This is a guest post from a UK researcher, Brian Kelshaw. For years, there have been rumors that the power went off for a bit at the TSBD and even in Washington. Kelshaw explores the rumors in this article.
The TSBD Power Cut - Fact or Fiction?
I think the widely held belief there was a “power cut” at the time of the assassination is a misinterpretation of the testimony. A key witness was Victoria Adams. Although her testimony was later seemingly altered, those alterations involved the insertion of her supposedly speaking to Shelley & Lovelady at the rear of the building. That warrants a whole article to itself, as indeed does her recollection of seeing Ruby outside the TSBD and much besides. She only discovered the alteration years after the event when shown the published version by Barry Ernest who was researching her story, his efforts eventually being published in the excellent “The Girl on the Stairs”
The Shelley/Lovelady incident is the only thing that she says was inconsistent with what she remembered, and so inclusion of her testimony relevant to the “power cut” is included below
Firstly, here is DPD Officer Luke Mooney’s testimony. Mooney’s testimony is another often held, along with Adams’ as evidence of the “power cut” :- (1)
Mr. Mooney. Yes, sir; they were plainclothes officers like myself, work in the same department, and we run right over to the building then, which we were only 150, 200 feet back-I assume it is that distance I haven’t measured it. It didn’t take us but a few seconds to get there. When we hit the rear part, these big iron gates, they have cyclone fencing on them-this used to be an old grocery store warehouse-Sachs & Co., I believe is correct. And I says let’s get these doors closed to block off this rear entrance.
Mr. Ball.
Were the doors open?
Mr. Mooney.
They were wide open, the big gates. So I grabbed one, and we swung them to, and there was a citizen there, and I put him on orders to keep them shut, because I don’t recall whether there was a lock on them or not. Didn’t want to lock them because you never know what might happen.
So he stood guard, I assume, until a uniformed officer took over.
We shut the back door-there was a back door on a little dock. And then we went in through the docks, through the rear entrance.
Officer Vickery and Webster said, “We will take the staircase there in the corner.
I said, “I will go up the freight elevator.” I noticed there was a big elevator there. So I jumped on it. And about that time two women come running and said, “we want to go to the second floor.”
I said, “All right, get on, we are going……..”
Mr. Ball.
You took the west one, or the east one?
Mr. Mooney.
I would say it was the west elevator, the one nearest to the staircase.
Mr. Ball.
Did it work with a push button?
Mr. Mooney.
It was a push button affair the best I can remember. got hold of the controls and it worked. We started up and got to the second. I was going to let them off and go on up. And when we got there, the power undoubtedly cut off, because we had no more power on the elevator. So I looked around their office there, just a short second or two, and then I went up the staircase myself. And I met some other officers coming down, plainclothes, and I believe they were deputy sheriffs. They were coming down the staircase. But I kept going up. And how come I get off the sixth floor, I don’t know yet. But, anyway, I stopped on six, and didn’t even know what floor I was on.
Now Adams’ Testimony:- (2)
Mr. BELIN - Then what did you do ?
Miss ADAMS - Following that, I pushed the button for the passenger elevator, but the power had been cut off on the elevator, so I took the stairs to the second floor.
Mr. BELIN - You then went all the way back to the northwest corner of the building and took the same set of stairs you had previously taken to come down, or did you take the stairs by the passenger elevator?
Miss ADAMS - By the passenger elevator.
Mr. BELIN - Do those stairs go above floor 2?
Miss ADAMS - No, sir; they didn’t.
Mr. BELIN - What did you do when you got to the second floor?
Miss ADAMS - I went into the Texas School Book Depository office and just listened for a few minutes to the people that were congregating there, and decided there wasn’t anything interesting going on, and went out and walked around the hall to the freight elevator meaning the one on the northwest corner.
Mr. BELIN - Would it have been the west or the east? The one nearest the stairs or the other one?
Miss ADAMS - Yes; the one nearest the stairs.
Mr. BELIN - Then what did you do?
Miss ADAMS - I went into the elevator which was stopped on the second floor, with two men who were dressed in suit and hats, and I assumed they were plainclothesmen.
Mr. BELIN - What did you do then? Miss ADAMS - I tried to get the elevator to go to the fourth floor, but it wasn’t operating, so the gentlemen lifted the elevator gate and we went out and ran up the stairs to the fourth floor.
Following the last shot, but before her encounter with the “plainclothesmen”, Adams had descended three flights of stairs, tried to get to the railway track sidings but was turned back by a Police Officer, walked down the spur off Elm to the front steps of the TSBD, listened to a radio message on what presumably may have been Hargis’ motorcycle, gone back into the building, climbed one flight of stairs, paused briefly to listen to conversation on the second floor and crossed the second floor to the Northeast corner before reaching the freight elevator. Notice also that Mooney refers to two women whom he met on the first floor, wanting to go to the second floor. Many have assumed Mooney was who Adams encountered, but unless Mooney’s testimony was altered or he didn’t recall the events properly, that’s not how it reads, because Adams describes wanting to enter the elevator on the second floor, not go to it, but instead wanting to go to the fourth floor, where she worked and wanted to return. Odd as that seems, it has no bearing on the”power cut” problem.
For years people have cited the testimony of Geneva Hine as proof of the “power cut”. But let’s look at what she actually said, and the context in which she was speaking:-
Mr. BALL. Did they all go out?
Miss HINE. Yes, sir ; everyone went out.
Mr. BALL. Was there anyone left in the office part of the building on that
second floor office?
Miss ONE. Only Mr. Williams and myself and he stayed with me because he
was working on his desk until he thought that the motorcade was about there.
Mr. BALL. Then he went out?
Miss HINE. When he thought it was about there he said “I think I will go
out for 5 minutes.”
Mr. BALL. What is his name?
Miss HINE. Otis N. Williams.
Mr. BALL. He works in the office, too?
Miss HIIPE. Yes.
Mr. BALL. Did you have to change your desk over to another desk?
Miss HINE. Yes, sir ; to the middle desk on the front row.
Mr. BALL. Was there a switchboard?
Miss HINE. No, sir; we have a telephone with three incoming lines, then we
have the warehouse line and we have an intercom system.
Mr. BALL. You don’t have a switchboard?
Miss HINE. Not now ; we did in the other building.
Mr. BALL. Were you alone then at this time?
Miss HINE. Yes.
Mr. BALL. Did you stay at your desk?
Miss HINE. Yes, sir: I was alone until the lights all went out and the phones
became dead because the motorcade was coming near us and no one was calling
so I got up and thought I could see it from the east window in our office.
Mr. BALL. Did you go to the window?
Miss HINE. I saw the escort car come first up the middle of Houston Street.
Mr. BALL. Going north on Houston Street?
Miss HINE. Yes, sir; going north on Houston Street. I saw it turn left and
I saw the President’s car coming and I saw the President and saw him waving
his hand in greeting up in the air and I saw his wife and I saw him turn the
corner and after he turned the corner I looked and I saw the next car coming just at the instant I saw the next car coming up was when I heard the shots.
I realise of course that WC testimony has to be accepted with caution, as evidenced by Victoria Adams’ experience. That said, I believe the only sensible interpretation of her statement is that she was telling Ball that the switchboard fell silent “because the motorcade was coming near us and no one was calling” something that also meant that the phone line indicators were no longer lit up.
The absence of any follow up question by Ball may be interpreted by those who suspect that the power was cut as part of the plot as evidence that he was happy not to pursue the matter, the slightest hint of conspiracy being of course anathema to the Commission.
It may also be however that, in the context of the actual face-to-face interview, he thought the same as I do, that she was describing the telephone
From all of the above I think it reasonable to determine three things.
1. Geneva Hines’ reference to the lights cannot be separated from the rest of the sentence. I don’t believe she was referring to ceiling lights but rather the lights on the telephone indicating the three lines.
2. There were problems with both the freight elevators and the passenger elevators but whether that was as a result of a power cut is not clear from the testimony.
3. There was not one “power cut” event but several incidents separated by reasonably lengthy time intervals.
The significance of the supposed “power cut” is of course that it was timed to coincide with the motorcade’s arrival and was an indication of conspiratorial activity. I believe that when looked at a little closely, the evidence seems to suggest that this was not the case. As I have already said, quite why there were problems with the elevators is unclear. They are suspicious, but may well be part of the escape plan for those we know were on the sixth, and who knows how many floors. Of course there may be other, entirely innocent reasons for why several people had various problems with the elevators, as yet I haven’t come across enough data to come to any conclusions.
(1) WC Hearings Vol. III p 283-284
(2) WC Hearings Vol. VI p 391
(3) WC Hearings Vol. VI p 395
