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PROOF THAT OSWALD DID NOT SHOOT JFK:
THE BAKER-OSWALD ENCOUNTER
Michael T. Griffith
1996
@All Rights Reserved
The fact that Officer Marrion Baker saw Lee Harvey Oswald on
the second floor of the Texas School Book Depository (TSBD)
building less than 90 seconds after President Kennedy was shot is
proof that Oswald could not have been the assassin. Officer
Baker claimed that he spotted Oswald just inside the foyer door
leading to the second-floor lunchroom. Baker said he saw Oswald
through the foyer door's window. If so, then Oswald could not
have been on the sixth floor during the shooting, and therefore
could not have shot President Kennedy from the window identified
by the Warren Commission (WC) as the point from which all the
shots were allegedly fired.
Let us begin by analyzing Officer Baker's actions after he
heard the shots. Here is how the WC described what Baker did
after he heard gunfire:
When the shots were fired, a Dallas motorcycle
patrolman, Marrion L. Baker, was riding in the
motorcade at a point several cars behind the
President. He had turned right from Main Street
onto Houston Street and was about 200 feet south of
Elm Street when he heard a shot. Baker, having
recently returned from a week of deer hunting, was
certain the shot came from a high-powered rifle.
He looked up and saw pigeons scattering in the
air from their perches on the Texas School Book
Depository Building. He RACED his motorcycle to the
building, dismounted, scanned the area to the west
and pushed his way through the spectators toward the
entrance. There he encountered Roy Truly, the building
superintendent, who offered Baker his help. They
entered the building, and RAN toward the two elevators
in the rear. Finding that both elevators were on an
upper floor, they DASHED up the stairs. (WCR 5, emphasis
added)
The evidence is clear that on the day of the shooting
Patrolman Baker encountered Oswald less than 90 seconds after the
shots were fired. During the WC's reenactments, Baker's fastest
time was 75 seconds; this was the time for his second, and final,
simulation. Although Baker claimed to the Commission that his
75-second reenactment time was the "minimum" time in which he
could have reached the second-floor landing, the evidence
strongly indicates otherwise. For example, Baker admitted to the
WC that in that test he merely "kind of ran" outside the Book
Depository and that he moved only at "kind of a trot" inside the
building. And these were not the only aspects of the WC's
simulations that were unrealistic.
Roy Truly, the building manager who ran ahead of Baker
through the building, likewise said his simulation time was the
minimum time. But Truly did not seem certain about this.
When asked if his simulation pace had even been "about" the same
as his pace on the day of the shooting, Truly replied, "I THINK
so" (3 H 228, emphasis added). If he wasn't positive that the
simulation pace had even been "about" the same as his 11/22/63
pace, one wonders how he could have been certain that his
simulation time was the "minimum" possible time. At one point he
described his simulation pace as a WALK, but then said it was a
"trot." Whenever Truly referred to his 11/22/63 pace through the
building, he consistently used the word "ran" (e.g., 3 H 221,
222, 223, 224, 227). As with Baker's simulation speeds, the
evidence indicates that Truly's reenactment pace was slower than
his pace on the day of the assassination.
Pauline Sanders' testimony and Baker's own filmed statements
in 1988 indicate that Baker ran quite fast after he dismounted
from his motorcycle. In the frames from the Couch film in which
Baker is visible, he is seen to be running rapidly. During the
WC's reenactments, moving slower, and quite possibly starting
slightly earlier than he did on the day of the shooting, Baker
made it to the TSBD's entrance in just 15 seconds.
WC supporters note that the simulations did not attempt to
duplicate Baker's pushing people aside en route to the entrance,
and that therefore in the reenactment Baker made it to the
entrance as fast or faster than he did on the day of the
shooting. But it stands to reason that this action took no more
than 5-6 seconds, and possibly as little as 2-4 seconds.
Whatever small difference in time this action would have made in
the simulation was substantially, if not completely, offset by
the fact that in the simulation Baker moved more slowly than he
did after the shooting.
WC defenders also note that the Commission's simulations did
not take into account the fact that Baker and Truly had to push
their way through a few people as they approached the front of
the TSBD. Truly, however, indicated it took he and Baker very
little time to do this, and that therefore omitting this action
from the simulation didn't really matter:
I said when the officer and I ran in, we were
shouldering people aside in front of the building,
so--we possibly were slowed a little bit more
coming in than we were when he and I came in March
20th [during the simulation]. I DON'T BELIEVE SO.
BUT IT WOULDN'T BE ENOUGH TO MATTER THERE. (3 H
228, emphasis added)
WC supporters point out that the simulations did not take
into account the fact that Baker looked down Elm Street for a
moment before he ran toward the TSBD's entrance. But this action
surely took no more than a second or two. Moreover, Baker said
he did this WHILE HE WAS DISMOUNTING (3 H 248). The omission of
this momentary action, like the omission of the action of pushing
people aside, was at least somewhat offset by the fact that Baker
moved considerably slower in the simulations than he did on the
day of the shooting. Baker's FASTEST pace outside the building
during the simulations was only "kind of a run." Yet, in the
Couch film Baker is seen to be running at a rapid pace.
During the abovementioned 1988 filmed interview, Baker said
it took him only "a very few seconds" to reach the TSBD's
entrance. If Baker was referring to the time it took him AFTER
he dismounted his motorcycle, this would still indicate that
he was running at a rapid pace and that it didn't take him very
long at all to reach the entrance, since it would have taken him
no more than 10 or 15 seconds, and perhaps less, to "race" his
bike 200 feet, dismount, and briefly look down the street.
Similarly, Truly indicated that it didn't take Baker very long at
all to reach the entrance. Truly told the Commission that as
soon as the third shot rang out the crowd around him began to
scream and surge backward, pushing him back to the first step of
the stairs leading to the building's front entrance; then, he
heard a policeman holler. As Truly was pushed back to the first
step, "JUST MOMENTS LATER--I saw a young motorcycle policeman run
up to the building, up the steps to the entrance of our building"
(3 H 221, emphasis added). (Notice Truly said Baker was
"running"--not "trotting" or "kind of trotting," but RUNNING,
which is what we see Baker doing in the Couch film.)
Now let us examine Baker's movements from the time he went
through the entrance until the time he headed up the stairs. On
November 22, Baker said the following in a sworn statement:
As I entered the door I saw several people standing
around. I asked these people where the stairs were.
A man stepped forward and stated he was the building
manager and that he would show me where the stairs were.
I followed the man to the rear of the building and he
said, "Let's take the elevator." The elevator was hung
several floors up so we used the stairs instead.
As mentioned, in the WC's reenactments Baker's FASTEST time
was 75 seconds, and that was when he "kind of ran" outside the
building and moved at "kind of a trot" inside the building. Yet,
both Baker and Roy Truly described exactly what one would expect
under the circumstances--a mad dash. In fact, they were running
so fast that when they encountered a swinging office door on the
first floor that jammed momentarily because the door's bolt had
slid out, Baker ran into Truly's back (3 H 222, 249). So a more
reasonable estimate for Baker's trip to the point where he said
he saw Oswald would be 60-65 seconds. One could make a strong
case that Baker reached the second-floor landing in 50-60
seconds. But, for the sake of argument, let's assume a time
closer to 60 seconds. Therefore, a fair estimate for the time it
took Baker to go from the front door to the first-floor stairs
would be around 30-40 seconds. As will be discussed below, it
could have taken him LESS than 30 seconds.
It should be kept in mind that lone-gunman theorists have
argued that the alleged lone assassin could have made it from the
sniper's nest to the sixth-floor stairs in well under 30 seconds.
(One WC supporter suggested to me that the gunman could have
reached the sixth-floor stairs in 16 seconds.) As we'll see
below, this idea is problematic, given all the things the
gunman allegedly did or would have had to do. However, if we
were to assume that the gunman merely bolted from the window,
stopped for only a few seconds to hide the rifle, and then
continued his dash, he could have reached the sixth-floor stairs
in less than 30 seconds. So, if at least 150 feet could have
been covered in well under 30 seconds on the sixth floor, there
is certainly no reason that Baker and Truly could not have made
it to the first-floor stairs in the same amount of time. (From
the front door to the elevator shaft would have been a distance
of around 90-100 feet. Moving at just a moderate running pace,
the average man can easily cover this distance in around 15
seconds or less. From the elevators to the stairs leading up to
the second floor would have been about 18 feet.)
Baker's trip breaks down as follows (bearing in mind that,
on balance, this timing breakdown is generous to the lone-gunman
theory): 15-25 seconds to go from his bike to the entrance, 25-40
seconds to reach the first-floor stairs, and 5-10 seconds to go
up one flight of stairs. (However, I would guess that it took
the running Baker closer to 5 seconds to reach the second-floor
landing area.) More specific times are provided in the time
lines presented below.
Baker said he spotted Oswald from the second-floor landing
just after he (Baker) reached the landing, when he looked
through the small window of the foyer door. Recounted Baker,
. . . I was coming out this one on the second
floor, and I don't know, I was kind of sweeping
[visually] this area as I come up, I was looking
from right to left and as I got to this door here
I caught a glimpse of this man, just, you know, a
sudden glimpse. . . . (WCR 151)
Baker said Oswald was about 20 feet away when he caught a
glimpse of him, which would have put Oswald right next to the
foyer door. Baker, according to the Warren Commission, then
walked through the foyer door and saw Oswald in the lunchroom
(WCR 151). Oswald had continued walking and thus was still
about 20 feet from Baker. [1] Is this how it happened? There
are problems with Baker's account.
With the foyer door shut, the window would have been at a
45-degree angle to Baker. In all probability, that door, which
was an automatic door, was already closed when Baker looked
through its small window. However, in his WC testimony, Baker
suggested that the door "might" have been moving. There is
reason to question his word on this point. Among other things,
this was the first and only time that Baker suggested the door
might have been in motion. Truly said nothing about the door
having been in motion, and his testimony indicates that he looked
at the door when he reached the landing (the door would have
been right in the middle of his field of view; more will be said
on this point further below).
If the door was still moving, it must have been nearly shut,
or else Baker would have had an even harder time seeing anything
through the window. Baker himself said that the door "might have
been . . . closing AND ALMOST SHUT AT THAT TIME." In other
words, even Baker indicated that if the door was in fact moving
it was "almost shut at that time." Additionally, if Oswald was
20 feet from Baker when Baker spotted him, then Oswald would have
been no more than a foot past the foyer door, in which case the
door--with its slow automatic closing mechanism--would not have
had enough time to close or nearly close if Oswald had just gone
through it.
Another problem with Baker's account is that Baker said he
wasn't even sure if Oswald had gone through the foyer door (3 H
255). Now this is very odd indeed. If Baker spotted Oswald
through the foyer door a second or two after reaching the top of
the stairs, and if the door was "almost shut" when Baker looked
at it, and if Oswald was no more than a foot beyond the door at
the time (as he would have had to be for Baker to see him),
how, then, could Baker have had any doubt about whether Oswald
had walked through that door? (If someone wants to propose that
Baker was referring to the lunchroom door, though he clearly
wasn't, then his uncertainty becomes even more astounding. How
in the world could Baker have had any doubt that Oswald had just
gone through the lunchroom door to reach the lunchroom?)
Perhaps the most serious problem with Baker's account is
that if Oswald was only a foot past the foyer door when he
spotted him, then Roy Truly, who was running AHEAD of Baker,
surely would have seen Oswald either coming off the stairs, or
walking across the landing toward the door, or opening the door.
The Commission itself admitted that Oswald must have gone through
the foyer door only "a second or two" before being spotted by
Baker:
Since the vestibule [foyer] door is only a few
feet from the lunchroom door, the man [Oswald]
must have entered the vestibule door only a second
or two before Baker arrived at the top of the
stairwell. Yet he must have entered the vestibule
door before Truly reached the top of the stairwell
[leading to the second-floor landing], since Truly
did not see him. (WCR 151)
But the Commission never explained HOW Oswald could have
done this. If Oswald had gone through the foyer door BEFORE
Truly reached the top of the stairs, he would have been several
feet beyond the door by the time Baker reached the landing, and
thus would not have been visible to Baker through the window.
And, if Oswald had entered the door "only a second or two" before
Baker reached the top of the stairwell, then Truly could not have
missed seeing him. Nor did the Commission explain how Baker
could have been the least bit unsure about whether or not Oswald
had gone through the foyer door if Baker spotted Oswald right
next to the door and if the door was in any kind of motion at the
time.
Truly told the WC that he had already started up the stairs
to the third floor when he noticed that Baker was no longer
running behind him. Truly also said there was slightly more
distance between him and Baker on the second floor than there was
on the first floor. So, it is reasonable to assume that Truly
gained a view of the second-floor landing a minimum of 2 seconds
before Baker did. Truly's account suggests that Baker was
beginning to tire on his way up the stairs. (This is
understandable, given the fact that Baker had been running very
fast virtually every second after he got off his bike.) Baker
himself said that when he arrived to the landing and began to
scan it, Truly "had already started around the bend to come to
the next elevation going up" (3 H 255). Thus, if Oswald had gone
through the foyer door "a second or two" before Baker spotted
him, Truly could not possibly have missed seeing Oswald coming
off the stairs, or approaching the door, or starting to open the
door.
Truly told the Commission that he was already in the process
of "going around" to the third-floor stairs at the time Baker
would have seen the alleged movement in the foyer door's window
(3 H 226; cf. 3 H 223-224). Interestingly, Truly testified that
he knew nothing about Baker's having supposedly spotted movement
through the door's window until a few days before he testified (3
H 226). Said Truly, "I never knew until a day or two ago that he
said he saw a movement, saw a man going away from him" (3 H 226).
Does it not seem odd that Baker would not have mentioned this to
Truly when he asked Truly if he knew Oswald when they were
standing there in the lunchroom? Does it not seem somewhat
curious that Baker didn't say anything about this to Truly as the
two of them continued up the stairs and to other parts of the
building? One can't be faulted for wondering why Baker, if he
had just seen Oswald right next to and walking away from the
foyer door, didn't ask Truly, when Truly arrived to the
lunchroom, something along the lines of "Hey, I just saw this guy
walking away from that door over there, so are you sure he's OK?"
Nor can one be faulted for wondering why Baker, as he and Truly
continued their search of the building, didn't say to Truly,
"About that guy we just saw downstairs in that lunchroom, you
know I saw him right next to that foyer door, and he was walking
away from it. So are you sure he's legit? You're sure he's OK?"
At this point it should be noted out that in two of his
statements Baker said Oswald was walking away from him when he
spotted him. But, in another statement, Baker said Oswald was
STANDING in the lunchroom when he saw him there. Moreover, on
November 22, Truly said Baker didn't see Oswald until Baker
"stuck his head into the lunchroom area." After studying a
photograph of the view Baker would have had of the foyer door
just after he reached the second-floor landing, I do not believe
Baker spotted Oswald in the manner he described to the WC. This
photo can be seen on page 286 of Gary Savage's book JFK: FIRST
DAY EVIDENCE (photo number 140). It is clear from this picture
that in order for Baker to have "spotted" any kind of "movement"
by Oswald near that door, Oswald would have had to be no more
than a foot beyond the door. But, again, the door would not have
had time to close or nearly close by that time, and Truly could
not have missed seeing Oswald coming off the stairs or crossing
the landing as he approached the door. Another telling
photograph is CE 741, which is a picture taken of the foyer door
from inside the lunchroom. This photo likewise makes it clear
that Oswald would have had to be no more than a foot past the
foyer door in order for Baker to have seen any "movement" on his
part through the door's window (see Savage 289, photo number
143). I believe Baker ran over to the door in order to glance
through the window and then saw Oswald in the lunchroom.
Nevertheless, I have assumed for the sake of argument that Baker
spotted Oswald just after he reached the second-floor landing.
In the Commission's reenactments of Oswald's alleged
movements from the sixth floor to the second floor, the fastest
time of the Oswald stand-in, SSA John Howlett, was 74 seconds.
In this test, Howlett moved at "a fast walk" so that he would not
be out of breath when he reached the lunchroom. This was
necessary because Baker said that Oswald did not appear to be out
of breath but looked "calm and collected." However, Howlett
skipped or fudged on several actions that Oswald allegedly
performed on the sixth floor. For example, instead of carefully
hiding the rifle, as the evidence clearly shows Oswald would have
had to do, Howlett simply "leaned over as if he were putting a
rifle there" (3 H 239, 253; although another account of the
simulation claimed that Howlett did carry a rifle and just leaned
over and dropped it). In addition, Howlett did not chamber a
round in a rifle, as Oswald allegedly did after supposedly firing
the fatal head shot. Nor did Howlett slowly withdraw a rifle
from the window and casually step away from it, as Oswald
allegedly did. Nor did Howlett remain at the window for a few
seconds to gloat over his feat, as Oswald allegedly did. Nor did
Howlett have to squeeze through the tight entrance to the
sniper's nest, as Oswald would have had to do. Nor did Howlett
attempt to simulate even a cursory effort to wipe off the rifle.
Many WC supporters claim that the rifle was not wiped off at
all after it was fired. To be specific, WC apologists opine that
"Oswald" made no effort whatsoever to wipe off the weapon after
he fired it. This is an unlikely scenario. It is hard to
believe that any gunman in that situation would have failed to at
least hurriedly wipe off those parts of the rifle that he had
just handled during the act of shooting. When the alleged murder
weapon was found, the trigger, the rear part of the trigger
guard, the magazine, and the bolt were completely devoid of even
partial prints or smudges. Yet, the forward end of the trigger
guard, i.e., the magazine housing, had some partial prints on it.
However, the gunman would not have made those prints during the
act of shooting since they were located in an area that he would
not have touched while operating the weapon. It is true that the
rifle's metal was not an ideal surface to retain prints, but
prints were found on the magazine housing, yet not even a smudge
was found on the bolt, on the trigger, on the rear part of the
trigger guard, or on the magazine. Before Lt. J. C. Day of the
Crime Lab would allow Captain Fritz to operate the bolt, he
examined it with a magnifying glass and did not report seeing
even a tiny smudge thereon (4 H 258-259). WC supporters do not
believe the alleged lone gunman used gloves. So, why were prints
found on the magazine housing, while not even a smudge was found
on those parts of the rifle that the assassin would have
handled--and handled strongly--during the shooting? It will be
assumed in the time lines that the gunman hurriedly tried to wipe
off those parts of the weapon that he would have handled while
firing it.
How could Oswald have come down the stairs without being
seen by Roy Truly? WC supporters have never been able to provide
a plausible answer to this crucial question. If, as the WC
claimed, Oswald went through the foyer door a second or two
before Baker reached the landing, then (1) Truly should and would
have seen him, and (2) the door would not have had time to shut
or nearly shut behind Oswald by the time Baker looked at it. The
simple fact of the matter is that Oswald could not possibly have
come down the stairs without being seen by Truly. This fact
alone proves that Oswald did not shoot JFK. Moreover, Oswald
could not have done all the things the WC said he did on the
sixth floor and still have made it to the second-floor lunchroom
in time to be seen by Baker just after Baker reached the landing.
It should be noted that Truly and Baker were looking for
someone, a gunman. One can perhaps debate the exact degree to
which Truly was "searching," but there is no doubt that he looked
at the second-floor landing as he was moving and that he would
have seen anyone who might have been near or at the foyer door.
Truly was asked by WC counsel if he was looking straight ahead to
see anyone on his way up the stairs, or if he was just intent on
ascending the stairs (3 H 223). Truly replied,
If there had been anybody in that area, I would
have seen him on the outside. But I was content--I
was trying to show the officer the pathway up, where
the elevators--I mean where the stairways continued.
(3 H 223)
So although Truly didn't go over and look through the door,
since he was trying to get Baker up the stairs, he did see the
landing area and would have seen anyone IN THAT AREA, i.e., on
the landing, had someone been there. Coming up the stairs and
onto the landing, the foyer door would have been virtually in the
middle of Truly's view of the landing area. If Oswald had been
in BAKER's view in the door's window, and if the door had been
nearly shut when Baker spotted him, then, at the very least, the
door would have been halfway open when Truly saw it, and at least
half of Oswald's body in profile would have been in plain view of
Truly.
When Truly said he would have seen anyone in the landing
area "on the outside," he probably meant he would have spotted
anyone ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE DOOR. One leading WC supporter
acknowledged this point to me in e-mail. This is important
because it suggests the door was CLOSED when Truly saw it. If
the door was closed when Truly saw it, and if Oswald had gone
through it after allegedly coming down the stairs, then Oswald
would have been well out of Baker's view by the time Baker
reached the second-floor landing. If the door had been even
partially open when Truly saw it, one would expect that he would
have mentioned this in his testimony. But he never once
suggested that the door was anything but closed when he saw it,
and his testimony suggests that the door was in fact shut when he
reached the landing.
---------------------------------------------------------
New Lone-Gunman Theories About the Baker-Oswald Encounter
---------------------------------------------------------
A few WC supporters have suggested that Oswald got inside
the foyer door even BEFORE Truly reached THE LANDING. Among
other things, this theory would require us to believe that our
alleged fleeing assassin, who was supposedly desperate to provide
an alibi for himself, inexplicably just stood right next to the
door while Truly came up the stairs, while Truly reached the
landing, while Truly looked at the landing area (including the
door), while Truly started up the third-floor stairs (or at least
arrived to within a few feet of the foot of those stairs), and
while Baker came up the stairs at least a couple seconds behind
him. What's more, this theory would appear to refute Baker's
tentative claim that the foyer door was in motion when he looked
at it, since the door was apparently closed when Truly saw it.
If so, this would mean that Oswald unbelievably just stood there
and waited for the door to close, and that this suicidal 3-6
second wait occurred even BEFORE Truly had a view of the landing.
Why would Oswald have waited by the foyer door when he was
supposedly trying to give himself an alibi by getting as far
away from the stairs as possible? Why wouldn't Oswald have moved
away from the door upon hearing Baker and Truly running up the
stairs? If one assumes Oswald didn't hear them running up the
stairs, then surely he would have started to move away from the
foyer door when Truly came through the stairway door to the
landing, in which case Oswald would not have been visible to
Baker when Baker looked through the foyer door's window a few
seconds later. The very idea that any fleeing gunman would have
stood by the foyer door seems wholly implausible. His most
important mission in life at that time would have been to get as
far away from the stairs as possible, and, correspondingly, to
get out of the line of sight of anyone who might look through the
foyer door's window.
An even more implausible scenario, offered by a few WC
supporters, goes something like this:
Oswald was coming down the stairs when Truly called
for the elevator. Upon hearing Truly holler, or
perhaps after hearing Baker and Truly running up
the stairs, Oswald ducked into the lunchroom and
then moments later went back to the foyer door to
see if the way was clear to continue on down the
stairs (in the hope of exiting the building
from the rear door). When Oswald went back to the
foyer door, he might have even begun to open it,
but then, after seeing Truly, turned around and was
just in the process of starting to walk back toward
the lunchroom when Baker spotted him, which would
explain why Baker said he might have seen the door
in motion.
For starters, why would Oswald have returned so quickly
to the foyer door? Why wouldn't he have stood away from the door
so as to be out of sight but close enough to hear Baker and Truly
run up the stairs? Then, once they had passed, he could have
gone down the stairs in the hope of leaving the building from the
rear exit. Why would Oswald have started to open the door before
he was sure the way was clear? If it is suggested that he
started to open the door just before Truly reached the landing
but then pulled back when he saw and/or heard Truly, then Oswald
would have had ample time to duck away from the door, and thus
get out of sight, by the time Baker reached the landing.
If it is theorized that Oswald didn't start to open the door
but that he merely began to turn around when he saw Truly, he
still would have had time to duck out of view by the time Baker
reached the landing. And wouldn't Oswald have heard Baker and
Truly running up the stairs as they neared the landing? If so,
why would he have even gotten close to the foyer door? Wouldn't
he have stayed away from the door, out of view, until he heard
Baker and Truly continue up the stairs?
What's more, in his WC testimony Baker indicated that Oswald
had his back to the door when he spotted him. This claim causes
several problems for the traditional lone-gunman version of the
Baker-Oswald encounter. It also creates difficulties for any
theory that puts Oswald on the second floor before Truly reached
the landing. For example, if Oswald had returned to the foyer
door and started to push it open but then pulled back when he saw
or heard Truly, why on earth would he have bothered to turn
around before heading back to the lunchroom? Why wouldn't he
have simply stepped backwards as soon as he saw or heard Truly?
For that matter, why wouldn't he have just ducked below the
window as soon as he saw or heard Truly? Then, he could have
easily rushed back into the lunchroom and been out of sight when
Baker reached the landing. And, again, wouldn't Oswald have
heard Baker and Truly running up the stairs as he began to return
to the foyer door? And wouldn't he have therefore stayed away
from the door, and out of sight, until he heard Baker and Truly
continue up the stairs? Also, how could Oswald have reached the
second floor so quickly in the first place? How could Baker
and Truly have reached the elevator shaft or the stairs before
Oswald reached the second-floor landing if Oswald arrived there
as early as some WC supporters have suggested he did? According
to some WC defenders, Oswald only had to chamber a bullet, bolt
out of the sniper's nest, sprint across the sixth floor, stop
momentarily and literally "throw" the rifle into its hiding
place, and then dash down the stairs. Such a scenario would
require the following time line:
Action Time
---------------------------------------------------------
Fires last shot.......................00:00-00:00
Chambers one round....................00:00-00:01
Exits sniper's nest...................00:01-00:04
Sprints 150 feet across sixth floor
to rifle's hiding place............00:04-00:18
Stops, turns to face rifle's
hiding place, and throws rifle
down...............................00:18-00:21
Turns around and runs to sixth-floor
stairway...........................00:21-00:23
Dashes down four flights of stairs
and reaches second-floor landing...00:23-00:36
Obviously, this scenario is markedly unrealistic. However,
if we assume it is correct, how can we accept the theory that
Oswald was on the stairs when Truly yelled for the elevator or
when Baker and Truly were running up the stairs to the second
floor? Baker and Truly could not have reached the elevator shaft
so soon after the shots were fired. These are just some of the
problems associated with any theory that assumes Oswald somehow
made it to the second floor before Truly reached the landing.
If Oswald had reached the second floor in less than 40
seconds, why wouldn't he have just continued going down the
stairs and exited the building's rear door? Baker and Truly
could not have even been at the elevator shaft by that time. So
why would Oswald have bothered to go to the second-floor
lunchroom?
A third scenario proposed by some WC supporters involves the
idea that Oswald WALKED from the window to the rifle's hiding
place. According to this theory, Oswald "walked briskly" after
he allegedly fired the shots.
Wouldn't Harold Norman and the two other men who were with
him just below the sniper's nest have heard a grown man "walking
briskly" above them? Walking quickly creates almost as much
noise as running makes. Yet, the three men didn't hear a sound
come from the sniper's nest after the shooting.
And wouldn't Oswald have RUN for dear life? One would think
that he would have wanted to get as far away from the sniper's
nest as quickly possible. Why, then, wouldn't he have run from
the sniper's nest and then dashed down the stairs? Again,
though, walking briskly makes almost as much noise as running
makes. How could Norman, with his supposedly superhuman hearing,
not have heard a grown man speed-walking across the floor?
Anyway, if Oswald had walked briskly, and if we accept for
the sake of argument the other assumptions about his movements
made the WC supporters who advance this theory, he would have
been behind the foyer door around 50 seconds after the shooting.
If we assume that Oswald exited the foyer door 10-15 seconds
later but then turned around when he heard Truly yell or heard
Baker and Truly running up the stairs, a number of problems come
to mind: For starters, if he heard Truly yell, he would have had
plenty of time to get back in the lunchroom and well out of
Baker's sight.
The only other option is to assume that Oswald heard Baker
and Truly coming up the stairs and had just barely gone back
through the foyer door when Baker looked at it. But, and this is
an important point, then we're right back to square one with
having to explain how Truly could have missed seeing Oswald and
how Oswald would or could have been visible to Baker by the time
Baker looked at the door.
Only if Oswald had been standing right next to the door
would Baker have had any chance of "spotting" him through the
door's window. This scenario becomes even more problematic with
Baker's claim that Oswald was walking away from the door, in
which case the door would not have had time to close or nearly
close behind him by the time Baker allegedly spotted him. This,
in turn, brings us right back to the issue of how Truly possibly
could have missed seeing Oswald since Oswald would, at the very
least, have been in the middle of the doorway, with the door
plainly open, when Truly saw the door. Truly said if there had
been anyone in the landing area, he would have seen him; and to
judge from Truly's testimony, the door was shut when he looked at
it. And if the door was shut when Truly looked at it, and/or if
Oswald had ducked back through the door when he heard Baker and
Truly running up the stairs, he would not have been visible
through the foyer door's window by the time Baker looked toward
the door.
One could, out of desperation, assume that Oswald just stood
there inside the door and didn't start to move away until a
second before Baker looked at the door, but this idea is
impossible from the outset unless we also assume that Oswald was
back inside the door BEFORE TRULY reached the landing area. But
surely Oswald would have stepped away from the door (if not
ducked down) when he saw Truly arrive to the landing, and thus he
would not have been visible through the window when Baker reached
the landing. And, if Oswald, incredibly, just stood by the door
until a second before Baker looked at it, how could Oswald have
been facing AWAY from the door, i.e., with his back to the door,
when Baker supposedly spotted him through the window?
------------------------------------
Victoria Adams: An Important Witness
------------------------------------
Another problem confronting WC supporters is the fact that
Victoria Adams went down the stairs shortly after the last shot
was fired, and neither saw nor heard anyone else on those
stairs. Miss Adams was with Sandra Styles on the fourth floor
during the shooting. After the shots were fired, she said that
she and Miss Styles waited 15-30 seconds by the window and then
"ran" down the stairs to the first floor. Miss Adams testified
that as she entered the first floor from the stairway she saw
Bill Lovelady and William Shelley standing near the elevator.
Realizing the implications of Miss Adams' account, the WC
suggested that Miss Adams' recollection of her movements was in
error--and not by just a little bit, but by "several minutes."
This is highly unlikely. Moreover, Lovelady and Shelley gave
sworn statements on the day of the shooting that tend to support
her account.
Miss Adams said that from her position on the fourth floor
she "ran" down the back stairs to the first floor very soon after
the last shot. She told the Commission that "at the most" it
took her no longer than a minute to reach the bottom of the
stairs on the first floor after she waited at the window. She
further informed the Commission that she RAN down the stairs.
If Miss Adams remained at the window for 15-30 seconds
before taking "no more than a minute" to reach the first floor,
she could have arrived there before Baker and Truly did, as these
time lines show:
Action Time
-------------------------------------------------
Last shot is fired....................00:00-00:00
Waits at window.......................00:00-00:15
Reaches fourth-floor landing..........00:15-00:30
Reaches bottom of first-floor
stairs.............................00:30-00:42
Moves several feet away from
first-floor stairs.................00:42-00:44
From her position on the fourth floor, Miss Adams would have
had to run about 60 feet, which a normal female of her age could
have done in 15 seconds or less. After that, she only had to go
down three flights of stairs. Since she was going DOWN, and
since it is always easier to go down stairs than to go up them,
it is entirely possible that she "ran" down the stairs in 12
seconds. Even we want to stretch her stair-running time to 15
seconds, that could still get her away from the first-floor
stairs before Baker and Truly neared the stairs. Surely no one
will dispute the fact that a healthy young female adult could
have "run" and gotten several feet away from the first-floor
stairs in 3 seconds. In any event, let's add a second here and
there and see what we get:
Action Time
-------------------------------------------------
Last shot is fired....................00:00-00:00
Waits at window.......................00:00-00:15
Reaches fourth-floor landing..........00:15-00:30
Reaches bottom of first-floor
stairs.............................00:30-00:45
Moves several feet away from
first-floor stairs.................00:45-00:47
As we can see, I've added 3 seconds to the time it took her
to go down the stairs, and 2 seconds to the time it took her to
move several feet away from the first-floor stairs. Even with
the extra time, she still could have reached the first floor
before Baker and Truly entered the landing area. Now, let's bend
a little more and see what we get:
Action Time
-------------------------------------------------
Last shot is fired....................00:00-00:00
Waits at window.......................00:00-00:17
Reaches fourth-floor landing..........00:17-00:32
Reaches bottom of first-floor
stairs.............................00:32-00:47
Moves several feet away from
first-floor stairs.................00:47-00:49
Even in this time line, we see that Miss Adams still could
have reached the first floor 3 seconds before Baker and Truly
reached the first-floor landing area.
What if Miss Adams literally raced from the window after
pausing at it for 15 seconds? The following would be the fastest
scenario:
Action Time
-------------------------------------------------
Last shot is fired....................00:00-00:00
Waits at window.......................00:00-00:15
Reaches fourth-floor landing..........00:15-00:30
Reaches bottom of first-floor
stairs.............................00:30-00:39
Moves several feet away from
first-floor stairs.................00:39-00:40
What about Lovelady and Shelley? Judging from their
November 22 statements, they made it to the first floor in well
under a minute. Lovelady, who was standing on the steps of the
Depository, said that after the shots were fired he went
back into the building. Shelley said that after he heard shots,
he ran across the street, encountered a girl who said JFK had
been shot, and then went back to the TSBD to call his
wife. One would imagine that Shelley was anxious to phone his
wife with this shocking news and that therefore he moved at a
fairly quick pace. So both Lovelady and Shelley, according to
their November 22 statements, could have been on the first floor
in time to be seen by Miss Adams 40-50 seconds after the
shooting.
WC defenders argue that since Miss Adams did not report
hearing Truly yell for the elevator and did not see Baker and
Truly, she must have been on the stairs much later than she
thought she was. However, this is not necessarily correct.
There were other people in that area of the first floor (the
vicinity of the stairs) at the time, and if Miss Adams reached
the foot of the first-floor stairs at the early times that I've
suggested, then Baker and Truly would have been a good 20 feet
away from her when she arrived. With the other people that were
there, and given the excitement at the time, it is understandable
that Miss Adams didn't notice Baker and Truly, just as she
undoubtedly didn't notice certain other people who were there.
Under such circumstances, nobody takes note of every single
person around them. Similarly, Shelley was very unsure that he
had seen Miss Adams on the first floor, and Lovelady said he
"couldn't swear" that he had seen her, yet she noticed both of
them.
As for Miss Adams not hearing Truly yell, this is entirely
understandable. The elevator shaft was some 15-20 feet from
the stairs, and the shaft and the stairs were separated by a
wall. Miss Adams' running down the stairs would have created
noise by itself, which might have further obscured the sound of
Truly's voice. And, if she was near or at the foot of the stairs
when Truly yelled, noise from the other people who were on the
floor could have also partially obscured the sound of Truly's
voice. There is also the distinct possibility that Miss Adams
reached the first floor BEFORE Truly yelled for the elevator, as
the above time lines show.
As mentioned, Sandra Styles was with Miss Adams on the
fourth floor and accompanied her down the stairs. Yet,
incredibly, the Commission not only failed to call her as a
witness, but it didn't even have the FBI obtain a statement from
her concerning her movements after the shooting. Sylvia Meagher
rightly asks, "Why was . . . Sandra Styles--who was in a position
to confirm or contradict . . . [Miss Adams'] testimony--not
called before the Commission and questioned?" (Meagher 73).
Surely it must have occurred to the WC that Miss Styles was a
crucial witness. One can't help but suspect that the Commission
ignored her because it feared she would confirm that Miss Adams
went down the stairs less than a minute after the shots rang out.
It should be noted that it is possible that Oswald could
have come down the stairs without being seen or heard by Miss
Adams. This seems unlikely, but it is possible. The value
of Miss Adams' testimony is that if she made it to the first
floor around 40-50 seconds after the shots were fired, this would
appear to refute, or at least cast strong doubt on, any attempt
to put Oswald in or near the lunchroom before Truly had a view of
the second-floor landing. If nothing else, her testimony
indicates that she was on the fourth-floor stairs no later than
50 seconds after the shooting but neither saw nor heard anyone
else on the stairs.
Now let us consider three timing scenarios to reinforce the
fact that Oswald could not have made it from the sixth floor to
the second-floor lunchroom without being seen by Truly or in time
to be seen by Baker within inches of the foyer door just after
Baker reached the second-floor landing.
Before we do so, a word needs to be said about Oswald's
supposed route and the distance he would have had to cover in
going from the sniper's nest to the rifle's hiding place. In
previous versions of this article, it was assumed for the sake of
argument that Oswald would have had a straight path from the
sniper's nest to the rifle's hiding place (as is claimed by
Gerald Posner in his book CASE CLOSED). This would have required
him to walk or run around 75 feet to arrive at the spot where the
rifle was hidden. However, photos taken of the sixth floor
shortly after the shooting prove that this would have been
impossible (see, for example, Savage 165-172; Groden 65). The
photos show that the sixth floor was crowded with rows of stacks
of book boxes, and that Oswald would have had to run down the
east wall and then along the north wall in order to reach the
rifle's hiding place. This was the only clear path to the
rifle's hiding place (cf. Savage 294; Savage posits the same
route). Using this route, Oswald would have had to cover at
least 150 feet to go from the sniper's nest to the stack of boxes
where the rifle was later found. Yet, although I assumed a
distance of only 75 feet for this journey in earlier versions of
this article, I have NOT lengthened the times for it. I have
done so in order to give the lone-gunman theory the benefit of
the doubt.
------------------------------------------------------
SCENARIO #1: TIMES FAVORABLE TO THE LONE-GUNMAN THEORY
------------------------------------------------------
Notice that in this scenario it is assumed that Oswald RAN
across the sixth floor and down the stairs, and that he only took
8 seconds to hide the rifle. These times, along with two or
three others, are more than generous in order to give the
lone-gunman theory the benefit of the doubt, and all of the
listed times are reasonable and consistent with the evidence.
"OSWALD" TIME LINE #1:
Alleged Action Time
-------------------------------------------------------------
Fires last shot.........................................00:00
Chambers another round............................00:00-00:01
Stays at window to gloat over feat................00:01-00:05
Slowly withdraws rifle, casually moves away from
window, walks around boxes stacked next
to window, and reaches entrance to sniper's
nest...........................................00:05-00:11
Squeezes out of sniper's nest.....................00:11-00:13
Runs approximately 150 feet across the sixth
floor and reaches spot where rifle was
found..........................................00:13-00:29
Wipes off the rifle...............................00:29-00:33
Hides the rifle...................................00:33-00:41
Turns from rifle's hiding place and then runs
approximately 7 feet to the top of the
sixth-floor stairs.............................00:41-00:43
Runs down four flights of stairs and reaches
the bottom stair on the second-floor stairs....00:43-00:59
Opens door to second-floor landing and goes
through it.....................................00:59-01:00
Runs approximately 20 feet across the
second-floor landing to the foyer door.........01:00-01:02
Opens foyer door and goes through it..............01:02-01:03
TRULY TIME LINE #1:
Action Time
-------------------------------------------------------------
Last shot is fired......................................00:00
Baker races motorcycle, dismounts, runs to
TSBD, and comes through building's
entrance.......................................00:00-00:25
Leads Baker across the first floor and arrives
to entrance to first-floor stairs..............00:15-00:55
Opens and goes through door to first-floor
stairs.........................................00:55-00:56
Runs up stairs and gets far enough
to see second-floor landing....................00:56-01:02
Thus, even after making generous allowances in favor of the
lone-gunman theory, we see that Truly would have had a view of
the second-floor landing BEFORE Oswald would gone through the
the foyer door. Not only would Truly have seen Oswald going
through the door, but he would have also seen the slow
automatic door closing behind Oswald.
Of course, if Oswald had RUN 150 feet from the sniper's nest
to the rifle's hiding place, raced down four flights of stairs,
and then bolted across the second-floor landing to dash through
the foyer door, he surely would have been at least somewhat out
of breath, and not "calm and collected," when Baker encountered
him.
Furthermore, as indicated above, it is possible that Baker
and Truly took less than 40 seconds to get to the foot of the
first-floor stairs. We have assumed that it took "Oswald" only
16 seconds to run the roughly 150 feet from the sniper's nest to
the spot where the rifle was hidden. Why, then, would it have
taken Baker and Truly, who were running at a fast pace, 40
seconds to reach the entrance to the first-floor stairs? I think
one could plausibly argue that it took them as little as 25
seconds to do so, bearing in mind that they probably spent 5-10
seconds calling for and trying to use the elevator before they
decided to go up the stairs. Or, one could bend a little more
and assume it took them 35 seconds to reach the first-floor
stairs. This is a plausible estimate.
Now let us see why Baker's story about seeing Oswald 20 feet
away just after Baker reached the second-floor landing would, if
true, prove that Oswald did not shoot Kennedy. Keep in mind that
Oswald would have been opening and then walking through the foyer
door 62-63 seconds after the shots were fired.
BAKER TIME LINE #1:
Action Time
-------------------------------------------------------------
Last shot is fired......................................00:00
Races motorcycle, dismounts, runs to
TSBD, and comes through building's
entrance.......................................00:00-00:15
Goes with Truly across the first floor and
arrives to entrance to first-floor stairs......00:15-00:55
Truly opens door to first-floor stairs and
Baker follows..................................00:55-00:57
Runs up stairs and reaches second-floor
landing about 2-3 seconds after Truly
does...........................................00:57-01:04
It is apparent that Oswald would have just finished walking
through the foyer door when Baker reached the second-floor
landing and began to scan the area, and that therefore the foyer
door would have just barely started to close behind Oswald when
Baker looked at it. Also, Truly was running well ahead of Baker
by that time and would have easily spotted Oswald crossing the
landing, or reaching for the door, or going through the door.
What follows is a time line that is extremely favorable to
the lone-gunman theory, which we will call Oswald Time Line #2.
In it we have eliminated some of Oswald's alleged actions and
have shortened the times given for a number of the remaining
activities. However, we have also taken the reasonable step of
allowing a few seconds--actually only 2 seconds--for the slow
automatic door to close or "nearly close" behind Oswald. We have
further assumed that it took Baker and Truly somewhat less than
40 seconds to reach the first-floor stairway. Then, let us
compare this second Oswald time line with more plausible
time lines for Baker and Truly. Although these Baker and Truly
time lines are more plausible, and hence less favorable to the
lone-gunman hypothesis, they will include the assumptions that
(1) it took Baker 15 seconds to reach the TSBD's entrance, and
(2) that Truly didn't have a view of the second-floor landing
until 7 seconds after he started running up the stairs. I would
like to emphasize that the following time line is NOT realistic,
since, as stated above, it omits some of Oswald's alleged actions
and contains shortened times for a number of his remaining
supposed activities.
"OSWALD" TIME LINE #2:
Alleged Action Time
-------------------------------------------------------------
Fires last shot.........................................00:00
Chambers another round............................00:00-00:01
Slowly withdraws rifle, casually moves away from
window, and walks around boxes stacked next
to window......................................00:01-00:06
Reaches outer/outside edge of sniper's nest
and exits nest.................................00:06-00:09
Runs approximately 150 feet across the sixth
floor and reaches spot where rifle was
found..........................................00:09-00:23
Hurriedly wipes off those parts of the rifle
that he handled during the shooting............00:23-00:28
Hides the rifle...................................00:28-00:34
Turns from rifle's hiding place and then runs
approximately 7 feet to the top of the
sixth-floor stairs.............................00:34-00:36
Runs down four flights of stairs and reaches
the bottom stair on the second-floor stairs....00:36-00:49
Opens door to second-floor landing and
goes through it................................00:49-00:50
Runs approximately 20 feet across the
second-floor landing to the foyer door.........00:50-00:52
Opens foyer door and goes through it..............00:52-00:53
Automatic-closing foyer door closes nearly
all the way behind him.........................00:53-00:55
If the foyer door was like most automatic doors, it could have
taken as much as 5 seconds, or more, to close or nearly close.
But, for the sake of argument, we have assumed it only took 2
seconds to do so.
TRULY TIME LINE #2:
Action Time
-------------------------------------------------------------
Last shot is fired......................................00:00
Baker races motorcycle, dismounts, and comes
through TSBD entrance..........................00:00-00:15
Leads Baker across the first floor and arrives
to entrance to first-floor stairs..............00:10-00:40
Opens and goes through door to first-floor
stairs.........................................00:40-00:41
Runs up stairs and gets far enough on stairs
to see second-floor landing....................00:41-00:48
BAKER TIME LINE #2:
Action Time
-------------------------------------------------------------
Last shot is fired......................................00:00
Races motorcycle, dismounts, runs to TSBD,
and comes through building's
entrance.......................................00:00-00:15
Goes with Truly across the first floor and
arrives to entrance to first-floor stairs......00:10-00:40
Truly opens door to first-floor stairs and
Baker follows..................................00:40-00:42
Runs up stairs and reaches second-floor
landing about 2-3 seconds after Truly
does...........................................00:42-00:51
Even these Baker and Truly time lines are not as fast as
they could be (and probably should be), yet we still see that
Oswald could not have made it from the sixth floor without being
seen by Truly and in time to be spotted by Baker.
--------------------------------------------------------------
SCENARIO #2: MORE PLAUSIBLE TIMES FOR OSWALD'S ALLEGED ACTIONS
--------------------------------------------------------------
In this scenario, "Oswald" does not run across the sixth
floor and down the stairs; he walks at a fast pace, as did SSA
Howlett for his FASTEST time in the WC's reenactments. Also,
notice that it is assumed that the hiding of the rifle took 10
seconds. This is a very reasonable time, since the evidence
clearly shows that the weapon was very carefully concealed. The
weapon was surrounded by boxes on all sides and was held upright
by at least one box. This time line also assumes that the door
to the second-floor landing was open.
"OSWALD" TIME LINE #3:
Alleged Action Time
-------------------------------------------------------------
Fires last shot.........................................00:00
Chambers another round............................00:00-00:01
Stays at window to gloat over feat................00:01-00:05
Slowly withdraws rifle, casually moves away
from window, walks around boxes stacked next
to window, and reaches entrance to sniper's
nest...........................................00:05-00:10
Squeezes out of sniper's nest.....................00:10-00:11
Runs approximately 150 feet across the sixth
floor and reaches spot where rifle was
found..........................................00:11-00:30
Wipes off the rifle...............................00:30-00:36
Hides the rifle...................................00:36-00:46
Turns from rifle's hiding place and then runs
approximately 7 feet to the top of the
sixth-floor stairs.............................00:46-00:49
Runs down four flights of stairs and reaches
the bottom stair on the second-floor stairs....00:49-01:06
Steps off bottom stair and walks approximately
20 feet across second-floor landing to
foyer door.....................................01:06-01:10
Opens foyer door and goes through it..............01:10-01:12
This time line is a telling blow against the lone-gunman
theory when it is kept in mind that Truly surely was on the
second-floor landing 60 seconds after the shots were fired, as
shown in Truly Time Line #1. It should also be remembered that
in the WC's simulations, the Oswald stand-in, skipping some
actions and fudging on others, made it from the sniper's nest to
the lunchroom in 1 minute and 14 seconds.
---------------------------------------
SCENARIO #3: CONSIDERING THE COUCH FILM
---------------------------------------
Officer Baker appears in the Couch film. He is seen running
toward the TSBD. In the segment of the film in which he appears,
he is within a few seconds of the building's entrance. According
to W. Anthony Marsh, the Couch film shows that it might have
taken Baker as long as 30 seconds to reach the front door.
Howard Roffman, on the other hand, suggests the film shows that
it took Baker 10-15 seconds to do so. I propose a compromise
figure of 25 seconds, although I believe the film could indicate
that Baker reached the door a little sooner than this.
When Baker parked his motorcycle, he was only 45 feet from
the TSBD's front entrance (WCR 149, 152). By the time he
appears in the Couch film he has clearly long since dismounted
(he parked his motorcycle about 10 feet from the traffic signal,
at the northwest corner of Elm and Houston, which would have put
him only seconds away from the entrance to begin with). He's
seen running toward the TSBD and appears to be very close to the
entrance, since, among other things, he's near a car that is
parked on the NORTH side of Elm Street, i.e., the side closest to
the building, and he's clearly beyond and well to the right of
the traffic light (Trask 424; compare with Trask 500, 548, 551,
and 587, and with WCR 62).
Even allowing for Baker's having to push his way through a
few people at the foot of the entrance, I don't see how it could
have taken him longer than 5 or 6 seconds to reach the front door
from the point at which he appears in the Couch film. If you
correlate the Couch frame on page 424 of Trask's PICTURES OF THE
PAIN with the photo on page 62 of the WCR, it's clear that Baker
was very close to the entrance in this frame when Couch captured
him on film.
The exact time that Couch filmed Baker running toward the
TSBD cannot be established. Couch said he started filming
immediately after he saw a rifle barrel being slowly withdrawn
from the sixth-floor window. Baker appears in the segment that
Couch filmed while Couch was still in the car. The in-car
segment is only 22.5 seconds long, and the frames with Baker in
them are NOT the last ones that Couch took from the car. Since
Baker was only a few seconds away from the Depository's entrance
when Couch filmed him, and given the fact that the Baker segment
was not the last in-car footage, a time of 25 seconds seems
reasonable.
Moreover, what if the fatal head shot came AFTER the rifle
was withdrawn from the window? Since there is considerable
evidence that the fatal head shot was fired from the front, it is
possible that the gunman in the sixth-floor window withdrew his
rifle after he hit the President in the back or after firing all
the shots he was supposed to fire. In other words, the
sixth-floor shooter could have been withdrawing his rifle by
around frame 225 of the Zapruder film, i.e., nearly five seconds
before Kennedy was shot in the head.
In any event, in the time lines below we will use the figure
of 25 seconds for Baker's dash to the front door. At the same
time, however, we will also use more realistic times for Baker
and Truly's sprint from the front door to the first-floor stairs,
and for their dash up the stairs.
TRULY TIME LINE #3:
Action Time
-------------------------------------------------------------
Last shot is fired......................................00:00
Baker races motorcycle, dismounts, runs to TSBD,
and comes through building's
entrance.......................................00:00-00:25
Leads Baker across the first floor and arrives
to entrance to first-floor stairs..............00:25-00:50
Opens and goes through door to first-floor
stairs.........................................00:50-00:51
Runs up stairs and gets far enough
to see second-floor landing....................00:51-00:56
If the landing door was closed, it would have taken Truly an
extra second or two to gain a view of the landing area.
BAKER TIME LINE #3:
Action Time
-------------------------------------------------------------
Last shot is fired......................................00:00
Baker races motorcycle, dismounts, runs to TSBD,
and comes through building's
entrance.......................................00:00-00:25
Runs with Truly across the first floor and
arrives to entrance to first-floor stairs......00:25-00:50
Truly opens door to first-floor stairs and
Baker follows..................................00:50-00:52
Runs up stairs and reaches second-floor
landing about 2-3 seconds after Truly
does...........................................00:52-00:59
When we compare these times lines with the first and third
Oswald time lines, we once again see that Oswald could not have
gone through the foyer door without being seen by Truly and in
time to be spotted by Baker.
If we consider the second Oswald time line, which is much
too favorable to the lone-gunman theory (so much so that it is
unrealistic), we see that Truly would have arrived far too LATE
for the WC's version of the event to be possible, since the
Commission admitted that if Oswald had come down the stairs and
had gone through the foyer door, then he would have had to walk
through the door just "a second or two" before BAKER reached the
second-floor landing. This problem becomes even more pronounced
if we assume that it took Baker 5 more seconds, i.e., 30 seconds,
to reach the front door.
On the other hand, if we add 5 seconds to the time for
Baker's run to the entrance, which would give us 30 seconds for
that action, and then compare that figure with the first and
third Oswald time lines, we see that Oswald still would have
been unable to reach the foyer door without being seen by Truly
and without, at the very least, having the door clearly and
visibly open when Baker looked at it.
And I would ask the reader to remember that the times given
for Oswald's alleged run from the sniper's nest to the rifle's
hiding place were originally proposed for a journey of only
around 75 feet. So it cannot be said that I haven't made every
effort to be fair to the lone-gunman scenario. The problem is
that the WC's theory about how Oswald came to be in the second-
floor lunchroom is impossible. He could not have made it there
in time to be "spotted" by Baker and without being seen by Truly.
Oswald wasn't seen or heard by Victoria Adams or Roy Truly
on the stairs because he never came down those stairs. He was at
the soda machine buying a Coke, just as he told the authorities
during his interrogations, which was one reason that early news
reports put the Coke in his hand when Baker saw him, as did Chief
Curry on November 23, and as Baker himself initially did during
his last sworn statement to the FBI.
The simple, irrefutable fact of the matter is that Lee
Harvey Oswald could not have shot President Kennedy because he
could not have been at the alleged sniper's nest at the time of
the shooting. He was in the second-floor lunchroom buying a
Coke.
-------------------------------------------------------------
WAS SOMEONE IN THE SIXTH-FLOOR WINDOW AT THE SAME TIME OSWALD
WAS SPOTTED DOWNSTAIRS IN THE LUNCHROOM?
-------------------------------------------------------------
Harold Norman was watching the motorcade from the window
directly beneath the sniper's window. With him were Bonnie Ray
Williams and James Jarman. Norman told the WC that he could hear
shells hitting the floor above him during the shooting (WCR, p.
70). This was quite an accomplishment given the fact that the
TSBD's floors were built to support tons of book boxes, and given
the noise being emitted at the time from the motorcycles and the
crowd less than 180 feet from the window. (Incredibly, Norman
also said he could hear the rifle's bolt being operated!)
Nevertheless, the Commission said it confirmed in a simulation
that Norman could have heard shells hitting the floor, although
the simulation was not done over the noise of a cheering crowd
and of 18 motorcycles idling along less than 180 feet away.
However, if we assume that Norman really did hear shells hitting
the floor above him during the shooting, then it is surely
significant that neither Norman nor Williams nor Jarman mentioned
hearing any movement above them after the shots were fired.
Jarman, in fact, was asked if he heard "any steps" or "any noise
at all" above him after the shots were fired. "No, sir," he
replied, "none."
In light of the testimony of Mrs. Lillian Mooneyham, this is
not surprising. Mrs. Mooneyham was a law clerk who worked in
the Criminal Courts Building. She told the FBI soon after the
assassination that she saw a man standing in the sixth-floor
window 4-5 minutes after the shots had been fired (see, for
example, Marrs 52-53). From her position at the window on the
west side of the County Courts Building, Mrs. Mooneyham had an
excellent view of the TSBD. She was a highly credible witness
who reported what she had seen in a straightforward,
matter-of-fact manner. The Commission made no effort to refute
her account. It could not attack her credibility, nor could it
claim that she could not have seen what she said she had seen.
So, what did the Commission do with this credible and important
account? Nothing. The Commission simply ignored it, and did not
even call Mrs. Mooneyham as a witness.
In 1968 researcher David Lifton obtained an FBI report from
the National Archives which said that a witness at a window on an
upper floor of a nearby building had told a Dallas lawyer that
she saw "some boxes moving" in the sixth-floor window, presumably
within minutes of the shooting (Lifton 367).
In 1979 photogrammetric experts hired by the House Select
Committee on Assassinations studied photographs of the
sixth-floor window taken within moments of the shooting and
concluded the pictures showed "an apparent rearranging of boxes
within 2 minutes after the last shot was fired at President
Kennedy" (6 HSCA 109). Obviously, Oswald could not have been
moving boxes around in the window less than 2 minutes after the
shooting, nor could he have been the man who was seen by Mrs.
Mooneyham.
So not only could Oswald not have made it to the lunchroom
in the required amount of time, but we also have credible
testimony and evidence that someone other than Oswald was in the
sixth-floor window moments after the shots were fired.
Recommend Reading for Important Facts Mentioned Herein
------------------------------------------------------
1. The alleged murder weapon was very carefully hidden and could
not have been simply "thrown" to its hiding place as some WC
defenders have suggested: Weisberg, CASE OPEN, pp. 110-117.
2. Victoria Adams' account of her movements after the shots were
fired is accurate and is not refuted by the WC testimony of
Lovelady and Shelley: Meager, ACCESSORIES AFTER THE FACT, pp. 72-
74.
3. The WC's reenactments of the Baker-Oswald encounter were
flawed and unrealistic, and actually proved that Baker reached
the second-floor landing much earlier than he did in the
reenactments: Weisberg, SELECTIONS FROM "WHITEWASH," pp. 53-57;
Weisberg, CASE OPEN, pp. 117-124.
4. Oswald would have had to literally "squeeze" out of the
alleged sniper's nest: Meagher, ACCESSORIES AFTER THE FACT, p.
42; Trask, PICTURES OF THE PAIN, p. 525. Some have disputed this
fact because, Luke Mooney, the police officer who said he had to
"squeeze" through the entrance to the nest, was somewhat heavy-
set. However, the boxes that formed the entrance were at leg
level, and Mooney's legs, to judge from his appearance, were
probably right about the same size as Oswald's legs (see Trask,
PICTURES OF THE PAIN, p. 521). If nothing else, Oswald would
have had to slow down and negotiate his way through the narrow
entrance to the nest.
5. Oswald did not appear to be out of breath but was "calm and
collected" when Baker saw him: Meagher, ACCESSORIES AFTER THE
FACT, p. 71.
6. The sixth-floor shooter remained at the window for a few
seconds and then slowly withdrew the rifle as he casually moved
away from the window: Posner, CASE CLOSED, p. 248; Hurt,
REASONABLE DOUBT, p. 89; Brown, THE PEOPLE V. LEE HARVEY OSWALD,
pp. 113-117.
7. The foyer door (and therefore its window) would have been at a
45-degree angle to Officer Baker from his position on the
second-floor landing: Groden, THE KILLING OF A PRESIDENT, p. 121;
Weisberg, SELECTIONS FROM "WHITEWASH," p. 56; Savage, FIRST DAY
EVIDENCE, pp. 286, 289.
8. In two statements, Baker said Oswald was walking away from him
when he saw him in the lunchroom, but in another statement, his
final one, Baker said he saw Oswald standing in the lunchroom,
and on the day of the shooting, Roy Truly said that Baker didn't
see Oswald until Baker "stuck his head into the lunchroom area":
Weisberg, SELECTIONS FROM "WHITEWASH," p. 54; Meagher,
ACCESSORIES AFTER THE FACT, pp. 72, 74 n.
Notes
-----
1. The Warren Commission seemingly contradicted itself on exactly
where Baker was when he observed Oswald in the lunchroom. On
page 151 of the WCR, we read that Baker saw Oswald in the
lunchroom AFTER Baker went through the foyer/vestibule door.
However, on page 3 of the report, we read that Baker saw him in
the lunchroom when Baker "rushed" to the foyer door, and the
Commission's own diagram of Baker's movements likewise puts Baker
just in front of the door when he observed Oswald.
Bibliography
------------
Brown, Walt, THE PEOPLE V. LEE HARVEY OSWALD, New York:
Carroll & Graf Publishers, 1992.
Groden, Robert J., THE KILLING OF A PRESIDENT: THE COMPLETE
PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORD OF THE JFK ASSASSINATION, THE CONSPIRACY, AND
THE COVER-UP, New York: Viking Studio Books, 1993.
Hurt, Henry, REASONABLE DOUBT: AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE
ASSASSINATION OF JOHN F. KENNEDY, New York: Holt, Rinehart,
and Winston, 1985.
Lifton, David, BEST EVIDENCE, New York: Carroll & Graf, 1988
Marrs, Jim, CROSSFIRE: THE PLOT THAT KILLED KENNEDY, New
York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 1989.
Meagher, Sylvia, ACCESSORIES AFTER THE FACT, New York:
Vintage Books edition, 1992.
Posner, Gerald, CASE CLOSED: LEE HARVEY OSWALD AND THE
ASSASSINATION OF JFK, New York: Random House, 1993.
Savage, Gary, FIRST DAY EVIDENCE, Monroe, Louisiana: The
Shoppe Press, 1993,
THE WARREN COMMISSION REPORT, Washington, D.C.: Government
Printing Office, 1964. I am using the Barnes & Noble printing of
the report.
Trask, Richard, PICTURES OF THE PAIN: PHOTOGRAPHY AND THE
ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY, Danvers, Massachusetts:
Yeoman Press, 1994.
Weisberg, Harold, NEVER AGAIN, New York: Carroll & Graf
Publishers, 1995.
-----, SELECTIONS FROM "WHITEWASH," New York: Carroll & Graf
Publishers, 1994.
-----, WHITEWASH, Hyattstown, Maryland, 1966.
---------------------------------------------------------------
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Michael T. Griffith is a two-time graduate of
the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, and the
author of three books on Mormonism and ancient texts. His
articles on the JFK assassination have appeared in DATELINE:
DALLAS and in DALLAS '63. (CompuServe ID: 74274,650; Internet
address: mtgriff@ironrod.win-uk.net or 74274.650@compuserve.com)