Yes. Several witnesses reported smoke at the knoll fence.

The record includes sworn testimony and statements from multiple people who say they saw smoke or a puff near the fence and trees on the grassy knoll. That they said so is well documented. Eyewitness recollections of a chaotic event vary, and the smoke is not physical proof of a shot from there. Official investigations and later forensic reviews did not establish a gunman on the knoll, though the question remains debated in public.

• Railroad worker S.M. Holland, watching from the overpass, testified to the Warren Commission that he saw a puff of smoke under the trees by the fence.
• Other witnesses, including some on the overpass and in the plaza, gave similar accounts. Lee Bowers, in a railway tower behind the fence, reported something unusual there, such as a flash or smoke.
• Modern smokeless powder produces little visible smoke, which critics of the smoke accounts point to.
• The Warren Commission (1964) concluded all shots came from the Texas School Book Depository. The 1979 House Select Committee on Assassinations suggested a probable conspiracy based on acoustic evidence, but a 1982 National Academy of Sciences review rejected that evidence.
• Possible non-gunfire sources of the smoke, such as steam or vehicle exhaust, have been suggested.

The historical record clearly supports answering yes to whether anyone reported seeing smoke in that area. Holland’s testimony connected the smoke’s location with trees near the fence and a nearby parked station wagon. Whether the witnesses correctly identified smoke, and what produced it, are separate questions that their accounts alone cannot settle.

• Holland testified to the Warren Commission on April 8, 1964, that he saw a puff of smoke beneath trees on the knoll.
• He described the smoke as approximately six to eight feet above the ground.
• The House Select Committee on Assassinations acknowledged smoke or light-flash reports from several witnesses, but its photographic analysis found neither.

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During the November 22, 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, a group of railroad workers viewed the motorcade from the Triple Underpass facing the grassy knoll. Several of them, most prominently S. M. Holland, gave sworn testimony or official statements that they heard gunshots and simultaneously observed a puff of gray smoke lingering beneath the trees near the wooden stockade fence. While the Warren Commission determined that all shots originated from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository and found no physical evidence of a shooter behind the fence, the historical record is clear that multiple eyewitnesses reported seeing smoke in that location.

• Railroad signal supervisor S. M. Holland testified to the Warren Commission that he saw a puff of smoke drift out from under the trees by the picket fence.
• Other railroad workers standing on the Triple Underpass overpass, including Austin Miller and James Simmons, also reported seeing smoke near the knoll.
• Dallas police officer Joe Marshall Smith and several bystanders reported smelling gunpowder behind the wooden fence immediately after the shooting.
• The 1964 Warren Commission concluded that all shots were fired from the Texas School Book Depository, discounting visual reports of smoke on the knoll.
• The 1979 House Select Committee on Assassinations investigated the grassy knoll witness reports alongside acoustic evidence before concluding Lee Harvey Oswald fired the fatal shots.

Taken literally, the question is whether anyone reported seeing smoke by the fence at the grassy knoll, and that is documented: several bystanders and police officers gave sworn accounts of smoke, a flash, or a gunpowder smell at the knoll fence on 22 November 1963. The further claim that the smoke came from a second shooter is not settled, so this answer covers the reports themselves, not the shooting interpretation.

• Railroad employees working on the triple underpass, including Sam Holland, Austin Miller and Thomas Murphy, are among the witnesses who described smoke or a flash near the fence at the top of the grassy knoll.
• Dallas police officers who ran up the knoll, including Joe Marshall Smith and Seymour Weitzman, reported smelling gunpowder in the area.
• The Warren Commission (1964) concluded that all shots were fired from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository and treated the knoll reports as mistaken.
• The House Select Committee on Assassinations (1979) concluded that a conspiracy was probable and that a second shot likely came from the knoll, based partly on disputed acoustic evidence; the National Academy of Sciences criticized that acoustic analysis in 1982.
• A common alternative explanation offered for the smoke and powder smell is exhaust or a backfire from police motorcycles parked near the knoll.

The claim about smoke by the fence at the grassy knoll is a long-standing conspiracy theory related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Despite extensive investigations, including the Warren Commission (1964) and the House Select Committee on Assassinations (1978), no credible evidence has emerged to support the idea that smoke was seen or that a shooter was present at that location. Witness accounts and photographic evidence from the scene do not corroborate the claim. While some conspiracy theories persist, they rely on anecdotal or disputed accounts that lack verification.

• The grassy knoll is a location in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, associated with the JFK assassination.
• No witness statements in the Warren Commission or House Select Committee on Assassinations reports mention smoke by the fence.
• Photographs and films from the scene do not show smoke near the fence.
• Conspiracy theories about smoke often reference unclear or disputed accounts, but none are verified.
• Official investigations concluded no evidence of a second shooter at the grassy knoll.