Barnett presents himself running back and forth once or twice between the front and back doors of the TSBD; assuming guard duty at the TSBD front door within 3 minutes.
5. Both Smith and Barnett mention unidentified Secret Service officers - at the TSBD back door and at the western parking lot area.
6. In my view, Officer Smith is or wants to be an honest witness; which in turn means that Officer Barnett is dishonest.  Why is there testimony so different?   Is Smith not part of the coverup and not actively participating in a theorized master story promulgated by DPD leadership?  I suggest analyzing Smith and Barnett in detail in all they say about the assassination to the WC and elsewhere.  The contrasts here could illuminate clues.  Does Smith go on to a long happy career?
7. Who is the Secret Service man helping Smith search cars?   What specifically makes Smith so sure they are Secret Service?  Do they show ID?
8. Smith's testimony around Secret Service agent Forrest Sorrels is suspicious.   I wonder if Smith not only saw Sorrels at the TSBD but also has some detailed knowledge of what Sorrels was doing there?
9. WC Attorney Liebeler IMO is the most assertive of any staffer in getting important conspiracy information into the permanent record.  In this case, Liebeler for inexplicable reasons elicits testimony from Officer Smith concerning the street layout of Dealey Plaza and the possible routes to Stemmons Freeway.  There is no reason Smith should be testifying about this other than, perhaps, Liebeler's perception that this is a man who naturally wants to tell the truth.   This information about street patterns and traffic routes presents an open question for all posterity - in part because Liebeler uses Smith as a vehicle to make sure this an open historical question.

In my opinion, office Smith is a *star* witness; one of the most valuable in the police testimony we've seen so far.

Jason,

Here are my responses to your concerns about DPD Officer Joe Marshall Smith: 

1. I agree that Joe Smith seems more cooperative that most other DPD witnesses.  Yet I find I am not less suspicious of his knowledge of a JFK plot.

2.  I agree with you fully that our key issue here is the TIMING of the sealing off of the TSBD building.

3.  Smith says it was after 1pm when he and Barnett sealed the building.  This is interesting because DPD Inspector Herbert Sawyer estimated about 12:45.   Yet DPD officer Welcome Barnett said it was no later than 12:33.   This is a massive difference.  In my reading, these three different accounts of TIMING suggests that TWO of the men are lying.
Probably Smith is closer to the Truth.  Sawyer is simply trying to make his performance look better than it really was.  The experts in Washington DC told the WC that the slow speed of the DPD was the weak link that allowed the assassin to escape.  Sawyer tries to defend himself.  But Welcome Barnett is bizarre in his claim of a 3-minute gap in TSBD sealing.

4.  The clash between the TIMING of Barnett and Smith is a full half-hour.  It is far too wide for a mistake -- Barnett is clearly lying.  We have one of them -- at least.

5. Since both Smith and Barnett mention Secret Service officers, but cannot identify them, and since Washington DC said that there were no Secret Service officers in Dealey Plaza on 11/22/1963, then what is going on?  Barnett slips up, evidently, and then changes the topic quickly.  Yet I think Smith slipped up too, though Liebeler forced Smith to talk more about it. 

6.  I don't think that Smith is innocent while Barnett is guilty.  I think they are both guilty, and they both went off-script from the "Master Story," and they both struggled to get back on track.  Their plea was "ignorance" in both cases.  "I didn't know."

7.  Who was this SS guy helping Smith?  Here's my opinion.  Smith should never have said "Secret Service," but he needed to justify his behavior.  Then, catching himself, Smith invented a story about drawing his gun, and this guy showing a valid SS ID.  In my opinion: (7.1) Smith knew the guy as a plainclothes DPD man; or (7.2) Smith knew the guy as a local, Dallas Secret Service man, involved in the JFK plot.  He slipped up.

8. I fully agree, Jason, that Smith slipped up again regarding Dallas SS agent Forrest Sorrels.  Sorrels went to the TSBD to keep Amos Euins quiet long enough for the crime scene to be manipulated, keeping the DPD seemingly innocent. 

9.  Liebeler got an opinion from Smith about the parade route, but that opinion has been widely disputed.  It's not part of US history, yet.

I agree this far, Jason -- that Joe Smith offers us the biggest crack yet in all of the DPD testimony we've seen so far.  Yet that doesn't take him off the hook, in my opinion.  His contradiction of others tells me that Smith was way "off script," probably because his superiors had assured him that the WC was on the side of the DPD, and nothing could go wrong.  So, he let his guard down.

The reason that Smith came up with his "auto mechanic" excuse is the same reason that Jesse Curry came up with his, "must have been bogus" excuse.  Years later, Curry would say that he "always thought" that a shot came from the Grassy Knoll, "but we've never been able to prove that." 

WHAT?  When did the DPD ever try to "prove that?"  It's only with the rise of Jim Garrison and the HSCA that Jesse Curry played coy about the Grassy Knoll.  He was one of the key JFK plotters, in my reading.  Lee Harvey Oswald was sacrificed on his watch.

All best,
--Paul

6 hours ago, Jason Ward said:

Hi Paul,

45 minutes after the shooting, plus, according to the Rowlands, at least 15 minutes before the shooting means at least an hour of secure 6th floor access is needed.   Marrion Baker and Truly are prancing through twice on their way to and from the roof.   Someone from the TSBD has to be involved, at least in keeping the floor secure pre-ambush and getting the shooter(s) party in the building - which were at least 2 men, the Rowlands say.   Truly?

Jason

No, no, not Truly.

No TSBD employees were directly involved in the JFK Assassination, in my reading.

The exception would be Lee Harvey Oswald.  His suspicious behavior early that morning, plus the Dallas police possession of his rifle was enough to turn his own brother against him.

LHO was no JFK shooter, but he clearly mixed with the wrong crowd.

All best,
--Paul

12 hours ago, Jason Ward said:

Hi Paul,

Perhaps it will illuminate the assassination conspirators if we take your comment as a reason to look at the contest to control the public impact of JFK's death?

You say the WC did not want to blame the FPCC Communists.  But who did?

... that's exactly who FBI agent James Hosty blames for Kennedy's death.   Hosty's bitter towards the WC because instead of finding a global communist conspiracy, they blamed a Lone Nut.   Why's Hosty so passionate about this?

1. From an interview FBI Agent [H]osty gives in 2006 to a retiree group:

2. Hosty implies that Oliver Stone is protecting Castro in the assassination:
3. Hosty says "they," meaning the political left in the United States, were ready to unfairly blame Gen Walker:
4. Hosty reveals his CT: Oswald killed Kennedy in service of Castro...

Jason,

Thanks for pointing out that James Hosty continued for the rest of his life to claim that the JFK Assassination was a Communist Plot.

Hosty did not belabor that point to the Warren Commission -- but privately he did.  By contrast, several WC witnesses insisted to the WC that the Communists killed JFK -- so they challenged the WC for interrogating the Dallas Right wing.   I cite WC witnesses like General Walker, Robert Alan Surrey, Robert Krause, Bernard Weissman, Revilo P. Oliver, and many more.

The tell-tale sign that Dallas FBI agent James Hosty was inside the JFK plot is, IMHO, revealed in his book, Assignment Oswald (1996) in which he rails from the beginning to the middle to the end of his book, that Lee Harvey Oswald knew KGB assassin Valeriy Kostikov, and met him in Mexico City -- thereby proving the Communist Plot.

This is where the genius of Jim Garrison comes front and center.   Garrison showed that Lee Harvey Oswald was a Fake Communist, and he was the leader of a Fake FPCC in New Orleans.   Garrison also showed that Lee Harvey Oswald traveled to Mexico City with  Fake Communist credentials, prepared with help from Guy Banister and his crew at 544 Camp Street.

It is impossible, in my view, that Dallas FBI agent James Hosty was ignorant of these facts -- and so his stubborn insistence that Lee Harvey Oswald was a Real Communist is transparent dishonesty.

All best,
--Paul

14 hours ago, Jason Ward said:

Police and Sheriff testimony in the Warren Commission Part 16: DPD Officer Welcome Barnett (32)

CONCERNS

1. Barnett is defensive in this deposition - against, it seems, any implication that he needed reminding of what his duties were during a presidential motorcade, for example: scanning for open windows
2. This is chaotic testimony and Barnett is not made to clarify his exact movements in sequence; in particular it is unclear how often, when and why he and/or Sgt Howard ran between the back and front doors of the TSBD.  It is conceivable he circumnavigated the TSBD, but this is unknown.
3. ~3 minutes between the last shot and a sealed TSBD front door, as claimed by Barnett, is the most aggressive timeline we've heard so far, although he admits there was a short period where people were coming and going.
4. Who is the witness construction worker who sees a gunman in a window?  What window?  Which building?   Which floor?   Why are these questions not asked?
5. Unless Officer Barnett is a trained expert in acoustics, why is he testifying about the way a shooter's location is determinable via different sounds made from shooters of different elevations?  Did someone give him the word to counteract all the earlier testimony about believing shots came from the triple underpass?
6. After 3pm Barnett disappears from the face of the earth?  What else happens that weekend that Barnett witnessed?
7. It seems Barnett should be more certain about Marrion Baker's actions that day since Baker comes in and out of the TSBD while we are told Barnett is there - but Barnett does not mention Baker, only Liebeler does....why?
8. No mention of Fritz, Decker, Sawyer....why?  Wouldn't he notice when higher ups are in his presence?
9. This very short testimony, like at least the last 3 officers above in this thread, seems well suited to put on record a few key points - even though it simultaneously opens up several questions yearning for clarification.

Overall, Barnett is firmly established as a very typical DPD witness with few details offered and none demanded.

Jason, 

Here's my response to your concerns about DPD Patrolman, Welcome Barnett.

1. Barnett is defensive in this deposition because he has a lot to hide.  He was right there next to the TSBD all during the JFK parade and the JFK shooting.  Multiple witnesses standing close to him gave sworn affidavits that they saw one or more men with rifles on the 5th and 6th floors of the TSBD building.  His attitude was, "I'm the professional!  Don't lecture me about watching windows during a Presidential parade!"  This is a guilty conscience speaking.

2. His testimony is that he covered the back and then the front of the TSBD building.  

3. Barnett will claim that if the last shot at JFK was at 12:30 pm, then the TSBD was completely sealed by 12:33 pm.  Yet we know from Inspector Herbert Sawyer -- the official in charge -- that the TSBD was officially sealed off at 12:45 pm.  Barnett, anyway, allows a 3 minute gap for Oswald  to flee the TSBD building.

4. In my view, the WC attorneys failed to ask more about the "construction worker" eye-witness, because the WC had already questioned him: Howard Brennan.  Photos show him sitting near the corner of Houston and Elm wearing a hard-hat when JFK drove by.  Brennan saw a man in the 6th floor of the TSBD, in the most southeast window, with a rifle.  He saw the final shot exploding.  His witness should be more widely perused, because he denied that the man looked like Lee Harvey Oswald.  Perhaps for this reason the WC attorneys let it slide.

5. In my view, Barnett makes claims about sound origins and echoes, only in order to deflect from his guilty conscience -- he was standing right under the firing position for more than an hour at the corner of Houston and Elm, where several eye-witnesses reported seeing one or more men in the TSBD window with a rifle!   His denial that he saw anything is ludicrous.  Howard Brennan was a football throw from Officer Barnett; so was Amos Euins, so was Arnold Rowland; so was Carolyn Walther; so was Marion Meharg, and so was Randolf Carr.  (BTW, I forgot long ago that Randolf Carr also saw a man run from the TSBD into a car with a colored driver minutes after the JFK shooting.)  Yet Barnett claims that he saw nothing in any TSBD window.  Nothing, nothing..."at the most" this construction worker said something about it; that's all I know.

6. Then Barnett sealed off the TSBD front door, he claims, and at 3pm he went home for the weekend.  All in a day's work. 

7. Why doesn't Barnett say anything about motorcycle cop Marrion Baker speeding to the TSBD after the first few seconds of the JFK shooting?  His alibi is clear -- he ran to the back of the TSBD to watch the fire escape, to ensure that nobody came from there.  According to Barnett, for the first three minutes after the JFK murder, he watched the back of the TSBD, including the fire escape, like a hawk.  Nobody came down,  so Randolf Carr must be mistaken.

8. In my opinion, Welcome Barnett fails to mention Captain Fritz, Sheriff Decker or Inspector Sawyer because he was in denial -- these were, after all, the same men who led the JFK plot.

9. It seems to me that the specific role of Welcome Barnett was to provide sworn testimony that the DPD was well in control of the TSBD withing a few minutes of the JFK shooting, and that the rear of the building was well-watched immediately, so that Randolf Carr and Marion Meharg -- who claim to have seen a man escape from the rear and into a car -- could not be correct.  There were no Oswald Accomplices -- PERIOD. 
 
All best,
--Paul

2 hours ago, Jason Ward said:

Police and Sheriff testimony in the Warren Commission Part 16: DPD Sgt. Harkness (age 42)

<SNIP>

CONCERNS

1. This is yet another quick and un-scrutinized testimony that lacks many details, but overall Harkness seems to have a coherent story; everything he says sounds reasonable
2. What did Harkness see around the railroad tracks area in terms of specific officers and activity?   Harkness is here twice: in the immediate seconds after shots were fired and then again AFTER he drops off witness Euins with Inspector Sawyer.
3. It's disturbing that Euins is potentially an historically important witness yet Harkness cannot remember the details around what he said; in particular we wonder what floor Euins really indicated?
4. Who are the Secret Service agents Harkness discovers at the back of the TSBD?   Are they Secret Service agents or is this evidence of deployed law enforcement imposters?
5. Why doesn't the WC attorney Belin take an interest in the TSBD Secret Service agents?
6. Harkness does not mention the Rowland testimony in the same inflammatory details as Deputy Craig, i.e. that there was more than one person on the 6th floor and that they were towards the west of the building.  Is this deliberate or sloppy note-taking?
7. Why is Sgt Harkness so flippant towards those caught at the crime scene he calls "tramps and hoboes," such that he apparently knows nothing else about them?
8. Is Ruby's sighting by Harkness on Saturday just an observant and lucky cop's skills at work?  It is so convenient that we wonder if this whole Ruby interlude represents information that needed to be put in the record - so they were stapled on to the story Harkness was assigned to give?   Maybe they needed to at the last minute try to establish that Ruby had been stalking Oswald?
9. Why is Harkness not asked to pinpoint the time of his movements on 22November more precisely?

Overall Harkness seems like what I now see has kind of a standard DPD cop's testimony.   There is nothing to challenge him from the WC attorney and he is allowed to get some apparently essential specific facts on record, then leave.   Most potentially explosive here are the Secret Service agents at the TSBD.

Jason,

Here's my response to your well-considered concerns:

1. I'm far more suspicious of DPD motorcycle Sgt. David Harkness.  His story does not add up in my opinion -- mainly because he takes great care to omit TIMING from his story.  Also, the TIMING that he implies fails to match the WC testimony we have from others, and fails to match the DPD radio log.
 
2. How long did it take for Harkness to look around on Industrial street (behind the TSBD)?   Let's presume that he saw there except other DPD officers (as everybody else saw) -- but how long was he there?  Then, he drove to the front of the TSBD and to into the County parking lot behind the picket fence.  Let's presume that he saw nothing there except other DPD officers (as everybody else saw) -- but how long before he encountered the eye-witness, 15-year old Amos Euins?  Finally, he took Amos Euins to see Inspector Sawyer and the DPD logs indicate 12:36 -- only 6 minutes after the JFK killing.

3. Amos Euins is the KEY.  Harkness probably knows the JFK plot and its plan to frame Oswald by using Oswald's own rifle on the 6th floor.  It will take about 45 minutes to set up -- requiring coordination of DPD officers and deputies to secretly do this.  Euins is a problem because he is an eye-witness who comes forward with a tacit demand for Dallas cops to search the 5th/6th floors IMMEDIATELY.  This is bad.  So, Harkness sends Euins to his superior -- Inspector Sawyer -- who sees the problem is over his head, so he immediately calls a senior plotter, Dallas SS agent, Forrest Sorrels.  Sorrels takes charge of Euins, delaying rightful action as long as possible.  Amos Euins became a pressing problem for Harkness, Sawyer, Sorrels, Decker and Fritz well after Oswald was arrested. 

4. In my view, there were no Secret Service agents in back of the TSBD.  Dallas cop Joe Marshall Smith claimed that a suspect showed him a Secret Service ID near the porch of the Grassy Knoll -- so he let him go.  Harkness is now committing perjury in order to emphasize that the TSBD back door was fully covered.  He accidentally identified other conspirators -- then stopped himself cold.  He says nothing more about it.  

5. The WC attorneys also say nothing more about it.  For me, this proves that the WC attorneys knew for a fact that the Dallas Police and Deputies had killed JFK. 

6. Harkness deliberately downplays the eye-witness testimony of Arnold Rowland, who saw  more than one person on the 6th floor, with rifles, towards the west of the building.  These were other conspirators, yet Rowland was easily talked out of his position. He is irrelevant now. 

7. Harkness is flippant about the "tramps and hoboes" that he marched to the County jail because they interrupted his well-considered plans that day.  From everything I've read about the "tramps and hoboes," they really were "tramps and hoboes."  I see no need to drag in "professional hit men" or "CIA mechanics" into the JFK killing.  Using Occam's Razor, I find the full JFK conspiracy to consist of Dallas officials, period, including the best sharpshooters in Texas.

8. It seems to me that the Ruby sighting by Harkness is merely a distraction -- to change the subject -- otherwise it might return to Amos Euins.  A lot of people saw Ruby around the DPD that weekend -- inside and outside.  It's a distraction, IMHO, simply in order to change the topic and muddy the waters.
 
9. The fact that Harkness is allowed to get away with this sloppy WC testimony is further evidence to me that the WC attorneys were generally aware that the Dallas Police and Deputies killed JFK, and they were also committed to blaming Lee Harvey Oswald for all of it -- just in order to prevent the public from blaming the FPCC Communists for any of it (i.e. to avoid nuclear war) -- and also to hide the fact that the USA during the Cold War was internally fractured due to its own Radical Right wing.  The USSR must never become aware of this Truth -- even at the expense of lying to the American public for 50 years.

All best,
--Paul

On ‎1‎/‎12‎/‎2016 at 6:54 AM, Richard Gilbride said:

Gene Kelly: ...how the police were co-opted into facilitating the operation. Controlling the crime scene, managing evidence, and limiting bystander action (even intimidating witnesses)... a masterstroke of operational strategy... some form of intelligence orchestration.

3 guys the plot absolutely depended on, in my opinion, were Fritz, Decker & Day. Without their complicity the fact would get exposed that there were multiple shooters. And a high-level government conspiracy.

They were central to the plot. Failure was not an option for them. If they screwed up & got caught the whole house of cards would come down. And each of these 3 guys had to know, in advance, the basic game-plan of the plot (location of shooters, their escape routes, coverup story that would frame Oswald).

Mayor Earle Cabell was their immediate superior in the Dallas political power structure and has to be considered as one of their enablers- it was his OK or persuasion or tacit agreement that brought them into the plot. Another possibility is LBJ's behind-the-scenes henchman Ed Clark. And/or LBJ aide Cliff Carter. This Texas power structure looks to me as even more critical than the role of intelligence agencies.

And I'm reasonably sure that when Decker made this 12:30 broadcast on Chief Curry's mike, just after the shots: "Have my office move all available men out of my office into the railroad yard to try to determine what happened in there and hold everything secure until Homicide and other investigators should get there." that Decker knew that the grassy knoll hit team would make a clean, quick getaway (within 60 seconds) and that his officers wouldn't get there until well after that (75+ seconds).

And that with attention focused on the grassy knoll area, the Depository hit team would have sufficient time for their own getaway.

The trouble with Earle Cabell is that he didn't have the military, paramilitary or special services training that such an orchestration would require.

However, in Dallas, there was such a man -- also motivated in his hatred for JFK, who had sent this man to an insane asylum only one year prior.

That man was Ex-General Edwin Walker -- the only US General to resign from the US Army in the 20th century, forfeiting his Army pension.

Ex-General Edwin Walker had run for Texas Governor in 1962, but he was all washed up in Texas politics by January 1963, because JFK had sent Walker to an insane asylum.

The only people who would follow General Walker now were the Underground, Radical Right, and especially the armed, Minutemen -- some members of whom were active in the Dallas Police Department and Sheriff's Office.

Who could orchestrate such a diverse group to Assassinate JFK when he drove through Dallas?    Who could persuade the Dallas FBI and the Dallas Secret Service to play along with the Dallas Bubba Network.   One man -- a military leader from childhood -- Ex-General Edwin Walker.

See the recent book by Jeff Caufield: General Walker and the Murder of President Kennedy: the Extensive New Evidence of a Radical Right Conspiracy (2015).

Regards,
--Paul Trejo

Trygve,

According to LBJ's long-term mistress, Madeleine Duncan Brown, LBJ did know that the JFK Assassination was about to occur, the night before.   I believe this much, because LBJ did have his ear to the ground regarding the Dallas Bubba Network.  Although I don't believe that LBJ was part of the plot to kill JFK, I do believe that LBJ heard about it -- as a rumor.   It was an unconfirmed rumor -- but he heard it from plausible sources. 

My question is why LBJ neglected to tell the Secret Service.

Perhaps it wasn't his station to do so -- the Secret Service had their own procedure -- the Protective Research Section (PRS) in Washington DC.  Their procedure was to call the local FBI in every city in which the US President was planning to visit.    The PRS did actually contact the Dallas FBI for names of dangerous people in Dallas -- and the Dallas FBI told the PRS repeatedly that "there are no dangerous people in Dallas."

The PRS wrote back to the Dallas FBI twice:  "Are you sure?"    Rarely did any US city fail to have some dangerous people for the PRS to watch.  The Dallas FBI wrote back, "Yes, we are really, really sure."

These facts are stated multiple times in the WC testimony by authorities from Washington DC.   The Secret Service PRS failed in its job -- but actually the Dallas FBI (and the Dallas Secret Service) deliberately lied to the PRS.   This is why, in the Bubba Network of Dallas, I also name James Hosty and Forrest Sorrels.

Regards,
--Paul Trejo

On 4/3/2018 at 12:24 PM, Jason Ward said:

Police and Sheriff testimony in the Warren Commission Part 15: DPD Motorcycle Officer Thomas Hutson (age 35):

• <SNIP>

CONCERNS:

1. Insofar as the testimony given, Hutson's narrative is coherent; however, some obvious questions were not asked and the intention here seems to get a quick and clean testimony in support of other officers
2. Who does Hutson see come and go at TSBD; who is giving orders; does he see Decker & Fritz?
3. Who is giving orders at the Tippit murder scene?  Why does Hutson search a house?   What else happens at the scene of interest; like is a wallet found?   Where's Tippit's gun & other evidence found?  What do witnesses say?
4. More elaboration is needed to explain the reason and timing around Hutson's movements between leaving the TSBD at about 1 until the time of Oswald's capture.   Why isn't he pinned down as to time?
5. Why does Hutson proceed to the rear of the Texas Theatre?
6. HOW is Oswald pinpointed as the suspect so quickly once Hutson gets inside the TSBD?
7. When Hutson says, "I left out the part about the number of people sitting on the theatre floor," is he intimating that he was coached to make sure and get this into his narrative?   This is similar to his insertion of the white jacket discovery into his testimony - it seems like he HAD to get these points in the record.
8. Hutson is at 4 key scenes that day, but provides only a summary overview with few details, which is disturbing: TSBD; Tippit murder scene, Texas Theatre; DPD HQ as Oswald is in custody

Overall, Hutson seems like another quickie witness who was deliberately brought in to tell a set narrative, and then allowed to quickly leave.  The Tippit murder scene is left almost completely untouched by this testimony, which is inexplicable.  Officer Hutson's presence at several historical spots on 22 November is possibly suspicious: Is there a core of pre-determined actors in the day's events?

Jason,

In response to your concerns:

1.  Yes, the testimony of DPD motorcycle cop Tom Hutson is short -- almost too short.  He gives us virtually no detail.  He does confirm the timeline.  For example: he says he was stationed to guard the TSBD front door.  The time we've learned from Inspector Herbert Sawyer was 12:45 pm.  Then he says about 30 minutes later he was called to Oak Cliff where Tippit was shot.  That's confirmed by radio reports that Tippit was killed approximately 1:18 pm. 

2.  He would have then seen Fritz and Decker who entered the front door at about 1:12 pm, according to the report by Deputy Mooney, who claims he immediately leaned out the 6th floor southeast window to shout out to Fritz and Decker below that he found bullet shells.  They entered then, so as guard of the front door he would have seen them.  Why didn't Hutson mention sighting Fritz and Decker?   Well, he simply wasn't asked. 

3.  As for the Tippit murder scene, we should remember that the same Inspector Sawyer claimed to take charge of that scene.  Sawyer probably gave Hutson the order to guard the TSBD and to drive to Oak Cliff, and to search a house.  Why didn't Hutson mention getting orders from Inspector Sawyer?   Again, he simply wasn't asked.

4.  You're right to bemoan the fact that Hutson offered no details of the Tippit murder scene -- one of the most important events in US History.  Why not?  Again, Hutson simply wasn't asked.  In any case, the timing does match up.  We have a radio log that confirms Hutson's story.  The tragedy for history is that this key witness to these momentous events is a man of so few words.

5. I have no problem with Hutson entering the Texas Theatre from the back door -- there were many police, and full coverage was needed.  We are left to imagine the details, though.   Presumably the Dallas cops and deputies agreed with each other; perhaps by hand signals.  We must guess, but the plausibility is solid.

6. Other witnesses will explain how Oswald is pinpointed -- the manager of the theater turned on the lights and pointed to Oswald.   Why does Hutson not say this, too?  He wasn't asked.

7.  It is odd, that after all this silence, Hutson volunteers, "I left out the part about the number of people" in the theater -- very few (seven).  This helps explain how Oswald was pointed out so quickly.  But why does he suddenly speak up now?  Also, he recalls that during the search for Oswald, the team found a white jacket.  This confirms the WC witness of Inspector Sawyer.  Perhaps Sawyer wrote the "Master Story" script for Hutson.

8. DPD motorcycle cop Tom Hutson is at four major scenes of the JFK assassination: TSBD, Tippit murder, Texas Theater arresting Oswald, and DPD HQ with Oswald.  Yet he is almost silent when it comes to details.  He basically supplies confirmation of the DPD radio log timeline of events. 

Your concern, Jason, about the shortage of detail in the Tippit murder is justified.  That's the case in Hutson's testimony, but also in: (1) all DPD records in general; and (2) all WC testimony in general.  One of the most important murders in DPD history, namely of JD Tippit, gets almost no details.  This is the suspicious part. 

If I were to follow a suspicion that Tom Hutson was at four major JFK scenes, then I would also have to suspect his likely leader at all these scenes -- DPD Inspector Herbert Sawyer.  If Inspector Sawyer was in charge of all four sites, perhaps he regarded Tom Hutson as a reliable resource -- and somebody who could keep his mouth shut.

All best,
--Paul

Trygve,

Have you read Walt Brown's superb book, Treachery in Dallas (1995), about the role played by the Dallas Police and Deputies at Dealey Plaza?

In my view, it offers a solid alternative to Peter Dale Scott's literary term, "Deep Politics."

Regards,
--Paul Trejo

15 hours ago, Jason Ward said:

Police and Sheriff testimony in the Warren Commission Part 14: Dallas Police Officer Marrion L Baker (age 33)

<snip>

CONCERNS:

1. Officer Baker is the *best witness* of the officers reviewed so far.  There are no gaping questions or holes in his testimony that he fails to address.  This officer is 100% telling the truth, IMO.  Both WC members and lawyers try leading the witness but Baker refuses their pressure.  He refuses to say Oswald was in any way flustered or hurried, for example.
2. Why does Baker go to the Trade Mart after Dealey Plaza?
3. WC members, especially Allen Dulles, directly question this witness as no other.  Why?  Just interested or something more sinister...perhaps trying to trip him up?
4. This is the first we learn that Capt Fritz is ordering people to the railroad area in the first seconds after the gunfire, I think?....why?   
5. Now learning that Decker and Frtiz sent officers to the rail area, I feel very comfortable asking if Decker and Fritz did this to allow the true gunman time to escape?
6. The fact that Baker used a stopwatch with a secret service observer to time his re-created movements is devastating to the Oswald-did-it narrative.   It is impossible for us to believe Oswald fired 3 shots at the president, hid the rifle, and then talks calmly to Baker in the 2nd floor lunchroom with no signs of nervousness or trying to escape: BARELY ONE MINUTE after the FIRST shot.
7. The elevators are a concern; were they both stopped on the 6th floor when Baker saw them together in the shaft?
8. It seems that the elevators had no walls or had only partial barriers so that officer Baker had a few seconds to look in each floor on his way to the roof; why is this not probed further, especially what was happening on the 6th floor?
9. Establishing that other motorcycle officers confirmed JFK & Connally were shot by separate bullets practically devastates the magic bullet narrative
10. Baker apparently had a lot of time with the limo at Parkland.  What did he see?   What bullet damage on the limo?  Blood splatter patterns on the limo?  
11. Who ordered the removal of planned side riders like Baker to the rear of the limo and why?

...

Jason,

I continue to be surprised at how closely your interpretation of WC testimony matches my interpretation -- with only minor differences.  I have long held that DPD officer Marrion Baker's WC testimony is the truth.  Whether he told the whole truth, I cannot be certain today -- however, I am confident that every word that he chose to tell the WC was true and correct.

I also agree that Baker's testimony tends to exonerate Lee Harvey Oswald (LHO) as the Lone Shooter in the JFK Assassination -- if indeed LHO was any sort of shooter at all.

HOWEVER -- just for the record -- if anybody wanted to saunter down calmly, from the 6th floor of the TSBD down to the 2nd floor in 90 seconds, that is easy to do, with time to spare.  So, I don't place much weight on that aspect.  Furthermore, LHO was a fairly good poker face, going by all the secrets that he kept from Marina Oswald and Ruth Paine.  So I don't weight that heavily, either.

I'm not fully exonerating LHO based only on Marrion Baker's testimony.  Yet it is amusing to see how far Allen Dulles would go to protect these cracks in the FBI's foregone conclusion of a Lone Shooter.

Now, why does Marrion Baker go to the Trade Mart when he's done at Dealey Plaza?  I'll guess that Baker really thought the shots came from the roof of the TSBD, and that he was out of touch with all the rest of the DPD for the 10-15 minutes that he was up on the TSBD roof.  If so, then the only place fresh in his mind was the Trade Mart -- nobody had told him about Parkland Hospital.  He possibly thought his peers were still at the Trade Mart -- so, in the absence of further information, he went there.  Just a guess.

As for the order for Dallas cops to go to the railroad yard behind the picket fence of the Grassy Knoll seconds after the JFK shots, that was not Captain Fritz, that was Chief Jesse Curry -- followed immediately by Sheriff Bill Decker.  They were eye-witnesses at Dealey Plaza, only 200 feet in front of the JFK limo.  (Captain Fritz was at the Trade Mart at the time.)

Being willing to give everybody the benefit of every doubt so that the best suspicion rises to the top, I'll overlook that Curry and Decker ordered officers to the parking lot behind the Grassy Knoll.  After all -- they were directly south of that area when JFK was shot. It was a fair guess.

I believe Baker -- just as I believe all of the TSBD employees, without exception.  The main difference is that most of the TSBD employees were sloppy in their time-estimates of their Dealey Plaza memories -- while Officer Baker went back to Dealey Plaza multiple times, with multiple associates and stop-watches, to time his movements.

By the way -- in my reading, Marrion Baker ran into the TSBD first, and Roy Truly ran in after him, because Truly was the supervisor, and this DPD cop meant business.  Baker demanded the elevator -- and to get to the roof ASAP.  Truly tried to get the elevator, but it was very easy to lock the elevator from within the cab -- with no other controls than to shout up six floors to release the lock.  But if the elevator cab user was down the hall stacking books, one shouted in vain.

I have no concern about the elevator.  Also, I'm not interested in the SBT or the Lone Shooter narrative today -- my only concern is to track every minute of the Dallas Police and Deputies at Dealey Plaza in the 10 minutes before, and the 60 minutes after the JFK Assassination. 

I do agree that Officer Baker's testimony about the limo would have been most interesting.  It's very sad that we don't have that.  Finally, Officer Baker would have had no clue who ordered the removal of side-of-limo motorcycle riders, or why. 

I agree that if the WC wanted to suppress Dealey Plaza witnesses, then Marrion Baker would have been a top candidate for suppression.  Probably suppressing him was inadvisable because: (1) Roy Truly had to mention him to account for his own movements; (2) several TSBD employees saw Truly and Baker together; and (3) Baker had nothing concrete with which to truly shatter the SBT or the LN theories -- only to rattle them a little.

All best,
--Paul

This revelation from the NY Times (9/22/1967, p. 21) demonstrates exactly what Jeff Caufield told me in the context of his recent book, General Walker and the Murder of President Kennedy: the Extensive New Evidence of a Radical Right Conspiracy (2015).

Caufield told me that he had access to all of Jim Garrison's papers, and that these papers confirmed that Jim Garrison's original theory was a Dallas Radical Right CT in the killing of JFK.

This statement here, in late 1967, confirms Caufield's observation 100%.    It also matches my own CT as much as 99%.   I only wish Jim Garrison had more help in 1967.   It would have spared millions of Americans a lot of pain and worry about our Government. 

Notice in that NY Times article, that Garrison claimed to have an "investigator in Dallas."    But he didn't name that investigator.   In fact, I never saw any Dallas report from Jim Garrison's office -- so I think it was a ruse.  I think that Garrison was hoping that people from Dallas would begin to step forward.  But that never happened.

I think people, even today, underestimate how much Dallas residents would "close ranks" around their Civic Leaders and Police Department.   Nobody leaked any data from Dallas.   There was not one whistle-blower.   Not even Roger Craig, actually.  Even with this article in the NY Times, which comes closer, IMHO, than any other effort by Jim Garrison to name names in Dallas -- nothing came of it.   

This proves to me that Jim Garrison utterly failed to get whistle-blowers about General Walker,  Bill Decker, Will Fritz, Jesse Curry, James Hosty, Forrest Sorrels, and their immediate officers, like Robert Alan Surrey,  Buddy Walthers, Deputy Luke Mooney and so many others.

On the other hand, Jim Garrison successfully named every single person of interest who was in New Orleans -- the area under his own jurisdiction.   But without a whistle-blower inside Dallas, Jim Garrison could never solve the JFK murder. 

Regards,
--Paul Trejo

On 3/26/2018 at 6:48 PM, Mark Knight said:

Just a point: Holmes was a POSTAL INSPECTOR, not a POSTMASTER. A POSTMASTER is CEO of a single post office; the Postal Inspection Service are the post office "cops," or the investigative branch.

I'm only after accuracy; we are, after all, the EDUCATION Forum.

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the correction.   I'll watch that in future posts.   I've also corrected my own posts in this thread.

All best,
--Paul

17 hours ago, Jason Ward said:

Hi Paul,

Perhaps there were a few honest cops around who just got swept under the carpet....like Tom Tilson?  Obviously the license plate number he recorded was decidedly unhelpful to the Lone Nut narrative?  Didn't DPD also try to quash a license plate seen in a photo at General Walker's house?

Maybe Dinah could still help us out here?

IMO this is how close you might be in blowing up the whole consensus JFK assassination narrative - a license plate.  If Tom Tilson recorded a license plate registered to anyone in the Walker Group, the Minutemen, the JBS, or various splinter groups, history is re-written.....

..HSCA Report Vol 12, p. 15

Hi Jason,

What is crucial about retired officer Tom Tilson's personal, eye-witness account of Dealey Plaza immediately after the JFK killing is that he is the 3rd person to say that he saw a man running from the Dealey Plaza embankment (or TSBD) and into an automobile.

Roger Craig was one.  Marion Meharg was two.  Now Tom Tilson is three.

Like all witnesses who claimed that Oswald had Accomplices in the JFK murder, all three of these witnesses were discredited by the WC and the FBI.  

I am also reminded of Arnold Rowland, Silvia Odio and Harry Dean.

What they all had in common was their witness that LHO had accomplices.   That turned out to be unforgivable.

All best,
--Paul