-Site map-

US Political "His Story"


The Assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy:

The Dallas Hospital




The Strange Tale of Dr. Malcolm O. Perry

Part Two

.

.

THIS FILE IS INCOMPLETE!!

.

According to Gochenaur, in May 1970, <27> while residing in the Seattle, Washington area, he had a long conversation with a Secret Service Agent who was stationed at their Seattle office. <28> In the conversation, the Agent, Elmer W. Moore, revealed that ". . . [h]e was in charge of the interrogation of the Doctors [sic] . . . and he was liaison between the staff of the Warren Commission and the Secret Service."<29> Among the many interesting points that Gochenaur claimed Moore relayed to him was that ". . . we [the Secret Service] had to do what we were told . . . or we'd get our heads cut off." Mr. Gochenaur added that Agent Moore did not tell him who issued these orders, <30> nonetheless, he was able to provide testimony about one task Moore had purportedly been forced to undertake: ". . . he [Moore] said that he had badgered Doctor Perry into changing his testimony, [and] he [Moore] did not feel good about that." This, however, was just the tip of the iceberg James Gochenaur was about to expose. He claimed that Moore was pressuring Dr. Perry ". . . to making a flat statement that there was no entry wound in the neck, or that [he knew] where the position of the wound in the back [was] . . ." Gochenaur also professed this was done because " . . . there was no conclusive evidence where any of the shots had come from, at that point." <31> Gochenaur was not done, however. He also asserted that Moore was in San Francisco <32> when the assassination occurred. Moore, he claims, flew from there to Washington and then back to Dallas, going "immediately" to talk to the doctors. Although the date of Moore's arrival in Dallas could not be recalled by Mr. Gochenaur, he has left us with many facts that can be used to weigh the overall accuracy of his statements. <33> And these facts are not the only ones he gave us. This was not Mr. Gochenaur's first time giving testimony on Moore. He gave similar testimony to Senator Richard Schweicker, of the Church Committee, and so did Agent Moore. Upon the discovery of this testimony, one of the authors contacted the National Archives to try and obtain Gochenaur's and Moore's testimony to Schweicker. The Archives responded that the testimony could not be found. The Assassinations Record Review Board [ARRB], however, had better luck. "We expect that these records will be found to be assassination records and ultimately will be released to the public. It is our understanding that Moore has denied Gochenaur's allegations. We anticipate that more information will be made available on Gochenaur's bona fides." <34> That Moore would deny these allegations is not surprising, especially in light of the fact that when called by the HSCA to respond to Gochenaur's assertions, he refused to comment and directed the staff to his earlier testimony. At the bottom of the HSCA's brief Outside Contact Report on this discussion with Moore, is a handwritten recommendation that in the future he should be treated with "boxing gloves." <35> As this appears to be the only document the Archives possesses on the HSCA's follow-up of Gochenaur's allegations, it was recommended to the ARRB that a search be conducted to locate testimony on these charges for not only Dr. Perry, but the other Dallas medical staff, as well. This would seem far more relevant to the record than Mr. Gochenaur's "bona fides," especially as this is not the end of this story. For roughly three weeks following the assassination, Moore and another Secret Service Agent, Roger C. Warner, spent a lot of time at Parkland Hospital. Several Dallas staff members are on record stating they were interviewed by the Secret Service within a short time of November 22nd. Oddly, the National Archives seems to hold only one report drafted personally by Moore on Parkland, and it is unindexed. An e-mail communication from the ARRB stated that it was not indexed because it was not received by the Archives until 1979 - coincidentally, after the HSCA shut its doors.<36> The authors believe they were already in the possession of the report the ARRB located, but at the time of this writing verification of that fact is pending. The document we possess is dated December 12, 1963, and discusses Moore's activities at Parkland on December 11th. Many points in it are eerily reflective of Gochenaur's claims. It begins with a synopsis that states: "The precise trajectory of bullets striking President Kennedy cannot be positively ascertained by the resulting wounds," and then launches into the "details of investigation" which relate that: "Pursuant to instructions, inquiry was conducted in an effort to determine the trajectory of the bullets which struck the President by the path of the projectiles in the body of the President as demonstrated by the points of entry and egress." Moore then enumerates what he has done "[t]o this end": he reviewed the Zapruder film and "various still photographs of the assassination scene," examined witness statements, interviewed physicians who attended the President at Parkland, reviewed Kennedy's autopsy report, and made a personal inspection of the assassination scene. Next he describes notable findings based on these points of investigation. He begins this section of his report by citing the autopsy report conclusions that the shots were fired from above and behind the President. Moore adds: "A more precise determination does not appear to be warranted by the pathological aspects." He next reviews the history of the discovery of the rifle and shell casings found under the sixth floor window of the Texas School Book Depository, asserting that this establishes the "probable trajectory." From here, Moore details an interview he conducted with Dr. Perry on December 11th. Perry, Moore reports, told him that the ". . . missile path of this wound is from the upper right posterior thorax to the exit position in the low anterior cervical region and is in slight [sic] general downward direction and from the right rear neck to the center neck in front." <37> It appears to the authors as though by the time Perry and Moore spoke on December 12th, Perry's testimony on the throat wound had not only changed, but was inclusive of information - the wound to the back - that Perry never possessed. All this is far too similar to Gochenaur's allegations to be simply dismissed out of hand. Even more so, as this is still not the end of strange events surrounding Dr. Malcolm Perry. On July 14, 1977, the HSCA's Andy Purdy telephoned Dr. Perry. Oddly, he would wait for more than a month to type out a memorandum on their conversation. This is most peculiar because of the bizarre story Purdy would relate in the memo's final paragraph. Purdy wrote that Dr. Perry told him that "some years" after the assassination, he went to Detroit. Its not clear from Mr. Purdy's wording if what happened next occurred in Detroit, or upon Perry's return, yet apparently Humes contacted Perry by phone "regarding a threat against Humes allegedly made by Dr. Perry's wife." Mr. Purdy fails to tell us what type of threat this was, or why Dr. Humes believed it was made by Mrs. Perry. Purdy only tells us that this "allegation was untrue, but apparently someone had made the threat." Then Purdy delivers the punchline. The investigation of this threat was conducted by the Secret Service, who ". . . maintained a very cooperative attitude toward the doctors for a number of years after the assassination, including looking into such threats." <38> Such threats? Were there others? The United States Secret Service has no jurisdiction over such matters. This was a case for the local police. Who called them in? Based only on the little currently known, it would seem logical to presume that Dr. Humes did, although this must be considered sheer speculation. However, there exists yet another possibility altogether. It is intriguing that it was Mrs. Perry and not her husband that was alleged to have made the undefined threat against Humes. Thus the authors have asked the ARRB to obtain a copy of the Secret Service file on this episode. Even presuming it contains little more information than is in Mr. Purdy's memo, the date this happened could indicate the entire affair was a veiled threat aimed at Mrs. Perry because her husband was not responding to continued "directions."

© 1998 she_is_now@yahoo.com



Click Here!