Tink Thompson on Umbrella Man

First topic message reminder :

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2011/11/21/opinion/100000001183275/the-umbrella-man.html

According to Tink, Witt's story was so wacky, it had to be true.

I think it would be very uncomfortable if not impossible to sit in that position with a large radio tucked into a pocket or pants. The side shot of DCM does not show any such device beside him. If it is a radio, it must be in between TUM and DCM.

What could have been so urgent to require radio communication at that time after the assassination?

Why wouldn’t DCM at least collapse the antenna before walking around with it?

If TUM was covertly photographing the assassination, what use would it be?

One of the video clips I linked to above shows DCM (I’m pretty sure it’s him) walking across the grassy field south of Elm. He has a strange gait which suggests he had some kind of injury or was somewhat older. Of course, If I had a large radio with extended antenna in my back pocket, I’d probably walk funny as well.

greg_parker wrote:

Re communications.

If in 1963, if you wanted to communicate updates to someone interstate in real time using something other than a normal phone, how would you do that?

Re communications:
One practical approach that would have been within the reach of a local radio station's technical ability would have been to purchase a lease from the phone company on a dedicated phone line effective for a specified number of hours or days that would be patched through by the phone company from point A to point B anywhere in the US. Any audio equipment that looked like a 600 ohm termination to the phone line (same as a regular phone) could be connected on either end.This could be a microphone with amp, amp and speaker, tape equipment, radio equipment, whatever.

So the phone line termination point would be a fixed location in a building somewhere. Local radio equipment/ walkie talkie could then be connected to the phone line with a hand held  device carried by the roaving operative. While the phone line would have a duplex capability (two way voice simultaneously), because of the radio, the link would effectively be simplex (say "over" after each statement) or simply a one way narrative from the radio operative to whoever is listening in CA or wherever. This kind of an arrangement was in common usage.

Jake_Sykes wrote:

greg_parker wrote:

Re communications.

If in 1963, if you wanted to communicate updates to someone interstate in real time using something other than a normal phone, how would you do that?

Re communications:
One practical approach that would have been within the reach of a local radio station's technical ability would have been to purchase a lease from the phone company on a dedicated phone line effective for a specified number of hours or days that would be patched through by the phone company from point A to point B anywhere in the US. Any audio equipment that looked like a 600 ohm termination to the phone line (same as a regular phone) could be connected on either end.This could be a microphone with amp, amp and speaker, tape equipment, radio equipment, whatever.

So the phone line termination point would be a fixed location in a building somewhere. Local radio equipment/ walkie talkie could then be connected to the phone line with a hand held  device carried by the roaving operative. While the phone line would have a duplex capability (two way voice simultaneously), because of the radio, the link would effectively be simplex (say "over" after each statement) or simply a one way narrative from the radio operative to whoever is listening in CA or wherever. This kind of an arrangement was in common usage.

Yes Jake,

but the caveat on all of this would have been the size of the equipment used to do this portably.

If in 1963, if you wanted to communicate updates to someone interstate in real time using something other than a normal phone, how would you do that?


I'll have a look at this but I suspect it would have been almost impossible in '63 especially for a person off the street. Having said that who would've thought they could've linked live video back to earth from the moon in '69. Bless the Ozzies hey.

Thanks Jake and Mick.

Let me clarify further - it would not necessarily have to be someone on the street.

But it would have to be someone with the ability to get updates on the progress of the motorcade and the ability to get that info to someone in California in real time without it being via a telephone.

I had always thought it was interesting how they just sat down after it all happened. They had to have seen the gore mere feet away from them, yet they just sit down, looking around with poker faces. I highly doubt the black guy had any communication equipment on him.

It'd be much easier to put someone in a window blocks from the shooting with a pair of binoculars and then go to a pay phone nearby to report. Or the shooters themselves to report back. There'd really be no need to have someone that obvious wired up and giving live updates.

greg_parker wrote:Thanks Jake and Mick.

Let me clarify further - it would not necessarily have to be someone on the street.

But it would have to be someone with the ability to get updates on the progress of the motorcade and the ability to get that info to someone in California in real time without it being via a telephone.

Glad to Greg. I took 'no phone' to mean, not a traceable, traditional telephone. The dedicated line could be contracted covertly and covered up. The phone company no doubt kept two sets of books, that is if it was on a set of books at all. Anyway, beyond any such brand of phone line, it would I believe have had to be a military link of some kind. Not sure exactly what they had at the time but certainly something to span TX to CA.

Or.... a chain of shortwave radios. Not sure how far short wave could get at that time of day, but whatever the distance, that would be the spacing needed to get there via repeater stations.

My previous reply seemed to disappear into the aether.

One reason for wanting instant, firsthand information that the assassination was a success (definite kill) would be to short the stock market. Trades were not executed as swiftly in 1963 as today. By 30 minutes it would be too late. You might not be able to get this confirmation with binoculars from a window.

Several airline stocks were shorted prior to 9/11. The Securities and Exchange Commission investigated but did not find anything suspicious. I understand they then destroyed their records of the investigation.

If TUM and DCM had foreknowledge of the assassination, they showed better discipline than the guys who arrived with cameras (pre-smart phone days) at Liberty Park across the Hudson River from the WTC and took photos of each other celebrating with the burning towers in the background. Their celebration attracted the attention of neighbors who called the police. Eventually they were found and arrested. FBI released their report on the incident with confiscated photos with the faces redacted. Several of the neighbors stated that the celebrants arrived between 30 minutes and and hour before the first tower was hit indicating possible foreknowledge.

So I wouldn’t be surprised at all if TUM and DCM were there to taunt and possibly photograph the assassination.

The Motorola HT-200 was a popular handheld transceiver released in 1962. The antenna is not as long as the one DCM seems to have. The antenna could be an artifact of the photo but there are a couple of photos where it is apparent.

http://mfwright.com/mikeht220/ht200.html

Two possible explanations of DCM and the “radio”:

1) He had a job where he normally used such a radio (perhaps in the railroad yard or a construction site) and had it with him when he watched the motorcade.

2) It was simply an AM radio receiver.

Umbrella Man and Dark Complected Man were positioned just in front of the Stemmons Freeway sign.

This is the view from the 6th floor of the TSBD:



Here is the view from the Dal-Tex building (from prayer-man gallery):



Were TUM and DCM really in the best location to support a sniper in either location? I suspect that a Dal-Tex sniper positioned on a lower floor would have had an even bigger problem with the trees blocking the view.

I haven’t found a photo of what the view would be for a sniper shooting from behind the picket fence at the top of the grassy knoll but I would think there would be better positions for all three locations. For a sniper positioned at the south knoll they might be actually vulnerable as the target.

Here is a view from the south knoll. Umbrella Man would have been between the two lamp posts just in front of the limousine:

https://youtu.be/8MNj8S0A_T4?t=363

And a view from behind the stockade fence on the north knoll. Umbrella Man would have been to the left of the lamp post (the trees were much smaller in 1963:

https://youtu.be/_uFI5_2SYH4?t=115


From the south knoll, Umbrella Man would have been in line with the target had the shot been taken a second or two later.

I’m not sure Umbrella Man would have been visible from the position behind the stockade fence.

Umbrella Man was not in a very good location to be serving as a visual signaler for gunmen in four of the most common posited shooting locations. For the south knoll location, he was at significant risk of being in the line of fire.

Dark Complected Man certainly could have used a radio to signal the shooters. But if any gunman needed an accomplice for communications, that doubles the number of people that have to escape and not draw attention to themselves. All this is avoided by two gunmen firing from behind in roughly similar locations behind and close to the line of travel of the limousine, or a single gunman with the proper rifle.

Witt was 39 at the time of the assassination - much older than TUM, in my view.
Larry Hancock reckons Felipe Vidal Santiago and Roy Hargraves are good candidates for these two figures.
I suspect they were mainly acting to distract the Secret Service and police and then report on the outcome.

There were other figures on the north side of Elm Street possibly doing likewise in terms of diverting attention.
No-one is standing to Emmett Hudson's left in the Willis and Betzner photos but a casually-dressed man then makes an appearance in the Nix and Muchmore films, only to perform a quick about-turn and run up the steps after the head-shot. He seems to match Paul Landis's description of a suspicious figure on the knoll. Landis described him as a "negro" but this might mean Cuban. 
Could he have been Black Dog Man in the photos taken about 5 seconds before? I think there was an early shot from this area - the one Rosemary Willis seems to react to.

Another character who may be of interest is the well-dressed man with a fedora hat and raincoat over his arm caught in the Darnell film apparently being told to move away from behind the picket fence by a DPD uniformed officer. He is a perfect match for the individual described by Malcolm Summers.

Does Larry do any photo analysis of TUM and DCM?

Ed.Ledoux wrote:Does Larry do any photo analysis of TUM and DCM?

No, he doesn't go down that line - in his books he focuses mainly on Vidal being DCM, but he's said on the Education Forum that TUM is Hargraves.

Apart from the resemblance, both were in Dallas on November 22nd and were known to work closely together.