The Smell of Gunpowder and the Smell of Bigfoot

[Paul May]

   Another issue connected to this still frame is the Brake Lights we see on the National Press Pool Car. Why if the JFK Limo & the Queen Mary are Moving and going underneath the Triple Underpass well ahead of the cars behind them, do we see the Press Pool Car hitting the Brakes? What is STOPPING/Slowing Down the Press Pool Car and the cars in Front of it?

Perhaps the driver dropped a cigarette butt between his legs. My response is as foolish as your question. Why ask something that cannot be answered?

[Joe Elliott]

   Another issue connected to this still frame is the Brake Lights we see on the National Press Pool Car. Why if the JFK Limo & the Queen Mary are Moving and going underneath the Triple Underpass well ahead of the cars behind them, do we see the Press Pool Car hitting the Brakes? What is STOPPING/Slowing Down the Press Pool Car and the cars in Front of it?

This is, after all, the Press Pool Car. They may have felt the story was right there in Dealey Plaza, where the shots were fired. Other cars can take off if they want to but their reporter instincts may have been to urge the driver to stop. The driver’s responsibility was not to protect the occupants of that car, so he might oblige.


In addition, in heavy traffic, when one car brakes suddenly, the cars behind brake even more suddenly. Some of the cars behind may be forced to come to a stop even after the car that did the original braking never stopped and has now speeded up and is moving at its original speed. This can be observed anytime on any heavily congested freeway.

I believe that the JFK limousine slowed, from 13 mph to 8 mph, when the driver heard Connally yelling. So, he slowed so he could look backwards to figure out what, if anything, was occurring in the limousine. This was a mistake. He should not pause to figure out what is happening but instead assume something bad is happening and speed up. If it turned out to be nothing, no great harm is done.

By the way, I can expect the usual unsupported claim to be made, that the driver’s actions went against Secret Service training. No one knows what Secret Service training is. This has always been kept a secret because this information could be useful to would be assassins. For all we know, Secret Service training was to figure out what is happening and then act. Since much of the time, in a motorcade, the vehicles are hemmed in by crowds, a lot of the time taking off at high speed would not be a good option anyway. So, we don’t know if drivers were trained, before 1963, to always take off at high speed the moment something suspicious happens. Likely they weren’t.

[Michael Carney]

Witnesses to smelling gunpowder at street level:
•   Ralph Yarborough was in the car two cars behind the Presidents car and said he smelled gunpowder. He is a war veteran with more than 50 years experience with fire arms. WC Vol VII, pg 439
•   Earl Brown, Dallas Police Patrolman – “Heard shot’s and then smelled gunpowder” WC Vol VI, pg 233
•   Elizabeth Cabell, wife of Dallas mayor, said “acutely aware of the smell of gunpowder”  WC Vol VII, pg 486
•   Billy J. Martin, patrolman - “You could smell the gunpowder… you knew he wasn’t far away. When you’re that close, you can smell the powder burning. Why you—you’ve got to be pretty close to them… you could smell the gunpowder… right there in the street.”
•   Congressman Ray Roberts, seated next to her, had mentioned it also. Same source as Martin
•   Tom C. Dillard, two cars behind the Cabell car, he “. . . very definitely smelled gunpowder when the   cars moved up to the corner [of Elm and Houston Streets] Same source as Martin
•   Virgie Rackley stood in front of the depository building close to the street. “She recalled that after the second shot, she smelled gun smoke…” same source as Martin
•   One newspaper summed it up: “. . . seconds later the cavalcade was gone. The area still reeked with the smell of gunpowder.” Same source as Martin

[Michael Carney]

And where did the gun smoke originate from:

Witnesses to Hickey holding and possibly firing a “rifle”:
•   Dallas Mayor, Earl Cabel. see’s one Secret Service agent standup with a sub-machine gun.
•   Senator Yarbrough also saw a rifle.
•   Agent Winston rides in the front of JFK in the lead car. He noticed Agent Hickey standing up in the follow up car, “I first thought that he had fired it”.
•   Sam Holland, a witness, is standing on top of the underpass as the motorcade is going under him. “After the first shot, the Secret Service agent raised up with a machine gun and dropped back down into the seat. WC Vol XIX, ex 5323, pg 480
•   Roy Kellerman testified there was an AR15 in the motorcade.
•   Hugh Betner saw one Secret Service agent pull out a gun, he was standing watching the motorcade. vol XXIV, ex 2003, pg 200
•   A police officer on the over pass as the motorcade passing under saw an agent swinging around the gun.
•   Margaret Chisolm WC vol XIX, ex 5323, pg 472 saw agents stand up and sit back down.
•   Jean Hill – Saw JFK grab his chest and fall forward and she thinks she saw men in plain clothes shooting back. WC Vol XXIV, Ex 2003, pg 212
•   Ralph Yarborough saw a SS Agent pull out a rifle. WC Vol VII, pg 439