Author: Carter McLellan – Date: April 22, 2024

Contents

1. Introduction
2. The life of Lee Bowers
3. Bowers’ strange death
4. Rumors & the Case for the Knoll Shot
5. Conclusion
6. Notes

Introduction

This is an old story of an ordinary Texan man with an extraordinary experience. The purpose of this article is to explain the life of Lee E. Bowers, Jr. and to present the facts to his life in chronological order.

This post is also a break with the habit of Conspiracy Dossiers, which is to present each succeeding article to follow up the last. However, all articles are relevant to the topic of this site.

It will be left to the reader to decide whether or not Bowers was a witness to a conspiracy. In fact, the testimony of Bowers might just make or break the case for two shooters at Dealey Plaza in the assassination of JFK.

As will be discussed in brief, conspiracy buffs often like to recount the testimonies of men as Ed Hoffman, Julian A. Mercer or Roger Craig among others, as undeniable proof that there was at least one shooter behind the picket fence on top of the Grassy Knoll. However, none of these witnesses had a clearer view of behind the picket fence than Bowers. For this reason, Bowers is the most critical witness to the knoll shot, if there was one.

The life of Lee Bowers

Lee Edward Bowers Jr. was born in Dallas, Texas, on January 12, 1925, the son of Mr. & Mrs. Lee E. Bowers, Sr. Nothing of substance is really known about his youth, but he lived in Dallas for most of his life. (1) He had a brother named Monty Bowers. It is known, however, that Bowers graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School, likely at the age of 17, in 1942, and immediately went to serve in the US Navy at the start of WWII. He served in the Navy for about four years, until 1946. After his service, for two years he attended Hardin-Simmons University, a private Baptist university in Abilene, and Southern Methodist University, in Dallas, also for two years, where he majored in Religion. (2)

Bowers became employed at the Union Terminal Company rail yard around 1949, where he would work for 15 years until 1964. He would have been assigned to the north switch tower by 1954. He also worked on the side as a builder for the Dallas real estate development market. Once while the Texas School Book Depository building was renovating, Bowers did carpenter work and sandblasted the outside walls. He had a son named Mark Bowers and was married. (3)

The assassination

For the Union Terminal, Co., Bowers was the man assigned to the north tower where he operated the switches and signals that controlled the movement of trains on the west side of downtown Dallas. He lived at 10508 Maplegrove Lane, Dallas. On Friday, November 22, 1963, Bowers was 38 years old, his shift would have begun at 7:00am. By about 10:00 to 11:00am the parking lot would have been pretty well ceiled off, so that there was very little movement or traffic in the area. The President arrived at Love Field Airport from Fort Worth by 11:38am. Bowers was in a position to see any activity in the area behind the stockade fence. (4)

The Presidential motorcade departed Love Field at 11:52am and it was between this time and 12:10pm that Bowers witnessed a 1959 Oldsmobile Station Wagon, blue over white, dirty with red sand or mud, come down Elm Street into the parking lot and toward the building occupied by Bowers. It had an out of state license plates with black six digit numbers and white background. It had a Barry Goldwater for ‘64 sticker in the rear window and possibly one of some scenic location. The car drove around slowly and left the area. It was occupied by s middle aged white male with partly grey hair. (5)

Around 12:15pm, a second car entered the area. According to Bowers, it was occupied by a white male aged 25-35. The car was a black 1957 Ford Tudor, 2 doors, gold stripe on the side and a Texas license. The man appeared to have a mic or telephone in the car which he was speaking into, which led Bowers to believe that this man possibly was a police officer. The car probed around for 3 or 4 minutes, longer than the first, came very close to the switch tower, then left from his site. (6)

Around 12:20pm, about the time the second car departed, a third car entered the parking lot. It may have been a 1961 or ‘62 Chevrolet, Impala, possibly a 4 door. Its color was white and it was dirty up to the windows. The driver was a white male aged 25-35 with long blond hair and a plaid sports coat. The car had the same type of license as the first 1959 Oldsmobile, and the same Goldwater for ‘64 sticker, but it stuck around longer than the other two. Bowers stated that it hung around the area behind the picket fence for a moment. This third car exited the area at about 12:25pm, just five minutes before the Presidential motorcade would enter Dealey Plaza. (7)

Lee Bowers had a view of the triple underpass bridge and was able to see the area behind the picket fence and behind the pergola. Bowers indicated that he saw two men, directly in line with his view between the pergola and the picket fence. He described one of these men wearing a white shirt with fairly dark trousers and the other man wearing plaid. He was able to state that the man in the white shirt remained in this area, but wasn’t sure if the pair were together. He did observe the man in the white shirt moving around and disappeared in front of the picket fence. (8)

This testimony about Bowers having seen “two men” has evidently been the source of much conjecture. With the Moorman photograph, we can establish that there were three men standing on the steps between the pergola and the picket fence, so that they appeared to be together. With the colored version of the Orville Nix film and another photo, we can identify the man in plaid, Emmett Hudson, that Bowers apparently saw, with one of these three men. A second identified man seeminlg not seen by Bowers was a man in a red shirt, Francis Lee Mudd. One of these men, a black man seeminlgy fit Bowers description of a man in a white shirt and dark trousers, who immediately following the last shots fled up the stairs toward the shade by the pergola. (9)

The Presidential motorcade arrived at 12:30pm and after the fateful turn onto Elm Street, no less than three shots rang out. President Kennedy was hit twice, Governor John B. Connolly was struck by a bullet from behind and a bystander named James Tague was slightly wounded, apparently by debris from a ricocheted missed shot. (10)

Bowers heard three shots, but was unable to determine whether they came from the Texas School Book Deposioty building, or the triple underpass. However, the second and third shots he believed could not have been fired from the same rifle, as they were spaced much closer together than the first and second. Furthermore, something had caught his attention in the vicinity of the two men he saw, but he was unable to identify exactly what it was. The area became crowded with people coming from Elm. The parking lot was completely ceiled off by upwards of 50 policemen within about five minutes. The first police officer he saw enter the area was motorcycle patrolmen Clyde A. Haygood, who rode his motorcycle up the curb under the grassy knoll incline before departing it. Bowers insured the trains remained stopped for policemen to search. They located three transients in one cart, infamously known as the “three tramps.” Sheriff Harold Elkins spoke with Lee Bowers in the tower. (11)

Post-Assassination

Bowers’ shift that Friday would have ended by 3:00pm. Sheriff Harold Elkins made a written statement that day describing Bowers’ testimony to him. He noted that Bowers heard three shots from a rifle, had seen two cars in the area behind the picket fence and that the driver of the second car “had what looked to be a telephone in his hand.” At some point that day, Bowers gave a written statement to Dallas County Notary Public Patsy Collins, an affidavit for the Dallas Police. In it, he spoke of the three cars he observed examining the parking lot behind the picket fence before the assassination and that he had heard three shots soon after. (12)

At some point also that day, Bowers spoke with FBI Special Agents Robert M. Barrett and John V. Almon. He told them about the three cars, that he heard three shots and apparently that the second and third shots could not have been fired from the same rifle. About two or three days later, he spoke again to the FBI regarding Bowers’ belief that the second and third shots could not have came from the same gun. The FBI shut him down and wanted nothing to do with any evidence of a second gunman. (13)

In early 1964, Bowers left his job after 15 years at the Union Terminal Company. He began working as a business manager for a hospital, convalescent home and rent properties of Dr. Tim Richard Green. (14)

On April 2, 1964, at 2:00 pm, Lee Bowers went to the office of the U.S. attorney, 301 Post Office Building, Bryan and Ervay Streets, Dallas, where he was interviewed by Joseph A. Ball, assistant counsel of the President’s Commission, the Warren Commission. (15)

At some point in this intermediary period, Bowers is said to have injured a finger at a swimming pool party sponsored by the Green Clinic of Oak Cliff. He had his hand draped over the edge of the pool, someone jumped into the water feet first crushing the finger against the side of the pool. At the time of the injury Lee was the Green Clinic’s bookkeeper. Lee is said to have had his finger treated at the clinic by Doctor Tim Richard Green. We will mention this again later. (16)

Almost two years later, Bowers had been contacted on March 26 by Robert Blake for a film on the assassination. Bowers did not have time and advised Blake to contact him at a later date. On March 28, Bowers contacted the Dallas FBI Office regarding this approach. At the time, Bowers was Vice President of Lockwood Meadows, Inc., a real estate/land development company, and lived at 1923 View Crest, Dallas. It has been said that Bowers obtained a “large” accident/health life insurance policy at some point. (17)

Just three months after the interview with Lane, on Tuesday morning, August 9, 1966, tragedy struck when Bowers was killed in a one car collision into a bridge abutment near Midlothian, Texas. Bowers was cremated the following day. He was forty one years old, a funeral was scheduled to take place on Wednesday at Casa View Methodist Church officiated by Reverend Willfred Bailey. In the following section we will discuss what happened in more depth. (18)

Bowers’ strange death

Besides the question of what Bowers saw that day on November 22, 1963, there is the question of how exactly he died less than three years later? Just as there is conjecture as to what Bowers saw on November 22, there is conjecture as to how he died. It is precisely this reason that, in my opinion, makes the death if Lee Bowers “strange.” I have done a short preliminary review of information surrounding the death of Bowers and will attempt to summarize it here in chronological order.

This author has been unable to determine exactly what Bowers’ activities were in the morning of Tuesday, August 9, 1966. It was a warm day with light wind and precipitation only expected in the afternoon. Lee’s brother Monty had experienced allergies that day, so it is possible that Bowers was experiencing the same and therefore consumed an antihistamine. He drove a new 1965 Pontiac Catalina convertible with the top down, reportedly obtained through his Lockwood company. It has been said Bowers was known to stop for coffee before his trips, thus it can be speculated he stopped for coffee, but where? He was known to frequent the Lockwood Pharmacy in Dallas for coffee. But it has also been alleged he stopped in Midlothian this time for coffee. (19) I am unable to verify whether he did or did not perform this action that morning.

In any case, he left south of Dallas probably on business for Lockwood and its real estate properties in the morning. Reports indicate that Bowers was heading south toward Cleburne from Midlothian, traveling on Highway 67, in Ellis County, 2 miles southwest of Midlothian, at around 9:30 am. As the story goes, he was traveling at 50 miles per hour on a 75 mph road, when he veered off the narrow two-way road and drove straight into a concrete bridge abutment, which caved in the car, causing severe and fatal injuries to Bowers. The engine had been driven back into the driver’s seat. Bowers suffered a crushed chest, multiple severe head injuries, internal injuries, a broken arm and two broken legs. According to the original death certificate, Bowers died instantly, however, this was later changed to three hours and twenty minutes. Therefore there is a question of when exactly he died. (20)

There was at least one witness to the accident, Roy Virgil Edwards, someone who was driving a tractor in a nearby field and who presumably would have been the one to contact the police. Bowers was eventually picked up by a Pat Martin/Coward Funeral Home ambulance driven by Noel Coward (purchased the home in 1964) and transported to W. C. Tenery Community Hospital in Waxahachie, where the attending physician was Dr. Roy E. Bohl. The doctor noticed that Bowers was drenched in sweat which led him to believe that Bowers had possibly suffered a coronary (heart attack). Bowers accompanied by Bohl was later transferred to Methodist Hospital in Dallas, where he was pronounced dead at 12:50 pm by Precinct 7 Dallas County Justice of the Peace W. E. Richburg, who signed the death certificate and performed the inquest hearing. Bowers was cremated the following day and no autopsy was performed. His funeral was held the same day, August 10, at Casa View Methodist Church officiated by Reverend Willfred Bailey. (21)

That there was an investigation by highway patrolmen has been established, but details of it have not emerged and the investigation report would have been destroyed by 1976. (22)

When Monty Bowers tried to contact Lee’s insurance company to make a claim, they did not want to pay up immediately. Instead they investigated that case under the “suicide clause”, believing that what happened was not an accident. Monty told representatives of the insurance company that his allergies bothered him that day. He assumed Lee experienced similar symptoms. (23)

Rumors & the case for the Knoll Shot

Now we will examine rumors and the case for the Knoll Shot, in light of available information regarding Lee Bowers. I have attempted to avoid discussing theories and allegations about Bowers, in order to present confirmed fact as accurate as possible. Now we will examine these theories and allegations in-depth.

It is evident that the rumors regarding Bowers are interwoven with those of what he saw behind the stockade fence on November 22, 1963. Without the Knoll Shot, there is really no reason to view Bower’s car accident in 1966 as suspicious. These reports have been recounted in numerous books and films. I will attempt to review the information I have found.

A reported friend of Bowers, a police officer for the highway patrol, Charles Good, went to the scene of the accident by the following day to perform an unofficial investigation. He never filed a report about this personal investigation. Bowers’ son Mark also visited the accident site the following day.

It didn’t take long before Lee Bowers was added to a list of “suspicious deaths” related to the JFK assassination. Within three months after his death, Bowers was mentioned in David Welsh’s November 1966 book ‘The Legacy of Penn Jones, Jr.’ for Ramparts Magazine. This was followed by Penn Jones’s 1967 book ‘Forgive My Grief Vol. II’, which mentioned the ‘strange death’ of Lee Bowers. He was also mentioned by Richard Lewis his 1967 book ‘The Scavengers and Critics of the Warren Report’. Jim Garrison’s office would have looked into the case back then. During the HSCA in 1978, the case of Bowers was reviewed but determined to be of no significant interest. A segment on Bowers appeared in 1992 on Geraldo Rivera’s Good Night America show in the series Now It Can Be Told: The Curse of JFK, which featured Robert Groden. This was followed up the same year by David Perry’s article. Other researchers have included Gary Mack and David Murph. More recently in 2013, Anita Dickason wrote a detailed book on the Bowers case titled Rush to Conspiracy. The case has been researched by skeptics and anti-skeptics alike, both with opposing conclusions on what really happened. Let us examine the major points of conspiracy proponents.

The second car

It has been reported that one or two eyewitnesses saw a second car on the road with Bowers. More specifically it was said to have been a black car. The clearest report of this allegation came in 1992 with Robert Groden featured on Geraldo Rivera’s Now It Can Be Told series. Groden stated on the show that “according to an eye witness he was driven off the road by a black car.”

An explosive allegation, right? Well if it can be confirmed. Who was this eyewitness? Penn Jones claimed there were two eyewitnesses in his book. Researcher David Perry did a follow-up on this and spoke with Gary Mack who claimed he had spoken to Charles Good, some years ago, who related the story of an eye witness seeing a second black car. Mack suggested that he had related the story to Groden. Perry interviewed Charles Good in 1991, who never mentioned the color the car. However, Perry apparently had not asked.

Now we have to examine Charles Good. He was part of Lee Bowers’ group of friends, which included himself, Doris H. Burns and Dr. Alfred Cinnamon. They would meet with Bowers for coffee, probably at the Lockwood Pharmacy. Charles Good was a special investigator for the Texas Highway Patrol. He claims to have arrived at the scene of the accident by the next day to conduct an unofficial investigation. Speaking to Perry, Good said:

“I spoke with an old boy who was repairing fences at the time of the accident. He said he saw two cars coming down the road one behind the other. He turned away for a moment, heard a crash and looked back. One car had hit a bridge abutment and the other kept going.”

There is a serious problem that arises about the color of this second car. When asked by Perry later specifically if the witness described the color of either car, Good stated “No, I never asked about the color of either car.”

So now who was this “old boy?” When asked by Perry if he knew the name of this witness, Good said “I don’t remember his name.” Good’s story becomes even more problematic with the fact that he told Perry that Bowers’ accident occurred on Highway 287 instead of HW 67 and suggested that Bowers was heading from Mansfield to Dallas, where he had been showing some real estate. We will give Mr. Good the benefit of the doubt here, it was about 15 years after the fact. But this does beg the question of how could a professional investigator from the Texas Highway Patrol perform such a flimsy investigation on the death of his friend, which he thought was suspicious of foul play? He forgot the name of this alleged critical witness, never asked the color of the second car, gave inaccurate information about the case years later.

The only confirmed eyewitness was Roy Virgil Edwards, whose name Good did not recognize. Dr. Bohl verified that and Edwards was even his patient. Noel Coward and his wife knew Edwards and confirmed that he saw the accident. Midlothian Mirror Editor Barham Alderdice confirmed this and stated that Edwards maintained that he was driving a tractor at the time of the accident. Dr. Bohl related that Edwards stated that “the car simply drove straight into the abutment.” It does not appear anywhere that Edwards ever told anyone that he saw a second car. It also does not appear that the HSCA ever questioned him in the late 1970s. Edwards died on January 26, 1986.

In light of the above information, we are left to conclude that the report about a second car originating secondhand from Charles Good, and the report of a second witness by Penn Jones, is therefore unverified. The case for the second car is seriously undermined by the inability to establish the fact of a witness having seen a second car and the undermining of Good’s credibility by his inability to produce basic essential facts to his story.

In any case, Bowers death was not the only ‘suspicious’ death to occur involving a vehicle accident. Rose Cheramie (allegedly linked to Jack Ruby she had reportedly predicted the Kennedy assassination) died in a rather unusual traffic accident on September 4, 1965. Lee Harvey Oswald’s cab driver William H. Whaley died in a head on car collision on December 18, 1965. James R. Worrell, Jr., who saw a man exit the back of the TSBD on the north side after the shots, died in a motorcycle accident on November 6, 1966, nearly three months after Bowers. Note: Bowers was in a position located behind the TSBD and never corroborated Worrell’s testimony.

Spiked coffee or heart attack

Following Robert Groden’s claim that a second black car had driven Bowers off the road according to an unverified eyewitness, Groden states that Bowers “didn’t die immediately, he held on for four hours and during that time he was talking to the ambulance people and told them that he felt he had been drugged when he stopped for coffee back there a few miles in Midlothian.”

Immediately there are problems with this allegation. For starters, Bowers would stop by the Lockwood Pharmacy in Dallas for coffee before his trips. There is no evidence that he ever stopped in Midlothian for coffee that day. Additionally, there was one ambulance driver, Noel Coward, who upon arrival thought Bowers was dead. Coward stated to David Perry through his wife that the allegations about Bowers speaking to ambulance attendants were “bull.” If anyone accompanied Coward it would have been “Skeet” Meadows, who died in 1991. Penn Jones stated that a Doctor at the scene said Bowers was in a “strange shock” and had not suffered a heart attack. Much to the contrary, Dr. Bohl at W. C. Tenery stated that he was not at the scene and that Bowers was not in a “strange shock” but was unconscious the entire time. Additionally, Dr. Bohl thought Bowers might indeed have suffered a heart attack because he was drenched in sweat upon arrival. This is a crucial point to keep in mind. We will return to this point in a moment.

The claim about the four hours seemingly originates from the death certificate which stated Bowers was alive for 3 hours and 20 minutes after the accident. Judge Richburg amended the certificate on August 31, changing the interval between onset and time of death from “Instant” to 3 hours and 20 minutes. This discrepancy was identified by Anita Dickason. The problem here was that if Bowers had died instantly or at the scene of the accident, he would have been in Ellis County, rather than Dallas County, meaning Judge Richburg had no jurisdiction over the case, but rather a Justice of the Peace in Ellis County. That also raises the question of why Dr. Bohl decided to transfer Bowers to Methodist Hospital, which would have taken up to 30-45 minutes.

It is likely that Bowers was somehow incapacitated or unconscious at the time of the accident. Possibly as a result of a bout of sneezing from allergies, or perhaps dozing off as a result of antihistamines. However, Dickason contends that there is a very high probability that Bowers had suffered a heart attack and was either deceased or lost control of the car as a result, then struck the bridge abutment. Is this potentially linked to the possibility of him having alergies, consuming antihistamines and coffee, and/or something else?

For someone trying to establish foul play, evidence of a heart attack cannot be overlooked. Especially considering that conspiracy buffs like Penn Jones have added to the list of suspicious deaths those who died by heart attack. On June 6, 1964, Guy Banister died by heart attack at the age of 64. Jack Ruby’s lawyer Tom Howard died from a heart attack on March 27, 1965. Banister accomplice Maurice Brooks Gatlin fell from a building in Puerto Rico after suffering a heart attack on May 28, 1965. Oswald’s rooming house landlady, whose sister allegedly was linked to Jack Ruby, was subject to police harassment and died from a heart attack on January 9, 1966. Much later, CIA super spook at the Miami JM/WAVE station David Sanchez Morales died of a heart attack at the age of 52 on May 8, 1978.

If we consider any of these deaths as suspicious, then we don’t need the second car to suspect foul play in the case of Lee Bowers. If we ponder this scenario, then we have to wonder when and how did “they” get him. However, whether Bowers died from a heart attack or whether he did or didn’t consume antihistamines that day we may never know because Judge Richburg never ordered an autopsy and Bowers’ body was immediately cremated. Richburg later signed Jack Ruby’s death certificate.

Intimidation

Soon after the death of Lee Bowers, there were rumors that he had received death threats as a result of both his Warren Commission testimony in 1964 and his testimony before Mark Lane in 1966. Penn Jones is someone one who alleged that Bowers received death threats and linked it to the insurance policy he obtained within about a year of his death. This author is unaware of where this report came from or what evidence there was to substantiate it. One report has it that the widow of Bowers in speaking to Penn Jones first stated there was nothing suspicious about her husband’s death, then she became flustered and allegedly said “They told him not to speak.” A self-proclaimed close friend of Lee Bowers, Walter Rishel, claims Bowers disappeared for two days and that he came back with a missing finger and his brother Monty “didn’t accept” the excuse given. Family and friends did not substantiate this allegation.

Whether Bowers did or did not receive death threats I am unable to say. But what I can say came directly from Lee Bowers three months before his death in speaking to Mark Lane. When asked if he had told the Dallas police about the second and third shots occuring in very close order, Bowers replies:

“Uh-Yes, I-I told this to the police and then-uh, I also told it to the-uh FBI, and also I had a discussion two or three days later with them concerning this. And-uh they-um made no comment-um, other than the fact that-uh, when I stated I felt like the second and third shots could not have been fired from the same rifle-uh, they-um reminded me that I wasn’t an expert and I had to agree.”

Bowers stated very clearly that when he spoke to the FBI in Dallas regarding his belief the second and third shots could not have been fired from the same rifle, they reminded him that he wasn’t an expert and he “had to agree.” Bowers may have reacted skeptically to this. Although this hardly passed for witness intimidation, it is as close as we can get to it.

The Knoll Shot

So after all of the above, we have to focus back on Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963. If we remain open minded to the possibility that Lee Bowes died on August 9, 1966, as the result of a conspiracy, then we have to consider that it must have been in order to forever silence Bowers about what he saw that day at Dealey Plaza. In other words, if there was no second shooter in the Grassy Knoll, then there must not have been a conspiracy to assassinate Lee Bowers; and vice verca.

On the day of the assassination, Bowers spoke to Sheriff Harold Elkins and told him of two cars he saw and that he heard three shots. He told the Dallas police before Notary Public Patsy Collins that he saw three cars and heard three shots. He also a told the FBI that day that he saw three cars and heard three shots. It was apparently before the FBI that he made it known he did not believe the second and third shots could have been fired from the same rifle because they sounded too close together. The FBI spoke to Bowers in the following two or three days about this and reminded him that he was wrong. Despite having spoken to all these persons on the day of the assassination, he never spoke of movement behind the picket fence and very critically he never said that he saw someone running away from that position immediately after the shots. Bowers evidently believed there were two gunmen, but as far as we can tell it was the sound of the shots to that this was based on. There is also a problem of the number of shots, sense there would have to be four shots to establish a second shooter.

The fact remains, Bowers was never recorded as having witnessed a shot from behind the picket fence, or for that matter having seen a shooter fleeing the area. He was in the best position to see any of this, yet he apparently saw nothing. However, Bowers did speak before the Warren Commission about what he saw in the area:

Mr. BALL. Did you see any activity in this high ground above Elm after the shots?

Mr. BOWERS. At the time of the shooting there seemed to be some commotion, and immediately following there was a motorcycle policeman who shot nearly all of the way to the top of the incline.

…

Mr. BALL. When you said there was a commotion, what do you mean by that? What did it look like to you when you were looking at the commotion?

Mr. BOWERS. I just am unable to describe rather than it was something out of the ordinary, a sort of milling around, but something occurred in this particular spot which was out of the ordinary, which attracted my eye for some reason, which I am unable to identify.

Mr. BALL. You couldn’t describe it?

Mr. BOWERS. Nothing I could pinpoint as having happened that—

Mr. BALL. Afterwards did a good many people come up there on this high ground at your tower?

Mr. BOWERS. A large number of people came, more than one direction. …”

What did Bowers mean by a commotion, something out of the ordinary that caught his attention, or milling around? Could this movement perhaps be ascribed to the unidentified black man, whose clothes fit the description of a man Bowers saw in front of the picket fence, who fled up the steps toward the pergola immediately following the shots? Was that something “out of the ordinary” referring to the fact the President had been shot? Or was it something else entirely?

Bowers was specifically asked about this two years later by Mark Lane:

“At the time of the shooting, in the vicinity of the two men I described were, there was a flash of light. There was something that occurred that caught my eye in this immediate area on the embankment. What that was I could not state at that time and at this time I could not at this time. I could not identify it other than some unusual occurrence: a flash of light or smoke or something which caused me to realize that something out of the ordinary had occurred there.”

Bowers noticeably added “a flash of light” or “smoke” or again “something out of the ordinary” to his testimony. This was stated in a very roundabout way and it’s possible Lane discussed this with Bowers before the recording. To make matters worse for the Knoll Shot, according to reportedly unreleased transcripts of this interview, Bowers stated:

“… Now I could see back or the South side of the wooden fence in the area, so that obviously that there was no one there who could have had anything to do with either – as accomplice or anything else because there was no one there at the moment that the shots were fired. Immediately following this there was a rapid surge of people coming up the embankment from across Elm Street, and over near Houston Street.”

So here it is, Bowers explicitly told Lane that there was no one there behind the picket fence that he saw at the time of the shooting. This is a devastating blow to the case for the Knoll shot. Perhaps the flash of light, instead of being from a gunshot which would have possibly resulted in a puff of smoke, came from the sun’s reflection on the presidential limousine. The other important factor is Bowers made it clear that the two men he saw were in front of the fence, not behind it.

We could wrap up this investigation and call the knoll shot debunked at this point. For skeptics this is likely the breaking point. But it would be foolish to not examine other evidence. Lee Bowers was not the only employee of the Union Terminal who saw something out of the ordinary in this particular area around the picket fence.

Many of them were positioned on the top of the Triple Underpass. Eight of these men have been identified, but potentially as many as 10 were not identified and some of them were positioned closer to the knoll. 5 of the 8 named men were never called to testify before the Warren Commission.

One of these men not called was Walter L. Winborn. He told the FBI in 1964 that he heard 3 shots but was unable to ascertain their origin. He took a position to view the parking lot area and the railroad yard but saw no one leaving and left. However, in 1966, Winborn spoke to Stewart Galanor about what he saw that day. Winborn specified that he saw smoke in the area of the picket fence. “It looked like a haze,” Winborn stated, “Like somebody had shot firecrackers or something like that. Or somebody had taken a puff off of a cigarette and maybe probably nervous and blowing out smoke, you know. Oh, it looked like it was more than one person that might possibly have exhaled smoke. But it was a haze there. From my general impression it looked like it was at least ten feet long and about, oh, two or three feet wide.” When asked by Galanor why he thought the FBI had not written down in their report that Winborn saw smoke, like Bowers, he stated that they were the experts and he was just an amateur.

Another man who saw the smoke but was not called to testify was Richard C. Dodd. He gave a statement to the FBI in 1964. The report was similar to Winborn’s, no smoke, didn’t know where the shots came from and had kept his attention on the President. Lane spoke to Dodd in 1966, at which time he clarified that he saw the smoke that came from behind the “hedge.” Dodd, with a “special agent of the railroad” went around behind the picket fence where they saw the smoke to find out if anyone was back there. “He went down there and I walked along with him to see if there were any tracks there,” Dodd said, “which there were tracks and cigarettes buts, … where someone had been standin’ on a bumper, looking over the fence or something.” Lane mentioned that the Warren Commission never mentioned Dodd, to which he responded: “Well-uh, I don’t know about that. But-uh, there was something that-uh, looks to me like it-uh going on there that somebody shoulda found out somethin’. … I figured there’s something else that’s going on besides what should be.”

One of the most prominent eye witnesses on the triple underpass was Sam M. Holland, who was one of the three invited to testify before the Warren Commission. Holland saw the puff of smoke and believed there were 4 shots. By the time he was interviewed by Lane, Holland believed it was the third shot that came from the knoll. The statement to the Sheriff’s Department on the day of the offense mdae it seem that he saw the puff of smoke between the first and second shots. “I immediately ran around to where I could see behind the arcade and did not see anyone running from there.” Holland stated, “But the puff of smoke I saw definitely came from behind the arcade through the trees.” The FBI report was short and concise: “The only unusual thing that HOLLAND could recall was an approximate one-half to two foot diameter of what he believed was gray smoke which appeared to him to be coming from the trees which would have been on the right of the Presidential car but observed no one there or in the vicinity.” In 1964, Holland spoke to the Warren Commission at length insisting that he heard 4 shots and one of them came from behind the picket fence from where he saw the puff of smoke and found evidence of someone having stood around in that area. In 1966, Holland spoke with Mark Lane in which he made it clear that he believed the knoll shot and the puff of smoke were the third shot of four.

There was also Frank E. Reilly, who in an FBI report stated he heard three shots “which he thought came from the trees…” He told the Warren Commission the same thing in his testimony. Another man on the Triple Underpass was Austin L. Miller, who said he heard 3 shots and “saw something which I thought was smoke or steam coming from a group of trees north of Elm off the Railroad tracks. I did not see anyone on the tracks or in the trees.” To the FBI he stated about the same thing, but nothing was stated about him having seen smoke. His testimony before the Warren Commission also did not bring up the smoke.

Yet another man who wasn’t called was James L. Simmons, who stated to the FBI that he heard three shots. In the FBI report it states Simmons “said he thought he saw exhaust fumes of smoke near the embankment in front of the Texas School Book Depository Building. SIMMMONS then ran toward the [TSBD] with a policeman. He stopped at the fence near the Memorial Arches and could not find anyone.” In 1966, Simmons spoke to Mark Lane. He stated that the shot “sounded it came from the left and in front of us towards the wooden fence. And there was a puff of smoke that came underneath the trees on the embankment. … It was right directly in front of the wooden fence.” He stated that he ran around to the wooden fence with Patrolman Foster, “and when we got there, there was no one there but there was footprints in the mud around the fence and there was footprints on the wooden 2×4 railing on the fence.” When asked by Lane if it was peculiar that he was never called to testify, Simmons said “I always found it peculiar, I thought that’s the way they did business.”

Another man not called was Thomas J. Murphy, who told the FBI that he heard at least 2 shots and believed they came from the knoll area west of the TSBD. He was interviewed in 1966 by Galanor, in which he claimed to have been invited to the Warren Commission, but his testimony was apparently not recorded

“GALANOR. Could you tell me how many shots you heard?
MURPHY. More than three.
GALANOR. More than three.
MURPHY. That’s right.
GALANOR. Do you have any idea how many more than three?
MURPHY. No sir, I don’t. But they didn’t come from the direction that they say. …
GALANOR. Could you tell me where you thought the shots came from?
MURPHY. Yeah, they come from a tree to the left, of my left which is to the immediate right of the sight of the assassination.
GALANOR. That would be on that grassy hill up there.
MURPHY. Yeah, on the hill up there. There are two or three hackberry and Elm trees. And I say it come from there.
GALANOR. Was there anything that actually led you to believe that the shots came from there?
MURPHY. Yeah, smoke.
GALANOR. You saw smoke?
MURPHY. Sure did.
GALANOR. Could you tell me exactly where you saw the smoke?
MURPHY. Yeah, in that tree.”

The last man we will mention on the overpass was Nolan Potter, who to the FBI stated that he heard three shots and “said he recalls seing smoke in front of the Texas School Book Depository Building rising above the trees.” It states he could not determine the direction of the shots. This testimony differs in the description of where the smoke was, which is odd sense the FBI seemingly didn’t mention the smoke spotted by others and saw it under the trees.

There were many other witnesses who thought the shots came from the Grassy Knoll or the the Knoll and the TSBD. With the testimony of the railroad men, we have evidence of a person having been back there and appearance of unexplained “smoke.” There were others who heard at least four shots or thought there was more than one shooter, such as was apparently the case with Bowers.

It was Bowers who added to all of this the “flash of light,” somewhere in this area. Was it the flash from rifle shot, or was ts simply the sun’s reflection on a car in the motorcade? It is hard to say sense Bowers never saw anyone fire a shot behind the fence, where there was a puff of smoke, tracks in the mud, on a car bumper and on a fence railing, and cigarette buts. Bowers never saw anyone running away from the area either. We have to ask the questions of who was standing back there and why? Where did he come from and where did he go? How did Bowers not see anyone standing around there at any time?

One interesting testimony can be found from J.C. Price, who was sitting on top of the Terminal Annex building on the south side of Dealey Plaza. In his statement to the Sheriff’s Department, he stated that:

“There was a volley of shots, I think five and then much later, maybe as much as five minutes later another one. I saw one man run towards the passenger cars on the railroad siding after the volley of shots. This man had a white dress shirt, no tie and kahki colored trousers. His hair appeared to be long and dark and his agility running could be about 25 years of age. He had something in his hand. I couldn’t be sure but it may have been a head piece.”

Interesting testimony indeed and rather confusing. Up to five shots and five minutes later “another one.” What exactly did he mean by that? He saw a man running behind the picket fence, but when? And what was the head piece he seemingly was carrying? Was it simply a hat or was it something else? In any case, he spoke to the FBI, which stated that he “assumed the shot had come from the overpass and looked in that direction, but saw nothing pertinent.” No mention of the man he saw running away and no mention of the five shots and “another one” five minutes later. He spoke to Mark Lane as well in 1966, who asked him where he saw the man run. Price replied: “Over behind that wooden fence, past the cars, and over behind the Texas Depository Building.” Despite this alarming testimony that needed clarification, he was never called to testify before the Warren Commission, probably because the FBI stated he saw nother pertinent. Lane asked him where Price now thought the shots came from: “Well I can’t be sure. It seem that from all the information that’s been gathered that the shots came from the Texas Book Depository, but I can’t hardly believe that. Although, I never did look over there at the building. But, really I think the shots came from that direction. It seems that everything pointed to that fact, that they came from the Book Depository building, but, I can’t buy that right now, that’s about it.”

Dallas Police Officer Joe Marshal Smith, who was positioned at Elm and Houston, heard the shots. In an FBI report, it indicated that Smith “did smell what he thought was gunpowder but stated this smell was in the parking lot by the TSBD Building and not by the underpass.” He stated in a 1964 report that he “thought they were coming from the bushes of the overpass.” Later that year Smith testified before the Warren Commission. He explained that he was away from his position attending to an epilemtic seizure victim during the time that Bowers saw the three cars enter and exit the parking lot. After he heard the shots, he moved down toward the parking lot, but didn’t know where the shots came from. A frightened woman told him “They are shooting the President from the bushes.”

“Mr. SMITH. Yes, sir; 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 a Secret Service man when I got there. I got to make this statement too. I felt’t awfully silly, but after the shot and this woman, 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. … Well, he saw me coming with my pistol and right away he he showed me who he was. … No, sir [if he remembered who it was].”

When asked if he found anything that could associate in any way with the assassination, Smith said no. Author Anthony Summers spoke to Smith to ask about this unidentified “Secret Service man.” Joe Smith explained:

“He looked like an auto mechanic. He had on a sports shirt and sports pants. But he had dirty fingernails, it looked like, and hands that looked like an auto mechanic’s hands. And afterwards it didn’t ring true for the Secret Service. At the time we were so pressed for time, and we were searching. And he had produced correct indentification, and we just overlooked the thing. I should have checked that man closer, but at the time I didn’t snap on it.”

Could this have been the man Price saw running away from behind the picket fence? It is difficult to match the cloth description without any color given by Smith. But it appears that both unidentified men appeared to be moving out of the area. This all begs the question, how did Lee Bowers never see anything of the man or men J.C. Price or Officer Joe Smith saw.

A phase you hear with Lee Bowers is that “he saw more than what he told,” which could be explosive IF true. According to David Perry, Bowers’s friend Police Officer Charles Good “maintains Bowers told his three friends he saw more than he told The Warren Commission. Good cannot document his claim.” The three friends were Doris H. Burns, Dr. Alfred Cinamon and Charles Good. These were the three whom Bowers would meet for coffee at the Lockwood Pharmacy in Dallas. Perry was unable to locate Burns who had moved to Mississippi or Florida and Dr. Cinnamon died in 1989. Geraldo Rivera’s brother claimed in 1992 that “Bowers also told his minister that he had seen more than he told publicly.” Perry determined that his minister was Reverand Willfred Bailey who officiated his funeral. Bailey told Perry that “Lee did discuss that day with me. He said he saw movement behind the fence. He believed something was going on, but he never got more specific than that. He did not share with me any more than he shared with the Warren Commission.”

Back in 1967, Jim Garrison’s staff member Gary Sander obtained a statment from a fellow employee James R. Sterling who said Bowers “… observed two men running behind the picket fence. They ran up to a car parked behind the Pergola, opened the trunk and placed something in it and then closed the trunk. The two men then drove the car away in somewhat of a peculiar method.” Rivera’s show featured a man anmed Walter Rishel, who claimed to have been a close friend of Lee and Monty Bowers. However, Monty’s widow and her brother, as well as Charles Good, don’t recall him. Rishel alleged that Bowers told him all about what he saw, saying that Bowers saw two men fire shots from behind the picket fence. There would be at least one other report that was never substanited by an empty promise that Bowers saw two police offiers fire shots behind the fence. These reports about Lee Bowers seeing two shooter behind the fence shoot or fleeing definitely sounds like an embelishment of the two men he described seeing to the Warren Commission and Mark Lane, who were definitely in-front of the fence as was made clearer in 1966. Bowers even told Lane he saw nobody behind the picket fence at the time of the shooting. The tail about the getaway car is also strange, sense Police Officer Joe Smith or anyone else never saw a car exiting after the shots and the railroad men who ran around to the parking lot didnt see anyone or any car leaving. There is one other report I’ve been unable to corroborate, that Bowers told his supervisor Olan Degaugh that he saw a man in the parking lot throw what appeared to be a rifle into a car.

Conclusion

It remains to be inconclusively proven what exactly Lee Bowers saw that day at Dealey Plaza in the Grassy Knoll. We know something attracted his attention there at the time of the shooting. We know that Bowers himself believed there were two gunmen. The only thing more Mark Lane got out of Bowers was that he may have seen a flash of light or puff of smoke. All of this is the most Bowers backed up his fellow employees at the Union Terminal, who say a puff of smoke come from behind the picket fence and found evidence of a man having stood in that particular spot. Yet, Lee Bowers never saw such a man, nor did he see a man running away from the scene. He did not see the man running away spotted by J.C. Price or the bogus Secret Service agent encountered by Office Joe Smith. Yet more questions arise in the fact that the men driving the three cars in the parking lot area have never been identified.

It was never documented that, as has been claimed, Bowers told his friends he saw more than he told the Warren Commission. The same goes for the report of a second car having run Bowers off the road or of him having discovered that he had be drugged with a spike coffee. Furthermore, it was never proven that Bowers had received death threats.

It is bafflingly that Charles Good conducted such a flimsy investigation of the Bowers’ death when he himself apparently believed it smelled of foul play.

There are many unanswered questions about this case that could be dismissed if the position is taken that there was not a second gunmen at Dealey Plaza and that there was not an assassination of Bowers. However, I would argue that this does not satisfactorily answer them.

What also remains rather curious is the coincidence that Bowers died under ‘strange’ circumstances two miles south of Midlothian, the hometown of Penn Jones, Jr. It was Penn Jones who discovered the phenomenon of dead witnesses in the JFK assassination case. Indeed these reports really took off following the assassination and this coincides with the beginning of the ‘conspiracy movement,’ which might have been a controlled psyop from the start. Penn Jones seems to have hardly looked into the Bowers case as opposed to others and he even overlooked the evidence of a heart attack. I do believe that evidence of a heart attack would have been of probative value given the suspicion put on other coronary deaths in this case.

The Bowers case comes down to two areas that have arguably not be satisfactory investigated. The evidence around the Knoll shot being the first, and second the circumstances around the death of Bowers.

Using ISGP’s Suspicious Death rating system of 0-5, I would argue that the Bowers case is debatably a 1.5 case based on the evidence surrounding the knoll shot and evidence of Bowers having suffered a coronary, combined with the somewhat strange handling of the case immediately after.

The Bowers case is a textbook example of the dilemma of a ‘conspiracy researcher,’ where so much information points to conspiracy, yet so much information contradicts such a conclusion and leaves stuck with information that cannot be verified. This is a case in which if the position is taken that there is no conspiracy to be found it is case closed, but if one remains open minded to a more sinister possibility, then the case might forever remain unsolved.

Notes

1. *) August 11, 1966, Corpus Christi Caller, ‘Warren Quiz Figure Dies’, “Lee Edward Bowers, Jr.”; *) Wikipedia, ‘Lee Bowers’, “Born January 12, 1925, Dallas, Texas, US”; cites: “Ancestry.com. Texas Death Index, 1903-2000 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2006.” *) April 2, 1964, Warren Commission, Volume 6, page 284, “Mr. BOWERS. I was born right here in Dallas, and lived here most of my life…” *) HSCA note cited by ISGP: “Mr. and Mrs. Bowers, Sr. …”
2. *) 1992, David Perry, ‘Now It Can Be Told: The Lee Bowers Story’, “… Lee’s brother Monty. … Monty Bowers…” *) 2013, Anita Dickason, ‘JFK Assassination Eyewitness: Rush to Conspiracy’, page 7, “He[Bowers] graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School.”; Probably possible to find the school yearbook ‘Echo’ *) 1964, Warren Commission, Volume 6, page 284, “.Mr. BOWERS. I was born right here in Dallas, and lived here most of my life except when I was in the Navy, at the age of 17 to 21 [1942-1946], and I was away 2 years going to Hardin Simmons University, also, attended Southern Methodist University 2 years, majoring in religion.”
3. *) 1964, Warren Commission, Volume 6, pages 284, 287, “Mr. BOWERS. I worked for the railroad 15 years and was a self-employed builder, as well as–on the side. And the first of this year when I went to work as business manager for Dr. Tim Green… Worked for the Union Terminal Co. with 8 participating railroads. … I was tower man in the north tower, Union Terminal, operating the switches and signals crontrolling the movement of trains. … I had worked this same tower for some 10 or 12 years, and was there during the time they were renovating the School Depository Building … They were renovating. I did carpenter work as well as sandblasted the outside of the building.”; *) 2013, Dickason, ‘JFK Assassination Witness’, page 35, “In addition, Mark Bowers, Lee Bowers’ son…” *) This author has not seen much of any information as to Lee’s marital status or any name of a wife.
4. *) Nov. 22, ’63, Dallas County, Lee Bowers testimony, “BEFORE ME, Patsy Collins a Notary Public in and for said County, State of Texas on this day personally appeared Lee E. Bowers Jr., w/m/38 of 10508 Maplegrove Lane, Dallas, Texas DA-1-11909 Who, after being by me duly swon, on oath deposes and says: I work at North Tower Union Terminal Co. RI-8-4698, 7 am to 3 pm Monday thur Friday. The tower where I work is West and a little north of the Texas Book Depository Building.” *) 1964, Warren Commission, Volume 6, pages, 284, 285, “Mr. BALL. And what is your residence address? Mr. BOWERS. 10508 Maplegrove Lane. … Mr. BALL. What were your hours of work? Mr. BOWERS. 7 to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday. … Mr. BALL. Close to noon, did you make any observation of the area around between your tower and Elm Street? Mr. BOWERS. “Yes; because of the fact that the area had been covered by police for some 2 hours. Since approximately 10 o’clock in the morning traffic had been cut off into the area so that anyone moving around could actually be observed. Since I had worked there for a number of years I was familiar with most of the people who came in and out of the area.” *) Sixth Floor Museum, JFK Assassination Timeline, Link “
5. *) Sixth Floor Museum, JFK Assassination Timeline, Link; *) Nov. 22, ’63, Dallas County, Lee Bowers testimony, “I was on duty today and about 11:55 am I saw a dirty 1959 Oldsmobile Station Wagon come down the street toward my building. This street dead ends in the railroad yard. This car had an out of state license plates with white background and black numbers, no letters. It also had a Goldwater for “64” sticker in the rear window. This car just drove around slowly and left the area. It was occupied by a middle aged white man partly grey hair.” *) 1964, Warren Commission, Volume 6, pages 285, 286, “Mr. BALL. Did you notice any cars around there? Mr BOWERS. Yes ; there were three cars that came in during the time from around noon until the time of the shooting. Mr. BALL. Came in where? Mr. BOWERS. They came into the vicinity of the tower, which was at the extension of Elm Street, which runs in front of the School Depository, and which there is no way out. It is not a through street to anywhere. … Mr. BALL. And the first came along that you noticed about what time of day? Mr. BOWERS. I do not recall exact time, but I believe this was approximately 12:10, wouldn’t be too far off. Mr. BALL. And the car you noticed, when you noticed the car, where was it? Mr. BOWERS. The car proceeded in front of the School Depository down across 2 or 3 tracks and circled the area in front of the tower, and to the west of the tower, and, as if he was searching for a way out, or was checking the area, and then proceeded back through the only way he could, the same outlet he came into. Mr. BALL. The place where Elm dead ends? Mr. BOWERS. That’s right. Back in front of the School Depository was the only way he could get out. And I lost sight of him, I couldn’t watch him. Mr. BALL. What was the description of the car? Mr. BOWERS. The first car was a 1959 Oldsmobile, blue and white station wagon with out-of-State license. Mr. BALL. Do you know what State? Mr. BOWERS. No ; I do not. I would know it, I could identify it, I think, if I looked at a list. Mr. BALL. And, it had something else, some bumper stickers? Mr. BOWERS. Had a bumper sticker, one of which was a Goldwater sticker, and the other of which was of some scenic location, I think.” *) 1966, Lee Bowers testimony to Mark Lane (Youtube), “After 11 or 11:30 there was practically no movement in the area whatsoever. However, about -uh- 12:10, give or take 5 minutes, there was a car which entered the area and probed around for some time. This car was a ’59 Oldsmobile Station Wagon, with an out-of-State license. It was muddy as if it had just come in off of the road, from some area where it was a ready sandy area. It was occupied by one male who spent 3 or 4 minutes in the area looking it over and then, as he found out, left by the entrance, which is the only way in and out of the area at that time.” *) FBI report on Bowers: https://www.history-matters.com/analysis/witness/witnessMap/documents/wcd_hsca/wcd_hsca_0037a.gif *) Example of ’59 Oldsmobile Station Wagon, Link;
6. *) Nov. 22, ’63, Dallas County Notary Public Patsy Collins, Lee Bowers testimony, “At around 12:15 pm another car came in the area with a white man around 25 to 35 years old driving. This car was a 1957 Ford, Black, 2 door with Texas License. This man appeared to have a mike or telephone in the car. Just a few minutes after this car left at 12:20 pm another car pulled in.” *) Nov. 22, 1963, Lee Bowers at the Sheriff’s Office, report from Sheriff Harold Elkins, Link, “I talked to the above subject who was on duty for the Union Terminal Co. in a tower which is located about 200 yeards west of the Texas Book Depository Building. He said that he heard what sounded like three shots fired from a rifle. He said that about ten mintes before that he saw a car driving around behind the building. [Mentions the third car seemingly mistakenly as the first] … He said about five minutes later he saw another car in the same area. It was also occupied by one white male. It was a 1957 ford, black, gold stripe down the side. … He said that he didn’t know if either of these cars stopped or parked in the area.” 1964, Warren Commission, Volume 6, page 286, “Mr. BALL. And, did you see another car? Mr. BOWERS, Yes, some 15 minutes or so after this, at approximately 12 o’clock, 20 to 12–I guess 12:20 would be close to it, little time differential there–but there was another car which was a 1957 black Ford, with one male in it that seemed to have a mike or telephone or something that gave the appearance of that at least. Mr. BALL. How could you tell that? Mr. BOWERS. He was holding something upt to his mouth with one hand and driving with the other, and gave that appearance. He was very close to the tower. I could see him as he proceeded around the area. Mr. BALL. What kind of license did that have? Mr. BOWERS. Had a Texas license. Mr. BALL. What did it do as it came into the area, from what street? Mr. BOWERS. Came in from the extension of Elm Street in front of the School Depository. Mr. BALL. Did you see it leave? Mr. BOWERS. Yes ; after 3 or 4 minutes cruising around the area it departed the same way. He did prove a little further into the area than the first car.” *) 1966, Lee Bowers testimony to Mark Lane (Youtube), “Not too long after that, perhaps 5 or 6 minutes, a car of a totally different description also occupied by one male entered the area. Now this man performed a similar action in that he toured down around the area probing to examine the exits. And seemed at one or more occasions to have a mike or something resembling such an instrument up to his face.” *) FBI report on Bowers: https://www.history-matters.com/analysis/witness/witnessMap/documents/wcd_hsca/wcd_hsca_0037a.gif *) Example of a 1957 black Ford, Link
7. *) Nov. 22, ’63, Dallas County Notary Public Patsy Collins, Lee Bowers testimony, “Just a few minutes after this car left at 12:20 pm another car pulled in. This car was a 1961 Chevrolet, Impalla, 4 door, am not sure that this was a 4 door, color white and dirty up to the windows. This car also had a Goldwater for “64” sticker. This car was driven by a white male about 25 to 35 years old with long blond hair. He stayed in the area longer than the others. This car also had the same type license plates as the 1959 Oldsmobile. He left this area about 12:25 pm. About 8 or 10 minutes after he left I heard at least 3 shots very close together.” *) Nov. 22, 1963, Lee Bowers at the Sheriff’s Office, report from Sheriff Harold Elkins, Link; *) 1964, Warren Commission, Volume 6, page , “Mr. BALL. Did you see another car? Mr. BOWERS. Third car, which entered the area, which was ome seven or nine minutes before the shooting. I believe was a 1961 or 1962 Chevrolet, four-door Impala, white, showed signs of being on the road. It was muddy up to the windows, bore a similar out-of-state license to the first car i observed, occupied also by one white male. Mr. BALL. What did it do? Mr. BOWERS. He spent a little more time in the area. He tried–he circled the area and probed one spot right at the tower in an attempt to get and was forced to back out some considerable distance, and slowly cruised down back toward the front of the School Depository Building. Mr BALL. Then did he leave? Mr. BOWERS. The last I saw of him he was pausing just about in–just above the assassination site. Mr. BALL. Did the car park, or continue on or did you notice? Mr. BOWERS. Whether it continued on at that very moment or whether it pulled up only a short distance, I couldn’t tell. I was busy.” *) 1966, Lee Bowers testimony to Mark Lane (Youtube), “Just a few moments after that [the second car], the third car came into the area, and these were the only three cars that entered this area during this specific period; the third car was a ’61 or ’62 Chevrolet. This car was muddy all the way up to the windows as if it had just come in off the road. It had an out-of-state license identical to the first car of the series. And it also had political stickers on it, which were not only for the same candidate but where identical in nature and color, so that they appeared to have been from the same group. This car was also occupied by one male, who spent a little bit more time in the area than the others, and probed down by the side of the tower where I was located. I could not state that these cars left the area entirely. Because after they got back onto the extension of Elm Street in front of the School Despository Building, they were lost to my vision; so they could have remained very close by.” *) FBI report on Bowers: https://www.history-matters.com/analysis/witness/witnessMap/documents/wcd_hsca/wcd_hsca_0037a.gif *) Example of a 1961 Chevrolet, Impala, 4-door, black Link
8. *) 1964, Warren Commission, Volume 6, page 287, 288, “Mr. BALL. Now, were there any people standing on the high side-high ground between your tower and where Elm Street goes down under the underpass toward the mouth of the underpass? Mr. BOWERS. Directly in line, towards the mouth of the underpass, there were two men. One man, middle-aged, or slightIy older, fairly heavy-set, in a white shirt, fairly dark trousers. Another younger man, about midtwenties, in either a plaid shirt or plaid coat or jacket. Mr. BALL. Were they standing together or standing separately?Mr. BOWERS. They were standing within 10 or 15 feet of each other, and gave no appearance of being together, as far as I knew. Mr. BALL. In what direction were they facing? Mr. BOWERS. They were facing and looking up towards Main and Houston, and following the caravan as it came down. Mr. BALL. Did you see anyone standing on the triple underpass? Mr. BOWERS. On the triple underpass, there were two policemen. One facing each direction, both east and west. There was one railroad employee, a signal man there with the Union Terminal Co., and two welders that worked for the Fort Worth Welding firm, and there was also a laborer’s assistant furnished by the railroad to these welders. … Mr. BOWERS. At the time of the shooting there seemed to be some commotion, and immediately following there was a motorcycle policeman who shot nearly all of the way to the top of the incline. … Mr. BOWERS. He came up into this area where there are some trees, and where described the two men were in the general vicinity of this. Mr. BALL. Were the two men there at the time? Mr. BOWERS. I-as far as I know, one of them was. The other I could not say. The darker dressed man was too hard to distinguish from the trees. The one in the white shirt, yes ; I think he was.” *) 1966, Mark Lane unreleased transcripts of Lee Bowers interview, quoted from ISGP, “Directly in line – uh – there – of course is – uh – there leading toward the Triple Underpass there is a curved decorative wall I guess you’d call it – it’s not a solid wall but it is part of the – uh – park. … And to the west of that there were – uh – at the time of the shooting in my vision only two men. Uh – these two men were – uh – standing back from the street somewhat at the top of the incline and were very near – er – two trees which were in the area… And one of them, from time to time as he walked back and forth, uh – disappeared behind a wooden fence which is also slightly to the west of that. Uh – these two men to the best of my knowledge were standing there – uh – at the time – of the shooting… Now I could see back or the South side of the wooden fence in the area, so that obviously that there was no one there who could have had anything to do with either – as accomplice or anything else because there was no one there at the moment that the shots were fired. Immediately following this there was a rapid surge of people coming up the embankment from across Elm Street, and over near Houston Street.”
9. *) Image identifying two of the three men on the steps: https://images.findagrave.com/photos/2018/1/28681757_09300f61-8a5b-426a-8c9b-0e350fb5e27c.png *) Mary Moormon photograph: https://www.silberstudios.com/jfk-assassination-photographer-mary-moorman-gives-first-interview-in-48-years/amp/ *) Orville Nix film: https://youtu.be/tqoQIgaOlBk?si=v1FKHYaDcjK3Fo3e;
10. Warren Commission; mainstream fact is that no less than three shots were fired. The first shot missed, causing debris to strike James Tague on the cheek, second shot struck Kennedy on the back and hit Connolly, third shot was the final headshot from behind. We will discuss this in more detail later.
11. *) Nov. 22, ’63, Dallas County Notary Public Patsy Collins, Lee Bowers testimony, “About 8 to 10 minutes after he left I heard at least 3 shots very close together. Just after the shots the area became crowded with people coming from Elm Street and the slope just north of Elm.” *) Nov. 22, 1963, Lee Bowers at the Sheriff’s Office, report from Sheriff Harold Elkins, Link, “I talked to the above subject who was on duty for the Union Terminal Co., in a tower which is located about 200 yards west of the Texas Book Depository Building. He said that he heard what sounded like three shots fired from a rifle.” *) Sheriff Elkins, who believed the shots had come from the Grassy Knoll, to the Warren Commission as quoted from ISGP: “I talked to Lee Bowers, who was on duty for the Union Terminal Company, in a tower which is located about 200 yards west of the Depository.” *) 1964, Warren Commission, Volume 6, pages 286-287, “Mr. BALL. Did you hear anything? Mr. BOWERS. I heard three shots. One, then a slight pause, then two very close together. Also reverberation from the shots. Mr. BALL. And were you able to form an opinion as to the source of the sound or what direction it came from, I mean? Mr. BOWERS. The sounds came either from up against the School Depository Building or near the mouth of the triple underpass. Mr. BALL. Were you able to tell which? Mr. BOWERS. No; I could not. … Mr. BALL. When you heard the sound, which way were you looking? Mr. BOWERS. At the moment I heard the sound, I war looking directly towards the area-at the moment of the first shot, as close as my recollection serves, the car was out of sight behind this decorative masonry wall in the area. Mr. BILL. And when you heard the second and third shot, could you see the car? Mr. BOWERS. No; at the moment of the shots, I could-1 do not think that it was in sight. It came in sight immediately followlng the last shot. Mr. BALL. Did you see any activity in this high ground above Elm after the shot? Mr. BOWERS. At the time of the shooting there seemed to be some commotion, and immediately following there was a motorcycle policeman [Clyde Haygood] who shot nearly all of the way to the top of the incline. … Mr. BALL. When you said there was a commotion, what do you mean by that? What did it look like to you when you were looking at the commotion? Mr. BOWERS. I just am unable to describe rather than it was something out of the ordinary, a sort of milling around, but something occurred in this particular spot which was out of the ordinary, which attracted my eye for some reason, which I could not identify. Mr. BALL. You couldn’t describe it? Mr BOWERS. Nothing that I could pinpoint as having happened that— Mr. BALL. Afterwards did a good many people come up there on this high ground at the tower? Mr. BOWERS. A large number of people came, more than one direction. one group converged from the corner of Elm and Houston, and came down the ex- tension of Elm and came into the high ground, and another line-another large group went across the triangular area between Houston and Elm and then across Elm and then up the incline. Some of them all the way up. Many of them did, as well as, of course, between 50 and a hundred policemen within a maximum of 5 minutes. Mr. BALL. In this area around your tower? Mr. BOWERS. That’s right. Sealed off the area, and I held off the trains until they could be examined, and there was some transients taken on at least one train.” *) 1964, Warren Commission, Volume 6, “Mr. BELIN. What did son do when you got there? Mr. HAYGOOD. When I first got to the location there, I was still on Houston Street, and in the process of making a left turn onto Elm Street I could see all these people laying on the ground there on Elm. Some of them were pointing back up to the railroad yard, and a couple of people were headed back up that way, and I immediately tried to jump the north curb [with his motorcycle] there in the 400 block which was too bigh for me to get over.” *) 1966, Lee Bowers testimony to Mark Lane (Youtube), “Immediately after the shots were fired there was of course mass confusion to put it mildly. But the area was immediately ceiled off by I would say at least 50 police within 3 to 5 minutes. The first one to appear on the scene, other than those who of course were standing around including two on top of the triple underpass, was one who road a motorcycle up the incline coming up from the lower portion of Elm Street and he rode perhaps two thirds of the way up or more before he deserted his motorcycle. At the time of the shooting, in the vicinity of where these two men I have described were, there was a flash of light or—there was something which occurred which caught my eye in this immediate area on the embankment. Now what this was I could not say at that time and this time I could not identify other than there was some unusual occurrence, a flash of light or smoke or something, which caused me to feel like something out of the ordinary had occurred there. … There were three shots and these were spaced with one shot then a pause the two shots in very close order … [gives example] … almost on top of each other, while there was some pause between the first and the second shots. Mark Lane: Did you tell that to the Dallas Police? Bowers: Yes I told this to the police, and then also told it to the FBI and also I had a discussion two or three days later concerning this. And they made no comment, other than the fact that when I stated I felt like the second and third shots could not have been fired from the same rifle they reminded me that I wasn’t an expert and I had to agree.”
12. *) Nov. 22, 1963, Lee Bowers at the Sheriff’s Office, report from Sheriff Harold Elkins, Link *) Nov. 22, ’63, Dallas County Notary Public Patsy Collins, Lee Bowers testimony
13. *) FBI report on Bowers: https://www.history-matters.com/analysis/witness/witnessMap/documents/wcd_hsca/wcd_hsca_0037a.gif *) 1966, Lee Bowers testimony to Mark Lane (Youtube)
14. *) 1964, Warren Commission, Volume 6 *) 1992, David Perry, ‘Now it can be told’ Link
15. 1964, Warren Commission, Volume 6
16. 1992, David Perry, ‘Now it can be told’ Link
17. *) March 30, 1966, FBI report, link *) 1992, David Perry, ‘Now it can be told’ Link
18. *) August 11, 1966, The Abilene Reporter, ‘Witness to Assassination Dies in Wreck’ *) August 10, 1966, Dallas Times Herald, (cited by Perry)
19. *) 1992, David Perry, ‘Now it can be told’ Link *) 2013, Anita Dickason, ‘JFK Assassination Eyewitness: Rush to Conspiracy’
20. *) 1992, David Perry, ‘Now it can be told’ Link *) 2013, Anita Dickason, ‘JFK Assassination Eyewitness: Rush to Conspiracy’
21. *) 1992, David Perry, ‘Now it can be told’ Link *) 2013, Anita Dickason, ‘JFK Assassination Eyewitness: Rush to Conspiracy’
22. 2013, Anita Dickason, ‘JFK Assassination Eyewitness: Rush to Conspiracy’, “I did locate two references to a law enforcement investigation. The first was the Waxahachie newspaper account of the accident. The details of the accident were based on information released by investigating highway patrolmen. This does identify there was an investigation and who investigated the accident. I would have expected to find the information from the accident report, or an interview with an investigating officer, to be included in someone’s publication. … Attempting to locate the accident report was a long shot at best. An accident report filed by the Texas Highway Patrol Department would have been destroyed after 10 years.”
23. *) 1992, David Perry, ‘Now it can be told’ Link *) 2013, Anita Dickason, ‘JFK Assassination Eyewitness: Rush to Conspiracy’

References