donald willis
2018-11-26 20:37:11 UTC
Photographic proof: Rifle not found on sixth floor
Everyone knows that the fifth and sixth floors of the TSBD looked very
much alike. From the outside, from the inside--not much difference
between fifth and sixth. But, as it turns out, there are a few
differences. As demonstrated in the new JFK documentary, "Mysteries at
the Museum -- JFK Assassination".
As host Don Wildman is about to walk from the sixth floor up to the
seventh--at about the 55-minute mark--we see what at first looks like a
familiar pillar behind him. You know the one--the one with the stenciled
"5" emblazoned on it.
Compare CE 515, a shot of the area where the rifle was found. This pillar
marks the right edge of that area. (CE 515 appears in "JFK First Day
Evidence", on page 174, as Dallas Police photo #12, "showing an overview
of the rifle location".) And an apparent William Allen photo [found by
19e] taken on 11/22/63 shows Patrolman James M. Valentine at the back of
the pillar "5" area.
As InsideSparta has written:
"In large warehouses, especially older ones with a large number
of internal pillars, it is common to number the pillars in order to locate
goods quicker. For a building like the TSBD, it would be common practice
to have the pillars numbered. That way, in the register, the location of
books would be designated by the closest pillar number. So, if the
register said the books were located at location 6-5, it would mean pillar
number 5 on the 6th floor. " (6/27/18, "Questions for Donald Willis",
alt.assassination.jfk)
Take a closer look at the sixth floor's pillar #5 in the film. Notice
that the electrical tube affixed directly to the pillar extends from the
ceiling right down through the "5". And it ends in a small switch box
below the "5". A single rectangular box.
Now, look again at CE 515 (aka DPD #12). First, the tube does NOT pass
through the "5". It goes straight down, about two or three inches to the
LEFT of the "5". And it ends, below the "5", in not just one, but TWO
electrical boxes. This pillar does not seem to be the same one we see in
the TV documentary, the one on the sixth floor. There are clear
differences in the electrical tubing and boxes.
And while the differences can't tell us on WHICH floor the DPD and Allen
photos were taken, the Allen photo provides a clue, in the presence of
Officer Valentine. In a report dated May 28, 1964, Valentine stated that
he "entered the Texas School Book Depository building, and was assigned to
the FIFTH FLOOR." (CE 2645 p6) The other floor, on which the rifle was
actually found--as seen in the 1963 photos--would then seem to have been
the fifth. At any rate, it's not the sixth floor.
Any number of interesting possible scenarios now present themselves. Was
the rifle simply left there just to frame its owner? Or was it actually
used on the fifth floor? Or did a sixth-floor shooter stow it there on
his way down? At the very least, we can reasonably conclude that not all
the evidence was found on the sixth floor. Homicide Captain Fritz's
reported handling of the spent shells now seems more problematic. Were
they, too, "imported" from the fifth floor?
When Insp. Sawyer radioed that the shells were found on the "third floor",
did he mean "third floor from the top"--i.e., fifth floor? Again, at any
rate, we can reasonably conclude that the defeaning silence on the sixth
floor, at about 1:20pm--according to Det. Marvin Johnson ("Report on the
President's Murder" p210; 11/26/63?), who was there --the silence was an
early indication that the famously noisy* discovery of the rifle (at
1:22pm, according to Deputy Eugene Boone) was not made on that floor.
"At approximately 1:20", Det. Johnson heard the sounds of the DPD-radio call
re Tippit wafting up from "the police radio below", on the outside of the
building, but he made no mention of the somewhat-more-relevant discovery
of the weapon, supposedly on that very floor. (He was on the sixth floor
until about 2:30.)
*"Boone yelled that he had found the rifle" (Deputy A.D. McCurley,
v.19p514) "I heard Boone holler out that he had found the rifle" (Deputy
Luke Mooney)
dcw
(If you don't have access to the Travel Channel documentary, I can e-mail
you a photo of the pillar in question.)
Everyone knows that the fifth and sixth floors of the TSBD looked very
much alike. From the outside, from the inside--not much difference
between fifth and sixth. But, as it turns out, there are a few
differences. As demonstrated in the new JFK documentary, "Mysteries at
the Museum -- JFK Assassination".
As host Don Wildman is about to walk from the sixth floor up to the
seventh--at about the 55-minute mark--we see what at first looks like a
familiar pillar behind him. You know the one--the one with the stenciled
"5" emblazoned on it.
Compare CE 515, a shot of the area where the rifle was found. This pillar
marks the right edge of that area. (CE 515 appears in "JFK First Day
Evidence", on page 174, as Dallas Police photo #12, "showing an overview
of the rifle location".) And an apparent William Allen photo [found by
19e] taken on 11/22/63 shows Patrolman James M. Valentine at the back of
the pillar "5" area.
As InsideSparta has written:
"In large warehouses, especially older ones with a large number
of internal pillars, it is common to number the pillars in order to locate
goods quicker. For a building like the TSBD, it would be common practice
to have the pillars numbered. That way, in the register, the location of
books would be designated by the closest pillar number. So, if the
register said the books were located at location 6-5, it would mean pillar
number 5 on the 6th floor. " (6/27/18, "Questions for Donald Willis",
alt.assassination.jfk)
Take a closer look at the sixth floor's pillar #5 in the film. Notice
that the electrical tube affixed directly to the pillar extends from the
ceiling right down through the "5". And it ends in a small switch box
below the "5". A single rectangular box.
Now, look again at CE 515 (aka DPD #12). First, the tube does NOT pass
through the "5". It goes straight down, about two or three inches to the
LEFT of the "5". And it ends, below the "5", in not just one, but TWO
electrical boxes. This pillar does not seem to be the same one we see in
the TV documentary, the one on the sixth floor. There are clear
differences in the electrical tubing and boxes.
And while the differences can't tell us on WHICH floor the DPD and Allen
photos were taken, the Allen photo provides a clue, in the presence of
Officer Valentine. In a report dated May 28, 1964, Valentine stated that
he "entered the Texas School Book Depository building, and was assigned to
the FIFTH FLOOR." (CE 2645 p6) The other floor, on which the rifle was
actually found--as seen in the 1963 photos--would then seem to have been
the fifth. At any rate, it's not the sixth floor.
Any number of interesting possible scenarios now present themselves. Was
the rifle simply left there just to frame its owner? Or was it actually
used on the fifth floor? Or did a sixth-floor shooter stow it there on
his way down? At the very least, we can reasonably conclude that not all
the evidence was found on the sixth floor. Homicide Captain Fritz's
reported handling of the spent shells now seems more problematic. Were
they, too, "imported" from the fifth floor?
When Insp. Sawyer radioed that the shells were found on the "third floor",
did he mean "third floor from the top"--i.e., fifth floor? Again, at any
rate, we can reasonably conclude that the defeaning silence on the sixth
floor, at about 1:20pm--according to Det. Marvin Johnson ("Report on the
President's Murder" p210; 11/26/63?), who was there --the silence was an
early indication that the famously noisy* discovery of the rifle (at
1:22pm, according to Deputy Eugene Boone) was not made on that floor.
"At approximately 1:20", Det. Johnson heard the sounds of the DPD-radio call
re Tippit wafting up from "the police radio below", on the outside of the
building, but he made no mention of the somewhat-more-relevant discovery
of the weapon, supposedly on that very floor. (He was on the sixth floor
until about 2:30.)
*"Boone yelled that he had found the rifle" (Deputy A.D. McCurley,
v.19p514) "I heard Boone holler out that he had found the rifle" (Deputy
Luke Mooney)
dcw
(If you don't have access to the Travel Channel documentary, I can e-mail
you a photo of the pillar in question.)
