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A Continuing Inquiry into the JFK Assassination
Issue 1 - February 1993
Probable Cause Australia is the only Australian magazine dedicated to the JFK assassination.
Welcome to the first issue of Probable Cause, The Australian JFK Assassination Information Center's newsletter. Hold your breath and treasure the moment; no longer are you to languish alone at dinner parties, itching to warble about the Crime of the Century. Fate has intervened, and now you can talk and write and abuse us instead!
Our main goal is to collect and collate all the pertinent news and views from the US and around the world, and bring them to your hot little hands four times a year.
No doubt you are all too aware of the lack of time and space and, well...anything devoted to news items on the John F. Kennedy assassination in the media down here. Once again, the anniversary of JFK's death passed without so much as a word from the ever-silent 'responsible' press; many of you may still be unaware that Judge Jim Garrison passed away in October last year, with only the NBC Today show sheepishly doling out a cursory nod of remembrance to the Jolly Green Giant. I bet that hurt. Anyway, rest in peace, Jim. Maybe now you know who killed Kennedy.
Probable Cause welcomes and urges any letters or articles sent to the editor's (that's me!) desk, as it is you, the people who support our cause, that will make this newsletter work. We here at the JFK-AIC will attempt to take no position or choose any sides from the wealth of information and theories available to us from the US of A. We will bring you all the news, no matter how big, small or idiotic it may be, and you can be the judge.
The Dallas JFK-AIC is behind us 100%, as is The Grassy Knoll Gazette, the Third Decade and all the other Kennedy magazines. We hope in the near future to be able to provide you with a wide range of merchandise from books to audio and video cassettes, and, of course, memorabilia. Our first seminar, held over the assassination weekend last November, was an awesome success, giving us just 'one or two' ideas that we'll try to follow up.
Talking of seminars (which I was), Walt Brown, author of the just released The People vs Lee Harvey Oswald, has confirmed that he will take the plunge and venture Down Under around April this year, ready to talk about the assassination and the rather arduous process of writing his fascinating book. We will revolve our next seminar around his itinerary, hoping to get even more people on the trail of the assassins. More news on this when it comes to hand.
Finally, please don't forget, this is your newsletter. It needs your input. Letters, questions, theories, articles, book reviews, whatever. Send them in and help us create an overall view of the assassination and its texts. Help us, and we will help you. Read, and enjoy.
Steve V Gerlach.
New evidence of forgery throws film into doubt
Take a look at the following timeline:
NOV. 22, 1963- 12:30pm CST: Dallas motorcade enters Dealey Plaza and Abraham Zapruder films the assassination. The film shows the front right of the president's head explode outwards and forwards, leaving a massive wound in that area. His body then jerks backwards.
12:38pm: At Parkland Hospital, the president is wheeled in on a trolley to Trauma Room 1. The Dallas doctors see a bullet entrance wound to the front of the neck, and notice that the back right section of Kennedy's skull has been blown away.
These doctors are trained to identify trauma (gun/knife) wounds, and openly discuss the fact afterwards that, from the chance they got to see Kennedy's wounds, the bullet must have entered the throat and somehow moved upwards to exit though the back of JFK's head. They wished they had had more time to examine the wounds but, of course, the body had been illegally removed from Texas by that time.
Stone points the finger at Lansdale.
"Hell, MAYBE I AM CRAZY," BOOMS OLIVER STONE. "Maybe I could be dead wrong." After the unprecedented thrashing filmmaker Oliver Stone received from the American media before, during and after the release of his three-hour, $40 million epic JFK, one might expect the maverick director to feel slightly overwhelmed by the assault on his reputation. "Morally repugnant"; "the most dangerous man in America"; "a threat to history". But just how close did Mr. Stone actually come to the truth? How close, indeed.
Although Stone has claimed repeatedly that JFK offers no solution to the mysteries of the assassination, nay, it doesn't even try to, upon closer inspection the movie does point the finger at a select group of high-powered individuals. Many of these faces are revealed during the now legendary Mr.X sequence, a ten minute barrage of information delivered by an ice-cool Donald Sutherland to a stunned Kevin Costner whilst sitting on a park bench. We grab flashes of LBJ and Robert McNamara; McGeorge Bundy and the Joint Chiefs. Yet whilst Stone (via Sutherland) expounds on the mechanics of coup d'etat, he never actually implicates any of the above mentioned individuals or groups. Instead we are left with the lingering images of a shadowy Pentagon official, referred to by Mr.X as the equally anonymous "General Y". Some viewers of the film may have felt shortchanged by Stone's apparent lack of either a) tenacity, or b) knowledge, when it came time to name the nefarious mastermind behind the JFK plot, instead being delivered a generic villain lurking behind a pair of oversized aviator sunglasses.
Yet, despite all of this, we are given the clues to unlocking General Y's identity, and, according to Oliver Stone, to unlocking the quagmire of the Kennedy conspiracy itself. In effect, Stone does name names, making his examination of the assassination in a sense more potent than any serious research text ever written. For all the books that have been written on the case, and particularly those dealing with the concept of high-level government conspiracy, few have ever dared venture into the realm of fingerpointing. Subliminally, Oliver Stone does.
In a series of glimpses, General Y (played by regular Stone technical consultant Dale Dye) is fast revealed to us deep in the bowels of the Pentagon, reclining behind his desk in a meeting with some heavyset defense officials.
We are informed by Mr. X (in reality, Col. L. Fletcher Prouty), that he was sent by General Y to the South Pole two weeks before the JFK murder, apparently to escort a group of military VIP's back from that location in a seemingly routine piece of duty. As a result though, President Kennedy's Dallas security network was totally compromised when the standard military security support was ordered to "stand down", perhaps by General Y himself, a duty that Mr. X would have ensured would not have happened - had he been Stateside to do so.
Executive Order 11652 rescinded?
A new investigation?
Or just more of the same?
Well folks, it's official: the Clinton-Gore Administration is up and running in Washington. Screaming out of Arkansas like Butch and Sundance: The Sequel, researchers around the world at last have hope that the JFK assassination will receive at least a modicum of official and impartial recognition from the powers that be.
And let's face it, this time the odds are on our side. President Clinton, during the campaign, made no secret of his admiration for the late President Kennedy, a stark contrast from the ice-cold Reagan-Bush-Quayle years who seemed to hold nothing but contempt for the potent Kennedy-myth. Reagan's Justice Department even refused to investigate the Christian David allegations of a French connection to the assassination, despite the fact that their own brass was telling them to proceed. And, in a nice and not-to-subtle touch irony, ex-CIA Director Bush is being ousted by a guy enamored by the aura of Camelot, sending a signal to the spooks that the good guys are making another attempt at the throne.
The fact that Bill Clinton campaigned on the battle-cry that it's time to take America back from the hard-liners in Washington, aided superbly by running-mate AI Gore, who claimed, on NBC, that America was a virtual police state, it's obvious to anyone that we're not dealing with just a couple of 'bozo's', as Bush referred to them. These guys at least appear to be on the money, bringing with them the same kind of hell-bent energy to the job of governing that John and Robert Kennedy brought with them more than thirty years ago.
But what about the assassination? Well, consider this: Clinton, we know, is a man who has and will probably continue to pattern his aggressive style on JFK's. This, coupled with the fact that AI Gore, a genuine VP, not a moronic sycophant like Dan Quayle, is, wait for it, a former investigative journalist. Add that together and you've at least got some hope that a little piece of paper will be issued to order the release of the files.
There is also speculation (most of it at this point unfounded), that Clinton will appoint AI Gore to head up a new investigation into the murders of JFK, RFK and Dr. Martin Luther King. Another possibility is the formation of an independent investigatory group, similar to the Nazi hunters, working full-time with unlimited access to uncensored government files. But, first things first; they've still got to wrap up the Iran-Contra scandal, although that's beginning to look pretty dim as George Bush is covering his trail more and more, now on a seemingly daily basis.
Anyway, it appears it's time to hold your breath. The time would seem ripe for some action from on-high, whether it be a release of the files, a motion in congress, a vice-president's Commission, or at least an admission from the government that the Warren Commission was just plain wrong.
To paraphrase Mr. Clinton himself, there is still a place called Hope.
JFK-AIC'S FIRST ASSASSINATION seminar was held over the assassination weekend from November 21-22, 1992, at Steve Gerlach's home in North Croydon, Victoria. Melbourne weather being what it is, the backyard event moved indoors as the rain and sleet turned against us. Needless to say, this did not, er, dampen the enthusiasm of the group.
Huddled indoors, the seminar took on the form of discussion groups where people were able to review the events of November 1963 with the help and views of others. Kinda like a therapy group for conspiracy theorists and researchers. The seminar came about mainly from the overwhelming number of people who just wanted to meet others and talk to them about the subject that has interested all of us for so long.
A book display of the latest releases was set up and included catalogues for Last Hurrah Bookshop in America, a main supplier of assassination-related material. The centerpiece of the seminar was, of course, Steve Webb's and Paul Jones' scale model of Dealey Plaza. Completed in an amazing six weeks, the model turned out to be the talking point of the weekend. Using color-coded thread to indicate bullet trajectories from various sniper positions, it proved many interesting things. Focus centered on the shot supposedly fired from Oswald that scarred the pavement and went on to hit James Tague by the overpass. Only on a model can you prove the shot was either almost unthinkably wild, or that it came from somewhere else. Lining the trajectory up, the Dal-Tex building fits right into this idea as a possible snipers nest.
The decision was made on the Sunday, due to the large number of people involved, to split the seminar in half. Steves' Webb and Gerlach spoke about the assassination itself, the events surrounding it, the Zapruder film and the autopsy photos. Leaning heavily on the work of David Lifton, Jim Marrs and Robert Groden, they covered the inconsistencies in the head wounds, and also the testimony from Dallas doctors, and the Bethesda autopsists Humes and Boswell.
Meanwhile, Lachie Hulme was taking the rest of the participants through the assassination from an historical viewpoint, focusing on the Dallas-Watergate connection, Nixon and the "smoking gun" conversations. Debates on both of these topics lasted for quite sometime, as points were discussed, examined and re-examined.
Melbourne musician Norm Cottrell included a tribute to the late president, performing a song about the man and the assassination.
The actual police dictabelt recording of the assassination seemed to cause more confusion than solve any. The fact that the shots are superimposed on the tape so that it is easier to hear them, and, if played simultaneously with the Zapruder film, fits the events exactly (and remember that the police microphone was not stationary, but rather, moving, therefore making it impossible for it to fit exactly with the Zapruder film, due in part to the Doppler effect), making it at best a flawed piece of evidence. Perhaps the HSCA gave this tape more weight than it deserved.
Eventually, as crowds thinned, conversations turned to the small, but nevertheless important aspects of the case: The Tippit murder, part of the assassination or a totally unrelated event? The Ricky While Materials, important missing pieces to the puzzle, or unsubstanciated fiction? The Three Tramps, actors, murderers, or guys in desperate need of a fashion consultant?
The most interesting detail of the weekend was the number of times the famous Corsican theory postulated by Steve J. Rivele (as seen on "The Men Who Killed Kennedy") was discussed. Conversations eventually always returned to the Corsican theory, and the associated events and theories. The JFK-AIC is trying, at this stage, to hunt down a copy of Rivele's book, of which very few were printed in France. Also, we have ordered a full (all five hours) copy of The Men Who Killed Kennedy, a most vital documentary.
The Corsican theory and/or the Ricky White Materials seem to solve areas of the ease, and are very hard to destroy with other known facts. The drawback is, however, that very little is known about the theories, and all we are able to find is the usual page and a half outline. We hope to change this in the future.
Overall, the seminar weekend was a great success. With assassination author Walt Brown confirmed to be out here for next years seminar, we can only get bigger and better from here. Not just in Australia, but in the US and around the world.
JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT it was safe to go back into Dealey Plaza, that crazy "Cuban" is back!
Famed US researcher Jack White of the Dallis JFK-AIC (While and Gary Mack discovered 'Badgeman' in the Moorman photograph) has created a photographic timeline for the activities of the mysterious 'Cuban' on November 22, 1963. At first it was simply thought that the "Cuban" was only present in Dealey Plaza, seen hunched next to the equally mysterious 'Umbrella Man', and later seen talking into a walkie-talkie before strolling off in the direction of the Triple Underpass. If that wasn't eerie enough, White has discovered two more photographs that might reveal the true purpose of the "Cuban"'s activities that day. The "Cuban", or someone bearing a striking resemblance to him, has been photographed not only in Dealey Plaza, but also at Love Field and Parkland Hospital. If it is the same man, it appears that he is stalking the president, perhaps performing the role of a "spotter", if his activities in Dealey Plaza are anything to go by.
We here at the Australian JFK-AIC have postulated that the "Cuban" was perhaps in cahoots with none other than Jack Ruby. This is based primarily on the eyewitness testimony of both Jean Hill and Julia Ann Mercer. You will recall that immediately after the shooting, Jean Hill saw a man running from the entrance of the Book Depository towards the Grassy Knoll; Hill later identified this man as Jack Ruby. The question is, if that was Jack Ruby, where did he go? The answer might lay in the movements of the "Cuban", for the "Cuban" also moved off in the direction of the knoll. If it is the "Cuban" at Parkland Hospital, perhaps it was Ruby who drove him there (Ruby was also seen at Parkland). This certainly fits in with the Mercer testimony, which has Ruby, in a green Ford pickup, dropping a man off at the Grassy Knoll two hours before the shooting; it appears Ruby was doing just a touch of driving that day.
Other speculation is that the "Cuban" is none other than Richard Cain, fingered by mob boss Sam Giancana as one of those involved in the events in Dealey Plaza. The resemblance between Cain and the "Cuban" is striking, right down to the thick eyeglasses. More on this as it comes to hand...
"There are guns between me and the White House"
- Bobby Kennedy in a message sent to Jim Garrison during his investigation.
"Don't tell me you silly fuck, hold a press conference."
- Garrison"s reply letter.
On October 21,1992, Earling Carothers Garrison passed away. Bane of the government, the media and researchers alike, Steve Gerlach and E. Burton Mercer look at Big Jim's ferocious career, and examine his place in history...
JIM GARRISON IS A MOVIE STAR, and that's a fact, Jack. No matter how you want to cut it, Big Jim Garrison will forever be recalled in the minds of young moviegoers everywhere as a silk-suited superhero; we have Oliver Stone to thank for that.
And for all the breast-beating and righteous indignation from the likes of George Lardner, Jr., Nicholas Lemann, and researchers Harold Weisberg and Edward Jay Epstein, with claims (now twenty-five years old) that Garrison was "a fraud', his investigation "a farce", the simple fact remains that Big Jim has had the last laugh. With Garrison's death last year, Weisberg can now return to his cavernous files, Epstein can return to his cavernous books, and Lardner can return to whatever the hell it is he does for a living. As for Big Jim, he can chuckle and frolic with the other 20th Century icons in the clouds above, relishing in the security of eternal video re-runs of JFK.
So, what of the Garrison investigation, the trial that put Big Jim on the map? It was virtually thrown out of court by the jury, due in no small part that for all of Garrison's breast-beating and righteous indignation, he still could not prove that Clay Shaw was Clay Bertrand, and even if he was, who the hell says he knew Oswald, Ferrie, Banister et al, not to mention plotted the Crime of the Century, amongst other things? In a grand understatement, one might say that this was Garrison's fatal flaw, his Achilles Heel. Dallas Police Chief Jesse Curry once said that in the final analysis, there was no real evidence that Lee Oswald ever pulled the trigger, one might say the same thing about Clay Shaw.
But does this make the Garrison investigation as farcical as the Warren Commission? Maybe. But on the other hand, if Shaw were to stand trial today, chances are he would have been convicted of criminal conspiracy. We now know that Shaw was affiliated with the CIA (he claimed he wasn't), we know he was intimate with David Ferrie (he claimed he didn't), and we know that he at least knew Lee Harvey Oswald (he claimed he wouldn't). The case against. Oswald, by comparison, reduces itself into the annals of major league, railroading with each passing hour, whereas Garrison's investigation seems to gain weight.
All of this, of course, is distressing for Garrison's critics. Nicholas Lemann, in his shamelessly biased article for the January 1992 GQ Magazine, wrote: "In 1963, [Guy] Banister was a private detective and right-winger involved in anti-Castro activities. And on Oswald's pro-Castro Fair Play for Cuba leaflets was a return address - 544 Camp Street! Garrison is a man who thinks in terms of 'links', and to him this is a rock-solid one; he had no trouble asserting, as a proven fact, that Oswald and Banister knew each other." Statements like this leave one wondering what planet Mr. Lemann has been residing on for the last thirty years; and it is typical of the smarmy, self-satisfied diatribe that has hounded not only Jim Garrison, but all researchers over the last three decades.
One might feel inclined to point out to Mr. Lemann that Garrison's first foray into the Camp Street mysteries came not from his examination of Lee Oswald's FPCC leaflets, but rather a tip-off from Banister employee Jack Martin on the day of the assassination. This coupled with the testimony of numerous eyewitnesses (including Banister's lover, Delphine Roberts) that yes, Oswald was in fact associated with Banister's anti-Castro activities, the subject of the FPCC leaflets simply becomes a point used to buttress Garrison's case. Nicholas Lemann is also obviously painfully unaware that 544 Camp Street was the center of operations for not only the notorious Mongoose excursions in New Orleans, but many other Mafia, FBI, ONI and CIA related activities; one does not have to be a Rhodes scholar to put two and two together and figure out that anyone associated with the goings-on at 544 Camp was at the very least performing some activity related to the anti-Castro infrastructure. Quite frankly, if Oswald was a true Communist, chances are he would feel just plain uncomfortable mixing with the likes of Guy Banister, David Ferrie et al. It's a bit like asking Rabbi Silverstein to while away his spare time at a KKK recruiting center.
Mr. Lemann's only major contribution to the Kennedy assassination, however, is that he was born in New Orleans; this, of course, qualifies him as an expert on assassination lore. Without spending a day of his life either investigating the case, or trying to bring the culprits to justice, Lemann still feels equipped to stand in judgment on Jim Garrison, the only individual to ever secure a conviction in the crime; that, of course, being the perjury charges against New Orleans mob lawyer, Dean Andrews.
Lemann even goes so far as to lay the blame of all of New Orleans woes at the feet of Garrison. He writes: 'I remember feeling excited about Garrison's crusade, in the early days: Finally, something of national import was happening in New Orleans...Thus, when the true nature of Garrison's inquest became apparent, there was a powerful reverberation: The trial's aftermath seemed like a metaphor for the state of the city - that the attention we were attracting because of the Shaw trial was going to be censorious, not admiring; that what we had on our hands, civically, was a tremendous embarrassment; that New Orleans was becoming known as the weirdo capital of the United States."
Ahh, poor Mr. Lemann. Your youth and civic pride were wrestled from you by that hulking weirdo monster, Jim Garrison. Lemann claims that Garrison was attempting to lay the blame of America's ills (Vietnam, race riots, lack of faith in God and government) on the death of John F. Kennedy, as if there was something misguided in this. Yet in the same breath, Lemann lays the blame of New Orleans' ills (probably the same ills that have plagued Louisiana since the Civil War) on the life of Jim Garrison. Go figure. He also equates Garrison's eventual obsession with the Kennedy assassination with the following: "If his [Garrison's] father was a distant, cold or missing figure in his life, it wouldn't surprise me: People who have become fixated on the Kennedy assassination often are engaged in some sort of search for a lost father." Can't argue with that logic; at our first JFK-AIC seminar, the other hot topic, aside from the identity of the "Umbrella Man", was our communal lament for our missing fathers. Child abuse was another biggie.
Still, many assassination researchers, theorists and buffs, even the most forgiving ones, are often hard put to fathom one resounding doubt that lingers over the head of Jim Garrison: The Mafia. To be specific, one Carlos Marcello, a particularly nasty piece of work who is currently residing in the palatial Leavenworth penitentiary on a wire fraud conviction, due for release in a few months. It has often been said that if a full scale investigation were held into the assassination today, Carlos Marcello would be one of the first to have his head lobbed off by the prosecuting attorneys, the weight of evidence against him being great enough to secure a conviction within the first week of trial. Yes, Don Marcello, the witnesses would certainly line up.
So why didn't Garrison, who was conducting a full-scale investigation, pursue Marcello with a vengeance? Why bother with Clay Shaw, involved in some capacity to be sure, but a tenuous link at best? Garrison obviously didn't see the key to the crime in the mob's involvement, opting instead to go after the CIA. In retrospect, a bad move; but then again, the mob could hardly get the motorcade route changed, right, Jim?
The "official" Mafia theory, as postulated by G. Robert Blakey, has Lee Oswald as one of the triggermen, an alternative that Garrison dismissed almost immediately, and rightly so. Yet Garrison, so convinced of the CIA's complicity, could have just as easily gone after Marcello instead, forcing a hole through the mob theory in the process, and then honing in on the intelligence community once the jury were convinced that the Kennedy conspiracy was bigger than just a bunch of fat gangsters getting peeved at the president. It almost becomes a game of Cluedo; the Mafia in the plaza with the Oswald.
Carl Oglesby, writing in Garrison's third and final book, On The Trail Of The Assassins, states: "The Mafia theory of the JFK assassination is most helpful and interesting when viewed as a step in the evolution of the official perception of the ease. It is an improvement over the lone-assassin theory, but its basis in fact still seems tenuous."
Why does it "still seem tenuous"? Because the Mafia, as powerful and all-encompassing as they maybe, could not have created a conspiracy lexion of the dimension we now know it to be. The JFK assassination has all the earmarks of an intelligence operation, a well-financed, well-organized plot, complete with red-herrings and a constant parade of fall-guys; Lee Oswald being the first. Perhaps Garrison understood this before, and better, than anyone, choosing instead to pursue whom he perceived to be the real criminals, bypassing the mob by default in the process. History has now shown this decision to be a clumsy, arrogant tactic, with Garrison (and his staff) failing to realize the full potential of the Mafia leads creeping out of New Orleans.
Yet this hardly, as some critics have stated, set the investigation back "ten years"; on the contrary, Garrison uncovered such a landslide of new evidence that researchers have used as fodder for their own theories many years down the track. Even G. Robert Blakey uses the Ferrie-Oswald-Banister link to buttress his own case, but feels compelled to assail Garrison in the process, not realizing that if it weren't for Jim Garrison, Oswald's adventures in New Orleans may not have been discovered until many years later, when what was left of the evidence was sitting high and dry under an even deeper cloud of myth and innuendo. Garrison was "the man on the spot", hauling in David Ferrie three days after the assassination, and setting in motion a chain of events that have led every serious researcher to conclude that New Orleans (not the Tippit murder, as David Belin claims) is in fact the Rosetta stone of the case. Although the mysteries of that bizarre summer in Louisiana may not be unlocked for decades, the persistence of Garrison and his staff (Mark Lane among them) has laid a foundation that may reveal more about the plot to kill the president than any of us have ever dared imagine.
This is Garrison's legacy; the ability to say that for all his false starts and false leads, at least he lived it, tasted it, felt it. He brought a spotlight to the case that had been so desperately, and so purposely lacking since that Black Friday in Dallas. Garrison came in kicking and screaming like no one before, and no one since. He suffered amazing pain, reveled in unparalleled joy, and got close to the truth about a murder that has shaken the very foundation of the American psyche. Garrison did what every researcher and critic alike wishes he or she had done a hundred times over: Garrison kissed God.
The serious wounding of Gov. John Connally of Texas occurred after Zapruder film frame 260, with two bullets - one piercing the back near the right armpit, the other shattering the right wrist. Neither missile could have been fired from the Texas School Book Depository sixth floor "snipers nest".
Zapruder frame 225 shows President Kennedy's reaction to the "magic bullet', however, Gov. Connally remains uninjured, and continues to turn to his right. Josiah Thompson, in his 1966 book Six Seconds In Dallas, is incorrect in his theory that Connally is hit at Z238, because Connally is still turning to his right. Even recent experts have placed the back shot at Z252.
As Diagram 1 displays, Connally has managed to revolve almost 180 degrees to see President Kennedy's raised arms (from the throat wound) as he slumps into his wife's arms. The first light pole after the Stemmons freeway sign is also visible, and Connally has transferred his Stetson hat to his right hand.
1) {{{{{Diagrams available in magazine only... }}}}}
One or two frames later, as Diagram 2 shows, Connally reacts to a wound; his mouth is wide open. Nellie Connally, the governor's wife, recalls Connally groaning, "Oh no, no, no...".
According to his own testimony to the Warren Commission, Connally stated: "...I had time to turn to my right, and started to turn to my left before I felt anything."
This explains why it appears that Connally is looking towards the concrete abutment when his body begins to fall - as a result of his wounding. As he begins his movement across to the left, his right wrist begins to rise; however, it is unclear when his wrist was struck. By the time of Kennedy's fatal head shot at Z313, the governor and Mrs. Connally have crouched down - therefore, only the wounds themselves may reveal where the wrist shot came from.
Five wounds were recorded by the trauma room surgeon upon the initial examination of Governor Connally; a summary follows: The entry wound near the right armpit had clean cut edges, with a slightly oblong shape, measuring 3cm x ?; the diameter of the wound was never recorded. The downward trajectory through the body was calculated at 25 degrees, where it shattered approximately 10cm of the front fifth rib, piercing the lung, severing the arteries and nerve tissue. Upon exit, my suggestion is that the bullet has fragmented; the resulting metal pieces, combined with bone fragments, blasted a ragged wound of 5cm x 5cm below the right nipple.
The right wrist entry wound was 2 inches above the joint, parallel with the thumb, and measured 1/2 cm x 2 1/2 cm, making it cigar shaped.
2) {{{{{Diagrams available in magazine only...}}}}}
X-rays indicated metal fragments deposited on the smashed right radius bone. The exit wound was an elongated cigar shaped wound approximately 3cm long. The left thigh received a metal fragment in the femur, 1cm in diameter, 5-6 inches above the knee. This wound was cleaned and sutured shut; the fragment is still intact in the governor's leg.
Diagram 3 displays the locations of potential shooters at the rear of the presidential limousine, with only one location from this frame able to provide a direct bullet path to Connally, without striking Kennedy. Diagram 4 is a close up of the trajectory of the bullet which may have been fired from the Dallas County Records Building. A shot that passed through Kennedy, or a ricochet, could not have produced a clean edged entry wound. The twisting of Connally's torso in order to view Kennedy, and his slight movement back to his original position, adding to the 19 degree angle of trajectory may explain why the bullet traversed downward at 25 degrees through the body.
3) {{{{{Diagrams available in magazine only... }}}}}
Further evidence of a Records Building shooter materialized in the 1970s when a 30.06 shell casing was found, indicating the use of a "sabot".
The cigar shaped wound in Connally's wrist indicates a sharp trajectory in order for the bullet to create this clean cut, but elongated, injury. A likely shooting nest to produce such a wound is the 6th floor of the Texas School Book Depository - but on the western edge, as opposed to the eastern edge "sniper's nest". This is the best position for a Book Depository assassin; he would have been on the right side of the governor, thus producing the necessary angle to cause a cylindrical type of injury.
4) {{{{{Diagrams available in magazine only... }}}}}
To support his claim, the western edge window remained open prior to, and after, the shooting, and is further confirmed by the discovery of a German Mauser rifle in that eastern corner during the Dallas police search.
The thigh wound is a metal fragment still embedded in the governor's leg; no test has ever been performed to prove its origin. Therefore, with the many fragments discovered in the presidential limousine, any fragment could have produced the governor's thigh wound, although it is possible that the fragmented bullet that smashed Connally's wrist could have continued on to hit his thigh.
This suggests the possibility for two assassins at two different locations behind the president, both of whom missed Kennedy completely. The destruction of 10cm of rib bone, the shattering of a radius bone, and the 1cm of metal planted in the governor's thigh alone makes a mockery of the "single bullet" theory.
Paul A. Jones
With Oliver Stone's JFK going at a slightly frenetic pace, here are some things that you might have missed...
* Perry R. Russo, Garrison's real-life star witness, is seen applauding JFK's death in Napoleon's Restaurant as Garrison (Kevin Costner) stares at the TV in grief.
ON OCTOBER 29, 1992, ON THE AMERICAN television show Top Cop, the dust jackets were tugged off and a rusty machine was put into action. M.N. 'Nick' McDonald, "the man who arrested Lee Harvey Oswald" in front of the since-remodeled Texas Thee-ate-er, was interviewed. In twenty-five words or less, it was Hollywood and the Warren Commission at their finest.
On a more serious note, however, it seems like just another example of "dust-them-off-and-let-them-spout-the-official-version" that has categorized Warren Commission apologists since the release of the Report back in September '64. Back then, for those old enough to remember, the best apologists were the media: They swallowed the Report whole and were shocked and dismayed when the first generation of critics - Weisberg, Fox, Sauvage, Epstein and Lane - had the temerity, nay, the gall, to challenge it.
Why not continue and read issue 2 of Probable Cause Australia?
Backcopies of all issues, including all photographs, are still available. Just contact the editor via the Feedback link on the Probable Cause Australia welcome page.
N.B. The opinions expressed above are not necessarily those of the editor but all comments will be passed on to the relevant authors.
