Justification For Killing

by Larry Edward Hunt

  “Grandpa, what do you want me to do?” Questioned Olive Marie.

  “Don’t worry Hon, I have a noteworthy job for you. A job, which will make you remembered forever. When Forrest moves to the pedestal to begin filming I want you to take this other camera, walk directly across Elm and position yourself on the curb so you can see the President as his car comes by. Take this red scarf and tie it around your head. We want to get the fatal shot to President Kennedy from the opposite side of the street from Mr. Zapruder. You will be photographed in many photos, but we do not want you to be later identified. As you know we do not exist in 1963 Dallas!!”

  It is now fifteen minutes before twelve o’clock; President Kennedy and Jackie walk down the fence at Love Field shaking hands with well wishes before beginning their parade into downtown Dallas in route to the luncheon date at the Dallas Trade Mart. In ten minutes, they will leave Love Field and begin the motorcade.

  Creeping along at a mere ten to twelve miles per hour the police report the crowds were large but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

  At a quarter after twelve, Mrs. Beverly Maxwell, secretary to the president of the Book Depository, later testified she saw Lee Harvey Oswald eating lunch in the second floor cafeteria. Later she recants, and states she only caught a glimpse of him in the hallway. John Powell, along with approximately four other inmates on the sixth floor of the Dallas City Jail saw two men on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository fiddling with the telescope of a rifle. He assumed they were Secret Service. Mrs. Carolyn Waters stated she also saw two men with rifles, but she thought they were guards. One of the men, she said, wore a brown sports jacket. Ruby Hendrix saw two men also, one had dark hair and the second had a much darker skin color than the other. Asked if she though he was black she answered no, he looked more like a Mexican, (or possibly Cuban?). Arnold Rowdy and his wife also saw a man with a rifle in the window of the sixth floor; however, this man was not at the now famous ‘sniper’s window’ but farther down at the western most corner window of the building. They thought he must have been a Secret Service agent.

  If Mrs. Beverly Maxwell were correct in seeing Lee Harvey Oswald in the lunchroom at 12:15, then none of the men with rifles could have been Oswald. If Oswald fired from the right-hand 6th floor window, obviously, the man Mr. Rowdy and his wife saw in the opposite end of the building could not have been Oswald either.

  Eight minutes before the first assassins shot, Ray Williamson, an employee of TSBD left the sixth floor, after eating his lunch. He stated the sixth floor was vacant when he left to go downstairs. The Warren Commission determined Oswald was in his ‘sniper’s nest’ from 11:55 until 12:30. If Mr. Williamson were correct, Oswald had only eight minutes (from 12:22 to 12:30) to move twenty plus boxes, each weighing approximately fifty pounds. Some were stacked three high, to form his ‘sniper’s nest’. Additionally he had to assemble his Carcano rifle, with no tools. The Warren Commission stated it would take six minutes to assemble the Italian Carcano task using a dime as a screwdriver. The moving of boxes to construct the ‘sniper’s nest’ later revealed only one partial palm print from Lee Harvey Oswald. The Warren Commission will not call Ray Williamson to testify. No gloves were found at or near the ‘sniper’s nest’, and none were ever found neither on Oswald’s person nor in his boarding house room.

  Six minutes until the assassination Beverly Maxwell, whom earlier thought she saw Oswald in the lunchroom, saw him standing by the front door of the TSBD.

  Five minutes to go. One of the Dallas Police policemen in the follow-up vehicle at the back of motorcade reports to Police Dispatch, “All is okay”.

  The Presidential motorcade, traveling west, made a right turn from Main Street heading north on Houston Street. The seven storied, red brick, Texas School Book Depository is in an unobstructed, clear view to the motorcade’s immediate left front. If an assassin wanted a perfect shot from the School Book building now would be the time – a head-on shot, to a sniper, would appear as if the President limousine had stopped.

  Two minutes until the first shot was fired. One of the police radios relayed the information back to Headquarters, “Large crowd.”

  One minute before the black limousine reached the kill zone, all Dallas police radios go dead for four minutes. Later research will theorize someone had a microphone stuck open, which caused the blackout; however, the guilty ‘policeman’ was never identified. Recent analyses indicate the cause of the trouble possibly came from the Trade Mart area. On the day of the event, channel one was used for normal Dallas Police communication, channel two was reserved for communication with the Presidential motorcade. It was channel two that was affected. Was that a stuck switch on a police radio or did some unknown person or persons intentionally block the police radio band frequency, or jam, as the black ops people like to call it.

  Vice President Lyndon Johnson languished in the Cadillac convertible two cars behind President Kennedy, along with his wife Lady Bird Johnson and Senator Ralph Yarborough. Johnson paid little attention to the screaming, jubilant crowd along the parade route. He acted as though his thoughts were elsewhere. Little did he realize in less than sixty seconds he would become the 36th President of the United States? Or was he actually envisioning the certainty of the moment, and the thought of how his life was to about to change weighed heavily on his mind?

  All electrical power and telephone service to the Texas School Book Depository suddenly went dead. The Dallas Police, the FBI, the Secret Service nor later the Warren Commission would question this outage. Roy Trudy, the building manager was never asked the reason for this interruption of services. Mysteriously, the power and phone service was restored a few minutes after the assassination.

  Nellie Connally, Gov. Connally’s wife turning to the President states, “Mr. President, you can’t say Dallas doesn’t love you.” Little did she conceive she would be the last person ever to speak to John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States?

  Thirty seconds to go - the motorcade turned left from Houston Street onto Elm. Immediate to the right of the President’s limousine, on the corner of Houston and Elm, was the Texas School Book Depository. Bud stood on the steps of the School Book building and glanced at his watch to verify the exact time: 12:29 p.m.

  Abraham Zapruder and his secretary Marilyn Sitzman, climb up on the concrete abutment on the western end of the pagoda, and began to film the motorcade with his Bell & Howell camera. He was filming the President as the limousine moved along Elm Street headed toward the triple overpass. His vantage point was almost in front of the grassy knoll and slightly to the left. Miss Sitzman stood behind Mr. Zapruder watched the Presidential motorcade proceed along Elm Street, and at the same time maintained a firm hold on Mr. Zapruder’s coat to keep him from losing his balance as he filmed his soon-to-be famous 484 frames of history.

  The motorcade’s lead car was almost beneath the overpass, Dallas Police Chief Curry, driving the unmarked, white, 1962, Ford lead car, radioed he had just reached the Stemmons freeway overpass, “Five more minutes and we’ll have him there.” One of the deputies called on the two-way to the Trade Mart, issuing the five-minute warning for the arrival of the President.

  A few seconds later, the Dallas police dispatcher announced the time: “12:30 p.m.”

  A man standing to the left of the Stemmons Freeway exit sign, which is positioned on the north side of Elm Street, opened a black umbrella, held it above his head, and opened and shut it as the limousine passed his location. He was wearing a tan overcoat with dark sunglasses covering his massive black almond shaped eyes. Around his neck was a brilliant silver medallion. Was it possible the distraction of the umbrella caught the eye of the President and he turned his head toward the man?

  The time was 12:30:18, November 22, 1963.

  12:30:20 P.M. - THE EVENT!!

  JFK brought his hands up and clutched his neck. This was at approximately frame 200 on the Zapruder film.

  James Teague was
standing near the triple overpass in Dealey Plaza, on the west side of Commerce. He was approximately 430 feet from the TSBD or 260 feet from President Kennedy. Researchers since have drawn diagrams, which plotted the impact of a bullet striking the curb, on a straight line back through President Kennedy to a window on the fifth floor on the western end of the TSBD building. If a straight line were drawn from the eastern end sixth floor of the TSBD to Kennedy’s limo, it would miss the spot where the bullet struck the curb by almost twenty feet!

  Motorcycle policeman Marlon Baker glanced up, saw pigeons fluttering from the TSBD roof. His thoughts are the shots have come from either the TSBD or the Dal-Tex building across the street on Houston. He jumped from his black and white Harley; gun in hand, madly rushing towards the TSBD building.

  Will Lowry, stood on the entrance steps to the TSBD, thinking the gunshots have come from “over there on the other side of that concrete little deal on that grassy knoll.” He will later talk to the FBI and say he did not “ever believe the shots had come from the direction of the Texas School Book Depository.”

  Margaret Brown was standing to the left front of the knoll toward the Texas School Book Depository. Her statement to the FBI indicated she did not think the shots came from the Book Depository, but she said she thought the sound of the rifle shot came from behind and to her right. That would be the area of the grassy knoll.

  John Robert Warren, Jr. believed he saw about twelve inches of a rifle sticking out from a Book Depository window, and is adamant he heard a total of four shots fired.

  Alice Landry was standing to the left front of the Grassy Knoll and next to Margaret Brown. Ms. Landry agreed with Ms. Brown and thought the shots came from behind and to her right.

  Billy Newsome and his wife Nancy found a spot to see the President that put them between the President and the Grassy Knoll. Both say they heard shots being fired from behind them on the Grassy Knoll.

  Mr. and Mrs. Courtney McCay and their four-year-old son Bobby were standing in front of the Grassy Knoll near the Stemmons Freeway sign. Mr. McCay and his wife turn around. They wanted to see where the shots were coming from, believing the sound of the shots came from somewhere on the grassy knoll.

  In her open convertible, three vehicles behind the President, Mrs. Earle Cabell detected a slight hint of the unmistakable odor of gunpowder in the air. Congressmen Ray Roberts, in the same convertible as Mrs. Cabell later stated he smelled gunpowder also. Senator Ralph Yarborough, riding in the Vice President’s limo, two cars behind the President, also smelled gunpowder. He will later say, “I have used firearms for fifty years and am very familiar with guns while our vehicle was sitting still in the street I smelled gunpowder. I have always thought it was strange to smell gunpowder at street level from a rifle fired from the 6th floor of a building.”

  FBI Special Agent William A. McKinley later states to the Warren Commission, “The Presidential vehicle was on Elm Street almost to the overpass when the first shot was fired, followed in quick succession by two additional shots. I would estimate the three shots were all fired within four to six seconds. I heard the second shot, and immediately looked toward the President’s car. I saw him the instant his head exploded when it was struck by the third shot.”

  Secret Service Agent Clint Hill was riding in the follow-up car directly behind the President’s limousine said, “I heard a noise from my right rear, I jumped from the follow-up car and ran toward the Presidential automobile. I jumped onto the Presidential automobile.” Questioned by the Warren Commission: “Where you wounded or hit by a bullet at this time.” Answer: “No, I was not wounded or hit by anything.”

  In the next few moments, with everyone scampering to and fro, many even lying down on the grass, the man now identified as the “Umbrella Man” unconcerned walked over and sat down on the park bench next to an older man. The silver medallion hanging around his neck was quite obvious. As the “Umbrella Man” sat down a young man with a Bell & Howell movie camera moves from the concrete pedestal and rejoins the group on the bench. A young woman also clutching a Bell & Howell movie camera was already sitting with an older man on the concrete bench. All four were sitting in front of the memorial pagoda next to Elm Street. Margaret Brown and Alice Landry stood just a few steps to their front and a bit to their right.

  The older gentleman wore an old, brown, sweat stained, tattered cowboy hat. Several photographs taken at the time show the man with the cowboy hat talking into a two-way radio. Jim Towler snapped a photograph showing the man on the park bench with a portable radio - or something that looked like a small radio device. It could be seen while his hands hold the object close to his face. A few moments later, all four persons got up, and casually walked away - the man with the cowboy hat, along with his two companions, headed back toward the Texas School Book Depository, the “Umbrella Man”, with his beautiful silver medallion, was not seen again, he disappeared into the crowd and was not captured on any film afterwards. The FBI never interviewed him, nor did he ever come forward to offer his testimony on the events of the day. To this day he has not been identified in any of the official reports.

  The three people sitting on the bench were, of course, Captain Scarburg, Forrest and Olive Marie. The ‘Umbrella Man’ was none other than Anhur. The Captain calls LJ telling him the President has not been wounded! He said to Lonnie Joe: “LJ I was not more than fifteen feet from the President’s car. The entire side and rear of the president’s head just exploded, I actually saw brain matter protruding from the wound!! LJ, there is no way for the President to survive this. I thought in this Parallel Universe the president was going to survive, but some other event must have put Earth on this course; it certainly was not the shooting of the president!! You all have to watch Oswald and see what he does. In this 1963 Universe, we are currently in, events might, and probably has, occurred differently from the events we know to be true in our history back in 2012... be careful, be real careful, something is wrong! When I came the first time President Kennedy survived his assassination attempt and my job was to insure he did not survive – this time he is being killed!”

  James W. Altgens, a photographer taking pictures, across the street from the ‘Umbrella Man’, on the south side of Elm will later recall, “I could see pieces of his head fly off and land right at my feet. The sound was like an explosion when the bullet hit his head. His skull just exploded with bone and flesh flying everywhere...”

  Another witness Alan Smith, “I would say the President’s limousine was ten to fifteen feet from me when a bullet hit the President. I would say in the forehead, the car went another five feet and stopped dead still.”

  James Brown was also standing on the south side of Elm Street and behind and to the left of the limousine during the fatal headshot. Brown witnessed a piece of JFK’s skull flying backward and to the left of the car. In an interview with some newsmen later that day he said, “The shots seem to come from in front or beside the President.”

  LEE HARVEY OSWALD AFTER SHOOTING

  Dashing into the School Book Depository Building, within ninety seconds of the last shot, Officer Marlon Baker and building manager Roy Trudy began a sweep of the building. Mr. Trudy identified Oswald as an employee of the TSBD. He is on the second floor at the lunchroom. Oswald leaves the lunchroom walks to the second floor stairway and goes down to the first floor of the building. He was getting ready to leave the TSBD through the main entrance, all before the police have time to seal off the building.

  Officer Baker and Mr. Trudy go from the second floor lunchroom to the fifth floor. The electricity and telephone service had been restored. The elevator comes down from the fifth floor to the first. Officer Baker took a staircase up to the roof from the seventh floor. He checked the roof including the Hertz advertising sign. He found no one on the roof. Close to the west wall he picked up a spent 30-06 shell casing. He noticed after examining the shell that it had been recently fired.

  Dallas Police Officer Joe Marshall Smith pulled his
pistol from its holster and checks out the parking lot directly on the north side of the fence behind the grassy knoll. Prior to the first shot Officer Smith was on foot patrol duty stationed on the corner of Houston Street and Elm. His duty was to stop all vehicles heading west toward the triple overpass. After the shots had been fired, he noticed people lying on the ground and running up what has become known as the Grassy Knoll. One woman says she heard gunfire coming from the bushes. Officer Smith began a thorough search of the bushes but saw no one. He caught a strong odor of gunpowder and stopped a man who seemed to be hurrying away from the area of the stockade fence. He testified to the Warren Commission that he checked the inside of the cars in the parking lot behind the Texas School Book Depository. Most were locked he said, but he did not check the trunks. Officer Smith questioned one man in the vicinity of the wooden fence who stated he was Secret Service. The man goes so far as to produce credentials, which resembled the ones the Secret Service carry. Office Smith allowed him to continue, it was only later discovered there were no Secret Service on the ground around Dealy Plaza. All Secret Service men were riding in the motorcade, and they all traveled with the wounded President to Parkland Hospital.

  Sergeant D. V. Hardley was assigned as supervisor over the patrol officers between Main Street and Field Street along the parade route to Main and Houston Street. His testimony stated the motorcade had turned the corner at Elm and Houston, and he began walking west on Main toward the triple overpass when he heard the first shot. He immediately returned to his motorcycle and drove around the east side of the TSBD where he ran into some men who said they were Secret Service agents.

  “Did they identify themselves?”

  “You mean with badges? No, they just said they were agents, but I had no reason to doubt their identity and continued my search.” Believing the shots came from the roof of the School Book building Sergeant Hardley positioned himself to guard anyone coming down the fire escape. No one did. After a few minutes, he returned to the front of the building to guard the main entrance door.