Lee Bowers was born in
Dallas in 1925. He served in the US Navy
during the Second World War. On his return to
the United States he attended Hardin Simmons University and Southern
Methodist University. After finishing his education Bowers he worked
as a self-employed builder. Later he was employed as a signalman by
the Union Terminal Company.
On 22nd November, 1963,
Bowers was working in a high tower overlooking the Dealey Plaza in
Dallas. He had a good view of the presidential motorcade and was able
to tell the Warren
Commission about
the three cars that entered the forbidden area just before the assassination
of John
F. Kennedy.
Bowers also
reported seeing two men standing near the picket fence on the Grassy
Knoll. He added: "These men were the only two strangers in
the area. The others were workers whom I knew." Bowers said the
two men were there while
the shots were fired.
Mark
Lane interviewed
Bowers for his book Rush to Judgment
(1966): "At the time of the shooting, in the vicinity of where
the two men I have described were, there was a flash of light or,
as far as I am concerned, something I could not identify, but there
was something which occurred which caught my eye in this immediate
area on the embankment. Now, what this was, I could not state at that
time and at this time I could not identify it, other than there was
some unusual occurrence - a flash of light or smoke or something which
caused me to feel like something out of the ordinary had occurred
there."
According to W.
Penn Jones Jr, the editor of the Texas
Midlothian Mirror, Bowers received death threats after
giving evidence to the Warren
Commission and
Mark
Lane.
On 9th August, 1966, Lee
Bowers was killed when his car left the road and crashed into a concrete
abutment in Midlothian, Texas. Robert
J. Groden later
reported "Lee Bowers was heading west here on highway sixty-seven
heading from Midlothian down to Cleburne and according to an eyewitness
he was driven off the road by a black car. Drove him into this bridge
abutment. He didn't die immediately, he held on for four hours and
during that time he was talking to the ambulance people and told them
that he felt he had been drugged when he stopped for coffee back there
a few miles in Midlothian."
Forum Debate on the Kennedy Assassination
Forum Debate on Lee Bowers
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Namebase: Lee Bowers
(1)
Lee Bowers was interviewed by Joseph
A. Ball on behalf of the Warren Commission
(2nd April, 1964)
Joseph A. Ball: Close to noon, did you make any observation of the
area around between your tower and Elm Street?
Lee
Bowers: Yes; because of the fact that the area had been covered by
police for some 2 hours. Since approximately 10 o'clock in the morning
traffic had been cut off into the area so that anyone moving around
could actually be observed. Since I had worked there for a number
of years I was familiar with most of the people who came in and out
of the area.
Joseph
A. Ball: Did you notice any cars around there?
Lee
Bowers: Yes; there were three cars that came in during the time from
around noon until the time of the shooting.
Joseph
A. Ball: Came in where?
Lee
Bowers: They came into the vicinity of the tower, which was at the
extension of Elm Street, which runs in front of the School Depository,
'and which there is no way out. It is not a through street to anywhere.
Joseph
A. Ball: There is parking area behind the School Depository, between
that building and your tower?
Lee
Bowers: Two or three railroad tracks and a small amount of parking
area for the employees.
Joseph
A. Ball: And the first came along that you noticed about what time
of day ?
Lee
Bowers: I do not recall the exact time, but I believe this was approximately
12:10, wouldn't be too far off.
Joseph
A. Ball: And the car you noticed, when you noticed the car, where
was it?
Lee
Bowers: The car proceeded in front of the School Depository down across
2 or 3 tracks and circled the area in front of the tower, and to the
west of the tower, and, as if he was searching for a way out, or was
checking the area, and then proceeded back through the only way he
could, the same outlet he came into.
Joseph
A. Ball: The place where Elm dead ends?
Lee
Bowers: That's right. Back in front of the School Depository was the
only way he could get out. And I lost sight of him, I couldn't watch
him.
Joseph
A. Ball: What was
the description of that car?
Lee
Bowers: The first
car was a 1959 Oldsmobile, blue and white station wagon with out-of-State
license.
Joseph
A. Ball: Do you
know what State?
Lee
Bowers: No; I do
not. I would know it, I could identify it, I think, if I looked at
a list.
Joseph
A. Ball: And, it
had something else, some bumper stickers?
Lee
Bowers: Had a bumper
sticker, one of which was a Goldwater sticker, and the other of which
was of some scenic location, I think.
Joseph
A. Ball: And, did
you see another car?
Mr. BOWERS.
Yes, some 15 minutes or so after this, at approximately 12 o'clock,
20 to 12... I guess 12:20 would be close to it, little time differential
there... but there was another car which was a 1957 black Ford, with
one male in it that seemed to have a mike or telephone or something
that gave the appearance of that at least.
Joseph
A. Ball: How could
you tell that?
Lee
Bowers: He was holding
something up to his mouth with one hand and he was driving with the
other, and gave that appearance. He was very close to the tower. I
could see him as he proceeded around the area.
Joseph
A. Ball: What kind
of license did that have?
Lee
Bowers: Had a Texas
license.
Joseph
A. Ball: What did
it do as it came into the area, from what street?
Lee
Bowers: Came in
from the extension of Elm Street in front of the School Depository.
Joseph
A. Ball: Did you
see it leave?
Lee
Bowers: Yes; after
3 or 4 minutes cruising around the area it departed the same way.
He did probe a little further into the area than the first car.
Joseph
A. Ball: Did you
see another car?
Lee
Bowers: Third car,
which entered the area, which was some seven or nine minutes before
the shooting, I believe was a 1961 or 1962 Chevrolet, four-door Impala,
white, showed signs of being on the road. It was muddy up to the windows,
bore a similar out-of-state license to the first car I observed, occupied
also by one white male.
Joseph
A. Ball: What did
it do?
Lee
Bowers: He spent
a little more time in the area. He tried - he circled the area and
probed one spot right at the tower in an attempt to get and was forced
to back out some considerable distance, and slowly cruised down back
towards the front of the School Depository Building.
Joseph
A. Ball: Then did
he leave?
Lee
Bowers: The last
I saw of him he was pausing just about in - just above the assassination
site.
Joseph
A. Ball: Did the
car park, or continue on or did you notice?
Lee
Bowers: Whether
it continued on at that very moment or whether it pulled up only a
short distance, I couldn't tell. I was busy.
Joseph
A. Ball: How long
was this before the President's car passed there?
Lee
Bowers: This last
car? About 8 minutes.
Joseph
A. Ball: Were you
in a position where you could see the corner of Elm and Houston from
the tower?
Lee
Bowers: No; I could
not see the corner of Elm and Houston. I could see the corner of Main
and Houston as they came down and turned on, then I couldn't see it
for about half a block, and after they passed the corner of Elm and
Houston the car came in sight again.
Joseph
A. Ball: You saw
the President's car coming out the Houston Street from Main, did you?
Lee
Bowers: Yes; I saw
that.
Joseph
A. Ball: Then you
lost sight of it?
Lee
Bowers: Right. For
a moment.
Joseph
A. Ball: Then you
saw it again where?
Lee
Bowers: It came
in sight after it had turned the corner of Elm and Houston.
Joseph
A. Ball: Did you
hear anything?
Lee
Bowers: I heard three
shots. One, then a slight pause, then two very close together. Also
reverberation from the shots.
Joseph
A. Ball: And were
you able to form an opinion as to the source of the sound or what
direction it came from, I mean?
Lee
Bowers: The sounds
came either from up against the School Depository Building or near
the mouth of the triple underpass.
Joseph
A. Ball: Were you
able to tell which?
Lee
Bowers: No; I could
not.
(2)
Anthony
Summers, The
Kennedy Conspiracy (1980)
One witness was in a better
position than anyone else to observe suspicious activity by the fence
at the top of the grassy knoll. This was railway worker Lee Bowers,
perched in a signal box which commanded a unique view of the area
behind the fence. Bowers said that, shortly before the shots were
fired, he noticed two men standing near the fence.
One was "middle-aged"
and "fairly heavyset," wearing a white shirt and dark trousers.
The other was "mid-twenties in either a plaid shirt or plaid
coat... these men were the only two strangers in the area. The others
were workers that I knew." Bowers also said that when the shots
were fired at the President "in the vicinity of where the two
men I have described were, there was a flash of light, something I
could not identify, but there was something which occurred which caught
my eye in this immediate area on the embankment... a flash of light
or smoke or something which caused me to feel that something out of
the ordinary had occurred there." Lee Bowers was questioned by
the Warren Commission but was cut off in mid-sentence when he began
describing the "something out of the ordinary" he had seen.
The interrogating lawyer changed the subject.
(3)
Lee E. Bowers, interviewed by Mark
Lane for his book Rush
to Judgment (1966)
At the time of the shooting, in the vicinity of where the two men
I have described were, there was a flash of light or, as far as I
am concerned, something
I could not identify, but there was something which occurred
which caught my eye in this immediate area on the embankment.
Now, what this was, I could not state at that time and at this time
I could not identify
it, other than there was some unusual occurrence - a flash
of light or smoke or something which caused me to feel like something
out of the ordinary had occurred there.
(4)
Matthew Smith,
JFK: The Second Plot (1992)
Chevrolet. It entered
just "seven to nine minutes before the shooting" and also
bore a Goldwater campaign sticker. The
Chevrolet also was bespattered by red mud and spent rather longer
circling the area,
driving very close to the 14-foot tower in which Bowers was.
It slowly cruised away, pausing at the point which became the assassination
spot.
Bowers also reported that
he saw two men standing near the picket fence just before the President
was killed. One he described as middle-aged and heavy-set and the
other in his mid-twenties, wearing a plaid shirt or a plaid coat or
jacket. The descriptions came very close to those rendered by Julia
Ann Mercer of the two men she had seen in the green pick-up truck.
"These men were the only two strangers in the area" said
Bowers. "The others were workers whom I knew." Bowers said
the two men were there while
the shots were fired.
(5)
Robert
J. Groden, High
Treason (1989)
Lee Bowers was heading west here on highway sixty-seven heading from
Midlothian down to Cleburne and according to an eyewitness he was
driven off the road by a black car. Drove him into this bridge abutment.
He didn't die immediately, he held on for four hours and during that
time he was talking to the ambulance people and told them that he
felt he had been drugged when he stopped for coffee back there a few
miles in Midlothian.
(6)
Charles Good, member of the Texas Highway Patrol, formed the opinion
that another car forced the Bowers' vehicle off the road. He was interviewed
about the accident in 1991.
I spoke with an old boy who was repairing fences at the time of the
accident. He said he saw two cars coming down the road one behind
the other. He turned away for a moment, heard a crash and looked back.
One car had hit a bridge abutment and the other kept going.
(7)
Gerald
Posner, Case Closed (1993)
Since Bowers's car
drove off the highway into a concrete abutment, there was suspicion
he might have been forced off the road. Researcher David Perry, in
"The Lee Bowers Story," (published in the Third Decade,
an assassination newsletter), conclusively proved that Bower's death
was accidental.
(8)
David Perry, Lee
Bowers Story (1992)
Monty Bowers (the
brother of Lee Bowers) concluded Lee's allergies contributed to his
death. Both Monty and Lee had severe allergies and were prone to fits
of sneezing. They took antihistamines that provided little relief.
Monty told representatives of the insurance company his allergies
bothered him that day. He assumed Lee experienced similar symptoms.
Could it be, Lee took antihistamines, dozed off and struck the abutment?
Is it possible a sneezing fit caused him to loose control of the vehicle?
In my view the answer is yes. I will modify my opinion when someone
comes forward with verifiable facts to the contrary.
(9)
David Welsh, Ramparts (November,
1966)
Lee Bowers' testimony is perhaps as explosive as any recorded
by the Warren Commission. He was one of 65 known witnesses to the
President's assassination who thought shots were fired from the area
of the Grassy Knoll. (The Knoll is west of the Texas School Book Depository.)
But more than that, he was in a unique position to observe some pretty
strange behavior in the Knoll area during and immediately before the
assassination.
Bowers, then a towerman
with the Union Terminal Company, was stationed in his 14-foot tower
directly behind the Grassy Knoll. As he faced the assassination site,
he could see the railroad overpass to his right front. Directly in
front of him was a parking lot, and then a wooden stockade fence and
a row of trees running along the top of the Grassy Knoll. The Knoll
sloped down to the spot on Elm Street where Kennedy was killed. Police
had "cut off" traffic into the parking area, Bowers said,
"so that anyone moving around could actually be observed."
Bowers made two significant
observations which he revealed to the Commission. First, he saw three
unfamiliar cars slowly cruising around the parking area in the 35
minutes before the assassination; the first two left after a few minutes.
The driver of the second car appeared to be talking into "a mike
or telephone" - "he was holding something up to his mouth
with one hand and he was driving with the other." A third car,
with out-of-state plates and mud up to the windows, probed all around
the parking area. Bowers last remembered seeing it about eight minutes
before the shooting, pausing "just above the assassination site."
He gave detailed descriptions of the cars and their drivers.
Bowers also observed two
unfamiliar men standing on top of the Knoll at the edge of the parking
lot, within 10 or 15 feet of each other - "one man, middle-aged
or slightly older, fairly heavy-set, in a white shirt, fairly dark
trousers. Another younger man, about mid-twenties, in either a plaid
shirt or a plaid coat or jacket." Both were facing toward Elm
and Houston, where the motorcade would be coming from. They were the
only strangers he remembered seeing. His description shows a remarkable
similarity to Julia Ann Mercer's description of two unidentified men
climbing the knoll.
When the shots rang out,
Bowers' attention was drawn to the area where he had seen the two
men; he could still make out the one in the white shirt - "the
darker dressed man was too hard to distinguish from the trees."
He observed "some commotion" at that spot, "...something
out of the ordinary, a sort of milling around...which attracted my
eye for some reason, which I could not identify." At that moment,
he testified, a motorcycle policeman left the Presidential motorcade
and roared up the Grassy Knoll straight to where the two mysterious
gentlemen were standing behind the fence. The policeman dismounted,
Bowers recalled, then after a moment climbed on his motorcycle and
drove off. Later, in a film interview with attorney Mark Lane, he
explained that the "commotion" that caught his eye may have
been "a flash of light or smoke." His information dovetails
with what other witnesses observed from different vantage points.
On the morning of August
9, 1966, Lee Bowers, now the vice-president of a construction firm,
was driving south from Dallas on business. He was two miles from Midlothian
when his brand new company car veered from the road and hit a bridge
abutment. A farmer who saw it said the car was going 50 miles an hour,
a slow speed for that road. There were no skidmarks to indicate braking.
Bowers died of his wounds
at 1 p.m. in a Dallas hospital. He was 41. There was no autopsy, and
he was cremated soon afterward. Doctors saw no evidence that he had
suffered a heart attack. A doctor from Midlothian, who rode in the
ambulance with Bowers, noticed something peculiar about the victim.
"He was in a strange state of shock," the old doctor said,
"a different kind of shock than an accident victim experiences.
I can't explain it. I've never seen anything like it."
Bowers widow at first insisted
to Penn Jones that there was nothing suspicious about her husband's
death. Then she became flustered and said: "They told him not
to talk."
(10)
Gary
Richard Schoener, Fair
Play Magazine, A
Legacy of Fear (May,
2000)
Lee Bowers Jr. was in a unique position during the assassination of
the President, sitting in the Union Terminal Company switchtower in
the parking lot next to the Book Depository Building. In front of
Bowers were the picket fence and the famed "grassy knoll"
from which many witnesses felt some shots were fired. Bowers testified
to the movement of three strange cars in the railroad yards during
the half hour preceding the shots, to the presence of two men near
the fence who "were the only two strangers in the area', and
to an unusual occurrence down on the grassy knoll at the time of the
shots. This testimony is commonly cited in books critical of the Warren
Report as supportive of the theory that some shots came from the grassy
knoll area, indicating that the president was killed in a crossfire
(and therefore as the result of a conspiracy). But at least one associate
of Bowers and several independent investigators claim that Bowers
had seen more than he indicated in his relatively brief testimony
to the Warren Commission. They claim that he saw things following
the shots beyond those which he testified to. At this point there
is no way of asking Lee Bowers Jr. if he has more to say, because
he died on August 9, 1966.
The cause of death was
a multitude of injuries suffered when his car suddenly left the road
and crashed. No other cars were involved and it was a clear, sunny
day. There was no obvious cause for the accident. Several Warren Report
critics report that interviews with some of the attending physicians
indicated that he was in an unusual state of shock which was atypical
of accident victims and which they could not explain. A Warren Report
defender, however, claims that one of the physicians told him that
it appeared that Bowers had a coronary. In any event, Bowers is no
longer with us.
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