From: grant_jo@ripple.enet.dec.com (Joel Grant)
Subject: Clark Panel
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date:  6 APR 92 08:23:56 PDT


I keep reading about JFK's head wounds and I keep reading what
simply is not true.  There is a small hole in the back of
his head and a very large hole in the right and frontal portions
of his head.  How this has been translated into a large exit
wound in the right rear of his head is quite beyond me.  

Apparently, some physicians on the scene, noticing the man lying
on his back, with blood and brain matter obeying the law
of gravity, mistakenly placed the wound other than where it
was.  As usual, eyewitness testimony, even when the eyewitness
is trained, counts for less than static, physical evidence.

The Clark Panel has been mentioned.  I thought it might be of
some interest to quote from their report.  For the record,
the "government hired guns" on the panel were: 1. William H. Carnes,
MD, Professor of Pathology, University of Utah, Member of the
Medical Examiner's Commission, State of Utah. 2. Russell S. Fisher,
MD, Professor of Forensic Pathology, University of Maryland
and Chief Medical Examiner of State of Maryland. 3. Russell
H. Morgan, MD, Professor of Radiology, School of Medicine
and Professor of Radiological Science, School of Hygiene
and Public Health, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore,
MD, and 4. Alan R. Mortiz, MD, Professor of Pathology, Case
Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, and former Professor
of Forensic Science, Harvard University.

First, they quote from the autopsy report:  

"The fatal missile entered the skull above and to the right of the
external occipital protuberance.  A portion of the projectile
traversed the cranial cavity in a posterior-anterior direction
(see lateral skull roentgenograms) depositing minute particles
along its path.  A portion of the projectile made its exit
through the parietal bone on the right carrying with it portions
of cerebrum, skull and scalp.  The two wounds of the skull
combined with the force of the missile produced extensive
fragmentation of the skull, laceration of the superior sagittal
sinus and of the right cerebral hemisphere."

Now, from The Panel's original analysis:

1. The photographs - "Photographs 7, 14, 42, and 43 show the back of
the head, the contours of which have been grossly distorted by
extensive fragmentation of the underlying calvarium.  There is an
elliptical penetrating wound of the scalp situated near the midline
and high above the hairline.  The position of the wound corresponds
to the hole in the skull seen in the lateral X-ray film #2. (see
description of X-ray films.)  The long axis of this wound 
corresponds to the long axis of the skull.  The wound was judged
to be approximately six millimeters wide and 15 millimiters long.
The margin of this wound shows an ill-defined zone of abrasion.

Photographs 5, 8, 13, 16, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36 and 37 show the top of 
the head with multiple gaping irregularly stellate lacerations of
the scalp over the right parietal, temporal and frontal regions.

Photographs 1, 2, 44 and 45 show the frontal region of the skull
and a portion of the internal aspect of the back of the skull.
Due to lack of contract of structures portrayed and lack of
clarity of detail in these photographs, the only conclusion
reached by The Panel from study of this series was that there
was no existing bullet defect in the supraorbital region 
of the skull.

Photographs 46,47,48 and 49 are the inferior aspect of the brain
and show extensive deformation with laceration and fragmentation
of the right cerebral hemisphere.  Irregularly shaped areas of
contusion with minor loss of cortex are seen on the inferior
surface of the first left temporal convolution.  The orbital
gyri on the left show contusion with some underlying loss of
cortex.  The sylvian fissure on the right side has been opened,
revealing a rolled-up mass of arachnoid and blood clot which
is dark brown to black in color.  [this was part of the
"surgery" on the head which has lead such as Lifton into
a State of Ridiculousness - jg] The mid-temporal region
is depressed and its surface lacerated.  The peduncle have
been lacerated, probably indicent to the removal of the
contents of the cranium."  

The report goes on in this vein.

2. X-rays - 

"There are multiple fractures of the bones of the calvarium
bilaterally.  These fractures extend into the base of the
skull and involve the floor of the anterior fossa on the
right side as well as the middle fossa in the midline.  With
respect to the right frontoparietal region of the skull, the
traumatic damage is particularly severe with extensive
fragmentation of the bony structures from the midline on the
frontal bone anteriorly to the vicinity of the posterior
margin of the parietal bone behind.  Above, the fragmentation
extends approximately 25 mm. across the midline to involve
adjacent portions of the left parietal bone behind.  Above,
the fragmentation extends approximately 25 mm. across the midline
to involve adjacent portions of the left parietal bone; below,
the changes extend into the right temporal bone.  Throughout
this region, many of the bony pieces have been displace
outward; several pieces are missing.

Distributed through the right cerebral hemisphere are numerous
small, irregular metallic fragments, most of which are less than
1 mm. in maximum dimension.  The majority of these fragments
lie anteriorly and superiorly.  None can be visualized on
the left side of the brain and none below a horizontal plane
through the floor of the anterior fossa of the brain.

On one of the lateral films of the skull, (#2) a hole measuring
approximately 8 mm. in diameter on the outer surface of the
skull and as much as 20 mm. on the internal surface can be
seen on profile approximately 100 mm. above the external
occipal protruberance.  The bone of the lower edge of the
hole is depressed.  Also there is, imbedded in the outer
table of the skull close to the lower edge of the hole,
a large metallic fragment which on the anteroposterior film
(#1) lies 25 mm. to the right of the midline.  This fragment
as seen in the latter film is round and measures 6.5 mm.
in diameter...

Again, the report goes on in this vein.

The report concludes that "Examination of the clothing and of
the photographs and X-rays taken at autopsy reveal that
President Kennedy was struck by two bullets fired from above
and behind him, one of which traversed the base of the neck
on the right side without striking bone and the other of
which entered the skull from behind and exploded its right
side."

The suggestion that someone, somehow, between the cradle of
Dealy Plaza and the grave of the autopsy altered the
President's wounds pursuant to a conspiracy plan that
would have boggled even the mind of Rube Goldberg is more
than absurd.  It is clearly obscene.

The evidence in this crime points firmly and decisively
to Lee Harvey Oswald murding President Kennedy and wounding
Governor Connally.  The WC critics have been making up facts,
distorting evidence, and grasping at straws for decades.

Does anyone have any positive evidence linking any of the
gentlemen on the Clark Panel with any criminal or
conspiratorial elements such that they would deliberately
falsify their findings?  Is there anything to indicate
they found any evidence whatsoever of post-mortem
wound tampering?  If not, we are compelled to accept
their expert findings, findings which so clearly match
the horrid testimony of the Groder-enhanced Z-film.

The assassination of President Kennedy happened very
much (but not exactly) like the WC said it did.  The
WC critics have been fleecing the public for years, selling
books, documentaries, tapes, and movies and they have
found a fertile group of consumers willing to believe
the mercenary army of contrarians.

Joel Grant