October Legends and Americana Ending November 14th
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/15/2015
Archive of typewritten notes and photographs, together with news clippings from the papers of D.C. Metropolitan Police photographic expert Cecil Wayne Kirk, who testified before the House Select Committee on Assassinations in 1978. The archive includes a 30 page original typescript of his testimony used before the House Committee, two photographs related to the investigation, and other photographs and ephemera from his 20 year career in the department. Condition is overall very good to fine, with only marginal wear and light soiling.
Of great interest is what appears to be Kirk's original typewritten testimony that he read before the House Select Committee on Assassinations held in 1978. In Kirk's testimony he challenges the widely held belief that the infamous photos of Lee Harvey Oswald holding the rifle in his backyard were doctored in order to frame him: "…A NUMBER OF PEOPLE HAVE LOOKED AT THESE PHOTOGRAPHS OR COPIES OF THEM AND HAVE CLAIMED TO FIND EVIDENCE THAT THE PHOTOGRAPHS WERE FALSIFIED. THESE ALLEGATIONS WERE CONSIDERED EVIDENCE OF A CONSPIRACY TO ASSASSINATE THE PRESIDENT AND FALSELY IMPLICATE LEE HARVEY OSWALD. THE ASSASSINATION COMMITTEE PHOTOGRAPHIC PANEL EXAMINED ONLY FIRST GENERATION PRINTS … SUBSQUENT [sic] GENERATION MAY PICK UP ARTIFACTS AND LOSE DETAIL IN HIGHLIGHT AND SHADOW AREAS, IN ADDITION, TONE QUALITY WOULD BE LOST." Kirk continues, point-by-point, dismissing the various critiques of the photographs and concluding that not only were the images never altered, the rifle pictured was the same one picked up at the Texas School Book Depository on November 22, 1963.
In his testimony, Kirk also commented on the famous "Man in the Door" photograph that conspiracy theorists cited as proof that Oswald was not on the sixth floor, but on the front steps of the depository the moment the first shot hit Kennedy. Kirk concluded, "PHOTOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL STUDIES FIND THAT THE SUBJECT IN THE DOORWAY IS NOT OSWALD BUT IS AN EMPLOYEE OF THE DEPOSITORY, BILLY LOVELADY." (Kirk also delved into the subject of bullet trajectories and noted at the end of his testimony that if Texas Governor John Connally had failed to turn the way he did, his bullet wound would likely have been fatal.)
The archive also features a composite photograph produced by the D.C. Metropolitan Police Photo Lab showing several images of the Dallas police motorcycle that was believed to have recorded the sound of four shots fired at the Kennedy motorcade, raising the suspicion that a second shooter was involved. The conclusion was reached based upon an audio expert's analysis of the tape taken of the Dallas Police radio from one of the motorcycles that trailed Kennedy's limousine. However, after those findings were made public, the Dallas officer who was on the motorcycle, H. B. McLain, disputed the finding observing that the sirens would have been very prominent in the recording as he was blaring his as he drove rode toward Parkland Hospital. The D.C. Police Photo Lab's photo also bolsters this critique. The analysis that concluded that there was a fourth shot fired was based on the recordings of police radio channel one. However, the Dallas police involved in the Presidential motorcade were told to use channel two. The composite photograph clearly shows that the motorcycle officer's switch was turned to channel two. In press reports, the Dallas Police theorized that the recordings were made by a police radio near the Trade Mart which would also account for the sound of sirens growing and fading in the distance. (Washington Star, Jan. 5, 1979).
Kirk's papers also include an enlargement of a photograph taken by Life photographer Arthur Rickerby showing the infamous "umbrella man" seated on the curb at the right. Conspiracy theorists had posited that the man may have opened the umbrella as a signal to an assassin. After the House Committee made a public appeal for the man to come forward, Louie Steven Witt identified himself as the "umbrella man." Witt claimed he was merely staging a symbolic protest criticizing his father's policy of appeasement toward Hitler when he was U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain. The black umbrella was Neville Chamberlin's trademark accessory. Kennedy, who's 1940 book Why England Slept criticized the Chamberlain's appeasement policy, would have likely understood the symbolism.
Also found in the archive is a four page typewritten statement, likely done sometime after Kirk testified before the House committee, discussing the circumstances surrounding the "latent palm print" that conspiracy theorists alleged was faked to frame Oswald. Using photographic analysis Kirk demonstrated six defects on the gun that matched the flaws on the palm print taken by the F.B.I.: "The photographs of the barrel were in effect an aerial survey which was used to locate those six craters (metal defects) that were recorded by the latent print lift 15 years earlier. Indeed, they were found to still exist and can be recognized in the photographic documentation."
The balance of the archive includes a file folder and binder filled with news clippings related to the 1978 hearings,together with numerous personal photographs and other related ephemera. An excellent assemblage worthy of further research.
Cecil Wayne Kirk (1938 - 2011) was a police officer, investigator and photography expert who served with the D.C. Metropolitan Police from 1960 to 1980 where he assisted the federal investigation into the assassination of John F. Kennedy. In 1978, Kirk testified before the House Select Committee on Assassinations as a photography expert. During the 1978 hearings, Kirk would help prove the veracity of the oft-disputed photographs of Oswald posing in his backyard with the rifle he allegedly used to assassinate John F. Kennedy. In 1980 he transferred to Scottsdale, Arizona to investigate the murder of actor Bob Crane and revamped the city's forensic investigative unit.