-George Lardner Washnitan Poststfieitroii !There. via*. lift. acres:M*1,, horribi*oar,!Iceilie Con ' empliatioally-Of the Moitie014.4fter shots wqe fired. "It ..wes...3' )t-:6111). terriblelide." Quietly 'but vividly, RS thougli• it had just happened, former Texas,Overnor JohnConnally, and his4.,49 Pe9Vd. before the House Assissinataebs Cot*, ; mittee yesterday to xecOMit thin.- :- der of .PreSident John • F:.:erinedy i n Dallas ton Nov, 22, 1963. the first 'thnO he who had been titling with Pres- ident and Mrs. Kennedy that 'day in the fatal motorcade, had ever testified publicly under oath. The Warren Commission, whose penchant for' se- crecy helped give rise to the current inquiry, heard from them only in ex= ecutive session, spending less than,an hour with the gOVernor and only five mintites with, his wife. They xeliVed every moment yester- day. for 4:mm4y:three hours, differing on some ,poigith' slightly revising 0th- Os that asSissination- investigation critic's will undoubtedly seize upon and-chew upon for still more Years to %/me- C'onnally co4tnended the commit- tee .for- undertaking the thankless tagt: But he said he Wag equally sure it would fail to stop all ,the- anet lion and dispel all the runiora's about the Warren Commissiores elusion the ass,estsixattfon was the work of Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone. The Connally% 'C'onfined ti*mselies- whit they heard and saw. She re- inenlbered three sbots. Wounded' by one, of theni, he heard only two Both By Jatnes'It. W:AtherOn—The Washington Pod' See KENNEDY, 46, Col. 1 John, Nellie ,Connally: she "saw president clutch his hands to his neck."

KENNEDY, From Al Commission concluded that there the president's first wound, and that were three, one of which missed the a major concession, declaring now agreed they all came from above and presidential limousine, one of which behind them, from the direction of (the so-called "magic bullet") wounded that it "might well be" that the single- the Texas School Book Depository, both Kennedy and Connally, and one bullet theory was correct after all and where Oswald worked. which finally killed the president, lit- that he and Kennedy were wounded "We may be wrong" about the pre- erally blowing up his brain. cise sequence or timing of the shots, by the same shot, passing through Connally said at one point, but he re- Despite that, Nellie Connally and both the president and Connally be- jected suggestions that his or Mrs. until-yesterday, her husband, had al- fore it lodged in the Texas governor's ways insisted without reservation that Connally's memories might have over left thigh. dimmed with the years. Connally and Kennedy were wounded "The things we do remember to- by separate bullets, before the fatal Mrs. Connally had no such reserva- day," he said in solemn tones, "Are as shot was fired. Indirectly at least, that tions. The first shot, she said posi- indelibly etched in our minds as any- conflicts with the Warren Commis- tively, hit Kennedy; a second bullet thing ever could be." sion's findings because it fails to ex- hit her husband, and the third killed The crucial questioning concerned plain the bullet that missed, the one the president, spewing blood and the number of shots that were fired an entirely separate shot struck me brain tissue all over the car. and where they landed. The Warren ... it's a certainty. I'll never change "I heard a noise that I didn't think my mind." of as a gunshot," she told the commit- Yesterday, however, Connally made tee under questioning by Deputy that hit a curbstone several hundred Chief Counsel Gary T. Cornwell. Sit- feet in front of the presidential, car ting in a jumpseat next to her hus- and kicked up a concrete fragment, band and in front of the Kennedys, nicking a bystander in the cheek. The Mr. Connally said she "looked in Warren Commission concluded that back and saw the president clutch his Oswald could have fired three shots hands to his neck. He said nothing. He but no more. Another shot would sug- just slumped down in the seat." gest the presence of a second gunman. "John had turned to his right and Undeterred by such mathematics, shouted, `No, no, no,' " Nellie Con- Connally told Life magazine in 1966 nally recalled. Then, "the second shot that he was positive he and the presi- was fired and hit him. He [Connally] dent were hit by separate shots. was in the process of turning (back "There is my absolute knowledge, around again, this time to his left]. and Nellie's, too", he was quoted as His hand was on his knee. The bullet saying then, "that one bullet caused went through him." Mrs, Connally said she tought her see blood and brain tissue all over the tified, with somewhat more delibera. husband was dead but instinctively car. We were covered. There were lit- tion than previously believe& pulled him down into her lap. tle pieces of brain tissue as big as To some, Mrs. Kennedy, who could "The only thing I could think of your little finger." not recall the incident, seemed to be was to pull him down, so maybe they At that, Nellie Connally- remem- trying to get out of the car until she wouldn't hurt him any more," she tes- bered, Jacqueline Kennedy cried out, was pushed back in by a Secret Serv- tified, as her husband listened, brus- "They've killed my husband. I have ice agent, but Groden said, a closer ing tears from his eyes with a hand- his brains in my hand." look at the film shows the agent kerchief. "I never looked back [at the The famous Zapruder film, played "barely touches her forearm. She Kennedys'] after John was hit." repeatedly after the Connallys testi- climbs back in herself." Both, however, heard the final shot, fied yesterday afternoon at various "It appears she had some specific the one that killed the president speeds to illustrate various points, purpose" in climbing out of the back "It had a very pronounced impact," seat for just a moment, Groden con- showed Mrs. Kennedy crawling onto cluded. "It would appear she picked Connally said, slamming his hands to- the rear of the car, hut, as photo- gether with a loud thwack. "I could up a piece of skull or brain matter graphic consultant Robert Groden tes- that had blown out."