As an open-minded Lone Nutter, I’d be intrigued if a high-caliber rifle shell had been found on the roof of the Dal-Tex Building or Dallas County Records Building, wouldn’t you? Either of these would have been a far more plausible location for “the” gunman or “one of the” gunmen (depending on whether you think LHO fired any shots) than would a frontal location like the Grassy Knoll. Or so it seems to me.
I vaguely recalled that a shell was indeed found on the roof of the Dal-Tex Building and attempted to track this down in connection with my latest attempt at a plausible conspiracy theory. My new and improved theory is found in the "If I had planned the conspiracy thread" and is also set forth below.
No, it was actually the County Records Building rather than the Dal-Tex. OK, that will work for my theory.
The story, as far as I can tell, has its origin in Jim Marrs’
Crossfire. It's found on page 317 of my copy. (Marrs, may he rest in peace, is also the author of
Alien Agenda: Investigating the Extraterrestrial Presence Among Us. Suffice it to say, he is “not highly regarded” among serious ufologists. The full list of his titles is a conspiracy fan's dream:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Marrs.)
According to Marrs, a guy named Dean Morgan of Lewisville, Texas, said that his father had been working on AC equipment on the roof of the County Records Building in 1975 and, while looking for leaks, had found a rusty 30.06 shell under the edge of the roofing near the parapet of the roof on the Dealey Plaza side. The shell dated to a 1953 lot of ammunition and was crimped in a way that rifle experts told Morgan indicated it was a reload and may have been a sabot (i.e., fitted with a plastic sleeve to hold a smaller bullet like - yep - a 6.5).
Golly!
Alas, Marrs provides no citations or references for anything he says. I could find nothing about any Dean Morgan of Lewisville. Marrs said the shell was still in Morgan’s possession when
Crossfire was published in 1993, while a later internet discussion said Robert Groden had it (I could find nothing about that either). Neither Marrs nor Groden made any attempt at verification or otherwise followed through?
This isn’t to suggest the story isn’t true. In Conspiracy World, however, it definitely
is true. It’s repeated in numerous books and articles and pretty much taken as Conspiracy Gospel. (It’s repeated in at least two articles at Factoid Central, otherwise known as Jim DiEugenio’s
Kennedys & King site. See
https://www.kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-articles/silencers-sniper-rifles-the-cia and
https://www.kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-reviews/robert-a-wagner-the-assassination-of-jfk-perspectives-half-a-century-later-2.)
It's also repeated in
Kill Zone: A Sniper Looks at Dealey Plaza. The date is sometimes stated as 1977 and the location is sometimes given as the Dal-Tex Building, but Marrs’ original version definitely said 1975 and the County Records Building.
I didn’t set out to disprove this factoid. Indeed, I set out to
verify it because it would fit nicely into my more-or-less plausible conspiracy theory in which two pro-Castro gunmen, Oswald and his partner Pedro, did the deed.
Alas, once again we see that Conspiracy Gospel is so often derived from Conspiracy Factoids that, when you attempt to trace them to their source, prove to be far more iffy than they are portrayed as being in the Conspiracy Literature. No responsible researcher in any field would report as fact an unattributed tale from a dubious conspiracy enthusiast like Marrs - but CTers do it all the time. We see it reported as
fact, not even as "Author Jim Marrs claimed in
Crossfire ..."
If you know Dean Morgan or can otherwise add meat to the bones of this tale, chime in! Oh, I should mention that shells and bullets are apparently planted in Dealey Plaza all the time - but if Morgan's tale is true, this seems like an unlikely plant.
Here's my conspiracy theory, with the County Records Building now substituted for the Dal-Tex Building ...
1. On September 9, 1963, Oswald sees a newspaper article reporting Castro’s September 7th speech denouncing JFK and the CIA for plotting his assassination.
2. JFK’s trip to Texas is announced to the Dallas Morning News on September 25th and reported by them on September 26th. The dates of November 21-22 and the inclusion of Dallas are part of the article.
3. Oswald arrives in Mexico City on September 27th. He makes connections with other pro-Castro types and a possible assassination of JFK is mentioned - possibly even at the Cuban Embassy, which is abuzz with news about Castro's September 7th speech.
4. Oswald returns to Dallas and begins to look for work. On October 16th, he starts work at the TSBD. An assassination plan begins to be formulated with another pro-Castro type - we'll call him Pedro - since they know JFK will be in Dallas in November.
5. JFK’s motorcade route is published no later than November 19th. Oswald now knows he’ll be sitting in the catbird seat on November 22nd. He contacts Pedro and they agree it’s a go.
6. They scout the area and decide Pedro will be on the roof of the County Records Building, looking right down Elm Street. It’s perfect.
7. At the appointed time, both fire at JFK. Hence the witness testimony of two shots close together. Oswald’s first shot is the back wound, his second the one that hits Connally; he’s low and to the right on both shots. Pedro fires the head shot.
8. They have agreed each will be on his own after the assassination. They will rendezvous at the Texas Theater, wait a reasonable time, and make their way to Mexico. Oswald makes his way to the theater, as does Pedro – or perhaps Pedro sees the activity at the theater and vanishes. Or, better yet, each is completely on his own after the assassination and Oswald ends up in the TT for no reason other than the unplanned Tippit thing.
9. Once arrested, there is nothing to be gained for Oswald by revealing the plot, so he adopts an uncooperative attitude and Pedro forever remains an unknown.
