H ER E AND THERE
67
the same villains, "the media." He then did an analysis of the Warren
Commission itself and, without touching on the Chief Justice himself
yet, ticked off Russell, Boggs, etc., as either reactionaries or racists.
At 9:40
P.M.
it was clear that if no conspiracy had existed against
John F. Kennedy then one certainly did exist against Mark Lane. No
"good
guys" appeared in his speech to that moment; other than, I mean,
the dead President, the dead and maligned Oswald, and the endangered
Mark Lane.
The young man beside me was a law student at a Catholic uni–
versity. He made notes.
"Listen," he whispered
to
me after Lane had talked an hour,
"what do you think? He's got some good points, hasn't he? What's he
got to gain by this otherwise? Only I wish he'd get to the points of
law. I hear he makes a good case."
Lane's pace suddenly quickened. A map of the parade route in
Dallas was illuminated; Lane carefully pointed to the turns, the under–
pass the knoll, the book depository, the location of witnesses. He then
struck. His first concrete demonstration- an affidavit flashed up on
the screen in print still too small to see--John Kennedy was shot from
the
front,
not fmm behind. Eyewitnesses-the Warren Commission had
no interest in them- told of the gun going off on the grassy knoll. The
eyewitness who "saw" Lee Harvey Oswald and gave his description
could not possibly have seen a kneeling man and known how tall he
was, etc.
I saw tears in many eyes around me. Why would anyone say a
bullet came from behind and above when it didn't-unless . . . ? And
how could anyone flash a description of Oswald whom he couldn't
see--unless . . .
?
A dead young President, shadows everywhere--the
tears in the eyes were brimming. Lane followed quickly with his
demonstration that the gun had first been reported as German, not
Italian, and by an expert who held it in his hand long enough to
describe its leather strap with absolute accuracy.
The villains multiplied. Now he had to bring himself in as a
witness before the Warren Commission, and expose their refusal to
listen to what it was he said about the rifle--not that its country of
origin was stamped on it but that its trade name and bore were clear
for the reading and expert evaluation. Next came the number of shots
and Oswald's expert rating as a marksman: not three but at least four
bullets have been found, Lane said, and nobody-not even the best
marksman in all America-could get off
four
shots in less than fifteen
seconds. Therefore, there must have been more than one shooter ;
