From: schuck@fraser.sfu.ca (Bruce Jonathan Schuck)
Subject: Re: PBS special
Reply-To: Bruce_Schuck@sfu.ca
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 06:06:50 GMT

sdevries@fys.ruu.nl (Sjoerd de Vries) writes:

>In <17504@pitt.UUCP> geb@cs.pitt.edu (Gordon Banks) writes:

>>I caught the tail end of a PBS show on the assassination
>>last night.  Conclusion: the Mafia had something to do with
>>it.  That's the first time I've seen PBS air something supporting
>>the conspiracy.  Sorry I missed the first part of it.

>>Cyril Wecht spoke here yesterday on the medical evidence.
>>Nothing new for me really, just more reinforcement on how
>>totally impossible the single bullet theory is.

>Lately, I have been reading "Mortal Error"  written by Bonar Menninger,
>based on the theories of Donahue. This book
>succeeds in making me feel the single bullet theory is not
>as totally impossible as I originally thought.

Actually, this was the weakest part of the Menninger book. They almost
lost me there. It gets better.

>What are the main arguments against the single bullet theory?

>1. the time between Kennedy's and Connally's first reactions
>   to their wounds, set by critics at before z225 and at z237
>   resp. So at least 12 frames, that is 0.7 sec, but possible
>   1.6 sec or more.
>2. the zig zag track of the bullet
>3. the fact that the bullet was nearly pristine after passing through
>   two bodies and braking some bones

>What are Donahue's answers to these arguments?

>1. At z-225 Kennedy reacts to a ricochet shot, the one that missed
>   the car. The debris of this shot hit bystander James Tague
>   and  some landed in the car, and were found there later, free
>   of blood and tissue.
>   At z-236 both Kennedy and Conally are hit. So we don't have any
>   timing problem.

Two big problems with this explanation.
a) Zapruder saw JFK react to his throat wound before JFK went behind
the street sign. That means it happened before 210. There is a lot of
evidence that the shot actually occurred at 189. That leaves a *big*
gap. The idea that JFK reacts to a shot starting at 225 is hard to
believe because he only becomes visible at 225 and he's
*already* moved his hands very close to his throat. I think he is
still reacting to a shot at 190. Thats only two seconds, and he
probably had spinal cord damage at the time, making a 2 second delay
for grabbing at or near his throat realistic. To claim he reacted to a
shot at 225 and got his hands near his throat *instantaneously* is not
believable.

b) Tague is almost 500 feet away from JFK at this time.
The only direct path from the TSBD to Tague is 30 feet over JFK's
head and 20 feet to his right. If a bullet hit the street behind JFK
it would have had to leap a curb, curve to the right, and travel 500
feet, and arc down to strike another curb, and bounce off that curb,
up to Tague about 20 feet from the last curb. Many people don't
realize that Tague wasn't even on Elm street. He was between Main and
Commerce and almost under the Triple underpass. The FBI estimated that
a straight line from the TSBD to Tague only happened at the equivalent
of Zapruder frame 410, over 100 frames after JFK's head shot.
There is *no* way a bullet could have hit the street behind JFK and
then gone on to wound Tague.

>2. In fact, there is no zig zag movement. Conally was seated on a
>   jumpseat that was clearly to JFK's left (a photograph of the
>   empty car in the book shows this very well). Donahue claims
>   the displacement is about one feet (if I'm not mistaken, it may be
>   more).
>   At z-236 all wounds line up.

It is possible for them to line up on the horizontal plane. However,
it is impossible for them to line up on the vertical plane at that
time. The angle down through Connally was almost 40 degrees, while the
TSBD to JFK angle was only 21 degrees at frame 210 and 19 degrees at
235 [WC Exhibit 884] Plus, the JFK back wound was actually lower than
his throat wound. On the Nova special, the computer simulation had JFK
leaning unrealisitically forward, and Connally leaning way back to
account for the vertical angle difference. This positioning was nver
seen by anybody, it certainly was not visible on the Z film at 237,
and could only have occurred at 210-225, when they were behind the
Stemmons Freeway Sign. However, it is impossible to believe they
performed this maneuver in 15 frames, especially since it isn't
visible on any any film taken that day.

>3. The bullet is not pristine; it is flattened at the base, with some
>   lead extruding and it is bent. Donahue argues that only at high
>   velocities the bullets will show the mushroom effect. Before the
>   bullet hit Conally's rib it had slowed down considerably. I believe
>   this is the same argument Mitchell used before. I haven't heard of
>   a proof of the contrary.

Well, there is a picture in the HSCA report that Cyril Wecht submitted
to the HSCA. It shows the 'magic' bullet beside a 6.5mm
Mannlicher-Carcano round that had been fired into cotton for test
purposes. The cotton bullet is bent more and has more lead extruded
from the base than the magic bullet. This proves to me, it was
probably fired into something softer than cotton, probably a water
tank.
Don't forget, the 'magic' bullet also had no blood on it, and considering
the number of wounds it caused, this is unrealistic. 
Also, the considered opinion of Connallys Surgeons is that the wrist
wound was caused by a bullet that had completely mushroomed, which the
'magic' bullet had not.
One of the ballistics experts also testified that at 2000 feet per
second, a bullet impact should leave an imprint of the material a
bullet hits on the bullet. Copper isn't that hard. He was of the
opinion, the weave of JFK's jacket, or Connally's should have been
microscopically visible. It wasn't. There was no imprint of anything
on the bullet. It probably never hit anything harder than water.

>   
>What's your opinion about this, guys?

I think the fatal head shot is *much* better researched by Donahue in
Mortal Error, and the chapter on the 'magic' bullet should be skipped.

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