A New Oswald Lookalike

Lee Farley wrote:

greg parker wrote:Some quick responses:

1. If the original photo posted was taken on 11/22 and the photo of Robert was taken on 11/24 then the original photo posted here can't be Robert. His hair could not have grown that quickly. Rowland (from memory) was wearing a white short sleeve shirt on the day of the assassination. Does the photo look more like RO than AR -- YES. But if the dates are right, I don't see how it can be RO.

Lee's response:

Rowland may have been wearing a short sleeved white shirt but for this photo to have any chance of being Rowland he appears to have ditched an overcoat and some gloves.

Mr. BELIN. Do you remember what your husband was wearing? 
Mrs. ROWLAND. He was wearing a plaid sports jacket, probably. I am not sure which sports jacket, but I think he was wearing a plaid sports jacket that was blue and had some black and grey in it. 
Mr. BELIN. Was he wearing any overcoat over the sports jacket?
Mrs. ROWLAND. Oh, no; I wasn't wearing that brown coat, I don't think. I think I was wearing an olive coat. He probably had his overcoat, but it is more of a raincoat. 
Mr. BELIN. Were you wearing gloves? 
Mrs. ROWLAND. Yes. 
Mr. BELIN. Was he wearing gloves? 
Mrs. ROWLAND. Yes. 
Mr. BELIN. Were you wearing a hat? 
Mrs. ROWLAND. No; a scarf. 
Mr. BELIN. Was he wearing a hat, do you remember? 
Mrs. ROWLAND. He might have been. He wears one sometimes. Sometimes he doesn't.  
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Mr. SPECTER - You were wearing gloves on that day? 
Mr. ROWLAND - Yes. 
Mr. SPECTER - Was it a chilly day? 
Mr. ROWLAND - The sun was shining, it was a fair day but the wind was blowing and it was breezy. 
Mr. SPECTER - Was it cold enough to have gloves? 
Mr. ROWLAND - Yes; I had on my overcoat and my wife had a fairly heavy coat. 
Mr. SPECTER - Proceed, and tell us what you did. 

As far as the hair of the Oswald lookalike is concerned I've been flipping between both photos for the last twenty minutes and cannot fathom how you have come to such a definitive conclusion based upon hair length.  I'm no barber to be sure and you may be correct but it's certainly not jumping from the page at me and I'm also no expert on light in photographs and it's effect on hair.

We also have to be certain that the photo I posted is definitely from the 24th outside Parkland.  That's what the caption read but I'll double check it against some other things.

As I said before, if it's not REO or a pod person, then I don't know what the hell is going on, Greg.  This guy most certainly is an Oswald lookalike if ever there was one and we have him outside the TSBD being held by the Dallas County Sheriff's Office.

greg parker wrote:We need a complete list of all witnesses to activity on the upper floors and go through a process of elimination similar to what happened with PM.

I suspect you're right - that this process will eliminate all known witnesses. But let's be sure.

Mr. BALL - Later on, did you go back in the street and talk to someone?
Mr. CRAWFORD - Yes.
Mr. BALL - Did you talk to a deputy sheriff?
Mr. CRAWFORD - Allen Swett.
Mr. BALL - What did you tell him?
Mr. CRAWFORD - I told him to have the men search the boxes directly behind this window that was open on the sixth floor - the window in the far east corner.
Mr. BALL - Did you tell him anything of what you had seen?
Mr. CRAWFORD - I don't think so. I think I was so amazed that I could walk across the street and walk up to this building that was supposedly under surveillance and the man had not been - I say "the man" - there had not been anyone apprehended.
Mr. BALL - How long was it after you heard the shots that you walked up to Allen Swett and talked to him?
Mr. CRAWFORD - My guess is it could have been anywhere from 10 - 20 minutes. My guess would be around 15 - 20 minutes.

beowulf wrote:Having said that, it is an interesting picture. For a cop to be holding someone's arm like that makes OL look less like a witness than a suspect. Of course the Deputy Sheriff (or whoever that is with the bow-tie-- looks old to be a uniform cop) may be in on it and is simply escorting an accomplice away from the scene of the crime.

Robert Charles-Dunne wrote:Greg:

Sweatt's "suspect" had a sport(s) coat.

Also, we must always bear in mind that "boy" had more than a single definition in 1963 Texas.

beowulf wrote:I would have thought a suspect warranted two cops and handcuffs?...
"I sent 2 deputy sheriff's to take this man into custody and to take him to the Sheriff's office."
When the police arrest someone-- because they have probable cause that they committed a crime-- they put handcuffs on them, Nowadays they also read him his rights but the Miranda decision was two years in the future. I don't think they had probable cause to arrest anyone there unless they were found inside the TSBD (in which they could be booked for trespassing), so even if they had a suspect, they would ask him to come in to give a statement.  Since no one is more anxious to look innocent than a guilty man, no doubt any suspect would agree to come in to give a witness statement. Of course, you don't put handcuffs on a witness, but if you don't want the suspect going anywhere you might put a hand on him.

Whether or not, there was any evidence against the suspect above put into custody by two deputies, he had to to be taken into custody for his own protection. See, "the crowd began to talk and pass the word around that this was the individual that had shot the President."
Men have been lynched in Texas for less. It was prudent to get the suspect out of there immediately before the crowd had the idea to rush the officers and grab the suspect.

Robert Charles-Dunne wrote:I think Norman Similas should be struck from the list of witnesses. 

I don't wish to speak ill of the dead, but this is one of the things that I spent about a decade trying to track down 20-30 years ago.  It was one of about a dozen possible Canadian angles to the tale (Bloomfield, Geisbrecht, LHO in Montreal, both "Oswald" weapons traced to Canadian gun dealers, etc.)

It can be substantiated that Similas was in Dallas, as a photographer for a Canadian beverage magazine, covering the bottlers' convention taking place that week.  (It's also ostensibly why Richard Nixon was there.)   After that, things get very murky.

Despite being quoted as a witness in media reports of the day, nobody has yet managed to locate Similas in any film or photos taken that day.  Not even Norman could point to himself in the extent photos.  I know, because I asked him to.  I also put the same question - at different times - to a son and (as I recall) nephew, also without success.  If he was there, he was lost in the throng some place. 

Also, being a professional photographer who claims to have taken photos in Dealey Plaza, Norman should have had his camera(s) with him.  That alone should exclude him from being on the list of possibles cited above.

All that said, here's the only photo of Norman (that I've been able to locate) taken at about the same point in time.