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THE ETCHINGHAM/MITCHELL FILES


by Michael Fairchild

Kathy Etchingham (Jimi's British girlfriend) and Dee Mitchell (wife of drummer Mitch Mitchell) have provided new information and testimony regarding their on-going investigation on the circumstances surrounding Jimi's death. As part of their extensive research, Kathy and Dee have compiled further evidence and at the appropriate time they plan to bring it all forward.

Some of the statements regarding Jimi's condition (on September 18th 1970) are described graphically, so be prepared...

John Saua was one of the ambulance crew (2 men) who answered the call to 22 Landsdowne Crescent, London on the 18th September 1970. The call came in at 11:18 A.M. They arrived at 11:27 AM. John had only worked with Reg Jones for one month, as Reg Jones' regular partner was in the hospital. John left that position shortly afterword and had no contact with Reg Jones since, nor were they particularly good mates at the time, being of different age groups. John still is an ambulance man.

John Saua's Statement:

Well, I remember we had a hell of a time trying to suck him out, I mean the vomit was dry and there was a hell of a lot of it. The aspirators in those days were all right, but not like you have today. They couldn't shift that lot.

We knew it was hopeless. There was no pulse, no respiration. We got down to the flat and there was nobody but the body on the bed, we had to radio for the police from the van, and we couldn't touch anything in the flat. As I say we knew he was gone, he was on top of the bed dressed, but I didn't recognize him. I don't know if any anybody would've recognized him. His own mother wouldn't have recognized him. He was in a pool of vomit, it was everywhere.

But we are not doctors and it's our job to keep trying till we get them to the hospital. We can't proclaim anyone dead...so as soon as the police arrived we were off. I was in the back with Jimi, Reg Jones drove. When we moved him the gasses were gurgling. You get that when someone has died, it wasn't too pleasant. The vomit was all the way down. We couldn't have got an airway down. He was flat on his back when we got there. It's a shame he wasn't on his side because he might have pulled through.

Questions for John Saua:

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Q: Did you sit Jimi up in the ambulance?

A: Of course not, but I really kept on trying to do what I could for him even though we knew it was useless. I was really sorry there was nothing we could do to help.

Q: Why have you never talked to the press or come forward?

A: What do you mean come forward? I would never talk to the press, well you can't in our job. We sign a conditions of service agreement. If we go into a building of national security, or a member of the royal family or a celebrity, we can't talk about it, and quite right too. No one has ever asked me about it before anyway.

{John was then shown the account in the bio "Electric Gypsy" regarding Jimi's death.}

A: Well that's fiction isn't it? What a load of old cobblers!

Q: Don't you remember this girl (Monika Dannemann)?

A: No.

Q: Surely you remember this girl. Blond hair and a German accent.

A: Sorry, doesn't jar anything or ring any bells with me.

Q: Did you speak to anyone on your way to the hospital?

A: Just the police before we left. A small crowd may have gathered. I can't remember if some one asked what was happening, but you always get a crowd round an ambulance. It's an unfortunate fact.

Q: Did anyone ride along to the hospital with you?

A: No, of course not, like who?

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Reg Jones was the other member of the ambulance crew who responded to a "possible O.D." call at the 22 Landsowne crescent basement flat on the 18th of September 1970. He had worked for over 20 years as an ambulance man and has the highest reputation among his colleagues.

Reg Jones' Statement:

Well it was horrific. We arrived at the flat and the door was flung wide open. Nobody about, just the body on the bed. He was covered in vomit. There was tons of it all over the pillow, black and brown it was. His airways was completely blocked all the way down. His tongue had fallen back you see. The room at first was dark...we had to pull the curtains.

Well we had to get the police. We only had an empty flat, so John Saua ran up and radioed and got the aspirator too. We felt for any pulse between his shoulders, pinched his earlobes and nose, showed a light in his eyes, but there was no response at all. I knew he was dead as soon as I walked in the room. You get a feel for it, I can't explain, but you do and I knew he was dead.

Once the police arrived, which seemed like no time at all, we got him off to the hospital as quick as we could. We just kept trying. My shirt was wringing wet. The ambulances in them days, they wasn't equipped like they are now. We had them crazy wadhams (a type of ambulance) in them days, awful they was.

We took him to St. Mary Abbotts, they don't have a casualty ward now, but in them days they did. That was our designated hospital for the day. There was a "bed state"* at St. Charles. You found out at the beginning of your shift what your designated hospital was - St. Mary's was the designated that day.

[*NOTE: A "bed state" meant that the casualty ward for a particular hospital was not open on a particular day - either through staffing or lack of beds, the designated hospital was the place the injured, or ill, would receive the fastest and most comprehensive care. Just to make sure the emergency services remembered, large highly visible colored disks were placed at the casualty entrance. Red was for closed and green meant open. St. Charles was marginally closer, but there was a "bed state" and, as Reg Jones said, St. Mary's was the designated casualty ward that day.]

Questions for Reg Jones:

Q: Did any one come along in the Ambulance with you?

A: No. John Saua was with Jimi, I didn't know he was Jimi Hendrix, bit out of my age group, luv. When we got him to the hospital, full lights and sirens, we had to clean the ambulance out, it was really a mess, his bowels and bladder, all that goes when you're dead. That flat must have needed a good cleaning too.

Q: Did you sit him up in the ambulance?

A: Sit him up! No luv, you don't sit people up when they've choked. Them steps up the flat was steep, and you had a natural incline on the way up, but no, he wasn't sat up.

Q: Did you see or talk to anyone in the flat or on the way?

A: Just the police and the hospital staff.

Q: What about the German girl?

A: What German Girl? We didn't talk to no one but the police, and then at the hospital.

Q: This is a bit confusing - look at this (shown the account in the "Electric Gypsy" bio:

A: Well that's just crazy that is. I wouldn't know that girl if she was living next door to me. I've never seen her before. That's wicked that is. I've lived long enough to know silly tongues will wag, but that is wicked. She wasn't there, there was no one there.

Q: Have you ever had a situation like this before or since?

A: Well no, that's why I can remember it quite well, just the body and no one around

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Considering Friday noon traffic, and having a short wait for the police, they did an amazingly quick and efficient journey (18 minutes)...

continues...

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