Mark Bell Mark Bell -- where were thou?

[Marjan Rynkiewicz]

I had very limited time to view the museum’s Bell video, specifically looking for one detail in the intersprocket area (a request of former member.) I did make a mental note that the intersprocket images only penetrated about one half the width of the sprocket holes compared with Robin Unger’s frames – taken from the Lost Bullet-I think.

ThreeDFeatureGuy has the best footage of the action under & over the triple underpass, but some footage is missing.
I used that footage to find Murphy sitting up on his 3-wheeler.
And i used Robin's frames to find Murphy at the eastern western barrier -- seen in 1 frame only -- lucky.
And i used Robin's frames to see the gawker sitting on the eastern western barrier, about 21 yd from Hoffman's Lookout.
And i used ThreeDFeatureGuy to see Hoffman's Falcon early on -- & Robin's frames to see the Falcon later on.

I wonder whether someone has taken a hi quality scan of each of Bell's frames?
Its strange that the Museum's DVD has some of the sprocket area missing.
Murphy in Robin's frame is deep in the sprocket area -- lucky.

Anyhow, no matter how hi quality the frames, there would be no way of proving that the Falcon was Hoffman's.
Unless Hoffman had a pix of his Falcon in one of his books. In which case if the Falcon had white walls, &/or a 2-tone color scheme then it might prove.
My other thread shows a non-standard white-walled 2-tone Falcon.

 https://www.jfkassassinationforum.com/index.php/topic,2886.10.html

The Falcon in Bell's footage is i reckon Hoffman's. And koz Hoffman stopped short of the end of the queues of cars n trucks i reckon that he didnt know much about the 6 or so cops on duty under the railway overpass (koz his view was blocked by vans & trucks.
Hence that is why he says (in 1967) that he tried to get Officer Brown's attention -- he had seen Brown up on the overpass -- or praps Officer Brown was still on the railway overpass when Hoffman passed under him, but the others had already vamoosed -- or he simply read a report that said that Brown (& 1 other cop) was up there.

If Hoffman was parked just north of the railway (like he said), & if he drove away within minutes, then he would have had to walk past the 6 cops, & he would have seen & remembered them, & he would have included them in his silly made-up stories (june 1967)(march 1977).
One version of his story(s) is that he parked in the left breakdown lane, tween Hoffman's Lookout & the railway.
No, he parked/stopped in one of the 3 middle lanes (as seen in Bell's footage) -- well short of the blocked queues of cars n trucks.
And he didnt get going again for about 15 minutes, just like everyone else.
And in the meantime he had seen the commotion in the railway carpark.
And he had seen people near the western side of the TSBD.
But the only view he ever had of JFK & Hickey's AR15 was after they had passed & were a long way north near or past the railway.

He said that he drove around to the railway carparks, & drove around the carparks, looking for the tosser or tossee. I dont think so.
But he might have driven to near Dealey Plaza.
The traffic congestion around Dealey Plaza would have eased by the time he got there (say 20 minutes after the shots).
In my other thread there is a pix of a Falcon parked amongst the police cars in Elm St extension, in front of the TSBD.

[Marjan Rynkiewicz]

Marjan, since that statement 20191112 I’ve come to realize that clip is indeed Darnell’s and not from Underwood.

Ok good. I will fix my earlier post/comment/reply.

[Marjan Rynkiewicz]

Here is a google street view of Hoffman's view of the triple underpass from the center lane of Stemmons.
The google camera here is say 7 ft above the tarmac, whereas Hoffman's eye (when he was driving his Falcon) would have been only say 3 ft 10 inches above the tarmac.
On the other hand, the Falcon might have been in the right-hand lane (ie next to the right-hand breakdown lane),
which would have enjoyed a better view than the view from the center lane.
And in Bell's footage we can see a car passing the Falcon, & that car is on the other side of the Falcon, ie it is in the left-hand lane or it is in the middle lane.
Hence the Falcon is in the center lane or in the right-hand lane. I think the right-hand lane.

I had to use the google view from a long way south of where i wanted.  I wanted the view from where Hoffman was when the JFK limo first exited the underpass.
This would have been when Hoffman's Falcon was directly over Main St. But the new on-ramp blocks that view.

When JFK first exited the darkness of the underpass, ie into the sunshine, Hoffman would i reckon have been able to see the limo,
at least until the limo quickly disappeared below the eastern concrete barrier of Stemmons.
Hoffman's passenger would have had a better view than Hoffman.

In Bell's footage we see that the passenger has sprung out before the Falcon has come to a complete stop.
Hence we can safely say that the passenger saw the limo, & the flashing lights, & heard the sirens.
So, the passenger won't have known about the shots, but he could see that something was cooking.

   

[Marjan Rynkiewicz]

I saw a youtube yesterday where Groden said that the lamp poles on the northern side of Elm St had been shifted off the footpath for safety reasons.
This could be a trap if unknowingly mixing old & new photos etc for triangulating a location.

[Marjan Rynkiewicz]

Here is a giff i found on this forum -- i forget where, & who.
It shows Hoffman's Falcon in a Bell early sequence.
I could make a giff of Hoffman's Falcon stopping in Bell's much later sequence, but there are only about 4 frames, mostly blurry, not worth it.

[Andrew Mason]

I reckon that Bell took footage from 3 locations, shown by the stars.
I triangulated various features in various frames.
1. Here Bell is on a pedestal at the North Peristyle (as seen in the photo).

Your position no. 1 is slightly incorrect.  Bell was standing on the pedestal just east of the North Peristyle marked here with the small circle (although I think you have it a bit too far east):



This position allowed him to see across Elm to the front doors of the TSBD, as seen in the first part of his film (last clear frame before he stops filiming and changes position):



The pedestal is seen here on Street View (Google Maps) of Dealey Plaza.

[Marjan Rynkiewicz]

Your position no. 1 is slightly incorrect.  Bell was standing on the pedestal just east of the North Peristyle marked here with the small circle (although I think you have it a bit too far east):



This position allowed him to see across Elm to the front doors of the TSBD, as seen in the first part of his film (last clear frame before he stops filiming and changes position):



The pedestal is seen here on Street View (Google Maps) of Dealey Plaza.

Yes u are correct. Triangulation shows that Bell was on the eastern part of the pedestal wall.
Hmmm -- so, he could easily get to pozzy 2 (or a bit west of 2) by jumping down & going south then west then north, rather than jumping down & going west to the barrier & then jumping over the barrier & down onto the garden bed.