Evidence Of An Assassin On The Grassy Knoll
The majority of the witnesses that day thought at least some shots came from the right-front of the president's motorcade, known as the grassy knoll. The following is eye-witness testimony to that affect, from several witnesses standing on the triple underpass bridge, facing towards the Depository.
S.M. Holland--"The President's car was coming down Elm Street and when they got just about to the Arcade I heard what I thought for the moment was a firecracker and he slumped over and I looked over towards the arcade and trees and I heard three more shots after the first shot but that was the only puff of smoke I saw... the puff of smoke I saw definitely came from behind the arcade through the trees." (Thompson, Josiah. "Six Seconds In Dallas," pg. 120)
Holland was not the only person to see smoke.
Richard Dodd, who had stood next to Holland on the overpass, later reported that "the shot... the smoke came from behind the hedge on the north side of the plaza." Austin Miller swore out an affidavit on November 22 in which he declared: "I saw something which I thought was smoke or steam coming from a group of trees north of Elm off the railroad tracks." When interviewed by the FBI in March, 1964, James Simmons reported seeing "fumes of smoke near the embankment in front of the Depository," while Clemon Johnson stated that "white smoke was observed near the pavilion." (Thompson, "Six Seconds In Dallas", pg.121)
In all, at least seven people on the overpass saw smoke in the area of the stockade fence. Dodd, Simmons, and Holland were so sure a shot had originated from behind the fence, they ran from the overpass and into the parking lot by the fence. They arrived in the area of the smoke within a minute or two of the shooting. Dodd recalled that "there were tracks and cigarette butts laying where someone had been standing on the bumper looking over the fence." Holland said, "behind the station wagon from one end to the other, I expect you could've counted four or five-hundred footprints down there. And on the bumper, oh about twelve or eighteen inches apart, it looked like someone had raked their shoes off; there were muddy spots up there, like someone had been standing up there." Holland said, "they didn't extend further than from one end of the bumper to the other. That's as far as they would go. It looked like a lion pacing a cage." (Thompson, "Six Seconds In Dallas," pg. 122).
Lee Bowers was a "tower man" in the parking lot behind the stockade fence. Minutes before the assassination, Bowers noticed two men he had never seen before standing behind the stockade fence. Bowers followed the motorcade as it turned onto Elm Street, and a few seconds later it disappeared from his view. As it disappeared from view, the shots rang out. At precisely this moment Bowers noted some "commotion" near the stockade fence. Later, Bowers described the "commotion" this way-
At the time of the shooting, in the vicinity of where the two men I have described were, there was a flash of light or, as far as I am concerned, something I could not identify, but there was something which occured which caught my eye in this immediate area on the embankment. Now, what this was, I could not state at that time and at the time I could not identify it, other than there was some unusual occurrence-a flashof light or smoke or something which caused me to feel like something out of the ordinary had occured there. (Thompson, "Six Seconds In Dallas," pg. 118)
Evidence of a man behind the stockade fence on the knoll immediately after the assassination comes from Dallas Patrolman Joe Marshall Smith. Smith was directing traffic at the corner of Elm and Houston Streets at the time of the shooting. Immediately after, a woman rushed up to him and yelled, "They are shooting the President from the bushes." Smith ran down Elm Street and entered the parking lot behind the stockade fence. An FBI report from Dec. 9, 1963 tells part of the story from there:
He [Patrolman Smith] stated he did smell what he thought was gunpowder but stated that this smell was in the parking lot near the Depository and not by the underpass. (Thompson, "Six Seconds In Dallas," pg. 124)
Six months later, Smith was questioned by the Commission about smelling gunpowder, and at this point, added a more interesting detail-
"I checked all the cars, I looked into all the cars and checked around the bushes. Of course, I wasn't alone. There was some deputy sheriff with me, and I believe one Secret Service man when I got there. I got to make this statement, too. I felt awfully silly, but after the shot and this, I pulled my pistol from my holster, and I thought, this is silly, I don't know who I am looking for, and I put it back. Just as I did, he showed me that he was a Secret Service agent." (Thompson, "Six Seconds In Dallas, pg. 125)
What is strange about this encounter, is that none of the Secret Service agents remained at Dealey Plaza, but all went to Parkland Hospital with the motorcade.
Several witnesses that were closest to stockade fence, on the knoll, threw themselves to the ground after the final shot, believing they were in the line of fire. Mary Moorman took a Polaroid shot facing the knoll area just as the President was struck in the head. Below are three pictures, the first is from the photo by Moorman, the second is of the same area at the later time, and the third shows S.M. Holland standing where he saw the puff of smoke and tracks. As you see, the first photo has two shapes behind the fence, the one on the right is a signal tower in the background, but the one on the left is unidentified, and coincidently, where Holland saw the smoke and tracks. (Thompson, "Six Seconds In Dallas," pgs. 126-129)