Dr. Mary’s Monkey

by Edward T Haslam

  15 Credit Dr. Howard Platzman for taking Judyth Vary Baker to 60 Minutes and later to me.

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  CHAPTER 14

  The Teacher

  WE HAVE LOOKED AT WHAT IS KNOWN (and unknown) about Dr. Mary Sherman and her murder, as well as at David Ferrie and the cancer treatise which was found at his apartment. In the process, we stumbled onto some very disturbing information indicating that the polio vaccine was contaminated with monkey viruses which might be responsible for America’s unprecedented epidemic of soft tissue cancers.1 It also appears that powerful forces have shaped our understanding of these events to protect themselves and that there are mysterious relationships between medicine and politics which raise significant questions about the health care decisions we face as a nation.

  We have also looked at what the mainstream scientists have said about the origin of AIDS, and compared that to what we know of these secret experiments and the people around them. Along the way, we pondered the dangers of irradiating cancer-causing viruses with nuclear devices capable of mangling their genetic structure.

  But since that evidence is incomplete, I will not draw any conclusions concerning a direct relationship between this underground medical laboratory and the origin of the AIDS epidemic. We may never know. And if we did know, what could we change? In the meantime, we are still free to ask the obvious question: Was this bizarre new epidemic caused by a mutated monkey virus engendered during the more than forty years of intensive scientific research, medical experimentation, and genetic manipulation of simian viruses?

  BEFORE WE CONCLUDE, I do want to answer one final question. It was the first question ever asked me in a public presentation of this matter, and over time it has been the most frequently asked question: “How did you originally learn about this subject?”

  When I first heard this question, all I could say was that I have known about the generality of these things most of my life. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that most of my understanding of the dangers we faced from monkey viruses came from a particular incident. But it was not from my father; it was from another source whose words are worth recalling.

  About a year after the pirate incident dashed my hopes for a pet monkey, a remarkable elderly woman entered my life. Her name was Mrs. Ellis,2 and she taught history and English to my class at New Orleans Academy. Her grandmotherly appearance and out-of-date clothes could not conceal her unique spirit. Her specialty was sculpting rowdy teenage boys into disciplined young men, and she did so with uncommon precision. During her forty-year career, she had nearly a thousand students to her credit.

  She worked us hard, and rewarded us with her recognition. Demanding and loving, she offered her students a respect which we returned. When combined with the high expectations she placed upon us, it was hard for us not to feel like her grandchildren.

  Philosophically, however, Mrs. Ellis was a Darwinian who loved all forms of competition — the rougher the better. She even watched our playground fights with relish, because she saw them as demonstrations of character.

  In her own family, she raised three sons, and put each through college and then law school. Then she shepherded their entrance into Louisiana politics. All three of them became elected judges in Covington, Louisiana, across the lake from New Orleans. Very little went on in Covington that “Mama Judge” did not know about.

  Mrs. Ellis was very systematic about her teaching, but she always reserved time to talk to us about the important things that were on her mind. Most of these had to do with activities across the lake, where she spent her summers and weekends.

  One day, in 1963 or 1964, she concluded her lesson and turned our attention to the new monkey laboratory that the U.S. government was building near Covington. As you can imagine, my ears perked up. She talked about the research that Tulane and LSU medical schools were doing at “the Yerkes lab.” She cautioned us that it was “not the famous Yerkes lab,” but it was “like the Yerkes lab.”

  As she praised these new efforts to make the monkey research safer and more humane, I was busy thinking about the African monkey viruses that my father feared more than rabies. Then she started talking about polio. At first I did not get the connection. Then she told us that the polio vaccine had been contaminated with monkey viruses. The medical experts admitted that they did not know what effect these monkey viruses in the human blood supply would have, and they acknowledged that a new generation of diseases might result — diseases which the world had never seen.

  And she told us about the response of prominent doctors like Alton Ochsner who had supported the mass inoculation of the polio vaccine. Ochsner’s position, she explained, was that it was better to get rid of a known disease today and deal with the possibility of a new disease tomorrow, than to do nothing. Further, Ochsner believed that if these monkey viruses did produce new diseases, then medical science would be able to meet the challenge, as it had with so many other diseases. I remember hoping that he was right.

  When class was over, I had to stay late and finish some work before going home. Another boy had to stay late, too. We both finished our work at the same time, and handed her our papers. As we were leaving, I turned to Mrs. Ellis and thanked her for telling us about the monkey laboratory. I realized she had told us information that we would not hear through normal channels. She accepted my comment and added a few of her own, expressing her personal bewilderment over the people calling the shots. Her frustrations were not hard to see.

  Then the other student said solemnly, “This is pretty serious stuff you’re talking about ... the government, contaminated vaccines and the possibility of epidemics in the future. Don’t you think it’s dangerous to be talking about this?”

  “Oh, they can’t hurt me,” she chuckled at him.

  “Well, that’s not exactly what I meant,” the other boy said apologetically. “Do you think you should be telling us about these things?”

  “Why shouldn’t I?” she said in a snap. Then lowering her head to study both of us over the rim of her glasses, she concluded:

  “This is going to be your country soon, and you are the ones that are going to have to deal with these problems. You have the right to know what they did.”

  ~~~~~~~~~~

  1 When the debate quietly raged over the contamination of the polio vaccine with monkey viruses, it focused on one virus, SV-40, a DNA virus that produced pathogenic results fairly quickly. NCI eventually claimed that SV-40 was not a significant threat to humans, and declared the debate over. But the reason that SV-40 was named “ SV-40” was to remind us that there were 39 other monkey viruses already identified.

  What about all the other monkey viruses in the polio vaccine, especially the slow acting retroviruses which can take decades to produce disease. These retroviruses baffled the scientists of the 1960s, but today we understand how they breed by inserting themselves into the genetic material of other cells. In 1994 Dr. Michael McGrath, a medical researcher from San Francisco, demonstrated that retroviruses can cause cancer directly, by invading a cell’s genetic material and triggering the cancer process, rather than only causing cancer indirectly through the suppression of the immune system, as previously believed; Associated Press, “ AIDS virus can cause cancer,” St. Petersburg Times, April 8, 1994, p. 8A. Look at the cancer statistics presented in Chapter 9 and decide for yourself if there might have been a problem, even if honest scientists are not yet able to explain it.

  2 I never knew her first name. When we wanted to be familiar, we called her “Mrs. E.”

  APPENDIX

  Judyth’s Story

  IN THE CHAPTER ENTITLED “The Witness,” I explain how I came to know Judyth Vary Baker, present key evidence about her, and give a top-line summary of her story — which was admittedly focused on points that related to my interests: Mary Sherman, the underground medical laboratory at David Ferrie’s apartment, the contamination of the polio vaccine, Dr. Alton Ochsner, and irradiating cancer-causing monk
ey viruses. As important as these points are, I want to enable the reader to see a broader overview of the rest of her story.1

  Judyth’s story helps us understand what happened in New Orleans in that very important summer of 1963, both with the Ferrie-Sherman underground medical laboratory and with the broader activities of Lee Harvey Oswald in the months prior to Kennedy’s assassination. Judyth’s narrative provides an important, if not essential, perspective on these matters. In what follows you will read what I consider to be the salient points. The text font will vary so that you may distinguish between when I am relating her story to you, and when I am adding my commentary.

  Judyth has been kind enough to corroborate (and correct) my version of her account:

  Judyth’s story begins in Bradenton, Florida during her high school years, which ended in 1961.2 Due to her success as an award-winning science student, she attracted the attention of teachers and press. Doors were opened, and Judyth was given access to support that a high school student would not normally have. This early success led to introductions to important contacts in the medical community, including Dr. Alton Ochsner, a famous physician from New Orleans, and his friend Dr. Harold Diehl, Vice President for Research Projects at the American Cancer Society. Ochsner helped Judyth by arranging a summer position for her assisting his friend Dr. George Moore in his laboratory at the prestigious Roswell Park Cancer Institute in upstate New York.

  After a false-start at a Catholic college,3 and a year at the University of Florida, Judyth was invited by Ochsner to New Orleans to work in a cancer lab at his hospital for the summer, and to be part of a project which she understood to be of national-security importance. For her services, Judyth was promised advanced admission to Tulane Medical School, a stipend as compensation for her involvement, as well as the opportunity to work under the direction of a distinguished cancer researcher named Dr. Mary Sherman. Due to a fluke in her college schedule and problems at home in Bradenton, Judyth headed to New Orleans several weeks ahead of Ochsner’s schedule.4

  Upon her arrival she got a room at the YWCA, which she shared with several female roommates. One of these roommates was a stripper at the 500 Club. The stripper explained to Judyth that New Orleans was run by organized crime, particularly by her boss Carlos Marcello. The club had just been raided that night by the police, but that was understood to be Marcello’s way of persuading Jada, the headline act, to relocate to Dallas to work for his friend Jack Ruby. A few evenings later, the stripper invited Judyth to the 500 Club to help her with her makeup. Eager to broaden her horizons, Judyth went to the 500 Club.

  Another roommate encouraged Judyth to get a job with “more of a future to it,” like the one she had — learning to work as a bunny at the Playboy Club. But Judyth declined this offer as well, and followed the advice of yet another roommate, who convinced her to work at a hamburger joint called the Royal Castle out by the airport. This Royal Castle was next to the Town & Country Motel, headquarters of Carlos Marcello, the infamous Mafia boss.5

  Lonely and scared in this strange city and anxiously expecting a letter from her fiancé, Judyth headed to the Post Office to pick up her letter, But fate sent her a protector — Lee Harvey Oswald. 6

  At the Post Office Judyth gets in line, and a clean cut young man gets in line behind her. He is close enough to read what she is carrying under her arm and to hear what she is saying to the clerk. Then Judyth drops her newspaper, and Lee picks it up. They meet.

  Lee befriends her and offers to walk her home. She accepts. Judyth tells Lee that she has come to town at Dr. Ochsner’s request and will be working in Dr. Mary Sherman’s cancer laboratory. What a coincidence! Lee was just talking about Dr. Sherman the night before with a good friend who was also interested in cancer research — Captain David Ferrie. Lee tells her that Captain Ferrie also works with Carlos Marcello as a pilot, ever since he had a problem with his job at Eastern Airlines.

  The next morning Lee visits Judyth at her new job at the Royal Castle outside of Marcello’s headquarters, and waits for her to finish her work. Lee then borrows a car from his uncle. The uncle used to be “an enforcer” for Carlos Marcello on the docks, but got promoted to bookmaking and collecting gambling debts.7 Lee is concerned that Judyth has to live at the YWCA with the strippers and offers to help. Judyth is expecting her fiancé, who obviously can’t stay with the women at the YWCA, so Lee helps Judyth find a nicer place — a boarding house on St. Charles Ave. where she can be with her new husband. Lee pays part of her rent and helps her move in.

  The fiancé arrives, he stays for a day, marries Judyth, and then he leaves to go work of shore in the Gulf of Mexico, working on a boat for most of the summer. As soon as her husband is gone, her new residence is raided by the police as a house of prostitution. Luckily the negligee-clad Judyth has her marriage license handy, and is not arrested. Meanwhile, Lee Oswald keeps showing up at both Judyth’s apartment and the Royal Castle. A day or so later, Lee is asked to run an errand for the uncle whose car he borrowed. He has to pick up something for his uncle at the Town & Country Motel.

  Lee brings Judyth with him to Carlos Marcello’s headquarters, but Lee warns Judyth that the hotel does offer the services of prostitutes to its patrons.8 Judyth sees the manager pass a fistful of rolled-up bills to Lee under the table for him to courier back to his uncle. Once the wad of cash was delivered, the grateful uncle gave Lee $200 (1963 dollars) for his trouble.

  Supposedly embarrassed by the police raid on her last residence, Lee comes to Judyth’s rescue again, by helping her find a small quiet apartment on Marengo Street in uptown New Orleans, near Magazine Street. The house is owned by Susie Hanover, a woman Lee has known since he was a child. Susie’s husband also worked for Carlos Marcello, and she remembered Lee fondly from parties at Marcello’s house during his childhood.

  Have you noticed a pattern here? Lee was surrounded by New Orleans Mafia.

  Lee then takes Judyth to lunch with his friend David Ferrie, who invites them to his apartment to see his cancer laboratory. She accepts and the trio goes to Ferrie’s apartment. There they talk cancer research for hours. Judyth is very impressed with Ferrie’s knowledge of cancer research. It is there in Ferrie’s kitchen that he explains that he and Dr. Mary Sherman are cooking up a cancer cocktail to kill Cuban President Fidel Castro.

  Ferrie is hoping that Judyth will agree to work with them in their patriotic venture. They really need the help, and they are behind schedule. Ferrie invites Lee and Judyth to a party at his house the next night, promising that Mary Sherman will be there. Ferrie is right, Mary Sherman does come to the party, but she totally ignores Judyth, preferring to practice her fluent Spanish on Ferrie’s Cuban friends. Sherman does not stay long, but before she leaves, Judyth sees her remove a jar of tumors from Ferrie’s refrigerator. As the night progresses, Judyth hears Ferrie talk to the Cubans about how President Kennedy could be killed. The police finally shut the party down at 2:00 A.M.

  At this point, Judyth is getting concerned that she might be falling in with the wrong crowd, and asks Lee if Ferrie’s secret get-Castro project is really a U.S. government project. Lee offers to prove that it is by introducing Judyth to Mr. Guy Banister, the former head of the FBI’s Chicago office, who is now a private investigator in New Orleans. Banister assures Judyth that Lee is OK because he is working with them to get rid of Castro. Impressed by Banister’s credentials hanging on the wall, and the large gun under his arm, Judyth concludes that things are on the level.

  Lee then takes Judyth upstairs, and shows her some of the military equipment that he will be using to help make a training film for the Cuban exiles. Lee mentions that Banister also happens to work with Carlos Marcello and his attorney, handling “private investigations.” Oswald explains that Banister used to work for the New Orleans Police Department, until they fired him. Now he gets back at them by blackmailing cops for Marcello.

  But what about Ferrie’s talk about killing Kennedy? Oh, that. Judyth is told that Ferrie wa
s just saying that stuff about Kennedy so that the Cubans would trust him. He doesn’t really mean it.

  A few days after her lunch with David Ferrie, Lee takes Judyth to Charity Hospital for a meeting with Dr. Alton Ochsner. The date is May 7, 1963. Lee goes in first and meets with Ochsner alone for 45 minutes. When he comes out, Judyth goes in and meets with Ochsner alone.

  This is a profound point. If Oswald met with Ochsner in the same room privately before Judyth entered the room to meet with Ochsner, it implies that Ochsner already knew (or knew of) Oswald prior to Judyth’s arrival. As her story unfolds, we learn that Oswald is already operationally involved in Ochsner’s kill-Castro project, running the supplies between a string of secret laboratories stretched across New Orleans. This is a remarkable development because of Ochsner’s public position that Oswald was a Communist and the lone assassin who killed Kennedy.

  Publicly they were enemies. Privately they were evidently working together. If Oswald was secretly working with Ochsner, this certainly discredits the idea of Lee Oswald being a “lone nut.” And it makes us ponder the “Sensitive Position” for the U.S. Government that Ochsner held! So much for the “accidental meeting” of Judyth and Lee at the Post Office.