ONLY
THE FACTS?
EYEWITNESS
TESTIMONY VS. THE LONE-GUNMAN THEORY
Michael T. Griffith
2000
@All Rights Reserved
Second Edition
As Warren Commission (WC) supporter John McAdams
and I were recently discussing Oswald's whereabouts during the shooting, it
struck me that lone-gunman theorists must repeatedly simply dismiss contrary
eyewitness testimony, no matter how credible or well corroborated it is. Yet,
they claim the lone-gunman theory is virtually devoid of speculation, that it's
based "only on the facts." They label all other positions, especially
the conspiracy view, as wholly speculative. In their view "all the
evidence" indicates Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone, shot President
Kennedy, and that there was no conspiracy of any kind. Of course, there is
plenty of good evidence that President Kennedy was killed by a conspiracy. But
that is a subject for another article. For now, let's look at some of the
issues on which lone-gunman theorists are forced to dismiss contrary testimony,
no matter how credible or substantial.
THE TIPPIT SHOOTING
Lone-gunman theorists must ignore two
eyewitness reports, which were uncontradicted at the time, that the gunman who
shot Tippit was walking toward Tippit's car before Tippit stopped him.
Indeed, not only must WC supporters dismiss these witnesses' accounts, but they
must also ignore the fact that all of the initial official reports on
the shooting matter of factly said the assailant was walking toward the
car. The only witness who said otherwise was the unbelievable Helen
Markham, and Mrs. Markham did not make this claim until many weeks after the
shooting. Why do lone-gunman theorists claim the assailant was walking away
from the car before Tippit was shot? Because otherwise the assailant could not
have been Oswald, unless Oswald had a ride, which lone-gunman theorists are not
willing to even consider since that would indicate conspiracy.
THE LARGE AND BULKY PACKAGE
WC supporters must dismiss the testimony of
the only two people who saw the bag prior to the shooting! I refer to
Buell Frazier and to his sister Linne Randle. Both of them, independently, said
the package was 24-27 inches long, and both insisted the package in evidence,
when unfolded, was much longer than the package they saw. Why do lone-gunman
theorists assume Frazier and his sister were both mistaken, even though their
testimony was mutually corroborating? Because if the package was no more than
27 inches long, it could not have contained a disassembled Carcano rifle, the
alleged murder weapon.
HOW OSWALD CARRIED THE LONG AND BULKY
PACKAGE INTO THE BUILDING
Frazier said Oswald carried the package with
one end cupped in his hand and the other end tucked under his armpit. Frazier
said he didn't focus on how Oswald carried the package (no one would expect him
to have done so anyway), but that he was fairly certain that was how Oswald
carried it. Frazier's account is lent further credence by the fact that Jack
Dougherty saw Oswald enter the building but did not see anything in his hands.
If Oswald carried the package the way Frazier described, this could explain why
Dougherty didn't see it. However, lone-gunman theorists insist Frazier was in
error on this point as well. Why? Because if Oswald carried the package the way
Frazier said he did, the package could not have contained a disassembled
Carcano rifle, the alleged murder weapon.
THE ORIGIN OF THE SHOTS
As Stewart Galanor proves in his superb
recent book Cover-Up, a solid majority of the witnesses who commented on
the origin of the shots said they came from in front of the limousine. Some of
those witnesses said they were absolutely certain of this. One such witness was
even asked if he might have heard echoes. He replied he was sure that from
where he was standing he was not hearing echoes. Right after the shots were
fired, dozens of people in the plaza rushed toward the grassy knoll, which was
to the right front of the limousine during the shooting. Several people ran to
tell policemen that shots were fired from the knoll. One witness saw a man
running away from the back of the knoll and into the railroad yard after the
shooting. Several other witnesses saw puffs of smoke or smelled the scent of
gun powder on or near the knoll. One witness reported seeing a man carrying
what looked like a rifle wrapped in a bag or case onto the knoll before the
shooting. Another witness saw two cars that were apparently scouting the area
behind the knoll prior to the shooting. I discuss this and other evidence in my
JFK web page article "The Grassy Knoll and Shots from the Front."
What do lone-gunman theorists say about all this eyewitness testimony? They say
it is all either mistaken or deliberately false! They accuse some of the
witnesses of outright lying. For the most part, though, they argue the
witnesses were simply mistaken.
EXTRA MISSED SHOTS
As I show in my article "Extra Bullets
and Missed Shots in Dealey Plaza," there are credible reports of extra
missed shots, of misses that the lone-gunman theory cannot possibly explain.
One particularly compelling extra miss was reported by a noted journalist based
on what he was told on the scene by a police official. This missed shot was
matter of factly reported in the local press. This reporting even included an
acknowledgment of the miss by Lt. J. C. Day, a crime-scene technician with the
Dallas Police Department. But, according to lone-gunman theorists, it was all a
huge mistake, a big misunderstanding. One WC supporter has even suggested the
dug-out area of the grass that was initially reported to have been dug by a
missed shot was actually dug by flying brain matter from Kennedy's skull! Of
course, lone-gunman theorists dismiss all the reports of extra missed shots
because they are bound by the WC's three-shot scenario.
THE TAGUE INCIDENT
During the shooting James Tague was struck
by a piece of concrete in the face (or possibly by a bullet fragment). The
initial reports said a bullet struck the curb near Tague (and it was assumed
this had sent concrete flying toward him). Tague himself said this. So did a
policeman on the scene. So did press reports about the incident. In fact, the
mark on the curb was even photographed with captions relating that the mark was
caused by a missed shot. But, according to lone-gunman theorists, Tague was
wrong, the policeman was wrong, and the press got it wrong.
The history of the pro-WC camp's handling of
the Tague incident would be comical were the subject not so serious. At first
the curb mark had supposedly disappeared--the Dallas FBI claimed it couldn't
find the mark and suggested it had been erased by street cleaners! (Weeks later
the mark was still visible and was readily found by an FBI agent from
And what caused the mark? WC supporters have
advanced various theories on this point. One theory is that a fragment from the
head shot made it. Another theory says a fragment from an early miss bounded
beneath the limo and struck the curb. Another theory holds that the
"first" shot struck a limb of the oak tree in the plaza, which
supposedly separated the lead core from the shell and sent the lead core
streaking toward the curb. These theories are untenable, obviously. Lately a
few lone-gunman theorists have resorted to suggesting the curb mark wasn't even
made during the shooting!
WHICH SHOT CAUSED THE TAGUE CURB MARK?
Tague said it was the second shot. But,
lone-gunman theorists say he was mistaken. Why? Because lone-gunman theorists
now argue that the "first" shot must have been the miss. So, the man
who was struck in the face says it was the second shot, but WC supporters
dismiss his account as mistaken because they now believe the "first"
shot must have missed, and they can't allow for any other misses. (By the way,
in order to assume the sixth-floor shooter fired this "first-shot
miss," lone-gunman theorists must assume this gunman completely missed,
not just Kennedy, but the entire huge limousine, and this with his first and
closest shot! Even the WC said this scenario was improbable. But for now it is
thoroughly in vogue among lone-gunman theorists.)
THE MAN WHO WAS SEEN LEAVING THE REAR OF THE
TSBD
Two witnesses reported they saw a man flee
from the rear of the TSBD. Two other witnesses reported seeing a man who
appeared to be in flight from the TSBD (12 HSCA 8-9). What few responses I have
been able to elicit from lone-gunman theorists on this subject have all been to
the effect that all these witnesses were mistaken, that the man really wasn't
fleeing.
THE MAN WHO JUMPED INTO THE NASH RAMBLER
STATION WAGON
Credible witnesses, including a decorated
deputy sheriff, said they saw a man hurriedly leave the TSBD and jump into a
waiting Nash Rambler station wagon. We even have photos that show the station
wagon in the plaza at the right time. So what do WC supporters say about this?
They accuse the deputy sheriff of lying. What about the other witnesses? Well,
I don't recall ever being able to get a lone-gunman theorist to explain these
other witnesses' testimony. What about the photos of the station wagon? Just a
coincidence, say lone-gunman theorists. Why do lone-gunman theorists accuse the
deputy sheriff of lying? Because he said the man who jumped into the station
wagon was a dead ringer for Oswald; in fact, the deputy was convinced the man
was Oswald. But, even though the deputy had an excellent reputation, even
though he had been promoted rapidly and recognized for outstanding achievement,
WC supporters claim he was lying about the man and the Nash Rambler.
MOVEMENT IN THE SIXTH-FLOOR WINDOW AFTER THE
SHOOTING
Two credible witnesses, one of whom was a
law clerk in a nearby building, reported they saw movement in the sixth-floor
window within a few minutes after the shooting. The law clerk, Lillian
Mooneyham, told the FBI she saw a man in the sniper's window a few minutes
after the shots were fired. Of course, this poses a problem for WC supporters,
because Oswald could not have been the person moving around in the window
(since they must assume Oswald exited the sniper's nest in a matter of seconds
in order to have any hope of getting him to the second-floor lunchroom where he
was seen by a police officer about 90 seconds after the shooting). So,
lone-gunman theorists simply dismiss the two witnesses' accounts as
"mistaken."
WHERE WAS THE REAR HEAD ENTRY WOUND?
The autopsy doctors, all three of them,
along with three witnesses at the autopsy, said the rear head entry wound was
just a fraction of an inch above the external occipital protuberance (EOP).
But, since a wound in that location could not have been made by a bullet fired
from the sixth-floor window, lone-gunman theorists opine that the autopsy
pathologists "mislocated" the wound by a staggering 4 inches, even
though the entire area of the back of the head is only about 5 to 6 inches
high. They claim the wound was actually 4 inches higher than where the autopsy doctors
said it was, which places the wound in the area of the cowlick. To be fair,
lone-gunman theorists cite the autopsy x-rays and photos. But, those items are
no longer the seemingly iron-clad evidence they once seemed to be. The photo of
the rear head entry wound has come under strong attack, and a government
medical panel's own measurements of the wound place the wound near the EOP when
measured against the ruler in the photo! (In all seriousness, one WC supporter
has argued this is an optical illusion!) As for the x-rays, private expert
examination of the radiographs has determined there is no entry wound in the
proposed higher location, and it turns out that even one of the HSCA's own
radiologic consultants told the committee the x-rays did not establish the existence
of the alleged higher location.
I have asked WC supporters something like
the following: Do you really think that three autopsy pathologists, who handled
the wound with the scalp reflected, inside and out, could have so horrendously
erred as to "misplace" it by a staggering 4 inches? Their answer:
Yes. What about the other witnesses who said the wound was where the autopsy
doctors located it in the autopsy report? According to lone-gunman theorists,
they were all mistaken.
THE SHIRT OF THE SIXTH-FLOOR GUNMAN
All five of the witnesses who said they saw a gunman in the
sixth-floor window during or right after the shooting said he was wearing a
light-colored shirt. But this poses a problem, since Oswald wore a brown shirt
to work that day. So, rather than suggesting that all those witnesses were
wrong about the shirt's color, lone-gunman theorists argue that Oswald took off
his brown shirt prior to the shooting and thus was wearing his white T-shirt when
seen by witnesses. However, four of those five witnesses also said the
light-colored shirt had a collar, and the fifth witness said it might have had
a collar. What do lone-gunman theorists say about this? They say the witnesses were
simply mistaken about this detail. Otherwise, the gunman could not have been
Oswald.
WHERE WAS THE LARGE HEAD WOUND?
Dozens of witnesses, in three different
locations, said President Kennedy's large head wound was in the back of the
skull. Some said it was in the right rear part of the skull, while others said
it was squarely in the middle of the back of the head, which is really only a
difference of about an inch or so. These witnesses definitely didn't describe a
wound above and forward of the right ear, which is where it is seen to be in
the autopsy photos (the x-rays are somewhat of a different matter). One of the
witnesses who reported seeing a wound in the rear of the skull was Clint Hill,
who saw the wound twice, once while he lay sprawled on the back of the limo on
the way to the hospital in
Another "back of the head" witness
is Tom Robinson, who was the mortician who helped to reassemble Kennedy's skull
after the autopsy. Robinson has told private and official investigators that the
large defect was definitely in the rear of the head. He specifies he is certain
of this because it made such an impression on him and because he handled it. He
adds that there was a visible defect in the rear of the skull even after the
inclusion of late-arriving fragments from
Still another "back of the head"
witness is the nurse who cleaned the wound and who packed it with cotton gauze
squares, Diana Bowron. She told the WC the wound was in the back of the head,
and in recent years she provided a diagram of the wound's location, placing it
in nearly the same location as the other witnesses. Bowron dismisses the claim
that the large wound was above and forward of the right ear.
Lone-gunman theorists cannot tolerate a
large wound in the rear of JFK's skull because it would clearly indicate a shot
from the front. So, they opine that all of these witnesses, many of whom were
doctors and nurses, were and are mistaken.
Now, it should be pointed out that
lone-gunman theorists cite the autopsy x-rays and photos to support their
rejection of the eyewitness accounts of a large wound in the back of the head.
But, here too, the tables have turned; the autopsy x-rays and photos can no
longer be viewed as ironclad evidence.
The x-rays and photos don't even agree with
the autopsy report's description of the large wound. The autopsy report
specifies that part of the large wound extended into the occipital area, which
is in the rear of the skull. But the autopsy photos don't show this. For that
matter, the photos don't even agree with the x-rays on a number of important
matters, as researchers have pointed out.
A professional photographer and a photo
analyst have challenged the authenticity of the autopsy photos on technical
grounds, noting numerous technical discrepancies. Also, one of the x-rays has
been found to contain an object that could only have been added to the x-ray
after the autopsy. Another one of the x-rays, the right lateral x-ray, contains
light-to-dark contrasts that have yet to be found in any other x-rays of human
skull, which suggests it has been tampered with. Lone-gunman theorists have yet
to explain the drastic light-to-dark contrast in this x-ray.
Several of the "back of the head"
witnesses who have seen the autopsy photos have denounced them as fakes. When
the Assassination Records Review Board interviewed witnesses from the autopsy,
witness after witness, though they declined to come out and say the photos were
fake, noted that the photos did not show the large wound in the location in
which they recalled seeing it. Furthermore, several witnesses who were at or
connected with the autopsy have surfaced who report they either saw or were
told about autopsy photos that showed a large wound in the back of the skull
(two of the witnesses report they SAW such photos).
What do lone-gunman theorists say about the
remarkable agreement among so many witnesses, in different locations and times
no less, that there was a large wound in the back of the head? They argue that
all of these witnesses were and are mistaken. What about the witnesses who
report seeing autopsy photos that showed a large wound in the back of the head?
Lone-gunman theorists say they are either mistaken or lying. What about the
mortician, who handled the skull and repaired it? Is he "mistaken"
too? Yes, say lone-gunman theorists. How about the nurse who cleaned the wound
and packed it with gauze squares? Is she "mistaken" as well? Yes, say
lone-gunman theorists. And how about Clint Hill, a trained SS agent who was
taken to the morgue for the express, specific purpose of viewing the wounds?
Did he "get it wrong" too? Yes, say lone-gunman theorists. Otherwise,
a shot struck Kennedy from the front, and the autopsy photos in evidence have
been altered.
JACK RUBY AT PARKLAND HOSPITAL
Two people, one of whom knew Jack Ruby, saw Ruby at Parkland Hospital at around 1:30 p.m.
on the day of the shooting, i.e., about an hour after the assassination. The
witness who knew Ruby was Seth Kantor, a respected journalist. Kantor told the
authorities he was absolutely certain he saw Ruby at Parkland Hospital. Kantor
explained that he knew Ruby and that they chatted briefly at the hospital that
afternoon. Since Ruby's presence at the hospital would have been suspicious, to
say the least, and since Ruby vehemently denied having been at the hospital,
the WC concluded Kantor and the other witness were mistaken. For years and
years WC supporters followed the Commission's lead and opined that the two
witnesses who insisted they saw Ruby at Parkland were simply mistaken. Why the
denial in the face of compelling evidence to the contrary? Because, as
mentioned, Ruby had no business being at the hospital, and because critics
voiced the suspicion that Ruby may have planted the so-called "magic
bullet" at the hospital.
In more recent years, many WC supporters
have been willing to acknowledge that Ruby probably was at the hospital, but
they argue that his presence there does not have sinister implications. Why,
then, did Ruby so adamantly deny having been there? If he was there for
innocent reasons, why did he lie about it?
HOW RUBY ENTERED THE BASEMENT TO SHOOT
OSWALD
The WC claimed Ruby walked down the Main
Street ramp to enter the basement of the Dallas Police Department, and that
just a few minutes later he shot Oswald there in the basement as Oswald was
about to be transferred to another jail facility. Lone-gunman theorists
continue to defend this position. But several witnesses who were at or near the
Main Street ramp prior to the shooting insisted Ruby did not go down it.
Indeed, the policeman who was on duty at the top of the ramp vehemently denied
Ruby had walked down it. The policeman said that no one walked down the
ramp, and he volunteered for and then passed a lie-detector test to prove his
veracity.
The HSCA reexamined the matter and concluded
the evidence strongly indicated Ruby did not use the Main Street ramp,
that he must have gotten into the basement through another entrance, and that
he probably received help in doing so. The committee noted the several witnesses
who were near or at the ramp who insisted Ruby did not use that entrance.
In fact, one of the witnesses was a UPI
reporter, Terrance McGarry. McGarry said that at least five minutes before
Oswald was shot, he had stationed himself at the middle of the basement end of
the
Yet, to this day, lone-gunman theorists
claim Ruby entered the basement by walking down the
One thing is clear: The lone-gunman theory
is not based on "just the facts." It is loaded with specious
speculations and highly doubtful assumptions, and it is repeatedly contradicted
by strong, credible evidence.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Michael
T. Griffith holds a Master’s degree in Theology from The Catholic Distance
University, a Graduate Certificate in Ancient and Classical History from
American Military University, a Bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts from
Excelsior College, and two Associate in Applied Science degrees from the
Community College of the Air Force. He
also holds an Advanced Certificate of Civil War Studies and a Certificate of
Civil War Studies from