JFK Page #52

FLASHBACK TO the restaged shooting. The smoke hangs under

the trees.

CUT TO Richard Dodd on the overpass. He's a cowboy type

with a hat and an even thicker accent than Holland.

DODD:

(pointing)

...we, all four of us, all railroad

men, standing here, seen about the

same thing. The smoke came from

behind the hedge - and a motorcycle

policeman dropped his cycle in the

street and run up the embankment...

FLASHBACK to the motorcycle...

BACK TO 1967. Jim and Lou walk with Dodd and Holland near

the picket fence. We feel the emptiness of the area now and

see the normal amount of traffic driving by.

HOLLAND:

...we came around here to look for

tracks. It rained that morning and

we found a bunch of cigarette butts.

Someone'd been standing about here...

The camera shows the "spot" and Lou sighting.

LOU:

This is a good spot, chief, for the

head shot.

Jim looks, reliving the moment.

Later Jim and Lou stand on the south side of Elm Street in

Dealey Plaza talking to Jean Hill, an attractive, 30-ish

teacher. Her demeanor has a rock-solid Texas back-country

conviction to it; she's a woman not easily frightened.

JEAN HILL:

I was standing here next to my friend

Mary Mooman, who took the photograph

when he was killed...

We see a flash of the Moorman photograph - a blurry Polaroid

with the President in the foreground and the picket fence in

background. We will return to this photograph in more detail

later.

JEAN HILL:

I jumped out in the street and yelled,

"Hey Mr. President, look over here,

we wanna take your picture." He

looked up and then shots rang out.

Mary fell to the ground right away,

shouting, "Get down, they're shooting,

get down, they're shooting." I knew

it but I was moving to get closer to

him. The driver had stopped - I

don't know what was wrong with that

driver. And then, out of the corner

of my eye, I saw this flash of light,

in the bushes and that last shot...

just ripped his head off, I mean,

blood, brains, just blew everything...

FLASHBACK TO the day of the shooting. We hear the sound of

shots and see the Grassy Knoll from Jean's point of view.

JEAN HILL:

I looked up and saw smoke from the

Knoll. And everything was frozen -

seemed like people wasn't even

breathing, like you're looking at a

picture - except this one guy. I

saw this one guy running from the

Book Depository towards the railroad

tracks. And that was the same man I

saw on TV two days later shooting

Oswald. That was Jack Ruby. No

question about it.

Blurry image - we're not at all sure what or who or if...

but a seed is planted. We see smoke - the same smoke Bowers

saw... then Jack Ruby in a brown coat running from the Book

Depository toward the railroad tracks. Then we see Jean's

view as she runs toward the Knoll along with others. there

are yells, shouts, and general confusion.

JEAN HILL:

It was him I was chasing up the Grassy

Knoll, thinking our guys had shot

back and maybe we got one of them.

I don't know what I would have done

if I had caught him, but I knew

something terrible had happened and

somebody had to do something.

At the picket fence, we see blurry images of police officers,

railroad workers, cigarette butts, buddy footprints,

confusion...

*JEAN HILL

I never did catch him. All I saw in

that parking area were railroad

workers and Dallas' finest.

Two Secret Service types approach her suddenly, and one of

them puts an arm on her shoulder.

FIRST AGENT:

Secret Service, ma'am. You're coming

with us.

JEAN HILL:

Oh no, I'm not. I don't know you.

We gotta catch this shooter - don't

you realize?

SECOND AGENT:

(grabbing her other

shoulder)

I said you're coming with us. I

want the pictures in your pocket.

JEAN HILL (V.O.)

...he put a hurt on me but good.

JEAN HILL:

I don't have any pictures! I have

to go back and find my friend Mary.

Lemme alone!

The two agents hustle her away.

FIRST AGENT:

Hush! Just smile and keep walking.

Hill, 32 years old that day, is shown into a third floor

office of the County Courts Building - which has a view of

the assassination area. Other Secret Service agents are

there. Some 18 people are detained there.

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