Proof the Motorcade came to a long Halt

[Bob Prudhomme]

I cannot believe how collectively blind all of us are to the most obvious things, and how we can be looking so hard at one thing that another thing, crying to be seen, is totally missed.

Malcolm Couch, a cameraman with WFAA-TV in Dallas, was riding in the motorcade in the back of a convertible, along with famous photographer (Oswald killing) Bob Jackson. According to Couch's WC testimony, they were about 5 or 6 cars back in the procession. Just after their car had turned onto Houston, according to Couch, they heard the first shot. They heard two more shots, just prior to arriving at the corner of Houston and Elm. Immediately, Jackson shouted for everyone to look up, as he had spotted a rifle. Couch testified he looked up to a 6th or 7th floor window, just in time to see a rifle barrel being withdrawn into the window opening.

This is the film he took immediately following seeing the rifle barrel withdrawn, in which Officer Baker is seen running into the TSBD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OYN8VLf_04

A couple of things bother me about this film.

If I had seen a rifle withdrawn into a 6th floor window, how would I know the sniper wasn't just loading another round, and getting ready for another shot? Why is Couch not filming this window, in the hopes of catching the sniper on film?

If I was Jackson, I wouldn't have just hollered once about seeing a rifle, I'd have carried on yelling until everyone within a block radius knew there was a gunman on the 6th floor. See the car ahead of them? Not a single glance up to the 6th floor by anyone in the car.

BUT, here is the thing that blew me away. God knows how I missed it. THE CAR COUCH AND JACKSON ARE SITTING IN IS STANDING STILL THE ENTIRE TIME COUCH FILMED BAKER RUNNING INTO THE TSBD!!!!!

The motorcade had to come to a stop, and stayed stopped for a few moments, if Couch's car, 5 or 6 cars back, is forced to stop for this amount of time. Think of it, they were still on Houston St. at the time of the third shot, meaning there were only 3 or 4 cars between them and JFK's limo.

CORRECTION: Just checked the motorcade line up. There were seven cars between Jackson's and Couch's convertible and JFK's limo.

[Drew Phipps]

I would suggest that Couch's film is more indicative of what he saw and heard than his subsequent testimony. Perhaps Couch had been carefully "coached."

Having been in several parades, and standing in innumerable "queues," I'd like to point out that what happens in the middle or end of the parade doesn't necessarily reflect what's happening right then at the front of the parade; though if the front stops, the effect of that action eventually does work it's way to the end.. Just like hitting your brakes on a crowded freeway.

[Bob Prudhomme]

Considering how long Couch's car was sitting there (no way of knowing how long it sat there before Couch started filming) I would say the motorcade had to come to a good stop, and not just a minor deceleration.

[Drew Phipps]

Looks like the car is stationary for a minimum of four seconds, since we don't know how long it took Couch to begin to film. There is a cut near 5 seconds, and the car is moving forward (slowly) after that. 5 seconds doesn't seem like a long time, but that would be time enough for 2 shots from the MC 91/38.

There is also, from my recollection, no timely report from police stating that Couch or Jackson, as eyewitnesses, ever reported the location of the rifle to anyone.

[Tracy Riddle]

Yes, it's a good point about the film indicating a full stopping of the motorcade.

Robert Jackson did tell his story about seeing the rifle from the very beginning:11/22/1963 Dallas Times Herald article (published that afternoon): He "heard one shot and then two more rapid shots...Jackson saw two men peering from the building window on the fifth floor. They were looking directly above their heads. Jackson saw a rifle being drawn back into a sixth-floor window. It disappeared quickly and he saw no more. The stock appeared to be dark brown, Jackson said."

11/23/1963 Jackson wrote in the Times-Herald: "As I looked up to the window above, I saw a rifle being pulled back in the window. It might have been resting on the window sill. I didn't see a man. I didn't even see if it had a scope on it...He had about a 45-degree angle from the building to the president's car."

Malcolm Counch (FBI REPORT : November 27, 1963):
He heard two loud noises about ten seconds apart which sounded like a motorcycle backfire. He said as they turned the corner onto Elm from Houston, he heard another noise, and Robert Jackson yelled to look up at the window. He said he immediately turned his head toward the area of the Texas School Book Depository building, and around the fifth or sixth floor he observed what appeared to be a rifle being withdrawn from a window. He said by this time the car was approximately in front of the window in question, but he could not observe any figure behind same.

[Drew Phipps]

I stand corrected, but what I meant when I said "timely" was, I cannot recall either of them reporting their observations to anyone at the scene. You would expect that a real eyewitness would stick around to help officers locate the shooter, like Amos Euins.

In addition, a "45 degree angle" would a) be unlikely given the partially closed window and the material at the sniper's nest (I know that there are serious doubts about the sniper nest, but these reporters are supporting the "official version"), and b) indicate that the shooter was aiming far too close to the base of the building to be the "third shot", or even the "second shot."

Sorry, I think these two reporters are selling newspapers.

[Bob Prudhomme]

I completely agree with you, Drew. Bob Jackson and Malcolm Couch were seated on the top of the back seat, and their car and the convertible ahead of them were both sitting still at the corner.

If you're like me, I believe you would have yelled at the top of your lungs that you had seen a rifle on the 6th floor, in light of the fact three shots had just been heard. Do you think everyone in Dealey Plaza would have heard us yelling?

And yet, Couch does not film the 6th floor, and the occupants of the press car ahead of them, mere feet away, do not so much as glance up at the 6th floor window.

Even better, Bob Jackson describes, in his WC testimony, seeing two negro men on the 5th floor leaning out the window and attempting to look up at the 6th floor window. Of the three men on the 5th floor, Bonnie Ray Williams, Harold Norman and James Jarman, only Norman is asked about this in his testimony to the WC.

"Mr. BALL. I have one question.
On the 26th of November, an FBI agent named Kreutzer advises us in a report that he talked to you. Do you remember that?
Mr. NORMAN. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. You remember?
Mr. NORMAN. Yes; I remember talking to him. I don't know his name.
Mr. BALL. He reports that you told him that you heard a shot and that you stuck your head from the window and looked upward toward the roof but could see nothing because small particles of dirt were falling from above you. Did you tell him that?
Mr. NORMAN. I don't recall telling him that.
Mr. BALL. Did you ever put your head out the window?
Mr. NORMAN. No, sir; I don't remember ever putting my head out the window.
Mr. BALL. And he reports that you stated that two additional shots were fired after you pulled your head back in from the window. Do you remember telling him that?
Mr. NORMAN. No, sir; I don't.
Mr. BALL. I have no further questions."

Sounds like the reporters AND the FBI were selling newspapers.

[Bob Prudhomme]

There must have come a point in the hearings when some of the members of the Warren Commission began asking, "Why can none of these witnesses recall what the FBI claims they told FBI agents during interviews?"

The obvious contradiction by Harold Norman of a report submitted by an overly eager FBI agent is something repeated often during the hearings. Do we really need anything more to tell us Hoover and the FBI were part of a major cover up?

[Tracy Riddle]

I stand corrected, but what I meant when I said "timely" was, I cannot recall either of them reporting their observations to anyone at the scene. You would expect that a real eyewitness would stick around to help officers locate the shooter, like Amos Euins.

In addition, a "45 degree angle" would a) be unlikely given the partially closed window and the material at the sniper's nest (I know that there are serious doubts about the sniper nest, but these reporters are supporting the "official version"), and b) indicate that the shooter was aiming far too close to the base of the building to be the "third shot", or even the "second shot."

Sorry, I think these two reporters are selling newspapers.

Possibly, but there were a few other witnesses who saw a barrel sticking out of the window. I'm doubtful that it was fired during the assassination. It would have been smart to station someone up there as a decoy to draw attention.

[Drew Phipps]

Tracy: If you are referring to this DT Herald:




It was published after Oswald was in custody and after the DPD had finished their search of the TSBD. There is a legible copy of the above image at this site:

http://natedsanders.com/jfk_assassinatio...t8378.aspx