03-05-2009, 09:55 PM
Linda Minor Wrote:Peter Lemkin Wrote:I'm sure more can be done, didn't mean the work was complete. In fact, I don't know of anyone else who's even seen and commented on the quality of Jay's work other than Walt - who did tell me some general things - but I'm not at the moment inclined to necessarily believe - though it could be true. He said much of it was geneological work-ups. Walt also most recently [just before the public letter from Charles on the internet] that Jay's work was 'mostly useless' - possible - but I really doubt it. I meant that the basics of who Seiwell was, for example, and how he tied-in with the TX-MI over time; DPD; CIA; anti-Castro Cubans; Texas rich and right; others we know about; Tosh; etc. must be done well beyond where we generally are now. And many other TX and Dallas players or those suspected of having been. One can always do more and more documents are always becoming available - although fewer people remain. Linda, was your friend able to in any way evaluate the general quality of Harrison's research?
Based on what my friend who worked with Jay told me about what they did together over a period of months, I would have to agree that much of what Jay left for Walt was genealogical work, which he saved in a format in a software program that cannot be quickly converted to html. And he didn't explain how the genealogy fit into other research he did. Much of it was guesswork; the kind of stuff I also do, which involves searching for possible connections between people. I'm sure that is what Walt would have meant by "useless," because Jay didn't throw out anything after he looked at it and discarded it, just in case he would find later it did tie back in.
My friend idolizes Jay to the this day, suspecting, but not being quite sure, that Jay knew much more than he would ever say, given the fact that he was so totally paranoid. In fact, Jay cut off relations with my friend, dropped him flat, just as he had done Richard Bartholomew earlier, because my friend mentioned to Jay that he had discovered his middle name! Jay was that suspicious of everyone, and he researched everyone. That's why the research he left is so voluminous.
Linda,
Very interesting. I wonder if I knew ( or knew of) your friend. Jay indeed had a temper and while he was paranoid he was also very trusting and generous with his research. He got very burned as a result, many times that I became aware of. I am also intimately aware of and was involved in the Jay/Richard situation. I was smack in the middle and literally spent years trying to get them to make up: to no avail, both were too stubborn. Walt was totally in the midst of this. I won't go as far as Richard and say he caused it but he certainly benefited. Your friend had every reason to think Jay knew a lot. He did. And by his genealogy studies when he researched someone he was able to learn more by looking at their family members, making more connections.
I have a hard time believing that Jay would end a friendship over someone learning his middle name. But given just HOW private he was...I am sure HE did not want anyone researching him. In part it was fear. Some of the people with whom he worked met with very early demises. One in particular was one that haunted him up until his death. Stephen Pegues. They worked on much together including Mac Wallace. Jay wanted that story told and I did learn from Billie Sol Estes that he-Estes- had indeed bought those rights. Pegues died under most mysterious circumstances and his work was stolen, at the same time. This spooked Jay out 'til the end.
Dawn