I ventured to East Texas to find the final resting place of Ira J. Beers, Jr. Mr. Beers was a staff photographer for The Dallas Morning News, one of the two major news papers for Dallas metro area, the other paper being the Dallas Times Herald¹. I believe Beers was in President Kennedy’s motorcade in Dallas on Friday, November 22, 1963. I know Beers was in the basement of the Dallas Police Headquarters on Sunday, November 24, 1963, for the transfer of Lee Harvey Oswald from the city jail to the county jail.

It was during this transfer that Jack Ruby, owner of the Carousel Club, shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged² assassin of President Kennedy and alleged murderer of Officer J.D. Tippit.

Mr. Ruby was apprehended and Mr. Oswald was rushed to Parkland Hospital. Ruby found himself in the same jail cell previously occupied by Oswald, and Oswald was taken to the same emergency room as Kennedy³. Oswald did not survive.

Beers was not the only photographer waiting for the transfer of Oswald to the county jail. There were numerous television cameras, photographers and reporters for the local and national media. This included Dallas Times Herald staff photographer Robert Jackson.

Beers and Mr. Jackson were positioned differently in the crowded basement. Beers had a good view of the doorway where Oswald would be entering and Jackson was closer to the car that would be used for the prisoner transfer. And somewhere in the middle was Ruby.

When Oswald was brought out, the television lights went on and out stepped Jack Ruby from the shadows with a gun. Beers photographed Ruby about to shoot Oswald, who was oblivious to the gunman. Less than a second later, Jackson photographed Oswald in pain with a bullet in him and an alert Det. James Leavelle trying to move Oswald out of the way.

A lot can happen in less than a second, which can be seen in the photographs taken by Beers and Jackson. Beers’ shot, while very good, lacks the drama that was captured by Jackson. In Jackson’s shot can be seen the suffering on Oswald’s face and the grit of the Dallas Police on Det. Leavelle’s face. The emotions speak volumes.

Robert Jackson won the Pulitzer Prize for his photograph. Ira Beers did not.

I have read that not winning the Pulitzer Prize haunted Beers for the rest of his days.

Beers had a great angle. He was high with a good sight of Oswald. His photo is well lit and shows all the action. The only thing missing is the look on Oswald’s face.

Kildare Cemetery

Ira J. Beers, Jr. was not an easy man to find. Just imagine the number of search results you can get for beers.

I went old school to find Beers. I narrowed down his date of death and then visited the Dallas Public Library to view obituaries from The Dallas Morning News on microfilm. Services for his funeral were handled locally, but his final resting place was at Kildare Cemetery, about 165 miles east of Dallas. I confirmed his interment with a Kildare Cemetery historian.

I trekked out to Kildare Cemetery on Presidents Day, February 18, 2013. It was a two and a half hour drive from my home. Once at the cemetery, it took me nearly forty minutes to locate Beers. I was told he was in section B, but there are no section markings anywhere in the cemetery.

Kildare Cemetery is a nice, country meadow with 200-300 internments. A paved road divides the cemetery up the middle and an American flag stands post near the entrance.  Most of the memorials are gray marble. There are only a handful of statuettes. Within the cemetery is another fenced in private cemetery. Even in death the rich are still trying to keep out the poor.

I had nearly given up my search to find Beers when I happened upon his monument. Beers has a metal military monument. It is nearly the color of the ground and leaves. I almost missed it. Had I visited it at the height of fall, it may have been covered in leaves and I would have missed it.

Beers is located on the east side by the chain-link fence between two upright Rosser monuments.

Photography

I try to get some basic shots with every cemetery visit. I take photos with both my film Holga cameras and my digital Nikon D7000. I use my Nikon to determine what film speed would be best. It was cloudy in the Kildare Cemetery, but not enough to use higher than 100 and 160 ISO film. In case I am wrong, I do take digital back-up photos.

My first order of business is to make sure the N-B switch on the bottom is set to N. N stands for Normal and B stands for Bulb, or as I like to remember, Blurry. Checking the N-B switch keeps me from wasting a roll of film and a very long car ride.

My Holga shots start out simple with direct overhead or square on shots. I change the focus from 3 ft. to 6 ft. After having the basic shots in the can, I start creating angles and double-exposure shots.

Cloudy days are more freeing than others. I can create multiple double-exposure shots without blowing out the film. For this monument I did some over lapping exposures. I triggered the shutter and advanced the film a few clicks (not all the way to a new photo). This may turn out to be either the worst of best photo in the bunch.

All photographs currently showing on this page are from my Nikon D7000. The film has not been developed. Cheers.

Footnotes

¹ The Dallas Morning News acquired the Dallas Times Herald on December 8, 1991. The Morning News closed the Herald the next day.

² Lee Harvey Oswald did not live to be convicted of either crime and thus remains an innocent man.

³ Lee Harvey Oswald was not in exactly the same emergency room, but a different room in the same emergency room facility. My wife, a nurse, keeps telling me it is an emergency department, which better clarifies the room confusion. But I tell her that nobody would watch a show called ed.

I was photographed yesterday by Jerry McCarthy from The Dallas Morning News for the feature article by David Flick.

I met Jerry outside the front gate of the Emanu-El Cemetery at 3430 Howell Street in Dallas. There are several small cemeteries in that same location. I had to call Jerry to see if he was lost. He was close.

The Dallas Morning News wanted to get me in action. I told them I needed to do retakes for Abraham Zapruder, the amateur filmmaker who filmed Kennedy’s assassination. The News agreed this would be a good photo opportunity. They did not want me to fake a photo shoot for the article.

One of my biggest problems when shooting in a cemetery is a funeral, or more precisely, people. I don’t want people in my shots and I don’t want to be disrespectful to them at their time of grief. Fortunately, I have never had to take photos anywhere near a funeral in progress.

Yesterday, I was pretty close to a funeral. So close that I could not get my car past the hearse and other vehicles. I had to ditch my ride on the far side of the mausoleum.

I had already photographed Mr. Zapruder and his wife last year. I found him and Judge Sarah Hughes on the same day. They are only a few miles apart.

Mr. Zapruder’s grave marker is buried next to a small tree. Last year it was only the size of a bush. This year the tree is about four feet tall. And as expected, the tree is casting a four o’clock shadow right on the Zapruders’ grave marker. Oh well, lets see how these photos come out.

I wanted to use a 400 ISO film, but I didn’t have any on hand. All I had was 125 PX, 100 TMAX, 160 NC and 800 NC. I selected the 160 NC.

Jerry started taking photos as soon as I started selecting film. He got everything form loading my Holga to shooting the grave marker to writing down the GPS coordinates.

Just as I was finishing, we were approached by a man in a suit. He said that we can not take pictures in the cemetery. Oops.

While I started apologizing, Jerry jumped right in and told the man he was from The Dallas Morning News. The man was very kind. We talked for about a minute. We told him who we were photographing. The man was a little surprised at our find. It appeared he did not know Mr. Zapruder was buried here.

And that’s one of the points of my project. Most people don’t know where any of these people are, living or deceased.

The man returned to the funeral and we took a few more shots. Jerry did some portrait shots of me. I tried my best to give a half smile. I was trying to strike a balance between nice smile and reverence for my surrounding.

Jerry and I chatted on the way back to the cars. I gave him the abbreviated version that I told Mr. Flick on Tuesday.

And that was that. I hope his photos make me look good. I really hate having my photo taken.

Article

I was told the article on my project could run as early as today. I did not see it. Maybe it will be in Sunday’s paper.

David asked all the usual questions and left some out that I think have nothing to do with the project. He ask about the project and where the idea came from. He also asked about my Holga cameras and what makes them special.

I brought along some of the photographs I have been taking. I showed David the Holga defects that give the photographs an artsy look. I enjoy all the defects: scratches, light leaks, double-images and vignetting. I never know what I am going to get until the film is developed.

I also brought along a camera bag full of Holgas. I had two standard models with flash, wide pinhole, 3D and 35mm models.

David also asked if I had an agent or publisher. If not, then I might have both knocking on my door soon.

David did not ask any conspiracy questions and I liked that. I’m not a conspiracy theorist. I believe what I can see until it has been through Photoshop. After that, it’s anyone’s game.

David did ask who I would most like to photograph for Death By Holga: 11.22.63. I would love to photograph any of the following living people:

• Caroline Kennedy
• Pres. George W. Bush
• Pres. Bill Clinton
• Current President of the United States in 2013
• Fidel Castro
• Maria Oswald
• Anyone born at Parkland Hospital on Nov. 22, 1963

Why would I want former Presidents Clinton and Bush? Because Clinton was photographed shaking Kennedy’s hand while he was in college. This is a somewhat famous photo. Bush is the only former president to call Dallas his home. My JFK project is about making links to the past, and they have links.

I gave credit for my JFK project where credit is due. I talked about my spouse’s approval of the JFK project. I also mentioned The Sixth Floor Museum being helpful to a limited degree. I say limited degree because the museum does not want to be involved with every JFK project. I’m just lucky enough to know the right people.

We talked for about 40 minutes and made plans for a portrait photograph of me at a nearby cemetery.

The featured article might run as early as Friday, June 10, 2011.