The "Fake" Secret Service Agents on the Knoll
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Introduction
Those “fake” Secret Service agents running around Dealey Plaza? I contend that they were actual Secret Service agents, and that they were part of Johnson's protective detail, from Johnson's follow-up car.
We know that Thomas “Lem” Johns was a left behind in Dealey Plaza when the motorcade sped off to Parkland Hospital. Ostensibly, he was only left behind on the road for a few seconds or minutes, until he caught a ride with some newsmen passing by. But in fact, he was in Dealey Plaza longer than a few "seconds" or even "minutes," which I will show.
Then there was Warren Taylor, who ostensibly set foot on the street, and then immediately got back into the car. Well, he did return to the car, but it wasn't "immediately."
And finally, there is the mysterious unnamed "blond agent," who was photographed near the Elm Street manhole cover, and who apparently went into the TSBD and asked Lee Harvey Oswald where he could find a phone. Supposedly, that person was radio personality Pierce Allman, but Allman certainly would not have identified. himself as a Secret Service agent. Plus, there is corroboration of a Secret Service agent inside the TSBD talking on the phone.
Those “fake” Secret Service agents running around Dealey Plaza? I contend that they were actual Secret Service agents, and that they were part of Johnson's protective detail, from Johnson's follow-up car.
We know that Thomas “Lem” Johns was a left behind in Dealey Plaza when the motorcade sped off to Parkland Hospital. Ostensibly, he was only left behind on the road for a few seconds or minutes, until he caught a ride with some newsmen passing by. But in fact, he was in Dealey Plaza longer than a few "seconds" or even "minutes," which I will show.
Then there was Warren Taylor, who ostensibly set foot on the street, and then immediately got back into the car. Well, he did return to the car, but it wasn't "immediately."
And finally, there is the mysterious unnamed "blond agent," who was photographed near the Elm Street manhole cover, and who apparently went into the TSBD and asked Lee Harvey Oswald where he could find a phone. Supposedly, that person was radio personality Pierce Allman, but Allman certainly would not have identified. himself as a Secret Service agent. Plus, there is corroboration of a Secret Service agent inside the TSBD talking on the phone.
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Sightings
Let’s look at statements of witnesses who first saw Secret Service agents running up the hill, and then encountered one of them later. Who were they? And what did they see?
(Much of the information below was excerpted from my book The JFK Cut-N-Paste Assassination, with some minor editing changes.)
The Newman's
Consider what Bill and Gayle Newman (the Dealey Plaza parents who lay down on the grass covering their children) had to say. Bill Newman, in an interview, said:
Another thing that I recall, that’s a little bit questionable—I still have it in my mind. It’s been said that the Secret Service men all stayed on the vehicle. And I remember—it may not have been the car directly behind, it may have been the other car (Denise: Johnson’s follow-up car, the one with Lem Johns and Warren Taylor), but I remember, it seemed like they flipped back the cover that was over, like the top, and came out with something like (a) Thompson sub-machine gun, and in my mind, one or two of them ran up the grassy knoll (with) that in hand.[i]
[i] “Living History with the Newmans,” published January 6, 2014, accessed November 8, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stAI9a9Hnvs(about 11:14)
And Gail Newman in the same interview, said: “I saw (the Secret Service) men running up the hill, also.”[ii]
[ii] “Living History with the Newmans,” (about 13:29)
Let’s look at statements of witnesses who first saw Secret Service agents running up the hill, and then encountered one of them later. Who were they? And what did they see?
(Much of the information below was excerpted from my book The JFK Cut-N-Paste Assassination, with some minor editing changes.)
The Newman's
Consider what Bill and Gayle Newman (the Dealey Plaza parents who lay down on the grass covering their children) had to say. Bill Newman, in an interview, said:
Another thing that I recall, that’s a little bit questionable—I still have it in my mind. It’s been said that the Secret Service men all stayed on the vehicle. And I remember—it may not have been the car directly behind, it may have been the other car (Denise: Johnson’s follow-up car, the one with Lem Johns and Warren Taylor), but I remember, it seemed like they flipped back the cover that was over, like the top, and came out with something like (a) Thompson sub-machine gun, and in my mind, one or two of them ran up the grassy knoll (with) that in hand.[i]
[i] “Living History with the Newmans,” published January 6, 2014, accessed November 8, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stAI9a9Hnvs(about 11:14)
And Gail Newman in the same interview, said: “I saw (the Secret Service) men running up the hill, also.”[ii]
[ii] “Living History with the Newmans,” (about 13:29)
James "Ike" Altgens
James “Ike” Altgens said:
One thing that did seem to be a little bit strange, immediately after the car proceeded on to Parkland Hospital, men with drawn guns ran up the terrace of this plaza, up in what is considered to be and is referred to as the knoll area, and—thinking they had the assassin cornered up in this knoll area. And it seemed rather strange, as I say, because knowing the shot came from behind (because it caused Kennedy to “bolt forward,” per earlier in the same interview), this fellow had to really move in order to get into the knoll area.[iii]
[iii] “JFK Assassination Interview with Associated Press Photographer James Ike Altgens,” published November 6, 2013, accessed November 10, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ht4p5ywmbT8
The original video that I sourced in my book isn't available any longer, but a similar one, which is a clip from the multipart 1966 CBS news special "The Warren Report" can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC_xwFXDCAs :
James “Ike” Altgens said:
One thing that did seem to be a little bit strange, immediately after the car proceeded on to Parkland Hospital, men with drawn guns ran up the terrace of this plaza, up in what is considered to be and is referred to as the knoll area, and—thinking they had the assassin cornered up in this knoll area. And it seemed rather strange, as I say, because knowing the shot came from behind (because it caused Kennedy to “bolt forward,” per earlier in the same interview), this fellow had to really move in order to get into the knoll area.[iii]
[iii] “JFK Assassination Interview with Associated Press Photographer James Ike Altgens,” published November 6, 2013, accessed November 10, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ht4p5ywmbT8
The original video that I sourced in my book isn't available any longer, but a similar one, which is a clip from the multipart 1966 CBS news special "The Warren Report" can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC_xwFXDCAs :
Joe Marshall Smith
After the Shooting, persons who encountered the “phony” Secret Service agent in Dealey Plaza after the shooting included DPD officer Joe Marshall Smith, Malcolm Summers, Sergeant D.V. Harkness, and Seymour Weitzman.
"After the shooting, Dallas Police officer Joe M. Smith encountered another suspicious man in the lot behind the picket fence [on the grassy knoll]. Smith told the Warren Commission that when he drew his pistol and approached the man, the man "showed [Smith] that he was a Secret Service agent."
Another witness also reported encountering a man who displayed a badge and identified himself as a Secret Service agent. But according to Secret Service Chief James Rowley and agents at the scene, all Secret Service personnel stayed with the motorcade, as required by regulations, and none was stationed in the railroad parking lot [behind the grassy knoll]. It thus appeared that someone was carrying fraudulent Secret Service credentials--of no perceptible use to anyone but an escaping assassin. (Scheim 30-31) [iv]
[iv] Michael T. Griffith, “The Man Who Wasn’t There, Was There: Phony Secret Service Agents in Dealey Plaza,” 1996, accessed May 22, 2016
(Denise: Sheesh! I didn't include the link in my book The JFK Cut-N-Paste Assassination. Here it is, accessed 9/1/2026: https://www.maryferrell.org/xdoc/4254#relPageId=13)
After the Shooting, persons who encountered the “phony” Secret Service agent in Dealey Plaza after the shooting included DPD officer Joe Marshall Smith, Malcolm Summers, Sergeant D.V. Harkness, and Seymour Weitzman.
"After the shooting, Dallas Police officer Joe M. Smith encountered another suspicious man in the lot behind the picket fence [on the grassy knoll]. Smith told the Warren Commission that when he drew his pistol and approached the man, the man "showed [Smith] that he was a Secret Service agent."
Another witness also reported encountering a man who displayed a badge and identified himself as a Secret Service agent. But according to Secret Service Chief James Rowley and agents at the scene, all Secret Service personnel stayed with the motorcade, as required by regulations, and none was stationed in the railroad parking lot [behind the grassy knoll]. It thus appeared that someone was carrying fraudulent Secret Service credentials--of no perceptible use to anyone but an escaping assassin. (Scheim 30-31) [iv]
[iv] Michael T. Griffith, “The Man Who Wasn’t There, Was There: Phony Secret Service Agents in Dealey Plaza,” 1996, accessed May 22, 2016
(Denise: Sheesh! I didn't include the link in my book The JFK Cut-N-Paste Assassination. Here it is, accessed 9/1/2026: https://www.maryferrell.org/xdoc/4254#relPageId=13)
Malcolm Summers
Malcolm Summers, the “falling man” in the Zapruder film, encountered a “very well groomed” white man wearing a white shirt and dress hat, with a coat over his arm. Under the coat, Summers could just see the barrel of a gun. The man, whom Summers took to be “FBI or Secret Service or a city detective,” told Summers, “You better not come up here. You could get shot.” [v]
[v] “Kennedy Assassination: Malcolm Summers,” Sixth Floor Museum interview, March 7, 2007, accessed May 23, 2013, http://www.c-span.org/video/?288318-1/kennedy-assassination-malcolm-summers
Malcolm Summers, the “falling man” in the Zapruder film, encountered a “very well groomed” white man wearing a white shirt and dress hat, with a coat over his arm. Under the coat, Summers could just see the barrel of a gun. The man, whom Summers took to be “FBI or Secret Service or a city detective,” told Summers, “You better not come up here. You could get shot.” [v]
[v] “Kennedy Assassination: Malcolm Summers,” Sixth Floor Museum interview, March 7, 2007, accessed May 23, 2013, http://www.c-span.org/video/?288318-1/kennedy-assassination-malcolm-summers
(Video from https://www.c-span.org/program/public-affairs-event/kennedy-assassination-malcolm-summers/210939 relevant portion starts about 11:39)
This man was not specifically identified as Secret Service, but Summers didn't argue with him to be in a “a man of authority.” Summers thought he was a "detective" or "FBI man." He said, "I had seen these stories where they go around and protect him always, and just assumed that he was one of them."
Well, okay. The man with the gun never specifically identified himself as “Secret Service,” although that was Summers’ impression. But I also find interesting Summers’ description of where he encountered this man, which may not have been far from the pool of blood in front of the TSBD. Also of interest is Summers’ account of the DPD motorcycle officer (Bobby Hargis) who got off his bike momentarily on that side of the street. According to Summers, the motorcyclist quickly got back on his bike and re-joined the motorcade as it sped off to Parkland. (In the meantime, not seeing anything behind Summers, Hargis may have crossed the street the street on foot to look for the source of the shots from the hill, especially if he saw Jackson headed in that direction, then returned to his motorcycle to head off in the direction of the Motorcade before returning to Dealey Plaza.)
(As a brief aside, note that earlier in this interview, Summers describes the Secret Service men as "looking down at the ground" after the first shot (not back towards the building as they seem to do in the Altgens 6 picture. Hickey can be seen looking down and to his left early in the Zapruder film, either at the ground or towards Bobby Hargis's cheek. I contend that the skull fragment that was knocked out with the first shot landed on Hargis's right cheek before falling to the road pavement. Summers also says that he fell down to the ground when a motorcycle escort officer dropped his bike and looked in his direction--which of course, does NOT match with what the extant Zapruder film shows.)
Joe Marshall Smith
Many of the witnesses to the "fake" Secret Service agents were law-enforcement officers, and the “fake” Secret Service agents identified themselves as Secret Service agents to these officers.
In DPD uniformed officer Joe Marshall Smith’s Warren Comission testimony, the following exchange took place (bold section indicates his encounter with the Secret Service agent):
Mr. SMITH. I started up toward this Book Depository after I heard the shots, and I didn't know where the shots came from. I had no idea, because it was such a ricochet.
Mr. LIEBELER. An echo effect?
Mr. SMITH. Yes, sir.; and this woman came up to me and she was just in hysterics. She told me, "They are shooting the President from the bushes." So I immediately proceeded up here.
Mr. LIEBELER. You proceeded up to an area immediately behind the concrete structure here that is described by Elm Street and the street that runs immediately in front of the Texas School Book Depository, is that right?
Mr. SMITH. I was checking all the bushes and I checked all the cars in the parking lot.
Mr. LIEBELER. There is a parking lot in behind this grassy area back from Elm Street toward the railroad tracks, and you went down to the parking lot and looked around?
Mr. SMITH. Yes, sir; I checked all the cars. I looked into all the cars and checked around the bushes. Of course, I wasn't alone. There was some deputy sheriff with me, and I believe one Secret Service man when I got there. I got to make this statement, too. I felt awfully silly, but after the shot and this woman, I pulled my pistol from my holster, and I thought, this is silly, I don't know who I am looking for, and I put it back. Just as I did, he showed me that he was a Secret Service agent.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you accost this man?
Mr. SMITH. Well, he saw me coming with my pistol and right away he showed me who he was.
Mr. LIEBELER. Do you remember who it was? Mr. SMITH. No, sir; I don't--because then we started checking the cars. In fact, I was checking the bushes, and I went through the cars, and I started over here in this particular section.
Mr. LIEBELER. Down toward the railroad tracks where they go over the triple underpass?
Mr. SMITH. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you have any basis for believing where the shots came from, or where to look for somebody, other than what the lady told you?
Mr. SMITH. No, sir; except that maybe it was a power of suggestion. But it sounded to me like they may have came from this vicinity here.
Mr. LIEBELER. Down around the---let's put a No. 5 there at the corner here behind this concrete structure where the bushes were down toward the railroad tracks from the Texas School Book Depository Building on the little street that runs down in front of the Texas School Book Depository Building.
Mr. SMITH. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. Now you say that you had the idea that the shots may have come from up in that area?
Mr. SMITH. Yes, sir; that is just what, well, like I say, the sound of it. That was the most helpless and hopeless feeling I ever had.[vi]
[vi] Warren Commission “Testimony of Joe Marshall Smith, July 23, 1964, accessed May 23, 2016, http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/smith_j1.htm (emphasis mine)
The “Deputy Sheriff” with Smith was probably Roger Craig, who can be seen in some of the after-assassination images pointing around in the parking lot with train cars in the background. I included the larger excerpt because of other interesting things Smith said, about the “ricochet” echo effect (the double-bang), and the fact that “the shots”—or one of them--“sounded like” they came from “the vicinity” of where he was searching—i.e., the relative direction of the AR-15 from Smith’s point of view.
But the Secret Service agent “showed” Smith his credentials. Doesn’t it make sense that one of the agents seen running up the knoll by Altgens and the Newmans stayed there?
DPD Sergeant D.V. Harkness
DPD Sergeant D.V. Harkness testified to the Warren Commission that at some point after 12:36 (after he had taken witness Amos Euins to Inspector Sawyer’s car), went around to the back of the TSBD. He testified, “There were some Secret Service agents there. I didn't get them identified. They told me they were Secret Service.”[vii]
[vii] Warren Commission “Testimony of D.V. Harkness,” April 9, 1964, accessed May 23, 2016, http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/harkness.htm
(Harkness, by the way, also “saw the President's car almost come to a stop and some of the agents piling off the car.”)
So far, these “fake” Secret Service agents have identified themselves as Secret Service agents to two DPD officers: Joe Marshall Smith and D.V. Harkness. Does that sound like something “an imposter” would do?
Actually, there was a third law enforcement officer who encountered “fake” Secret Service men, and this third LE officer had something very interesting to say, indeed.
Deputy Constable Seymour Weitzman
In his Warren Commission testimony, Deputy Constable Seymour Weitzman (who also originally identified the gun as a “Mauser”), said, when asked if there was anybody else in the “railroad yards” besides himself:
Yes, sir; other officers, Secret Service as well, and somebody started, there was something red in the street and I went back over the wall and somebody brought me a piece of what he thought to be a firecracker and it turned out to be, I believe, I wouldn't quote this, but I turned it over to one of the Secret Service men and I told them it should go to the lab because it looked to me like human bone. I later found out it was supposedly a portion of the President's skull.[viii]
[viii] Warren Commission “Testimony of Seymour Weitzman,” April 1, 1964, accessed November 8, 2015, http://jfkassassination.net/russ/testimony/weitzman.htm
How would Weitzman have found out later that the bone was “a portion of the President’s skull” if he had turned it over to an imposter rather than an actual Secret Service agent? Apparently I’m not the first to make this observation. Richard Trask realized the same thing, but only went so far as to say it must have been a “verified official” to whom Weitzman gave the bone fragment.[ix]
[ix] Richard Trask Pictures of the Pain, (Danvers, Massechusetts: Yeoman Press, 1994), 573
However, it is much more likely that Weitzman and others encountered at least one actual Secret Service agent who identified himself as such, probably SA Thomas "Lem" Johns, SA Warren Taylor, and/or a mysterious unnamed third agent, who will be discussed below.
This man was not specifically identified as Secret Service, but Summers didn't argue with him to be in a “a man of authority.” Summers thought he was a "detective" or "FBI man." He said, "I had seen these stories where they go around and protect him always, and just assumed that he was one of them."
Well, okay. The man with the gun never specifically identified himself as “Secret Service,” although that was Summers’ impression. But I also find interesting Summers’ description of where he encountered this man, which may not have been far from the pool of blood in front of the TSBD. Also of interest is Summers’ account of the DPD motorcycle officer (Bobby Hargis) who got off his bike momentarily on that side of the street. According to Summers, the motorcyclist quickly got back on his bike and re-joined the motorcade as it sped off to Parkland. (In the meantime, not seeing anything behind Summers, Hargis may have crossed the street the street on foot to look for the source of the shots from the hill, especially if he saw Jackson headed in that direction, then returned to his motorcycle to head off in the direction of the Motorcade before returning to Dealey Plaza.)
(As a brief aside, note that earlier in this interview, Summers describes the Secret Service men as "looking down at the ground" after the first shot (not back towards the building as they seem to do in the Altgens 6 picture. Hickey can be seen looking down and to his left early in the Zapruder film, either at the ground or towards Bobby Hargis's cheek. I contend that the skull fragment that was knocked out with the first shot landed on Hargis's right cheek before falling to the road pavement. Summers also says that he fell down to the ground when a motorcycle escort officer dropped his bike and looked in his direction--which of course, does NOT match with what the extant Zapruder film shows.)
Joe Marshall Smith
Many of the witnesses to the "fake" Secret Service agents were law-enforcement officers, and the “fake” Secret Service agents identified themselves as Secret Service agents to these officers.
In DPD uniformed officer Joe Marshall Smith’s Warren Comission testimony, the following exchange took place (bold section indicates his encounter with the Secret Service agent):
Mr. SMITH. I started up toward this Book Depository after I heard the shots, and I didn't know where the shots came from. I had no idea, because it was such a ricochet.
Mr. LIEBELER. An echo effect?
Mr. SMITH. Yes, sir.; and this woman came up to me and she was just in hysterics. She told me, "They are shooting the President from the bushes." So I immediately proceeded up here.
Mr. LIEBELER. You proceeded up to an area immediately behind the concrete structure here that is described by Elm Street and the street that runs immediately in front of the Texas School Book Depository, is that right?
Mr. SMITH. I was checking all the bushes and I checked all the cars in the parking lot.
Mr. LIEBELER. There is a parking lot in behind this grassy area back from Elm Street toward the railroad tracks, and you went down to the parking lot and looked around?
Mr. SMITH. Yes, sir; I checked all the cars. I looked into all the cars and checked around the bushes. Of course, I wasn't alone. There was some deputy sheriff with me, and I believe one Secret Service man when I got there. I got to make this statement, too. I felt awfully silly, but after the shot and this woman, I pulled my pistol from my holster, and I thought, this is silly, I don't know who I am looking for, and I put it back. Just as I did, he showed me that he was a Secret Service agent.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you accost this man?
Mr. SMITH. Well, he saw me coming with my pistol and right away he showed me who he was.
Mr. LIEBELER. Do you remember who it was? Mr. SMITH. No, sir; I don't--because then we started checking the cars. In fact, I was checking the bushes, and I went through the cars, and I started over here in this particular section.
Mr. LIEBELER. Down toward the railroad tracks where they go over the triple underpass?
Mr. SMITH. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you have any basis for believing where the shots came from, or where to look for somebody, other than what the lady told you?
Mr. SMITH. No, sir; except that maybe it was a power of suggestion. But it sounded to me like they may have came from this vicinity here.
Mr. LIEBELER. Down around the---let's put a No. 5 there at the corner here behind this concrete structure where the bushes were down toward the railroad tracks from the Texas School Book Depository Building on the little street that runs down in front of the Texas School Book Depository Building.
Mr. SMITH. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. Now you say that you had the idea that the shots may have come from up in that area?
Mr. SMITH. Yes, sir; that is just what, well, like I say, the sound of it. That was the most helpless and hopeless feeling I ever had.[vi]
[vi] Warren Commission “Testimony of Joe Marshall Smith, July 23, 1964, accessed May 23, 2016, http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/smith_j1.htm (emphasis mine)
The “Deputy Sheriff” with Smith was probably Roger Craig, who can be seen in some of the after-assassination images pointing around in the parking lot with train cars in the background. I included the larger excerpt because of other interesting things Smith said, about the “ricochet” echo effect (the double-bang), and the fact that “the shots”—or one of them--“sounded like” they came from “the vicinity” of where he was searching—i.e., the relative direction of the AR-15 from Smith’s point of view.
But the Secret Service agent “showed” Smith his credentials. Doesn’t it make sense that one of the agents seen running up the knoll by Altgens and the Newmans stayed there?
DPD Sergeant D.V. Harkness
DPD Sergeant D.V. Harkness testified to the Warren Commission that at some point after 12:36 (after he had taken witness Amos Euins to Inspector Sawyer’s car), went around to the back of the TSBD. He testified, “There were some Secret Service agents there. I didn't get them identified. They told me they were Secret Service.”[vii]
[vii] Warren Commission “Testimony of D.V. Harkness,” April 9, 1964, accessed May 23, 2016, http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/harkness.htm
(Harkness, by the way, also “saw the President's car almost come to a stop and some of the agents piling off the car.”)
So far, these “fake” Secret Service agents have identified themselves as Secret Service agents to two DPD officers: Joe Marshall Smith and D.V. Harkness. Does that sound like something “an imposter” would do?
Actually, there was a third law enforcement officer who encountered “fake” Secret Service men, and this third LE officer had something very interesting to say, indeed.
Deputy Constable Seymour Weitzman
In his Warren Commission testimony, Deputy Constable Seymour Weitzman (who also originally identified the gun as a “Mauser”), said, when asked if there was anybody else in the “railroad yards” besides himself:
Yes, sir; other officers, Secret Service as well, and somebody started, there was something red in the street and I went back over the wall and somebody brought me a piece of what he thought to be a firecracker and it turned out to be, I believe, I wouldn't quote this, but I turned it over to one of the Secret Service men and I told them it should go to the lab because it looked to me like human bone. I later found out it was supposedly a portion of the President's skull.[viii]
[viii] Warren Commission “Testimony of Seymour Weitzman,” April 1, 1964, accessed November 8, 2015, http://jfkassassination.net/russ/testimony/weitzman.htm
How would Weitzman have found out later that the bone was “a portion of the President’s skull” if he had turned it over to an imposter rather than an actual Secret Service agent? Apparently I’m not the first to make this observation. Richard Trask realized the same thing, but only went so far as to say it must have been a “verified official” to whom Weitzman gave the bone fragment.[ix]
[ix] Richard Trask Pictures of the Pain, (Danvers, Massechusetts: Yeoman Press, 1994), 573
However, it is much more likely that Weitzman and others encountered at least one actual Secret Service agent who identified himself as such, probably SA Thomas "Lem" Johns, SA Warren Taylor, and/or a mysterious unnamed third agent, who will be discussed below.
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The Skull fragment on Elm Street
Seymour Weitzman's Warren Commission testimony in which he talks about giving the skull fragment to the man identified as a Secret Service agent is discussed above. But also of interest is the skull fragment itself, which Weitzman mentions in his FBI Report as having heard about "something red rolling down Elm Street":
Seymour Weitzman's Warren Commission testimony in which he talks about giving the skull fragment to the man identified as a Secret Service agent is discussed above. But also of interest is the skull fragment itself, which Weitzman mentions in his FBI Report as having heard about "something red rolling down Elm Street":
Seymour Weitzman's FBI report, from CD-5, linked from https://www.history-matters.com/analysis/witness/index.htm
I have elsewhere noted the dissemblance in Weitzman's WC testimony, where he first said "someone" picked up the skull fragment, and he later changed that to "I" (after some off-the-record discussion). I note also the difference between this definitive passive voice account that the skull fragment "was taken to the Dallas Police Laboratory" and the somewhat walked-back version in his Warren Commission testimony where he told the "Secret Service agent" that it "should be taken to the laboratory." Note that a "Secret Service agent" was not mentioned in this report, which was taken 2 days after the assassination. We don't learn that until his Warren Commission testimony. But Malcolm Couch, in his Sixth Floor Museum "Living History" interview described seeing a "well-dressed man" (a description that fits Weitzman, who was photographed inside the 6th floor of the TSBD wearing a shirt, tie, and jacket) pick something up off the street.
(It should also be noted that bystander Charles Brehm, in his Rush to Judgement interview described something landing on the street near his feet. Brehm didn't absolutely identify the thing as a "skull fragment," saying "whatever it was" in response to Mark Lane asking him about the "skull fragment," but it had to be Weitzman's skull fragment, which Weitzman told the Warren Commission he originally thought was a piece of a "firecracker.")
(It should also be noted that bystander Charles Brehm, in his Rush to Judgement interview described something landing on the street near his feet. Brehm didn't absolutely identify the thing as a "skull fragment," saying "whatever it was" in response to Mark Lane asking him about the "skull fragment," but it had to be Weitzman's skull fragment, which Weitzman told the Warren Commission he originally thought was a piece of a "firecracker.")
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A Secret Service Agent Inside the TSBD
Lee Harvey Oswald was said to have encountered a "blond" man who identified himself as a "Secret Service agent" who asked Oswald to point. him toward a phone. The Warren Commission decided that this "blond agent" was actually radio personality and assassination witness Pierce Allman. Allman admitted to going inside the TSBD to look for a phone and asking someone who might have been Oswald where he could find one, but there is a surprising confirmation that there was an actual Secret Service agent inside the TSBD. This confirmation is buried in the Sixth Floor Museum's "Living History" interview with Malcolm Couch, and it comes not from Couch, but from his interviewer, Stephen Fagin, who told Couch that "There was a secretary from the schoolbook depository that remembers an official putting a chunk of brain matter on her desk, just to hold it there for a minute while he was questioning people":
Lee Harvey Oswald was said to have encountered a "blond" man who identified himself as a "Secret Service agent" who asked Oswald to point. him toward a phone. The Warren Commission decided that this "blond agent" was actually radio personality and assassination witness Pierce Allman. Allman admitted to going inside the TSBD to look for a phone and asking someone who might have been Oswald where he could find one, but there is a surprising confirmation that there was an actual Secret Service agent inside the TSBD. This confirmation is buried in the Sixth Floor Museum's "Living History" interview with Malcolm Couch, and it comes not from Couch, but from his interviewer, Stephen Fagin, who told Couch that "There was a secretary from the schoolbook depository that remembers an official putting a chunk of brain matter on her desk, just to hold it there for a minute while he was questioning people":
From the transcript of the Sixth Floor Museum's "Living History" interview of Malcolm Couch.
I contacted Fagin to ask him about this "secretary"--who was she, and what exactly did she say? Fagin replied that it was something he had heard from his predecessor Gary Mack, and didn't know the name of the secretary or exactly what she said.
In my view, this "official" was likely the unnamed "blond agent" who had asked Oswald for where he could find a phone.
In my view, this "official" was likely the unnamed "blond agent" who had asked Oswald for where he could find a phone.
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The Mysterious Unnamed "Blond Agent"
There was a mysterious blond man who was photographed near the Elm Street manhole cover with Sheriff's Deputy Buddy Walthers and DPD officer Foster:
There was a mysterious blond man who was photographed near the Elm Street manhole cover with Sheriff's Deputy Buddy Walthers and DPD officer Foster:
A man, dubbed "the blond agent," reaches down to the grass in the William Allan photograph, while Sheriff's Deputy Buddy Walthers and patrolman J.D. Foster look on.
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Johnson's Follow-Up Car
Lyndon Johnson's Secret Service follow-up car ostensibly had five occupants: the driver (Texas Department of Public Safety officer Joe Henry Rich), Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Jerry Live
Lyndon Johnson's Secret Service follow-up car ostensibly had five occupants: the driver (Texas Department of Public Safety officer Joe Henry Rich), Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Jerry Live
image from "Motorcade Schematic Listing" at http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/M%20Disk/Motorcade%20Route/Item%2015.pdf
Note something odd here: With 5 people in the car, it is the front bench seat that holds 3 people, not the rear, where most people would have placed the 5th person. But if there was a 6th person inside the car, then it makes sense
I contend that there was a sixth person inside the car, who was seated in the back between Secret Service agents Taylor and Johns, and that this sixth person was the "blond agent."
Most images of the VP follow-up car in the motorcade are too indistinct to show much of anything, but I did pull this image, which I annotated, from the Marie Muchmore film. Note this frame image appears to show three people in the back of the VP Secret Service follow-up car:
I contend that there was a sixth person inside the car, who was seated in the back between Secret Service agents Taylor and Johns, and that this sixth person was the "blond agent."
Most images of the VP follow-up car in the motorcade are too indistinct to show much of anything, but I did pull this image, which I annotated, from the Marie Muchmore film. Note this frame image appears to show three people in the back of the VP Secret Service follow-up car:
I also note something very interesting that Clint Hill says in the documentary The Kennedy Detail: he describes "new agents" (plural) being in the Secret Service detail that day. We know that George Hickey was four months new to the Secret Service at the time of the assassination. But what other agent/s could Hill have been referring to?