unnatural death of witnesses
One of the most misunderstood or fallacious aspects of the Kennedy assassination is the claim that a large number of people associated with the investigation died from unnatural causes. The London Sunday Times, on February 26, 1967, printed an article which claimed the odds of a certain number of material witnesses being dead by February 1967 was one in 100,000 trillion, a number by its astronomical size indicated conspiracy.
The HSCA, on April 25,1978, sent a letter to the Times requesting specific information in order to determine how the figure quoted in the article was calculated. The response from the Times was unusual and comical, to say the least. Here is the response.
The Editor has passed me your letter of 25th April.
"Our piece about the odds against the deaths of the Kennedy witnesses was, I regret to say, based on a careless journalistic mistake and should not have been published. This was realized by The Sunday Times' editorial staff after the first edition--the one which goes to the United States and which I believe you have--had gone out, and later editions were amended.
There was no question of our actuary having got his answer wrong: It was simply that we asked him the wrong question. He was asked what the odds against 15 named people were out of the population of the United States dying within a short period of time to which he replied--correctly--that they were very high. However, if one asks what are the odds against 15 of those included in the Warren Commission index dying within a given period, the answer is, of course, that they are much lower. Our mistake was to treat the reply to the former question as if it dealt with the latter--hence the fundamental error in our first edition report, for which we apologize."
None of the editorial staff involved in this story can remember the name of the actuary we consulted, but in view of what happened you will, I imagine, agree that his identity is hardly material.
Yours sincerely, Antony Whitaker, Legal Manager.
None of the editorial staff remembered the name of the actuary consulted? His identity is hardly material?
The firestorm created by this article burns to this day. According to Richard Charnin, the number of assassination witnesses who died prematurely is significant. Charnin considered 147 individuals that had a connection to the Kennedy assassination, peripheral as well as totally unrelated, to arrive at his conclusion that, indeed, the Times was correct in its findings.
Among the names in his list of Kennedy assassination statistics are the following:
Francis Gary Powers, U-2 Pilot shot down over USSR in 1960, died in California helicopter crash in 1977
Mary Jo Kopechne, drown in Edward Kennedy's car in 1969
Jimmy Hoffa, Teamsters Union President, cause of death unknown
Some of the deaths in Mr. Charnin's data base appear to be listed as murder-suicide while some of the names that died by natural causes fall into an undefined category of murder-heart attack, whatever that means. This is another conspiratorialist's claim to evidence by manipulation of numbers.
Here is a link to Mr. Charnin's database, see for yourself.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AjAk1JUWDMyRdDFSU3NVd29xWWNyekd2X1ZJYllKTnc#gid=1
HSCA Deputy Chief Researcher, Jacqueline Hess stated to the commission, "Even though the London Sunday Times had not structured its actuarial inquiry properly and, therefore, the 100,000 trillion to 1 odds were invalid, the committee staff looked into the possibility of conducting a valid study... We then asked the Library of Congress to compile all newspaper articles which had appeared concerning any and all of the individuals. We further asked them to give us their evaluation of the critical literature and the press accounts on each individual and to make recommendations with respect to further investigation in each case. Independently, we sent requests to the Bureau of Vital Statistics, the medical examiners' offices and the police departments in the jurisdiction in which each death was believed to have occurred, for the death certificates, medical records, police reports, and any other documents which might exist concerning the death.
Our final conclusion on the issue is that the available evidence does not establish anything about the nature of these deaths which would indicate that the deaths were in some manner, either direct or peripheral, caused by the assassination of President Kennedy or by any aspect of the subsequent investigation."
Is the claim of mass execution by government agents or underworld figures correct or is this issue trickery behind complex mathematical computation? There is claim and counterclaim to this point, much like the expert opinion on the validity of Oswald's backyard photos, that one must decide for oneself because evidence on both sides of the issue has clouded the truth.
Earlene Roberts, obese and diabetic, died of a heart attack at 61.
the Unexplained Dorothy Kilgallen
There are other unexplained and strange paradoxes associated with the assassination of John F. Kennedy that have clouded the minds of the American people. The outright hoaxes, of which there are many, are more easily dismissed, but some bizarre elements remain that are not so easily defined. This section will address some of these anomalies. The first is the case of Dorothy Kilgallen.
Dorothy Kilgallen was a journalist and a personality on the popular television program, "What's My Line?" She appeared on the program in the 1950's and early 1960's, until the time of her death on November 8, 1965. Kilgallen reported on many high-profile murder cases, including the Dr. Sam Shepard case, which became the basis for the television program, "The Fugitive."
Dorothy Kilgallen associated frequently with New York's elite and lived in a lavish five story townhome with her husband and children. She died, according to many conspiracy writers, under suspicious circumstances. Kilgallen was a cynic of the Warren Commission's findings and wrote, at length, her opinions in her syndicated column. But the timing of her death raised many eyebrows.
Kilgallon had, by some accounts, interviewed an imprisoned Jack Ruby and claimed to possess information that would "break the case." The conspiratorialist community have written that Miss Kilgallen's death was a murder, by persons unknown, to keep her quiet about what she knew regarding the Kennedy assassination. Jim Marrs wrote, "Whatever information Kilgallen learned and from whatever source, many researchers believe it brought about her strange death."
Kilgallen's knowledge of critical information concerning Jack Ruby must be viewed with skepticism simply because any gossip columnist would have bolted straight to his or her newspaper with the scoop of the century. Kilgallen died twenty months after Ruby's trial and never wrote a word. Many connected to the Ruby trial indicated Kilgallen never interviewed Jack Ruby beyond shouting a question at him while he was entering or leaving the courtroom.
The facts surrounding Kilgallen's death do not support the claim she was murdered. The autopsy revealed her death was caused by an overdose of alcohol and barbiturates. There was no evidence of trauma to her body. Her husband and youngest son were asleep at the time in other bedrooms. Kilgallen was said to be in good spirit the evening before her death and, by reasonable examination of the facts, suicide and murder can be ruled out. Her death was caused by an accidental toxic mix of alcohol and drugs.
Journalist and television personality Dorothy Kilgallen
The great zapruder film hoax
The single most important body of evidence in the assassination of John F. Kennedy remains the 8mm home movie captured by Abraham Zapruder. Zapruder, a Dallas dress manufacturer, positioned himself in a location atop a concrete structure in the Grassy Knoll and became the quintessential right man, at the right place, at the right time. There were many photographers in Dealey Plaza that day, but none recorded the violent death of the president like Zapruder.
Zapruder, immediately following the assassination, made copies of his film available to the Secret Service and to Life magazine. The Life deal was worth $150,000, paid in six annual payments of $25,000, the first of which was generously given to Marie Tippit, the widow of slain police officer, JD Tippit. Zapruder was vilified by the press for the Life magazine deal, a disingenuous and cynical response considering more than one member the press admitted to theft as a possibility of acquiring the film. However, Zapruder believed Life magazine was the safest outlet for his film and his ultimate goal, tasteful reporting of the assassination.
Life's coverage of the assassination was extremely modest by today's standards of complete disregard for common decency and indifference to family sensitivity. It would take twelve years before the American people would view the Zapruder film on Geraldo Rivera's television program, Late Night America, in 1975. Many people, in fact, had seen bootlegged copies of the Zapruder film by 1975, like the one brought to ABC by self-proclaimed assassination scholar, Robert Groden.
Robert Groden, a photographic technician, made an unauthorized copy while under the employ of a company retained by Life to work on the film. Groden maintained, most theatrically, that possession of this copy caused him to fear for his life. Groden and comedian turned activist, Dick Gregory, narrated the Zapruder film for Rivera's showing and, in a most elementary and layman-like analysis, declared the president was shot from the front, remarks that furthered the claim of conspiracy.
Here is Geraldo Rivera's viewing of the Zapruder film
The Zapruder film tells us a great deal about the timing of events, when the second and third shots were fired, but not the first.
Here is the Zapruder film with the frame numbers included.
We do not know when the first shot was fired however, the Zapruder film shows some disturbance around frame 180. Ten-year-old Rosemary Willis, wearing a red skirt and grey hoodie, can be observed running down Elm Street, slowing to a stop, and looking back over her right shoulder toward the TSBD. It could have occurred as early as frame 163 when Zapruder's camera shakes and some spectators across Elm Street from the TSBD can be seen jumping back off the street.
The second shot, we do know, occurred about frame 225. As the limousine appears from behind the Stemmons Freeway sign, President Kennedy's hands go to his throat and Governor Connally's right lapel appears to flip outward, indicative of a shot striking Kennedy, then Connally. The fatal shot occurred at frame 313, the infamous headshot, the conspiracy zealot's indicator of a shot from in front of the motorcade. Further, many witnesses claimed the second and third shots occurred almost simultaneously, a belief the Zapruder film clearly refutes. The calculated time between shots two and three is 4.8 seconds, total time may be as short as six seconds, or as long as eight seconds.
The single most important facet of the Zapruder film remains the fatal shot in frame 313. Contrary to conspiratorialist claims of a shot from the front, Z313 reveals an explosion of brain, bone, and blood ejecting towards the front of the limousine, indicative of a shot from behind. This view is consistent with the findings of all the members of the HSCA forensic panel, including the aforementioned Dr. Wecht, that the president was struck by a bullet in the back of the head. However, the Zapruder film clearly shows the president's head snapping backwards sharply and his body collapsing to the left following the shot to the head. This fact has been the crux of conspiracy theory for over half a century.
Josiah Thompson, author of Six Seconds in Dallas, wrote that three individuals fired four shots at Kennedy in Dealey Plaza. The first shot, according to Thompson, was fired from the TSBD and struck Kennedy in the back, the second shot was fired from the Dallas County Records building and struck Governor Connally, the third and fourth shots were fired from the TSBD and the Grassy Knoll and simultaneously struck Kennedy in the head. The Zapruder film does not yield this information. In fact, the film confirms only two shots fired and offers no information about the location of the shooter(s).
Here is a link to Josiah Thompson's comments.
Back and to the Left
Once again, the body of evidence is confused by expert and scholarly opinion. Contrary to his own opinion of himself, Oliver Stone is not a credible source of scientific conclusion, but other credible sources are in conflict regarding the cause of the oft quoted "back and to the left" head movement by the president. One conclusion, reached by Dr. Luis Alvarez, stated the president's head snapped backwards from the Jet Effect of material violently emitting forward from the exit wound. Another medical opinion posits the reaction was caused by involuntary neuromuscular response, while Drs. T. Glenn Pait and Justin T. Dowty suggest the back brace the president wore tightly wrapped around his torso prevented his body from moving forward. Still, to this day, many are convinced the movement of the president's head backwards was caused by a shot from the front.
One important item the Zapruder film refutes is location of the wound to the back of the president's skull, a wound described by many of the attending physicians at Parkland Hospital, chief among them Dr. Robert McClelland, as a defect to the back of the head. Dr. McClelland's testimony to the Warren Commission stated, as follows:
"I noted that the right posterior portion of the skull had been extremely blasted. It had been shattered, apparently, by the force of the shot so that the parietal bone was protruded up through the scalp and seemed to be fractured almost along its right posterior half, as well as some of the occipital bone being fractured in its lateral half, and this sprung open the bones that I mentioned in such a way that you could actually look down into the skull cavity itself and see that probably a third or so, at least, of the brain tissue, posterior cerebral tissue and some of the cerebellar tissue had been blasted out. "
Here is a discussion of the president's wounds by Dr. McClelland and Dr. Jones.
Dr. McClelland's testimony is suspect since the president was flat on his back when wheeled into Parkland's emergency room and, in order to view the interior of the skull cavity as he stated, the body needed to be on its side. The Parkland doctors did not roll the president from his back, nor did they find the bullet hole in the neck-shoulder area or the back of his head.
Still, the accusations of conspiracy flared from the beginning. The Zapruder film shows the explosion to the president's head more to the top right, in clear contradiction to Dr. McClelland's account.
The conspiracy community, undeterred by unfavorable revelations in the assassination case, made several important statements about Zapruder film.
Some are as follows:
1. The Zapruder film is a fake. Altered to show the president's head explode to the front.
2. Important frames were removed from the film.
3. The Zapruder film was kept from the American people for twelve years, proof of
conspiracy.
4. Abraham Zapruder was a conspirator, perhaps the most damnable assertion of all time.
5. A man with an umbrella was seen signaling to co-conspirators.
6. Lee Harvey Oswald could not have fired his bolt action rifle three times within the
time frame of six seconds
Abraham Zapruder, 1905-1970
Geraldo Rivera's presentation of the Zapruder film to a nationwide audience caused a public outcry for reexamination of the facts surrounding the assassination. The resultant investigation, known as The House Select Committee on Assassinations, was convened to reappraise the facts surrounding the deaths of John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King. The hearings concluded there was probably a conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy however, the HSCA were unable to identify the conspirators. The HSCA did conclude the CIA and FBI were not involved, there was no evidence of foreign government participation, no indication of either pro or anti-Castro groups involvement, and no evidence of organized crime participation.
The HSCA determination was largely based on acoustic evidence from a dicta-belt recording of Dallas police communications. A microphone from a motorcycle in the motorcade was purportedly stuck open and the gun shot sounds were recorded. Analysis of the recording initially appeared to confirm four shots. This analysis of recorded sounds from Dealey Plaza was later determined to be suspect in its methodology and inadmissible as historic evidence.
Once again, expert testimony arrived at two differing conclusions, further clouding the facts of the case.
Here is a link to the audio of dicta-belt recording.
https://www.nap.edu/resource/JFK_audio/
Frame Z-313
Oswald's Billfold
The case for conspiracy, strengthened by the curious incident surrounding the discovery of Oswald's billfold, came to light fifty years after the assassination. A wallet containing identification cards of Lee Harvey Oswald and his known alias, Alek J. Hidell, was found at the Tippit murder scene and turned over to Dallas Police Reserve Sergeant Kenneth H. Croy by an unknown bystander. Dallas television station, WFAA, had a cameraman on the scene and filmed the wallet's recovery as investigators examined the contents, clear evidence that placed Oswald at the scene of Officer Tippit's murder.
But the incident became less clear as Dallas Police Detective Paul Bentley claimed the wallet was found in Oswald's back pocket while in transport to police headquarters following his arrest in the Texas Theatre. Sgt. Gerald Hill testified to the Warren Commission the suspect refused to identify himself and Oswald's uncooperative behavior led Bently to search for and retrieve a wallet containing ID cards in the name of Oswald and Alek J. Hidell.
FBI Special Agent Bob Barrett, assigned to the Tippit murder scene by Dallas County Sheriff Bill Decker, claimed Captain W.R. Westbrook held the wallet as he approached the scene. According to Barrett, Westbrook asked if he knew of Lee Oswald or Alek Hidell, names on identification cards found in the wallet. Barrett responded in the negative. In a 2013 story by WFAA, Barrett explained. 'Why would they be asking me questions about Oswald and Hiddell if it wasn't in that wallet?' 'They said they took the wallet out of his pocket in the (patrol) car? That's so much hogwash,' Barrett said. 'That wallet was in [Captain] Westbrook's hand.'
The wallet discovery question fueled speculation of evidence contamination by the Dallas police. Bill Simpich, an attorney in San Francisco and Mary Ferrell Foundation board member, claimed the Hidell ID card may have been planted during this questionable chain of custody of important evidence. Simpich failed to mention in his writing that the signature of Alek J. Hidell, as reported by the New York Times on November 1, 1964, came from Oswald's own hand. Why would Oswald sign his own fake ID and present it to someone else to use later as evidence against him? The conspiracy community forwarded the idea that Tippit's killer discarded the stolen wallet at the crime scene to frame Oswald. The most unbelievable story posited by the conspiracy camp concerns two identical wallets and two identical Lee Harvey Oswalds.
WFAA film shows a wallet found at Tippit murder scene.
Alias Alek J. Hidell
Dale Myers, in his examination of the Tippit murder, wrote the question of Oswald's wallet comes down to the "credibility" of the officers involved. Clearly, someone's wallet appeared at the Tippit murder scene, that much is evident from WFAA television. Barrett's description of events remains highly plausible and so does Sgt. Hill's testimony. One must be wrong. Paul Bentley, in his official report to Dallas Police Chief Curry, dated December 2, 1963, stated he removed Oswald's wallet to identify the suspect but made no entry in his report of an alias ID card. Captain Westbrook made no mention of a wallet or an alias ID card when he testified before the Warren Commission and neither did Reserve Sgt. Kenneth Croy. In fact, Croy told the Warren commission he made no official report regarding his presence at the Tippit murder scene.
Shoddy police work left us with no clear idea who found Oswald's wallet. The possibility exists the officers involved recovered Oswald's wallet at the Tippit murder scene and gave it to Paul Bentley in the Texas Theatre.
The only certainty is Oswald signed the Hidell ID card and it found its way to police headquarters. There were no duplicate wallets and no Oswald look-alikes.
Oswald's badly made attempt at identification forgery. Selective service cards did not have photo.