Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy (76 page)

The next major shock came about 11:20 A.M. Sunday, November 24,
1963, when the prime suspect was fatally shot while in the basement of
Dallas Police Headquarters.

Five days later, Lyndon Johnson moved to block any further investigation of the curious events in Dallas by appointing a "blue ribbon"
commission to probe the entire affair. It was the beginning of total federal
control over the evidence and witnesses in the assassination case.

As with any good investigation dealing with criminal violence, much of
the work in the first hours after the assassination centered around the
medical evidence-that should have clearly shown how many bullets
struck Kennedy and from which direction they came.

Therefore, on the day of the assassination, attention was centered on
two hospitals-Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas and Bethesda Naval
Hospital near Washington, D.C.

Following the assassination there was total confusion and panic in
Dealey Plaza. The Texas School Book Depository was not sealed by police
for at least ten minutes, perhaps as much as twenty minutes-enough time
for an entire squad of assassins to have escaped.

Security was nonexistent on the Grassy Knoll. Policemen, sheriff's
deputies, spectators, and assassination witnesses mingled together in a
confused mass behind the wooden picket fence. Despite this chaos, some
unidentified man managed to give Dallas police a general description of
the possible assassin-". . . a slender white male about 30, 5-feet-10-inches,
[weight] 165, carrying what looked to be a 30-30 or some type of
Winchester"-which was broadcast over the police radio at 12:43 P.M.

Even as evidence was being gathered by police, other evidence may
have been disappearing-such as the bullet taken by an FBI man from the
grass on the south side of Elm Street and the STEMMONS FREEWAY sign.

Despite later reports by federal authorities that Oswald left the scene by
bus and taxi, several people-Deputy Sheriff Roger Craig, Richard Can,
and Marvin Robinson-saw someone matching Oswald's description get
into a Nash Rambler station wagon near the Depository minutes after the
assassination.

Some people in and around Dealey Plaza even believed they saw Jack
Ruby near the scene of the assassination, although the Warren Commission
concluded he was two blocks away at the Dallas Morning News at the
time. These included Julia Mercer, Phil Willis, Jean Hill, and Dallas
policeman Tom Tilson.

Many strange people were in the vicinity of the assassination. Somesuch as the "three tramps" and Mafia character Jim Braden-were even
taken into police custody. However, with the capture of Lee Harvey
Oswald, official interest in those arrests ended. Arrest records for that day
are missing from the National Archives.

Dallas police activity intensified following the shooting of Patrolman
J. D. Tippit. Although never indicted for Tippit's slaying, Oswald has
always been considered guilty of this crime. But an objective look at the
evidence of Oswald's guilt in Tippit's death shows many deficiencies. The
best witnesses to the Tippit shooting were not called to testify before the
Warren Commission and many of the witnesses were unable to positively
identify Oswald as the killer. The manner in which Dallas police lineups
were conducted was unfair and weighted toward identifying Oswald as the
guilty party.

There is still considerable question over the ammunition used as evidence in the Tippit shooting. Recent studies of the spent cartridges found
at the scene increase the evidence of Oswald's innocence. With the
absence of Policeman J. M. Poe's initials from the cartridges and without
the customary bulge of .38 Special ammunition fired from a modified
pistol such as carried by Oswald, it seems unlikely that the shell cases in
the National Archives came from Oswald's revolver.

Many of the witnesses could not identify Oswald's gray jacket as the
one seen on Tippit's killer. Furthermore, since Oswald was seen near his
rooming house six or seven minutes after 1 P.M. and, by the best accounts,
Tippit was killed around 1:10 P.M., it would have been impossible for
Oswald to have reached the crime scene on foot in that span of time.
Furthermore, the concession stand operator at the Texas Theater and
theater patron Jack Davis contend that Oswald was in the theater at the
time Tippit was killed.

The Dallas police recordings of dispatcher orders, responses, and
times has been called into question, since the original police Dictabelt
shows evidence of copying and the police sergeant in charge of the
Dispatch Room recalled that federal agents took the original Dictabelt a
few days after the assassination.

Even the arrest of Oswald is full of questions. For example, why would
an assassin sneak into a theater without paying, thereby drawing attention
to himself when he had enough money on him to buy a ticket? Did
Oswald, in fact, enter without paying since Johnny Brewer last saw him in
front of the theater but did not actually see him enter? Could someone
other than Oswald have led authorities to the Texas Theater? Why didn't
police rush Oswald once he was pointed out to them, rather than slowly
working their way to him? Was Oswald being given an opportunity to
flee? Was Oswald supposed to have been killed resisting arrest? Was Jack
Ruby sitting in the Texas Theater crowd as claimed by George Applin? If
so, was Ruby the mean who "tipped" Sergeant McDonald to Oswald's location? Why did police reports state that the suspect was arrested in the
theater's balcony, and who was the man taken from the rear of the theater
seen by nearby businessman Bernard Haire?

These questions have not been addressed by the federal assassination
investigations, leaving suspicious researchers to devise their own theories
as to the role of Oswald, Tippit, and Ruby in the events of that day.

The key to the JFK assassination may be in the aftermath of the
crime-the unfollowed leads, the presence of Secret Service agents (real or
bogus) in Dealey Plaza where none should have been, the intimidation of
witnesses, the destruction and suppression of vital evidence.

Furthermore, in light of the long-standing involvement of the FBI in
Oswald's life, it is highly significant that Director J. Edgar Hoover telephoned Attorney General Robert Kennedy less than two hours after the
assassination to give him a rundown on Oswald-this at a time when
Dallas police were not even certain of the identity of the man they had in
custody.

]Kennedy's autopsy was] the kind of examination that would not be
tolerated in a routine murder case ... in most major cities of
America.

-Pathologist Dr. Cyril H. Wecht

As the echo of shots died away in Dealey Plaza, Dallas police chief
Jesse Curry, riding in the lead car of Kennedy's motorcade, radioed his
police dispatcher: "Looks like the President has been hit. Have Parkland
stand by."

The motorcade sped up, reaching speeds of nearly eighty miles per hour
during the four-mile race along Stemmons Freeway to the hospital.

Parkland Memorial Hospital remains the major public hospital in Dallas
County today. Almost every victim of violence-from wrecks to gunshot
wounds-is brought to Parkland. Its emergency room is constantly staffed
with doctors and interns well experienced in trauma situations. President
Kennedy could not have asked for more experienced and competent medical attention.

Yet following his autopsy that evening at the National Naval Medical
Center at Bethesda, Maryland, numerous and continuing discrepancies in
the medical evidence arose. These discrepancies have provided a source of
controversy that continues even today.

If one assumes there was some sort of conspiracy involved in the
assassination, the questions over the medical evidence provide a good
starting point for determining its scope.

But before examining the tangled morass of medical evidence, there is a
small question of the presidential limousine's arrival at Parkland. Secret
Service driver William Greer testified to the Warren Commission that he
did not know the way to Parkland and so followed Sheriff Decker and
Chief Curry in the lead car. Greer's story is buttressed by the testimony of
two other Secret Service officials, Forrest Sorrels and Winston Lawson.
However, in his testimony, Chief Curry is strangely vague, saying only
that the limousine went to the hospital under "siren escort."

What's the problem? During the time of the House Select Committee on
Assassinations, a film taken by Dallasite Jack Daniel was seen widely for
the first time. Taken just as the motorcade exited from the west end of the
Triple Underpass and entered Stemmons Freeway, this film clearly shows
that both the presidential limousine and the Secret Service backup car had
passed Curry's lead car and were leading the race to the hospital.

How could Washington-based Agent Greer know how to find Parkland
and, more important, why did he state in his Commission testimony, "1 never passed [Curry's car] . . . I was led to the hospital by the police car
who was preceding me"?

Either these highly trained agents panicked and forgot what actually
happened or they lied about it. Since the Daniel film can't lie, the question
remains, how did Greer know how to reach Parkland?

Upon arrival at Parkland at 12:43 P.M., Governor Connally regained
consciousness long enough to attempt to rise, but fell back into the car in
great pain. Connally was lifted onto a stretcher and wheeled into the
hospital. Secret Service Agent Clint Hill removed his suit coat and placed
it over the President's gory head wound to prevent photographs.

However, several persons saw Kennedy's body, including Fort Worth
newsman Roy Stamps. Stamps told researchers: "I rushed up and saw
Kennedy lying in the car on his side. His foot was hanging over the side of
the car. The back of his head was gone."

As other vehicles in the presidential motorcade began arriving at the
Parkland emergency entrance and Connally was placed in Trauma Room
2, Secret Service agents Greer, Kellerman, and Lawson pulled the fatally
wounded president away from Mrs. Kennedy, placed him on a stretcher,
and pushed it into Trauma Room 1. There Kennedy was attended to by no
less than twelve of Parkland's doctors-including four surgeons, the chief
neurologist, an oral surgeon, and a heart specialist.

Dr. Charles J. Carrico, a resident surgeon, was the first doctor to
examine Kennedy. He noted the President was ashen in color, his breathing lacked coordination, there were no voluntary movements, and his eyes
were open with pupils dilated showing no reaction to light. However, a
few chest sounds thought to be heartbeats were heard and immediately
resuscitation efforts were begun. Carrico inserted a cuffed endotracheal
tube in a small puncture wound just below Kennedy's adam's apple. The
tube was connected to a respirator.

Other doctors began arriving and treating the President; fluids and
stimulants were injected and oxygen administered. Cardiac massage was
begun-to no avail.

President Kennedy was pronounced dead at 1 P.M. (CST) by Dr. Kemp
Clark, Parkland's director of neurological surgery.

While one set of Parkland doctors worked on Kennedy, another worked
feverishly to save Connally. A large sucking chest wound caused the
greatest concern for Connally. A bullet had shattered the governor's fifth
rib on his right side, sending bits of bone and metal tearing through his
chest, collapsing one lung. And his right wrist had been broken, the bullet
entering from the top and exiting from the bottom of his wrist. Doctors
also discovered a wound in Connally's left thigh. This wound was cleaned
and sutured shut, although, according to the Warren Report, "a small
metal fragment remained in the Governor's leg."

Vice President Lyndon Johnson also had entered Parkland, but was kept
secluded in a room near the area where efforts were being made to revive the President. About 1:20 P.M., presidential aide Kenneth O'Donnell informed Johnson that Kennedy was dead. According to the Warren Report,
O'Donnell advised Johnson to return to Washington as soon as possible.
However, Mrs. Kennedy refused to leave without her husband's body and
Johnson refused to leave without Mrs. Kennedy.

It was finally decided to leave immediately and to return on Air Force
One because the presidential plane had better communication equipment.
The decision created one of the assassination's most enduring problemswith the President's autopsy performed at Bethesda, two sets of doctors
viewed the body at different times and their descriptions of wounds
differed so widely that controversy remains to this day.

The death of the President was legally a Texas homicide and by law, the
body could not be removed until after an autopsy or a coroner's ruling,
which also would have involved further medical investigation. Totally
against prevailing law and despite the protest of Texas officials, a coffin
was ordered from a Dallas funeral home and Kennedy's body was whisked
away from Parkland Hospital.

After Kennedy's body left Parkland and while Dallas doctors worked on
Connally in a second-floor operating room, another incident occurred in
the hospital that was to have long-reaching effects on the official theory of
the assassination: a hospital worker discovered an intact bullet in a hallway.

During the feverish activity in the emergency room, the hospital's senior
engineer, Darrell C. Tomlinson, was asked to manually operate an elevator
that connected the ground-floor emergency room to the second-floor operating theaters.

Despite efforts by Warren Commission attorney Arlen Spector to confuse the issue during testimony, Tomlinson was remarkably clear on what
happened that day. Tomlinson stated that one hospital stretcher containing
two rolled-up bloody sheets, some surgical instruments, and some sterile
packs was sitting against a wall near the elevator.