You remember Arnold Rowland, correct? He claimed that at around 12:15, he spotted a white man on the South West corner of the Book Depository. Whilst it is reasonable to assume that this could be Oswald prepping, there is one small issue.
At around 11:45 am, Depository Employees decided it was time for lunch and had a race down to the lunchroom down from the sixth floor using the elevators. Oswald was working on the 6th floor at this time and decided not to participate. They spotted Oswald on the 5th floor as they were going down, who told them to close the gate to the elevators once they got to the bottom. Charles Givens quickly went back upstairs in the lift, realising he’d forgotten his jacket and cigarettes. Upon returning to the lift at around 11:55, he officially became the last person to see Oswald before the shooting. Oswald yet again requested that the gates would be pulled shut, meaning that the elevators would return to the top floor and refused to go down for lunch. Givens left soon after and not long after that another employee, Bonnie Williams, came upstairs to eat his lunch on the third window from the east side facing Dealey Plaza and watch the motorcade. Around ten minutes before the shooting, Bonnie finished his lunch and joined some friends down on the fifth floor. This puts Bonnie Williams on the sixth floor at some time between 11:55 and 12:20 However, this creates a conflict. If both Arnold and Bonnie are to be believed, then Bonnie had an unobstructed view of the South West corner, meaning he could’ve spotted this gun man. And yet, Bonnie has no recollection of such a gunman.
Furthermore, Arnold allegedly spotted an elderly black man on the same floor, but this time on the south east corner. Whilst it is conceivable that Arnold confused the fifth floor with the sixth, instead spotting Bonnie and his friends on the floor below, as they were the only black employees observing the motorcade past the first floor, but none of them were elderly, ranging between 20 and 30 years of age. However, when asked to describe what the man looked like, Arnold was stumped.
Interrogator: Will you describe with as much particularity as you can what that man looked like?
Arnold Rowland’s Testimony for the Warren Commission, 1964
Rowland: It seemed to me an elderly [black man], that is about all. I didn’t pay very much attention to him.
But, when asked the same question his answer had become significantly more detailed
Rowland: He was very thin, an elderly gentleman, bald or practically bald, very thin hair if he wasn’t bald. Had on a plaid shirt. I think it was red and green, very bright colour, that is why I remember it.
Arnold Rowland’s Testimony for the Warren Commission, 1964
Interrogator: Can you give us an estimate as to age?
Rowland: Fifty ; possibly 55 or 60.
Interrogator: Can you give us an estimate as to height?
Rowland: 5’8″, 5’10”, in that neighbourhood. He was very slender, very thin.
Interrogator: Can you give us a more definite description as to complexion?
Rowland: Very dark or fairly dark, not real dark compared to some [black men], but fairly dark. Seemed like his face was either—I can’t recall detail but it was either very wrinkled or marked in some way.
His wife and many of his teachers testified that he has a habit of embellishing the truth to benefit his own ego.
Imagine, you, dear reader, are in the crowd on this shining, rainless November Dallas morning. And you look across the street and you see a man with an umbrella in hand, raising it aloft. That would be odd right? But what if not only you saw it, but it was captured on film.
In the foreground of the Zapruder Film, just in front of a sign, a large black umbrella can be spotted. And the moment the Limo passes said umbrella, the shot that strikes President Kennedy is fired. Not only that but there are photos of said umbrella man casually reclining next to another man on the empty grassy knoll after the shooting. Some believe this man was a signal to another gunman. Others believe it was a secret device designed to shoot out darts once opened.
The Alleged Umbrella Man came forward before a trial, with said umbrella, claiming that it was a method of protesting Kennedy’s father’s appeasement methods during the eve of World War 2, the umbrella being a reference to a popular accessory carried by Neville Chamberlain, who is very well known for his appeasement methods with Adolf Hitler. He also claimed that the umbrella blocked his view of the assassination, explaining why he sat down on the curb with another man after the shooting. The man was never brought back in for questioning.
So even if we are to believe all this, we still have a question of the shots that were fired. More specifically, this second shot is very controversial.
The Warren Commission claimed that the second bullet, which was fired from the sixth floor of the Book Depository Building, struck Kennedy 6 inches below his collar, exited through the knot in his tie, struck Connelly in the right side of his back, exited below Connelly’s right nipple, re-entered him through his right wrist, fracturing it, before exiting and ending in his left thigh.
Observing this, you may think it’s impossible. Modern Arizona scientists have proven that the single bullet theory is physically impossible unless Connelly was sat in the middle of the row he was in. Not only that but Governor Connelly also claims that both him and his wife believe that 2 separate shots struck him and the President. In fact, in this documentary “The Men Who Killed Kennedy”, Connelly gives a very detailed account of what he experienced whilst Kennedy was being shot.
I heard what I thought was a rifle shot. I immediately reacted, by turning to look over my right shoulder because that’s where the sound came from. I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary and was in the process of turning to look over my left shoulder when I felt a blow in the middle of my back, as if someone had hit me with a doubled up fist
John Connelly speaking on the assassination, The Men Who Killed Kennedy by Nigel Turner
In addition, this bullet was found in Connelly’s stretcher, which the Warren Commission claimed to be the second bullet.
Besides a slight indent, the bullet is practically intact, despite having gone through 3 different objects and lodging itself in a fourth. According to multiple sources online and the Zapruder film, there is not enough time for Oswald to put in another shot between the time Kennedy is hit in the neck and his fateful head shot. And trust me, that is being extremely generous. The Warren Commission claims that the Single Bullet theory is not integral to their claim that Oswald acted alone. However, considering all the evidence I’ve just explained, if the Magic Bullet theory isn’t true, then there must’ve been at least 2 shooters.
In the 1970s, another commission was set up by the government to look into possible conspiracies behind the assassinations of Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr, due to the CIA allegedly withholding information regarding both the assassinations. This commission had some audio from the assassination and it is alleged that there were 6 distinct shots. And in between the time the Zapruder film starts and Kennedy is shot, there is nowhere near enough time to fire 6 shots. Not only that but a film was shown with a different angle to that of the Zapruder Film. It shows a now iconic grassy knoll, where many have described a puff of smoke or seeing the actual shooter. The committee ruled that:
[…] on the basis of the evidence available to it, that President John F. Kennedy was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy. The Committee is unable to identify the other gunman or the extent of the conspiracy.
The House Committee on Assassinations Ruling, 1970
However, after this ruling was made, this second film was mysteriously lost by the CIA overnight.
Not only that but multiple people have speculated as to why that, if Oswald was the only shooter, why he didn’t kill Kennedy when he was coming up Houston instead of when he was moving away down Elm, which, more likely than not, would be an easier shot. Even more so considering that the view of Elm from the South East sixth floor window was blocked by some branches. Many have postulated that the reason they waited to get to when he was turning onto Elm was to engage an at least 2 pronged attack. In addition, upon further analysis of the Zapruder Film, Kennedy’s head appears to snap to the back and left. Such a force wouldn’t have been created if Kennedy was shot from behind, more likely from the front right of him. For example, from the grassy knoll. Further evidence comes from that the back of Kennedy’s brain came out, not the front. This is pointed out by firearms expert and YouTuber, Brandon Herrera upon a visit to Dallas.
If you remember the previous article, you may remember the incident during Oswald’s escape, wherein Truly and Baker encountered Oswald on the second floor. Upon re-enactment, 2 years later, it took them, on average, a minute and 22 seconds. They then decided to do a similar recreation with someone similar to Oswald. They tested with the fire escape where there wasn’t enough time with that and the lift couldn’t have possibly been used as Truly testified that the lift was up on the fifth floor. The only conceivable escape was via the stairwell. It took an average of 1 minute and 16 seconds. It’s conceivable that Oswald attempted to blend into the lunch room upon hearing Truly shout up the elevator shaft. However, as always, there’s a problem.
Victoria Adams and Sandra Styles had watched the shooting from the fourth floor. Around 30 seconds after the shooting, they took the stairs down to the bottom floor. Such an incident causes a problem. This would put Adams and Styles on the stairs at the exact same time as Oswald. And yet, they claimed to have never seen Oswald once, nor did she hear anyone else using the stairs. If we hypothetically suggest that Adams and Styles were a few flights below Oswald so they didn’t hear Oswald, being drowned out by their own feet, there is yet another problem that arises. Dorothy Garner, who could see the stairs, claims that in between the time that Adams and Styles left and she saw Truly and Baker go up the stairs to the roof, she at no point saw Oswald going down the stairs. In fact, in 2002, Adams and Styles both claimed that their testimony was altered. In their official testimony, they claimed to have met two employees by the name of William Shelley and Billy Lovelady. However, they recall no such incident, implying that their testimony was altered after the fact. She claimed that she’d met a large black man but neither Lovelady and Shelley are black. In fact, Billy remembers encountering a woman but never put a finger on it being Adams.
Whilst under interrogation after being arrested, Oswald claimed that during the shooting, he was down in the first floor lunchroom with a black co-worker, who he couldn’t name, and James Jarman. While Jarman denies having lunch with Oswald, a different interrogator claims that Oswald said he was eating lunch alone and Jarman and this other co-worker happened to walk through whilst he was eating.
Carolyn Arnold, a spectator of the motorcade, also claimed that she may have caught a fleeting glimpse of Oswald by the front door of the book depository, after Charles Givens claims to have seen Oswald on the sixth, although she could not confidently identify him. However, Carolyn also claimed in 1978 that no such incident occurred. She claimed that it had instead happened in the second floor lunchroom, just near where Oswald was spotted by Baker and Truly, an ID which was 100% positive. It appears to me that a lot of evidence suggests that Oswald was never on the sixth floor during the time of the shooting.
However, Howard Brennan, who was spectating from the street corner of Elm and Houston, claims to have gotten a very clear view of Oswald from the Book Depository. When given a line-up of 4 suspects, Brennan vaguely identified Oswald. However, upon testifying in 1964, he claimed that he did not want to immediately identify Oswald as he believed that the assassination was a part of a Communist Conspiracy. Whilst a flimsy excuse for not being able to identify Oswald, even he believed it was part of a plot to kill the President, and not just a raving lunatic acting on his own, like the Warren Commission claims.