Did Captain Fritz show Mr Oswald a Mauser?

[Alan Ford]

The important thing about Barbara Rowland's isn't whether or not she thinks her husband is a bit of a dick, it's that she independently confirms everything about his observation of the man with the rifle. It's one thing Arnold Rowland making a statement that may or may not be considered unreliable, it's a totally different thing when it is independently corroborated by someone who was with him at the time.
She confirms they were talking about Adlai Stevenson and security measures:

"Mrs. ROWLAND. Well, my husband and I were talking about Mr. Stevenson's visit and the way the people had acted, and we were talking about security measures, and he said he saw a man on the sixth floor of the School Book Depository Building, and when I looked up there I didn't see the man, because I didn't know exactly what window he was talking about at first.
And when I found out which window it was, the man had apparently stepped back, because I didn't see him."


She confirms which window the man was at:

"Mrs. ROWLAND. It was the far left-hand window."

She confirms the man had a rifle:

"Mrs. ROWLAND. He told me that he saw a man there who looked like he was holding a rifle, and that it must be a security man guarding the motorcade."

And she confirms Arnold's general description of the man he saw:

Mrs. ROWLAND. Apparently he could see at least from the waist up, because he said that the man was wearing a light shirt, and that he was holding the rifle at a port arms position.

Mrs. ROWLAND. He said he thought he was white.

Mrs. ROWLAND. He said a young man

Mrs. ROWLAND. He said he was either tall or thin I mean, if he was tall, he could have been well built, but if he was not very tall, then he was thin.

Mr. BELIN. Did he say anything else about the man?
Mrs. ROWLAND. Not that I remember, except that he was wearing a light colored shirt or jacket.

It appears Belin even tries to catch her out with a trick question but she doesn't bite:

"Mr. BELIN. Did he say whether or not the man had on a hat?
Mrs. ROWLAND. I don't think he said whether he did or not. But if he had seen a hat, I think he would have said so."


She confirms what time it happened:

"Mr. BELIN. About how many minutes was this before the motorcade came by that he saw this?
Mrs. ROWLAND. About 15 minutes."

She even confirms the little detail about people laughing after the first shot:

"...I didn't recognize it as being a shot. I just heard a sound, and I thought it might be a firecracker.
And the people started laughing at first, and then we heard two more shots, and they were closer than the first and second, and that is all."

It's easy to undermine a lone voice, but not when there is independent corroboration of that voice.

A top-notch post!

[Jack Nessan]

Based on Arnold's description of the man in the window, his impossible description of the rifle and supposed estimation of the caliber of rifle with a scope from a distance of 150 feet, his wife's assessment of his honesty, and his inability to tell the same story twice it can only be concluded he fabricated the whole story based on the conversation about Adlai Stevenson. Unbeknownst to Arnold there really was a gunman on the 6th floor.

Mr. SPECTER - You say you only saw a small portion of what?
Mr. ROWLAND - Of his pants from his waist down.
Mr. SPECTER - Which half of the window was open, the bottom half or the top half?
Mr. ROWLAND - It was the bottom half.
Mr. SPECTER - And how much, if any, of his body was obscured by the window frame from that point down to the floor?
Mr. ROWLAND - From where I was standing I could see from his head to about 6 inches below his waist, below his belt.
Mr. SPECTER - Could you see as far as his knees?
Mr. ROWLAND - No.


Mr. SPECTER - How much of the rifle was separated from your line of vision by the window?
Mr. ROWLAND - The entire rifle was in my view.
Mr. SPECTER - In the open part of the window?
Mr. ROWLAND - Yes.
Mr. SPECTER - And how much of his body, if any, was in the open view where there was no window between your eyes and the object of his body?
Mr. ROWLAND - Approximately two-thirds of his body just below his waist.
Mr. SPECTER - Up to what point?
Mr. ROWLAND - Mid point between the waist and the knees, this is again in my proportion to his height that I make that judgment.
Mr. SPECTER - So from the waist, some point between his knees and his waist, you started to see hi clear in the window?
Mr. ROWLAND - Yes.
Mr. SPECTER - And from that point how far up his body were you able to see without any obstruction of a window between you and him?
Mr. ROWLAND - To the top of his head. There was some space on top of that where I could see the wall behind him.
Mr. SPECTER - What is your best estimate of the space between the top of his head and the open window at the perspective you were observing?
Mr. ROWLAND - Two and a half, three feet, something on that--that is something very hard to ascertain. That would just be an estimation on my part.


Mr. SPECTER - How much, if any, or all of that rifle could you see?
Mr. ROWLAND - All of it.
Mr. SPECTER - You could see from the base of the stock down to the tip of the end of the rifle?
Mr. ROWLAND - Yes.
Mr. SPECTER - The barrel of the rifle?

Time and time again Arnold shows he doesn't have the correct description of how the person should have appeared in the window no matter were the gunman was standing in the room. He is both describing the person as if he is standing next to the window and also far back into the room. At no point in time is Rowland properly describing what the gunman would have appeared to look like in the window with a 30 inch opening. That is what the Specter and the WC discovered in the course of his interview. Rowland was repeatedly shown to be fabricating his story and had absolutely no credibility as a witness.


Sorrels even believed him right up to the point of his estimation of the man standing 15 feet back from the window. Either near to the window or far from the window Arnold's description of the gunman does not prove to be true.

Mr. STERN - Did you look towards the window that Roland had pointed out from the spot at which he said he was standing, to see whether it was possible to observe from there someone standing several feet back from the window? Did you have occasion to check that?

Mr. SORRELS - Well, no, not specifically.
Later on I heard that he had--I believe in his statement that he wrote up down there at the sheriff's office, something about 15 feet back. And I thought to myself, well, I don't think you could see anybody that far back.
Mr. STERN - But he didn't tell you that?
Mr. SORRELS - No, he just said he was standing back of the window there, just kind of looking around there. He said after he saw him there, he didn't pay any more attention, because he just thought it was a Secret Service man.

[Alan Ford]

Sorrels even believed him right up to the point of his estimation of the man standing 15 feet back from the window. Either near to the window or far from the window Arnold's description of the gunman does not prove to be true.

Mr. STERN - Did you look towards the window that Roland had pointed out from the spot at which he said he was standing, to see whether it was possible to observe from there someone standing several feet back from the window? Did you have occasion to check that?

Mr. SORRELS - Well, no, not specifically.
Later on I heard that he had--I believe in his statement that he wrote up down there at the sheriff's office, something about 15 feet back. And I thought to myself, well, I don't think you could see anybody that far back.
Mr. STERN - But he didn't tell you that?
Mr. SORRELS - No, he just said he was standing back of the window there, just kind of looking around there. He said after he saw him there, he didn't pay any more attention, because he just thought it was a Secret Service man.

Do you believe that Mr Rowland claimed, while giving his affidavit statement, that he and his wife arrived in downtown Dallas at approximately 12:10 PM?

[Dan O'meara]

Based on Arnold's description of the man in the window, his impossible description of the rifle and supposed estimation of the caliber of rifle with a scope from a distance of 150 feet, his wife's assessment of his honesty, and his inability to tell the same story twice it can only be concluded he fabricated the whole story based on the conversation about Adlai Stevenson. Unbeknownst to Arnold there really was a gunman on the 6th floor.

Mr. SPECTER - You say you only saw a small portion of what?
Mr. ROWLAND - Of his pants from his waist down.
Mr. SPECTER - Which half of the window was open, the bottom half or the top half?
Mr. ROWLAND - It was the bottom half.
Mr. SPECTER - And how much, if any, of his body was obscured by the window frame from that point down to the floor?
Mr. ROWLAND - From where I was standing I could see from his head to about 6 inches below his waist, below his belt.
Mr. SPECTER - Could you see as far as his knees?
Mr. ROWLAND - No.


Mr. SPECTER - How much of the rifle was separated from your line of vision by the window?
Mr. ROWLAND - The entire rifle was in my view.
Mr. SPECTER - In the open part of the window?
Mr. ROWLAND - Yes.
Mr. SPECTER - And how much of his body, if any, was in the open view where there was no window between your eyes and the object of his body?
Mr. ROWLAND - Approximately two-thirds of his body just below his waist.
Mr. SPECTER - Up to what point?
Mr. ROWLAND - Mid point between the waist and the knees, this is again in my proportion to his height that I make that judgment.
Mr. SPECTER - So from the waist, some point between his knees and his waist, you started to see hi clear in the window?
Mr. ROWLAND - Yes.
Mr. SPECTER - And from that point how far up his body were you able to see without any obstruction of a window between you and him?
Mr. ROWLAND - To the top of his head. There was some space on top of that where I could see the wall behind him.
Mr. SPECTER - What is your best estimate of the space between the top of his head and the open window at the perspective you were observing?
Mr. ROWLAND - Two and a half, three feet, something on that--that is something very hard to ascertain. That would just be an estimation on my part.


Mr. SPECTER - How much, if any, or all of that rifle could you see?
Mr. ROWLAND - All of it.
Mr. SPECTER - You could see from the base of the stock down to the tip of the end of the rifle?
Mr. ROWLAND - Yes.
Mr. SPECTER - The barrel of the rifle?

Time and time again Arnold shows he doesn't have the correct description of how the person should have appeared in the window no matter were the gunman was standing in the room. He is both describing the person as if he is standing next to the window and also far back into the room. At no point in time is Rowland properly describing what the gunman would have appeared to look like in the window with a 30 inch opening. That is what the Specter and the WC discovered in the course of his interview. Rowland was repeatedly shown to be fabricating his story and had absolutely no credibility as a witness.

Not quite sure what you're saying here Jack. In the testimony you provide Rowland is absolutely consistent - he could see the man from just below his waist to the top of his head and the rifle was in full view. I'm not seeing the contradictions you appear to be seeing.

Sorrels even believed him right up to the point of his estimation of the man standing 15 feet back from the window. Either near to the window or far from the window Arnold's description of the gunman does not prove to be true.

Mr. STERN - Did you look towards the window that Roland had pointed out from the spot at which he said he was standing, to see whether it was possible to observe from there someone standing several feet back from the window? Did you have occasion to check that?

Mr. SORRELS - Well, no, not specifically.
Later on I heard that he had--I believe in his statement that he wrote up down there at the sheriff's office, something about 15 feet back. And I thought to myself, well, I don't think you could see anybody that far back.
Mr. STERN - But he didn't tell you that?
Mr. SORRELS - No, he just said he was standing back of the window there, just kind of looking around there. He said after he saw him there, he didn't pay any more attention, because he just thought it was a Secret Service man.

This is the only real problem with the part of the testimony you've presented. Rowland found it difficult to accurately judge how far in the building the man with the rifle was stood which, in my opinion would be quite a difficult thing to estimate. Rowland says as much himself -

" Two and a half, three feet, something on that--that is something very hard to ascertain. That would just be an estimation on my part."

This minor detail seems to be jumped on by those wishing to undermine his testimony.
The point is this - Barbara Rowland independently confirms Arnold gave this description of the man with the rifle 15 minutes before the motorcade had arrived in Dealey Plaza.
It's not a question of him making it up for the WC, Rowland was saying exactly the same thing on the day of the assassination.
This is confirmed by Barbara Rowland's testimony.

[Dan O'meara]

Have always found this bit of testimony from Mayor Cabell's wife interesting but don't know what to make of it:

"Mr. HUBERT. When was that relative to the shots? I mean how soon after?
Mr. CABELL. I cannot say for sure, because as I told you, the motorcade was stopped. And somewhere in there, Congressman Roberts said, "That is a .30-06." I didn't know what a .30-06 was."

[Walt Cakebread]

Have always found this bit of testimony from Mayor Cabell's wife interesting but don't know what to make of it:

"Mr. HUBERT. When was that relative to the shots? I mean how soon after?
Mr. CABELL. I cannot say for sure, because as I told you, the motorcade was stopped. And somewhere in there, Congressman Roberts said, "That is a .30-06." I didn't know what a .30-06 was."

Doesn't mean anything.....If Mrs Cabell was saying that Congressman Roberts was judging by the SOUND of the shots.   I seriously doubt that there is any human who can identify the rifle being fired by the sound of the shots.

[Dan O'meara]

Doesn't mean anything.....If Mrs Cabell was saying that Congressman Roberts was judging by the SOUND of the shots.   I seriously doubt that there is any human who can identify the rifle being fired by the sound of the shots.

Not so quick Walt.
Mrs Cabell is talking about looking up at the TSBD at the time of the shots and seeing something stuck out of a window that may well have been a rifle. She is NOT saying Roberts was judging anything by the sound of the shots, She is saying it was something she overheard Roberts saying just after the shots. If it is impossible to judge such a thing by the sound it indicates Roberts saw the rifle.

[Jack Nessan]

Do you believe that Mr Rowland claimed, while giving his affidavit statement, that he and his wife arrived in downtown Dallas at approximately 12:10 PM?

Rowland was one of many earwitness and nothing more. As far a an eyewitness, believing his testimony is just trying to make a silk purse out of a sows ear. Specter and Rowland's own wife showed his testimony be completely unreliable.