06-02-2011, 01:19 AM
(This post was last modified: 30-06-2011, 02:36 PM by Bernice Moore.)
For years, medical and X-ray experts such as Dr. David Mantik Phd. MD and Dr. Randy Robertson have contended that there is evidence for two head wounds in the original autopsy X-rays.
But, one of the biggest problems has been in finding a plausible location for the second shooter. A shot from almost anywhere say, behind the picket fence in Dealey Plaza would require an exit wound somewhere on the left side of the President's head. There just doesn't seem to be evidence for such a wound.
Kennedy's position at Z323 at first seemed to pose even worse trajectory problems than 313. The head has turned considerably further to the left, and has become tipped further to the left as well (see figure 15). If Kennedy was shot in the head as it appears in Z323, and in such a way as to drive a piece of his head out onto the trunk, then there is only one way it could possibly have happened. A shot had to have come in from a lower position and exited through the top of his skull. Of course, since most of the skull damage was at the top of the head anyway, this made perfect sense. Please look at figure 17.
Figure 17
Admittedly, I have positioned my rather crude models based on an eyeball examination of the Z323 frame, but they do, I think, show the kind of shot that we see at Z323. This shot would exit through the top of the head and could cause some of the damage there that we know occurred
Of course, we are once again faced with the problem of locating the shooter's position. In this case, there is only one option. If we position the limousine where it would have been at Z323, and plot a line out 22 degrees below the limo's orientation, the line intersects perfectly with the storm drain which was just west of the steps coming down from the pergola in Dealey Plaza. If we drop the line from a position of about 4 feet at Kennedy's location, falling at 3.5 degrees, for 60 feet, it strikes the storm drain cover.
Figure 18Frankly, I had never put much credence in the possibility of a shooter in such a location. Penn Jones suggested the idea many years ago, and Harrison Livingstone talks about it on p. 90 of "Killing the Truth". He also goes into some detail in the photo section of that book, demonstrating how a sniper with a small weapon could easily fit in such a place (figure 18). Livingstone further claims they confirmed an escape route through the tunnels below. If so, this would have been an excellent location for such a sniper.
This location becomes even more plausible when we consider it's location in relation to the area in which witnesses saw smoke.
S.M. Holland said,
Mr. Holland. There was a shot, a report, I don't know whether it was a shot. I can't say that. And a puff of smoke came out about 6 or 8 feet above the ground right out from under those trees. And at just about this location from where I was standing you could see that puff of smoke, like someone had thrown a firecracker, or something out, and that is just about the way it sounded. It wasn't as loud as the previous reports or shots.
Mr. Stern. What number would that have been in the -
Mr. Holland. Well, that would - they were so close together.
Mr. Stern. The second and third or the third and fourth?
Mr. Holland. So, that it might have been the third or the fourth. 28
Despite Holland's confusion, he shares two important pieces of information with us. First, the shot he heard "wasn't as loud" as the others. We already know that a smaller weapon would have been required in the storm drain. Second, he spots smoke rising into the trees near the corner of the picket fence. Of course, it was perfectly natural that smoke would rise from the drain location into the trees where Holland saw it.
Figure 19 Just after the assassination. The arrow points to the area where witnesses said they saw smoke.
It is characteristic of gun smoke, that the lighter particles rise, while others remain at lower levels. The distinct graphite smell experienced by witnesses in the motorcade would have been the natural result of a shot fired from the storm drain location as the westerly winds that day carried the odor east, back through the motorcade, and as cars proceeded into that area.
Tom Dillard, a photographer with the Dallas Morning News, riding five cars back said, "I might add that I very definitely smelled gunpowder when the car moved up at the corner." 29
Mrs. Earle Cabell, wife of the Dallas mayor was riding four cars behind the Presidential limousine. She said, "I was acutely aware of the odor of gunpowder." 30 Others who said they smelled gun smoke included, Mrs. Donald Baker, Police officer Earle Brown, and Congressman Ralph Yarborough. What could have caused this reaction in so many witnesses? Certainly, the odor of shots fired from six floors up in the Depository would not have been noticed at street level. A shot from say, behind the picket fence, which was North of Elm and at a considerably higher elevation would also seem unlikely to create a smell which would have been noticed by those in the motorcade.
Clint Hill
Special agent Hill, positioned on the left-front running board of the Secret Service followup car proved himself to be the quickest and most responsive member of the President's protective team that day. Of course, Hill only testified to hearing two shots. I believe it will become apparent that Hill did not hear the first shot. The only ones he did hear, were the shots at Z284 and Z323. This is part of Hill's testimony to the Warren Commission in which he describes the first shot he heard,
"On the left hand side was a grass area with a few people scattered along it observing the motorcade passing, and I was visually scanning these people when I heard a noise similar to a firecracker. The sound came from my right rear and I immediately moved my head in that direction. In so doing, my eyes had to cross the Presidential automobile and I saw the President hunch forward and then slump to his left. I jumped from the follow-up car and ran toward the Presidential automobile." 31
Clint Hill is visible throughout much of the Zapruder film. In fact, in volume 18 of the Warren Commission report, there is a photo section which displays black and white z-frames extending all the way into the film area between the sprocket holes. In these wider frames, we can see Hill up to about Z-248, and he does appear to glance to his right, but we never, ever see him looking or turned to his left as he testified. Neither is he turned left in the Altgens photo, taken at Z255. This is a strong indication that Hill turned to "scan the crowd" on his left, and heard the apparent 1st shot at some point after Z255. In another part of his testimony, he described his actions this way,
"This is the first sound that I heard; yes, sir. I jumped from the car, realizing that something was wrong, ran to the Presidential limousine..." 32
We know from earlier footage that Hill had been jumping on and off the running board throughout the motorcade, sometimes running alongside the Presidential limousine.
As we will see a bit later, Clint Hill jumped off the running board almost at the same instant as the Z313 head shot. It is important to remember however, that the report of the rifle would take 3-4 frames to reach Hill at that point (assuming a TSBD location), therefore, he had to have started running before he heard the Z313 shot.
If Hill had heard a first shot at Z190, it would mean he waited 6.8 seconds to have moved. If he had heard the first shot at Z224, he would still have waited almost 5 seconds. As we read Hill's testimony, he mentions almost no delay at all from the time he hears the shot, until he looks at the President, and then jumps off the followup car and starts running.
If Hill had heard Z284 as the first shot, it would mean he had responded within about 1.4 - 1.6 seconds. That might seem fast, but that was exactly what he was trained to do.
Figure 20
In order to determine when Hill first heard a gunshot, we can look at him in several stages of the assassination. In Zapruder frame 183 (figure 21), in Willis' photo #4 (figure 20) taken at Z202, and in the Altgens photo taken at Z255 (figure 13), we see Hill in almost identical positions facing slightly to his right. In fact, in the Altgens picture, he is the only agent on the running boards who is not turned far to the right or looking to the rear. At that moment, he is still oblivious to the first shot. Remember his testimony - he reacted "immediately" after hearing the shot. Despite the fact that he is turned generally in the direction of the President (as he has been since they turned onto Elm) he simply does not know about the danger yet. If he did, he would have already been in motion.
Of equal importance to this case is the question of exactly when Hill heard the last shot. Here is another part of his testimony, in which he describes running toward the Presidential limousine and hearing that final shot,
"...Just about as I reached it, (the Presidential limo) there was another sound, which was different from the first sound." 33
Figure 22 is from the Muchmore film and shows Clint Hill at the equivalent of Zapruder frame 316. He has just stepped off the running board and is approximately in line with the front tires of the followup car. This is the point at which he should have become aware of the report of the head shot at Z312/313.
Figure 22 Equivalent to Z316
But Hill said he heard a shot just as he reached the limousine. Is it possible that he did not hear the third shot either? He jumped off the car before he could have detected the report of the rifle at Z313. Perhaps he was so absorbed in his desperate dash to the President that the sound didn't consciously register. Look at figure 23. This shows Hill's position at the equivalent of Zapruder frame Z324, which is about when he would have detected the report of a weapon fired from the storm drain, only 60 feet away. At this point, he would certainly be more likely to claim he had "just about reached" the limousine.
Figure 23 Equivalent to Z324
Hill's claim that this shot sounded very different from the first is also illuminating. Here is more of his Warren Commission testimony in which he describes the sound of that shot,
"It was right, but I cannot say for sure that it was rear, because when I mounted the car it was - it had a different sound, first of all, than the first sound that I heard. The second one had almost a double sound - as though you were standing against something metal and firing into it, and you hear both the sound of a gun going off and the sound of the cartridge hitting the metal place, which could have been caused probably by the hard surface of the head. But I am not sure that that is what caused it." 34
Could Hill have gotten the impression of a "double sound" from the lingering ring of Z313, combined with a shot at Z323, about 1/2 second later? Is it possible that two reports fired almost on top of one another would create exactly that impression?
If we try to apply the traditional spacing of shots, and posit Hill as hearing reports at say, Z224 and Z313, we run into problems with his testimony. He reacts very slowly, standing around for almost 5 to 7 seconds after hearing the first report; he incorrectly describes the shots as sounding different from one another; he incorrectly states that he was almost to the Presidential limousine when he heard the last shot. His statements and impressions fit perfectly when we consider him responding to shots at Z284 and Z323.
On the right, rear running board of the followup car, SA Paul Landis only heard two reports, but his impression of the source of the final shot points directly at the storm drain, "My immediate thought was that the President could not possibly be alive after being hit like he was. I still was not certain from which direction the second shot came, but my reaction at this time was that the shot came from somewhere towards the front, right-hand side of the road."
Conclusions
On November 22, 1963, three killers were poised to assassinate President Kennedy. One, possibly Oswald himself, was in the 6th floor window at the East end of the depository. A second shooter was hiding in a closet on the second floor of the Dal-Tex Building, looking out through a window with a perfect view of the President's back. A third shooter was well hidden in a storm drain on the North side of Elm St. Both the second and third shooters were in possibly the best positions in Dealey Plaza that day for such a mission. They both had unobstructed views of the President, subject to minimal lateral motion. Their goal was two-fold. First, they wanted to murder the President. Second, they wanted to be certain that Lee Harvey Oswald was tied to the crime. Ideally, if the shooter in the 6th floor window could do the job alone, the others would not even have to fire.
The first shot rang out from the 6th floor sniper's nest at Zapruder frame 187. It struck the President and went on to wound Governor Connally. The shooter in the Dal-Tex building was edgy and perhaps more than a little frightened. He could see that Kennedy was wounded, and perhaps felt a momentary relief that his bullet would not be needed. But, the President did not topple. He was very obviously still alive and upright. The 2nd, reluctant shooter waited as long as he dared - over 5 seconds. When he finally fired, his nervous shot passed just above the President's head.
The third shooter waited patiently, raising the storm drain lid just the couple of inches he needed to peer out at the oncoming Presidential limousine. He was the last backup, and probably their best marksman. He could see that the 2nd shot had no effect on the President. Would the 6th floor shooter come through? He knew precisely when his last safe opportunity to fire would come. He propped up the lid with a small block of wood and waited until the limousine approached a point about 60 feet from his position. As his finger gradually tightened on the trigger, the sound of the third shot from the Depository reached his ears just before his pistol exploded. Both shots were horrifyingly successful, though the fourth bullet, striking the exposed flesh on the right side of the President's head, did not fragment like the third. It exited through the top of the head, taking with it pieces of skull and brain tissue, perhaps already loosened by the first shot.
Needless to say, the known shot at Z313 combined with gunshots at either Z284 and/or Z323 constitute absolute proof of the presence of two or more active shooters in Dealey Plaza that day.
Thank you for considering this article. My hope is that it provides objective proof of conspiracy which will be persuasive, even to people outside of the "assassination community". I disagree with those who say the entire federal government is resistant to learning the truth about this crime. If we can submit irrefutable evidence of the existence of even one more assassin, then I believe we will be able to enlist the aid of federal and state investigators, in one last ditch effort to uncover the truth, while some of the conspirators and witnesses are still alive.
At the very least, we will be able to pass on a more accurate history book to our children. Robert Harris
rharris@rt66.com
http://karws.gso.uri.edu/Marsh/Jfk-conspiracy/12.html
Motorcades.....SS Principals of Protection of the President and Other Dignitaries.....
17...Sewers and other passage under streets should be inspected and sealed prior to a publicized parade....
http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archiv...eId=364761
But, one of the biggest problems has been in finding a plausible location for the second shooter. A shot from almost anywhere say, behind the picket fence in Dealey Plaza would require an exit wound somewhere on the left side of the President's head. There just doesn't seem to be evidence for such a wound.
Kennedy's position at Z323 at first seemed to pose even worse trajectory problems than 313. The head has turned considerably further to the left, and has become tipped further to the left as well (see figure 15). If Kennedy was shot in the head as it appears in Z323, and in such a way as to drive a piece of his head out onto the trunk, then there is only one way it could possibly have happened. A shot had to have come in from a lower position and exited through the top of his skull. Of course, since most of the skull damage was at the top of the head anyway, this made perfect sense. Please look at figure 17.
Figure 17
Admittedly, I have positioned my rather crude models based on an eyeball examination of the Z323 frame, but they do, I think, show the kind of shot that we see at Z323. This shot would exit through the top of the head and could cause some of the damage there that we know occurred
Of course, we are once again faced with the problem of locating the shooter's position. In this case, there is only one option. If we position the limousine where it would have been at Z323, and plot a line out 22 degrees below the limo's orientation, the line intersects perfectly with the storm drain which was just west of the steps coming down from the pergola in Dealey Plaza. If we drop the line from a position of about 4 feet at Kennedy's location, falling at 3.5 degrees, for 60 feet, it strikes the storm drain cover.
Figure 18Frankly, I had never put much credence in the possibility of a shooter in such a location. Penn Jones suggested the idea many years ago, and Harrison Livingstone talks about it on p. 90 of "Killing the Truth". He also goes into some detail in the photo section of that book, demonstrating how a sniper with a small weapon could easily fit in such a place (figure 18). Livingstone further claims they confirmed an escape route through the tunnels below. If so, this would have been an excellent location for such a sniper.
This location becomes even more plausible when we consider it's location in relation to the area in which witnesses saw smoke.
S.M. Holland said,
Mr. Holland. There was a shot, a report, I don't know whether it was a shot. I can't say that. And a puff of smoke came out about 6 or 8 feet above the ground right out from under those trees. And at just about this location from where I was standing you could see that puff of smoke, like someone had thrown a firecracker, or something out, and that is just about the way it sounded. It wasn't as loud as the previous reports or shots.
Mr. Stern. What number would that have been in the -
Mr. Holland. Well, that would - they were so close together.
Mr. Stern. The second and third or the third and fourth?
Mr. Holland. So, that it might have been the third or the fourth. 28
Despite Holland's confusion, he shares two important pieces of information with us. First, the shot he heard "wasn't as loud" as the others. We already know that a smaller weapon would have been required in the storm drain. Second, he spots smoke rising into the trees near the corner of the picket fence. Of course, it was perfectly natural that smoke would rise from the drain location into the trees where Holland saw it.
Figure 19 Just after the assassination. The arrow points to the area where witnesses said they saw smoke.
It is characteristic of gun smoke, that the lighter particles rise, while others remain at lower levels. The distinct graphite smell experienced by witnesses in the motorcade would have been the natural result of a shot fired from the storm drain location as the westerly winds that day carried the odor east, back through the motorcade, and as cars proceeded into that area.
Tom Dillard, a photographer with the Dallas Morning News, riding five cars back said, "I might add that I very definitely smelled gunpowder when the car moved up at the corner." 29
Mrs. Earle Cabell, wife of the Dallas mayor was riding four cars behind the Presidential limousine. She said, "I was acutely aware of the odor of gunpowder." 30 Others who said they smelled gun smoke included, Mrs. Donald Baker, Police officer Earle Brown, and Congressman Ralph Yarborough. What could have caused this reaction in so many witnesses? Certainly, the odor of shots fired from six floors up in the Depository would not have been noticed at street level. A shot from say, behind the picket fence, which was North of Elm and at a considerably higher elevation would also seem unlikely to create a smell which would have been noticed by those in the motorcade.
Clint Hill
Special agent Hill, positioned on the left-front running board of the Secret Service followup car proved himself to be the quickest and most responsive member of the President's protective team that day. Of course, Hill only testified to hearing two shots. I believe it will become apparent that Hill did not hear the first shot. The only ones he did hear, were the shots at Z284 and Z323. This is part of Hill's testimony to the Warren Commission in which he describes the first shot he heard,
"On the left hand side was a grass area with a few people scattered along it observing the motorcade passing, and I was visually scanning these people when I heard a noise similar to a firecracker. The sound came from my right rear and I immediately moved my head in that direction. In so doing, my eyes had to cross the Presidential automobile and I saw the President hunch forward and then slump to his left. I jumped from the follow-up car and ran toward the Presidential automobile." 31
Clint Hill is visible throughout much of the Zapruder film. In fact, in volume 18 of the Warren Commission report, there is a photo section which displays black and white z-frames extending all the way into the film area between the sprocket holes. In these wider frames, we can see Hill up to about Z-248, and he does appear to glance to his right, but we never, ever see him looking or turned to his left as he testified. Neither is he turned left in the Altgens photo, taken at Z255. This is a strong indication that Hill turned to "scan the crowd" on his left, and heard the apparent 1st shot at some point after Z255. In another part of his testimony, he described his actions this way,
"This is the first sound that I heard; yes, sir. I jumped from the car, realizing that something was wrong, ran to the Presidential limousine..." 32
We know from earlier footage that Hill had been jumping on and off the running board throughout the motorcade, sometimes running alongside the Presidential limousine.
As we will see a bit later, Clint Hill jumped off the running board almost at the same instant as the Z313 head shot. It is important to remember however, that the report of the rifle would take 3-4 frames to reach Hill at that point (assuming a TSBD location), therefore, he had to have started running before he heard the Z313 shot.
If Hill had heard a first shot at Z190, it would mean he waited 6.8 seconds to have moved. If he had heard the first shot at Z224, he would still have waited almost 5 seconds. As we read Hill's testimony, he mentions almost no delay at all from the time he hears the shot, until he looks at the President, and then jumps off the followup car and starts running.
If Hill had heard Z284 as the first shot, it would mean he had responded within about 1.4 - 1.6 seconds. That might seem fast, but that was exactly what he was trained to do.
Figure 20
In order to determine when Hill first heard a gunshot, we can look at him in several stages of the assassination. In Zapruder frame 183 (figure 21), in Willis' photo #4 (figure 20) taken at Z202, and in the Altgens photo taken at Z255 (figure 13), we see Hill in almost identical positions facing slightly to his right. In fact, in the Altgens picture, he is the only agent on the running boards who is not turned far to the right or looking to the rear. At that moment, he is still oblivious to the first shot. Remember his testimony - he reacted "immediately" after hearing the shot. Despite the fact that he is turned generally in the direction of the President (as he has been since they turned onto Elm) he simply does not know about the danger yet. If he did, he would have already been in motion.
Of equal importance to this case is the question of exactly when Hill heard the last shot. Here is another part of his testimony, in which he describes running toward the Presidential limousine and hearing that final shot,
"...Just about as I reached it, (the Presidential limo) there was another sound, which was different from the first sound." 33
Figure 22 is from the Muchmore film and shows Clint Hill at the equivalent of Zapruder frame 316. He has just stepped off the running board and is approximately in line with the front tires of the followup car. This is the point at which he should have become aware of the report of the head shot at Z312/313.
Figure 22 Equivalent to Z316
But Hill said he heard a shot just as he reached the limousine. Is it possible that he did not hear the third shot either? He jumped off the car before he could have detected the report of the rifle at Z313. Perhaps he was so absorbed in his desperate dash to the President that the sound didn't consciously register. Look at figure 23. This shows Hill's position at the equivalent of Zapruder frame Z324, which is about when he would have detected the report of a weapon fired from the storm drain, only 60 feet away. At this point, he would certainly be more likely to claim he had "just about reached" the limousine.
Figure 23 Equivalent to Z324
Hill's claim that this shot sounded very different from the first is also illuminating. Here is more of his Warren Commission testimony in which he describes the sound of that shot,
"It was right, but I cannot say for sure that it was rear, because when I mounted the car it was - it had a different sound, first of all, than the first sound that I heard. The second one had almost a double sound - as though you were standing against something metal and firing into it, and you hear both the sound of a gun going off and the sound of the cartridge hitting the metal place, which could have been caused probably by the hard surface of the head. But I am not sure that that is what caused it." 34
Could Hill have gotten the impression of a "double sound" from the lingering ring of Z313, combined with a shot at Z323, about 1/2 second later? Is it possible that two reports fired almost on top of one another would create exactly that impression?
If we try to apply the traditional spacing of shots, and posit Hill as hearing reports at say, Z224 and Z313, we run into problems with his testimony. He reacts very slowly, standing around for almost 5 to 7 seconds after hearing the first report; he incorrectly describes the shots as sounding different from one another; he incorrectly states that he was almost to the Presidential limousine when he heard the last shot. His statements and impressions fit perfectly when we consider him responding to shots at Z284 and Z323.
On the right, rear running board of the followup car, SA Paul Landis only heard two reports, but his impression of the source of the final shot points directly at the storm drain, "My immediate thought was that the President could not possibly be alive after being hit like he was. I still was not certain from which direction the second shot came, but my reaction at this time was that the shot came from somewhere towards the front, right-hand side of the road."
Conclusions
On November 22, 1963, three killers were poised to assassinate President Kennedy. One, possibly Oswald himself, was in the 6th floor window at the East end of the depository. A second shooter was hiding in a closet on the second floor of the Dal-Tex Building, looking out through a window with a perfect view of the President's back. A third shooter was well hidden in a storm drain on the North side of Elm St. Both the second and third shooters were in possibly the best positions in Dealey Plaza that day for such a mission. They both had unobstructed views of the President, subject to minimal lateral motion. Their goal was two-fold. First, they wanted to murder the President. Second, they wanted to be certain that Lee Harvey Oswald was tied to the crime. Ideally, if the shooter in the 6th floor window could do the job alone, the others would not even have to fire.
The first shot rang out from the 6th floor sniper's nest at Zapruder frame 187. It struck the President and went on to wound Governor Connally. The shooter in the Dal-Tex building was edgy and perhaps more than a little frightened. He could see that Kennedy was wounded, and perhaps felt a momentary relief that his bullet would not be needed. But, the President did not topple. He was very obviously still alive and upright. The 2nd, reluctant shooter waited as long as he dared - over 5 seconds. When he finally fired, his nervous shot passed just above the President's head.
The third shooter waited patiently, raising the storm drain lid just the couple of inches he needed to peer out at the oncoming Presidential limousine. He was the last backup, and probably their best marksman. He could see that the 2nd shot had no effect on the President. Would the 6th floor shooter come through? He knew precisely when his last safe opportunity to fire would come. He propped up the lid with a small block of wood and waited until the limousine approached a point about 60 feet from his position. As his finger gradually tightened on the trigger, the sound of the third shot from the Depository reached his ears just before his pistol exploded. Both shots were horrifyingly successful, though the fourth bullet, striking the exposed flesh on the right side of the President's head, did not fragment like the third. It exited through the top of the head, taking with it pieces of skull and brain tissue, perhaps already loosened by the first shot.
Needless to say, the known shot at Z313 combined with gunshots at either Z284 and/or Z323 constitute absolute proof of the presence of two or more active shooters in Dealey Plaza that day.
Thank you for considering this article. My hope is that it provides objective proof of conspiracy which will be persuasive, even to people outside of the "assassination community". I disagree with those who say the entire federal government is resistant to learning the truth about this crime. If we can submit irrefutable evidence of the existence of even one more assassin, then I believe we will be able to enlist the aid of federal and state investigators, in one last ditch effort to uncover the truth, while some of the conspirators and witnesses are still alive.
At the very least, we will be able to pass on a more accurate history book to our children. Robert Harris
rharris@rt66.com
http://karws.gso.uri.edu/Marsh/Jfk-conspiracy/12.html
Motorcades.....SS Principals of Protection of the President and Other Dignitaries.....
17...Sewers and other passage under streets should be inspected and sealed prior to a publicized parade....
http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archiv...eId=364761
