22-Nov-63

On the morning of November 22, Ed Hoffman, twenty-seven year old, was excused from his job in a machine shop at Texas Instruments North Dallas because had had broken a tooth. While he was driving to the dentist, he was reminded by seeing the crowds of people along the street that President Kennedy was visiting Dallas that day. Hoffman momentarily forgot about his tooth and decided to stop and see the president, who was expected a little less than an hour. He parked his car on the broad shoulder of Stemmons Freeway just west of the freeway into Dealey Plaza, and walked to a point where he would able able to look down from the freeway into the president's car when it passed below him. He found he also had a panoramic view of the railroad bridge at Dealey Plaza and the area adjoining it behind the wooden fence at the top of the grassy knoll.


Although he was standing beside a freeway roaring with traffic, he heard none of it. He explained later his attention to what he was seeing: "I think my vision is much sharper than a hearing person's, because I concentrate totally on what I'm seeing and there are no sounds to distract me. I was really enjoying the view."

In the forty-five minutes before the presidential motorcade arrived, Ed Hoffman became completely absorbed in the watching the activities of two men behind the stockade fence at the top of the grassy knoll. He saw a stocky man in a dark blue business suit and black hat standing near the fence. In Ed Hoffman's mind, this was the "suit man." The second man Hoffman observed was tall, thin, and dressed like a railroad worker. The "railroad man" stood waiting by the switch box at the railroad tracks, after passing across the bridge, ran perpendicular to the fence. Hoffman was puzzled by the fact that the two men, although dressed quite differently, seemed to be working together. The "suit man" kept walking back and forth between the fence and the switch box, where he would confer with the "railroad man."

Hoffman also noticed two cars drive into the parking lot behind the fence: first, a white four-door; then a light green Rambler station wagon. Hoffman thought the drivers were looking or parking spaces. After driving through the parking lot, the Rambler station wagon parked near a railroad switching tower. Ed Hoffman's sharp eye had just spotted a vehicle that he and other witnesses would identify as a getaway vehicle in the hour ahead.

When Hoffman sensed that the presidential limousine (which he could not see) was approaching, he saw the "suit man" walk over to the "railroad man" a final time, speak briefly, and return to the fence. The "suit man" crouched down and stood up, apparently picking something up. He looked over the fence. In the silent drama Ed Hoffman was watching, he then saw a puff of smoke by the "suit man". He assumed it was from a cigarette. He soon realized the smoke had come from the firing of a rifle he was unable to hear.

Hoffman saw the "suit man" turn suddenly with a rifle in hands. He ran to the "railroad" man," tossing the rifle to him over a thin, horizontal pipe about four feet off the ground. The "railroad man" caught the rifle, breaking it down with a twist. He thrust it in a railroad worker's soft brown tool bag and ran north along the tracks. The "suit man" turned back, assumed a casual pose, and began strolling alongside the fence.

A police officer came quickly around the fence and confronted the "suit man" with a revolver. The "suit man" held out his empty hands. He then took what was apparently identification out of his coat pocket and showed it to the police officer. The officer put his gun away. The "suit man" mingled with the crowd of people that was coming around the fence. He then walked over to the Rambler wagon and got in on the passenger side. The Rambler station wagon drove out of the parking lot along the north side of the [Texas School Book Depository]. Hoffman last saw this vehicle as it made a right turn onto the Houston Street.

Ed Hoffman's attention switched to the presidential limousine, as it was then being driven below him onto Stemmons Freeway. He looked down on President Kennedy's body sprawled across the back seat, with a gaping wound in his right rear skull. It looked like bloody jello.