S. M. Holland's "Smoke" on the Grassy Knoll

[Royell Storing]

This seems awfully nitpicky. The Wiegman film shows a puff of smoke hanging over some of the trees on the knoll. The fact that Holland wasn't certain which shot corresponded to the puff of smoke does not change the fact that he said he saw a puff of smoke on the knoll, especially given that other witnesses also said they saw a puff of smoke. The smoke could not have come from the steam pipes because they were too far away, nor could it have come from the moving patrol bikes.

Plus, a number of witnesses in the motorcade and on the knoll said they smelled the pungent odor of gunpowder near/on the grassy knoll.

   I am aware of only Holland and other railroad employees that were standing near him reporting "smoke" above the picket fence. This report of "smoke" could have been more of a "consensus opinion" after they huddled up and discussed things following the kill shot. This discussion would have been after they ventured inside the parking lot as a "group". They acted as a group when they went into the parking lot. I believe the "smoke" stuff is in line with "group think" too.   

[John Corbett]

   Please define what you specifically mean by "modern ammo".
   The "Steam/Cigarette Smoke" claim is usually made as a rebuttal to the "Gun Smoke" claim. To me, this means there was indeed something in the air on the parking lot side of the picket fence. Just looking at him, I personally do not regard Holland as a good "eyeball" witness. Still, he was a real life witness. I have not seen or even read a name attached to this steam pipe going off like a tea kettle at 12:30. I have the feeling that this is just another JFK Assassination Urban Legend.

Why would anyone who believes the conclusions of WC need a rebuttal to something as irrelevant as whether there was steam or smoke coming from the area of the picket fence. We really don't care whether it was steam, smoke, or non-existent. We can safely say it wasn't gun smoke because that wouldn't have been seen by anyone watching the motorcade. By the time anyone turned their head in the direction of the GK, gun smoke would have dissipated.

[John Corbett]

Why would anyone who believes the conclusions of WC need a rebuttal to something as irrelevant as whether there was steam or smoke coming from the area of the picket fence. We really don't care whether it was steam, smoke, or non-existent. We can safely say it wasn't gun smoke because that wouldn't have been seen by anyone watching the motorcade. By the time anyone turned their head in the direction of the GK, gun smoke would have dissipated.

Must have been group think too that none of them saw a gunman behind the picket fence.

There is no credible evidence of a gunman behind the picket fence or anywhere else other than the southeast corner window on the 6th floor of the TSBD.

[John Corbett]

Plus, a number of witnesses in the motorcade and on the knoll said they smelled the pungent odor of gunpowder near/on the grassy knoll.

Unless someone fired a shot while on Elm St., the smell of the gunpowder would have had to travel some distance from the firearm that discharged it. Ergo, the smell of gunpowder on Elm St. gives us no indication as to where the gunpowder was discharged from. Fortunately, we have plenty of evidence that does tell us where the gunpowder was discharged. All that evidence points to one and only one place. The sniper's nest in the TSBD.

[Royell Storing]

Unless someone fired a shot while on Elm St., the smell of the gunpowder would have had to travel some distance from the firearm that discharged it. Ergo, the smell of gunpowder on Elm St. gives us no indication as to where the gunpowder was discharged from. Fortunately, we have plenty of evidence that does tell us where the gunpowder was discharged. All that evidence points to one and only one place. The sniper's nest in the TSBD.

   So people at ground level reported smelling gun smoke, but no one reported smelling gun smoke inside the sniper's nest. How does this happen?

[Marjan Rynkiewicz]

An excerpt from page 121 of Mortal Error.
……….Finally, Donahue found a statement made by S M Holland.  Holland was a rail traffic supervisor with the Union Terminal Co.  He had watched the motorcade come down Elm St from atop the triple overpass, and he’d received considerable attention due to his claim that he’d seen a puff of smoke on the grassy knoll at the time of the shooting.  Holland’s observations about the Secret Service agent appeared in   The Scavengers and Critics of the Warren Report   , a 1967 book Donahue had read some years before:

Interviewer:  After the second time he was hit, what did the Secret Service men do?
Holland:  Well, i noticed that this Secret Service man stood up in the car, in the President’s car.
Interviewer:  When did he stand up in the car?
Holland:  Just about the same time the President was shot the second time. He jumped up in the seat and was standing up in the, on the seat. Now I actually thought when they started up, I actually thought he was shot, too, because he fell backwards just like he was shot, but it jerked him down when they started off.
Interviewer:  What did he do when he stood up?
Holland:  He pointed this machine gun right towards that grassy knoll behind that picket fence.

Holland was transfixed. Holland had put the gun in the agent’s hands at the moment the last shot was fired and said the agent then fell over………..

[Marjan Rynkiewicz]

Mortal Error was printed in 1991 & explains that SSA Hickey accidentally shot jfk with an AR15. Bonar Menninger wrote the book & Howard Donahue provided the info.
Donahue realized that Oswald did not fire the headshot in Feb 1968.
Donahue realized that an agent in the follow up car might have fired the headshot in March 1967.
Donahue realized that agent Hickey fired the headshot in about Sept 1968.
In 2024 it was discovered that Hickey had fired an accidental autoburst of at least 4 shots, the last shot being the headshot.
However the first mention in print was in The Sun Magazine on May 8 1977... that a SSA in the follow up car had fired the headshot.
However the first mention that the headshot was an accident was made by SSA Clint Hill on Nov 22 1963.