[[ by Martin Shackelford ]]



Item Number Ten:Posner vs. the Photographs:Ed Hoffman  

POSNER (p. 258):    
"But in addition to questions about whether
Ed Hoffman was where he said he was that day, it appears that even if he
was there, his view, 750 to 900 feet away, was blocked. Photographs and
independent testimony reveal there were four large railway freight cars
over the Elm Street tunnel that day, effectively obstructing any view
from Stemmons into the rear of the grassy knoll. Moreover, in 1963, a
large Cutty Sark billboard also filled much of the space between the
freeway and the railroad tracks. It is almost impossible for Hoffman to
have seen what he described." [In a footnote, he adds:] "Even without the
billboard and railway cars, the foliage between the freeway and railroad
makes it difficult to see very much. Photographs show the foliage was as
dense in 1963 as it is today." 
	1. The railway freight cars.    
		a. The Phil Willis photo taken at Z-202 shows the north end 
of the Triple Underpass at the time of the first shots. No "freight cars" 
are visible. 
   		b. James Altgens photo No. 7 (published in rare complete form 
on p.149 of Cover-up by Gary Shaw and Larry Harris), taken as the limousine
approached the Triple Underpass with Clint Hill and Jackie both still on
the back (roughly between  Z-393 and Z-416), shows the Underpass above
Elm Street and extending farther north. No "freight cars" are visible.   
 		c. The Patsy Paschall film frame published in LIFE (p. 94, 
November 24, 1967), taken almost immediately after Altgens 7,  shows an 
empty roadbed with no "freight cars".    
		d. Taken at almost the same time, the Mark
Bell film frame published as No. 4 in Gallery magazine (p. 69, JFK
Assassination insert, July 1979) also shows no "freight cars."     
		e. The Mel McIntire photo showing the Secret Service followup 
car near the Stemmons freeway ramp, taken looking back toward the Book 
Depository, again shows no "freight cars."    
		f. The first photo to show a freight
car in a position where it might have blocked Mr. Hoffman's view was
William Allen No. 2-8, taken at 12:54, 24 min. after the assassination.  
Willis    Altgens 7   Paschall (Clearer in LIFE 11-24-67)   Bell 

2. The billboard   
   a. As the Mel McIntire photo (above 1e) shows, the billboard was not
"Cutty Sark" but "Old Charter." Also, it was lower in position than the
one that later replaced it (frame of later billboard visible in
Hoffman-Goodman, below, 3c). From Stemmons, the knoll area would have
been visible above it.     
   b. A view taken from the Records Building while the billboard was 
still in place  shows a clear line of sight from Hoffman's location north 
of the underpass on Stemmons, past the billboard as well, to the grassy 
knoll.                                    
McIntire    Records Building View
3. The foliage    
   a. The view mentioned in 2b also shows the foliage less grown than today.    
   b. My own photo, taken in 1991, shows the knoll still visible from 
Hoffman's position, even with 30 years' additional growth of foliage.     
   c. An even more dramatic demonstration of the point are two
photos taken by Ed Hoffman himself from where he stood on Nov. 22, 1963,
showing fellow witness Bob Goodman in the area behind the knoll fence.
(Bob Goodman,Triangle of Fire, 1993, p. 130).Shackelford 1991 Hoffman-Goodman)