18-03-2016, 10:51 PM
(This post was last modified: 19-03-2016, 05:41 PM by Rolf Zaeschmar.)
The RAULT CENTER FIRE
On 11-29-72, just a month before the sniper went to work across from the police HQ, New Orleans suffered another traumatic event when the Rault Center, a 17-story high rise right next to the Howard Johnsons Motor Hotel, caught fire in the two upper floors. Six died, including four women who jumped to their death. The state fire marshal declared the fire a result of arson. (The fire is thought by some to have been the basis for the 1970s disaster flick "The Towering Inferno")
11-29-72 Rault Center fire
![[Image: 17153711-standard.jpg]](http://media.nola.com/tpphotos/photo/2015/03/02/17153711-standard.jpg)
When the pictures of sniper Mark Essex were published in local papers five weeks later, he was quickly suspected of having also carried out the arson attack on the Rault Center with an accomplice.
"After the Howard Johnson Mark Essex sniper incident of January 7, 1973, Joseph Rault(the developer) reported that two well-dressed men, one fitting the description of Essex, entered the Rault Center on the morning of the fire. A security guard spotted them, acting suspiciously, entering the ground-floor lobby elevator after reading the building directory. They were later seen in the lobby by the guard." (Hernon, pg 269)
The arson attack may have been carried out due to it's proximity to the HoJos:
New Orleans Fire Marshall Raymond Oliver: "..said the Rault Center was virtually the only building from which police could deal effectively with gunmen hiding on the roof of the hotel. "It's just my personal opinion," he said, "but if you wanted to plan something for the future you would like to get the Rault Center out of the way..." " [Hernon, pg 269]
(The fire did not, however, prevent over 100 NOPD cops from using the burnt out floors as an observation and shooting platform on the day of the HoJos attack.)
Joseph Rault, Jr., was a local oil and real estate developer. He is perhaps best known for having founded the New Orleans group "Truth or Consequences" in 1967; composed of prominent local citizens, its purpose was to provide New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison with private funds in his investigation into the death of JFK.
Rault:
![[Image: 1967September8RaultCenterOpeningCeremony.gif]](http://www.neworleanspast.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/TodayInNewOrleansHistory/1967September8RaultCenterOpeningCeremony.gif)
http://scribblguy.50megs.com/garprobe.htm
Then in November 1966, squeezed into a tourist-class seat on an Eastern jet headed for New York, his(Garrison's) interest in the possiblity of a conspiracy was rekindled. Flanking him were Senator Russell B. Long of Louisiana and Joseph Rault Jr, a New Orleans oilman. The previous week, Long had remarked in the course of a press conference that he doubted the findings of the Warren Commission.
Garrison:
![[Image: Jim%20Garrison.jpg]](http://m.cdn.blog.hu/er/erdekesvilagunk/image/Jim%20Garrison.jpg)
Jim Garrison was still the New Orleans DA in 1973, though his name is not connected to either the fire or the sniper attacks in any way. If Garrison had an opinion on these events, he kept them to himself.
-----------------------------
Postscript: The Rot Goes Deep
http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/White%20M...00-168.pdf
New Orleans States-Item 4 December 1972
The investigation into the killer-fire was expected to intensify today, after systematic ransacking of apartments was reported. More than $25,000 worth of merchandise.. reportedly was taken from three apartments. ... Sources said file cabinets in the building had been searched and desk drawers forced open. Hundreds of items are reported missing.
Ransacked file cabinets and desks during a fire? That reminds me of the plot in late 1971 by Nixon's dirty tricks department to firebomb the Brookings Institution building in Washington DC as cover for a search for sensitive documents concerning Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg. It makes me wonder who the tenants of the Rault building were!
/
On 11-29-72, just a month before the sniper went to work across from the police HQ, New Orleans suffered another traumatic event when the Rault Center, a 17-story high rise right next to the Howard Johnsons Motor Hotel, caught fire in the two upper floors. Six died, including four women who jumped to their death. The state fire marshal declared the fire a result of arson. (The fire is thought by some to have been the basis for the 1970s disaster flick "The Towering Inferno")
11-29-72 Rault Center fire
When the pictures of sniper Mark Essex were published in local papers five weeks later, he was quickly suspected of having also carried out the arson attack on the Rault Center with an accomplice.
"After the Howard Johnson Mark Essex sniper incident of January 7, 1973, Joseph Rault(the developer) reported that two well-dressed men, one fitting the description of Essex, entered the Rault Center on the morning of the fire. A security guard spotted them, acting suspiciously, entering the ground-floor lobby elevator after reading the building directory. They were later seen in the lobby by the guard." (Hernon, pg 269)
The arson attack may have been carried out due to it's proximity to the HoJos:
New Orleans Fire Marshall Raymond Oliver: "..said the Rault Center was virtually the only building from which police could deal effectively with gunmen hiding on the roof of the hotel. "It's just my personal opinion," he said, "but if you wanted to plan something for the future you would like to get the Rault Center out of the way..." " [Hernon, pg 269]
(The fire did not, however, prevent over 100 NOPD cops from using the burnt out floors as an observation and shooting platform on the day of the HoJos attack.)
Joseph Rault, Jr., was a local oil and real estate developer. He is perhaps best known for having founded the New Orleans group "Truth or Consequences" in 1967; composed of prominent local citizens, its purpose was to provide New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison with private funds in his investigation into the death of JFK.
Rault:
http://scribblguy.50megs.com/garprobe.htm
Then in November 1966, squeezed into a tourist-class seat on an Eastern jet headed for New York, his(Garrison's) interest in the possiblity of a conspiracy was rekindled. Flanking him were Senator Russell B. Long of Louisiana and Joseph Rault Jr, a New Orleans oilman. The previous week, Long had remarked in the course of a press conference that he doubted the findings of the Warren Commission.
Garrison:
Jim Garrison was still the New Orleans DA in 1973, though his name is not connected to either the fire or the sniper attacks in any way. If Garrison had an opinion on these events, he kept them to himself.
-----------------------------
Postscript: The Rot Goes Deep
http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/White%20M...00-168.pdf
New Orleans States-Item 4 December 1972
The investigation into the killer-fire was expected to intensify today, after systematic ransacking of apartments was reported. More than $25,000 worth of merchandise.. reportedly was taken from three apartments. ... Sources said file cabinets in the building had been searched and desk drawers forced open. Hundreds of items are reported missing.
Ransacked file cabinets and desks during a fire? That reminds me of the plot in late 1971 by Nixon's dirty tricks department to firebomb the Brookings Institution building in Washington DC as cover for a search for sensitive documents concerning Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg. It makes me wonder who the tenants of the Rault building were!
/