Return to Main Page
In my 1994 update, I noted: "Robert Groden, who was there when I found the No Name Key photo mentioned in my Investigator article, told me that he thinks Dick Sprague may have identified this man during the HSCA days. I need to send a copy to him and ask about it. Larry Haapanen has told me that he believes the collection of No Name Key photos were originally from Garrison's files. Since he has copies of some of those, I plan to send him a copy of this one to see if he recognizes it." Long-time JFK-assassination photographic researcher Richard Sprague died before I was able to contact him about this. And I have not yet followed-up with Larry Haapanen. However, I am no longer sure if Groden meant the now-deceased Richard E. Sprague, or Richard A. Sprague of Pennsylvania, the former chief counsel to the HSCA.
There have been some significant developments involving photographs, however. The two photos Tom Dillard took at 12:35 p.m. in the rail yard parking area show a 1959 Rambler station wagon that is all but identical to George Wing's Rambler. In a development that brings further importance to that Rambler's similarities to Wing's, we have confirmed that C.B. Smith's first wife, Fronia Ellen S. Smith, the mother of C.B. Smith, Jr. (the sales manager at the time of the April 1963 Rambler sale to George Wing), was working in the third floor, TSBD office of Macmillan Publishing Co. at the time of the assassination. The Dallas Police questioned at least one of her coworkers, Mrs. Edna Case, about conspiratorial links to the principal suspects. File "DPD-101," on the CD-ROM, "JFK Assassination: The Dallas Papers," is a digitized copy of a Dallas Police report. It reads as follows:
[Begin Document]February 18, 1964
Captain W. P. Gannaway
Special Service Bureau
Dallas Police Department
Thru:
Lieutenant Jack Revill
Criminal Intelligence Section
Special Service Bureau
Dallas Police Department
SUBJECT: MRS. EDNA CASE (6)
1703 So. Vernon
WH 6-3077Sir:
Pursuant to the instructions of Captain W. P. Gannaway, the SUBJECT was interviewed relevant to the assassination of J. F. Kennedy.
The SUBJECT stated that on November 22, 1963 she was in the office of the Mcmillan Publishing Company on the third floor of the Texas Book Depository Building at the time the Presidential Motorcade was passing the building. She stated that she had only heard of the shooting after it occured. She stated that she did not know Lee Harvey Oswald and that as far as she knew, she had never seen him around the building.
Respectfully submitted,
[signed]
O. J. Tarver, Detective
[signed]
L. D. Stringfellow, Detective
Criminal Intelligence SectionOFFICER'S COMMENT: This SUBJECT stated that she did not know Jack Ruby.
[longhand:] 66
[stamped:] 151 [longhand:] C-37
[End Document]
Based on the minutes of a meeting of an organization called The Sons of San Jacinto, held in April, 1963, we have learned that the senior Smith's mentor, Walter Prescott Webb, was indeed in on the plan to bring JFK to Texas. Webb and the minutes mention the beginning of the planning for Congressman Albert Thomas' appreciation dinner in Houston on Nov. 21, 1963.
As noted in my Rambler manuscript, just prior to Webb's premature death, in late April 1963, LBJ had made a cryptic remark to reporters in Dallas about shooting Kennedy when he comes to Texas. Immediately after LBJ's remark, Lee and Marina Oswald began their intimate involvement with the Paines, and their involvement in the summer intrigues in New Orleans. And the day after Oswald arrived in New Orleans following LBJ's remark, George Wing acquired his Rambler from C.B. Smith Motors. More coincidence?
Six months before Allen Dulles became the lover, spy master and fellow Hitler-assassination plotter of Ruth Forbes Paine's close friend Mary Bancroft, and discovered that he and Bancroft "had many mutual friends..." (Bancroft, Autobiography of a Spy, pp. 54-61, 129-31, 161-62), Dulles was likely paying attention to Operation Anthropoid: the May 29, 1942, assassination of Prague SS chief Reinhard Heydrich. That conspiracy had multiple similarities to the JFK assassination. They include: 1) a motorcade attack at a hairpin turn; 2) signals; 3) an open, virtually stopped vehicle; 4) two attacks, five seconds apart, the first inconclusive; and 5) "passers-by" directing the crowd in its confusion. And, as in Dallas, there were unanticipated mistakes in Prague.
As Alan Burgess wrote in his 1960 book, Seven Men at Daybreak, "The vital operational point was Heydrich's open car had to slow up here to negotiate the near-hairpin corner, and for perhaps five seconds it would provide an easy slow-moving target." And a report from the Special Operations Executive branch of the British Secret Intelligence Service reads: "The special training in the UK was based on a plan that the attack on Heydrich should be made when he was traveling by car from where he lived to his office in Prague or to any known appointment and that it must be carried out at a corner where the car would have to slow down." (Jan Wiener, The Assassination of Heydrich [New York: Grossman, 1969] pp. 86-90. Alan Burgess, Seven Men at Daybreak, [London: Evans Brothers Ltd., 1960] p. 142 ["near-hairpin corner"]. Callum MacDonald, The Killing of SS Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, [New York: The Free Press, 1989] p. 124 [SIS-SOE report].)
It is a chilling realization that one or both of those two sources (Burgess' book and SIS-SOE's report) were available to Kennedy's assassins during their own planning.
Another new photographic discovery increases the likelihood that their planning included George Wing and his Rambler:
Researcher Greg Jaynes discovered that there is a Rambler station wagon visible in the Paschall film. He does not know if it is the one that Roger Craig described seeing. But he is convinced that it is the one that Richard Carr described to Gary Shaw.
Greg reported that in 1963, Record Street ran on the east side of the Dallas County Criminal Courts/Records Building grounds, as well as the east side of the courthouse. Today, Record Street on the east side of the courthouse has been blocked off and is part of the plaza that is the John F. Kennedy memorial. Record Street, where it ran on the east side of the DCCC/RB grounds is now part of the Dallas County Historical plaza.
Greg said he has done a descriptive analysis of the Paschall film, using a VHS video tape that was copied from a Betacam SP broadcast quality video tape that was produced from the original Paschall film, not the partial copy multi-generation video that Robert Groden has shown.
The following excerpt from his report explains this segment of the film, which is three and three fifteenths of a second in length:
"From tower, a shot to her right, aimed at the corner of Record and Main streets. (Record street is now blocked off and has been made into a plaza both on the east side of the Records building and east side of the old red courthouse. Also the buildings that were on the east side of Record street directly east of the two mentioned buildings have been torn down and the land they were built on is part of the plaza. The plaza on the east side of the old red courthouse is where the John F. Kennedy memorial is located today. And the plaza on the east side of the Records building is now called Dallas County Historical plaza.)
"A dark car is in the shadow of the old red courthouse on Main street. A police motorcycle is following at it's right rear.
"Parked at the near corner of Record and Main, on Record street facing south (the motorcade is passing directly in front of it) is a light colored Rambler station wagon. To the rear of the Rambler station wagon and parked bumper to bumper, a dark colored sedan the model is unrecognizable on video. Perhaps an examination of the film itself could reveal more.
"Back to the motorcade, a dark convertible then two white convertibles pass by on Main street as they approach the intersection at Houston street."
Greg Jaynes' discovery appears to be an important find. I have not yet seen this film segment myself.
Greg and I met briefly after Patsy's presentation at the 1995 COPA meeting in Dallas. I asked him about whether Patsy's film showed anything relating to Craig's sighting. My question and his answer were both focused on the 12:40 incident on Elm Street, however. He said he didn't see anything. That was understandable since she was filming intermittently at that moment.
Greg learned of my interest in the Rambler from my article in Assassination Chronicles, which was a combination of a speech I gave in 1993 and introductory material from my 174-page manuscript on the Rambler. The published article is really about my entry into the world of JFK research more than about what I learned about the Rambler itself.
As for whether the Rambler Patsy filmed on Record Street is the one Craig saw, I do not know either. But I think the question is answerable. Greg's sighting has already answered some questions. We can now be sure enough that this is one of the Ramblers Richard Carr described. That alone makes it suspicious.
We can also be sure that it is not the same Rambler Carr saw parked on Houston Street facing north against the east curb next to the TSBD. That car too is suspicious. I am quite sure it is visible in the Weaver Polaroid. See page 243 of Richard Trask's book, Pictures of the Pain. Follow the dark edge of the TSBD's north corner down to street level and there it sits, just as Carr described it.
Given Greg's discovery, three questions come to mind:
The Elm-Houston Rambler (?) is most likely the one Craig saw due to the timing of the sighting described by Craig and the timing of Murray's last photo. They are all worthy of suspicion and investigation.
Researcher Michael Swanson brought to my attention an HSCA document referring to investigations of some of these very Ramblers. It also refers to some that are unknown to us. The HSCA document links the unknown Rambler(s) to David Ferrie and Gen. Edwin Walker from April 8-10, 1963 -- significant dates in the timeline of our Austin Rambler, and in timelines of JFK research by others.
This HSCA Rambler document now carries the National Archives Record Number: 1801007610360; Agency File Number: 006795. According to the Archives' Record Identification Form (RIF), it is a one-page document that originated with the FAA. It is dated "04/08/63." The Archives filed it with the following subject key word: FAA.
Although the document itself is only one page long, it has an internal HSCA "JFK Routing Slip" attached displaying the stamped number: "006795," and dated "3/31/78." It has a handwritten heading: "Contact Report & Documents." Handwritten on the slip are the following "Index" items: Comstock, Raymond; Parker, Mrs Jessie Affidavit; Ferrie, David - flight plan; Hardeman, James Affidavit; Habighorst, Aloysius Affidavit; Gunn, Wm - Affidavit.
None of the typed, HSCA staff names, to which copies of the document were to be routed, are initialed. Below the column of staff names there is a column listing "Team #1" through "Team #5." Only "Team #3" is circled by hand.
The flight plan itself contains the following information:
Filing time: "4-4-8-'63"
[?]essees and/or Originato[?]: "N63"
Type of flight plan: "VFR"
Type of aircraft: "Cessna 37"
Proposed/Actual Time of Departure: "1300"
Aerodrome of Departure: "Hammond, LA"
True Airspeed(s): "160 K"
Cruising Level(s): "7500"
ETE for Route Segment: "Direct"
Aerodrome of Intended Landing: "Garland, Tex"
Alternate Aerodrome: "Dallas"
ETE to Aerodrome of 1st Intended Landing: "3-20"
Fuel: Hours: "5" Minutes: "30"
Total Number Persons Aboard: "4"
Name of Pilot in Command: "D. Ferrie"
Color of Aircraft: "Red - W"
Address of Pilot in Command or Aircraft Home Base: "NOLA"
Miscellaneous (For Station Use): [three names stacked top to bottom and bracketed "}":] "Hidell Lambert Diaz" [bracket "}" label:] "Pasg"
Typed on a separate sheet of paper above the flight plan is the following HSCA "Contact Report":
"Here is flight plan. Check light colored station wagon bought in Houston, Texas in Feb. or Mar. (Wagon was 1959 model) of 1963. Check this wagon at Walkers on April 10th 1963 and at Garland Texas airport and on railroad parking lot behind book depository. (See Hollands testimony to Commission on this wagon."
I lived in Garland, Texas for most of my youth (1964-1976), and I am not aware of any "airport" in Garland. However, there was reportedly an airstrip at a Garland company called E Systems, Inc. It is an electronics firm and major defense contractor which is still in the same location. Aerial photos taken of Garland in 1963 would verify the existence of that airstrip and reveal the locations of any other airstrips.
I am not aware of any further HSCA investigation of a Rambler "wagon at Walkers on April 10th 1963 and at Garland Texas airport." Nor am I aware of any further HSCA investigation of a 1959 "light colored station wagon bought in Houston, Texas in Feb. or Mar. (Wagon was 1959 model) of 1963."
I am positive, however, that the Ramblers in "Four Days," the Murray photos, the Bell Film and the Weaver Polaroid are the same year, model, and color value as the one we have been investigating in Austin, which fits the HSCA's description. I believe studies of the best sources of the Murray, Bell and Weaver photos will reveal legible license plate numbers. To date, unfortunately, no one has accessed or studied such sources. The Murray negatives are in the Sprague collection. I have not yet tracked down original sources for the others. Nonetheless, research of these photos could lead to a momentous discovery.
Roger Craig's Rambler allegations:
Another document brought to my attention by Michael Swanson further corroborates Roger Craig's account of the Dealey Plaza Rambler getaway car. This document now carries the National Archives Record Number: 124-10005-10159; Agency File Number: 89-43-581. According to the Archives' RIF, it is a two-page document that originated with the FBI, from "SAC, SF" [Special Agent in Charge, San Francisco] to SAC, DL," [Special Agent in Charge, Dallas]. It is dated "11/26/63." The Archives filed it with the following subject key words: JFK, Motorcade, White Station Wagon, Deuel, Norman.
The document is marked "URGENT," and its text is typed in uppercase characters. It reads as follows:
Assassination of President Kennedy, Dallas, Texas, November two two, last. AFO.Norman Deuel, four two two five Telegraph Avenue, Oakland, California, retired inspector of Oakland Police Department, who is considered a reliable individual, advised that on Friday last just after assassination of President he was watching TV showing first rerun photos of motorcade and distinctly heard a male voice in audio background comment about a white station wagon speeding from the area after the shooting. Deuel does not know what station he was tuned to at the time. In subsequent TV news reports Deuel heard mention made that a white station wagon with Texas license had been identified as moving Oswald when he left his residence without paying rent and moved to another. Foregoing submitted for information Dallas.
End and ACK PLS.
Greg Jaynes and I exchanged views on Dave Perry's attempt to debunk Roger Craig's Rambler allegations.
In light of Greg's Paschall-film discovery regarding the Rambler, Greg noted the irony in the following quote from Dave Perry's unpublished article, "The Rambler Man":
"We are left with another story we thought had possibilities, turned sour. At one point I thought there was independent corroboration of Craig's Nash Rambler story in High Treason. The Groden/Livingstone book describes the episode on pages 161 and 162. Imagine my disappointment when I discovered the authors were merely rehashing Penn Jones' 'investigation.'"
If Craig's allegations were not credible, and if Oswald did not admit to the Dallas Police that he left Dealey Plaza in a Rambler station wagon which he believed belonged to "Mrs. Paine," it is difficult to explain how the subject of vehicles owned by the Paines came up during Oswald's interrogation ("Report of Captain J.W. Fritz, Dallas Police Department," p. 7; "Reports of Inspector Thomas J. Kelley, U.S. Secret Service," Warren Report, pp. 605, 626).
And if Oswald's interrogators were quickly satisfied that he had not left Dealey Plaza in a station wagon, or in any vehicle belonging to the Paines ("Report of U.S. Postal Inspector H.D. Holmes," p. 4, Warren Report, p. 636), it is even more difficult to explain why the Dallas Police would be filing surveillance reports on station wagons observed at a new Paine residence nearly four years after the assassination. File "DPD-671," on the CD-ROM, "JFK Assassination: The Dallas Papers," is a digitized copy of a Dallas Police report. It reads as follows:
[Begin document]8 June 1967
Captain W. F. Dyson
Administrative Services Bureau
Dallas Police Department
SUBJECT: Criminal Intelligence (4)
MICHAEL R. PAYNE [sic]Sir:
SUBJECT and his wife, RUTH PAYNE, [sic] were associates of LEE HARVEY and MARINA OSWALD.
The undersigned officers observed the following vehicle parked in the driveway of SUBJECT'S residence, 1028 WOODLEIGH, IRVING, TEXAS, on June 7, 1967.
KGE-237 1959 Plymouth, four door, color green and white, station wagon registered to: GENS CONDEN WALKER, 4610 BLUFFVIEW BOULEVARD.
Respectfully submitted,
[signed]
A. J. Carroll, Jr., Patrolman
Criminal Intelligence Section
[signed]
R. W. Westphal, Detective
Criminal Intelligence Section
OFFICERS COMMENTS: The indices of the Criminal Intelligence Section were searched with negative results regarding WALKER.
[longhand:] Correct Lic # is KGX-237 on a 1959 Plymouth belonging to Ruth Payne [sic] 10[?]1 Woodleigh, Irving Texas 1-25-68 [illegible longhand initials and numbers] 104 6-12-67
[End Document]
As noted in my 1994 update, I acquired two different versions of Dave Perry's "The Rambler Man" article from two different sources. I have since heard that he had stopped distributing them. I have also heard that would-be conspiracy debunker John McAdams has posted the Perry article on the Internet many times, and even has it on his web page.
McAdams notwithstanding, Perry may have stopped his own distribution because of the critique I wrote for Sheldon Inkol, concerning apparent discrepancies he had edited out of his second version. At the very least, I proved Perry's reasoning to be faulty in both versions. Also, Ruth Hyde Paine's favorable review of Perry's faulty analysis, which was solicited from her by Perry, has become more curious.
Perry's "disappointment" upon "discovering" alleged problems with Craig's sighting strikes me as crocodile tears. If not, such disappointment is very strange. Personally, I would like nothing better than to prove Craig wrong. If Craig is right, and Oswald left Dealey Plaza in a car which he believed belonged to "Mrs. Paine," the official version of modern U.S. history is wrong. The consequences of Craig's story being true are horrifying. I can't imagine Perry's disappointment over proving Craig wrong. But I can imagine Perry's disappointment in himself if he discovered my critique of his Craig analysis.
Disposition of the D713121 Rambler:
A documentary filmmaker, Reg Reynolds, filmed George Wing's car on Saturday, May 18, 1996, and offered to buy it. He apparently appreciated its curious value and said he can and will restore it mechanically and preserve it cosmetically. He saw its potential for exhibition and film use (reenactments, etc.). He told me his wife would love having it too.
As if there weren't enough coincidences surrounding this car, on Wednesday, May 15th, the day after Reg and I confirmed the filming schedule via long-distance phone, the City of Austin tagged it as a junk car and served notice to remove it within 10 days. I decided it would be a good time to find another storage location and I began polling everyone concerned about our options. Then along came Reg Reynolds' offer to buy it.
I asked all concerned about whether to sell, and if so, on what terms. I currently have what amounts to power of attorney over the car, even though my name has never been on the title. My main questions were: Should I maintain a financial interest? Should I require that my name be added to his on the title to maintain a minimum legal interest even if that means my own financial liability?
I could think of nothing else to do with the car, physically, to obtain useful data, except perhaps to disassemble it. We have all the numbers, everything it contained, including dirt, and photos and video of the car. We do not prefer to give it up, but our current storage options are increasingly limited -- unless someone takes storage responsibility.
My reason for agreeing to the filming and interview was consistent with all of my actions since noticing the car in 1989; to push the investigation of it and the Dealey Plaza Rambler incident forward.
As with most everything concerning this car, Reg Reynolds is unusual. His father was Harold Reynolds (see Anthony Summers citation below). Despite what he told me when setting up our meeting, he is not a graduate film student. Reg Reynolds' son, who accompanied him, is actually the student at Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA). Reg Reynolds, the father, however, was running the show completely during the filming. Reynolds is also head of military police for his National Guard unit in Lufkin, Texas.
Reynolds called after he saw the raw footage to say he thought it was great, and that he would send me a video of it as documentation. That dispelled my fears that he might abuse the footage. I think that offer was very professional of him. But as of late April, 1997, his promise has not been kept.
He also mentioned that he teaches at a community college in Lufkin. He said he earned an MFA in Art History in 1989 from SFA. His graduate work was in recreating period pieces. What he wants to do with the Rambler is what I have often thought about doing -- use the car in filmed recreations. As a film project Reynolds said he can generate investment money to restore it. He was also forthcoming about his father, despite the fact that everything he said meant his father was a spook, trained at the original "Farm." Reynolds also promised to send me further information on his father's LHO sighting. That promise has not been kept either.
Reynolds said he has no problems at all with my name on the title. I offered a token purchase price in exchange for his future financial investment in the preservation of the car as evidence. He volunteered percentage points in the car's future income. I told him that a continuing financial interest would be part of having one of our names on the title but that my main concern was having a say in protecting the car from abuse. However, I am concerned about maintaining any personal liability in the car. A life-limb-property lawsuit could be disastrous. I told Reynolds that if a permanent storage option came along before the end of May, the sale was off. He was agreeable to that.
By the deadline, however, the need to move the car became less crucial because we learned that the city's removal notice was more of a warning than a demand. Through the end of 1996, the D713121 Rambler remained in the same location where it has been since three months after its purchase from Lucila "Luchi" Lopez Wing in May, 1992.
Anthony Summers, Conspiracy, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1980, pp. 406-07, 588. Relevant text quoted as follows:
Five Days before the assassination a citizen of Abilene, two hundred miles west of Dallas, picked up a note left for one of his neighbors. It was an urgent request to call one of two Dallas telephone numbers, and the signature read "Lee Oswald." After the assassination the citizen, Harold Reynolds, twice tried and failed to arouse FBI interest. The neighbor, it turns out, was Pedro Gonzalez, president of a local anti-Castro group called the Cuban Liberation Committee. Gonzalez became noticeably nervous when he was handed the note and minutes later was seen phoning from a public telephone. Reynolds says he had previously seen a man who closely resembled Oswald attending a meeting at Gonzalez' apartment along with a second and older American from New Orleans. Gonzalez is remembered for extreme anti-Kennedy sentiments and was known as a friend of Antonio de Varona, leader of the CIA-backed Cuban Revolutionary Council. [95] He left Abilene soon after the assassination and was last heard of in Venezuela.
Sources and Notes, Summers, Conspiracy, p. 588:
Abilene incident: article by Earl Golz, Dallas Morning News, June 10, 1979.
Note 95: On November 15, 1963, one week before the assassination, de Varona attended a Cuban Revolutionary Council meeting in New Orleans. It is of note that he stayed at the home of Agustin Guitart, the uncle of Silvia Odio. Odio, as discussed in the latter part of this chapter, was visited in September 1963 by men claiming to be anti-Castro fighters. One of their number looked exactly like Oswald and was introduced as "Leon Oswald." One of the party later called Odio and made comments apparently designed to ensure that she remembered "Oswald." The caller said that Oswald thought the President should have been shot (see this chapter and HSCA X.62).
Joe London and Jay Lake:
Joe London and I have never met (see "Beverly Ann Monroe" section of 1994 update). I know of him only because his name was mentioned to me by mutual acquaintances in 1992. We were all in the same occupation (graphic design), and London had just been hired in my former department at UT, from which I had just resigned after ten years. My interest in London continued because of my suspicions, upon learning of his reported military background in assassination, that he may have had a possible covert interest in my Rambler investigation.
Even now, London could only know of me in any detailed way through my former co-workers with whom he has worked since 1992. Since I severed all contact with those former co-workers in September 1991, his knowledge of me after that date would be limited. My suspicions regarding his possible covert interest in me and in the D713121 Rambler have not been minimized by subsequently learning the following information about Mr. London.
Since writing my 1994 update, I have been told that London owns a sizable yacht which he has sailed to South America on more than a few occasions. I noted in my 1994 update that London, who was reportedly an Army Intelligence assassin during the Vietnam war, had been hired in early 1992 to replace me in my former, low-paying, staff-artist position at the University of Texas. He was hired despite being overqualified for the position, and despite his ownership of two graphic design businesses, one of which was called Honest Joe's Scans. A new office policy had been in effect at the time of my departure, September 1991, forbidding "moonlighting" by doing graphic design work.
On December 8, 1996, I was told of a chance meeting resulting in information about Joe London, which all but confirmed my suspicions about him. My source for that meeting requires anonymity. The meeting took place at a black-tie, political fund-raiser in Austin, Texas on December 7th. It was at the home of a local business man who owns a clothing store called The Texas Clothier.
Just after arriving at the party, my informant met a man who introduced himself as Joe London. The informant reported the following conversation:
INFORMANT: "Yeah, I know you."
LONDON: "I know you too."
INFORMANT: "You have a business called Honest Joe's Scans."
LONDON: "Yeah, that turned into a really successful business."
INFORMANT: "I'm interested in the Kennedy assassination and there was a truck in Dealey Plaza with the name Honest Joe's on it."
LONDON: "Yeah, Honest Joe's Pawn Shop. I know a lot about the Kennedy assassination."
INFORMANT: "You know Richard Bartholomew don't you?"
LONDON: "Yeah, I know Richard."
Joe London and I do not "know" each another in any traditional sense. Beyond any supposed innocent interest on his part in the JFK assassination, any indication that London knows about my Rambler research raises a relevant question with sinister implications. London's reported military background, the timing and circumstances of his employment in my former position at UT, and his business partner Jay Lake's CIA connections add to those sinister implications.
Although he does not "know" me, whether or not London personally knows someone else named "Richard Bartholomew" is also open to question -- perhaps even another relevant question with sinister implications: assassination suspect Larry Florer reported in his sworn statement on Nov. 22, 1963 that, just before the assassination and his own arrest in Dealey Plaza, he had been having lunch at a barbecue restaurant on Pacific Avenue with a friend, a bank employee named Richard Bartholomew. That Richard Bartholomew is not me, but he is the only namesake that makes sense in the context of my informant's question to Joe London. My informant reported that London had not been drinking, and that he drank no alcohol at the party at all; only ginger ale.
During their brief conversation, my informant also mentioned Jay Lake, London's partner in an Austin graphic design business called The Good Art Company. According to the informant, London responded to the mention of Lake's name with: "Yeah, he's with Questar Communications now."
The following report about Jay Lake, along with his photo, appeared in the Austin Business Journal in September, 1996:
"JAY LAKE has joined QuestLink Technology Inc., an Austin-based on-line publisher of technical information for design engineers, as emerging technologies strategist. His Responsibilities will include surveying and evaluating new Internet technologies and processes as well as supporting the development of QuestLink services. Lake formerly worked for Kamstra Communications as the interactive communications manager. He holds bachelor's degree from the University of Texas at Austin."
Since writing my 1994 update, Albania has become a hot-spot of geopolitical conflict and intrigue. It is also the country where Jay's father, Joseph Edward Lake, is U.S. ambassador.("Texan nominated as ambassador to Albania," Associated Press, Austin American-Statesman, Apr. 13, 1994, p. B6.) In all of the reporting regarding the war in Bosnia and its aftermath, including the role of Albania as a center for U.S. military involvement in that conflict, and including the subsequent criminal activity and anarchy in Albania, I am aware of no mention of Joe Lake's role as the U.S. ambassador to that country.
These new facts, along with those reported in the earlier update, continue to give me reason to suspect that London, and possibly his CIA-connected business partner, Jay Lake, may have a covert interest in my investigation of George Wing's Rambler.
Paul Galmor's Rambler Investigation:
After reading Earl Golz's 30th anniversary article on the state of JFK-assassination research, which mentioned my Rambler investigation and the basic facts surrounding George Wing's Rambler (Austin American-Statesman, Nov. 22, 1993), Paul Galmor, a salesman for a local automobile dealership, called me and requested a copy of my manuscript. I sent it to him on Nov. 29th. On December 2nd, he called to discuss some ideas about furthering the Rambler investigation.
Galmor wrote a letter to the Chrysler Corporation's Historical Antique Collection (12000 Chrysler Dr., Highland Park, MI 48288), requesting information on tracing the ownership history of the D713121 Rambler. Chrysler had merged with the American Motors Company, which had acquired the Nash motor company in the mid-fifties and continued producing "Nash" Ramblers as "AMC" Ramblers. Galmor received the following reply:
[Begin document][logo] CHRYSLER
MOTORSChrysler Corporation
Chrysler CenterDecember 15, 1993
Mr. Paul Galmor
Route 1 54 C-2
Dale, TX 78616Dear Mr. Galmor:
The Chrysler Historical Collection exists to collect and preserve all information deemed pertinent to the history of the Chrysler Corporation. While our main objective is the retention and organization of this information, we also offer, on a limited basis, assistance to persons seeking information on Chrysler products. This assistance is offered in a number of ways, including provision of photographs, service manuals, a Restorer's Guide, and a video history of the Chrysler Corporation. We are also able to direct persons to other sources of information.
Enclosed are several order forms that you may find helpful. If any of these services interest you, please contact us in the future.
Yours truly,
[signed]
Brandt Rosenbusch
Corporate ArchivistBJR/fq
12000 Chrysler Drive
Highland Park, MI 48288-1919
[End Document]
Chrysler's historical information services proved to be inadequate for our purpose, however. We still need to learn the name of the original dealership to which the D713121 Rambler may have been shipped.
Paul Galmor's next project, in early 1994, was to have his friend, Jack Prurier, scan my slide copy of one of the relevant Dealey Plaza photos and digitally enlarge it. It was the last exposure of the Jim Murray sequence taken from 12:39 to 12:40, his storm sewer cover frames, 13-19 on his #1 roll. The right-hand-most car seen in the Elm-Houston intersection in frame 19 of that sequence (cover of FMG III; and Trask 499) is the one I suspect to be the getaway Rambler described by Roger Craig, Marvin Robinson and others. My slide -- a copy of Gary Shaw's slide of a print from the original negative -- proved to be inadequate, however, for discerning any new information.
A year later, on Jan. 31, 1995, after I obtained new information about George Wing from his UT personnel records and passed some of it on to Galmor, he reported that he had asked a Spanish-speaking friend, Linda Cantu, to place an international phone call to George Wing's first wife at her residence in Mexico in attempt to interview her:
Margarita Silvia Fuentes (married 08-22-50 to G. Wing; still married as of 11-06-61, but apparently divorced soon thereafter)
Now going by the name Marguerite Wing, she was reached at a phone number, known to be current as of Jan. 1992, by Ms. Cantu. She told Mrs. Wing that she had located her for the purpose of writing a possible biography of George Wing. When asked to verify the above address, Mrs. Wing volunteered that she had lived at that address for the last 14 years.
Cantu asked about "Curt Blalock." Mrs. Wing did not recognize Curt Blalock's name. Nonetheless, determining his identity and relationship to Wing is justified.
According to a 1961 letter to George Wing from Theodore Andersson, then Spanish & Portuguese chairman (the man who hired Wing in 1962), Curt Blalock had recommended Wing for his future job at UT. The name Blalock is of further interest because of its difference from the more common spelling, "Blaylock," and because of a Warren Commission witness whose name had the same, less common spelling.
On April 7-8, 1964, the Warren Commission took the testimony of Vance Douglas Blalock, a 16 year old boy who was accompanied by his unnamed parents at his hearing. Vance testified about his and his friend's encounter with Lee Harvey Oswald and Carlos Bringuier during the summer of 1963 in New Orleans (10H 81-82). Vance's friend, Philip Geraci III, who testified on April 7, 1964, was asked for, and gave, his birth date and address (10H 74). Vance was not asked, nor did he volunteer such basic identifying information.
A later letter from Andersson to Wing justifies a continued interest in any relationship between Vance Blalock and Curt Blalock. The June 5, 1967 letter suggests Mafia links to a man known to Wing and Andersson as "Jack." The letter reads:
"Jack has mentioned to me a playwright and novelist named Jorge Ibarguengortia as somebody you might be interested in getting acquainted with if you don't already know him. Jack thinks he is connected with the National University, says his English is perfect and that he is not part of the Maffia [sic]. Would you be able to look him up when you go down to Mexico City?"
As mentioned in my 1994 update, "Jack" could very well be John W.F. "Jack" Dulles, the son of John Foster Dulles, and the fellow professor of Wing's in Latin-American studies at UT. Related to Andersson's odd "Maffia" statement is a key piece of information in the testimonies of Geraci and Blalock. It is a question the two boys heard Oswald ask of Bringuier:
Mr. GERACI. Well, Carlos and me and Vance were kind of talking among ourselves, and he came in and said, "Excuse me," and, you know, he acted a little nervous and things like that. He asked, "Is this the Cuban headquarters, Cuban exile headquarters?" And, "Are you a Cuban exile?" You know, the way I acted when I first went in there. Just asked him a few questions, was he a Cuban exile, and Carlos said yes. He asked him some questions like was he connected with the Cosa Nostra, La Cosi Nostra.Mr. LIEBELER. Who asked that?
Mr. GERACI. Oswald; he asked that.
Mr. LIEBELER. Of Carlos?
Mr. GERACI. Yes; and Carlos said no, he wasn't....(10H 77)
Mr. LIEBELER. Well, the report that I have here says that you seemed to remember Oswald mentioning something about having recently visited something called the Casa Nostra, C-a-s-a N-o-s-t-r-a. Do you remember saying anything about that to the FBI man?
Mr. BLALOCK. Yes, sir; I remember mentioning the organization, but I couldn't remember the name. That organization was mentioned in the conversation with Carlos Bringuier and Harvey Oswald.
Mr. LIEBELER. It was?
Mr. BLALOCK. I believe so.
Mr. LIEBELER. Do you remember that it was Oswald who mentioned it?
Mr. BLALOCK. I don't remember which one mentioned it first.
Mr. LIEBELER. And it was mentioned as being a Cuban organization in Florida? Is that your recollection?
Mr. BLALOCK. Yes, sir; I think that is the name they mentioned. It could be something similar. I know I got this Mafia name mixed up with a Cuban organization name.
Mr. LIEBELER. Well, you know that that name that I just mentioned, Casa Nostra, is very similar to the Cosa Nostra. Do you think you may have been confused at the time you talked with him?
Mr. BLALOCK. Well, I meant the Cuban organization. I may have said the Mafia, the Cosa Nostra.
Mr. LIEBELER. You may have used that name?
Mr. BLALOCK. But I meant the Cuban --
Mr. LIEBELER. You meant some Anti-Castro Cuban organization?
Mr. BLALOCK. Yes, sir.
Mr. LIEBELER. So the best you can recall, Oswald didn't say that he had recently visited someone in the Cosa Nostra?
Mr. BLALOCK. No, sir. Yes, sir. (10H 84-85)
Another oddity in Blalock's and Geraci's testimonies is worth noting. Geraci told Liebeler that his and Blalock's meeting with Oswald was their first and last. Liebeler then asked if Geraci saw Bringuier after that:
Mr. GERACI: Yes. That time when we found out that it was Oswald who killed him. well, then I went there, you know, to get things straightened out and talk with Carlos a little about him, you know.Mr. LIEBELER: You went back and talked with Carlos, about this meeting with Oswald, after the assassination? Is that right?
Mr. GERACI: Yes.
Near the end of his testimony, however, Philip's mother said, "When I found out he met Oswald, I nearly died. The week this happened he was camping with the Boy Scouts and gone Friday, Saturday, and Sunday when the stuff was on TV." Philip then corrected his mother:
Mr. GERACI. I was in school when he got shot.
Mrs. GERACI. But you were in camp, but you didn't see a lot of the funeral and all that stuff showing Oswald's picture.
Mr. LIEBELER. How did you first become aware that Oswald was the fellow you met? Did Vance talk to you about it? Do you remember?
Mr. GERACI. The first time was when the FBI agent came to my house and asked did I see an ex-marine and showed a picture and all that. I didn't even know it before that. It was just then that I realized.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did the FBI man tell you how he --
Mr. GERACI. Got my name?
Mr. LIEBELER. What prompted him, why did he come to your house? Did he tell you?
Mr. GERACI. Well, he said he couldn't tell me that. I asked him, and he said, well, he couldn't tell me. (10H 81)
The date and time of this FBI agent's visit is not mentioned, but Blalock's testimony helps pinpoint the timing of the post-assassination FBI visit to the Geraci home:
Mr. LIEBELER. You must have talked to Philip abut Oswald after the assassination.
Mr. BLALOCK. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you recall to each other and discuss with each other the meeting that you had with Oswald in the store on Decatur Street at that time?
Mr. BLALOCK. I think I was the one that recognized him. I called it to Philip's attention, and the next day at school he said, "Yes, that is the man we met at the store," I recognized Oswald late one night when I was just about going to bed. I told my Daddy, "I went uptown and met that man up there."
Mr. LIEBELER. This was shortly after the assassination?
Mr. BLALOCK. Yes; during the time they didn't have any shows but the funeral....
Therefore, the FBI interviewed Geraci and his mother at their home sometime between Friday and Monday, Nov. 22-25, 1963. The "next day at school," therefore, when Philip and Vance discussed their meeting with Oswald, could only have been Tuesday, Nov. 26th. Philip said, "I didn't even know it before that," meaning he only realized they had met Oswald when the FBI agent showed him a picture of Oswald. Since Vance "called it to Philip's attention" the day before school "during the time they didn't have any shows but the funeral," Philip either learned it from the FBI man and from Vance on Monday, or Philip was lying.
Philip's discussion with Bringuier about Oswald at "That time when we found out that it was Oswald who killed him," was most likely during the week after the assassination.
Moreover, such early FBI interest in Blalock's and Geraci's encounter with Oswald indicates some hidden importance to it. Liebeler stated that the FBI agent who interviewed Blalock after the assassination was named Kevin J. Herrigan. Blalock testified that the timing of that interview was "during the Christmas Holidays" (10H 84). It seems unlikely that the FBI would interview Geraci on Monday, Nov. 25th, then wait a month to interview Blalock. If they were lying or hiding something about the timing of those interviews, it only increases their hidden importance.
Such a lie would also support the already grossly apparent attempt to hide the fact that Oswald had asked Bringuier if he was connected to the Mafia. When we add to this the fact that Bringuier testified to the presence of mysterious Mexicans in Oswald's company during this same time period (10H 45-46), more potential connections to George Wing emerge.
According to Michael Benson's Who's Who in the JFK Assassination (NY: Citadel Press, 1993), Geraci was a friend of Perry Russo, and Geraci died in Aug. 1968 by electrocution. The fate of Geraci's friend, Vance Blalock, is not yet known, as is any relationship between Vance and George Wing's friend Curt Blalock. Such questions are well worth pursuing, however.
Marguerite Wing may have stumbled, according to Galmor and Cantu, on the next name mentioned to her: "Buckley." But she did not say anything further about recognizing the name.
When the subject of Wing's activities at the University of Mexico was mentioned, Mrs. Wing started to say something, then interrupted herself to say she did not know anything about it "anymore." She said, "It's been a long time," then avoided the subject.
Galmor and Cantu did not ask Mrs. Wing about the International Institute of Education. Galmor reported that no further information was obtained from Mrs. Wing.
"Ruth and Michael Pentz":
Beginning on Oct. 17, 1994, I received the following information in a series of letters, the first dated Oct. 8, 1994, from Robert E. Doran, a student of the JFK assassination, and possible witness to a "Paine" Rambler station wagon: Robert Edwin Doran.
Mr. Doran wrote that he had just completed a cursory reading of my Rambler manuscript. He had obtained it the day before from Prevailing Winds Research. Doran said he may have one small piece of the puzzle concerning the "Paine / Rambler" that was seen in Dealey Plaza.
He said that in the early 1960's he was stationed at Carswell AFB, at Fort Worth, Texas. He was assigned to a Heavy Bomb Wing and worked in an Armaments & Electronics Squadron. This was a maintenance support squadron for SAC nuclear bombers. The primary aircraft was the Boeing B-52. Doran said this assignment required a "Secret" level of security clearance for flight line access. For approximately eighteen months, Doran claims, he worked with an individual that he now believes to have been Michael Paine. Doran was his immediate supervisor.
Doran said the individual in question at that time used another name. These events occurred in 1960 and early 1961, ending when Doran received an Honorable Discharge after completion of a four-year enlistment. He said he now feels that events he witnessed, involving "Michael Paine," were a part of a "security program" that was connected with military intelligence.
Doran said he had recently seen a PBS TV special that included an interview with Michael & Ruth Paine. This reinforced his past associations with them, he said. Doran and his wife had spent some time in their house after duty hours. "The similarities between the 'Air Force couple' and the historic Paines are remarkable," Doran wrote.
He said that I might be interested in "the fact that the Air Force couple owned a Rambler station wagon! It was about three to five years old and in very good condition. I remember this very well because of the kidding that we gave this individual about such a non-cool car."
Doran said he had previously read about the Dealey Plaza Rambler. But he had always considered it to be one of those "tangents" that the JFK study takes at times. Doran said he never gave it much credence until he read my "thesis about the Paine / Rambler connection."
He said he thought that I might be interested in pursuing this "if possible at this point in time." Despite my interest, and the impossibility of devoting sufficient time to it over the last two-and-a-half years, I still believe Mr. Doran when he said: "I promise you that this is not a 'crack pot' thing."
There are aspects to his story that either test my belief in his honesty, or speak to the ultimate importance of investigating his allegations further. Doran added that another possible historical JFK figure was also assigned to his "shop." "His military record name," said Doran, "was Charles Melvin Coffey! Another of the "Spooks" as we refereed [sic] to them."
A number of months before Doran's release date, several new "recruits" suddenly appeared in his work station. "These very young 'enlisted men' did not have the typical entry background into the USAF. Neither did the individual that I now consider to be Michael Paine. One of these 'new' individuals may have been Kerry Thornley!"
Doran volunteered the following information about himself:
Birth date: Jul. 4, 1937
Place of Birth: Oakmont, Delaware County, Pa.
USAF Enlistment: Mar. 1, 1957; sworn in at Frankfort Arsenal recruiting center, Philadelphia, Pa.
USAF Serial Number: AF13608965 (later corrected as 13607965)
Basic Training: Lackland AFB, Texas
Technical Training: June 1957, Sheppard AFB, Wichita Falls, Texas
AFSC: 4732, "Aircraft Electrical Systems Repairman" (specialist in auto pilot / compass systems)
Clearance Rating: Secret (allowed flight line access)
Permanent Assignment: Nov. 1957, Carswell AFB, Ft. Worth, Texas
Work Assignment: 7th Field Maintenance Squadron Electric Shop
Transfer: Dec. 1958, 7th Armaments & Electronics Squadron Auto Pilot / Compass Systems Shop
Doran reported that his duties were to bench test aircraft components for acceptance and serviceability. His shop had five people assigned to it in 1959. In mid-summer, 1960, his shop's assignments were combined with those of "flight line only," "Auto Pilot" personnel working in another building. They were housed in one work area in a different building which had much higher security.
In about August 1959, according to Doran, a man named Michael David Pentz was assigned to the 7th A&E Squadron Auto Pilot shop. Doran claimed Pentz did not have a "normal entry" into the Air Force. "He had not been through the Lackland Air Force Basic Training center nor a USAF Technical Training school, as far as I could determine."
Bob Doran described Pentz, who preferred to be called David, as about 27 to 30 years old (which he later changed to "mid-twenties), Caucasian, small build, about five feet, six inches tall (later changed to 5'-7"), 140 lbs, with light brown hair. He did not smoke. He was from the Northeast, but never indicated to Doran exactly where. "He was a very tight lipped individual," Doran said, "especially about personal information." The only exception to this, according to Doran, was a personal conversation in which Pentz confided to Doran that he and his wife "were having deep sexual problems...."
According to Pentz's wife, "Ruth Pentz," he had some previous "engineering" courses in college. They had two pre-school children, according to Doran, "ages about 2 & 4 years old." (Doran later wrote that his own wife remembers "Ruth" Pentz as "Katie, as in Kathryn" Pentz. He admitted that his wife's memory is better than his, but Bob Doran still remembers the name as "Ruth.")
Doran described Katie/Ruth as "about 30 years" old, "slender build and perhaps 5'-7" [later changed to 5'-8"], being somewhat taller" than Michael. "She wore horn rimmed glasses that made her look older," said Doran. "She said that she was a registered nurse and was working at a hospital/clinic in Fort Worth. She was from the southeast area of Pennsylvania, again only vague references as to where. She was self described as belonging to some kind of 'Friends' organization [Doran later changed this to 'The Brethren' religious organization"]. She described this as being similar to the 'Quakers.'"
Doran later said Katie/Ruth was an RN, requiring a Texas nursing license, and that she "worked the floor" at "All-Saints Hospital, in Fort Worth," during 1960-61. He also said his own wife received her original LVN nurses training there in 1959, and worked in the "OR ( surgery ) at the same period" that Katie/Ruth Pentz was there.
Bob Doran and his wife visited the Pentzes at their "rental" house, "in the River Oaks area," on several occasions. The Dorans "did not socialize with them," however, because of "differences in background and having no children...."
Doran described their Rambler as a "station wagon style with a factory chrome luggage rack on the top rear of the roof. It was a 'light off colored Green', that looked a dirty grey in poor light. The car was about five years old but looked in excellent shape." Doran, in a later correction, said he only saw the car in the dark on a few occasions, was uncertain about the hue and concluded, "I will have to settle for 'a light grey'."
Doran said he saw Ruth and Michael Paine in separate interviews on the PBS Frontline program titled "Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald," which aired on Nov. 17, 1993. In the 1970s, Doran had seen a picture which he described as showing Michael Paine "leaving the 1964 Warren Commission...." "But after seeing both, although thirty three years older," said Doran , "I am absolutely convinced that they are the same Air Force 'odd couple' that I knew in 1959 -1961."
Bob Doran later found and sent me his military service record, which corroborated his military background as presented in his letters.
I have omitted many other verifiable details of Bob Doran's story for the purpose of future identification of any misinformation or disinformation pertaining to his allegations. I have also omitted some promising leads and many of his thoughts which, as Doran himself readily admits, are "rambling," speculation and "personal diatribe."
None of Mr. Doran's basic, concrete information has been followed up by myself or, to my knowledge, anyone else, except for a cursory check of Fort Worth telephone directories for the name Pentz during the years 1960-61. That brief check, though inconclusive, was negative.
Nonetheless, I feel that Mr. Doran and his allegations deserve to be investigated at greater length. My impression is that he is honest and has witnessed potentially astounding and crucial details of the assassination conspiracy. It is also apparent to me that his intense curiosity and interest in solving the assassination have cluttered his story with information of varying quality from secondary sources which will take time, but perhaps not great effort, for an erudite researcher to sift through.
I strongly sense that Bob Doran, like most witnesses from that time and place, has answers to questions he does not know are being asked, and answers to questions which are not yet being asked.
---END 1996 UPDATE---
Return to Main Page
* * *