Crossfire

by Jim Marrs

  This issue began the evening of November 22, 1963, when Dallas police chief Jesse Curry began receiving calls from Washington. Curry told the Warren Commission:

  The FBI actually had no jurisdiction over [the murder of Kennedy], the Secret Service actually had no jurisdiction over it. But, in an effort to cooperate with these agencies we went all out to do whatever they wanted us to do. . . . We kept getting calls from the FBI. They wanted this evidence up in Washington . . . there was some discussion, [Captain] Fritz told me, he says, “Well, I need the evidence here, I need to get some people to try to identify the gun, to try to identify this pistol and these things, and if it’s in Washington, how can I do it?” But, we finally . . . about midnight of Friday night, we agreed to let the FBI have all the evidence.

  As he related to Warren Commission member Allen Dulles, “We kept getting calls from the FBI. They wanted this evidence up in Washington, in the [FBI] laboratory, and there was some discussion.” Curry made it clear that “we felt this was a murder that had been committed in the county, city and county of Dallas, and that we had prior, I mean we had jurisdiction over this.

  But someone in Washington was most persistent. “We got several calls insisting we send this [evidence], and nobody would tell me exactly who it was that was insisting, ‘Just say I got a call from Washington, and they wanted this evidence up there,’ insinuated it was someone in high authority that was requesting this, and we finally agreed as a matter of trying to cooperate with them, actually,” explained Curry. Rumors in Dallas have long been that the calls were made by President Lyndon B. Johnson’s assistant Cliff Carter.

  On the basis of this pressure from Washington and against their better judgment, the Dallas police reluctantly released all of the assassination evidence to the FBI. “We finally, the night, about midnight of Friday night, we agreed to let the FBI have all [emphasis added] the evidence and they said they would bring it to their laboratory and they would have an agent stand by and when they were finished with it to return it to us,” stated Curry.

  However, much of the evidence was never returned to Dallas. Curry told the Warren Commission on April 22, 1964, “Subsequently they photographed these things in Washington and sent us copies, some 400, I think 400 copies of different items. So far as I know, we have never received any of that evidence back. It is still in Washington, I guess. Perhaps the Commission has it.”

  “Yes; the Commission is still working with it,” responded Commission general counsel J. Lee Rankin. According to Fritz, what the Dallas authorities eventually received was “very poor reproductions of some of these items on microfilm.”

  Yet the journey of this vital evidence was unofficial and was never made clear to the public. The first official word on the transfer of assassination evidence came on Tuesday, November 26, when both Dallas newspapers carried stories announcing that the evidence was to be turned over to federal authorities.

  “The Dallas Police Department Tuesday prepared to turn over all evidence in the assassination case against Lee Harvey Oswald to the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” stated the Dallas Times Herald. “FBI agents Tuesday took control of all evidence gathered by Dallas police against accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald on an agreement between Police Chief Jesse E. Curry and Dist. Atty. Henry Wade,” announced the Dallas Morning News.

  The News went on to explain, “Curry went before reporters at noon Tuesday to make the announcement. The disclosure came after Curry held several morning conferences with top aides. The transfer of evidence from city police to federal control was completed four hours later.”

  So now the FBI was officially on the case and officially in charge of the evidence. But what could have happened during the two days while the evidence was unofficially in their hands? Fabrication, substitution, elimination, alteration—anything could have been done to the evidence, with no effective chain of custody. Unlike in 1963, today the FBI has come under suspicion of poor management of evidence at best and downright falsification of evidence at worst. In the late 1990s, Frederic Whitehurst, who served as supervisory special agent in the FBI’s laboratory from 1986 to 1998, went public with charges that the lab was involved in ongoing deficiencies ranging from mishandling of evidence to falsifying documents. His charges echoed those of researchers who have claimed similar activities with JFK assassination evidence.

  Under Hoover’s iron control, it would have been an easy matter for certain ranking bureau officials to do with the evidence whatever they pleased.

  The fact that federal authorities had all the assassination evidence under covert control for two days could go far in explaining the contradictions and questionable conclusions of the official investigation. Apparently at least one person understood the gravity of this issue as there was an attempt to obscure it in the Warren Commission materials.

  In 1992, the National Archives made public the “confidential” deposition of FBI fingerprint expert James C. Cadigan. In his April 30, 1964, testimony to Warren Commission attorney Melvin A. Eisenberg, the following exchange took place during routine questioning regarding fingerprint matters:

  MR. EISENBERG: Do you know why [Exhibit] 820 was not reprocessed or desilvered?

  MR. CADIGAN: I could only speculate.

  MR. EISENBERG: Yes?

  MR. CADIGAN: It may be that there was a very large volume of evidence being examined at the time. Time was of the essence, and this material, I believe, was returned to the Dallas Police within two or three days, and it was merely in my opinion a question of time. We have (sic) a very large volume of evidence. There was insufficient time to desilver it. And I think in many instances where latent fingerprints are developed they do not desilver it.

  MR. EISENBERG: Can you explain why the signature, “Lee H. Oswald” or “L.H. Oswald is apparent while the signature “A.J. Hidell” is not?

  MR. CADIGAN: Different inks.

  During this otherwise unremarkable questioning, Cadigan had inadvertently let the cat out of the bag. He had declared to one and all that the FBI had a “large volume” of assassination evidence only some of which was returned to the Dallas police. Later in his deposition, Cadigan made it absolutely clear when this evidence was being handled:

  MR. CADIGAN: Initially the first big batch of evidence was brought into the laboratory on November 23rd of 1963 and this consisted of many, many items.

  MR. EISENBERG: `63?

  MR. CADIGAN: November 23, 1963. It was a very large quantity of evidence that was brought in. There were several agent examiners available to evaluate this material. There were supervisory officials, there were representatives from our Internal Security Division, all of whom had an interest in this matter, and it was decided they wanted certain items treated for latent fingerprints.

  So a virtual posse of ranking FBI officials swarmed over the assassination evidence all day Saturday and Sunday. Obviously this unpublicized and unmonitored access to all the evidence might cause a suspicious mind to question the validity of the evidence later used to establish Oswald’s guilt.

  It is doubly suspicious that in Cadigan’s original deposition some unknown person scratched out his statement about being rushed to return the evidence to Dallas and scribbled “delete” in the margin. This same person marked out Cadigan’s statement that “I could only speculate” and wrote in “No, this is a latent fingerprint matter.”

  Sure enough, in the version published by the Warren Commission, we read:

  MR. EISENBERG: Do you know why Exhibit 820 was not reprocessed or desilvered?

  MR. CADIGAN: No, this is a latent fingerprint matter.

  MR. EISENBERG: Can you explain why the signature, “Lee H. Oswald” or rather “L.H. Oswald” is apparent, while the signature “A.J. Hidell” is not?

  MR. CADIGAN: Different inks.

  Why did someone commit a crime by illegally altering an official government deposition and why did the Warren Commission print an altered version of Cadigan’s statement. Were they unaware of the alt
eration? Or did someone recognize the significance of the assassination evidence being in the hands of the FBI with no publicity or accountability for two days?

  Perhaps a study of the stenographic notes and tapes might reveal other alterations to the testimony of Cadigan and others. But don’t count on it. According to a notice on the cover sheet of Cadigan’s deposition, “Stenotype Tape, Master Sheets, Carbon and Waste turned over to Commission for destruction.”

  The assassination had become a federal government matter, and although the assassination evidence is often ambiguous and contradictory and will certainly be in controversy for years to come, the handling of the evidence clearly points to manipulation and obfuscation at the highest levels of federal authority, clear proof of who was responsible for at least the demonstrable cover-up, if not the assassination itself.

  The next major shock came about 11:20 a.m. Sunday, November 24, 1963, when the prime suspect was fatally shot while handcuffed in the basement of Dallas police headquarters.

  Five days later, Lyndon Johnson moved to block any further investigation of the curious events in Dallas by appointing a “blue ribbon” commission to probe the entire affair. It was the beginning of total federal control over the evidence and witnesses in the assassination case. The key to the JFK assassination may be in the aftermath of the crime—the unfollowed leads, the presence of Secret Service agents—real or bogus—in Dealey Plaza where none should have been, the intimidation of witnesses, the destruction and suppression of vital evidence.

  As with any good investigation dealing with criminal violence, much of the work in the first hours after the assassination centered on the medical evidence, which should have clearly shown how many bullets struck Kennedy and from which direction they came.

  Therefore, on the day of the assassination, attention was centered on two hospitals—Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas and Bethesda Naval Hospital near Washington, DC.

  Two Hospitals

  As the echo of shots died away in Dealey Plaza, Dallas police chief Jesse Curry, riding in the lead car of Kennedy’s motorcade, radioed his police dispatcher, “Looks like the president has been hit. Have Parkland stand by.”

  The motorcade sped up, reaching speeds of nearly eighty miles per hour during the four-mile race along Stemmons Freeway to the hospital.

  Parkland Memorial Hospital remains the major public hospital in Dallas County today. Almost every victim of violence—from wrecks to gunshot wounds—is brought to Parkland. Its emergency room is constantly staffed with doctors and interns well experienced in trauma situations. President Kennedy could not have asked for more experienced and competent medical attention.

  Yet following his autopsy that evening at the National Naval Medical Center at Bethesda, Maryland, serious and continuing discrepancies in the medical evidence arose. These discrepancies have provided a source of controversy that continues even today.

  If one assumes there was some sort of conspiracy involved in the assassination, the questions over the medical evidence provide a good starting point for determining its scope.

  But before examining the tangled morass of medical evidence, there is a small question of the presidential limousine’s arrival at Parkland. Secret Service driver William Greer testified to the Warren Commission that he did not know the way to Parkland and so followed sheriff Bill Decker and Chief Curry in the lead car. Greer’s story is buttressed by the testimony of two other Secret Service officials, Forrest Sorrels and Winston Lawson. However, in his testimony, Chief Curry is strangely vague, saying only that the limousine went to the hospital under “siren escort.”

  What’s the problem? During the time of the House Select Committee on Assassinations, a film taken by Dallasite Jack Daniel was seen widely for the first time. Taken just as the motorcade exited from the west end of the Triple Underpass and entered Stemmons Freeway, this film clearly shows that both the presidential limousine and the Secret Service backup car had passed Curry’s lead car and were leading the race to the hospital.

  How could Washington-based Agent Greer know how to find Parkland and, more important, why did he state in his Commission testimony, “I never passed [Curry’s car]. . . . I was led to the hospital by the police car who was preceding me”?

  Either these highly trained agents panicked and forgot what actually happened or they lied about it. Since the Daniel film can’t lie, the question remains—how did Greer know how to locate Parkland?

  Upon arrival at Parkland at 12:35 p.m., Governor Connally regained consciousness long enough to attempt to rise, but fell back into the car in great pain. Connally was lifted onto a stretcher and wheeled into the hospital. Secret Service agent Clint Hill removed his suit coat and placed it over the president’s gory head wound to prevent photographs.

  However, several persons saw Kennedy’s body, including Fort Worth newsman Roy Stamps, who told researchers, “I rushed up and saw Kennedy lying in the car on his side. His foot was hanging over the side of the car. The back of his head was gone.”

  As other vehicles in the presidential motorcade began arriving at the Parkland emergency entrance and Connally was placed in Trauma Room 2, Secret Service agents Greer, Roy Kellerman, and Winston Lawson pulled the fatally wounded president away from Mrs. Kennedy, placed him on a stretcher, and pushed it into Trauma Room 1. There Kennedy was attended to by no fewer than twelve of Parkland’s doctors—including four surgeons, the chief neurologist, an oral surgeon, and a heart specialist.

  Dr. Charles J. Carrico, a resident surgeon, was the first doctor to examine Kennedy. He noted the president was ashen in color, his breathing lacked coordination, there were no voluntary movements, and his eyes were open with pupils dilated, showing no reaction to light. However, a few chest sounds thought to be heartbeats were heard and immediately resuscitation efforts were begun. Carrico inserted a cuffed endotracheal tube in a small puncture wound just below Kennedy’s Adam’s apple. The tube was connected to a respirator.

  Other doctors began arriving and treating the president; fluids and stimulants were injected and oxygen administered. Cardiac massage was begun—to no avail.

  President Kennedy was pronounced dead at 1 p.m. (CST) by Dr. Kemp Clark, Parkland’s director of neurological surgery.

  Dr. Charles A. Crenshaw, who retired as chairman emeritus of the Department of Surgery at Fort Worth’s Peter Smith Hospital and a director of the Tarrant County Hospital District, was among the team that worked to save the president. In 1992, he was vilified by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) after publicly stating that Kennedy was shot from the front and that the Dallas doctors had engaged in a “conspiracy of silence” concerning his wounds. The publication even suggested that Crenshaw was never in Parkland’s emergency room. He noted:

  My observations contradicted the “official” version of the assassination, as reported in the Warren Report. I stated that President Kennedy was shot at least once, and I believe twice, from the front, and Oswald could not have been a “lone gunman.” I had anticipated criticism from some, but I never expected the vicious attack from my medical colleagues.

  A retraction and financial settlement were later given by JAMA when it was pointed out that five doctors and nurses had mentioned Crenshaw’s presence in their Warren Commission testimony.

  Crenshaw also raised official ire when he related how he received a call from Lyndon Johnson while trying to save the life of Lee Harvey Oswald. Phyllis Bartlett, chief telephone operator for Parkland Hospital, recalled, “The call came in and said ‘hold the line for the President,’ and for a second I was still thinking Kennedy, and I . . . was kind of taken aback for a minute and a few seconds. It was just a matter of a second, that’s when he came on in a loud voice and said, ‘This is Lyndon Johnson. Connect me to the accused assassin’s doctor.’ It sounded the same as it had been on newscasts when I would hear him speak.”

  Crenshaw said Johnson told him, “Dr. Crenshaw, I want a death-bed confession from the accused assa
ssin. There’s a man in the operating room who will take the statement. I expect full cooperation in this matter.”

  Crenshaw said the incident confounded logic and bothered him for the rest of his life. “Why the President of the United States would get personally involved in the investigation of the assassination, or why he would take the inquest out of the hands of the Texas authorities was perplexing,” he mused.

  While one set of Parkland doctors worked on Kennedy, another worked feverishly to save Connally. A large sucking chest wound caused the greatest concern for the governor. A bullet had shattered the fifth rib on his right side, sending bits of bone and metal tearing through his chest, collapsing one lung. And his right wrist had been broken, the bullet entering from the top and exiting from the bottom of his wrist. Doctors also discovered a wound in Connally’s left thigh. This wound was cleaned and sutured shut, although according to the Warren Report, “a small metal fragment remained in the Governor’s leg.”

  Vice president Lyndon Johnson also had entered Parkland, but was kept secluded in a room near where efforts were being made to revive the president. About 1:20 p.m., presidential aide Kenneth O’Donnell informed Johnson that Kennedy was dead. According to the Warren Report, O’Donnell advised Johnson to return to Washington as soon as possible. However, Mrs. Kennedy refused to leave without her husband’s body and Johnson refused to leave without Mrs. Kennedy.

  It was finally decided to leave immediately and to return on Air Force One because the presidential plane had better communication equipment. The decision created one of the assassination’s most enduring problems—with the president’s autopsy performed at Bethesda, two sets of doctors viewed the body at different times and their descriptions of wounds differed so widely that controversy remains to this day.