The document below dates back to 1955, it describes in reasonable detail how assassinations were organised and carried out by CIA operatives. I should point out that this is not meant to imply that the Somerton Man was assassinated by the CIA. In fact I do not think that was the case at all.
What the document shows is that intelligence agencies at that time were prepared, organised and trained to carry out assassinations even those that were to look like an accident.
What the document shows is that intelligence agencies at that time were prepared, organised and trained to carry out assassinations even those that were to look like an accident.
The document describes various methods and techniques including poisons that were difficult or impossible to trace.
I wouldn't rush to dismiss the possibility of a assisted passage into the afterlife, in this case. There are a few coincidences and I'd behaviour that would at the very least suggest that he was either under active surveillance, or at least he thought he was. Firstly, Robert Hemblys Scales visit to Adelaide on the 28th October 1948, which I'll talk more about later, and then the description of him waiting and watching the train depart, before leaving the train station to catch a bus, which would be classic OpSec procedure, if he thought that he was being followed. Jessica once said something about who knew him. That quote maybe your first clue
ReplyDeleteHi Pete, I agree, I think it was an assisted departure The nature of the assistance is the puzzle though. A major countries agency assisting by providing the tools and techniques effectively hosting the project is my thinking and the reason for that line of thought has to do with the politics at the time, the stretched relationship between Australia and the US for example. That plus known groups such as The Association and the White Russians who no doubt would have been known to each other as they were both on the same side.
DeleteIf the White Russians were involved and it related to the November 17th disappearance and subsequent finding of the body, then how would Hembley Scales have been involved? Would this rule them out as possible suspects?
Hemblys Scales was the MI5 mole hunter and counter espionage chief prior to his transfer to Australia. For some unknown reason he seemed to of been demoted & moved to Egypt, and replaced by Courtney Young. Maybe an interrogation went wrong, and someone died?
DeleteThanks Pete, What were the relevant dates for Hemblys Scales and King for that matter. Be good to look at the timing and then review what other events took place in Australia and then elsewhere that may have been related.
DeleteA different note, I realize, but every man at that time, late 1940's wore a hat. If he never had a hat with him, that would make him stand out from the crowd? If that was the case then, surely, someone must have remembered him whilst he was in Adelaide? Silly question I know, but if we agree he did indeed, wore a hat-then why was he not found wearing one? Clive
ReplyDeleteYes, I have some pics from the 48 Adelaide Easter Show and some footage of the Flower Show in the city. The majority of men wore hats. Would he have had the indentations left around the head from wearing one? Or would his clean up have included washing his hair or at least rinsing it?
DeleteFYI, the idea was to shake a tail if you had one, that wouldn't mean standing and watching but possibly getting on and getting off the train to Henley Beach either whilst it was at the City station or the next stop. Whatever he did, it didn't work. He was followed all the way. That would indicate that whoever was following him was well versed and/or there was a team of watchers. If it was a team that smacks of a highly organised intelligence outfit but that does not make them the killers, the facilitators maybe.
ReplyDeleteBeing lured to Adelaide might be exactly what happened. But let's say that Jessica had no idea that she was the bait, and that instead of following him that they simply staked out the approaches to her house and picked him up before he got there, which would be the simplest method.
DeleteA few things to consider:
ReplyDelete1. No one remembers 'the man' buying the tickets or being seen on the bus to Glenelg. What if it was a different man or even perhaps a woman? Prosper was away that day, how did Jess get around? Did she have a licence?
2. Back to your point PeteDavo, regarding the Henley Beach train ticket, unused. The trains used on Metro lines in 1948 were, I think, Brill Railcars, passenger carrying diesel powered rail cars. Not sure how many stops there were on the line to Henley Beach, one or two? Anyway, the question is, once a ticket was issued when and where was it clipped to signify it had been used. Was it prior to boarding, was there a conductor on board? Maybe a call to the Tramways museum will give us the answers. The timing was that the Henley Beach train left at 10.50 a.m. and the Glenelg service ticket was issued almost opposite the Railway Station entrance at 11.15 am.
3. We do not know for sure that our man arrived that day, if this whole thing was set up, then he could have arrived days before. In fact if this was an orchestrated assassination, it was well planned and not done 'on the run'. The whole thing would have taken at least another day with someone well experienced in the technique pulling it together. It is possible that someone else bought the tickets and someone else lodged the suitcase.
Good points. However in Littlemore's notes for his TV show, it does mention that he train station ticket seller saw him watch the train depart and he then asked where to get the bus to Glenelg before leaving the train station. By this I'd assume that he knew what he was doing and had no intention upon catching the train.
Delete"Noone remembers" - is odd but not unbelievable. How many people that you run into each day do you remember the next day? Do you recognise your postman? Bin collector? Busdriver?
DeleteWikipedia talks of the Henley line having 5 stations (I actually think it has 4 but confusing records imply a fifth)....Although by that number they mean "more than the Grange Line"...which has 10 stations (since 1936)....so not "1 or 2 stations", but "about 15". We know the bus ticket was punched at 11:15 (or on the 11:15 service, at least). We don't really know the train ticket was intended for the 10:50 service.
I think others have often made the point that the suitcase and tickets may have come from someone other than our Somreton Man. But once we accept that, all bEts are off on almost everything.
I missed that in the notes. It is surprising that it was never brought up in evidence in 49. That's really odd but there are a couple of instances where Littlemore seems to have gained other information for example the syringe and Curare mention.
ReplyDeleteBut let's get back to the man watching the train depart, if he was was trying to throw someone off, I don't think he would have stood there in plain sight and watch the train go out. The only explanation I think, is that someone was supposed to be waiting at either an intermediate station or at the terminus? But why buy a ticket? If he spoke with him, did he have an accent or wasn't the question asked by Littlemore? Being lazy, I should read the notes :)
Littlemore is a journalist telling a story and embellishing it where necessary. There is nothing in his notes to suggest the ticket seller (or anyone else) watched the train depart.
DeleteThe mentions of Curare seem to come from some remarks by Leane "....one of them poisons what them N$&&*s use..."
Petedavo, can you point this commenter to the relevant wording in Littlemore's notes please?
DeletePete Davo,
ReplyDeleteIn response to your earlier comment on the likely 'set up'
PART 1.
Need to tread softly through this line of thought. A few assumptions can be made which may assist:
1. Jess was an active member of the CPA and had joined, I think, in Sydney, it may also be that she learnt Russian at the Russian language classes held next door to the CPA offices.
2. It is possible that she met SM at one or more meetings of the CPA whilst in Sydney
3. It is possible that Alf B was also a member of the CPA, or, he was a mole within it.
4. The 'suicide' of Michael Goreloff who had gone missing om 17th November, was believed by some white Russians to have been an assassination and that the man who carried it out was a 'Britisher' ( as you point out that was a common term in those days but was it common amongst the white Russian community?)
5. It is possible that there were people amongst the WR community who knew that MG had been killed within days of the event and that the 'Britisher' got wind of that and headed West. He could have travelled via Melbourne.
6. Somewhere on this assumed timeline, Tibor Kaldor fits as another member of the CPA but in Melbourne, possibly to aid escaping suspects, part of the CPA machinery.
7. TK contacts the Adelaide connection and organises the man's trip to Adelaide, possibly using the same method that TK later used for his trip via the SA tourist bureau/Vic tourist bureau booking facility in Melbourne.
8. The mole in the CPA passes on any and all information such that other agencies are able to track the movements of SM and TK and may well have been aware of the arrangements being made almost as they happened.
9. Australian agencies would no doubt have close contact with The Association and possibly would have made use of their manpower and feet on the street for watching purposes in Melbourne and in Adelaide. I say this as I don't think that Australian Intelligence would have carried out a killing in it's own backyard.
10. SM arrives in Adelaide and buys his train ticket according to script. He is watched from the moment he arrives. The watcher being one of the 'feet on the ground' referred to earlier.
Part 2.
ReplyDelete11. The plan is put into action on SMs arrival, it probably includes a suitcase swap, a watcher also hops on the Glenelg bus. Somehwere in this time a call is made for the Glenelg watcher to be waiting, given they already knew of his real destination.
12. Shortly after his arrival in Glenelg, he is taken, bundled into a car and thence to a 'safe' house of sorts. Given SMs size and fitness, I would think 2 or even 3 men would have done the grab. The location he was taken to would have been quite secluded, a place where comings and goings were not in view, somewhere with ates and a yard, maybe a business premises?
13. At this point, the WR community take over. Interrogation time. A variety of methods stopping short of hard physical violence would be used, narcotics and someone skilled in their administration.
14. A second person of similar build to SM is dropped at Somerton Beach according to script. The interrogation goes on.
15. Later that night, SM is given a meal, something soft and easily digested, his lack of teeth would have dictated that. The food would have been laced with some kind of sedative.
16. Around 1 am on 1st December, SM is held down and syringe is pushed into one of his fingers of the left hand. Now fully subdued, a few scratch marks are made between the knuckles of his left hand possibly in an effort to mask the presence of a syringe mark. He is taken to Somerton Beach, it could be that the duplicate man was waiting there and leaves the beach at that time.
17. SM is left in his stupefied state in the same location vacated by the dupe. Within an hour he is dead and that is where he was found at just after 6 am on 1st December.
18. On December 5th 1948, Michael Goreloff's body is found having apparently hung himself from a 4 foot high sapling in Prince Edward Park, Sutherland Shire. His wife and friends state that there was no way he would have killed himself, he had just started a well paying job at the Hotel Astra in Bondi, had a new home and life was good. Michael was well known for his anti communist views and once served in the Czars army during the revolution.
19. On the morning of 14th December 1948, Tibor Kaldor's body was found in the Victoria Hotel in Hindley Street, he had been poisoned, barbiturates according to the hastily performed autopsy. He had left a last letter in the first paragraph of which was found an acrostic code, it spelled out the name, DANETTA. This was found using an online acrostic decoder on the contents of the letter.
The question of course is why go to all that trouble? I can only think that the WR community was sending a clear message to the CPA that if they harm one of theirs, then they will be found and they will be killed.
More events are to be added to this sequence. I put this forward as my view based on the assumptions and physical evidence as laid out above. Is it correct? Happy to take feedback, other thoughts and input.
Where did he get off the bus? Everyone says corner Adelphi and Anzac Highway, but what reliable source do we have for this?
DeleteTicks all the boxes as to what actually happened. The only 'wobbly' bit is when the SM arrives in Glenelg. Is it a likely scenario that, instead of possibly attracting a crowd if 2-3 men bungled him into a car, the SM arrived at 90a Moseley St? Once inside 90a, 'Joe Public' would know nothing and neither would Prosper, only Jessie, who's agreement to this sequence of events ensured that she would be kept free of any possible future lines of investigation, the authorities would see to that. Clive
ReplyDeleteYes, I think it's possible. I had given it some thought but it seemed to me that if things got awkward at 90A then that would be hard to control. Your point is correct, bundling someone into a car would be difficult in public. The thought just struck me that maybe it was someone he knew and trusted that invited him into a car?
DeletePossible that Jessie was in the car? If that was the scenario, he wouldn't have thought twice about it. Did Jessie have a drivers licence? I haven't read anything about her having a drivers licence. Clive
ReplyDeleteNot sure that she was driving, maybe her friend, the chemist?
ReplyDelete