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KBOX's Sam Pate


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Sam Pate, a news announcer for KBOX-AM radio, has been a topic of at least one other thread here, one recently. In preparation to an interview (or plural) with him, I'd ask a couple of things of anyone with an interest:

(1) If you have any questions for Sam about his whereabouts, actions or statements, or those of any other news broadcasters or agencies, please post them here for me. I will make sure that as many as possible are included.

(2)Ditto any questions or comments regarding the Oswald "news conferences" or Jack Ruby.

There is, of course, a quid pro quo of sorts: I need a wee tad of help.

(1) Somewhere here or on Lancer (or elsewhere; I think it was in a thread, anyway) the was a recounting of the incident, I believe involving James Worrell, where he had seen someone running from the back of the TSBD. Someone - I forget the name - disputed Worrell's story, saying that he'd been right there, too, and saw nothing of the sort. The latter told of moving a construction barricade to allow a car to come through.
Can anyone please direct me to this info so I don't have to reconstruct it all?
Many thanks in advance!

(2)If anyone has a photo - preferably color, but b&w is okay - of the (or "a") red KBOX car with big white letters on the side anywhere in DP - or even a photo of one totally unrelated to November 22 - please let me know. Sam asked about this, and if I can provide him a small token of appreciation for his time, I'm sure he'd appreciate it.

If possible, please let me know ASAP as I hope he'll be visiting soon. Many thanks in advance!

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I need a wee tad of help.

(1) Somewhere here or on Lancer (or elsewhere; I think it was in a thread, anyway) the was a recounting of the incident, I believe involving James Worrell, where he had seen someone running from the back of the TSBD. Someone - I forget the name - disputed Worrell's story, saying that he'd been right there, too, and saw nothing of the sort. The latter told of moving a construction barricade to allow a car to come through.
Can anyone please direct me to this info so I don't have to reconstruct it all?
Many thanks in advance!

Duke I recall exactly what you are talking about. My guess is that it is in Jerry Rose's The Third Decade or Fourth Decade publication. I will try and locate all of the issues. Interestingly, there is a very small article on Same Pate on page 7 of the Jan 1999 issue of the Fourth Decade. If I find the information you want, I'll post the reference immediately. Nick

Duke I have located an article entitled "North of Elm on Houston" by Dennis Ford. It is in the July 1995 issue of The Fourth Decade. It is about 6 pages long and relates the stories of Richard Carr, James Worrell, Sam Pate and James Romack. Let me know if you want a copy and if mail or fax is OK Regards Nick
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I need a wee tad of help.

(1) Somewhere here or on Lancer (or elsewhere; I think it was in a thread, anyway) the was a recounting of the incident, I believe involving James Worrell, where he had seen someone running from the back of the TSBD. Someone - I forget the name - disputed Worrell's story, saying that he'd been right there, too, and saw nothing of the sort. The latter told of moving a construction barricade to allow a car to come through.
Can anyone please direct me to this info so I don't have to reconstruct it all?
Many thanks in advance!

Duke I recall exactly what you are talking about. My guess is that it is in Jerry Rose's The Third Decade or Fourth Decade publication. I will try and locate all of the issues. Interestingly, there is a very small article on Same Pate on page 7 of the Jan 1999 issue of the Fourth Decade. If I find the information you want, I'll post the reference immediately. Nick

Duke I have located an article entitled "North of Elm on Houston" by Dennis Ford. It is in the July 1995 issue of The Fourth Decade. It is about 6 pages long and relates the stories of Richard Carr, James Worrell, Sam Pate and James Romack. Let me know if you want a copy and if mail or fax is OK Regards Nick

Thanks, Nick ... sent you an email on this. It also seems I've read something about it online somewhere recently, I just can't recall where it is. Any help from anyone anywhere is greatly appreciated!
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Hi Duke,

[/indent]There is, of course, a quid pro quo of sorts: I need a wee tad of help.

Someone - I forget the name - disputed Worrell's story, saying that he'd been right there, too, and saw nothing of the sort. The latter told of moving a construction barricade to allow a car to come through.
Can anyone please direct me to this info so I don't have to reconstruct it all?
Many thanks in advance!

This would be James Romack. He was a truck driver for the Coordinating Transportation Co.

You can find his WC testimony here:

Steve Thomas
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Sam Pate, a news announcer for KBOX-AM radio, has been a topic of at least one other thread here, one recently. In preparation to an interview (or plural) with him, I'd ask a couple of things of anyone with an interest:

(1) If you have any questions for Sam about his whereabouts, actions or statements, or those of any other news broadcasters or agencies, please post them here for me. I will make sure that as many as possible are included.

(2)Ditto any questions or comments regarding the Oswald "news conferences" or Jack Ruby.

There is, of course, a quid pro quo of sorts: I need a wee tad of help.

(1) Somewhere here or on Lancer (or elsewhere; I think it was in a thread, anyway) the was a recounting of the incident, I believe involving James Worrell, where he had seen someone running from the back of the TSBD. Someone - I forget the name - disputed Worrell's story, saying that he'd been right there, too, and saw nothing of the sort. The latter told of moving a construction barricade to allow a car to come through.
Can anyone please direct me to this info so I don't have to reconstruct it all?
Many thanks in advance!

(2)If anyone has a photo - preferably color, but b&w is okay - of the (or "a") red KBOX car with big white letters on the side anywhere in DP - or even a photo of one totally unrelated to November 22 - please let me know. Sam asked about this, and if I can provide him a small token of appreciation for his time, I'm sure he'd appreciate it.

If possible, please let me know ASAP as I hope he'll be visiting soon. Many thanks in advance!

Hi Duke.

Personally, I'd like to see Sam draw on a plat of Dealey Plaza, which direction he drove in from, where he parked, where he saw the man running and, in which direction, where he was broadcasting from etc. That would be worth knowing, I think. Does he know where any of the shells or rounds were recovered from in the plaza? Also, why he was seeking hypnotherapy before the assassination, where that office was located, if anyone else 'related' to the case also used those services, etc. Does he still have any of the recordings that were made from that day? Was there anything 'unusual' broadcast on the SS channel? Why was he fired? That's enough I guess... : )

- lee

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Sam Pate, a news announcer for KBOX-AM radio, has been a topic of at least one other thread here, one recently. In preparation to an interview (or plural) with him, I'd ask a couple of things of anyone with an interest:

(1) If you have any questions for Sam about his whereabouts, actions or statements, or those of any other news broadcasters or agencies, please post them here for me. I will make sure that as many as possible are included.

(2)Ditto any questions or comments regarding the Oswald "news conferences" or Jack Ruby.

There is, of course, a quid pro quo of sorts: I need a wee tad of help.

(1) Somewhere here or on Lancer (or elsewhere; I think it was in a thread, anyway) the was a recounting of the incident, I believe involving James Worrell, where he had seen someone running from the back of the TSBD. Someone - I forget the name - disputed Worrell's story, saying that he'd been right there, too, and saw nothing of the sort. The latter told of moving a construction barricade to allow a car to come through.
Can anyone please direct me to this info so I don't have to reconstruct it all?
Many thanks in advance!

If possible, please let me know ASAP as I hope he'll be visiting soon. Many thanks in advance!

Met with Sam yesterday (more on that later) and the question of James Worrell's being downtown came up. Sam doesn't recall seeing him, and wonders whether Worrell could even have gotten downtown from Love Field in time to witness the shooting and all that he'd claimed.

The question, then, is what time AF1 landed and what time the motorcade left Love Field. Worrell said (2H191-192) that he was at LF when the President arrived, but left before JFK did, taking a bus downtown. He said he arrived downtown at Elm & Houston some time after 10:00 a.m., maybe 10:30 or 10:45, about "an hour; an hour and a half" before the motorcade arrived.

I'm in the process of getting a 1963 schedule for the bus routes that went from Love Field to downtown to confirm whether or not he could have made such a trip, even discounting the times he estimated: the question is as to elapsed time from one location to the other.

While Sam doesn't recollect Worrell specifically, Worrell did state that he "ran down Houston Street alongside the building and then crossed over the street, I ran alongside the building and crossed over, and in [CE]359, I was standing over here, and I saw this man come bustling out of this door." This "crossing over" may or may not be something that Sam saw - he did see someone crossing Houston Street, he says - but the bigger question is whether Worrell could have been there at all if he was where he'd said he was that day.

According to today's Dallas bus schedule, someone arriving at the West End Transfer Station, just a few blocks from DP, would be on the bus about 35 minutes from point to point; to arrive by 11:33 (an hour before 12:30), one would have to leave Love Field at 10:58. Did Worrell have that kind of time?

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Thanks to everyone for your help so far. It has turned into more work than I'd anticipated, but it's fun nevertheless. So far, I've put together six or seven pages, and there's still more to go.

If anyone happens to have - or know where I can find online, saving me a trip to the library downtown! - a copy of the March 6, 1964 front page article in the Dallas Times Herald in which Worrell's upcoming trip to Washington to testify before the WC is discussed - the one that apparently led James Romack to contact the FBI - I'd appreciate a link or a fax (email me for the number).

Likewise, if anyone knows offhand the name of the officer stationed at Elm & Houston who ran to the back of the TSBD (I've got to dig it out, but have it around here somewhere), your saving me time doing that is also greatly appreciated!

After that's done, we'll find out what time Tippit was killed! :rolleyes:

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if anyone knows offhand the name of the officer stationed at Elm & Houston who ran to the back of the TSBD

Welcome Eugene Barnett.

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  • 2 weeks later...
if anyone knows offhand the name of the officer stationed at Elm & Houston who ran to the back of the TSBD
Welcome Eugene Barnett.

Thanks, Ron.

This has actually turned into more of a project than I'd anticipated. With luck, I'll have more to post in the next couple of weeks, but for now ... well, let's just say that the working title is "James Worrell: Imaginary Witness?"

Worrell -> :pop<- facts?

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Duke,

Barnett was not the only officer who went to the back of the TSBD. There was also D.V. Harkness, who went to the back, after delivering witness Amos Euins to Inspector Sawyer’s car, and stayed there until "relieved by a squad." And Harkness found some men there who were apparently government agents.

Mr. BELIN - Well, I notice here that there is a call with a notation at 12:36 p.m., 260 to 531. 531 is your office in the main station?

Mr. HARKNESS - Yes, sir.

Mr. BELIN - What does it say there on that transcript?

Mr. HARKNESS - "Witness says shots came from fifth floor, Texas Book Depository store at Houston and Elm. I have him with me now and we are sealing off the building."

Mr. BELIN - All right, that was at 12:36 p.m.?

Mr. HARKNESS - Yes, sir. . . .

Mr. BELIN - How soon after 12:36 p.m., would you say the building was sealed off?

Mr. HARKNESS - It was sealed off then because I was back there and two other men.

Mr. BELIN - You are talking about the back part of the building?

Mr. HARKNESS - Yes, sir. . . . Stayed at the back of the building until I was relieved by a squad. . . .

Mr. BELIN - What about the front part of the building? When was that sealed off?

Mr. HARKNESS - Inspector Sawyer and two officers were there.

Mr. BELIN - By the time you got around to the front part of the building?

Mr. HARKNESS - Yes, sir; by the time I put the witness in his car, I went immediately to the back. . . .

Mr. BELIN - Was anyone around in the back when you got there?

Mr. HARKNESS - There were some Secret Service agents there. I didn't get them identified. They told me they were Secret Service.

Mr. BELIN - Then did you stay around the back of the building?

Mr. HARKNESS - Yes; I stayed at the back until the squad got there.

Mr. BELIN - Then what did you do?

Mr. HARKNESS - I went back to the front, and Inspector Sawyer---helped get the crowd back first, and then Inspector Sawyer assigned me to some freight cars that were leaving out of the yard, to go down and search all freight cars that were leaving the yard.

An HSCA report dated 2/17/78 states, “D.V. Harkness told me that there was quite a bit of confusion and he would have to say that he may have assumed that the men were Secret Service. They could have been from some other agency.”

Ron

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Duke,

Barnett was not the only officer who went to the back of the TSBD. There was also D.V. Harkness, who went to the back, after delivering witness Amos Euins to Inspector Sawyer’s car, and stayed there until "relieved by a squad." And Harkness found some men there who were apparently government agents.

...

An HSCA report dated 2/17/78 states, “D.V. Harkness told me that there was quite a bit of confusion and he would have to say that he may have assumed that the men were Secret Service. They could have been from some other agency.”

Ron

I was interested in the officer that James Romack was talking about. Romack also indicated that two men whom he thought to have been "FBI" secured the loading dock entry to the TSBD within five minutes of the shooting. Their arrival is what prompted his decision to cease his "sentry duty."

Clearly - to quote from our favorite work of fiction - both of these men were "mistaken" if they thought they saw men whom we all know weren't there!

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Mr. HARKNESS - There were some Secret Service agents there. I didn't get them identified. They told me they were Secret Service.

An HSCA report dated 2/17/78 states, “D.V. Harkness [says] that he may have assumed that the men were Secret Service. They could have been from some other agency.”

Ron

Ron, Romack also indicated that two men whom he thought to have been "FBI" secured the loading dock entry to the TSBD within five minutes of the shooting.

Clearly, both of these men were "mistaken" if they thought they saw men whom we all know weren't there!

Amazing what this thread is turning up. I believe Forrest Sorrels was the first Secret Service man to return to Dealey Plaza, and he estimated that he arrived about twenty minutes after the shooting. Oddly enough, he entered the TSBD through the back door, and he says nothing about seeing any Secret Service or FBI men He did see Dallas policemen, but apparently he chose to ignore them. Sorrels's testimony is at 7WC347:

"Mr. Sorrels.

Yes, sir; because I knew that there would be witnesses around there, there would have to be somebody in that vicinity. And upon arrival at the Book Depository, I went in the back door.

There were people moving around.

I asked, "Where is the manager here?"

Mr. Stern.

Just a minute. How much time do you think elapsed from the time the shots were fired until the time you returned to the Book Depository?

Mr. Sorrels.

I don't believe it could have been over about 20 minutes, because we went to the hospital just as fast as we possibly could, and I wasn't there very long. And we came back as fast as we could.

Of course we didn't get back as fast as we went out there, because traffic was moving...

Mr. Stern.

So you estimate not more than 20 minutes?

Mr. Sorrels.

I don't believe it could have been more than 20 or 25 minutes at the very most.

Mr. Stern.

Then you arrived at the Book Depository Building, and did you see any police officers outside the building?

Mr. Sorrels.

Yes; there were officers. I recall seeing officers. I could not say any specific one.

Now, as I came into the back of the building, there was a colored man standing on the rear platform, a loading platform. And he was just standing there looking off into the distance. I don't think he knew what happened.

And I said to him, "Did you see anyone run out the back?"

He said, "No, sir."

"Did you see anyone leave the back way?"

"No, sir."

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Duke,

Barnett was not the only officer who went to the back of the TSBD. There was also D.V. Harkness, who went to the back, after delivering witness Amos Euins to Inspector Sawyer’s car, and stayed there until "relieved by a squad." And Harkness found some men there who were apparently government agents.

...

An HSCA report dated 2/17/78 states, “D.V. Harkness told me that there was quite a bit of confusion and he would have to say that he may have assumed that the men were Secret Service. They could have been from some other agency.”

Ron

I was interested in the officer that James Romack was talking about. Romack also indicated that two men whom he thought to have been "FBI" secured the loading dock entry to the TSBD within five minutes of the shooting. Their arrival is what prompted his decision to cease his "sentry duty."

Clearly - to quote from our favorite work of fiction - both of these men were "mistaken" if they thought they saw men whom we all know weren't there!

Hey Duke.

Or this is always the possibility that there were men there - just not FBI or SS.

http://www.ratical.org/ratville/JFK/WTKaP.html

I ran to the front of the Texas School Book Depository where I asked for anyone involved in the investigation. There was a man standing on the steps of the Book Depository Building and he turned to me and said, "I'm with the Secret Service." This man was about 40 years old, sandy-haired with a distinct cleft in his chin. He was well-dressed in a gray business suit. I was naive enough at the time to believe that the only people there were actually officers -- after all, this was the command post. I gave him the information. He showed little interest in the persons leaving. However, he seemed extremely interested in the description of the Rambler. This was the only part of my statement which he wrote down in his little pad he was holding.

- lee

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