16-02-2011, 05:59 AM
The Lee Bowers Letter
by Walt Brown, Ph.D
![[Image: ulblue.gif]](http://karws.gso.uri.edu/Marsh/Jfk-conspiracy/ulblue.gif)
At the Assassination Symposium on Kennedy in November, 1994, Canadian researcher and bookseller Al Navis appeared on an international outreach panel which was convened on Sunday, November 20. While various speakers gave indications of the ramifications of the assassination, subsequent press distortions, and activist groups in their respective countries, Al Navis told of a correspondence he had begun as a teenager with Lee Bowers, the key witness in the railroad signal tower behind "the event." In essence, Bowers was behind the picket fence, Zapruder and the pergola, and the Texas School Book Depository. In one of the most stunning revelations of what may well have been the final ASK conference, Navis indicated that Bowers had written him a letter saying that he had seen two Dallas police officers fire weapons from behind the picket fence. He added that he had kept this information quiet for all these years because of the knowledge that Bowers met a sudden, unfortunate end not too long after his letter had been posted to Navis.
Inasmuch as the work Treachery in Dallas, which wastehn originally titled "Blue Death, Red Patsy, White Lies," was done and awaiting publication by Carroll and Graf, I realized that Navis's revelation could well be the set piece to the work. However, when his presentation ended, Al was mobbed by attendees with questions and I let him deal with that, assuming I'd touch base on that matter later.
About four hours later, when a good number of folks took a brief break from the Adolphus Hotel and strolled down the eight or so blocks to Dealey Plaza to take advantage of the free admission being offered at the Sixth Floor, I found Al Navis already there, along with Texas researcher Russ McLean. I got right to the point with Al, telling him that I would like to get a statement from him about the contents of the letter from Bowers as well as he could reconstruct it. "I can do better than that," Al told me. "I'll get you a copy of the letter."
A copy of the letter itself?
I had never considered that it still existed, although Al may well have said that in his presentation while I was busy considering the impact the mere contents would have had. I told Al I would try to have the publisher consider an art project for the cover that could feature the copy of the letter. He agreed that he would set to finding it as soon as he got back to Canada.
That's where the story takes a sad turn. My unstated reaction to that statement was to think he doesn't know where something that valuable is, but he's going to try to locate it. Hmmm. Let's see. I know I had that letter from a key eyewitness in the Kennedy assassination, and it said the eyewitness saw two men firing at the President from the grassy knoll. Now where did I put that thing?
Somehow, despite my very deep respect for Al as a researcher, for someone who always gave freely of his time, and just as a wonderful human being, I began to hear doubts forming.
Time passed. When 1994 turned to 1995, I called Al in Canada, as I was getting frantic for the copy of the letter. Al told me he had started going through an assortment of boxes that he had which contained a soup to nuts variety of materials, and he had narrowed his search to a remaining dozen or so boxes, but the search would go no further, as he had been injured seriously, (in fact a severed achilles tendon) in a hockey game. He hoped to be able to get out of the wheelchair in a few weeks, and promised to resume the hunt.
"Wheelchair" is by definition an unpleasant word, but equally unpleasant is the phrase "publishing deadline," and mine was fast approaching. I continued to call Al, and he always had a joke, or two (hundred), but no Lee Bowers letter. Finally, as the renamed Treachery was going to press, I tried one more attempt to get the letter for the cover, and I guess Al was tired of telling people he was incapacitated, so we basically passed the time of day.
The bottom line is, to date I've never seen the letter, although its contents were hinted at fourteen months ago at ASK '94. On a personal level, a lot of people have asked me if I have any opinions about this strange story, because word did spread about Bowers' letter saying that Dallas cops fired the shots, and it was no secret that Treachery was about, among others, Dallas cops. I don't have an opinion, other than to say that if Al Navis told me I had been accused in the letter, I would make a point of checking with high school officials in New Jersey to prove where in fact I had been that day. Al Navis has always had an excellent command of the facts in the case, he's always given people all imaginable courtesies, he's always worked hard within the research community, and I couldn't imagine him inventing such a thing. Yet at the same time, it is equally hard to imagine a scenario in which a JFK researcher has such a "smoking gun" document and literally allows it to be ignored. It's not something most researchers would do, and it's not like Al.
There was no hint of the letter or what it purported to state in my book Treachery in Dallas. As of this writing, it is hearsay until Al is either able to produce the document or enough time passes that causes people to believe that in fact there is no letter. At least this is one that we can't hang on the review board. Al is receiving a copy of this. I hope you are well -- and looking, Al.
by Walt Brown, Ph.D
At the Assassination Symposium on Kennedy in November, 1994, Canadian researcher and bookseller Al Navis appeared on an international outreach panel which was convened on Sunday, November 20. While various speakers gave indications of the ramifications of the assassination, subsequent press distortions, and activist groups in their respective countries, Al Navis told of a correspondence he had begun as a teenager with Lee Bowers, the key witness in the railroad signal tower behind "the event." In essence, Bowers was behind the picket fence, Zapruder and the pergola, and the Texas School Book Depository. In one of the most stunning revelations of what may well have been the final ASK conference, Navis indicated that Bowers had written him a letter saying that he had seen two Dallas police officers fire weapons from behind the picket fence. He added that he had kept this information quiet for all these years because of the knowledge that Bowers met a sudden, unfortunate end not too long after his letter had been posted to Navis.
Inasmuch as the work Treachery in Dallas, which wastehn originally titled "Blue Death, Red Patsy, White Lies," was done and awaiting publication by Carroll and Graf, I realized that Navis's revelation could well be the set piece to the work. However, when his presentation ended, Al was mobbed by attendees with questions and I let him deal with that, assuming I'd touch base on that matter later.
About four hours later, when a good number of folks took a brief break from the Adolphus Hotel and strolled down the eight or so blocks to Dealey Plaza to take advantage of the free admission being offered at the Sixth Floor, I found Al Navis already there, along with Texas researcher Russ McLean. I got right to the point with Al, telling him that I would like to get a statement from him about the contents of the letter from Bowers as well as he could reconstruct it. "I can do better than that," Al told me. "I'll get you a copy of the letter."
A copy of the letter itself?
I had never considered that it still existed, although Al may well have said that in his presentation while I was busy considering the impact the mere contents would have had. I told Al I would try to have the publisher consider an art project for the cover that could feature the copy of the letter. He agreed that he would set to finding it as soon as he got back to Canada.
That's where the story takes a sad turn. My unstated reaction to that statement was to think he doesn't know where something that valuable is, but he's going to try to locate it. Hmmm. Let's see. I know I had that letter from a key eyewitness in the Kennedy assassination, and it said the eyewitness saw two men firing at the President from the grassy knoll. Now where did I put that thing?
Somehow, despite my very deep respect for Al as a researcher, for someone who always gave freely of his time, and just as a wonderful human being, I began to hear doubts forming.
Time passed. When 1994 turned to 1995, I called Al in Canada, as I was getting frantic for the copy of the letter. Al told me he had started going through an assortment of boxes that he had which contained a soup to nuts variety of materials, and he had narrowed his search to a remaining dozen or so boxes, but the search would go no further, as he had been injured seriously, (in fact a severed achilles tendon) in a hockey game. He hoped to be able to get out of the wheelchair in a few weeks, and promised to resume the hunt.
"Wheelchair" is by definition an unpleasant word, but equally unpleasant is the phrase "publishing deadline," and mine was fast approaching. I continued to call Al, and he always had a joke, or two (hundred), but no Lee Bowers letter. Finally, as the renamed Treachery was going to press, I tried one more attempt to get the letter for the cover, and I guess Al was tired of telling people he was incapacitated, so we basically passed the time of day.
The bottom line is, to date I've never seen the letter, although its contents were hinted at fourteen months ago at ASK '94. On a personal level, a lot of people have asked me if I have any opinions about this strange story, because word did spread about Bowers' letter saying that Dallas cops fired the shots, and it was no secret that Treachery was about, among others, Dallas cops. I don't have an opinion, other than to say that if Al Navis told me I had been accused in the letter, I would make a point of checking with high school officials in New Jersey to prove where in fact I had been that day. Al Navis has always had an excellent command of the facts in the case, he's always given people all imaginable courtesies, he's always worked hard within the research community, and I couldn't imagine him inventing such a thing. Yet at the same time, it is equally hard to imagine a scenario in which a JFK researcher has such a "smoking gun" document and literally allows it to be ignored. It's not something most researchers would do, and it's not like Al.
There was no hint of the letter or what it purported to state in my book Treachery in Dallas. As of this writing, it is hearsay until Al is either able to produce the document or enough time passes that causes people to believe that in fact there is no letter. At least this is one that we can't hang on the review board. Al is receiving a copy of this. I hope you are well -- and looking, Al.