Justification For Killing (13 page)

The bewilderment was
tremendous as exhibited by the deposition given to the Dallas
Police Department:
“Before me, the
undersigned authority, on this the 22nd day of November A.D. 1963
personally appeared William Eugene Newman, Address: 1115 W. Robin
Lane, Dallas, Texas, Age 28, Phone No. DK 6-3172.


Deposes and
says:

“
Today at about 12:25
p.m., I was standing in a group of people on Elm Street near the
west end of the concrete standard when the President's car turned
left off Houston Street onto Elm Street. We were standing at the
edge of the curb looking at the car as it was coming toward us, and
all of a sudden there was a noise, apparently gunshot [sic]. The
President jumped up in his seat, and it looked like what I thought
was a firecracker had went off, and I thought he had realized it.
It was just like an explosion, and he was standing up. By this
time, he was directly in front of us, and I was looking directly at
him when he was hit in the side of the head. Then he fell back, and
Governor Connally was holding his middle section. Then we fell down
on the grass, as it seemed we were in the direct path of fire. It
looked as if Mrs. Kennedy had jumped on top of the President. He
kinda [sic] fell back, and it looked as if she were holding him.
Then the car sped away, and everybody in that area had run upon top
of that grassy mound. I thought the shot had come from the garden
directly behind me that it was on an elevation from where I was as
I was right on the curb. I do not recall looking toward the Texas
School Book Depository. I looked back in the vacinity [sic] of the
garden.”

/s/ William E. Newhouse,
Jr.

Subscribed and sworn to
before me on this the 22nd day of Nov A. D. 1963

/s/ D. K.
Osmand,


Notary
Public, Dallas County, Texas”

Hundreds of people were
assembled in the area known as Dealy Plaza on that day many of them
gave detailed reports to the FBI, the Dallas Police and later to
the Warren Commission on what exactly they saw. The accounts are as
varied as the number of people who recounted them. Some tell of
shots coming from the Texas School Book Depository building. Which
floor? That becomes confusing too. Which window? Again not a
resounding definitive conclusion, but the Grassy Knoll - less we
forget this small strip of nature’s botanical beauty. Shots seem to
have emanated from all around that vicinity - from behind the
stonewall, behind the fence, in the bushes - stories with smoke in
the air, men with guns running to a fro. Assassins dressed as
policemen, or as he was referred to - the ‘badge man’. People with
badges thought to be Secret Service agents when no agents were
assigned to the area. Ask one person and get one answer, ask ten
and you will get ten. There was no consensus - the only fact known
for sure was the fact nothing was known for sure.

Later Agent Hill
would make his official statement as to his part in the day’s
events. Some of his comments are as follows: “
The motorcade made a right hand turn onto Elm Street. I was
on the forward portion of the left running board of the follow-up
car. The motorcade made a left hand turn from Elm Street toward the
overpass. We were traveling about twelve to fifteen miles per hour.
On the left hand side, was a grassy area with a few people
scattered along it observing the motorcade passing and I was
visually scanning these people when I heard a noise similar to a
firecracker. The sound came from my right rear, and I immediately
moved my head in that direction. In so doing, my eyes had to cross
the Presidential automobile, and I saw the President was still
sitting upright and appeared unhurt. I jumped from the follow-up
car and ran toward the Presidential automobile. As I jumped onto
the left rear step of the Presidential automobile, Mrs. Kennedy
shouted, “Give me your hand.” I had barely mounted the rear trunk
when I heard a second firecracker type noise, but it had a
different sound-- like the sound of shooting a revolver into
something hard. I saw the President slump more toward his
left.

I forced Mrs. Kennedy back
into her seat and placed my body above the President and Mrs.
Kennedy. At the time, I had not realized that I had been shot;
neither did I realize that the President had also been wounded.
Special Agent Green had as I jumped onto the Presidential
automobile, accelerated the Presidential automobile forward. I
heard Assistant Special Agent-In-Charge (ASAIC) Kellerman call
Special Agent Lawson on the two-way radio and say, "To the nearest
hospital, quick." I shouted as loud as I could at the lead car,
"Head to the hospital, to the hospital!"

As I lay over the top of
the back seat I noticed the President's head on the right rear side
was bleeding profusely. Part of his hair was gone. I saw a portion
of his scalp with hair on it lying in the back seat. The time of
the shooting was approximately 12:30 p.m., Dallas time. I looked
forward to the jump seats, and noticed Governor Connally's chest
was covered with blood, and he was slumped to his left and
partially covered up by his wife. I had not realized until this
point that the Governor had been shot.

When we arrived at
Parkland Memorial Hospital, Dallas, I... I’m sorry, but all that
took place at the Hospital is still a blur. Most of what happened
to me was related to me by others. I just cannot remember all the
details. I know they removed the President from the automobile, and
covered the President's upper chest with my suit jacket. I
understand ASAIC Kellerman assisted in removing the President from
the back seat of the automobile onto a wheeled stretcher and
accompanied the President and Mrs. Kennedy into the Emergency Room.
Governor Connally had been placed in an Emergency Room across the
hall.

I was taken into the
Emergency Room almost immediately and do remember the large number
of doctors and nurses in the room, which was quite small. Kellerman
asked a nurse to make sure all the other hospital people except the
necessary medical personnel working in the emergency room, please
return to their normal duties. She immediately began checking the
medical staff members. I’m sorry, but the rest of my statement has
been told to me. I do not remember much of the rest of the
day.

ASAIC Kellerman left the
Emergency Room to get in touch with the White House and was going
to ask them to make sure to keep the line open at all times. I was
told he asked Special Agent Lawson for the telephone number of the
switchboard in Dallas that had contact with the White House and he
gave it to him. He dialed the Dallas contact number and told her to
connect him with the White House in Washington, and to keep this
line open continuously. He did so.

ASAIC Kellerman came out
of the Emergency Room again and took the telephone and asked for
SAIC Gerald A. Behn, Secret Service, The White House, Washington,
D.C. This was approximately 12:39 p.m. Kellerman told Behn that
there had been a double tragedy; that the President and Governor
Connally had both been shot and that he would keep him advised.
Another agent (I do not know who) took over the telephone and told
Mr. Behn that the situation was extremely critical. The operator
cut into the line and said The Attorney General wanted to talk to
Kellerman. He asked what the situation was, and he was advised that
the President had been injured very seriously and that he would
keep him advised as to his condition. He said he also advised the
Attorney General that I was wounded and was currently undergoing
emergency surgery for a wound in my right rear shoulder. He said
that my prognosis was favorable. At the time, I probably would have
disagreed with him.

Mr. Kellerman came back
out of the Emergency Room and made an announcement, "Agent Lawson,
tell Gerry that this is not for release and not official - the
President is critical, but the doctors believe he will make it."
That information was told to Mr. Behn, and then requested that he
immediately contact the other members of the President's family so
that he could advise them of the situation rather than having them
hear it over some news media.”

THE WITNESSES

Michael Thomas, standing
on the triple railroad overpass just west of Dealey Plaza, had
gotten there early. He had found a suitable spot; the whole of
Dealey Plaza was viewable to his east including the travel route
down Elm Street toward him as he stood on the train overpass. From
his vantage point, he would be able to watch the motorcade travel
right beneath him.

He had seen the map of the
presidential parade route earlier in the Dallas Times Herald and
knew this would be a perfect place to see President Kennedy and his
wife Jacqueline. Thomas’s daughter Olivia, age nine and son Payton
age fourteen were standing next to the concrete railing peering
eastward. They were waiting for the presidential procession to turn
right on Houston and then left on Elm and proceed directly
underneath them.

Both kids hardly
could contain their excitement at the thought of seeing The
President.
Not the President,
thought Olivia,
I want
to see Jackie.
Surveying the building up
Elm and over on Houston Michael noticed a glint of light from the
roof of the Texas State Book Depository.
Good,
he thought.
Secret Service men are on the roof doing their
job. Those guys certainly know their business
. Michael’s wife, a schoolteacher was supposed to meet them
there, but she was late.
I hope she
hurries, or she going to miss seeing the President,
Mike thought. The Presidential parade had turned
from Houston and was headed straight toward Michael, Payton and
Olivia. The lead car was almost directly below
them.

No sooner than that
thought crossed his mind, Michael was startled by a boom... yes,
that’s his description ‘a boom’. Where did it come from? His first
thought was from the roof of the Texas State Book Building. He
could see the birds fluttering as if disturbed by the
noise.

A millisecond or two
passed as another shot sounded almost simultaneously from his left
toward the area of the picket fence and the grassy area. A couple
of seconds later a third and forth shot came from his left but
further up towards the Texas School Book Depository building again.
He saw one of these shots hit the curb almost immediately below
where he and his two kids were standing. “Get down, get down,” he
yelled to everyone on the bridge, especially to his two kids.
Michael a Navy veteran, recognized gunfire, “Someone is shooting!”
All three huddled behind the concrete barrier at the railroad
overpass edge. Michael poked his head up... he had to... his Navy
training took over. He had to see what was going on.

Directly below and in
front him on Elm Street was the black Presidential convertible - he
could look almost straight down into its gory interior. The
President was lying over in the First Lady’s lap. He saw the
blood... blood was everywhere... Jackie’s charming pink outfit
covered in dark red blood. Governor Connolly was leaning over
supported by his wife. Someone was stretched out on the trunk...
What was he trying to do? Was he the shooter trying to get into the
limousine? Why were all the people running up the grassy hill? And
all the people lying on the grass - had they been shot or wounded?’
All those things bounced through his head, so fast he couldn’t
think of one answer before another question arose. And standing to
the left of the black convertible... what was that? Everyone was
running or lying on the grass, but this one small man... he...
he... didn’t move. He seemed to be frozen... no... wait a second he
moved... he was opening and closing an umbrella.

What
, Michael thought,
am I going crazy? Let me look
again
, as he peered again over the
concrete barrier of the bridge. Sure enough the diminutive person
was still standing on the north side of Elm Street watching the
presidential limousine speed away toward the triple overpass. Had
he not just witnessed the President of the United States being shot
right in front of his eyes, no more than a few feet to his
front?
If the situation had not been so
serious,
Michael thought to himself, this
could be real funny, a pint-sized man standing opening and shutting
an umbrella on a clear, cloudless November Texas day as he watched
a presidential parade. Was this actually a man or could it have
been a boy? This was a man, Michael reasoned. About this time, Mike
noticed a man in a tan overcoat come around the western end of the
Texas School Book building and get into a light brown Nash Rambler
station wagon. As the station wagon drove by the slightly built man
with the umbrella he pointed his finger, and opened and shut the
umbrella again. Is that an arm waving out of the passenger’s side
window? It appears someone is waving at the undersized man.
What the
... Mike
thought?

Directly underneath the
overpass, where Michael and his children crouched, stood James
Teague. Earlier Teague had been traveling east on Commerce and
passed underneath the triple overpass heading into downtown Dallas
to pickup his wife for lunch. His car had come to a standstill when
all noonday traffic had come to an abrupt halt to await the passing
of the presidential parade.