Chronicle Mea Culpa: Identifying the Three Tramps In Dealey Plaza

Contrary to our previous posting on the topic of the three tramps escorted by 2 police officers through Dealey Plaza, we do not believe that Chauncey Holt or Frank Sturgis was either of the men in the parade.

 

There are at least 4 versions of the famous photos showing the alleged 3 derelicts in column marching to the sheriff's office by Dallas Police Department officers Marvin Wise, sporting a Ku Klux Klan insignia on his sleeve, and by Billy Bass in the rear.

 

While many names have been proffered as suspects, we believe that the most reliable research was done by reporters Ray and Mary Lafontaine in 1992 which involved follow-up of the 3 men whose identities they determined from police records released in 1989.

 

The 3 men were Gus W. Abrams (3d tramp), 53; Howard Doyle (2d tramp), 32; and John F. Gedney (first tramp), 38. At the time of the research, the Lafontaines discovered that Abrams had died in 1987 but the other 2 were still alive.

 

Does this mean that the men were tramps? In the case of Abrams we believe that the answer is yes. The other 2 men are worthy of further research.

 

Many respected experts on the Kennedy assassination have averred that Chauncey Holt was the old man, a conclusion based upon work by Dallas police profiler/artist Lois Gibson, and Holt's confessions. Given the Dallas Police Department's heavy role in the murder of President Kennedy, we pay no attention to anyone from that corrupt criminal organization.

 

While Holt may be an entertaining story teller, the former accountant for Myer Lansky is not exactly what we would call a fountain of truth. In fact we believe that he was largely full of himself and other debris as he told his tales. On the other hand, his mendacities do not mean that he was not part of the plot. We still believe that he was indeed a forger who provided falsified Secret Service credentials to the assassins.

 

The most persuasive evidence against the traditional claims about Holt, Hunt, and Sturgis comes from an anthropological forensic examination of several candidates which precludes Sturgis, Hunt, or Holt as part of the ensemble. For details we urge interested readers to follow our second source in the Reference section.

 

Even an amateur comparison of Hunt, Holt, and Sturgis, using contemporary photographs, precludes the possibility of any of them being any of the 3 tramps.

 

Fletcher Prouty who had significant interactions with CIA in the 1950s and early 1960s observed that one of the tramps had a receiver in his ear. Another source indicated that the bag held by Abrams carried radio equipment, which corresponds to a story by yet another source that the men had walkie talkies. We believe that this story is plausible, in which case 2 of the men were part of the murder of the president.

 

Former Marine Commandant Victor Krulak, corresponding with Prouty in 1985, stated that police officers ( if they were indeed police officers ) were carrying shotguns, and headed to the sheriff's office which was indeed strange, given the completely separate jurisdictions of the 2 law enforcement organizations.

 

If  Doyle and Gedney were part of the murder, they were being escorted by police to safety.

 

This affair brings us to Frank Sturgis' 1977 confession in the San Francisco Chronicle that the reason for the Watergate break-in was to suppress pictures showing him and Hunt being arrested in Dealey Plaza. While there may indeed be pictures of the men arrested, the tramps photo is not one of them.

 

For now, we believe that the photos, circulated since at least 1967, are a red herring of sorts. The only loose end is to determine the backgrounds and roles of the 2 police officers, and Doyle and Gedney. It is way past time to put to death the nonsense about E Howard "scumbag" Hunt and Chauncey Holt being the among the tramps on parade.


Reference


- [The "three tramps" being escorted to the Sheriff's office], The Portal to Texas History, nd, accessed 5/31/2015


- The three tramps, jfkassassination.net, nd, accessed 5/31/2015


John S Craig, The Guns of Dealey Plaza, acorn.com, nd, accessed 5/31/2015


- PART EIGHT: THE THREE TRAMPS AND THE ASSASSINATION OF JOHN KENNEDY, The Conspiracy Zone, nd, accessed 5/31/2015 (Video of Fletcher Prouty)


Copyright 2015 Tony Bonn. All rights reserved.