Request for help with research!

Dear fellow assassination researchers,

I require some assistance in my research into the suspicious actions of DPD Sgt Gerald Hill, following the assassination of President Kennedy. On John Simkin’s education forum, researcher Duke Lane made the claim that Gerald Hill had his arm accidentally grabbed and (almost) handcuffed by a fellow Officer during Oswald’s arrest at the Texas Theatre.

Although I trust Duke Lane; as I consider him to be an honest researcher, I am unable to locate the interview/report in which it is claimed that Hill had his arm (almost) handcuffed. The significance of this claim is that DPD Officer Ray Hawkins claimed in his report to DPD Chief Jesse Curry concerning Oswald’s arrest (here), and during his Warren Commission testimony, that Hill had grabbed “Oswald’s” gun during the scuffle with Oswald inside the Theatre.

As I explained in this two part article, Hill was most likely involved in framing Oswald for the murder of DPD Officer, J.D Tippit! I would like to know if it was definitely Hill who had his arm grabbed and (almost) handcuffed, and if it was Officer Hawkins who had grabbed Hill’s arm during the scuffle. If it was indeed Hawkins, then he had most likely grabbed Hill’s arm because he had seen a gun in his hand. It would also certainly explain why Hawkins’s was fairly adamant that it was Hill who had “grabbed” the gun inside the Theatre.

Let me also state that DPD Captain William Ralph Westbrook claimed during his Warren Commission testimony that one of the Officers did have his arm accidentally grabbed inside the Theatre, but didn’t know which Officer it was. Furthermore, DPD Officer John Toney who was also present inside the Theatre at the time of Oswald’s arrest, informed Larry Sneed who authored the book No more silence, that he heard one of the Officers yell out “somebody let go of my arm you SOB; you’re breaking my arm!”

I would greatly appreciate any and all help that can be provided. Please email me the information you are willing to provide me to g.hasan.yusuf@gmail.com.

P.S

I realise that I wrote my article on Hill three months ago. However, I have only recently returned to this particular issue concerning Hill.

The Oswald innocence campaign

Ralph Cinque and his friends in the “Oswald innocence campaign” have been raving and ranting that Oswald was standing outside in the doorway of the TSBD and watching President Kennedy’s motorcade as the shots were fired. The man who is supposedly Oswald; seen in the famous James “Ike” Altgens photograph taken at the equivalent of Zapruder frame 255, has been identified as Billy Nolan Lovelady – one of Oswald’s former co-workers at the TSBD, who does bear a resemblance to Oswald.

This issue has been discussed at great length by researchers in the past, and all the evidence indicates that the man in the doorway was Billy Lovelady – and not Oswald. Yet this doesn’t stop disinformation shills such as Cinque from declaring that Oswald was in fact in the doorway, nor does it stop him from insulting those researchers whom disagree with this outlandish claim.

I have also researched this claim for some time, and have found absolutely no convincing evidence that Oswald was in the doorway at the time of the assassination. Just consider the fact that no witness to the assassination has ever claimed that Oswald was standing outside the TSBD when the shots were fired! In fact, several of the TSBD employees, such as Buell Wesley Frazier and Ruth Dean, have claimed that it was Lovelady who was standing in the doorway. Also, consider the fact that Oswald never claimed during his interrogations with the DPD, the FBI etc. that he was outside the TSBD as the shots were fired!

Furthermore, why would the conspirators take the enormous risk of witnesses seeing Oswald outside the TSBD, when he was supposed to be on the 6^th floor assassinating the President? There is good reason to believe that Oswald was framed, such as the wallet discovered at the Tippit murder scene, and the demonstrably phoney backyard photographs of “Oswald” holding the rifle (a discussion of the wallet issue can be found here).

Finally, and most significantly in my opinion, Oswald was seen shortly after the assassination on the first floor by the Vice President of the TSBD, Occhus Campbell. Campbell related this information to the NY Herald Tribune on the day following the assassination. Furthermore, Roy Truly, the superintendent of the TSBD, was overheard by Dallas morning news reporter, Kent Biffle, informing DPD Captain Fritz that he had seen Oswald on the first floor, as he and Officer Marrion Baker entered the building shortly following the shots (a discussion of this issue can be found here).

Yet Cinque and his fellow disinformation shills mention none of this whilst proudly and loudly declaring that they have proven Oswald was in the doorway of the TSBD. JFK assassination researcher, Joseph Backes, has been relentlessly arguing against Cinque’s utter bullshit. For those who are unaware, Backes runs a blog which he has appropriately entitled Ralph Cinque is a stupid bitch (see here). I for one commend Backes for all his efforts in arguing against Cinque’s stupidity.

One of Cinque’s most outlandish claims is that James Altgens and his wife, Clara Altgens, were murdered, because Altgens had taken the infamous photograph of the doorway man. At least that’s what Cinque believes. Altgens and his wife were discovered dead in their home on December 12, 1995 (see Backes’ blog for more information).

As Backes wrote on his blog, why would the conspirators wait over 30 years to “silence” Altgens - and for some reason, his wife as well? Honest to God, it is because of kooks such as Cinque that many people believe all JFK assassination conspiracy advocates are not to be trusted. As a matter of fact, the so-called mysterious deaths debate is one area of discussion which I tend to keep away, as I believe the number of mysterious deaths has been grossly exaggerated. However, let me state for the record that I do believe the deaths of people such as Dorothy Kilgallen, David Ferrie, and Gary Underhill are very suspicious.

Of course, Cinque and his friends are not alone in promoting bullshit. There are many other shills, such as Cliff Varnell, who are more concerned about promoting their own pet theories than in seeking the truth behind the assassination. Varnell is a member of John Simkin’s education forum, and is known for chastising fellow members who don’t subscribe to his belief that President Kennedy’s back wound was located at about the level of the third thoracic vertebrae – as per Admiral George Burkley’s death certificate. I have discussed this issue in this post.

Varnell constantly clashes on Simkin’s forum with Craig Lamson. Lamson is an ultra-right wing psychopathic asshole whom, by his own admission, takes pleasure from insulting fellow members of the forum. As we get closer to the 50^th anniversary of the assassination, I think it is of the utmost importance that we avoid these disinformation shills, who are more interested in promoting their own theories, than in seeking the truth behind President Kennedy’s tragic and unfortunate murder.

The throat shot: From the front?

It is well known that the majority of JFK assassination conspiracy advocates believe the wound to President Kennedy’s throat was caused by a bullet fired from in front of the President’s limousine. Although I had briefly discussed this issue here, I believe it deserves a separate discussion.

Just as virtually all lone gunman zealots and Warren Commission defenders believe the single bullet theory is in reality a fact (an utterly absurd notion as I explained previously), there are many conspiracy advocates whom wholeheartedly believe that the small neat wound to President Kennedy’s throat was caused by a bullet fired from the front.

Now believe me, for quite a while, I was also of the firm belief that the wound to the throat was caused by a shot from the front. However, after reading through the highly illuminating and thorough work by researcher Pat Speer on this issue, I have since changed my mind. I am now of the firm opinion that the small neat wound to the throat was caused by either a bullet or bullet fragment from the shot which struck near the President’s EOP (See here for a discussion of the wound near the EOP).

Let’s bear in mind that Dr Malcolm Perry, who had performed a tracheostomy on the President at Parkland Memorial hospital in an attempt to save his life, informed the chief autopsy pathologist, Dr James Joseph Humes, that the throat wound was approximately 3 to 5 mm in diameter. There has been much debate on whether this information was provided to Dr Humes on the night of the assassination or the following morning. However, the important point is that the size of the wound observed by Dr Perry (and other Parkland Doctors and nurses) was too small to have been caused by a 6.5 mm bullet allegedly exiting from President Kennedy’s back – as per the single bullet theory.

Despite the utter bullshit and lies by lone gunman kooks, the most credible evidence indicates the throat wound was caused by the bullet or bullet fragment from the shot near the President’s EOP. Keep in mind that Dr Humes’ report on the President’s autopsy contains the following crucial piece of information (obtained from the JFK Lancer website).

“Dr. Perry noted the massive wound of the head and a second much smaller wound of the low anterior neck in approximately the midline. A tracheostomy was performed by extending the latter wound. At this point bloody air was noted bubbling from the wound and an injury to the right lateral wall of the trachea was observed.”

As we can see, Dr Humes received information from Dr Perry that “bloody air” was observed bubbling from the wound as the tracheostomy was performed. For those of you who wish to learn exactly what a tracheostomy is, I recommend you read through this article.

Now although the wound from which bloody air was observed “bubbling from” could have been the throat wound, there is evidence that the wound in question was in fact the head wound. As Pat Speer explains on his website, the Parkland hospital Doctors and Nurses involved in the desperate attempt to save the President’s life believed the throat wound and the head wound were connected. In fact, one of the Doctors, Robert McClelland, expressed the belief that the throat wound was caused by a bullet fragment.

Furthermore, Speer provided information concerning a video presentation of former Parkland hospital Doctor, Marion Jenkins, who had administered the oxygen to President Kennedy following Dr Perry’s tracheostomy incision. The presentation was provided by Jenkins’ daughter, Christine Jenkins, in 2008. The late Jack White was one of the witnesses to the presentation, and provided the following information.

"Each time he [Jenkins] squeezed on his air bag, bubbles of blood came out the brain wound."

Jack White’s observation from the presentation corroborates that the wound “bloody air was noted bubbling from” was the head wound – although Speer claims White was mistaken about his observation. Speer also explains that the X-ray of President Kennedy’s neck indicates the presence of air bubbles – which would result from the oxygen supplied from the tracheostomy procedure. For more information, I strongly encourage you to read through Speer’s impressive work on his website here. The bottom line is the evidence indicates the wound to the President’s throat was not caused by a shot fired from the front.

In my opinion, one of the most ridiculous conspiracy theories concerning the assassination is that the throat wound was inflicted by a poison/paralysing fletchette fired from the umbrella of the so-called umbrella man. The umbrella man can be clearly seen in films and photographs of the assassination holding up an open umbrella as the President’s motorcade goes by him.

During the HSCA’s investigation of the assassinations of President Kennedy, a man named Louis Steven Witt informed the committee that he was the infamous umbrella man. Although I am not entirely satisfied that Witt was the umbrella man, I don’t believe for even a microsecond that the umbrella man fired a fletchette of any kind into the President’s throat.

The conspiracy advocates who support this absurd theory are apparently more concerned about their own agenda than the evidence provided by Pat Speer. Furthermore, by all likelihood the assassins would be highly skilled marksman, and would be shooting at the President using the telescopic sight of their rifles. So why the heck would the conspirators require the umbrella man to fire a fletchette to paralyse/poison the President? I honestly shake my head in disbelief at utter non-sense such as this.

As “proof” that a paralysing fletchette was fired into the President’s throat, these theorists cite the reaction of the President between frames 224 and 313 of the Zapruder film – as he clutches at his throat and slumps forward and to the left, becoming motionless. It certainly does appear that he had been paralysed. However, after just having received an injury to his throat (and most likely to his cerebellum as I explained previously), his reaction is perfectly understandable.

Others have claimed that the umbrella man was using the umbrella to signal the assassins that the President had not yet been killed. Although I wouldn’t call this an absurd notion, why would the assassins need to be signalled that the President had not been killed, when they could see that he wasn’t killed through the telescopic sight of their rifles? It frankly makes no sense at all to me. Besides, it is highly unlikely that the conspirators would want the assassins to focus their attention on the umbrella man rather than on shooting the President.

In my opinion, the most reasonable explanation for the umbrella man’s actions is that he was sending a message to the President with the umbrella. This issue has been discussed extensively at both the JFK Lancer forum, and on John Simkin’s Spartacus education forum. On a final note, let me reiterate that the most credible evidence indicates the wound to the President’s throat was caused by a bullet or bullet fragment from the shot near the EOP.