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Dear Jim, If Mr. GRATZ was a real researcher journalist/researcher he would find out if ,

http://www.bmibook.com/html/4_c.html the depository STANLEY in FLORDIA was related to the JOHN R. STANLEY that worked for BYRD and sat on MOB Wallace investments. Just call and ask Mr. Stanley --cause that will be real research (NOT !!!!!!!). In the GREAT HEROIN COUP book, it was stated that post assassination to 1966 there was an explosion of CUBANS (not from Cuba ,BTW) into drug operations. This may have been part of the payoff for their assisstance in the DALLAS matter. Its possible that said drug money is the foundation of Mr. GRATZ's employer's company...................... thanks sg

Edited by Steven Gaal
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The following is a preliminary copy of an article that will be published in the Dealey Plaza Echo. I invite the readers of this forum to read it and ask questions or make suggestions for improvement before it goes to press. Of all the articles I have ever written on the JFK assassination I consider this one to be the most important.

Please consider getting a subscription to the Dealey Plaza Echo (by becoming a member), where you will see not only the updated article with accompanying pictures but also see many other fine articles.

Membership enquiries (UK):

Francesca Akhtar, 30 Beechwood Avenue, Thornton Heath, Surrey, CR7 7DZ

email: francescaakhtar@dealeyplazauk.co.uk

Membership enquiries (US):

MARK H. ROWE, 11703 Alclad Avenue, Whittier, CA 90605, USA.

email: markrowe@dealeyplazauk.co.uk

I want to thank Steve Gaal for helping me write this article.

The Spider’s Web: The Texas School Book Depository and the Dallas Conspiracy

By William Weston

There is a very large spider guarding this web of secrecy. I have entered other webs, but this one is different because the spider leaves the web and stalks its prey – sometimes for many years.

Elzie Glaze [1]

Abstract:

Journalist Elzie Glaze compared the Texas School Book Depository to a spider that can leave its web and stalk its prey. This article posits the view that behind Glaze’s metaphor was a weapons and narcotics smuggling operation moving under the guise of schoolbooks. Controlled by ultraconservatives, the depository harbored spies, who infiltrated left-wing organizations. It also had law enforcement agents, who monitored and controlled the drug traffic within the city of Dallas. These operatives acted at the instigation of the national security establishment. When President Kennedy threatened to break up that establishment, a plot developed to assassinate him. The schoolbook workers became involved in the plot, when they relocated into the seven-story building that overlooked a 120-degree turn at Elm and Houston Streets. The turn made the President an easy target, because it slowed his limousine down to a crawl. After the assassination, the victors of the coup imposed extra security measures at the schoolbook depository in order to protect ongoing smuggling activities.

Introduction

The pilot of a Dallas-bound commercial airliner made an announcement over the intercom: President Kennedy and Governor Connally were hit by gunfire while riding in a motorcade in Dallas. Among the passengers hearing the news was Joe Bergin, regional manager for the Scott Foresman Company in Dallas. His office was in the same building, where Lee Harvey Oswald purportedly fired a rifle from a sixth floor window.

On the sixth floor that day William Shelley and his crew of five men were adding new plywood to the old floor. How they failed to notice the lifting and moving of two dozen boxes, each weighing 55 pounds, to make the sniper’s nest at the southeast corner window has never been explained.

I believe the workers themselves placed the boxes there - perhaps only as a private nook for a morning break.

Also unexplained is an incident after the assassination: Shelley spoke with Oswald just prior to the latter’s escape in a Nash Rambler.

It's not unexplained. Shelley stated he didn't see Oswald after going down for lunch about 11:50am. Whether that's true or not is another matter, but it is an explanation.

A veil of secrecy conceals the company that employed these men. The Texas School Book Depository (TSBD) moved into the seven-story, 411 Elm Street building during the summer of 1963, but exactly when is unknown.

The Sexton Co moved out in Nov, '61. Prior to moving in, Caton, Campbell and Truly had externsive renovations done on the building. I believe they may has started using the premises late '62, gradually shifting more and more operations from the old warehouse during early '63.

Ruth Paine, while driving on the freeway, saw the company name on a four-story warehouse and thought that Lee worked there, not realizing that a larger building, also within her view, was the place where he really worked. [2]

Yep. That's what she said. This was her testimony:

Mr. JENNER - Did you give him the telephone number and the address of the Texas School Book Depository on the occasion when you talked to him, this is the 14th?

Mrs. PAINE - The address, I don't think so. I probably gave the phone number. I don't recall that I gave him an address.

Mr. JENNER - Directing your attention to your address book, you have an entry in your address book of the Texas School Depository, do you not? Would you turn to that page?

Mrs. PAINE - Yes; I have it here.

Mr. JENNER - Is there an entry of address of the Texas School Depository on that page?

Mrs. PAINE - Yes; which I believe I made after he gained employment there.

Mr. JENNER - Rather than at the time that you advised him of this possibility?

Mrs. PAINE - Indeed.

Mr. JENNER - Have you made an entry of the telephone number of the Texas School Book Depository on that date?

Mrs. PAINE - Yes; I have and of the address.

Mr. JENNER - And that is the telephone number and the address of the Texas School Depository Building where--

Mrs. PAINE - On Elm Street.

Mr. JENNER - I heard you mention the Texas School Depository warehouse Did you think the warehouse was at 411 Elm?

Mrs. PAINE - No. I had seen a sign on a building as I went along one of the limited access highways that leads into Dallas, saying "Texas School Book Depository Warehouse" and there was the only building that had registered on my consciousness as being Texas School Book Depository.

I was not aware, hadn't taken in the idea of there being two buildings and that there was one on Elm, though, I copied the address from the telephone book, and could well have made that notation in my mind but I didn't.

The first I realized that there was a building on Elm was when I heard on the television on the morning of the 22d of November that a shot had been fired from such a building.

Mr. JENNER - For the purpose of this record then I would like to emphasize you were under the impression then, were you, that Lee Harvey Oswald was employed?

Mrs. PAINE - At the warehouse.

Mr. JENNER - Other than at 411, a place at 411 Elm?

Mrs. PAINE - I thought he worked at the warehouse. I had in fact, pointed out the building to my children going into Dallas later after he had gained employment.

Mr. JENNER - Did you ever discuss with Lee Harvey Oswald where he actually was employed, that is the location of the building?

Mrs. PAINE - No; I didn't.

Mr. JENNER - Did he ever mention it?

Mrs. PAINE - No.

Mr. JENNER - There never was any discussion between you and, say, young Mr. Frazier or Mrs. Randle or anyone in the neighborhood as to where the place of employment is located?

Mrs. PAINE - No. It may be significant here to say, my letter to which I have already referred--

By Commission standards, the question of when she knew the address and if she gave it to Oswald was almost a grilling. My guess is, Jenner was digging to see how Oswald knew which building to go to for his interview.

Evidently a new sign was added later, but exactly when is unknown. The difficulty of obtaining specific details is of course due to the building’s role as a shooting platform, but there is something else to consider. From clues derived from a variety of sources, company executives used schoolbooks to disguise shipments of firearms and narcotics. Although the picture is still unclear, the story of Joe Bergin adds an important piece to the puzzle. It is a story he never would have told himself, but thanks to his son, it is told here for the first time.

In June 2004, I was asked a question on aajfk about how the rifle got into the TSBD. Ths was my reply: "I've taken it one step further and wondered if weapons were coming in and going out in those book crates."

This article does add some evidence to that speculation. Much, much more would be needed to convince most, imo.

Background

Born in Alvin, Texas on August 12, 1899, Joe Lyons Bergin was the son of a Methodist minister, John W. Bergin, who in his early years traveled the preaching circuit with his wife and children. After four years as a pastor in Corsicana, John went to Georgetown, where he served as president of Southwestern University from 1935 to 1942. His son Joe went to the same university in the fall of 1918, where he excelled as a football player. After graduation, he taught history and athletics at the Lake Forest High School in Dallas. In 1930 he went to Greenville (50 miles northeast of Dallas), where he became the principal of a high school. Two years later, he won a four-year term as superintendent of the school district. People admired him for his intelligence and courteous manners. He was also a delightful conversationalist. As superintendent, he worked hard to raise the academic standards back up so that its secondary schools could regain their accreditation. For this achievement he won the gratitude of the citizens of Greenville. [3]

Joe’s wife Jewell was a strong, confident woman, musically talented with a splendid voice, who loved to sing and play the piano. In the backyard, she kept a beautiful garden with lots of iris, her favorite flower. In 1934, as president of the Eclecta Literary Club, she invited women from twenty-six other clubs to her home in order to found the City Federation of Women’s Clubs, an organization dedicated to advancing music, art, drama, dance, literature, and other cultural endeavors in the city of Greenville. In 1937 she served a one-year term as president of the federation. On top of this busy social life, Jewell had a baby – Joe, Jr., their only child – born on February 10, 1935.

Meanwhile, her husband was getting involved in law enforcement. During the Great Depression, many outlaws such as Machine Gun Kelly, Raymond Hamilton, and Bonnie and Clyde were finding Texas a congenial haven. To restore order, Governor Miriam Ferguson augmented the Texas Rangers, which at that time numbered 32 men with 2300 Special Rangers (volunteers who assisted the professionals without pay). Bergin enlisted as a private in the Special Rangers on January 3, 1934. On his oath of enlistment, he described himself as 5 feet 11 inches, fair to ruddy complexion, dark brown hair, blue eyes, 175 pounds, 34 years of age. He re-enlisted on August 9, 1935 and at this point the service records for the Special Rangers in the public domain ends. However, Bergin may have continued as a Ranger, since according to his obituary he was a “veteran of World War II,” and the Texas Rangers functioned as a military unit as well as a state police force.

Snip Background

The Drugs and Guns Connection

During the latter part of the 1930’s the Rangers shifted their focus from bank robbers to drug smugglers. Drug importation reached record levels, largely because the federal government secretly allowed Nationalist Chinese to import opium. The Chinese needed cash to pay troops and buy weapons in its fight against the Communist Chinese. A two-way traffic developed with guns leaving the United States to supply China, and drugs coming in to pay for them. To protect the Nationalist Chinese from political repercussions, the drug trafficking was blamed on the Red Chinese. According to Joseph Douglass, author of Red Cocaine, Mao Tse-Tung ordered the cultivation of opium on a grand scale. He had two objectives: obtaining exchange for needed supplies and "drugging the white region." [4] However Douglas Valentine, author of Strength of the Wolf, interviewed former Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) agents and gathered a lot of documentary evidence to present a stronger case that the primary culprit was Nationalist China.

Information about U.S.-Chinese connivance in the drug trade came out during the Opium Scandal of April 1927. The unhappy wife of Leonard Huser divorced him and revealed a lot of his secrets. She said that in 1924 Huser negotiated a deal whereby he delivered 6600 Mausers from Italy to Chiang Kai-Shek in exchange for $500,000 worth of opium. This was done at the knowledge of the State and War Departments. The affair ended when a judge sentenced Huser to two years in a federal prison.

After the communists took over the mainland in 1949 and Chiang Kai-Shek moved his government to Taiwan, Secretary of State Dean Acheson gave his blessing to a diplomatic mission to Taiwan consisting of businessmen and military officers, led by William Pawley, to facilitate the importation of drugs from Burma. Providing most of the funds for this mission was Texas oil man, H. L. Hunt. One of the points of entry for Chinese heroin was across the Mexican border into Laredo, Texas.

In a July 1959 report “The Narcotics Situation in South Asia and the Far East,” Garland Williams, a top official in the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN), accused the Central Intelligence Agency of encouraging the Chinese to produce drugs. According to Valentine, the CIA and its Nationalist Chinese allies operated the largest drug-trafficking syndicate in the world. [5]

Towards the end of World War II, Mexico became another source of drugs. In 1945, Eva Ruby and Paul Roland Jones were partners in picking up opium delivered to Dallas from the Durango area of Mexico and sending it to Hyman Ruby in Chicago via shipments of iron pipe. As a volunteer in the Texas Rangers, Bergin would have seen and heard much of the guns and drugs trade.

The Schoolbook Companies

In 1938, in the middle of his second term, Bergin submitted his resignation to “go into business,” according to a newspaper article. [6] He left the security, prestige, and lucrative salary of a school superintendent in order to go to Dallas and sell schoolbooks for Scott Foresman. If he was seeking a better way to make money, then his career change made little sense. On the other hand, if he wanted to broaden his opportunities in law enforcement, then Dallas was a major step forward. Not only was he moving into a center of organized crime, but he also was getting a job that placed him in a unique position to monitor and control illegal items moving under the guise of schoolbooks.

Scott Foresman, the predominant publisher of elementary-level schoolbooks and best known for its Dick and Jane readers, had its headquarters in Chicago. Bergin was the manager of its Dallas office, located on the third floor of the Santa Fe building on Main Street. The staff, virtually all female, ranged from eight to ten employees to as many as twelve to fifteen during the summer when the demand for schoolbooks was high. Bergin’s assistant, Dora Newman, a small, frail-looking woman, yet full of energy, was adept at maintaining harmony and discipline in the office and even had a touch of class.

Sharing the third floor were the offices of other schoolbook companies, such as Bobbs-Merrill, Lyons & Carnahan, McGraw-Hill, and Southwestern. In spite of the competition, all the managers had friendly contacts with one another and took turns giving parties. Joe hosted parties with no alcoholic beverages, for he disapproved of drinking.

The main occupant of the third floor was the Hugh Perry Book Depository, a privately owned company, incorporated in 1927 and the predecessor of the TSBD. Hugh Perry acted as an independent agency for a group of publishers to warehouse and distribute textbooks to schools in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, and New Mexico. Not far from the TSBD on 707 Browder Street was the Lone Star Schoolbook Depository, a rival company, which also warehoused and distributed schoolbooks.

As part of his job, Joe Bergin worked as a lobbyist at the state capitol, where he met with legislators and competed with other publishing companies in the politics of book adoption. In the state of Texas, the legislature had the authority to decide what books schools should have. A different practice was used in Oklahoma and New Mexico, which allowed principals and superintendents to decide what books to get. Bergin went to these states with a carload of books and basically functioned as a salesman. As his responsibilities grew, he hired others to do the business trips while he remained at the office to do the paperwork.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Eighth Service Command took over the Santa Fe building, compelling its occupants to go elsewhere. The schoolbook companies found a crumbling building at 2210 N. Pacific Avenue that used to be a parking garage. In spite of the dreariness of the place, Dora Newman somehow made the Scott Foresman office livable and attractive.

On October 29, 1945, Hugh Perry hired a mysterious clerk named William Shelley. [7] According to news journalist Elzie Glaze, who met him in 1974, Shelley said he was an intelligence agent during the war and afterwards joined the CIA. [8] Since his previous job was a brief stint working in defense plants, it is possible that he served as an informant for some counterespionage unit. This undercover work carried over into Hugh Perry, where schoolbooks concealed clandestine shipments of guns and drugs. The second part of Shelley’s statement shows that, after the CIA came into existence in 1947, it took over this operation – and the agents assigned to it.

The Activities of Jack Ruby

Money generated by the sale of drugs required laundering, and gambling was one way to do that. In November 1946, Paul Roland Jones approached Sheriff Steve Guthrie and promised him a starting salary of $150,000 a year if he allowed his friends from Chicago to bring slot machines and floating crap games into Dallas. Jones said that Jack Ruby was in charge of this operation and that he was due to arrive in the spring of 1947. Guthrie said he would think it over and agreed to another meeting. However, Guthrie was an honest man and turned to the Texas Rangers for help. Led by W. E. “Dub” Naylor, the Rangers made a secret tape recording of the second meeting between Jones and Guthrie. It took a month to gather enough evidence to arrest or drive out these gangsters. Among those arrested was Jack’s sister, Eva Ruby, the owner of a restaurant in Dallas and (as previously mentioned) a partner with Jones in sending opium to Chicago. Victory over these mobsters was short-lived, for Jack Ruby arrived the following year and started various gambling enterprises around the city. As a Special Ranger, Bergin may have participated in Naylor’s surveillance operation.

During this same period Jack Ruby was involved in counterintelligence. Officially, he was an aircraft mechanic in the Army Air Corps from May 1943 until February 1946 at various bases in the South. His brother Sam was also in the Air Corps as an informer, keeping an eye on communists and nazis and writing letters to his brother Jack about his observations. Although Sam wrote the letters as if they were to his brother, he actually addressed the envelopes to a counterintelligence officer. [9] On three separate occasions in about summer 1943, early 1944, and early 1947, Ruby went to a union hall in Muncie, Indiana to participate in meetings with communists. The union hall was on the third story of a three-story building, where gambling often happened during evenings and weekends. Ruby met with Russian Jews, some of whom were communists. [10]

Mr. FEHRENBACH. Yes, I know this man. I want to say that that is Jack Rubinstein but it doesn't hardly look like him.

I think there is at least a 50% chance this was textile strike leader, Jack Rubenstein (who, coincidently, knew Mark Lane).

IN fact, Martin Dies, writing for American Opinion, tried hard to suggest the Striptease club owner and the former Young Communist League member were one and the same person.

Well... to be fair, there was a slight resemblence and only six years difference in age.

Additionally, Ruby was an informer for the FBN. After the shooting of Oswald, Mort Benjamin, an FBN agent in New York, found a file showing that Ruby had been an informer since the 1940s. When Benjamin returned to read the file again, it was missing. Apparently, someone had taken every document related to the FBN’s relationship with Ruby. [11]

Ruby’s work as an informer is comparable to that of an employee at the TSBD. Joe Molina, credit manager for the TSBD since February 1947, knew Bill Lowery, an undercover agent for the FBI. In 1955 Molina and Lowery became interested in a leftist group called the American GI Forum, an organization that had the goal of fighting injustices perpetrated against people of Mexican descent. Molina and Lowery were among six individuals who formed the Dallas chapter of the GI Forum. The following year Lowery nominated Molina as chairman. [12]

And himself as Sergeant At Arms.

Everyone's favourite Commissioner, Mr Dulles, once defined "infiltration" as joining a group and getting yourself elected to leadership positions so as to steer it in certain directions. It seems then, that Molina was either a part of FBI infiltration of the group, or was singled out as someone very easily manipulated. In fact, his role in the credid dept of the TSBD put him in a position to obtain sensitive data of the kind the FBI often

seek...

In testimony given at a hearing of the Subversive Activities Control Board in 1963, Lowery admitted he was an FBI informant infiltrating the GI Forum. By implication his friend Molina was an informant too. The Dallas police became interested in Molina after the assassination and investigated him as a suspect. They publicized his connections to alleged communists, and as a result Molina lost his job at the TSBD. If Molina was an undercover agent, then he was one of four such operatives in one location. The other three were Shelley, Bergin, and Oswald.

Lowery is not the only GI Forum member of interest. Felix Botello - another founding member of the GI Forum, was also a member of the extreme militia group found with a large cache of weapons bound for Mississippi in aid of Walker. Botello was described in one FBI document as "former DL-18-S" - presumably an informant number?

When I have time, I'll comment on the balance - which to me, is in places, claiming facts which are rubbery at best. I do however, believe the line of inquiry taken is very worthwhile.

Edited by Greg Parker
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Well, for instance, there is this:

George H. W. Bush raised funds for anti-Castro Cubans and for Operation 40, a group that upon receiving orders assassinated military or political leaders in foreign countries.

Weston's only source for this claim? Fabian Escalante, whose claim to fame is his assertion that a blind man signed a "confession" implicating himself and other anti-Castro Cubans in the assassination, and, when asked to produce the blind man's confession, stonewalled and never did.

Weston:

A veil of secrecy conceals the company that employed these men. "Veil of secrecy"? What the heck is he talking about. Never mind, makes it seem more sinister.

Weston:

This undercover work carried over into Hugh Perry, where schoolbooks concealed clandestine shipments of guns and drugs

Weston's support for this proposition? None.

Weston:

CIA finance officer James Wilcott said that several Dallas firms were involved in smuggling arms to Cubans. Among these firms was the TSBD.

When did Wilcott say that? Not in his testimony to the HSCA, found here:

http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/wilcott.htm

The HSCA, by the way, did not believe the thrust of Wilcott's testimony.

I could go on and on. The article is replete with errors and undocumented assertions of fact, many of which are highly doubtful. But let me close with this paragraph:

Jumping ahead to the late 1960’s, Harvey retired from the CIA and became the law editor for Bobbs-Merrill. [24] Since no one really retires from the CIA but goes from one cover to another, Harvey’s employment at Bobbs-Merrill shows the bond between the schoolbook company and the intelligence establishment. By extrapolation, other schoolbook companies were part of this establishment.

What nonsense! No one EVER retires from the CIA? Because Harvey went to work for a book publishing company, it must have been a CIA front. Since one book company is a CIA front, others must be as well "by extrapolation". It is hard for me to believe that a tenth grader could not see the logical fallacies.

And then, to top all of the nonsense, Steve Gaal posts that it is possible that "drug money is the foundation of Mr. Gratz's employer's company."

To demonstrate what a complete charlatan Mr. Gaal is, I challenge him to name my employer. I am quite confident he does not even know it, proving he just lied.

This assertion is just another example of the level to which this Forum has sunk. It is absolutely unbelievable.

You guys tarnish the reputations of the many reputable and intelligent assassination researchers that are associated with this Forum by posting such *******!

Edited by Tim Gratz
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Mr. Gratz, I thought you worrked for a newspaper-that can be found in a GOOGLE search of your name and CUBA ?? Dont anti-CASTRO CUBANS own newspapers in Flordia?? Are not anti-CASTRO cubans connected to the drug trade ?? Is not the word possible in your vocabulary ?? I ask myself = WHY DOES GRATZ SLANDER CASTRO with an odd insistence ?? Did CASTRO ever do anything to GRATZ or was it to his employers ?? Because I say something is possible I am called charlatan- not a possible charlatan.

GRATZ there was complex plan for security from LOVE Field to the trade MART but none from the TRADE Mart back to LoveField. How did the man you slander CASTRO do that ???? I think the lady protests tooooo much - Is not the best conclusion that you work for a newpaper owned (or influenced by) ANTI-Castro Cubans ??????? ++++++ A short tale of Mr Croft /// Croft takes pictures =goes back to railroad station ,then via train to Colorado . He had told no one that he took photos. At 10AM the FBI comes to his boarding room door /// Dallas was a large CIA operation - I assume that number of ANTI-CASTRO Cubans from JM WAVE came to DALLAS- one followed CROFT. Mr. Castro has probably committed many,many,many crimes= but the killing of KENNEDY isnt one of them. I suggest today,yes today, that you give up on your silly idea that CASTRO killed JFK - and start doing real research. Jack White once analyzed the posting of someone at LANCER over a years time . The persons posting were so numerous that JACK said that he thought he was "PAID TO POST" . I look at your numerous postings and wonder the same thing =paid by anti CASTRO CUBANS ????? Do you have the GREAT HEROIN COUP BOOK ?? ++++ BTW the TRADE MART was built by CROW - NOW JFK liked the PRESIDENT of BRAZIL -but by MARCH he was gone =by a CIA-BRAZIL military coup. The coup plotting probably occured by the CIA against wishes and without the knowledge of JFK (CAUSE CIA was going to KILL JFK). CROW joined the Rockefellers post coup in large investments in BRAZIL (SEE THY WILL BE DONE BOOK). Crow, post assassination , joined MOB connected Wallace investments. The Rockefellers and Murchisons were in business in Dallas -and the MURCHISONS seem to be connected to the coverup. Crow would have all the diagrams/plans of the Trade Mart. The plotters would be sure that JFK would not leave Trade Mart alive - thus no need to plan 'safety' measures to Love Field. Additionally Daivd Rockefeller was one of the founders of the Asia Foundation -which wanted large development of Vietnam. OF COURSE VIETNAM WOULD HAVE TO BE COMMIE FREE for said investments --and if JFK was seen to be lacking to this task.................The Rockefellers had plans to develop SE ASIA (as they planned in BRAZIL). (again see THY WILL BE DONE BOOK) BTW Nelson ROCK and LBJ were close....................

GRATZ why dont you get less upset about things I say are possible and not be concerned by things that are not possible - like CASTRO killed JFK...................... :) PS If someone was paid to post on the JFK matter, the best conclusions would be IMHO - - said person worked for CIA or CIA assets (and or) :huh: wanted to slander someone = like CASTRO.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Steven Gaal,

Tim Gratz has sent you this email from http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php.

I demand an admission that:

You do not know the name of my employer.

That you had no basis for asserting that my employer's company was founded or based on drug money.

I demand that you post this admission within the next twenty-four hours.

If you do not do so, expect appropriate action.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Mr. Gaal responds. Well I dont know for sure. I thought you had retired from law to be a journalist. Now I dont know if said newspaper was founded on drug money (I SAID 'possible') +++HAPPY NOW=============

Edited by Steven Gaal
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Tim Gratz's ill-tempered rants are a confirmation of the accuracy of my thesis.

Below is a reaction from Gary Mack>

Bill, I skimmed through your article and was quite disappointed. Too many

problems to go into now, but a few are: TSBD moved into 411 Elm early in 1962,

not 1963. NO films or photos were confiscated (unless you believe Gordon Arnold

or Beverly Oliver) and all original pictures, with the exception of the Nix

film, survive to this day. What are the journalism credentials of Elzie Glaze?

Here's a link to the Museum's history of 411 Elm: http://tinyurl.com/7f9jl Gary

Mack gmack@jfk.org

Here is my reply,

Hello Gary,

I'm sorry you did not like the article.

What do you think about the part where Roy Truly said the TSBD moved in during

the summer of 1963? See reference note 36. Do you have any sources to the

contrary?

For the reference regarding the suppression of footage of the limousine completing the turn

see reference note 25.

For more on Glaze's credentials see The Glaze Letters which I posted on the

Education Forum on January 3, 2006.

Thanks for your input.

Bill

Edited by William Weston
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Re Gaal's reply:

So now he admits, ladies and gentlemen, that he had no basis whatsoever for stating that "The Key West Citizen" was founded by drug money. "All I said," he says, "is that anything is possible." (To that effect.)

What a ridiculous defense. Why post something slanderous and then argue, "Well, I only said it was possible"?

Now he seems to shift his claim to the contention that my views are influenced by the possibility (again, possibility) that "The Key West Citizen" is associated with anti-Castro Cubans. So here he goes impugning someone's motives with no factual basis for it whatsoever.

Course it is clear that the facts are irrelevant to Gaal. For instance, it is clear there was rather tight security at the Trade Mart, a fact (easily demonstrated) that demolishes his entire thesis.

Also easily researched, of course, is the corporation that owns "The Key West Citizen". (Cooke Communications, Inc.) It happens to be a predicably liberal paper and its main photographer is, and has posted articles that are, in favor of the current Cuban government. (In fact, just last week an anti-Castro Cuban wrote a letter to protest an article by the photographer he felt was too pro-Castro.)

ALL of this could have been researched by Gaal on the Internet.

I think Gaal's postings are reprehensible and merit scorn. Why, it is just possible that Mr. Gaal . . .

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Mr. Weston wrote:

Tim Gratz's ill-tempered rants are a confirmation of the accuracy of my thesis.

Rants?

I guess it is simpler to respond to criticisms and requests for documentation and substantiation by simply denouncing them as "rants" rather than providing any information. Moreover, on what basis is criticism labeled "ill-tempered"?

Weston did not respond to a single one of my comments, including the fact that Wilcott never testified to the statements attributed to him by Weston. If Wilcott made such statements in a different forum, Mr. Weston should be able to supply the information rather simply.

Note also that according to Gary Mack, Weston even get wrong such a simple fact as when the TSBD moved.

I still cannot get over his conclusion that whenever a former CIA agent goes to work for a different company, that company must be a CIA front! And "by extrapolation" other companies in the same industry might very well be CIA fronts as well. The logic boggles the mind.

Edited by Tim Gratz
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Mr. Weston wrote:

Tim Gratz's ill-tempered rants are a confirmation of the accuracy of my thesis.

Rants?

I guess it is simpler to respond to criticisms and requests for documentation and substantiation by simply denouncing them as "rants" rather than providing any information. Moreover, on what basis is criticism labeled "ill-tempered"?

Weston did not respond to a single one of my comments, including the fact that Wilcott never testified to the statements attributed to him by Weston. If Wilcott made such statements in a different forum, Mr. Weston should be able to supply the information rather simply.

Note also that according to Gary Mack, Weston even get wrong such a simple fact as when the TSBD moved.

I still cannot get over his conclusion that whenever a former CIA agent goes to work for a different company, that company must be a CIA front! And "by extrapolation" other companies in the same industry might very well be CIA fronts as well. The logic boggles the mind.

Tim,

yes there are problems with the article (particularly in the 2nd half of it), but the basic premise - that the TSBD was used for purposes other than book distribution - is one worthy of further exploration. It is certainly one I have pondered based on my own research.

As for when the TSBD opened on Elm - if it is such a simple thing to look into, please look into it and give us the date it officially opened for business there. Best I could find out was as I said already - they started using the premises in late '62 and completed the move during the early months of '63. I wouldn't mark Mr Weston or Mr Mack incorrectly, based on that.

Edited by Greg Parker
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Greg, I would agree with you that there are at least some indications of things that would warrant further investigation about the TSBD.

But the premise of Mr. Wallace's article goes far beyond that. It is so replete with innuendos, over-reaching statements, unsupported assertions, apparent errors and leaps in logic that I think it discredits responsible assassination research. The fact that several forum members immediately endorsed it makes me suspect they will accept just about anything without giving it much critical thought.

In no way do I mean to discourage responsible research into any areas that may shed new light on the assassination. At the risk of damaging you because of the controversy attached to my views on the assassination and other issues, I have great respect for you as a responsible researcher who attempts to ensure there is adequate support for any factual assertion.

In that regard, I am intrigued by your thoughts on where Oswald really was immediately after the shooting.

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Mr. Gratz, The wood boxes labled books - which contents should weigh 490lbs and no method to carry said boxes is indicative of clandestine activity. Mr. Weston will change said article on the testimony of Wilcott. HOWEVER= I believe the thrust of the article that the TSBD was a place of clandestine activity is very,very solid =and that Wilcott was refering to the depository without using its name. Without going into indications that LHO was spook (cause I am not paid to post and my time is limited today) you need to look at the weight of the evidence like LHO/Spook , CAP-BYRD CIA recruitment, BYRD-CRICHTON,BYRD LTV stock tranactions, Byrd's connection to TROY POST via LTV . Mr. POST was part owner with Edwin Pauley in CIA activity filled COCONUT ISLAND . Pauley was in business with GHWB in Mexico corporation PERMARGO. An informant once told Mae Brussell that the shooters came up from MEXICO with the help of EH Hunt and PERMARGO.=============== As to retired agents of the CIA -just ask Mr. Simkin if he thinks Mr. Hunt was retired re: WATERGATE as officially stated............. Who did PD Scotts book hurt (the one censored ??) the CIA .....quacks like duck ....++++++As to the FILM I think the ref Weston gave was solid. I do think that Mr. Z turned off the film at the turn...cause he was told to.....just look into the LAW FIRM of PASSMAN & JONES-you will find your answer. AS to the turn..well Ive driven a 51 Pontiac & a 53 Buick....no power steering ........that ELM ST turn must have been very,very,very well known in DALLAS. The moment JFK fired DULLES, he (JFK) was doomed........Dulles right hand man's brother was mayor by, as I recall 61. So whenever the move was made into the DEPOSITORY +++AND THERE IS CONFLICTING TESTIMONY when the move was made-not so simple as you assert sir++ it had already been decided to make it a very primary killing platform.... AS to the TRADE MART ,the KEY is the lack of Security plans from the TRADE MART to Love Field (thats the KEY silly you) ...and yes security would seem to be tight there at the Trade Mart == however when you are working with someone who constructed said building ===its no stretch to think security can be overcome========================POSTSCRIPT When Bruce Adamson Found out about COCONUT ISLAND (cause he was looking into PAULEY via Bush re: DEMOH) =and Bruce (and latter myself) interviewed a caretaker from said micro-ISLAND =BRUCE HAD FORGOTTEN ABOUT WHO TROY POST WAS ++HONEST !!! Bruce never knew about the Mae Brussell datum.....Also Bruce didnt know about PAULEY'S connection to the Japanese Stolen Gold (SEE GOLD WARRIORS BOOK) . Said gold was the foundation of OSS/OPC/then CIA efforts to fight the cold war. This Gold formed what is called the CIA's BLACK Eagle Trust ---the CIA's anti-commie trust. Said work with the stolen gold brought PAULEY in contact with one) Robert Lovett (of FREEPORT Sulfur Board & see LOVETT REPORT which help form initial CIA policy/structure) and two) McCloy.

In my post which talks about Thomas S. Gates I imply (dont state that ) GATES is a Dulles operative. James Ling (via POST I suspect) met Gates . PD Scott states that the stock transactions of the PRIMARY owners of LTV were assassinated related (with foreknowledge). If you dont know the primary owners of LTV they were BYRD/POST and Ling. In the Secret War Against the Jews book ,PAULEY is IDed as a Dulles operative...and of course Prescott Bush (DAD GHWB) was close friends with Dulles since the early 1930's .............................. golly we are very close to connecting DULLES to the TSBD.........sg

see DAVE EMORY MATRIAL on PERMARGO

Edited by Steven Gaal
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Mr. Gratz, The wood boxes labled books - which contents should weigh 490lbs and no method to carry said boxes is indicative of clandestine activity.

Steve, I think it was mentioned in the article or elsewhere that the TSBD had no forklifts. That is no doubt true, but according to Shelley, they did have trolleys - at least that's what this (and other references made to rolling the stock from one place to another) seems to indicate:

Mr. SHELLEY. They are on the south side--along the south side of the building. We just had a big line of stock, you know; the first thing that was pulled out, we would roll it onto the southeast corner, and then the row went right on back toward the west wall.

Mr. Weston will change said article on the testimony of Wilcott. HOWEVER= I believe the thrust of the article that the TSBD was a place of clandestine activity is very,very solid

Notwithstanding the above, and some of the other claims from the article, I agree. Have you considered 112th MIG in the mix? It covered the same 5 state as the depository and the Dallas office was not all that far the TSBD. Weapons were disappearing from armories - they had to be transported somehow. Just speculation. The solid evidence for all not being what it seemed in "the spider web" really boils down to the words and actions of Truly, Oswald and Molina.

=and that Wilcott was refering to the depository without using its name. Without going into indications that LHO was spook (cause I am not paid to post and my time is limited today) you need to look at the weight of the evidence like LHO/Spook , CAP-BYRD CIA recruitment, BYRD-CRICHTON,BYRD LTV stock tranactions, Byrd's connection to TROY POST via LTV . Mr. POST was part owner with Edwin Pauley in CIA activity filled COCONUT ISLAND . Pauley was in business with GHWB in Mexico corporation PEMARGO. An informant once told Mae Brussell that the shooters came up from MEXICO with the help of EH Hunt and PERMARGO.=============== As to retired agents of the CIA -just ask Mr. Simkin if he thinks Mr. Hunt was retired re: WATERGATE as officially stated............. Who did PD Scotts book hurt (the one censored ??) the CIA .....quacks like duck ....++++++As to the FILM I think the ref Weston gave was solid. I do think that Mr. Z turned off the film at the turn...cause he was told to.....just look into the LAW FIRM of PASSMAN & JONES-you will find your answer. AS to the turn..well Ive driven a 51 Pontiac & a 53 Buick....no power steering ........that ELM ST turn must have been very,very,very well known in DALLAS. The moment JFK fired DULLES, he (JFK) was doomed........Dulles right hand man's brother was mayor by, as I recall 61. So whenever the move was made into the DEPOSITORY +++AND THERE IS CONFLICTING TESTIMONY when the move was made-not so simple as you assert sir++ it had already been decided to make it a very primary killing platform.... AS to the TRADE MART ,the KEY is the lack of Security plans from the TRADE MART to Love Field (thats the KEY silly you) ...and yes security would seem to be tight there at the Trade Mart == however when you are working with someone who constructed said building ===its no stretch to think security can be overcome========================POSTSCRIPT When Bruce Adamson Found out about COCONUT ISLAND (cause he was looking into PAULEY via Bush re: DEMOH) =and Bruce (and latter myself) interviewed a caretaker from said micro-ISLAND =BRUCE HAD FORGOTTEN ABOUT WHO TROY POST WAS ++HONEST !!! Bruce never knew about the Mae Brussell datum.....Also Bruce didnt know about PAULEY'S connection to the Japanese Stolen Gold (SEE GOLD WARRIORS BOOK) . Said gold was the foundation of OSS/OPC/then CIA efforts to fight the cold war. This Gold formed what is called the CIA's BLACK Eagle Trust ---the CIA's anti-commie trust. Said work with the stolen gold brought PAULEY in contact with one) Robert Lovett (of FREEPORT Sulfur Board & see LOVETT REPORT which help form initial CIA policy/structure) and two) McCloy.

In my post which talks about Thomas S. Gates I imply (dont state that ) GATES is a Dulles operative. James Ling (via POST I suspect) met Gates . PD Scott states that the stock transactions of the PRIMARY owners of LTV were assassinated related (with foreknowledge). If you dont know the primary owners of LTV they were BYRD/POST and Ling. In the Secret War Against the Jews book ,PAULEY is IDed as a Dulles operative...and of course Prescott Bush (DAD GHWB) was close friends with Dulles since the early 1930's .............................. golly we are very close to connecting DULLES to the TSBD.........sg

see DAVE EMORY MATRIAL on PERMARGO

Edited by Greg Parker
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Since Mr. Gaal was unable to spend five minutes on the Internet to determine who owns "The Key West Citizen" (before he published his "suggestion" that it might be owned by drug-dealing Cuban exiles), somehow it does not suprise me he was also not able to check out who owned Bobbs-Merrill. If I wanted to set forth his ridiculous conspiracy claims, I think I would have!

Hint: Harvey's CIA colleague Hunt had some dealings with the corporate parent.

Edited by Tim Gratz
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Tim,

All roads lead somewhere!

Roy Sansom Truly

Search Ancestry.com ROY TRULY 29 Aug 1907 Nov 1985 75224 (Dallas, Dallas, TX) (none specified) 456-07-2964 Texas SS-5 Letter

Add Post-em

Mr. BELIN. Where were you born, sir?

Mr. TRULY. Hubbard, Tex.

Mr. BELIN. And what was your birth date?

Mr. TRULY. August 29, 1907.

Mr. BELIN. Mr. Truly, where did you go to school?

Mr. TRULY. I finished high school at Hubbard--

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: Eliza H. Ussery Truly Sex: F Birth: 13 SEP 1805 in Lunenburg Co., VA Death: 17 FEB 1867 in Sabine Parrish, LA

Father: Samuel Ussery , Jr. b: ABT. 1780 in Lunenburg Co., VA

Mother: Nancy Mary Stokes Hurt Ussery b: ABT. 1779 in Lunenburg Co., VA

Marriage 1 Bennett Richard Truly b: 26 NOV 1798 in Natchez, MS

Married: 24 JUN 1824 in Port Gibson, MS (Claiborne County)

Children

Fletcher Creighton Truly b: 14 SEP 1825 in Claiborne Co., MS

William Pinckney Truly b: 1 NOV 1830 in Natchez District, MS

Joseph Camp Truly b: 13 FEB 1833 in MS

Bennett Richard Truly , Jr. b: 1838 in MS

Virginia C. Truly Anthony b: 1842 in MS

Nancy Helen Truly Wagley b: 9 AUG 1843 in MS

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: Bennett Richard Truly , Jr. Sex: M Name: Bennett R. Truly , Jr. Birth: 1838 in MS Death: 1910 in Arkansas

Father: Bennett Richard Truly b: 26 NOV 1798 in Natchez, MS

Mother: Eliza H. Ussery Truly b: 13 SEP 1805 in Lunenburg Co., VA

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1

Truly, Bennet R.

Confederate

Infantry

3rd Regiment, Arkansas Infantry

5

Truly, William P.

Confederate

Infantry

1st Battalion, Arkansas Infantry

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: Bennett Richard Truly , Jr. Sex: M Name: Bennett R. Truly , Jr. Birth: 1838 in MS Death: 1910 in Arkansas

Marriage 1 Martha Elizabeth McGuffey Truly b: 1848 in Shelby Co., TX

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: George Thomas Truly Sex: M Birth: 30 MAY 1876 Death: 11 JAN 1957 in Hubbard, TX

Father: Bennett Richard Truly , Jr. b: 1838 in MS

Mother: Martha Elizabeth McGuffey Truly b: 1848 in Shelby Co., TX

Marriage 1 Josephine Sansom Truly b: 29 JAN 1876

Children

Living Campbell

Roy Sansom Truly b: 29 AUG 1907

Living Windham

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: Roy Sansom Truly Sex: M Birth: 29 AUG 1907 Death: 15 NOV 1985 in Dallas Co., TX

Father: George Thomas Truly b: 30 MAY 1876

Mother: Josephine Sansom Truly b: 29 JAN 1876

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Hello Greg,

Thanks for your thoughtful comments.

You raise a very interesting question about the mode of entry for the boxes into the building. I am not sure what you mean by “trolley.” The TSBD did have a pulley operated dumbwaiter, but that was for the clerical staff on the second floor to send paperwork down to the shipping department on the first floor. It was not used to move cartons of books.

According to the testimony of Bonnie Ray Williams they had two-wheel hand “trucks”, a picture of which can be seen in Studebaker Exhibit H (see AARC Public Digital Library website).

Joe Bergin, Jr. saw boxes four feet square by five feet high on the fourth floor. He told me that he wondered how the workmen got them up there. He subsequently saw a dolly on the floor and assumed they used that. He never saw the workmen moving boxes, since his visits were after work hours. When I pointed out to him that boxes measuring four feet square by five feet high would have weighed a ton, and thus could not be moved by dolly, he acknowledged that this was a problem but he had no answer for me.

I discussed the matter of how the Sexton company moved boxes into the building with Mr. Butler, the Dallas regional manager for the company. He said that Sexton cans of food were packed in boxes generally weighing about 30 to 40 pounds, a size that one man can easily lift. Supplies came in by railroad about once every two weeks. A single freight car containing about 1000 cases would be dropped off on a nearby track. Sexton workmen did not have palettes and forklifts; every case had to be unloaded by hand one by one. They were put on four-wheel pushcarts, called “jakes.” A jake had a 4 x 8 flat bed that stood about three feet off the ground. Attached to one end was a vertical metal railing support with a U-shaped handle. When fully loaded with about 40 cases, it took one man to push and one man to pull. They moved the loaded jake into one of the two freight elevators and take the supplies to the appropriate floor. It was a laborious and time-consuming process and it normally took a whole day to complete the job.

With the introduction of palettes and forklifts in the early 1950's, multi-story grocery warehouses like the 411 Elm Street building became obsolete. In 1959 Sexton executives made the decision to construct a huge single-story structure in the northwest section of Dallas. Construction for the new building was completed in the fall of 1961, and that was when the Sexton company moved to its new site.

As far as I know, the Book Depository warehouse men did not have jakes or trolleys; but even if they did they would not have been able to lift the boxes seen by Bergin and Henry Hurt onto a cart without a forklift.

A typical schoolbook box weighed about fifty-five pounds. Judging from photographs of the fifth and sixth floors taken after the assassination, there must have been thousands of these boxes. If my thesis is correct that the TSBD moved in during the summer of 1963, then the warehousemen moved these boxes at a time when the seasonal demand for schoolbooks was falling off. Since the Houston Street warehouse was not being vacated, the reason for this enormous increase in stock remains unknown. This leaves open the possibility that these boxes were mere stage props for the big event on November 22, 1963.

Edited by William Weston
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