Reply With Quote
William T. Finley, Jr.
Josephine M. Farrar
William T. Finley, Jr.
Dennis M. Flannery
James C. Gaither
Stephen R. Goldstein
Patricia E. Gormley
Jeanne C. Hauer
Beverly A. Heckman
Sadie M. Hennigan
Lela B. Hewlett
Page 482
Elaine Johnson
Vivian Johnson
Pearl G. Kamber
Sharon Kegarise
Adele W. Lippard
David T. Luhm
Ella M. McCall
Louise S. McKenzie
Michael W. Maupin
Jean H. Millard
Seresa Mintor
Maurice Moore
Mary L. Norton
Vaughnie Perry
Jane W. Peter
Edward R. Pierpoint
James H. Pipkin, Jr.
S. Paul Posner
Douglas Prather
Monroe Price
Lucille Ann Robinson
Suzanne Rolston
Mary Ann Rowcotsky
Carolyn A. Schweinsberg
Ruth D. Shirley
Ray Shurtleff
Helen Tarko
Jane M. Vida
Jay Vogelson
Anne V. Welsh
Margaret C. Yager
he following is a list of the 552 witnesses whose testimony has been presented to the Commission. Witnesses who appeared before members of the Commission have a "C" following their names; those questioned during depositions by members of the Commission's legal staff are indicated by a "D"; and those who supplied affidavits and statements are similarly identified with "A" and "S". The brief descriptions of the witnesses pertain either to the time of their testimony or to the time of the events concerning which they testified.
Witness Description Testimony
Ables, Don R. D Jail Clerk, Dallas Police Department Vol. VII, p. 239
Abt, John J. D New York City attorney Vol. X, p. 116
Adamcik, John P. D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. VII, p. 202
Adams, R. L. AD Placement interviewer, Texas Employment Commission Vol. X, p. 136; Vol. XI, p. 480
Adams, Victoria Elizabeth D Employee, Texas School Book Depository (TSBD) Vol. VI, p. 386
Akin, Gene Coleman D Doctor, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 63
Alba, Adrian Thomas D Acquaintance of Oswald in New Orleans Vol. X, p. 219
Allen, Mrs. J. U. A Secretary, Chamberlin-Hunt Academy Vol. XI, p. 472
Altgens, James W. D Witness at assassination scene Vol. VII, p. 515
Anderson, Eugene D. D Marine Corps marksmanship expert Vol. XI, p. 301
Andrews, Dean Adams, Jr. D New Orleans attorney Vol. XI, p. 325
Applin, George Jefferson, Jr. D Witness of Oswald arrest Vol. VII, p. 85
Arce, Danny G. D Employee, TSBD Vol. VI, p. 363
Archer, Don Ray D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. XII, p. 395
Armstrong, Andrew, Jr. D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XIII, p. 302
Arnett, Charles Oliver D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. XII, p. 128
Aycox, James Thomas D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XV, p. 203
Baker, Marrion L.A D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. III, p. 242., Vol. VII, p. 592
Baker, Mrs. (Rachley) Donald. D Employee, TSBD Vol. VII, p. 507
Baker, T. L. C Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. IV, p. 248
Ballen, Samuel B. D Acquaintance of the Oswalds in Texas Vol. IX, p. 45
Barbe, Emmett Charles, Jr. A Employee, William B. Reily Co Vol. XI, p. 473
Bargas, Tommy D Superintendent, Leslie Welding Co Vol. X. p. 160
Barnes, W. E. D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. VII, p. 270
Barnett, W. E. D do Vol. VII, p. 539
Barnhorst, Colin D Desk Clerk, YMCA, in Dallas Vol. X, p. 284
Bashour, Fouad A. D Doctor, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 61
Batchelor, Charles D Assistant Chief, Dallas Police Department Vol. XII, p. 1; Vol. XV, p. 114
Bates, Pauline Virginia D Pub1ic stenographer, Fort Worth Vol. VIII p. 330
Baxter, Charles Rufus D Doctor, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 39
Beaty, Buford Lee D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. XII, p. 158
Beavers, William Robert D Psychiatrist, Dallas Vol. XIV, p. 570
Beers, Ira J. "Jack", Jr.D Newspaper photographer, Dallas Vol. XIII, p. 102
Bellocchio, Frank D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XIV, p. 466
Belmont, Alan H. C Assistant to the Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Vol. V, p. 1
Benavides, Domingo D Witness in the vicinity of the Tippit crime scene Vol. VI, p. 444
Benten, Nelson D Television reporter, CBS Vol. XV, p. 456
Bieberdorf, Fred A. D First aid attendant, Dallas Health Department Vol. XIII, p. 83
Biggio, William S.D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. XIV, p. 48
Blalock, Vance D Observed Oswald in New Orleans Vol. X, p. 81
Bledsoe, Mary E. D Oswald's former landlady in Dallas Vol. VI, p. 400
Bogard, Albert Guy D Automobile salesman, Dallas Vol. X, p. 352
Bookhout, James W. D Agent, FBI Vol. VII, p. 308
Boone, Eugene C Deputy Sheriff, Dallas County Vol. III, p. 291
Boswell, J. Thornton C Doctor, Bethesda Naval Hospital Vol. II, p. 376
Botelho, James Anthony A Acquaintance of Oswald in Marine Corps Vol. VIII, p. 315
Bouck, Robert Inman C Agent, U.S. Secret Service Vol. IV, p. 294
Boudreaux, Anne D Acquaintance of Oswald during his youth Vol. VIII, p. 35
Bouhe, George A. D Acquantance of the Oswalds in Texas Vol. VIII, p. 355
Bowers, Lee E., Jr. D Employee, Union Terminal Co Vol. VI, p. 284
Bowron, Diana Hamilton D Nurse, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 134
Boyd, Elmer L. D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. VII, p. 119
Branch, John Henry D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XV, p. 473
Brennan, Howard Leslie A C Witness at assassination scene Vol. III, pp. 140, 184, 211; Vol. XI, p. 206
Brewer, E. D. D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. VI, p. 302
Brewer, Johnny Calvin D Witness of Oswald arrest Vol. VII, p. 1
Brian, V. J.C Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. V, p. 47
Bringuier, Carlos D Cuban attorney, now a resident of New Orleans Vol. X, p. 32
Brock, Alvin R. D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. XII, p. 171
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Page 485
Brock, Mary A Witness in the vicinity of the Tippit crime scene Vol. VII, p. 593
Brock, Robert A do Vol. VII, p. 593
Brooks, Donald E.D Employment counselor, Texas Employment Commission Vol. X, p. 143
Brown, C. W. D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. VII, p. 246
Brown, Earle V. D do Vol. VI, p. 321
Brown, Peter Megargee A Counsel for Community Service Society, New York Vol. XI, p. 470
Burcham, John W. A Chief of Unemployment Insurance, Texas Employment Commission Vol. XI, p. 473
Burns, Doris D Employee, TSBD Vol. VI, p. 397
Burroughs, Warren H.D Employee, Texas Theatre Vol. VII, p. 14
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Cabell, Earle D Mayor of Dallas Vol. VII, p. 476
Cabell, Mrs. Earle D Wife of Mayor Cabell Vol. VII, p. 485
Cadigan, James C. CD Questioned do ent expert, FBI Vol. IV, p. 89; Vol. VII, p. 418
Call, Richard Dennis A Acquaintance of Oswald in the Marine Corps Vol. VIII, p. 322
Callaway, Ted C Witness in the vicinity of the Tippit crime scene Vol. III, p. 351
Camarata, Donald Peter A Acquaintance of Oswald in the Marine Corps Vol. VIII, p. 316
Carlin, Bruce Ray D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XIII, p. 201
Carlin, Karen Bennett D do Vol. XIII, p. 205; Vol. XIV, p. 641
Carr, Waggoner C Attorney general of State of Texas Vol. V, p. 258
Carrico, Charles James CD Doctor, Parkland Hospital Vol. III, p. 357; Vol VI, p. 641
Carro, John D Probation officer, New York City, 1952-54 Vol. VIII, p. 202
Carroll, Bob K. D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. VII, p. 17
Carswell, Robert C Special assistant to Secretary Vol. IV, p. 299; Vol. V, p. 486
Carter, Clifton C. A Assistant to President Johnson Vol. VII, p. 474
Cason, Frances D Telephone clerk, Dallas Police Department Vol. XIII, p. 89
Cason, Jack Charles A President, TSBD Vol. VII, p. 379
Caster, Warren D Assistant manager, Southwestern Publishing Co., TSBD Vol. VII, p. 386
Chayes, Abram C Legal Advisor, Department of State Vol. V, pp. 307; 327
Cheek, Bertha D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XIII, p. 382
Church, George B., Jr. A Passenger with Oswald on SS Marion Lykes Vol. XI, p. 115
Church, Mrs. George B., Jr. A do Vol. XI, p. 116
Clardy, Barnard S. D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. XII, p. 403
Clark, Max E. D Acquaintance of the Oswalds in Texas Vol. VIII, p. 343
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Page 486
Clark, Richard L. D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. VII, p. 235
Clark, William Kemp D Doctor, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 18
Clements, Manning C. D Agent, FBI Vol. VI, p. 318
Cole, Alwyn CD Questioned do ent examiner, Treasury Department Vol. IV, p. 358; Vol. XV, p.703
Combest, B. H. D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. XII, p. 176
Connally, John Bowden, Jr. C Governor of Texas Vol. IV, p. 129
Connally, Mrs. John Bowden, Jr. C Wife of the Governor of Texas Vol. IV, p. 146
Connor, Peter Francis A Acquaintance of Oswald in the Marine Corps Vol. VIII, p. 317
Conway, Hiram P. D Fort Worth neighbor of the Oswalds in 0swald's youth Vol. VIII, p. 84
Corporon, John A Official of New Orleans radio station Vol. XI, p. 471
Couch, Malcolm O.D TV news cameraman, Dallas Vol. VI, p. 153
Coulter, Harris C State Department interpreter Vol. V, p. 408
Cox, Roland A. D Reserve force, Dallas Police Department Vol. XV, p. 153
Crafard, Curtis LaVerne D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XIII, p. 402; Vol. XIV, p. 1
Craig, Roger D. D Witness at assassination scene Vol. VI, p. 260
Crawford, James N. D do Vol. VI, p. 171
Creel, Robert J. A Employee, Louisiana Department of Labor, New Orleans Vol. XI, p. 477
Crowe, William D., Jr. (a.k.a. Bill DeMar).D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XV, p. 186
Crowley, James D.A Specialist in intelligence matters, Department of State Vol. XI, p. 482
Croy, Kenneth Hudson D Reserve force, Dallas Police Department Vol. XII, p. 186
Crull, Elgin E.D City Manager of Dallas Vol. XV, p. 138
Cunningham, Cortlandt A C Firearms identification expert, FBI Vol. II, p. 251; Vol. III, p. 451; Vol. VII, p. 591
Cunningham, Helen P. A D Employment Counselor, Texas Employment Commission Vol. X, p. 117; Vol. XI, p. 477
Curry, Jesse Edward ACD Chief, Dallas Police Department Vol. IV, p. 150; Vol. XII, p. 25; Vol. XV, p. 124, 641
Curtis, Don Teel D Doctor, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 57
Cutchshaw, Wilbur Jay D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. XII, p. 206
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Daniels, John L. D Employee, Dallas parking lot Vol. XIII, p. 296
Daniels, Napoleon J. D Former member, Dallas Police Department Vol. XII, p. 225
Davis, Barbara Jeanette C Witness in the vicinty of the Tippit crime scene Vol. III, p. 342
Davis, Floyd Guy D Operator, Sports Drome Rifle Range Vol. X, p. 356
Davis, Virginia (Mrs. Charles) D Witness in the vicinity of the Tippit crime scene Vol. VI, p. 454
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Page 487
Davis, Virginia Louise D Wife of Floyd Guy Davis Vol. X, p. 363
Day, J. C. AC Lieutenant, Dallas Police Department Vol. IV, p. 249; Vol. VII, P. 401
Dean, Patricia Trevore CD Member, Dallas Police Department Vol V, p. 254; Vol. XII, p. 415
Decker, J. E. (Bill) D Sheriff, Dallas County Vol. XII, p. 42
Delgado, Nelson D Acquaintance of Oswald in Marine Corps Vol. VIII, p. 228
DeMar, William (see Crowe, William D., Jr.)
De Mohrenschildt, George S. D Acquaintance of Oswalds in Texas Vol. IX, p. 166
De Mohrenschildt, Jeanne D do Vol. IX, p. 285
Dhority, C. N. AD Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. VII, pp. 149, 380
Dietrich, Edward C. D Guard, Armored Motor Service Vol. XV, p. 269
Dillard, Tom C. D Photographer-Journalist, Dallas Vol. VI, p. 162
Dillon, C. Douglas C Secretary of the Treasury Vol. V, p. 573
Dobbs, Farrell AD International Secretary, Socialist Workers Party Vol. X, p. 109; Vol. XI, p. 208
Donabedian, George D Captain, U.S. Navy Vol. VIII, p. 311
Donovan, John E. D Acquaintance of Oswald in the Marine Corps Vol. VIII, p. 289
Dougherty, Jack Edwin D Employee, TSBD Vol. VI, p. 373
Dowe, Kenneth Lawry D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XV, p. 430
Dulany, Richard B. D Doctor, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 113
Duncan, William Glenn, Jr. D Employee, radio station, Dallas Vol. XV, p. 482
Dymitruk, Lydia D Acquaintance of the Oswalds in Texas Vol.IX, p. 60
Dziemian, Arthur J. C Wound ballistics expert, U.S. Army Vol. V, p. 90
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Eberhardt, A. M. D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. XIII, p. 181
Edwards, Robert Edwin D Employee, Dallas City Courthouse Vol. VI, p. 200
Euins, Amos Lee C Witness at assassination scene Vol. II. p. 201
Evans, Julian D Husband of Myrtle Evans Vol. VIII, p. 66
Evans, Myrtle D Acquaintance of Marguerite Oswald in Oswald's youth Vol. VIII, p. 45
Evans, Sidney, Jr. D Resident of Ruby's apartment house Vol. XIII, p. 195
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Fain, John W.C Agent, FBI Vol. IV, p. 403
Fehrenbach, George William. D Resident of Ashland, Oreg Vol. XV, p. 289
Feldsott, Louis A President, Crescent Firearms, Inc Vol. XI, p. 205
Fenley, Robert Gene D Reporter, Dallas Vol. XI, p. 314
Finck, Pierre A. C Doctor, Bethesda Naval Hospital Vol. II, p. 377
Fischer, Ronald B. D Auditor, City of Dallas Vol. VI, p. 191
Fleming, Harold J. D Employee, Armored Motor Service, Inc Vol. XV, p. 159
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Page 488
Folsom, Allison G., Jr.D Lt. Col., U.S. Marine Corps Vol. VIII, p. 303
Ford, Declan P. C Husband of Katherine N. Ford and acquaintance of the Oswalds in Texas Vol. II, p. 322
Ford, Katherine N. C Acquaintance of the Oswalds in Texas Vol. II, p. 295
Foster, J. W. D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. VI, p. 248
Frazier, Buell Wesley CD Employee, TSBD and neighbor of the Paines in Irving, Tex Vol. II, p. 210; Vol. VII, p. 531
Frazier, Robert A. AC Firearms Identification Expert, FBI Vol. III, p. 390; Vol. V, p. 58
Frazier, W. B. D Captain, Dallas Police Department Vol. XII, p. 52
Fritz, John Will ACD do Vol. IV, p. 202; Vol. VII, p. 403; Vol. XV, p. 145
Fuqua, Harold R. D Parking attendant in basement of city hall Vol. XIII, p. 141
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Gallagher, John F. D Agent, FBI Vol. XV, p. 746
Gangl, Theodore Frank A Employee, Padgett Printing Corp Vol. XI, p. 478
Garner, Jesse J. A Neighbor of the Oswalds in New Orleans Vol. X, p. 276
Garner, Mrs. Jesse D Landlady of Oswald in New Orleans Vol. X, p. 264
Gauthier, Leo J. C Inspector, FBI Vol. V, p. 135
George, M. Waldo A Landlord of Oswalds in Dallas Vol. XI, p. 155
Geraci, Philip, III D Resident of New Orleans who met OswalD Vol. X, p. 74
Gibson, Mrs. Donald D Acquaintance of the Oswalds in Texas Vol. XI, p. 123
Gibson, John D Witness to Oswald arrest Vol. VII, p. 70
Giesecke, Adolph H., Jr. D Doctor, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 72
Givens, Charles Douglas D Employee, TSBD Vol. VI, p. 345
Glover, Everett D. D Acquaintance of the Oswalds in Texas Vol. X, p. 1
Goin, Donald Edward D Armored car operator Vol. XV, p. 168
Goldstein, David A Owner, Dave's House of Guns Vol. VII, p. 594
Goodson, Clyde Franklin D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. XV, p. 596
Graef, John G. D Oswald's supervisor, Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall, Dallas Vol. X, p. 174
Graf, Allen D. A Acquaintance of Oswald in Marine Corps Vol. VIII, p. 317
Grant, Eva D Sister of Jack Ruby Vol. XIV, p. 429; Vol. XV, p. 321
Graves, Gene A Secretary, Leslie Welding Co Vol. XI, p. 479
Graves, L. C. D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. VII, p. 251; Vol. XIII, p. 1
Gravitis, Dorothy D Acquaintance of Mrs. Paine in Dallas Vol. IX, p. 131
Gray, Virginia A Employee, Duke University Library Vol. XI, p. 209
Greener, Charles W.D Proprietor, Irving Sports Shop Vol. XI, p. 245
Greer, William Robert C Agent, U.S. Secret Service Vol. II, p. 112
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Gregory, Charles F. CD Doctor, Parkland Hospital Vol. IV, p. 117; Vol. VI, p. 95
Gregory, Paul Roderick D Son of Peter Paul Gregory and acquaintance of the Oswalds in Texas Vol. IX, p. 141
Gregory, Peter Paul C Acquaintance of the Oswalds in Texas Vol. II, p. 337
Guinyard, Sam D Witness in the vicinity of Tippit crime scene Vol. VII, p. 395
Hall, C. Ray D Agent, FBI Vol. XV, p. 62
Hall, Elena A. D Acquaintance of the Oswalds in Texas Vol. VIII, p. 391
Hall, John Raymond D Husband of Elena A. Hall and acquaintance of the Oswalds Vol. VIII, p. 406
Hall, Marvin E. "Bert" D Employee, Armored Motor Service, Dallas Vol. XV, p. 174
Hallmark, Garnett Claud D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XV, p. 488
Hamblen, C. A. D Employee, Western Union Telegraph Co Vol. XI, p. 311
Hankal, Robert L. D Director, television station, Dallas Vol. XIII, p. 112
Hanson, Timothy M., Jr. D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. XV, p. 438
Hardin, Michael D City ambulance driver Vol. XIII, p. 94
Hargis, Bobby W. D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. VI, p. 293
Harkness, D. V. D do Vol. VI, p. 308
Harrison, William J. D do Vol. XII, p. 234
Hartogs, Renatus D Psychiatrist, New York City Vol. VIII, p. 214
Hawkins, Ray D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. VII, p. 91
Haygood, Clyde A. D do Vol. VI, p. 296
Heindel, John Rene A Acquaintance of Oswald in Marine Corps Vol. VIII, p. 318
Helmick, Wanda Yvonne or Wanda Sweat D Employee of Ralph Paul, an acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XV, p. 396
Helms, Richard M. CA Deputy Director for Plans, Central Intelligence Agency Vol V, p. 120; Vol. XI, p. 469
Henchliffe, Margaret M. D Nurse, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 139
Henslee, Gerald D. D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. VI, p. 325
Herndon, Bell P. D Polygraph operator, FBI Vol. XIV, p. 579
Hicks, J. B. D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. VII, p. 286
Hill, Clinton J. C Agent, U.S. Secret Service Vol. II, p. 132
Hill, Gerald Lynn D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. VII, p. 43
Hill, Jean Lollis D Witness at assassination Scene Vol. VI, p. 205
Hine, Geneva L. D Employee, TSBD Vol. VI, p. 393
Hodge, Alfred Douglas D Owner, Buckhorn Trading Post Vol. XV, p. 494
Holland, S. M. D Witness at assassination scene Vol. VI, p. 239
Holly, Harold B., Jr.D Reserve force, Dallas Police Department Vol. XII, p. 261
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Holmes, Harry D. D U.S. Post Office inspector Vol. VII, p. 289, 525
Hoover, J. Edgar C Director, FBI Vol. V, p. 97
Hosty, James, P. Jr C Agent, FBI Vol. IV, p. 440
Howlett, John Joe AD Agent, U.S. Secret Service Vol. VII, p. 592; Vol. IX, p. 425
Hudson, Emmett J D Witness at assassination scene Vol. VII, p. 558
Huffaker, Robert S., Jr. D Newsman, Dallas Vol. XIII, p. 116.
Hulen, Richard Leroy D Employee of Dallas YMCA Vol. X, p. 277
Hulse, C. E. D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. XIII, p. 99
Humes, James J. C Doctor, Bethesda Naval Hospital Vol. II, p. 347
Hunley, Bobb A Employee, Louisiana Department of Labor, New Orleans Vol. XI, p. 476
Hunt, Jackie H. D Doctor, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 76
Hunter, Gertrude D Witness concerning alleged encounter with OswalD Vol. XI, pp. 253, 275
Hutchison, Leonard Edwin D Owner of grocery store in Irving Vol. X, p. 327
Hutson, Thomas Alexander D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. VII, p. 26
Isaacs, Martin D Employee, Special Services Welfare Center, New York Vol. VIII, p. 324
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Jackson, Robert Hill C News photographer, Dallas Vol. II, p. 155
Jackson, Theodore D Attendant at Dallas parking lot Vol. XIII, p. 299
James, Virginia H. D International Relations Officer, 0ffice of Soviet Affairs, State Department Vol. XI, p. 180
Jarman, James, Jr. C Employee, TSBD Vol. III, p. 198
Jenkins, Marion T. D Doctor, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 45
Jenkins, Ronald Lee D News editor, radio station, Dallas Vol. XV, p. 600
Jimison, R. J. D Orderly, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 125
Johnson, Arnold Samuel D Director of Information and Lecture Bureau, Communist Party, U.S.A Vol. X, p. 95
Johnson, Arthur Carl D Owner of roominghouse in Dallas where Oswald resideD Vol. X, p. 301
Johnson, Mrs. Arthur Carl D Wife of A. C. Johnson Vol. X, p. 292
Johnson, Joseph Weldon, Jr. D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XV, p. 218
Johnson, Lyndon B. S President of the United States Vol. V, p. 561
Johnson, Mrs. Lyndon B. S Wife of the President of the United States Vol. V, p. 564
Johnson, Marvin D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. VII, p. 100
Johnson, Prisci1la Mary Post D Newspaper reporter who interviewed Oswald in RussiA Vol. XI, p. 442.
Johnson, Speedy D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XV, p. 607
Johnston, David L. D Justice of the peace, Dallas Vol. XV, p. 503
Jones, O. A. D Captain, Dallas Police Department Vol. XII, p. 58
Jones, Ronald C. D Doctor, Parkland Hospital Vol. XII, p. 51.
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Kaiser, Frankie D Employee, TSBD Vol. VI, p. 341
Kaminsky, Eileen D Jack Ruby's sister Vol. XV, p. 275
Kantor, Seth D Reporter Vol. XV, p. 71
Page 491
Kaufman, Stanley M. D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XV, p. 513
Kellerman, Roy H. C Agent, U.S. Secret Service Vol. II, p. 61
Kelley, Thomas J. AC Inspector, U.S. Secret Service Vol. V, pp. 129, 175; Vol. VII, pp. 403, 590
Kelly, Edward D Porter, Dallas City Hall Vol. XIII, p. 146
Kennedy, Mrs. John F. C Widow of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy Vol. V, p. 178
Killion, Charles L.A Firearms identification expert, FBI Vol. VII, p. 591
King, Glen D. D Captain, Dallas Police Department Vol. XV, p. 51
Klause, Robert G. C Printer of handbill attacking President Kennedy Vol. V, p. 535
Kleinlerer, Alexander A Acquaintance of the Oswalds in Texas Vol. XI, p. 118
Kleinman, Abraham D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XV, p. 383
Kline, William A Agent, U.S. Customs Vol. XV, p. 640
Knight, Frances G. C Director, Passport Office, Department of State Vol. V, p. 371
Knight, Russell (see Moore)
Kramer, Monica A Tourist in Minsk in 1961 Vol. XI, p. 212
Kravitz, Herbert B. D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XV, p. 231
Kriss, Harry M.D Reserve force, Dallas Police Department Vol. XII, p. 266
Krystinik, Raymond Franklin. D Fellow employee of Michael R. Paine in Texas Vol. IX, p. 461
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Lane, Doyle E. D Clerk, Western Union Telegraph Co Vol. XII, p. 221
Lane, Mark R. C Attorney, New York City Vol. II, p. 32; Vol. IV, p. 546
Latona, Sebastian F. C Fingerprint export, FBI Vol. IV, p. 1
Lawrence, Perdue W.D Captain, Dallas Police Department Vol. VII, p. 577
Lawson, Winston G. (accompanied by Fred B. Smith). C Agent, U.S. Secret Service Vol. IV, p. 317
Leavelle, James R. D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. VII, p. 260; Vol. VIII, p. 14
LeBlanc, Charles Joseph D Maintenance man, William B. Reily Co Vol. X, p. 213
Lee, Ivan D. A Agent, FBI Vol. XI, p. 481
Lee, Vincent T. DA Official, Fair Play for Cuba Committee Vol. X, p. 86; Vol. XI, p. 208
Lehrer, James D Reporter, Dallas Vol. XI, p. 464
Leslie, Helen D Member of Russian-speaking community in Dallas Vol. IX, p. 160
Lewis, Aubrey Lee D Employee, Western Union Telegraph Co Vol. IX, p. 318
Lewis, Erwin Donald A Acquaintance of Oswald in Marine Corps Vol. VIII p. 323
Lewis, L. J. A Witness in the vicinity of the Tippit crime scene Vol. XV, p. 703
Light, Frederick W., Jr C Wound ballistics expert, U.S. Army Vol. V, p. 94
Litchfield, Wilbyrn Waldon (Robert), II. D Acquaintance of Ruby Vol. XIV, p. 95
Lord, Billy Joe A Passenger with Oswald on SS Marion Lykes Vol. XI, p. 117
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Lovelady, Billy Nolan D Employee, TSBD Vol. VI, p. 336
Lowcry, Roy Lee D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. XII, p. 271
Lujan, Daniel Gutierrez D Appeared in lineup with OswalD Vol. VII, p. 243
Lux, J. Philip A Employee, H. L. Green Co Vol. XI, p. 206
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McClelland, Robert N. D Doctor, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 30
McCone, John Alex C Director, Central Intelligence Agency Vol. V, p. 120
McCullough, John G. D Reporter, PhiladelphiA Vol. XV, p. 373
McCurdy, Danny Patrick D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XV, p. 529
McDonald, M. N. C Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. III, p. 295
McFarland, John Bryan A Passenger on bus with Oswald to Mexico City in 1963 Vol. XI, p. 214
McFarland, Meryl A do Vol. XI, p. 214
McKinzie, Louis D Porter, Dallas City Hall Vol. XIII, p. 147
McMillon, Thomas Donald D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. XIII, p. 37
McVickar, John A. C Foreign Service officer stationed at American Embassy in Soviet Union in 1959-61 Vol. V, pp. 299, 318
McWatters, Cecil J. C Busdriver, Dallas Vol. II, p. 262
Malley, James R. A Inspector, FBI Vol. XI, p. 468
Mallory, Katherine A Tourist in Minsk in 1961 Vol. XI, p. 210
Mamantov, Ilya A. D Member of Russian-speaking community in Dallas Vol. IX, p. 102
Mandella, Arthur C (accompanied by Joseph A. Mooney) Fingerprint expert, New York City Police Department Vol. IV, p. 48
Markham, Helen Louise CD Witness in the vicinity of the Tippit crime scene Vol. III, p. 305; Vol. VII, p. 499
Martello, Francis L. AD Lieutenant, New Orleans Police Department Vol. X, p. 51; Vol. XI, p. 471
Martin, B. J. D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. VI, p. 289
Martin, Frank M. D Captain, Dallas Police Department Vol. XII, p. 277
Martin, James Herbert C Former business manager for Mrs. Lee Harvey OswalD Vol. I, p.469; Vol. II, p. 1
Maxey, Billy Joe D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. XII, p. 285
Mayo, Logan W. D Reserve force, Dallas Police Department Vol. XII, p. 291
Meller, Anna N. D Acquaintance of the Oswalds in Texas Vol. VIII, p. 379
Meyers, Lawrence V. D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XV, p. 620
Michaelis, Heinz W. D Manager, Seaport Traders, Inc Vol. VII, p. 372
Miller, Austin L. D Witness at assassination scene Vol. VI, p. 223
Miller, Dave L. D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XV, p. 450
Miller, Louis D. D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. XII, p. 297
Mitc , Mary Ann D Witness at assassination scene Vol. VI, p. 175
Molina, Joe R. D Employee, TSBD Vol. VI, p. 368
Montgomery, L. D. D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. VII, p. 96; Vol. XIII, p. 21
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Mooney, Luke C Deputy Sheriff, Dallas County Vol. III, p. 281
Moore, Henry M. D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. VII, p. 212
Moore, Russell Lee (Knight) D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XV, p. 251
Mumford, Pamela D Passenger on bus with Oswald to Mexico City in 1963 Vol. XI, p. 215
Murphy, Joe E. D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. VI, p. 256
Murphy, Paul Edward A Acquaintance of Oswald in Marine Corps Vol. VIII, p. 319
Murray, David Christie, Jr. A do Vol. VIII, p. 319
Murret, Charles (Dutz) D Uncle of Lee Harvey Oswald, New Orleans Vol. VIII, p. 180
Murret, John Martial (Boogie) D Cousin of Lee Harvey Oswald, New Orleans Vol. VIII, p. 188
Murret, Lillian AD Sister of Marguerite Oswald and aunt of Lee Harvey OswalD Vol. XI, p. 472
Murret, Marilyn Dorothea D Cousin of Lee Harvey Oswald, New Orleans Vol. VIII, p. 154
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Naman, Rita A Tourist in Minsk in 1961 Vol. XI, p. 213
Nelson, Doris Mae D Nurse, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 143
Newman, William J. D Reserve force, Dallas Police Department Vol. XII, p. 314
Newnam, John D Advertising department employee, Dallas newspaper Vol. XV, p. 534
Nichols, Alice Reaves D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XIV, p. 110
Nichols, H. Louis D Former president, Dallas bar association Vol. VII, p. 325
Nicol, Joseph D. C Firearms identification expert, Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investgation, Illinois Department of Public Safety Vol. III, p. 496
Norman, Harold C Employee, TSBD Vol. III, p. 186
Norton, Robert L. D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XV, p. 546
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O'Brien, Lawrence F. D Assistant to President Kennedy Vol. VII, p. 457
Odio, Sylvia D Former citizen of Cuba now residing in Dallas Vol. XI, p. 367
O'Donnell, Kenneth D Assistant to President Kennedy Vol. VII, p. 440
Odum, Bardwell D. A Agent, FBI Vol. XI, p. 468
Ofstein, Dennis Hyman D Employee, Jaggers-Chiles-Stovall, Dallas Vol. X, p. 194
Olds, Gregory Lee D President, Dallas Chapter, American Civil Liberties Union Vol. VII, p. 322
Oliver, Revilo P. D Member of the council of the John Birch Society Vol. XV, p. 709
Olivier, Alfred G. C Wound ballistics expert, U. S. Army Vol. V, p. 74
Olsen, Harry N. D Former member, Dallas Police Vol. XIV, p. 640
Olsen, Kay Helen D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XIV, p. 624
Osborne, Mack A Acquaintance of Oswald in Marine Corps Vol. VIII, p. 321
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O'Sullivan, Frederick S. D Acquaintance of Oswald at Beauregard Junior High School, New Orleans Vol. VIII, p. 27
Oswald, Marguerite C Mother of Lee Harvey OswalD Vol. I, p. 126
Oswald, Marina CD Widow of Lee Harvey OswalD Vol. I, p. 1; Vol. V. pp. 387, 410, 588; Vol. XI, p. 275
Oswald, Robert Edward Lee C Brother of Lee Harvey Oswald Vol. I, p. 264
Owens, Calvin Bud D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. II, p. 78
Paine, Michael R. CD Acquaintance of the Oswalds in Texas Vol. II, p. 384; Vol. IX, p. 434; Vol. XI, p. 398
Paine, Ruth Hyde ACD Wife of Michael R. Paine and acquaintance of the Oswalds in Texas Vol. II, p. 430; Vol. III, p. 1; Vol. IX, p. 331; Vol. XI, pp. 153, 389
Palmer, Thomas Stewart D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XV, p. 206
Pappas, Icarus M. D Reporter, radio station, New York City Vol. XV, p. 360
Patterson, B. M. A Witness in the vicinity of the Tippit crime scene Vol. 15, p. 744
Patterson, Bobby G. D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. XII, p. 334
Patterson, Robert Carl D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XIV, p. 126
Paul, Ralph D do Vol. XIV, p. 134. Vol. XV, p. 664
Pena, Orest D Owner, Habana Bar, New Orleans Vol. XI, p. 346
Pena, Ruperto D Brother of Orest PenA Vol. XI, p. 364
Perry, Malcolm O. CD Doctor, Parkland Hospital Vol. III, p. 366; Vol. VI, p. 7
Perry, W. E. D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. VII, p. 232
Peterman, Viola D Neighbor of Oswald family in New Orleans Vol. VIII, p. 38
Peters, Paul C. D Doctor, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 68
Peterson, Joseph Alexander D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XIV, p. 615
Phenix, George R. D Television cameraman and reporter, Dallas Vol XIII, p. 123
Pic, Edward John, Jr. AD First husband of Marguerite OswalD Vol. VIII, p. 196; Vol. XI, p. 82
Pic, John Edward D Half brother of Lee Harvey OswalD Vol. XI, p. 1
Pierce, Edward E. D Employee, Dallas City Hall Vol. XIII, p. 156
Pierce, Rio S. D Lieutenant, Dallas Police Department Vol. VII, p. 76; Vol. XII, p.337
Pinkston, Nat A. D Employee, TSBD Vol. VI, 334
Piper, Eddie D do Vo1. VI, 382; Vo1. VII, 388
Pitts, Elnora D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XIII, p. 228
Pizzo, Frank D Assistant manager of auto agency, Dallas Vol. X, p. 340
Poe, J. M. D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. VII, p. 66
Postal, Julia D Cashier, Texas Theatre Vol. VII, p. 8
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Potts, Walter E. D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. VII, p. 195
Powell, Nancy M. (a.k.a. Tammie True). D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XV, p. 404
Powers, Daniel Patrick D Acquaintance of Oswald in Marine Corps Vol. VIII, p. 266
Powers, David F. A Assistant to President Kennedy Vol. VII, p. 472
Price, Charles Jack D Administrator, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 148
Price, Malcolm H., Jr. D Patron, Sports Drome Rifle Range Vol. X, p. 369
Priddy, Hall Jr. D Relief dispatcher, O'Neil Funeral Home in Dallas Vol. XIII, p. 239
Pryor, Roy A. D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XV, p. 554
Pugh, Oran A Agent, U.S. Customs Vol. XV, p. 640
Pullman, Edward J. D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XV, p. 222
Putnam, James A. D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. VII, p. 74; Vol. XII, p. 341
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Quigley, John L.C Agent, FBI Vol. IV, p. 431
Rachal, John R. A Employee, Louisiana Department of Labor, New Orleans Vol. XI, p. 474
Rackley, George W. Sr. D Employee, Coordinated RR. Co Vol. VI, p. 273
Raigorodsky, Paul M. D Member of Russian-speaking community in Dallas Vol. IX, p. 1
Randle, Linnie Mae C Buell Wesley Frazier's sister and neighbor of Ruth Paine Vol. II, p. 245
Ray, Natalie (Mrs. Thomas M.) D Acquaintance of the Oswalds in Texas Vol. IX, p. 27
Ray, Thomas M. D Husband of Natalie Ray and acquaintance of the Oswalds in Texas Vol. IX, p. 38
Ray, Valentine A. (Mrs. Frank H.) D Acquaintance of the Oswalds in Texas Vol. VIII, p. 415
Rea, Billy A. D Advertising staff, Dallas newspaper Vol. XV, p. 571
Reeves, Huey D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XIII, p. 243
Reid, Mrs. Robert A. C Employee, TSBD Vol. III, p. 270
Reilly, Frank E.D Witness at assassination scene Vol. VI, p. 227
Revill, Jack CD Lieutenant, Dallas Police Department Vol. V, p. 33; Vol. XII, p. 73
Reynolds, Warren Allen D Witness in the vicinity of the Tippit crime scene Vol. XI, p. 434
Rheinstein, Frederic D Producer-director, NBC Vol. XV, p. 354
Rich, Nancy Perrin D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XIV, p. 330
Richey, Marjorie R. D do Vol. XV, p. 192
Richey, Warren E. D TV engineer, Fort Worth Vol. XIII, p. 255
Riggs, Alfreadia D Porter, City Hall Vol. XIII, p. 166
Riggs, Chester Allen, Jr. A Landlord of the Oswalds in Fort Worth Vol. X, p. 229
Ritchie, James L. D Passport Officer, Department of State Vol. XI, p. 191
Roberts, Earlene AD Housekeeper at Oswald's roominghouse in Dallas Vol. VI, p. 434. Vol. VII, p. 439
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Robertson, Mary Jane D Employee, Dallas Police Department Vol. VII, p. 404
Robertson, Victor F., Jr. D Reporter, Dallas Vol. XV, p. 347
Rodriguez, Evaristo D Bartender at Habana Bar, New Orleans Vol. XI, p. 339
Rogers, Eric D Neighbor of the Oswalds in New Orleans Vol. XI, p. 460
Romack, James E. D Witness at assassination scene Vol. VI, p. 277
Rose, Guy F. D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. VII, p. 227
Ross, Henrietta M. D Technician, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 123
Rossi, Joseph D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XV, p. 235
Roussel, Henry J., Jr. A Acquaintance of Oswald in Marine Corps Vol. VIII, p. 320
Rowland, Arnold Louis C Witness at assassination scene Vol. II, p. 165
Rowland, Barbara (Mrs. Arnold L.) D do Vol. VI, p. 177
Rowley, James J. C Chief, U.S. Secret Service Vol. V, p. 449
Rubenstein, Hyman D Brother of Jack Ruby Vol. XV p. 1
Ruby, Earl D do Vol. XIV, p. 364
Ruby, Jack CD Convicted slayer of OswalD Vol. V, p. 181. Vol. XIV, p. 504
Ruby, Sam D Brother of Jack Ruby Vol. XIV, p. 488
Rusk, Dean C Secretary of State Vol. V, p. 333
Russell, Harold A Witness in the vicinity of the Tippit crime scene Vol. VII, p. 594
Ryder, Dial D. D Employee, Irving Sports Shop. Vol. XI, p. 224
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Salyer, Kenneth E. D Doctor, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 80
Saunders, Richard L. D Advertising staff, Dallas newspaper. Vol. XV, p. 577
Sawyer, J. Herbert D Inspector, Dallas Police Department Vol. VI, p. 315
Sawyer, Mildred D Neighbor and acquaintance of Oswald as a youth in New Orleans. Vol VIII, p. 31
Schmidt, Hunter, Jr. D City editor, Dallas Vol. XI, p. 240
Scibor, Mitc J. D Employee, Klein's Sports Goods Vol. VII, p. 370
Scoggins, William W. C Witness in the vicinity of the Tippit crime scene Vol. III, p. 322
Seeley, Carroll Hamilton, Jr. D Assistant Chief, Legal Division, Passport Office, Department of State Vol. XI, p. 193
Semingsen, W. W. D Employee, Western Union Telegraph Co Vol. X, p. 405
Senator, George D Roommate of Jack Ruby Vol. XIV, p. 164
Servance, John Olridge D Head porter, City Hall and Municipal Building Vol. XIII, p. 175
Shaneyfelt, Lyndal L. CD Photography expert, FBI Vol. IV, p. 279. Vol. V, p. 138, 176. Vol. VII, p. 410
Shasteen, Clifton M. D Owner of barbershop in Irving, Tex Vol. X, p. 309
Shaw, Robert Roeder CD Doctor, Parkland Hospital Vol. IV, p. 101. Vol. VI, p. 83
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S ey, William H. D Employee, TSBD Vol. VI, p. 327. Vol. VII, p. 390
Shields, Edward D Employee, TSBD Vol. VII, p. 393
Shires, George T. D Doctor, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 104
Siegel, Evelyn Grace Strickman D Social worker, New York City Vol. VIII, p. 224
Simmons, Ronald C Weapons evaluation expert, U.S. Army Weapons System Division Vol. III, p. 441
Sims, Richard M. D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. VII, p. 158
Skelton, Royce G. D Witness at assassination scene Vol. VI, p. 236
Slack, Garland Glenwill D Patron, Sports Drome Rifle Range Vol. X, p. 378
Slack, Willie B. D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. XII, p. 347
Slaughter, Malcolm R. D Resident in Jack Ruby's apartment building Vol. XIII, p. 261
Smart, Vernon S. D Lieutenant, Dallas Police Department Vol. XIII, p. 266
Smith, Bennierita D Acquaintance of Oswald at Beauregard Junior High School in New Orleans Vol. VIII, p. 21
Smith, Edgar Leon, Jr. D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. VII, p. 565
Smith, Glenn Emmett D Service station attendant in Dallas Vol. X, p. 399
Smith, Hilda L. A Employee, Louisiana Department of Labor, New Orleans Vol. XI, p. 474
Smith, Joe Marshall D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. VII, p. 531
Smith, John Allison D TV technician, Fort Worth Vol. XIII, p. 277
Smith, William Arthur D Witness in the vicinity of the Tippit crime scene Vol. VII, p. 82
Snyder, Richard Edward C Foreign Service officer, stationed in the Embassy in the Soviet Union, 1959-61 Vol. V, p. 260
Solomon, James Maurice D Captain, Dallas Police Department Vol. XII, p. 87
Sorrels, Forrest V. DA Agent, U.S. Secret Service Vol. VII, pp. 332, 592. Vol. XIII, p. 55
Standifer, Roy E. D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. XV p. 614
Standridge, Ruth Jeanette D Head nurse of operating rooms, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 115
Staples, Albert F. A Dentist at Baylor University College of Dentistry Vol. XI, p. 210
Statman, Irving D Assistant District Director of Dallas District, Texas Employment Commission Vol. X, p. 149
Steele, Charles Hall, Jr. D Resident of New Orleans who assisted Oswald in distribution of handbills Vol. X, p. 62
Steele, Charles Hall, Sr. D Father of Charles Hall Steele, Jr Vol. X, p. 71
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Steele, Don Francis D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. XII, p. 353
Stevenson, M. W. D Deputy Chief, Dallas Police Department Vol. XII, p. 91. Vol. XV, p. 133
Stombaugh, Paul Morgan CA Hair and fiber expert, FBI Vol. IV, p. 56. Vol. XV, p. 702
Stovall, Richard S.D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. VII, p. 186
Stovall, Robert L. D President, Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall, Dallas, Tex Vol. X. p. 167
Strong, Jesse M. D Employee, Western Union Telegraph Co Vol. XIII. p. 284
Stuckey, William Kirk D Radio program director, New Orleans Vol. XI, p. 156
Studebaker, Robert Lee D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. VII, p. 137
Surrey, Robert Alan C Publisher of handbill attacking President Kennedy Vol. V, p. 420
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Tague, James Thomas D Witness at assassination scene Vol. VII, p. 552
Talbert, Cecil E. D Captain, Dallas Police Department Vol. XII, p. 108. Vol. XV, p. 182
Tasker, Harry T. D Taxicab driver in Dallas Vol. XV, p. 679
Taylor, Gary E. DA Acquaintance of the Oswalds in Texas Vol. IX, p. 73. Vol. XI, p. 470
Thompson, Llewellyn E. C Former U.S. Ambassador to RussiA Vol. V, p. 567
Thornley, Kerry Wendell D Acquaintance of Oswald in Marines Vol. XI, p. 82
Tice, Wilma May D Resident of Dallas Vol. XV, p. 388
Tobias, Mahlon F., Sr. D Manager of apartment house where the Oswalds resided, Dallas Vol. X, p. 251
Tobias, Mrs. Mahlon F. D Wife of M. F. Tobias, Sr Vol. X, p. 231
Tomlinson, Darrell C. D Senior engineer, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 128
Tormey, James J. D Executive secretary, Hall-Davis Defense Commission Vol. X, p. 107
Truly, Roy Sansom ACD Superintendent, TSBD Vol. III, p. 212. Vol. VII, pp. 380, 591
Turner, F. M. D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. VII, p. 217
Turner, Jimmy D TV director, Fort Worth Vol. XIII, p. 130
Twiford, Horace Elroy A Member, Socialist Labor Party, Houston, Tex Vol. XI, p. 179
Twiford, Estelle A Wife of Horace Elroy TwiforD Vol. XI, p. 179
Underwood. James R. D Assistant news director TV and radio, Dallas. Vol. VI, p. 167
Vaughn, Roy Eugene D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. XII, p. 357
Vinson, Philip Eugene D Reporter, Fort Worth Vol. VIII, p. 75
Voebel, Edward D Acquaintance of Oswald in Beauregard Junior High School, New Orleans Vol. VIII, p. 1
Voshinin, Igor Vladimir D Member of Russian-speaking community in Dallas Vol. VIII, p. 448
Voshinin, Mrs. Igor Vladimir. D Acquaintance of the Oswalds in Texas Vol. VIII, p. 425
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Wade, Henry C District attorney, Dallas County Vol. V, p. 213
Waldman, William J. D Vice President, Klein's Sporting Goods, Inc Vol. VII, p. 360
Waldo, Thayer D Reporter, Forth Worth Vol. XV, p. 585
Walker, C. T. D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. VII, p. 34
Walker, Maj. Gen. Edwin A. D Resident of Dallas and object of shooting in April 1963 Vol. XI, p. 404
Walker, Ira N., Jr. D Broadcast technician, Fort Worth Vol. XIII, p. 289
Wall, Breck (a.k.a. Billy Ray Wilson). D Acquaintance of Ruby Vol. XIV, p. 599
Walthers, Eddy Raymond D Deputy sheriff, Dallas County Vol. VII, p. 544
Warner, Roger C. A Agent, U.S. Secret Service Vol. XV, p. 619
Waterman, Bernice C Adjudicator, Passport Office, Department of State Vol. V, p. 346
Watherwax, Arthur William. D Printer, Dallas newspaper Vol. XV, p. 564
Watson, James C. D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. XII, p. 372
Weinstock, Louis A General manager, the Worker Vol. XI, p. 297
Weissman, Bernard CD Codraftsman and signer of November 22, 1963, full-page advertisement Vol. V, p. 487. Vol. XI, p. 428
Weitzman, Seymour D Deputy constable, Dallas County Vol. VII, p. 105
West, Troy Eugene D Employee, TSBD Vol. VI, p. 356
Westbrook, W. R. D Captain, Dallas Police Department Vol. VII, p. 109
Wester, Jane Carolyn D Nurse, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 120
Whaley, William Wayne CD Taxicab driver in Dallas Vol. II, pp. 253, 292. Vol. VI, p. 428
White, J. C. D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. VI, p. 253
White, Martin G. D Doctor, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 82
Whitworth, Edith D Manager, used furniture store, Irving, Tex Vol. XI, p. 262
Wiggins, Woodrow D Lieutenant, Dallas Police Department Vol. XII, p. 388
Wilcox, Laurance R. D District manager, Western Union Telegraph Co. Vol. X, p. 414
Williams, Bonnie Ray C Employee, TSBD Vol. III, p. 161
Willis, Linda Kay D Daughter of Phillip L. Willis Vol. VII, p. 498
Willis, Phillip L. D Witness at assassination scene Vol. VII, p. 492
Wilson, Billy Ray (see Wall, Breck)
Wittmus, Ronald G. A Fingerprint expert, FBI Vol. VII, p. 590
Wood, Homer D Patron, Sports Drome Rifle Range Vol. X, p. 385
Wood, Sterling Charles D Son of Dr. Homer WooD Vol. X, p. 390
Wood, Theresa D Wife of Dr. Homer WooD Vol. X, p. 398
Worley, Gano E. D Reserve Force, Dallas Police Department Vol. XII, p. 378
Worrell, James Richard, Jr. C Witness at assassination scene. Vol. II, p. 190
Wright, Norman Earl D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XV, p. 244
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Wulf, William E. D Acquaintance of Oswald in his youth Vol. VIII, p. 15
Yarborough, Ralph W. A U.S. Senator from Texas Vol. VII, p. 439
Yeargan, Albert C. Jr. A Employee, H. C. Green, Dallas Vol. XI, p. 207
Youngblood, Rufus Wayne C Agent, U.S. Secret Service Vol. II, p. 144
Zahm, James A. D Marine Corps expert on marksmanship Vol. XI, p. 306
Zapruder, Abraham D Witness at assassination scene Vol. VII, p. 569
Appendix 6: Commission Procedures for the Taking of Testimony
RESOLUTION GOVERNING QUESTIONING OF WITNESSES
BY MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION STAFF
Pursuant to Executive Order No. 11130, November 29, 1963, which authorizes this Commission "to prescribe its own procedures," it is therefore
Resolved, That the following are hereby adopted as the rules of this Commission for the questioning of witnesses by members of the Commission staff.
I. Sworn Depositions
Individual members of the staff are hereby authorized to administer oaths and affirmations, examine witnesses, and receive evidence in the form of sworn depositions on any matter under investigation by the Commission.
Such sworn depositions may be taken only from witnesses designated in writing for questioning in this manner by the Commission, by a member of the Commission, or by the General Counsel of the Commission.
A stenographic verbatim transcript shall be made of all sworn depositions. Copies of the witness' testimony shall be available for inspection by the witness or his counsel. When approved by the Commission, said copies may be purchased by the witness or his counsel at regularly prescribed rates from the official reporter.
Process and papers of the Commission issued under Paragraph (d) of Joint Resolution S.J. 137, 88th Congress, let session, shall be returnable no less than three days from the date on which such process or papers are issued, and shall state the time, place, and general subject matter of the deposition. In lieu of such process and papers, the Commission may request the presence of witnesses and production of evidence for the purpose of sworn depositions by written notice mailed no less than three days from the date of the deposition.
The period of notice specified in Paragraph D may be waived by a witness.
A witness at a sworn deposition shall have the right to be accompanied by counsel of his own choosing, who shall have the right to advise the witness of his rights under the laws and Cons ution of the United States, and the state wherein the deposition shall occur, and to make brief objections to questions.
At the conclusion of the witness' testimony, counsel shall have the right to clarify the testimony of the witness by questioning the witness.
At the opening of any deposition a member of the Commission's staff shall read into the record a statement setting forth the nature of the Commission's inquiry and the purpose for which the witness has been asked to testify or produce evidence.
Any witness who refuses to answer a question shall state the grounds for so doing. At the conclusion of any deposition in which the witness refuses to answer a question the transcript shall be submitted to the General Counsel for review and consideration whether the witness should be called to testify before the Commission.
II. Sworn Affidavits
Members of the Commission staff are hereby authorized to obtain sworn affidavits from those witnesses who have been designated in writing by the Commission, a member of the Commission, or the general counsel of the Commission as witnesses whose testimony will be obtained in this manner.
A copy of the affidavit shall be provided the affiant or his counsel.
RESOLUTION
Pursuant to Executive Order No. 11130, November 29, 1963, which authorizes this Commission "to prescribe its own procedures," it is therefore
Resolved, That the following are hereby adopted as the rules of this Commission in connection with hearings conducted for the purpose of the taking of testimony or the production of evidence.
One or more members of the Commission shall be present at all hearings. If more than one Commissioner is present, the Chairman of the Commission shall designate the order in which the Commissioners shall preside.
Any member of the Commission or any agent or agency designated by the Commission for such purpose, may administer oaths and affirmations, examine witnesses, and receive evidence.
Process and papers of the Commission issued under Paragraph (d) of Joint Resolution S.J. 137, 88th Congress, 1st session, shall be returnable no less than three days from the date on which such process or papers are issued, and shall state the time, place, and general subject matter of the hearing. In lieu of such process and papers, the Commission may request the presence of witness and the production of evidence by written notice mailed no less than 3 days from the date of the hearing.
The period of notice specified in paragraph three (3) may be waived by a witness.
At the opening of any hearing at which testimony is to be received a member of the Commission shall read into the record a statement setting forth the nature of the Commission's inquiry and the purpose for which the witness has been asked to testify or produce evidence. A copy of this statement shall be given to each witness prior to his testifying.
A witness shall have the right to be accompanied by counsel, of his own choosing, who shall have the right to advise the witness of his rights under the laws and Cons ution of the United States and to testimony, counsel shall have the right to clarify the testimony of the witness by questioning the witness.
Every witness who testifies at a hearing shall have the right to make an oral statement and to file a sworn statement which shall be made part of the transcript of such hearing, but such oral or written statement shall be relevant to the subject of the hearing.
Rulings on objections or other procedural questions shall be made by the presiding member of the Commission.
A stenographic verbatim transcript shall be made of all testimony received by the Commission. Copies of such transcript shall be available for inspection or purchase by the witness or his counsel at regularly prescribed rates from the official reporter. A witness or his counsel shall be permitted to purchase or inspect only the transcript of his testimony before the Commission.
Appendix 7: A Brief History of Presidential Protection
Introduction
Before the Civil War
Lincoln
The Need for Protection Further Demonstrated
Development of Presidential Protection
In the course of the history of the United States four Presidents have been assassinated, within less than 100 years, beginning with Abraham Lincoln in 1865. Attempts were also made on the lives of two other Presidents, one President-elect, and one ex-President. Still other Presidents were the objects of plots that were never carried out. The actual attempts occurred as follows:
Andrew Jackson, Jan. 30, 1835.
Abraham Lincoln, Apr. 14, 1865. Died Apr. 15, 1865.
James A. Garfield, July 2, 1881. Died Sept. 19, 1881.
William McKinley, Sept. 6, 1901. Died Sept. 14, 1901.
Theodore Roosevelt, Oct. 14, 1912. Wounded; recovered.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Feb. 15, 1933.
Harry S. Truman, Nov. 1, 1950.
John F. Kennedy, Nov. 22, 1963. Died that day.
Attempts have thus been made on the lives of one of every five American Presidents. One of every nine Presidents has been killed. Since 1865, there have been attempts on the lives of one of every four Presidents and the successful assassination of one of every five. During the last three decades, three attacks were made.
It was only after William McKinley was shot that systematic and continuous protection of the President was ins uted. Protection before McKinley was intermittent and spasmodic. The problem had existed from the days of the early Presidents, but no action was taken until three tragic events had occurred. In considering the effectiveness of present day protection arrangements, it is worthwhile to examine the development of Presidential protection over the years, to understand both the high degree of continuing danger and the anomalous reluctance to take the necessary precautions.
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BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR
In the early days of the Republic, there was remarkably little concern about the safety of Presidents and few measures were taken to protect them. They were at times the objects of abuse and the recipients of threatening letters as more recent Presidents have been, but they did not take the threats seriously and moved about freely without protective escorts. On his inauguration day, Thomas Jefferson walked from his boarding house to the Capitol, unaccompanied by any guard, to take the oath of office. There was no police authority in Washing-
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ton itself until 1805 when the mayor appointed a high constable and 40 deputy constables.1
John Quincy Adams received many threatening letters and on one occasion was threatened in person in the White House by a court-martialed Army sergeant. In spite of this incident, the President asked for no protection and continued to indulge his fondness for solitary walks and early morning swims in the Potomac.2
Among pre-Civil War Presidents, Andrew Jackson aroused particularly strong feelings. He received many threatening letters which, with a fine contempt, he would endorse and send to the Washington Globe for publication. On one occasion in May 1833, Jackson was assaulted by a former Navy lieutenant, Robert B. Randolph, but refused to prosecute him. This is not regarded as an attempt at assassination, since Randolph apparently did not intend serious injury. 3
Less than 2 years later, on the morning of January 10, 1835, as Jackson emerged from the east portico of the Capitol, he was costed by a would-be assassin, Richard Lawrence, an English-born house painter. Lawrence fired his two pistols at the President, but they both misfired. Lawrence was quickly overpowered and held for trial. A jury found him not guilty by reason of insanity. He was confined in jails and mental hospitals for the rest of his life.4
The attack on Jackson did not inspire any action to provide protection for the Chief Executive. Jackson's immediate successor, Martin Van Buren, often walked to church alone and rode horseback alone in the woods not far from the White House. In August 1842, after an intoxicated painter had thrown rocks at President John Tyler, who was walking on the grounds to the south of the White House, Congress passed an act to establish an auxiliary watch for the protection of public and private property in Washington. The force was to consist of a captain and 15 men. This act was apparently aimed more at the protection of the White House, which had been defaced on occasion, than of the President. 5
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LINCOLN
Even before he took the oath of office, Abraham Lincoln was thought to be the object of plots and conspiracies to kidnap or kill him. Extremist opponents apparently contemplated desperate measures to prevent his inauguration, and there is some evidence that they plotted to attack him while he was passing through Baltimore on his way to Washington.6
For the inauguration, the Army took precautions unprecedented up to that time and perhaps more elaborate than any precautions taken since. Soldiers occupied strategic points throughout the city, along the procession route, and at the Capitol, while armed men in plain clothes mingled with the crowds. Lincoln himself, in a carriage with President Buchanan, was surrounded on all sides by such
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dense masses of soldiers that he was almost completely hidden from the view of the crowds. The precautions at the Capitol during the ceremony were almost as thorough and equally successful.7
Lincoln lived in peril during all his years in office. The volume of threatening letters remained high throughout the war, but little attention was paid to them. The few letters that were investigated yielded no results.8 He was reluctant to surround himself with guards and often rejected protection or sought to slip away from it. This has been characteristic of almost all American Presidents. They have regarded protection as a necessary affliction at best and contrary to their normal instincts for either personal privacy or freedom to meet the people. In Lincoln these instincts were especially strong, and he suffered with impatience the efforts of his friends, the police, and the military to safeguard him. 9
The protection of the President during the war varied greatly, depending on Lincoln's susceptibility to warnings. Frequently, military units were assigned to guard the White House and to accompany the President on his travels. Lincoln's friend, Ward H. Lamon, on becoming marshal of the District of Columbia in 1861, took personal charge of protecting the President and provided guards for the purpose, but he became so exasperated at the President's lack of cooperation that he tendered his resignation. Lincoln did not accept it. Finally, late in the war, in November 1864, four Washington policemen were detailed to the White House to act as personal bodyguards to the President. Lincoln tolerated them reluctantly and insisted they remain as incon uous as possible. 10
In the closing days of the war, rumors of attempts on Lincoln's life persisted. The well-known actor, John Wilkes Booth, a fanatical Confederate sympathizer, plotted with others for months to kidnap the President. The fall of the Confederacy apparently hardened his determination to kill Lincoln.11 Booth's opportunity came on Good Friday, April 14, 1865, when he learned that the President would be attending a play at Ford's Theater that night. The President's bodyguard for the evening was Patrolman John F. Parker of the Washington Police, a man who proved himself unfit for protective duty. He was supposed to remain on guard in the corridor outside of the Presidential box during the entire performance of the play, but he soon wandered off to watch the play and then even went outside the theater to have a drink at a nearby saloon. Parker's dereliction of duty left the President totally unprotected. 12 Shortly after 10 o'clock on that evening, Booth found his way up to the Presidential box and shot the President in the head. The President's wound was a mortal one; he died the next morning, April 15. 13
A detachment of troops captured Booth on April 26 at a farm near Bowling Green, Va.; he received a bullet wound and died a few hours later. At a trial in June, a military tribunal sentenced four of Booth's associates to death and four others to terms of imprisonment.14
Lincoln's assassination revealed the total inadequacy of Presidential protection. A congressional committee conducted an extensive in-
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vestigation of the assassination, but with traditional reluctance, called for no action to provide better protection for the President in the future. Nor did requests for protective measures come from the President or from Government departments. This lack of concern for the protection of the President may have derived also from the tendency of the time to regard Lincoln's assassination as part of a unique crisis that was not likely to happen to a future Chief Executive. 15
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THE NEED FOR PROTECTION FURTHER DEMONSTRATED
For a short time after the war, soldiers assigned by the War Department continued to protect the White House and its grounds. Metropolitan Washington policemen assisted on special occasions to maintain order and prevent the congregation of crowds. The permanent Metropolitan Police guard was reduced to three and assigned entirely to protection at the White House. There was no special group of trained officers to protect the person of the President. Presidents after Lincoln continued to move about in Washington virtually unattended, as their predecessors had done before the Civil War, and, as before, such protection as they got at the White House came from the doormen, who were not especially trained for guard duty.16
This lack of personal protection for the President came again tragically to the attention of the country with the shooting of President James A. Garfield in 1881. The President's assassin, Charles J. Guiteau, was a self-styled "lawyer, theologian, and politician" who had convinced himself that his unsolicited efforts to help elect Garfield in 1880 en led him to appointment as a consul in Europe. Bitterly disappointed that the President ignored his repeated written requests for appointment to office and obsessed with a kind of megalomania, he resolved to kill Garfield.
At that time Guiteau was 38 years old and had an unusually checkered career behind him. He had been an itinerant and generally unsuccessful lecturer and evangelist, a lawyer, and a would-be politician. While it is true he resented Garfield's failure to appoint him consul in Paris as a reward for his wholly illusory contribution to the Garfield campaign, and he verbally attacked Garfield for his lack of support for the so-called Stalwart wing of the Republican Party, these may not have supplied the total motivation for his crime. At his trial he testified that the "Deity" had commanded him to remove the President. There is no evidence that he confided his assassination plans to anyone or that he had any close friends or confidants. He made his attack on the President under cir stances where escape after the shooting was inconceivable. There were some hereditary mental problems in his family and Guiteau apparently believed in divine inspiration. 17
Guiteau later testified that he had three opportunities to attack the President prior to the actual shooting. On all of these occasions,
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within a brief period of 3 weeks, the President was unguarded. Guiteau finally realized his intent on the morning of July 2, 1881. As Garfield was walking to a train in the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station in Washington, Guiteau stepped up and shot him in the back. Garfield did not die from the effects of the wound until September 19, 1881. Although there was evidence of serious abnormality in Guiteau, he was found guilty of murder and sentenced to be hanged. The execution took place on June 30, 1882.18
At least one newspaper, the New York Tribune, predicted that the assault on Garfield would lead to the President becoming "the slave of his office, the prisoner of forms and restrictions," in sharp and unwelcome contrast to the splendidly simple life he had been able to live before.
The bullet of the assassin who lurked in the Washington railway station to take the life of President Garfield shattered the simple Republican manner of life which the custom of nearly a century has prescribed for the Chief Magistrate of the United States. Our Presidents have been the first citizens of the Republic-nothing more. With a measure of power in their hands far greater than is wielded by the ruler of any limited monarchy in Europe, they have never surrounded themselves with the forms and safeguards of courts. The White House has been a business office to everybody. Its occupant has always been more accessible than the heads of great commercial establishments. When the passions of the war were at fever heat, Mr. Lincoln used to have a small guard of cavalry when he rode out to his summer residence at the Soldier's Home; but at no other time in our history has it been thought needful for a President to have any special protection against violence when inside or outside the White House. Presidents have driven about Washington like other people and travelled over the country as unguarded and unconstrained as any private citizen. 19
The prediction of the Tribune did not come to pass. Although the Nation was shocked by this deed, its representatives took no steps to provide the President with personal protection. The President continued to move about Washington, sometimes completely alone, and to travel without special protection. There is a story that President Chester A. Arthur, Garfield's successor, once went to a ceremony at the Washington Navy Yard on a public conveyance that he hailed in front of the White House. 20
During Grover Cleveland's second administration (1893-97) the number of threatening letters addressed to the President increased markedly, and Mrs. Cleveland persuaded the President to increase the number of White House policemen to 27 from the 3 who had cons uted the force since the Civil War. In 1894, the Secret Service began to provide protection, on an informal basis. 21
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The Secret Service was organized as a division of the Department of the Treasury in 1865, to deal with counterfeiting.22 Its jurisdiction was extended to other fiscal crimes against the United States in later appropriations acts,23 but its early work in assisting in protecting the President was an unofficial, stopgap response to a need for a trained organization, with investigative capabilities, to perform this task. In 1894, while investigating a plot by a group of gamblers in Colorado to assassinate President Cleveland, the Secret Service assigned a small detail of operatives to the White House to help protect him. Secret Service men accompanied the President and his family to their vacation home in Massachusetts; special details protected the President in Washington, on trips, and at special functions.24 For a time, two agents rode in a buggy behind President Cleveland's carriage, but this practice attracted so much attention in the opposition newspapers that it was soon discontinued at the President's insistence.25 These initially informal and part-time arrangements eventually led to the organization of permanent systematic protection for the President and his family.
During the Spanish-American War the Secret Service stationed a detail at the White House to provide continuous protection for President McKinley. The special wartime protective measures were relaxed after the war, but Secret Service guards remained on duty at the White House at least part of the time. 26
Between 1894 and 1900, anarchists murdered the President of France, the Premier of Spain, the Empress of Austria, and the King of Italy. At the turn of the century the Secret Service thought that the strong police action taken against the anarchists in Europe was compelling them to flee and that many were coming to the United States. Concerned about the protection of the President, the Secret Service increased the number of guards and directed that a guard accompany him on all of his trips. 27
Unlike Lincoln and Garfield, President McKinley was being guarded when he was shot by Leon F. Czolgosz, an American-born 28-year-old factory worker and farmhand. On September 6, 1901, the President was holding a brief reception for the public in the Temple of Music at the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo. Long lines of people passed between two rows of policemen and soldiers to reach the President and shake his hand. In the immediate vicinity of the President were four Buffalo detectives, four soldiers, and three Secret Service agents. Two of the Secret Service men were facing the President at a distance of 3 feet. One of them stated later that it was normally his custom to stand at the side of the President on such occasions, but that he had been requested not to do so at this time in order to permit McKinley's secretary and the president of the exposition to stand on either side of McKinley. Czolgosz joined the line concealed a pistol under a handkerchief, and when he stood in front of the President shot twice through the handkerchief. McKinley fell critically wounded.28
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Czolgosz, a self-styled anarchist, did not believe in rulers of any kind. There is evidence that the organized anarchists in the U.S.A. did not accept or trust him. He was not admitted as a member to any of the secret anarchist societies. No co-plotters were ever discovered, and there is no evidence that he had confided in anyone. A calm inquiry made by two eminent alienists about a year after Czolgosz was executed found that Czolgosz had for some time been suffering from delusions. One was that he was an anarchist; another was that it was his duty to assassinate the President. 29
The assassin said he had no grudge against the President personally but did not believe in the republican form of government or in rulers of any kind. In his written confession he included the words, "I don't believe one man should have so much service and another man should have none." As he was strapped to the chair to be electrocuted, he said: "I killed the President because he was the enemy of the good people--the good working people. I am not sorry for my crime."30
McKinley lingered on for 8 days before he died of blood poisoning early on the morning of September 14. Czolgosz, who had been captured immediately, was swiftly tried, convicted, and condemned to death. Although it seemed to some contemporaries that Czolgosz was incompetent, the defense made no effort to plead insanity. Czolgosz was executed 45 days after the President's death. Investigations by the Buffalo police and the Secret Service revealed no accomplices and no plot of any kind.31
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DEVELOPMENT OF PRESIDENTIAL PROTECTION
This third assassination of a President in a little more than a generation--it was only 36 years since Lincoln had been killed--shook the nation and aroused it to a greater awareness of the uniqueness of the Presidency and the grim hazards that surrounded an in bent of that Office. The first congressional session after the assassination of McKinley gave more attention to legislation concerning attacks on the President than had any previous Congress but did not pass any measures for the protection of the President.32 Nevertheless, in 1902 the Secret Service, which was then the only Federal general investigative agency of any consequence, assumed full-time responsibility for the safety of the President. Protection of the President now became one of its major permanent functions, and it assigned two men to its original full-time White House detail. Additional agents were provided when the President traveled or went on vacation.33
Theodore Roosevelt, who was the first President to experience the extensive system of protection that has surrounded the President ever since, voiced an opinion of Presidential protection that was probably shared in part by most of his successors. In a letter to Senator Henry Cabot Lodge in 1906, from his summer home, he wrote:
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The Secret Service men are a very small but very necessary thorn in the flesh. Of course, they would not be the least use preventing any assault upon my life. I do not believe there is any danger of such an assault, and if there were, as Lincoln said, "though it would be safer for a President to live in a cage, it would interfere with his business." But it is only the Secret Service men who render life endurable, as you would realize if you saw the procession of carriages that pass through the place, the procession of people on foot who try to get into the place, not to speak of the mul ude of cranks and others who are stopped in the village.34
Roosevelt, who had succeeded to the Presidency because of an assassin's bullet, himself became the object of an assassination attempt a few years after he left office and when he was no longer under Secret Service protection. During the Presidential campaign of 1912, just as he was about to make a political speech in Milwaukee on October 14, he was shot and wounded in the breast by John N. Schrank, a 36-year-old German-born ex-tavern keeper. A folded manuscript of his long speech and the metal case for his eyeglasses in the breast pocket of Roosevelt's coat were all that prevented the assassination.35
Schrank had a vision in 1901, induced possibly by McKinley's assassination, which took on meaning for him after Roosevelt, 11 years later, started to campaign for the Presidency. In this vision the ghost of McKinley appeared to him and told him not to let a murderer (i.e., Roosevelt, who according to the vision had murdered McKinley) become President. It was then that he determined upon the assassination. At the bidding of McKinley's ghost, he felt he had no choice but to kill Theodore Roosevelt. After his attempt on Roosevelt, Schrank was found to be insane and was committed to mental hospitals in Wisconsin for the rest of his life.36
The establishment and extension of the Secret Service authority for protection was a prolonged process. Although the Secret Service undertook to provide full-time protection for the President beginning in 1902, it received neither funds for the purpose nor sanction from the Congress until 1906 when the Sundry Civil Expenses Act for 1907 included funds for protection of the President by the Secret Service.37 Following the election of William Howard Taft in 1908, the Secret Service began providing protection for the President-elect. This practice received statutory authorization in 1913, and in the same year, Congress authorized permanent protection of the President.38 It remained necessary to renew the authority annually in the Appropriations Acts until 1951.
As in the Civil and Spanish-American Wars, the coming of war in 1917 caused increased concern for the safety of the President. Congress enacted a law, since referred to as the threat statute, making it a crime to threaten the President by mail or in any other manner.39 In 1917 Congress also authorized protection for the President's immediate family by the Secret Service.40
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As the scope of the Presidency expanded during the 20th century, the Secret Service found the problems of protection becoming more numerous. In 1906, for the first time in history, a President traveled outside the United States while in office. When Theodore Roosevelt visited Panama in that year, he was accompanied and protected by Secret Service men.41 In 1918-19 Woodrow Wilson broadened the precedent of Presidential foreign travel when he traveled to Europe with a Secret Service escort of 10 men to attend the Versailles Peace Conference.42
The attempt on the life of President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 further demonstrated the broad scope and complexity of the protection problems facing the Secret Service. Giuseppe Zangara was a bricklayer and stonemason with a professed hatred of capitalists and Presidents. He seemed to be obsessed with the desire to kill a President. After his arrest he confessed that he had first planned to go to Washington to kill President Herbert Hoover, but as the cold climate of the North was bad for his stomach trouble, he was loath to leave Miami, where he was staying. When he read in the paper that President-elect Roosevelt would be in Miami, he resolved to kill him.43
On the night of February 15, 1933, at, a political rally in Miami's Bayfront Park, the President-elect sat on the top of the rear seat of his automobile with a small microphone in his hand as he made a short informal talk. Fortunately for him, however, he slid down into the seat just before Zangara could get near enough to take aim. The assassin's arm may have been jogged just as he shot; the five rounds he directed at Roosevelt went awry. However, he mortally wounded Mayor Anton Cermak, of Chicago, and hit four other persons; the President-elect, by a miracle, escaped. Zangara, of course, never had any chance of escaping.44
Zangara was electrocuted on March 20, 1933, only 33 days after his attempt on Roosevelt. No evidence of accomplices or conspiracy came to light, but there was some sensational newspaper speculation, wholly undo ented, that Zangara may have been hired by Chicago gangsters to kill Cermak.45
The force provided since the Civil War by the Washington Metropolitan Police for the protection of the White House had grown to 54 men by 1922.46 In that year Congress enacted legislation creating the White House Police Force as a separate organization under the direct control of the President.47 This force was actually supervised by the President's military aide until 1930, when Congress placed supervision under the Chief of the Secret Service.48 Although Congress transferred control and supervision of the force to the Secretary of the Treasury in 1962,49 the Secretary delegated supervision to the Chief of the Secret Service.50
The White House detail of the Secret Service grew in size slowly from the original 2 men assigned in 1902. In 1914 it still numbered only 5, but during World War I it was increased to 10 men. Additional men were added when the President traveled. After the
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war the size of the detail grew until it reached 16 agents and 2 supervisors by 1939. World War II created new and greater protection problems, especially those arising from the President's trips abroad to the Grand Strategy Conferences in such places as Casablanca, Quebec, Tehran, Cairo, and Yalta. To meet the increased demands, the White House detail was increased to 37 men early in the war.51
The volume of mail received by the White House had always been large, but it reached huge proportions under Franklin D. Roosevelt. Presidents had always received threatening letters but never in such quan ies. To deal with this growing problem, the Secret Service established in 1940 the Protective Research Section to analyze and make available to those charged with protecting the President, information from White House mail and other sources concerning people potentially capable of violence to the President. The Protective Research Section undoubtedly permitted the Secret Service to anticipate and forestall many incidents that might have been embarrassing or harmful to the President.52
Although there was no advance warning of the attempt on Harry S. Truman's life on November 1, 1950, the protective measures taken by the Secret Service availed, and the assassins never succeeded in firing directly at the President. The assassins--Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola, Puerto Rican Nationalists living in New York-- tried to force their way into Blair House, at the time the President's residence while the White House was being repaired. Blair House was guarded by White House policemen and Secret Service agents. In the ensuing gun battle, Torresola and one White House policeman were killed, and Collazo and two White House policemen were wounded. Had the assassins succeeded in entering the front door of Blair House, they would probably have been cut down immediately by another Secret Service agent inside who kept the doorway covered with a submachine gun from his vantage point at the foot of the main stairs. In all, some 27 shots were fired in less than 3 minutes.53
Collazo was brought to trial in 1951 and sentenced to death, but President Truman commuted the sentence to life imprisonment on July 24, 1952. Although there was a great deal of evidence linking Collazo and Torresola to the Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico and its leader, Pedro Albizu Campos, the Government could not establish that the attack on the President was part of a larger Nationalist conspiracy.54
The attack on President Truman led to the enactment in 1951 of legislation that permanently authorized the Secret Service to protect the President, his immediate family, the President-elect, and the Vice President, the last upon his request. Protection of the Vice President by the Secret Service had begun in January 1945 when Harry S. Truman occupied the office.55
In 1962 Congress further enlarged the list of Government officers to be safeguarded, authorizing protection of the Vice President (or the officer next in order of succession to the Presidency) without requiring his request therefore; of the Vice President-elect; and of a
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former President, at his request, for a reasonable period after his departure from office. The Secret Service considered this "reasonable period" to be 6 months.56
Amendments to the threat statute of 1917, passed in 1955 and 1962, made it a crime to threaten to harm the President-elect, the Vice Presidents or other officers next in succession to either office. The President's immediate family was not included in the threat statute.57
Congressional concern regarding the uses to which the President might put the Secret Service--first under Theodore Roosevelt and subsequently under Woodrow Wilson--caused Congress to place tight restrictions on the functions of the Service and the uses of its funds. 58 The restrictions probably prevented the Secret Service from developing into a general investigative agency, leaving the field open for some other agency when the need arose. The other agency proved to be the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) established within the Department of Justice in 1908. 57
The FBI grew rapidly in the 1920's, and especially in the 1930's and after, establishing itself as the largest, best equipped, and best known of all U.S. Government investigative agencies. In the appropriations of the FBI there recurred annually an item for the "protection of the person of the President of the United States," that had first appeared in the appropriation of the Department of Justice in 1910 under the heading "Miscellaneous Objects." 60 But there is no evidence that the Justice Department ever exercised any direct responsibility for the protection of the President. Although it had no prescribed protection functions, according to its Director, J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI did provide protection to Vice President Charles Curtis at his request, when he was serving under Herbert Hoover from 1929 to 1933. Over the years the FBI contribution to Presidential protection was confined chiefly to the referral to the Secret Service of the names of people who might be potentially dangerous to the President.61
In recent years the Secret Service has remained a small and specialized bureau, restricted to very limited functions prescribed by Congress. In 1949, a task force of the Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government (Hoover Commission), recommended nonfiscal functions be removed from the Treasury Department. 62 The recommendation called for transfer of the White House detail, White House Police Force, and Treasury Guard Force from the Secret Service to the Department of Justice. The final report of the Commission on the Treasury Department omitted this recommendation, leaving the protective function with the Secret Service.63 At a meeting of the Commission, ex-President Hoover, in a reference to the proposed transfer, expressed the opinion that "the President will object to having a 'private eye' looking after these fellows and would rather continue with the service." 64
In 1963 the Secret Service was one of several investigative agencies in the Treasury Department. Its major functions were to combat counterfeiting and to protect the President, his family, and other
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designated persons. 65 The Chief of the Secret Service administered its activities through four divisions: Investigation, Inspection, Administrative, and Security, and 65 field offices throughout the country, each under a special agent in charge who reported directly to Washington. The Security Division supervised the White House detail, the White House Police, and the Treasury Guard Force. During fiscal year 1963 (July 1, 1962-June 30, 1963) the Secret Service had an average strength of 513, of whom 351 were special agents. Average strength of the White House Police during the year was 179.66
Appendix 8: Medical Reports from Doctors at Parkland Memorial Hospital, Dallas, Tex.
This appendix (pages 516 through 537) reproduces COMMISSION EXHIBIT NO. 392, which includes:
Dr. Kemp Clark's statement
Parkland Memorial Hospital Admission Notes
Statement concerning Resuscitative Efforts for President John F. Kennedy
Parkland Memorial Hospital Operative Record for John Connally
Page 529
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS
SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL SCHOOL
DALLAS
November 22, 1963
1630
To: Mr. C. J. Price, Administrator Parkland Memorial Hospital
From: M. T. Jenkins, M.D., Professor and Chairman Department of Anesthesiology
Subject: Statement concerning resuscitative efforts for President John F. Kennedy
Upon receiving a stat alarm that this distinguished patient was being brought to the emergency room at Parkland Memorial Hospital, I dispatched Doctors A. H. Giesecke and Jackie H. Hunt with an anesthesia machine and resuscitative equipment to the major surgical emergency room area, and I ran down the stairs. On my arrival in the emergency operating room at approximately 1230 I found that Doctors Carrico and/or Delaney had begun resuscitative efforts by introducing an orotracheal tube, connecting it for controlled ventilation to a Bennett intermittent positive pressure breathing apparatus. Doctors Charles Baxter, Malcolm Perry, and Robert McClelland arrived at the same time and began a tracheostomy and started the insertion of a right chest tube, since there was also obvious tracheal and chest damage. Doctors Paul Peters and Kemp Clark arrived simultaneously and immediately thereafter assisted respectively with the insertion of the right chest tube and with manual closed chest cardiac compression to assure circulation.
For better control of artificial ventilation, I exchanged the intermittent positive pressure breathing apparatus for an anesthesia machine and continued artificial ventilation. Doctors Gene Akin and A. H. Giesecke assisted with the respiratory problems incident to changing from the orotracheal tube to a tracheostomy tube and Doctors Hunt and Giesecke connected a cardioscope to determine cardiac activity.
During the progress of these activities, the emergency room cart was elevated at the feet in order to provide a Trendelenburg position, a venous cutdown was performed on the right saphenous vein, and additional fluids were begun in a vein in the left forearm while blood was ordered from the blood bank. All of these activities were completed by approximately 1245, at which time external cardiac massage was still being carried out effectively by Doctor Clark as judged by a palpable peripheral pulse. Despite these measures there was no electrocardiographic evidence of cardiac activity.
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Mr. C. J. Price, Administrator
November 22, 1963
Page 2 - Statement concerning resuscitative
efforts for President John F. Kennedy
These described resuscitative activities were indicated as of first importance, and after they were carried out attention was turned to all other evidences of injury. There was a great laceration on the right side of the head (temporal and occipital), causing a great defect in the skull plate so that there was herniation and laceration of great areas of the brain, even to the extent that the cerebellum had protruded from the wound. There were also fragmented sections of brain on the drapes of the emergency room cart. With the ins ution of adequate cardiac compression, there was a great flow of blood from the cranial cavity, indicating that there was much vascular damage as well as brain tissue damage.
It is my personal feeling that all methods of resuscitation were ins uted expeditiously and efficiently. However, this cranial and intracranial damage was of such magnitude as to cause the irreversible damage. President Kennedy was pronounced dead at 1300.
Sincerely,
M. T. Jenkins, M.D.
Appendix 9: Autopsy Report and Supplemental Report
This appendix (pages 538 through 546) reproduces COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 387, and is not available on the NARA web site.
For a copy of this appendix, please contact:
Special Access and FOIA Staff
National Archives
Room 6350
8601 Adelphi Road
College Park, MD 20740-6001
Phone: (301) 837-3190
E-mail: [email protected]
Appendix 10: Expert Testimony
Firearms and Firearms Identification
General Principles
The Rifle
Rifle Cartridge and Cartridge Cases
The Rifle Bullets
The Revolver
Revolver Cartridges and Cartridge Cases
Revolver Bullets
The Struggle for the Revolver
The Paraffin Test
The Walker Bullet
Fingerprints and Palmprints
General Principles
Objects in the Texas School Book Depository Building
Questioned Do ents
The Mail Order for the C2766 Rifle, the Related Envelope, and the Money Order
Mail Order for V510210 Revolver
Post Office Box Applications and Change-of-Address Card
The Spurious Selective Service System Notice of Classification and U.S. Marine Corps Certificate of Service
The Hidell Notice of Classification
The Hidell Certificate of Service
The Vaccination Certificate
The Fair Play for Cuba Committee Card
The Unsigned Russian-Language Note
The Homemade Wrapping Paper Bag
Wound Ballistics Experiments
Purpose of the Test
The Testers and Their Qualifications
General Testing Conditions
Tests on Penetration Power and Bullet Stability
Tests Simulating President Kennedy's Neck Wound
Tests Simulating Governor Connally's Chest Wounds
Tests Simulating Governor Connally's Wrist Wounds
Conclusions From Simulating the Neck, Chest, and Wrist Wounds
Tests Simulating President Kennedy's Head Wounds
Hairs and Fibers
General Principles
Photographs
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FIREARMS AND FIREARMS IDENTIFICATION
Three experts gave testimony concerning firearms and firearms identification: Robert A. Frazier and Cortlandt Cunningham of the FBI, and Joseph D. Nicol, superintendent of the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation of the State of Illinois. Frazier has been in the field of firearms identification for 23 years, following a l-year course of specialized training in the FBI Laboratory. Cunningham has been in the field for 5 years, having also completed the FBI course. Nicol has been in the firearms identification field since 1941, having begun his training in the Chicago police crime laboratory. Each has made many thousands of firearms identification examinations.1 Frazier testified on the rifle, the rifle cartridge cases, and the rifle bullets; Cunningham on the revolver, the revolver cartridge cases, the revolver bullets, and the paraffin test; and Nicol on all the bullets and cartridge cases and the paraffin test. 2 Nicol's conclusions were identical to those of Frazier and Cunningham, except as noted.
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General Principles
A cartridge, or round of ammunition, is composed of a primer, a cartridge case, powder, and a bullet. The primer, a metal cup containing a. detonable mixture, fits into the base of the cartridge case, which is loaded with the powder. The bullet, which usually consists of lead or of a lead core encased in a higher strength metal jacket, fits into the neck of the cartridge case. To tire the bullet, the cartridge is placed in the chamber of a firearm, immediately behind the firearm's barrel. The base of the cartridge rests against a solid support called the breech face or, in the case of a bolt-operated weapon, the bolt face. When the trigger is pulled, a firing pin strikes a swift, hard blow into the primer, detonating the priming mixture. The flames from the resulting explosion ignite the powder, causing a rapid combustion whose force propels the bullet forward through the barrel.
The barrels of modern firearms are "rifled," that is, several spiral grooves are cut into the barrel from end to end. The purpose of the rifling is to set the bullet spinning around its axis, giving it a stability in flight that it would otherwise lack. the weapons of a given make and model are alike in their rifling characteristics; that is, number of grooves, number of lands (the raised portion of the barrel between the grooves) and twist of the rifling. when a bullet is fired through a barrel, it is engraved with these rifling characteristics. For example, all S. & W. .38/200 British Service Revolvers have five grooves and
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five lands, which twist to the right, and bullets fired through such a revolver will have five groove and ]and impressions, right twist.
In addition to rifling characteristics, every weapon bears distinctive microscopic characteristics on its components, including its barrel, firing pin, and breech face. While a weapon's rifling characteristics are common to all other weapons of its make and model (and sometimes even to weapons of a different make or model), a weapon's microscopic characteristics are distinctive, and differ from those of every other weapon, regardless of make and model. Such markings are initially caused during manufacture since the action of manufacturing tools differs microscopically from weapon to weapon, and since the tools change microscopically while being operated. As a weapon is used, further distinctive microscopic markings are introduced by the effects of wear, fouling, and cleaning. As Frazier testified:
Q. Can you explain how you are able to come to a conclusion that a cartridge case was fired in a particular weapon to the exclusion of all other weapons?
Mr. FRAZIER. Yes, sir; during the manufacture of a weapon, there are certain things done to the mechanism of it, which are by machine or by filing, by grinding, which form the parts of the weapon into their final shape. These machining and grinding and filing operations will mark the metal with very fine scratches or turning marks and grinding marks in such a way that there will be developed on the surface of the metal a characteristic pattern. This pattern, because it is made by these accidental machine-type operations, will be characteristic of that particular weapon, and will not be reproduced on separate weapons. It may be a combination of marks that--the face of the bolt. may be milled, then it may be in part filed to smooth off the corners, and then, as a final operation, it may be polished, or otherwise adjusted during the hand fitting operation, so that it does have its particular pattern of microscopic marks.
The bolt face of the 139 rifle I have photographed and enlarged in this photograph [Commission Exhibit No. 558] to show the types of marks I was referring to.
The marks produced during manufacture are the marks seen on the bolt face; filing marks, machining marks of the various types, even forging marks or casting marks if the bolt happens to be forged or east. And then variations which occur in these marks during the life of the weapon are very important in identification, because many of the machining marks can be flattened out, can be changed, by merely a grain of sand between the face of the cartridge case and the bolt at the time a shot is fired, which will itself scratch and dent the bolt face. So the bolt face will pick up a characteristic pattern of marks which are peculiar to it.
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... [T] he marks which are placed on any bolt face are accidental in nature. That is, they are not placed there intentionally in the first place. They are residual to some machining operation, such as a milling machine, in which each cutter of the milling tool cuts away a portion of the metal; then the next tooth comes along and cuts away a little more, and so on, until the final surface bears the combination of the various teeth of the milling cutter. In following that operation, then, the surface is additionally scratched--until you have numerous- -we call them microscopic characteristics, a characteristic being a mark which is peculiar to a certain place on the bolt face, and of a certain shape, it is of a certain size, it has a certain contour, it may be just a little dimple in the metal, or a spot. of rust at, one time on the face of the bolt, or have occurred from some accidental means such as dropping the bolt, or repeated use having flattened or smoothed off the surface of the metal.
... [A]s the blade of a milling machine travels around a surface, it takes off actually a dust--it is not actually a piece of metal--it scrapes a little steel off in the form of a dust---or a very fine powder or chip--that tooth leaves a certain pattern of marks--that edge. That milling cutter may have a dozen of these edges on its surface, and each one takes a little more. Gradually you wear the metal down, you tear it out actually until you are at the proper depth. Those little pieces of metal, as they are traveling around, can also scratch the face of the bolt--unless they are washed away. So that you may have accidental marks from that source, just in the machining operation.
Now, there are two types of marks produced in a cutting operation. One, from the nicks along the cutting edge of the tool, which are produced by a circular operating tool--which produce very fine scratches in a circular pattern. Each time the tool goes around, it erases those marks that were there before. And when the tool is finally lifted out, you have a series of marks which go around the surface which has been machined, and you will find that pattern of marks, as this tool goes around, will change. In one area, it. will be one set of marks--and as you visually examine the surface of the metal, these very fine marks will extend for a short distance, then disappear, and a new mark of a new type will begin and extend for a short distance. The entire surface, then, will have a---be composed of a series of circles, but the individual marks seen in the microscope will not be circular, will not form complete circles around the face of the bolt.
Q. Have you had occasion to examine two consecutive bolt faces from a factory?
A. Oh, yes.
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Q. And what did you find on that examination?
A. There would be no similarity in the individual microscopic characteristics between the two bolt faces.
Q. There actually was none?
A. No there was none.3
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Q. How are you able to conclude that a given bullet was fired in a given weapon to the exclusion of all other weapons, Mr. Frazier?
A. That is based again upon the microscopic marks left on the fired bullets and those marks in turn are based upon the barrel from which the bullets are fired.
The marks in the barrel originate during manufacture. They originate through use of the gun, through accidental marks resulting from cleaning, excessive cleaning, of the weapon, or faulty cleaning.
They result from corrosion in the barrel due to the hot gases and possibly corrosive primer mixtures in the cartridges used, and primarily again they result from wear, that is, an eroding of the barrel through friction due to the firing of cartridges, bullets through it.
In this particular barrel the manufacturer's marks are caused by the drill which drills out the barrel, leaving certain marks from the drilling tool. Then portions of these marks are erased by a rifling tool which cuts the four spiral grooves in the barrel and, in turn, leaves marks themselves, and in connection with those marks of course, the drilling marks, being circular in shape, there is a tearing away of the surface of the metal, so that a microscopically rough surface is left.
Then removing part of those marks with a separate tool causes that barrel to assume an individual characteristic, a character all of its own.
In other words, at that time you could identify a bullet fired from that barrel as having been fired from the barrel to the exclusion of all other barrels, because there is no system whatever to the drilling of the barrel. The only system is in the rifling or in the cutting of the grooves, and in this case of rifle barrels, even the cutters wear down as the barrels are made eventually of course having to be discarded or resharpened.
Q. Have you examined consecutively manufactured barrels to determine whether their microscopic characteristics are identical?
A. Yes, sir; I have three different sets of, you might say, paired barrels, which have been manufactured on the same machine, one after the other, under controlled conditions to make them as nearly alike as possible, and in each case fired bullets from those barrels could not be identified with each other; in fact, they looked nothing at all alike as far as individual microscopic characteristics
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are concerned. Their rifling impressions of course would be identical, but the individual marks there would be entirely different. 4
When a cartridge is fired, the microscopic characteristics of the weapon's barrel are engraved into the bullet (along with its rifling characteristics), and the microscopic characteristics of the firing pin and breech face are engraved into the base of the cartridge case. By virtue of these microscopic markings, an expert can frequently match a bullet or cartridge case to the weapon in which it was fired. To make such an identification, the expert compares the suspect bullet or cartridge case under a comparison microscope, side by side with a test bullet or cartridge case which has been fired in the weapon, to determine whether the pattern of the markings in the test and suspect items are sufficiently similar to show that they were fired in the same weapon. This is exemplified by Frazier's examination of Commission Exhibit No. 543, one of the cartridge cases found in the Texas School Book Depository Building after the assassination:
Q. Mr. Frazier, we were just beginning to discuss, before the recess, Commission Exhibit 559, which is a picture, as you described it, of Exhibit No. 543 and a test cartridge under a microscope ...?
Mr. Frazier. Yes, sir.
Q. Could you discuss, by using that picture, some of the markings which you have seen under the microscope and on the basis of which you made your identification?
A. Yes, sir. In the photograph I have drawn some small circles and numbered them, those circles, correspondingly on each side of the photograph. The purpose of the circles is not to point out all the similarities, but to call attention to some of them and to help orient in locating a mark on one with a mark on the opposite side of the photograph. In general the area shown is immediately outside of the firing pin in the bolt of the 139 rifle, on the left side of the photograph, and Commission Exhibit 543 on the right side.
The circles have been drawn around the dents or irregularly shaped ridges, small bumps, and depressions on the surfs of the metal in six places on each side of the photograph. It. is an examination of these marks, and all of the marks on the face of the breech, microscopically which permits a conclusion to be reached. The photograph itself actually is a subs ute to show only the type of marks found rather than their nature, that is, their height, their width, or their relationship to each other, which is actually a mental, visual, comparison on the two specimens themselves.
Q. Referring for a second to this mental, visual, comparison, Mr. Frazier, would a person without firearms training--fire-arms-identification training--be able to look under a microscope
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and make a determination for himself concerning whether a given cartridge case had been fired in a given weapon.?
A. In that connection that person could look through the microscope. He may or may not see these individual characteristics which are present, because he does not know what to look for in the first place, and, secondly, they are of such a nature that you have to mentally sort them out in your mind going back and forth between one area and the other until you form a mental picture of them in a comparison such as this.
If it was a different type of comparison, of parallel marks or something of that nature, then he could see the marks, but in either instance, without having compared hundreds and hundreds of specimens, he would not be able to make any statement as to whether or not they were fired from the same rifle.
Q. Would you say that this is, then, a matter of expert interpretation rather than a point-for-point comparison which a layman could make?
A. I would say so; yes. I don't think a layman would recognize some of the things on these cartridge cases and some shown in the photographs as actually being significant or not. significant, because there will be things present which have nothing whatsoever to do with the firing of the cartridge case in the gun.
There may be a depression in the primer to begin with, and there are no marks registered at that point as a result of the firing. Unless these things are known to occur, someone may actually arrive at a different conclusion, because of the absence of similar marks.
Q. Now having reference to the specific exhibit before you, which is 559--
A. Yes.
Q. Are all the marks shown in both photographs identical?
A. No.
Q. And could you go into detail on a mark which is not identical to explain why you would get such a result?
A. Well, for instance, between what I have drawn here as circle 4 and circle 5, there is a slanting line from the upper left to the lower right on C-6. This line shows as a white line in the photograph.
On the other side there is a rough, very rough ridge which runs through there, having an entirely different appearance from the relatively sharp line on C-6. The significant part of that mark is the groove in between, rather than the sharp edge of the mark, because the sharp corner could be affected by the hardness of the metal or the irregular surface of the primer and the amount of pressure exerted against it, pressing it back against the face of the bolt, at the time the cartridges were fired. So that you would never expect all the marks on one cartridge case to be identical with all the marks on the other cartridge case.
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In fact, you would expect many differences. But the comparison is made on the overall pattern, contour, and nature of the marks that are present.
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Q. Again there are dissimilar marks on these two pictures [of the firing-pin depressions on the cartridge case Commission Exhibit No. 543, and a test cartridge case], Mr. Frazier ?
A. Yes; there are, for the same reason, that metal does not flow the same in every instance, and it will not be impressed to the same depth and to the same amount, depending on the type of metal, the blow that is struck, and the pressures involved.
Q. Is your identification made therefore on the basis of the presence of similarities, as opposed to the absence of dissimilarities?
A. No, that is not exactly right. The identification is made on the presence of sufficient individual microscopic characteristics so that a very definite pattern is formed and visualized on the two surfaces.
Dissimilarities may or may not be present, depending on whether there have been changes to the firing pin through use or wear, whether the metal flows are the same, and whether the pressures are the same or not.
So I don't think we can say that it is an absence of dissimilarities, but rather the presence of similarities.5
A bullet or cartridge case cannot always be identified with the weapon in which it was fired. In some cases, the bullet or cartridge case is too mutilated. In other cases, the weapon's microscopic characteristics have changed between the time the suspect item was fired and the time the test item was fired--microscopic characteristics change drastically in a short period of time, due to wear, or over a longer period of time, due to wear, corrosion, and cleaning. Still again, the weapon may mark bullets inconsistently--for example, because the bullets are smaller than the barrel, and travel through it erratically. 6
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The Rifle
The rifle found on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository shortly after the assassination was a bolt-action, clip-fed, military rifle, 40.2 inches long and 8 pounds in weight.7 Inscribed on the rifle were various markings, including the words "CAL. 6.5," "MADE ITALY," "TERNI," and "ROCCA"; the numerals "1940" and "40"; the serial number C2766; the letters "R-E," "PG," and "TNI"; the figure of a crown; and several other barely decipherable letters and numbers.8 The rifle bore a very inexpensive Japanese four-power sight, stamped "4 x 18 COATED," "ORDNANCE OPTICS INC.," "HOLLYWOOD CALIFORNIA," and "MADE IN JAPAN'' 9 and a sling consisting of two leather straps, one of
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which had a broad patch, which apparently had been inserted on the rifle and cut to length. 10 The sling was not a standard rifle sling, but appeared to be a musical instrument strap or a sling from a carrying case or camera bag.11 A basic purpose of a rifle sling is to enable the rifleman to steady his grip, by wrapping the arm into the sling in a prescribed manner. The sling on the rifle was too short to use in the normal way, but might have served to provide some additional steadiness. 12
The rifle was identified as a 6.5-millimeter Mannlicher-Carcano Italian military rifle, Model 91/38. 13 This identification was initially made by comparing the rifle with standard reference works and by the markings inscribed on the rifle. 14 The caliber was independently determined by chambering a Mannlicher-Carcano 6.5 millimeter cartridge in the rifle for fit, and by making a sulfur cast of the inside of the rifle's barrel which was measured with a micrometer. 15 (The caliber of a weapon is the diameter of the interior of the barrel, measured between opposite lands. The caliber of American weapons is expressed in inches; thus a .30-caliber weapon has a barrel which is thirty one-hundredths or three-tenths of an inch in diameter. The caliber of continental European weapons is measured in millimeters. A 6.5-millimeter caliber weapon corresponds to an American .257-caliber weapon, that is, its barrel diameter is about one-fourth inch.) 16 The identification was later confirmed by a communication from SIFAR, the Italian Armed Forces Intelligence Service. This communication also explained the markings on the rifle, as follows: "CAL. 6.5" refers to the rifle's caliber; "MADE ITALY" refers to its origin, and was inscribed at the request of the American importer prior to shipment; "TERNI" means that the rifle was manufactured and tested by the Terni Army Plant of Terni, Italy; the number "C2766" is the serial number of the rifle, and the rifle in question is the only one of its type bearing that serial number; the numerals "1940" and "40" refer to the year of manufacture; and the other figures, numbers, and letters are principally inspector's, designer's, or manufacturer's marks.17
The Model 91/38 rifle was one of the 1891 series of Italian military rifles, incorporating features designed by Ritter von Mannlicher and M. Carcano. The series originally consisted of 6.5-millimeter caliber rifles, but Model 38 of the series, designed shortly before World War II, was a 7.35-millimeter caliber. Early in World War II, however, the Italian Government, which encountered an ammunition supply problem, began producing many of these rifles as 6.5-millimeter caliber rifles, known as the 6.5-millimeter Model 91/38. 18 The 91/38 has been imported into this country as surplus military equipment, has been advertised quite widely, and is now fairly common in this country. 19
Like most bolt-action military rifles, the 91/38 is operated by turning up the bolt handle, drawing the bolt to the rear, pushing the bolt forward, turning down the bolt handle, and pulling the trigger. Bringing the bolt forward and turning down the bolt handle compresses the spring which drives the firing pin, and locks the bolt into
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place. When the trigger is pulled, the ed spring drives the firing pin forward and the cartridge is fired. The face of the bolt boars a lip, called the extractor, around a portion of its cir ference. As the bolt is pushed forward, this lip grasps the rim of the cartridge. As the bolt is pulled back, the extractor brings the empty cartridge case with it, and as the cartridge case is being brought back, it strikes a projection in the ejection port called the ejector, which throws it out of the rifle. Meanwhile, a leaf spring beneath the clip has raised the next cartridge into loading position. When the bolt is brought forward, it pushes the fresh cartridge into the chamber. The trigger is pulled, the cartridge is fired, the bolt handle is brought up, the bolt is brought back, and the entire cycle starts again. As long as there is ammunition in the clip, one need only work the bolt and pull the trigger to fire the rifle. 20
The clip itself is inserted into the rifle by drawing back the bolt, and pushing the clip in from the top. The clip holds one to six cartridges.21 If six cartridges are inserted into the clip and an additional cartridge is inserted into the chamber, up to seven bullets can be fired before reloading.22 When the rifle was found in the Texas School Book Depository Building it contained a clip 23 which bore the letters "SMI" (the manufacturer's markings) and the number "952" (possibly a part number or the manufacturer's code number). 24 The rifle probably was sold without a clip; however, the clip is commonly available.25
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Rifle Cartridge and Cartridge Cases
When the rifle was found, one cartridge was in the chamber.26 The cartridge was a 6.5-millimeter Mannlicher-Carcano cartridge, manufactured by the Western Cartridge Co., at East Alton, Ill. This type of cartridge is loaded with a full metal-jacketed, military type of bullet, weighing 160-161 grains. The bullet has parallel sides and a round nose. It is just under 1.2 inches long, and just over one-fourth inch in diameter.27 Its velocity is approximately 2,165 feet per second.28 The cartridge is very dependable; in tests runs by the FBI and the Infantry Weapons Evaluation Branch of the U.S. Army, the C2766 rifle was fired with this Western Cartridge Co. ammunition over 100 times, with no misfires. (In contrast, some of the other ammunition available on the market for this rifle is undesirable or of very poor quality). 29 The cartridge is readily available for purchase from mail-order houses, as well as a few gunshops; some 2 million rounds have been placed on sale in the United States.30
The presence of the cartridge in the chamber did not necessarily mean that the assassin considered firing another bullet, since he may have reloaded merely by reflex.51
Apart from the cartridge in the rifle, three expended cartridge cases were found in the southeast portion of the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository Building, lying between the south
Page 556
This page reproduces COMMISSION EXHIBIT NO. 558: Photograph showing the Bolt face of the C2766 rifle.
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wall and a high stack of boxes which ran parallel to the wall. 32 The cartridge cases were a short distance to the west of the southeast corner window in that wall. 33 Based on a comparison with test cartridge cases fired from the C2766 rifle, the three cartridge cases were identified as having been fired from the C2766 rifle.34 ( See Commission Exhibit No. 558, p. 556.) A test was run to determine if the cartridge-case-ejection pattern of the rifle was consistent with the assumption that the assassin had fired from the southeast window. 35 In this test., 11 cartridges were fired from the rifle while it was depressed 45° downward, and 8 cartridges were fired from the rifle while it was held horizontally. The elevation of the ejected cartridge cases above the level of the ejection port, and the points on the floor at which the ejection cartridge cases initially landed, were then plotted. The results of these tests are illustrated by the diagrams, Commission Exhibits Nos. 546 and 547. Briefly, Commission Exhibit No. 547 shows that with the weapon depressed at a 45° angle, the cartridge cases did not rise more than 2 inches above the ejection port; with the weapon held horizontally, they did not rise more than 12 inches above the ejection port. 36 Commission Exhibit/So. 546 shows that if a circle was drawn around the initial landing points of the cartridge cases which were ejected in the test while the rifle was held depressed at 45°, the center of the circle would be located 86 inches and 80° to the right of the rifle's line of sight; if a circle was drawn around the initial landing points of the cartridge cases ejected while the rifle was held horizontally, the center of the circle would be 80 inches and 90° to the right of the line of sight. In other words, the cartridge cases were ejected to the right of and at roughly a right angle to the rifle. 37 The cartridge cases showed considerable ricochet after their initial landing, bouncing from 8 inches to 15 feet. 38 The location of the cartridge cases was therefore consistent with the southeast window having been used by the assassin, since if the assassin fired from that window the ejected cartridge cases would have hit the pile of boxes at his back and ricocheted between the boxes and the wall until they came to rest to the west of the window.39
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The Rifle Bullets
In addition to the three cartridge cases found in the Texas School Book Depository Building, a nearly whole bullet was found on Governor Connally's stretcher and two bullet fragments were found in the front of the President's car. 40 The stretcher bullet weighed 158.6 grains, or several grains less than the average Western Cartridge Co. 6.5-millimeter Mannlicher-Carcano bullet.41 It was slightly flattened, but otherwise unmutilated. 42 The two bullet fragments weighed 44.6 and 21.0 grains, respectively. 43 The heavier fragment was a portion of a bullet's nose area, as shown by its rounded contour and the
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character of the markings it bore. 44 The lighter fragment consisted of bullet's base portion, as shown by its shape and by the presence of a cannelure. 45 The two fragments were both mutilated, and it was not possible to determine from the fragments themselves whether they comprised the base and nose of one bullet or of two separate bullets. 46 However, each had sufficient unmutilated area to provide the basis of an identification. 47 Based on a comparison with test bullets fired from the C2766 rifle, the stretcher bullet and both bullet fragments were identified as having been fired from the C2766 rifle. 48
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The Revolver
The revolver taken from Oswald at the time of his arrest was a .38 Special S. & W. Victory Model revolver. 49 It bore the serial No. V510210, and is the only such revolver with that serial number, since S. & W. does not repeat, serial numbers. 50 The revolver was originally made in the United States, but was shipped to England, as shown by the English inspection or proof marks on the chambers. 51 The revolver showed definite signs of use but was in good operating condition. 52 The revolver was originally designed to fire a .38 S. & W. cartridge, whose bullet is approximately 12 or 13 grains lighter than the .38 Special, and approximately 12 inches shorter, but has a somewhat larger diameter. 53 In the United States, the .38 Special is considered to be a better bullet than the .38 S. & W.,54 and the revolver was rechambered for a .38 Special prior to being sold in the United States. 55 The weapon was not rebarreled, although the barrel was shortened by cutting off approximately 2 3/4 of its original 5 inches. 56 The shortening of the barrel had no functional value, except to facilitate concealment. 57
The weapon is a conventional revolver, with a rotating cylinder holding one to six cartridges. It is loaded by swinging out the cylinder and inserting cartridges into the cylinder's chambers. If all six chambers are loaded, the weapon can be fired six consecutive times without reloading. 58 To extract empty cartridge cases, the cylinder is swung out and an ejector rod attached to the cylinder is pushed, simultaneously ejecting all the cartridge cases (and cartridges) in the cylinder. If both live cartridges and expended cartridge cases are in the cylinder, before pushing the ejection rod one can tip the cylinder and dump the live cartridges into his hand. 59 The cartridge cases will not fall out, because they are lighter than the cartridges, and when fired they will have expanded so as to tightly fit the chamber walls. 60
In a crouched stance a person can fire five shots with the revolver in 3-4 seconds with no trouble, and would need no training to hit a human body four times in four or five shots at a range of 8 feet. 61 A person who had any training with the weapon would not find its recoil noticeable. 62
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Revolver Cartridges and Cartridge Cases
When Oswald was arrested six live cartridges were found in the revolver. 63 Three were Western .38 Specials, loaded with copper-coated lead bullets, and three were Remington-Peters .38 Specials, loaded with lead bullets. 64 Five additional live cartridges were found in Oswald's pocket, 65 all of which were Western .38 Specials, loaded with copper-coated bullets. 66 The Western and Remington-Peters .88 Special cartridges are virtually identical--the copper coating on the Western bullets is not a full jacket, but only a gilding metal, put on principally for sales appeal. 67
Four expended cartridge cases were found near the site of the Tippit killing. 68 Two of these cartridge cases were Remington-Peters .38 Specials and two were Western .38 Specials. 69 Based on a comparison with test cartridge cases fired in the V510210 revolver, the four cartridge cases were identified as having been fired in the V510210 revolver. 70
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Revolver Bullets
Four bullets were recovered from the body of Officer Tippit. 71 In Nicol's opinion one of the four bullets could be positively identified with test bullets fired from V510210 revolver, and the other three could have been fired from that revolver. 72 In Cunningham's opinion all four bullets could have been fired from the V510210 revolver, but none could be positively identified to the revolver 73 --that is, in his opinion the bullets bore the revolver's rifling characteristics, but no conclusion could be drawn on the basis of microscopic characteristics. 74 Cunningham did not conclude that the bullets had not been fired from the revolver, since he found that consecutive bullets fired in the revolver by the FBI could not even be identified with each other under the microscope. 75 The apparent reasons for this was that while the revolver had been rechambered for a .38 Special cartridge, it had not been rebarreled for a .38 Special bullet. The barrel was therefore slightly oversized for a .38 Special bullet, which has a smaller diameter than a .38 S. & W. bullet. This would cause the passage of a .38 Special bullet through the barrel to be erratic, resulting in inconsistent microscopic markings. 76
Based on the number of grooves, groove widths, groove spacing, and knurling on the four recovered bullets, three were copper-coated lead bullets of Western-Winchester manufacture (Western and Winchester are divisions of the same company), and the fourth was a lead bullet of Remington-Peters manufacture. 77 This contrasts with the four recovered cartridge cases, which consisted of two Remington-Peters and two Westerns. There are several possible explanations for this variance: (1) the killer fired five cartridges, three of which were Western-Winchester and two of which were Remington-Peters; one Remington-Peters bullet missed Tippit; and a Western-Winchester cartridge case and the Remington-Peters bullet that missed were simply not found. (2) The killer fired only four cartridges, three
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of which were Western-Winchester and one of which was Remington-Peters; prior to the shooting the killer had an expended Remington-Peters cartridge case in his revolver, which was ejected with the three Western- Winchester and one Remington-Peters cases; and one of the Western-Winchester cases was not found. (3) The killer was using hand-loaded ammunition, that is, ammunition which is made with used cartridge cases to save money; thus he might have loaded one make of bullet into another make of cartridge case. 78 This third possibility is extremely unlikely, because when a cartridge is fired the cartridge case expands, and before it can be reused it must be resized. There was, however, no evidence that any of the four recovered cartridge cases had been resized. 79
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The Struggle for the Revolver
Officer McDonald of the Dallas police, who arrested Oswald, stated that he had struggled with Oswald for possession of the revolver and that in the course of the struggle, "I heard the snap of the hammer, and the pistol crossed my left cheek ... the primer of one round was dented on misfire at the time of the struggle. ..." so However, none of the cartridges found in the revolver bore the impression of the revolver's firing pin. 81 In addition, the revolver is so constructed that, the firing pin cannot strike a cartridge unless the hammer (which bears the firing pin) has first been drawn all the way back by a complete trigger pull. 82 Had the hammer gone all the way back and then hit the cartridge, it is unlikely that the cartridge would have mis-fired. 83 It would be possible for a person to interject his finger between the hammer and the cartridge, but the spring driving the hammer is a very strong one and the impact of the firing pin into a finger would be clearly felt. 84 However, the cylinder and the trigger are interconnected and the trigger cannot be fully pulled back if the cylinder is grasped. 85 Therefore, if Oswald had pulled on the trigger while McDonald was firmly grasping the cylinder, the revolver would not have fired, and if the gun was grabbed away at the same time the trigger would have snapped back with an audible sound. 86
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The Paraffin Test
During the course of the interrogation of Lee Harvey Oswald following the assassination a paraffin test was performed by the Dallas police on both of his hands and his right cheek. The paraffin cast of Oswald's hands reacted positively to the test. The cast of the right cheek showed no reaction. 87
To perform the paraffin test, layers of warm liquid paraffin, inter-leaved with layers of gauze for reinforcement, are brushed or poured on the suspect's skin. The warm sticky paraffin opens the skin's pores and picks up any dirt and foreign material present at the surface. When the paraffin cools and hardens it forms a cast, which is taken off and processed with diphenylamine or diphenyl-
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benzidine, chemicals which turn blue in the presence of nitrates. Since gunpowder residues contain nitrates, the theory behind the test. is that if a cast reacts positively, i.e., if blue dots appear, it provides evidence that the suspect recently fired a weapon. 88 In fact, however, the test is completely unreliable in determining either whether a person has recently fired a weapon or whether he has not. 89 On the one hand, diphenylamine and diphenylbenzidine will react positively not only with nitrates from gunpowder residues, but nitrates from other sources and most oxidizing agents, including dichromates, per-manganates, hypochlorates, periodates, and some oxides. Thus, contact with tobacco, Clorox, urine, cosmetics, kitchen matches, pharmaceuticals, fertilizers, or soils, among other things, may result in a positive reaction to the paraffin test. Also, the mere handling of a weapon may leave nitrates on the skin. 90 A positive reaction is, therefore, valueless in determining whether a suspect has recently fired a weapon. Conversely, a person who has recently fired a weapon may not show a positive reaction to the paraffin test, particularly if the weapon was a rifle. A revolver is so constructed that there is a space between the cylinder, which bears the chambers, and the barrel. When a revolver is fired, nitrate-bearing gases escape through this space and may leave residues on the. hand. 91 In a rifle, however, there is no gap between the chamber and the barrel, and one would therefore not expect nitrates to be deposited upon a person's hands or cheeks as a result of his firing a rifle. As Cunningham testified:
Mr. CUNNINGHAM. ... I personally wouldn't expect to find any residues on a person's right cheek after firing a rifle due to the fact that by the very principles and the manufacture and the action, the cartridge itself is sealed into the chamber by the bolt being closed behind it, and upon firing the case, the cartridge case expands into the chamber filling it up and sealing it off from the gases, so none will come back in your face, and so by its very nature, I would not expect to find residue on the right. cheek of a shooter. 92
The unreliability of the paraffin test has been demonstrated by experiments run by the FBI. In one experiment, conducted prior to the assassination, paraffin tests were performed on 17 men who had just fired 5 shots with a .38-caliber revolver. Eight men tested negative in both hands, three men tested positive on the idle hand and negative on the firing hand, two men tested positive on the firing hand and negative on the idle hand, and four men tested positive on both their firing and idle hands. 93 In a second experiment, paraffin tests were per formed on 29 persons, 9 of whom had just fired a revolver or an automatic, and 20 of whom had not fired a weapon. All 29 persons tested positive on either or both hands. 94 In a third experiment, performed after the assassination, an agent of the FBI, using the C2766 rifle, fired
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three rounds of Western 6.5-millimeter Mannlicher-Carcano ammunition in rapid succession. A paraffin test was then performed on both of his hands and his right cheek. Both of his hands and his cheek tested negative. 95
The paraffin casts of Oswald's hands and right cheek were also examined by neutron-activation analyses at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Barium and antimony were found to be present on both surfaces of all the casts and also in residues from the rifle cartridge cases and the revolver cartridge cases. 96 Since barium and antimony were present in both the rifle and the revolver cartridge cases, their presence on the casts were not evidence that Oswald had fired the rifle. Moreover, the presence on the inside surface of the cheek cast of a lesser amount of barium, and only a slightly greater amount of antimony, than was found on the outside surface of the cast rendered it impossible to attach significance to the presence of these elements on the inside surface. Since the outside surface had not been in contact with Oswald's cheek, the barium and antimony found there had come from a source other than Oswald. Furthermore, while there was more barium and antimony present on the casts than would normally be found on the hands of a person who had not fired a weapon or handled a fired weapon, it is also true that barium and antimony may be present in many common items; for example, barium may be present in grease, ceramics, glass, paint, printing ink, paper, rubber, plastics, leather, cloth, pyrotechnics, oilcloth and linoleum, storage batteries, matches and cosmetics; antimony is present in matches, type metal, lead alloys, paints and lacquers, pigments for oil and water colors, flameproof textiles, storage batteries, pyrotechnics, rubber, pharmaceutical preparations and calico; and both barium and antimony are present in printed paper and cloth, paint, storage batteries, rubber, matches, pyrotechnics, and possibly other items. However, the barium and antimony present in these items are usually not present in a form which would lead to their adhering to the skin of a person who had handled such items. 97
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The Walker Bullet
On April 10, 1963, a bullet was recovered from General Walker's home, following an attempt on his life. 98 The bullet, which was severely mutilated, weighed 148.25 grains. 99 This bullet had the rifling characteristics of the C2766 rifle and all its remaining physical characteristics were the same as the Western 6.5 millimeter Mannlicher-Carcano bullet. However, while the bullet could have been fired from the C2766 rifle, it was severely mutilated and in Frazier's opinion could not be identified as having been fired or not fired from that rifle. 100 Nicol agreed that a positive identification could not be made, but concluded there was "a fair probability" that the bullet had been fired from the same rifle as the test bullets. 101
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FINGERPRINTS AND PALMPRINTS
Two experts gave testimony concerning fingerprints and palmprints: Sebestian Latona 102 and Arthur Mandella. 103 Latona is the supervisor of the Latent Fingerprint Section of the Identification Division of the FBI. He has been with that Division over 32 years, having begun as a student fingerprint classifier and worked up to his present position. Mandella is a detective and fingerprint instructor with the police department of the city of New York. He has been in the fingerprint field for 19 years. Both have made a vast number of fingerprint examinations and have testified in Federal, State, and military courts. 104 Their conclusions were identical, except as noted.
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General Principles 105
Fingerprints and palmprints are made by the ridges which cover the surface of the fingers and palms. These ridges first appear 2 or 3 months before birth, and remain unchanged until death. Commission Exhibit No. 634-A (p. 564) illustrates several common characteristics or "points" formed by the ridges; a clear fingerprint impression will contain anywhere from 85 to 125 such points. While many of the common points appear in almost every print, no two prints have the same points in the same relationship to each other.
A print taken by a law-enforcement agency is known as an "inked print," and is carefully taken so that all the characteristics of the print are reproduced on the fingerprint card; a print which is left accidental]y, such as a print left at the scene of a crime, is known as a latent print. To make an identification of a latent print, the expert compares the points in the latent print with the points in an inked print. If a point appearing in a latent print does not appear in the inked print, or vice versa, the export concludes that the two prints were not made by the same finger or palm. An identification is made only if there are no inconsistencies between the inked and latent prints, and the points of similarity and their relative positions are sufficiently distinctive, and sufficient in number, to satisfy the expert that an iden y exists. 106
There is some disagreement concerning whether a minimum number of points is necessary for an identification. Some foreign law-enforcement agencies require a minimum number of 16 points. However, in the United States, in which there has been a great deal of experience with fingerprints, export opinion holds there is no minimum number of points, and that each print must be evaluated on its own merits. 107
Palmprints are as distinctive as fingerprints, but are not as popularly known. Possibly this is because law enforcement agencies usually record only fingerprints for their identification files, since fingerprints can be much more readily classified and filed than palm-prints. Also, latent fingerprint impressions are probably more common than latent palmprint impressions, because persons generally touch objects with their fingers rather than their palms. However,
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This page reproduces COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 634-A: Diagrams showing Ridge Characteristics Used by Experts in Comparing Fingerprints.
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palmprints will frequently be found on heavy objects, since the palms as well as the fingers are employed in handling such objects. 108
A latent print is the result of perspiration exuded by the sweat pores in the ridges. This perspiration is composed of water, protein or fatty materials, and sodium chloride (salt). A latent print can be developed-- made visible--in several ways. Sometimes a latent print can be developed merely by the use of correct lighting. A second method is to brush the print very lightly with a powder, which adheres to its outline. Once a print is powdered it. can be photographed, lifted, or both. (In lifting, an adhesive substance, such as scotch tape, is placed over a powdered print. When the adhesive is lifted the powder clings to its surface. The adhesive is then mounted.) However, powder is usually effective only on objects which have a hard, smooth, nonabsorbent surface, such as glass, tile, and various types of highly polished metals and is usually not effective on absorbent materials, such as paper or unfinished wood or metal, which absorb perspiration so that there is nothing on the material's surface to which the powder can adhere. Prints on absorbent materials can sometimes be developed by iodine fumes, which may react with fatty or protein materials which have been absorbed into the object, or by a silver nitrate solution, which may react with sodium chloride which has been absorbed into the object. 109
Not every contact of a. finger or palm leaves a latent print. For example, if the surface is not susceptible to a latent print, if the finger or palm had no perspiration, or if the perspiration was mostly water and had evaporated, no print will be found. 110
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Objects in the Texas School Book Depository Building
A number of objects found in the Texas School Book Depository Building following the assassination were processed for latent fingerprints by the FBI--in some cases, after they had been processed by the Dallas police. These objects included the homemade wrapping paper bag found near the southeast corner window; the C9766 rifle; three small cartons which were stacked near that window (which were marked "Box A," "Box B," and "Box C"), 111 and a fourth carton resting on the floor nearby (marked "Box D"); 112 the three 6.5- millimeter cartridge cases found near the window; and the cartridge found in the rifle. The results were as follows:
The paper bag. --The FBI developed a palmprint and a fingerprint on the paper bag by silver nitrate. These were compared with the fingerprints and palmprints of Lee Harvey Oswald taken by the Dallas police, and were found to have been made by the right palm and the left index finger of Lee Harvey Oswald. 113
The C2766 rifle. --The wood and metal of the rifle was absorbent, and not conducive to recording a good print. 114 However, the Dallas police developed by powder some faint ridge formations on the metal magazine housing in front of the trigger and also developed by powder and lifted a latent palmprint from the underside
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of the barrel. 115 The faint ridge formations were insufficient for purposes of effecting an identification, 116 but the latent palmprint was identified as the right palm of Lee Harvey Oswald. 117
The cartons.--Using the silver nitrate method, the FBI developed nine identifiable latent fingerprints and four identifiable latent palm-prints on Box A, 118 seven identifiable fingerprints and two identifiable palmprints on Box B, 119 and two identifiable fingerprints and one identifiable palmprint on Box C. 120 One of the fingerprints on Box A was identified as the right index fingerprint of Lee Harvey Oswald, 121 and one of the palmprints on Box A was identified as the left palm-print of Lee Harvey Oswald. 122 All the remaining prints on Box A were the palmprints of R. L. Studebaker, a. Dallas police officer, and Forest L. Lucy, an FBI clerk, who shipped the cartons from Dallas to the FBI Laboratory in Washington, D.C. and fingerprints of Detective Studebaker. All but one of the fingerprints on Box B belonged to Studebaker and Lucy and one palmprint was that of Studebaker. The fingerprints on Box C were those of Studebaker and Lucy and the palmprint was Studebaker's. 123 One palmprint on Box B was unidentified. 124
The FBI developed two fingerprints on Box D by silver nitrate, and the Dallas police developed a palmprint on Box D by powder. 125 The fingerprints belonged to Lucy. The palmprint was identified as the right palmprint of Lee Harvey Oswald. 126 While the age of a print cannot, be generally determined, 127 this palmprint must have been relatively fresh, because the carton was constructed of cardboard, an absorbent material, and if a long period had elapsed between the time the print was made and the time it was powdered, the perspiration would have been absorbed into the cardboard, and the print could not have been developed by powder. 128 Tests run by the FBI show that usually a latent impression on such cardboard cannot be developed by powder more than 24 hours after it is made. 129 Latona felt that the maximum age of the palmprint on Box D at the time of development (which was shortly after the assassination), would have been 3 days; Mandella felt that the maximum time would have been a day and a half. 131
The three cartridge cases and the cartridge case found in the No prints were developed on the cartridge found in the rifle or on the three expended cartridge cases. 132
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QUESTIONED DO ENTS
Two experts gave testimony concerning questioned do ents: Alwyn Cole 133 and James C. Cadigan. 134 Cole apprenticed as a questioned do ent examiner for 6 years, from 1929 to 1935, and has been examiner of questioned do ents for the U.S. Treasury Department since then. Cadigan has been a questioned do ent examiner with the FBI for 23.5 years, following a specialized course of training and instruction. Both have testified many times in Federal and States courts. 135 Their conclusions were identical, except as noted.
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Both experts examined and testified on the following questioned do ents: (1) The mail order to Klein's Sporting Goods of Chicago, in response to which Klein's sent the C2766 rifle; the accompanying money order; and the envelope in which the mail order and the money order were sent--all of which bore the name "A. Hidell" and the address "P.O. Box 2915, Dallas, Texas"; 136 (2) the mail order to Seaport Traders, Inc., of Los Angeles, bearing the same name and address, in response to which the Seaport Traders sent the V510210 revolver; 137 (3) part of an application for Post Office Box 2915, Dallas, Tex., opened October 9, 1962 and closed May 14, 1963, and two change-of-address orders relating to that box, dated October 10, 1962 and May 12, 1963--all signed "Lee H. Oswald," and part of an application for Post Office Box 30061, New Orleans, La., naming "A. J. Hidell" as a party en led to receive mail through the box, signed "L. H. Oswald"; 138 (4) a spurious selective service system notice of classification and a spurious certificate of service in the U.S. Marine Corps, found in Oswald's wallet after his arrest, both in the name "Alek James Hidell"; 139 (5) a spurious smallpox vaccination certificate, found among Oswald's belongings at his room at 1026 North Beckley, purportedly issued to Lee Oswald by "Dr. A. J. Hideel, P.O. Box 30016, New Orleans, La."; 140 and (6) a- card, found in Oswald's wallet after his arrest reading "Fair Play for Cuba Committee New Orleans Chapter," dated June 15, 1963," bearing the name "L. H. Oswald" and the signature "Lee H. Oswald," and signed "A. J. Hidell" as chapter president. 141 Cadigan also examined (7) the unsigned note, Commission Exhibit No. 1, written almost entirely in Russian, which Marina testified Oswald had ]eft for her prior to his attempt on the life of General Walker; 142 and (8) the homemade paper bag found on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository following the assassination. 143
General principles. 144 --The area of questioned do ent examination encompasses many types of inquiries, the most familiar of which is the identification of handwriting. Handwriting identification is based upon the principle that every person's handwriting is distinctive. As Cole testified:
Q. Mr. Cole, could you explain the basis on which you were able to make an identification of a questioned writing as being authored by the person who wrote a standard writing?
Mr. COLE. This is based upon the principle that every handwriting is distinctive, that since the mental and physical equipment for producing handwriting is different in every individual, each person produces his own distinctive writing habits. Of course, everyone learns to write in the beginning by an endeavor to repeat ideal letter forms but, practically no one is able to reproduce these forms exactly. Even though a person might have some initial success during the active period of instruction, he soon departs from these and develops his own habits. It may be said that habit in handwriting is that which makes handwriting pos-
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sible. Habit is that which makes handwriting efficient. If it were not for the development. of habit, one would be obliged to draw or sketch.
Some habit would be included even in those effort.8. But the production of handwriting rapidly and fluently always involves a recording of personal writing habit. This has been confirmed by observation of a very large number of specimens over a long period of time, and it has further been demonstrated by, on my part, having a formal responsibility for rendering decisions about the identification of handwriting based upon an agreement of handwriting habit in situations where there would be a rigorous testing of the correctness of these decision by field investigators, for example, of the law-enforcement agencies, and a demonstration that these results were confirmed by other evidence.
This is the basis for identification of handwriting. 145
The same principles are generally applicable to hand printing, 146 and in the balance of this section the term "handwriting" will be used to refer to both cursive or script writing and hand printing.
Not every letter in a questioned handwriting can be used as the basis of an identification. Most people learn to write letters in a standard or "copybook" form: a handwriting is distinctive only insofar as it departs significantly from such forms. 147 Correspondingly, not every variation indicates nonidentification; no two acts are precisely alike and variations may be found within a single do ent. Like similarities, variations are significant only if they are distinctive. 148 Moreover, since any single distinctive characteristic may not be unique to one person, in order to make an identification the expert must find a sufficient number of corresponding distinctive characteristics and a. general absence of distinctive differences. 149
The possibility that one person could imitate the handwriting of another and successfully deceive an expert do ent examiner is very remote. A forger leaves two types of clue. First, he can seldom perfectly simulate the letter forms of the victim; concentrating on the reproduction of one detail, he is likely not to see others. Thus, the forger may successfully imitate the general form of a letter. but get proportions or letter connections wrong. In addition, the forger draws rather than writes. Forged writing is therefore distinguished by defects in the quality of its line, such as tremor, waver, patching, retouching, noncontinuous lines, and pen lifts in awkward and unusual places. 150
To make a handwriting identification, the handwriting in the do ent under examination (the questioned do ent) is compared against the handwriting in do ents known to have been prepared by a suspect (the known or standard do ents). This is exemplified by Cole's examination of Commission Exhibit No. 773, the photograph of the mail order for the rifle and the envelope in which it was sent:
Q. Now, Mr. Cole, returning to 778, the questioned do ent, can you tell the Commission how you formed the conclusion
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that it was prepared by the author of the standards, that is, what steps you followed in your examination and comparison, what things you considered, what instruments or equipment you used, and so forth?
Mr. Cole. I made first a careful study of the writing on Commission Exhibit 773 without reference to the standard writing, in an effort to determine whether or not this writing contained what I would regard as a basis for identification, contained a record of writing habit, and as that--as a result of that part of my examination, I concluded that this is a natural handwriting. By that I mean that it was made at a fair speed, that it doesn't show any evidence of an unnatural movement, poor line quality, tremor waver, retouching, or the like. I regard it as being made in a fluent and fairly rapid manner which would record the normal writing habits of the person who made it.
I then made a separate examination of the standards, of all of the standard writings, to determine whether that record gave a record of writing habit which could be used for identification purposes, and I concluded that it, too, was a natural handwriting and gave a good record of writing habit.
I then brought the standard writings together with the questioned writing for a detailed and orderly comparison, considering details of letter forms, proportion, pen pressure, letter connections, and other details of handwriting habit .... 151
The standards used by Cole and Cadigan consisted of a wide variety of do ents known to be in the handwriting of Lee Harvey Oswald, including endorsements on his payroll checks, applications for employment, for a passport, for membership in the American Civil Liberties Union, and for a library card, and letters to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Marine Corps, the State Department, and the American Embassy in Russia. 152
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The Mail Order for the C2766 Rifle, the Related Envelope, and the Money Order
The mail order and envelope for the C2766 rifle were photographed by Klein's on microfilm, and then destroyed. 153 To identify the handwriting an enlarged photograph was made which showed the handwriting characteristics with sufficient clarity to form the basis of an identification. 154 Based on a comparison with the standards, the handwriting on the purchase order and the envelope were identified as Lee Harvey Oswald's. 155 The money order, which was retained by the post office after having been cashed by Klein's, 156 was also identified as being in Oswald's handwriting. 157 These identifications were made on the basis of numerous characteristics in which the writing in both the questioned and standard do ents departed from conventional letter forms. 158 For example, in the return address on the envelope, the left side of the "A" in "A. Hidell" was made by a down-
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stroke followed by an upstroke which almost exactly traced the down-stroke, the "i" showed an elongation of the approach stroke and an exaggerated slant to the right, and the second "1" was somewhat larger than the first; the "B" in "Box" had an upper lobe smaller than the lower lobe; the "D" in "Dallas" exhibited a distinctive construction of the looped form at the top of a letter, and the "s" was flattened and forced over on its side; and the "x" in "Texas" was made in the form of a "u" with a cross bar. These characteristics were also present in the standards.159 In addition, these items, as well as other questioned do ents, resembled the standards in their use of certain erroneous combinations of capital and lowercase letters.160 For example, in the mail order, "Texas" was printed with a capital "T," "X," "A," and "S," but a lowercase "e"; a similar mixture of capital and lowercase letters in "Texas" was found in the standards.161
The writing on the purchase order and envelope showed no significant evidence of disguise (subject to the qualification that the use of hand printing on the mail order, rather than handwriting, may have been used for that purpose).162 However, it is not unusual for a person using an alias not to disguise his writing. For example, Cole, who is do ent examiner for the Treasury Department, has frequently examined forgeries evidencing no attempt at disguise.163
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Mail Order for the V510210 Revolver
Based on a comparison with the standards, the handwriting on the mail order 164 for the V510210 revolver was also identified as Lee Harvey Oswald's.165
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Post Office Box Applications and Change-of-Address Card
A post office box application consists of three parts: The first contains directions for use. The second provides applicant's name, address, signature space, box number, date of opening and closing. The third part provides instruction space concerning delivery of mail and names of persons en led to use the box.166 Under post office regulations 167 the second part was retained by the Dallas Post. Office for box 2915; it destroyed the third part after the box was closed. Based on the standards, the signature "Lee H. Oswald," and other handwriting on the application, was identified as that of Lee Harvey Oswald.168 The postal clerk appeared to have filled in the balance.169
The Fort Worth and Dallas post offices retained two change-of-address orders signed "Lee H. Oswald": One to "Postmaster, Fort Worth, Tex.," dated October 10, 1962, to send mail to "Oswald, Lee H" at 2703 Mercedes Av., Fort Worth, Texas" and forward to "Box 2915, Dallas, Texas"; the other to "Postmaster, Dallas, Texas" dated May 12, 1963, requested mail for post office box 2915 be forwarded to "Lee Oswald" at "4907 Magazine St.., "New Orleans, La." 170 Based on a comparison with the standards, the handwriting on these orders was identified as that of Lee Harvey Oswald.171
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The New Orleans post office retained the third part of the application for post office box 30061, New Orleans, La., dated June 11, 1963, and signed "L. H. Oswald." 172 Inserted in the space for names of persons en led to receive mail through the box were written the names "A. J. Hidell" and "Marina Oswald." On the basis of a comparison with the standards, the writing and the signature on the card was identified as the handwriting of Lee Harvey Oswald.173
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The Spurious Selective Service System Notice of Classification and U.S. Marine Corps Certificate of Service
When Oswald was arrested he had in his possession a Selective Service System notice of classification and a certificate of service in the U.S. Marine Corps in the name of "Alek James Hidell," and a Selective Service System notice of classification, a Selective Service System registration certificate, and a certificate of service in the U.S. Marine Corps in his own name.174 (See Cadigan Exhibits Nos. 19 and 21, p. 573.) The Hidell cards where photographic counterfeits.175 After Oswald's arrest a group of retouched negatives were found in Mr. Paine's garage at 2515 West Fifth Street, Irving, Tex.,176 among which were retouched negatives of the Oswald cards.177 A comparison of these retouched negatives with the Hidell and Oswald cards showed that the Hidell cards had been counterfeited by photographing the Oswald cards, retouching the resulting negatives, and producing photographic prints from the retouched negatives.
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The Hidell Notice of Classification
Face side.--The face of the Hidell notice-of classification 178 was produced from the face of the Oswald notice of classification 179 by a two-step process. First, the counterfeiter photographed the Oswald notice, making a basic intermediate negative.180 He then opaqued out of this intermediate negative all of the information typed or handwritten onto the Oswald notice, including the name "Lee Harvey Oswald," the selective service No., "41-114- 39-532," the signature of the official of the local board, and the mailing date. In addition, he made another intermediate negative of the lowermost third of the Oswald notice, which contained a printed legend setting forth various instructions relating to draft board procedures.181 This negative reproduced the printed material exactly, but reduced it in size.182 The two intermediate negatives were combined to produce a third negative, substantially identical to the basic intermediate negative except that, by virtue of the reduction in the size of the printed legend, a square space had been created in the lower left-hand corner.183 The counterfeiter then made a photographic print of this third negative, which contained blanks wherever typed or handwritten material had appeared on the original Oswald notice and a new space in the lower left-hand corner. Finally new material was inserted into the blanks on
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the Hidell notice where typed or handwritten material had appeared on the Oswald notice.184 Thus the name "ALEK JAMES HIDELL," the selective service No. "42-224-39-532," and the mailing date "Feb. 5, 1962," were typed into the appropriate blanks on the Hidell notice. Two typewriters were used in this typing, as shown by differences in the design of the typed figure "4," 185 and by differences in the strength of the typed impression.186 Probably the counterfeiter switched typewriters when he discovered that the ribbon of his first typewriter was not inked heavily enough to leave a clear impression (a problem which would have been aggravated by the fact that the glossy photographic paper used to make the Hidell notice did not provide a good surface for typewriting).187 The face of the notice also bore many uninked indentations, which could only be made out under strong side lighting.188 These indentations were apparently made with the typewriter set at stencil--that is, set so that the typewriter key struck the notice directly, rather than striking it through the inked typewriter ribbon.189 This may have been done as a dry-run practice, to enable the counterfeiter to determine how to properly center and aline the inserted material.190 A sidelight photograph showed that the names "ALEK," "JAMES," and "HIDELL" had each been typed in stencil at least twice before being typed in with the ribbon.191 A capital letter "O" had been stenciled prior to one of the stenciled "ALEK's." 192 A serial number and a date of mailing had also been typed in stencil.193
In addition to the typed material, a signature, "Alek J. Hidell," was written in ink in the blank provided for the registrant's signature, and another, somewhat illegible signature, apparently reading "Good Hoffer," was written in ink in the blank provided for the signature of an official of the local board.194 This name differed from the name written in ink on the Oswald notice, which appeared to consist of a first name beginning with an "E" or a "G" and the surname "Schiffen." 195 However, the legibility of the name on the Oswald notice was also quite poor, and the counterfeiter might have been attempting to duplicate it. A possible reason for deleting the original name and subs uting another is that if the name had not been deleted it would have been reproduced on the Hidell notice as a photographic reproduction, which would look less authentic than a pen- and-ink signature.196
Based on a comparison with the handwriting in the standards, the signature "Alek J. Hidell" on the Hidell notice was identified as being in the handwriting of Lee Harvey Oswald.197 The signature "Good Hoffer" could not be positively identified, being almost illegible; however, it was not inconsistent with Oswald's handwriting.198
To complete the face of the Hidell notice a picture of Lee Harvey Oswald was inserted into the space in the lower left-hand corner which had been created by reducing the size of the printed legend at the bottom.199
In creating the face of the Hidell notice, the counterfeiter ]eft traces which enabled the experts to link together the Hidell notice, the retouched negatives, and the Oswald notice. To retouch the nega-
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This page reproduces CADIGAN EXHIBITS 19 and 21.
CADIGAN EXHIBIT No. 19: Face and reverse sides of the Oswald Notice of Classification.
CADIGAN EXHIBIT No. 21: Face and reverse sides of the Oswald Selective Service System Registration Certificate and the Oswald Certificate of Service in the U.S. Marine Corps.
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This page reproduces CADIGAN EXHIBITS 15 and 16: Face and reverse sides of the Hidell Selective Service System Notice of Classification and Face and reverse sides of the Hidell Certificate of Service in the U.S. Marine Corps.
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tives the counterfeiter simply painted a red opaque substance on one side of the negative over the material he wished to delete. When the negative was printed, the opaquing prevented light from passing through, so that the print showed blanks wherever the negative had been opaqued. However, the original material was still clearly visible on the negative itself.200 In addition, at several points the typed or handwritten material in the Oswald notice had overlapped the printed material. For example, the signature of the official of the local board overlapped the letters "re" in the printed word "President," "l" and a" in the printed word "local," and "viola" in the printed word "violation." When this signature was opaqued out, the portions of the printed material which had been overlapped by the signature were either removed or mutilated. The consequent distortions were ap parent on both the retouched negative and the Hidell notice itself. Similarly, the selective service number typed on the Oswald notice overlapped the margins of the boxes into which it was typed. Although the counterfeiter opaqued out the numerals themselves, the margins of the boxes remained thickened at the points where they had been overlapped by the numerals. These thickened margins were apparent on both the retouched negative and the Hidell notice.201
Reverse side.--The reverse side of the Hidell notice, which was pasted back-to-back to the face, was actually a form of the reverse side of a Selective Service System registration certificate. Essentially, it was counterfeited the same way as the face of the notice: a photograph was made of the reverse side of the Oswald registration certificate, the material which had been typed or stamped on the Oswald registration certificate was opaqued out of the resulting negative, and a photographic print was made from the retouched negative. This is shown by the negative, in which the opaqued-out information is still visible, and by defects in the printed material on the Hidell notice at point where typed-in material had overlapped printed material on the Oswald registration certificate.202
As the final step, new information was typed on the print in the blanks which resulted from the retouching operation.203 Thus "GR" was subs uted for "Blue" under color of eyes; "BROWN" was subs uted for "Brn" under color of hair; "FAIR" was subs uted for "Med." under complexion; "5" [ft.] "9" [in.] was subs uted for "5" [ft.] "11" [in.] under height; and "155" was subs uted for "150" under weight. The name and address of the local board on the Oswald registration certificate were opaqued out, but substantially the same name and address were typed back onto the Hidell notice.204 As in the signature of the local board official on the face of the notice, a possible reason for deleting the original draft board name and the address and subs uting substantially similar material in its place is that if the original material had not been deleted it would have reproduced as a photographic reproduction, which would look much less authentic than typed-in material.205
A limited number of typed uninked indentations are also present. Thus the indented letters "CT" appear before the letter "GR" (under
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color of eyes) and the indented letters "EY" follow "GR." An indented "9" appears above the visible "9" for the inch figure of height, and an indented "i" appears before the weight, "155." Much of the typed material on the reverse side of the Hidell notice was not very legible under ordinary lighting, since it was typed with a typewriter which left a very weakly inked impression.206 In fact, it is difficult to tell whether some of the material, particularly the word "Brown" under color of hair, was put in by stencil or by ribbon.
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The Hidell Certificate of Service
The face and reverse side of the Hidell certificate of service were produced from the face and reverse side of the Oswald certificate of service 207 by photographing the Oswald certificate, retouching the resulting negatives to eliminate typed and handwritten material, and making a photographic print from the retouched negative.208 As in the case of the notice of classification, this is shown by the negative itself, in which the opaqued-out information is still visible, and by defects in the printed material on the Hidell certificate at points where handwritten material had crossed over printed material on the Oswald certificate. Thus, in the Oswald certificate the upper portion of the name "Lee" in Oswald's signature crosses the letter "u" in the printed word "signature." The consequent mutilation of the printed letter "u" can be seen on the Hidell certificate. Similarly, the ending stroke in the letter "y" in the name "Harvey" in Oswald's signature crosses the letter "n" in the printed word "certifying." This stroke was not removed at all, and can be seen as a stroke across the "n" in the Hidell certificate.209 As the final step in producing the Hidell certificate, new material was typed into the blanks on the photographic print. On the face, the words "ALEK JAMES HIDELL" were typed into the blank where "LEE HARVEY OSWALD 1653280" had appeared. A sidelight photograph shows that these words had been typed in stencil at least twice before being typed in with the ribbon apparently to determine proper centering and alinement.210 In producing the reverse side of the Hidell certificate, the signature "Lee Harvey Oswald," and the dates "24 October 1956" and "11 September 1959," showing the beginning and end of the period of active service, had been opaqued out. No signature was inserted into resulting blank signature space. However, just below the word "of" in the printed line "signature of individual," there are two vertical indentations which fill about three-fourths of the height of the signature blank, and a diagonal indentation which slants from approximately the base of the left vertical to approximately the midpoint of the right vertical--the total effect being of a printed capital letter "H." Also, just below the second and third "i's" in the printed word "individual" are two more vertical indentations, which could be the vertical strokes of "d's" or "l's"-- although the circular portion of the letter "d" is not present.211 These indentations could have been made by any sharp instrument, such as a ballpoint pen which was not
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delivering ink, a stylus of the type used in preparing mimeograph forms, or even a toothpick.212 The indentations are brought out rather clearly in a sidelight photograph, but can also be seen on the card itself if the card is held so that light strikes it at an angle.213
Into the space for the beginning of active service was typed the date "OCT. 13 1958." The space for the end of active service contains several light-impression and stencil typewriting operations. It was apparently intended to read "OCT. 12 1961," but because of the lightness of the impression and the many stenciled characters, the date is barely legible.214 Interestingly, one of the stenciled impressions in the blank for end of active service reads "24 October 1959," as determined under a microscope, while a stenciled impression in the blank for beginning of active service reads "24 October 1957." 215
The counterfeiting of the Hidell cards did not require great skill, but probably required an elementary knowledge of photography, particularly of the photographic techniques used in a printing plant.216 A moderate amount of practice with the technique would be required--perhaps half a dozen attempts. Practicing retouching on the balance of the negatives found at the Paine garage would have been sufficient.217 The retouching of the negatives could have been accomplished without any special equipment. However, the preparation of the negative, apart. from retouching, would probably have required a very accurate camera, such as would be found in a photographic laboratory or printing plant.218
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The Vaccination Certificate
A government-printed form en led "International Certificates of Vaccination or Revaccination against Smallpox" 219 was found among Oswald's belongings at his room at 1026 Beckley Avenue, Dallas.220 The form purported to certify that "LEE OSWALD" had been vaccinated against smallpox on "JUNE 8, 1963" by "DR. A. J. HIDEEL, P.O. BOX 30016, NEW ORLEANS, LA." The card was signed "Lee H. Oswald" and "A. J. Hideel," and the name and address "Lee H. Oswald, New Orleans, La." were hand printed on the front of the card. All of this material, except the signatures and the hand printing, had been stamped onto the card. The Hideel name and address consisted of a three-line stamp--"DR. A. J. HIDEEL/P.O. BOX 30016/NEW ORLEANS, LA." A circular, stamped, illegible impression resembling a seal appeared under a column en led "Approved stamp."221
On the basis of a comparison with the standards, Cole identified all of the handwriting on the vaccination certificate, including the signature "A. J. Hideel," as the writing of Lee Harvey Oswald.222 Cadigan identified all of the writing as Oswald's except for the "A. J. Hideel" signature, which in his opinion was too distorted to either identify or nonidentify as Oswald's handwriting.223 The stamped material on the certificate was compared with a. rubber stamping kit which be-
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longed to Oswald.224 In this kit was a rubber stamp with three lines of print assembled :"L. H. OSWALD/4907 MAGAZINE ST/NEW ORLEANS, LA." 225 Cole found a perfect agreement in measurement and design between the letters stamped on the certificate and the letters he examined from Oswald's rubber stamping kit. However, he was unable to determine whether the characteristics of Oswald's rubber stamping kit were distinctive, and therefore, while he concluded that Oswald's rubber stamping kit could have made the rubber stamp impressions on the certificate, he was unable to say that it was the only kit which could have made the impressions.226 On the basis of the comparison between the words "NEW ORLEANS, LA." set up in the rubber stamp in Oswald's kit, and the words "NEW ORLEANS, LA." on the certificate, Cadigan concluded that these words had been stamped on the certificate with Oswald's rubber stamp. However, he could draw no conclusion as to the remaining stamped material, which was not directly comparable to the remaining lines set up on Oswald's rubber stamp.227
On close examination, the circular impression resembling a seal consisted of the words "BRUSH IN CAN," printed in reverse.228 Apparently, the impression was made with the top of a container of solvent or cleaning fluid which bore these words in raised lettering. In the center of the impression was a mottled pattern which was similar to the blank areas on a date stamp found in Oswald's rubber stamping kit.229
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The Fair Play for Cuba Committee Card
The Fair Play for Cuba Committee card had two signatures: "L. H. Oswald" and "A. J. Hidell." Based on the standards, both Cole and Cadigan identified "L. H. Oswald" as the signature of Lee Harvey Oswald,230 but both were unable to identify the "A. J. Hidell" signature.231 Cadigan noted differences between the Hidell signature and Oswald's handwriting, indicating the possibility that someone other than Oswald had authored the signature.232 Cole believed that the signature was somewhat beyond Oswald's abilities as a penman.233 On the basis of a short English interlinear translation written by Marina Oswald, Cole felt that she might have been the author of the signature,234 but the translation did not present enough of her handwriting to make possible a positive identification.235 In subsequent testimony before the Commission, Marina stated that she was indeed the author of the Hidell signature on the card.236 Cadigan confirmed this testimony by obtaining further samples of Marina Oswald's handwriting and comparing these samples with the signature on the card.237
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The Unsigned Russian-Language Note
Cadigan's examination confirmed Marina's testimony that the handwriting in the unsigned note, Commission Exhibit No. 1, was that of
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Lee Harvey Oswald.238 Since the note was written almost entirely in the Russian language, which uses the Cyrillic alphabet (as opposed to the Latin alphabet used in the English language), in making his examination Cadigan employed not only Oswald's English language standards, but. also letters written by Oswald in the Russian language.239
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The Homemade Wrapping Paper Bag
In the absence of watermarks or other distinctive characteristics, it is impossible to determine whether two samples of paper came from the same manufacturer.240 The homemade paper bag found on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository following the assassination was made out of heavy brown paper and glue-bearing brown paper tape, neither of which contained watermarks or other distinctive characteristics.241 However, Cadigan compared the questioned paper and tape in the paper bag with known paper and tape samples obtained from the shipping department of the Texas School Book Depository on November 22, 1963, to see if the questioned items could have come from the shipping room.242 The questioned and known items were examined visually by normal, incidental, and transmitted natural and electric light, and under ultraviolet light; 243 examined microscopically for surface, paper structure, color, and imperfections; 244 examined for their felting pattern, which is the pattern of light and dark areas caused by the manner in which the fibers become felted at the beginning stages of paper manufacture; 245 measured for thickness with a micrometer sensitive to one one-thousandth of an inch,246 subjected to a fiber analysis to determine the type of fibers of which they were composed, and whether the fibers were bleached or unbleached; 247 and examined spectrographically to determine what metallic ions were present.248 The questioned and known items were identical in all the properties measured by these tests.249 (The width of the type on the paper sack was 3 inches, while the width of the sample tape was 2.975, or twenty-five thousandths of an inch smaller; however, this was not a significant difference).250 In contrast, a paper sample obtained from the Texas School Book Depository shipping room on December 1, 1963, was readily distinguishable from the questioned paper.251
Examination of the tape revealed other significant factors indicating that it could have come from the Texas School Book Depository shipping room. There were several strips of tape on the bag.252 All but two of the ends of these strips were irregularly torn; the remaining two ends had machine-cut edges. This indicated that the person who made the bag had drawn a long strip of tape from a dispensing machine and had torn it by hand into several smaller strips.253 Confirmation that the tape had been drawn from a dispensing machine was supplied by the fact that a series of small markings in the form of half-inch lines ran down the center of the tape like ties on a railroad track. Such lines are made by a ridged wheel in a tape dispenser which is constructed so that when a hand lever is pulled, the wheel, which is
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connected to the lever, pulls the tape from its roll and dispenses it. Such dispensers are usually found only in commercial establishments. A dispenser of this type was located in the Texas School Book Depository shipping room. The length of the lines and the number of lines per inch on the tape from the paper bag was identical to the length of the lines and the number of lines per inch on the tape obtained from the dispenser in the Texas School Book Depository shipping room.254
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WOUND BALLISTICS EXPERIMENTS
Purpose of the Tests
During the course of the Commission's inquiry, questions arose as to whether the wounds inflicted on President Kennedy and Governor Connally could have been caused by the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle found on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository Building and Western Cartridge Co. bullets and fragments of the type found on the Governor's stretcher and in the Presidential limousine. In analyzing the trajectory of the bullets after they struck their victims, further questions were posed on the bullet's velocity and penetration power after exiting from the person who was initially struck. To answer these and related questions, the Commission requested that a series of tests be conducted on substances resembling the wounded portions of the bodies of President Kennedy and Governor Connally under conditions which simulated the events of the assassination.
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The Testers and Their Qualifications
In response to the Commission's request, an extensive series of tests were conducted by the Wound Ballistics Branch of the U.S. Army Chemical Research and Development Laboratories at Edgewood Arsenal, Md. Scientists working at that branch are engaged in full-time efforts to investigate the wound ballistics of missiles in order to test their effects on substances which simulate live human bodies.255 The tests for the Commission were performed by Dr. Alfred G. Olivier under the general supervision of Dr. Arthur J. Dziemian with consultation from Dr. Frederick W. Light, Jr.256 Dr. Olivier received His doctorate in veterinary medicine from the University of Pennsylvania in 1953. Since 1957 he has been engaged in research on wound ballistics at Edgewood Arsenal and is now chief of the Wound Ballistics Branch.257 His supervisor, Dr. Dziemian, who is chief of the Bio-physics Division at Edgewood Arsenal, holds a Ph.D. degree from Princeton in 1939, was a national research fellow in physiology at the University of Pennsylvania and was a fellow in anatomy at. Johns Hopkins University Medical School.258 Since 1947, Dr. Dziemian has been continuously engaged in wound ballistics work at Edgewood Arsenal.259 In 1930, Dr. Light was awarded an M.D. degree from
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Johns Hopkins Medical School and in 1948 received his Ph.D. from t, he same ins ution.260 After serving a residency in pathology, he worked as a pathologist until 1940 when he returned to Johns Hopkins University to study mathematics. Since 1951, Dr. Light has been engaged in the study of the pathology of wounding at Edgewood Arsenal.261 All three of these distinguished scientists testified before the Commission.
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General Testing Conditions
The Commission made available to the Edgewood Arsenal scientists all the relevant facts relating to the wounds which were inflicted on President Kennedy and Governor Connally including the autopsy report on the President, and the reports and X-rays from Parkland Hospital.262 In addition, Drs. Olivier and Light had an opportunity to discuss in detail the Governor's wounds with the Governor's surgeons, Drs. Robert R. Shaw and Charles F. Gregory.263 The Zapruder films of the assassination were viewed with Governor and Mrs. Connally to give the Edgewood scientists their version.264 The Commission also provided the Edgewood scientists with all known data on the source of the shots, the rifle and bullets used, and the distances involved. For purposes of the experiments, the Commission turned over to the Edgewood testers the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle found on the sixth floor of the Depository Building.265 From information provided by the Commission, the Edgewood scientists obtained Western bullets of the type used by the assassin.266
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Tests on Penetration Power and Bullet Stability
Comparisons were made of the penetrating power of Western bullets fired from the assassination rifle with other bullets.267 From the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle, the Western bullet was fired through two gelatin blocks totaling 72.5 centimeters in length. 268 As evidenced by Commission Exhibit No. 844, which is a photograph from a high-speed motion picture, the Western bullets passed through 1.5 blocks in a straight line before their trajectory curved.269 After coming out of the second gelatin block, a number of the bullets buried themselves in a mound of earth.270
Under similar cir stances, a bullet described as the NATO round M-80 was fired from a M-14 rifle.271 The penetrating power of the latter is depicted in Commission Exhibit No. 845 which shows that bullet possesses much less penetrating power with a quicker tumbling action. Those characteristics cause an early release of energy which brings the bullet to a stop at shorter distances.272 A further test was made with a 257 Winchester Roberts soft-nosed hunting bullet as depicted in Commission Exhibit No. 846. That bullet became deformed almost immediately upon entering the block of gelatin and released its energy very rapidly.278 From these tests, it was concluded that the Western bullet fired from the Mannlicher-Carcano had "terrific penetrating ability" and would retain substantial veloc-
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ity after passing through objects such as the portions of the human body. 274
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Tests Simulating President Kennedy's Neck Wound
After reviewing the autopsy report on President Kennedy, the Edgewood scientists simulated the portion of the President's neck through which the bullet passed. It was determined that the bullet traveled through 13.5 to 14.5 centimeters of tissue in the President's neck.275 That substance was simulated by constructing three blocks: one with a 20-percent gelatin composition, a second from one animal meat and a third from another animal meat.276 Those substances duplicated as closely as possible the portion of the President's neck through which the bullet passed.277 At the time the tests were conducted, it was estimated that the President, was struck at a range of approximately 180 feet, and the onsite tests which were conducted later at Dallas established that the President was shot through the neck at a range of 174.9 feet to 190.8 feet. 278 At a range of 180 feet, the Western bullets were fired from the assassination weapon, which has a muzzle velocity of approximately 2,160 feet per second, through those substances which were placed beside a break-type screen for measuring velocity.279 The average entrance velocity at 180 feet. was 1,904 feet per second.280
To reconstruct the assassination situation as closely as possible both sides of the substances were covered with material and clipped animal skin to duplicate human skin.281 The average exit velocity was 1,779 feet from the gelatin, 1,798 feet from the first animal meat and 1,772 feet from the second animal meat.282 Commission Exhibit No. 847 depicts one of the animal meats compressed to 13.5 to 14.5 centimeters to approximate the President's neck and Commission Exhibit No. 848 shows the analogous arrangement for the gelatin.283 The photograph marked Commission Exhibit No. 849 shows the bullet passing through the gelatin in a straight line evidencing very stable characteristics.284
Commission Exhibit No. 850 depicts the pieces of clipped animal skin placed on the points of entry and exit showing that the holes of entrance are round while the holes of exit are "a little more elongated." 285 From these tests, it was concluded that the bullet lost little of its velocity in penetrating the President's neck so that there would have been substantial impact on the interior of the Presidential limousine or anyone else struck by the exiting bullet. In addition, these tests indicated that the bullet, had retained most of its stability in penetrating the President's neck so that the exit hole would be only Slightly different from the appearance of the entry hole.286
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Tests Simulating Governor Connally's Chest Wounds
To most closely approximate the Governor's chest injuries, the Edgewood scientists shot an animal with the assassination weapon
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using the Western bullets at a distance of 210 feet.287 The onsite tests later determined that the Governor was wounded at a distance of 176.9 feet to 190.8 feet from the sixth-floor window at the southeast corner of the Depository Building.288 The average striking velocity of 11 shots at 210 feet was 1,929 feet per second and the average exit velocity was 1,664 feet per second.289
One of the shots produced an injury on the animal's rib very similar to that inflicted on Governor Connally. 290 For purposes of comparison with the Governor's wound, the Edgewood scientists studied the Park]and Hospital report and X-rays, and they also discussed these wounds with Dr. Shaw, the Governor's chest surgeon.291 The similar animal injury passed along the animal's eighth left rib causing a fracture which removed a portion of the rib in a manner very similar to the wound sustained by the Governor. 292 The X-ray of that wound on the animal is reproduced as Commission Exhibit No. 852. 293 A comparison with the Governor's chest wound, shown in X-ray marked as Commission Exhibit No. 681, shows the remarkable similarity between those two wounds.294
The bullet which produced the wound depicted in Commission Exhibits Nos. 851 and 852 was marked as Commission Exhibit No. 853 and possessed characteristics very similar to the bullet marked as Commission Exhibit No. 399 found on Governor Connally's stretcher and believed to have been the bullet which caused his chest wound.295 Those bullets, identified as Commission Exhibits Nos. 399 and 853, were flattened in similar fashion.296 In addition, the lead core was extruded from the rear in the same fashion on both bullets.297 One noticeable difference was that the bullet identified as Commission Exhibit No. 853, which penetrated the animal, was somewhat more fiat than Commission Exhibit No. 399 which indicated that Commission Exhibit No. 853 was probably traveling at somewhat greater speed than the bullet which penetrated the Governor's chest.298 After the bullet passed through the animal, it left an imprint on the velocity screen immediately behind the animal which was almost the length of the bullet indicating that the bullet was traveling sideways or end over end.299 Taking into consideration the extra girth on the Governor, the reduction in the velocity of the bullet passing through his body was estimated at 400 feet.300 The conclusions from the animal shots are significant when taken in conjunction with the experiments performed simulating the injuries to the Governor's wrist.
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Tests Simulating Governor Connally's Wrist Wounds
Following procedures identical to those employed in simulating the chest wound, the wound ballistics experts from Edgewood Arsenal reproduced, as closely as possible, the Governor's wrist wound. Again the scientists examined the reports and X-rays from Parkland Hospital and discussed the Governor's wrist wound with the attending orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Charles F. Gregory.301 Bone structures were then shot with Western bullets fired from the assassination
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weapon at a distance of 210 feet.302 The most similar bone-structure shot was analyzed in testimony before the Commission. An X-ray designated as Commission Exhibit No. 854 and a photograph of that X-ray which appears as Commission Exhibit No. 855 show a fracture at a location which is very similar to the Governor's wrist wound depicted in X-rays marked as Commission Exhibits Nos. 690 and 691.303
The average striking velocity of the shots was 1,858 feet per second. 304 The average exit velocity was 1,786 feet per second for the 7 out of 10 shots from bone structures which could be measured.305 These tests demonstrated that Governor Connally's wrist was not struck by a pristine bullet, which is a missile that strikes an object before hitting anything else.306 This conclusion was based on the following factors: (1) Greater damage was inflicted on the bone structure than that which was suffered by the Governor's wrist; 307 and (2) the bone structure had a smaller entry wound and a larger exit wound which is characteristic of a pristine bullet as distinguished from the Governor's wrist which had a larger wound of entry indicating a bullet which was tumbling with substantial reduction in velocity.308 In addition, if the bullet found on the Governor's stretcher (Commission Exhibit No. 399) inflicted the wound on the Governor's wrist, then it could not have passed through the Governor's wrist had it been a pristine bullet, for the nose would have been considerably flattened, as was the bullet which struck the bone structure, identified as Commission Exhibit No. 856.309
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Conclusions From Simulating the Neck, Chest, and Wrist Wounds
Both Drs. Olivier and Dziemian expressed the Opinion that one bullet caused all the wounds on Governor Connally.310 The wound to the Governor's wrist was explained by cir stances where the bullet passed through the Governor's chest, lost substantial velocity in doing so, tumbled through the wrist, and then slightly penetrated the Governor's left thigh.311 Thus, the results of the wound ballistics tests support the conclusions of Governor Connally's doctors that all his wounds were caused by one bullet.312
In addition, the wound ballistics tests indicated that it was most probable that the same bullet passed through the President's neck and then proceeded to inflict all the wounds on the Governor. That conclusion was reached by Drs. Olivier and Dziemian based on the medical evidence on the wounds of the President and the Governor and the tests they performed.313 It was their opinion that the wound on the Governor's wrist would have been more extensive had the bullet which inflicted that injury merely passed through the Governor's chest exiting at a velocity of approximately 1,500 feet per second.
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Thus, the Governor's wrist wound indicated that the bullet passed through the President's neck, began to yaw in the air between the President and the Governor, and then lost substantially more velocity than 400 feet per second in passing through the Governor's chest.314 A bullet which was yawing on entering into the Governor's back would lose substantially more velocity in passing through his body than a pristine bullet.315 In addition, the greater flattening of the bullet. that struck the animal's rib (Commission Exhibit No. 853) than the bullet which presumably struck the Governor's rib (Commission Exhibit No. 399) indicates that the animal bullet was traveling at a greater velocity.316 That suggests that the bullet which entered the Governor's chest had already lost velocity by passing through the President's neck.317 Moreover, the large wound on the Governor's back would be explained by a bullet which was yawing although that type of wound might also be accounted for by a tangential striking.318
Dr. Frederick W. Light, Jr., the third of the wound ballistics experts, testified that the anatomical findings alone were insufficient for him to formulate a firm opinion on whether the same bullet did or did not pass through the President's neck first before inflicting all the wounds on Governor Connally.319 Based on the other cir stances, such as the relative positions in the automobile of the President and the Governor, Dr. Light concluded that it was probable that the same bullet traversed the President's neck and inflicted all the wounds on Governor Connally.320
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Tests Simulating President Kennedy's Head Wounds
Additional tests were performed on inert. skulls filled with a 20 percent gelatin substance and then coated with additional gelatin to approximate the soft tissues overlying the skull.321 The skull was then draped with simulated hair as depicted in Commission Exhibit No. 860.322 Using the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle and the Western bullets, 10 shots were fired at the reconstructed skulls from a distance of 270 feet which was the estimated distance at the time those tests were conducted.323 It was later determined through the onsite tests that President Kennedy was struck in the back of the head at a distance of 265.3 feet from the assassination weapon.324
The general results of these tests were illustrated by the findings on one skull which was struck at a point most nearly approximating the wound of entry on President Kennedy's head.325 The whole skull, depicted in Commission Exhibit No. 860, was struck 2.9 centimeters to the right and almost horizontal to the occipital protuberance or slightly above it, which was virtually the precise point of entry on the President's head as described by the autopsy surgeons.326 That bullet blew out the right side of the reconstructed skull in a manner very similar to the head wounds of the President.327 The consequences on that skull are depicted in Commission Exhibits Nos. 861 and 862, which illustrate the testimony of Dr. Alfred G. Olivier, who supervised the experiments.328 Based on his review of the autopsy report,
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Dr. Olivier concluded that the damage to the reconstructed skull was very similar to the wound inflicted on the President.329
Two fragments from the bullet which struck the test skull closely resembled the two fragments found in the front seat of the Presidential limousine. The fragment designated as Commission Exhibit No. 567 is a mutilated piece of lead and copper very similar to a mutilated piece of copper recovered from the bullet which struck the skull depicted in Commission Exhibit No. 860. The other fragment, designated as Commission Exhibit No. 569 which was found in the front seat of the Presidential limousine, is the copper end of the bullet.330 Commission Exhibit No. 569 is very similar to a copper fragment of the end of the bullet which struck the test skull.331 The fragments from the test bullet are designated as Commission Exhibit No. 857 and are depicted in a photograph identified as Commission Exhibit No. 858.332 A group of small lead particles, recovered from the test bullet, are also very similar to the particles recovered under the left. jump seat and in the President's head. The particles from the test bullet are a part of Commission Exhibit No. 857 and are depicted in photograph designated as Commission Exhibit No. 859. 333 That skull was depicted as Commission Exhibit No. 862.334
As a result of these tests, Dr. Olivier concluded that the Western bullet fired from the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle at a distance of 270 feet would make the same type of wound found on the President's head.335 Prior to the tests, Dr. Olivier had some doubt that such a stable bullet would cause a massive head wound like that inflicted on the President.336 He had thought it more likely that such a striking bullet would make small entrance and exit holes.337 The tests, however, showed that the bones of the skull were sufficient to deform the end of the bullet causing it to expend a great deal of energy and thereby blow out the side of the skull.338 These tests further confirmed the autopsy surgeons' opinions that the President's head wound was not caused by a dumdum bullet. 339 Because of the test results, Dr. Olivier concluded that the fragments found on and under the front seat of the President's car most probably came from the bullet which struck the President's head.340 It was further concluded that the damage done to Governor Connally's wrist could not have resulted from a fragment from the bullet which struck President Kennedy's head.341
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HAIRS AND FIBERS
Testimony on hairs and fibers was given by Paul M. Stombaugh 342 of the FBI. Stombaugh has been a specialist in hairs and fibers since 1960, when he began a 1-year period of specialized training in this field. He has made thousands of hair and fiber examinations, and has testified in Federal and State courts in approximately 28 States.343 Stombaugh examined and gave testimony on the following objects: (1) The green and brown blanket found in the Paine's garage, Commission Exhibit No. 140; (2) the homemade paper bag found on the sixth floor
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This page reproduces COMMISSION EXHIBIT 666: Diagram of a hair
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of the Texas School Book Depository following the assassination, Commission Exhibit No. 142; (3) the shirt worn by Oswald on November 22, 1963, Commission Exhibit No. 150; and (4) the C2766 rifle, Commission Exhibit No. 139.
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General Principles
Hairs.--As shown in Commission Exhibit No. 666 (p. 587), a hair consists of a central shaft of air cells, known as the medulla; a cortex containing pigment granules (which give the hair its color) and cortical fusi (air spaces); and a cuticle and an outer layer of scales. Unlike fingerprints, hairs are not unique. However, human hairs can be distinguished from animal hairs by various characteristics, including color, texture, length, medullary structure and shape, shape of pigment, root size, and scale size. In addition, hairs of the Caucasian, Negroid, and Mongoloid human races can be distinguished from each other by color, texture., size and degree of fluctuation of diameter, thickness of cuticle, shape and distribution of pigment, and shape of cross-section. Moreover, even though individual hairs are not unique, the expert usually can distinguish the hairs of different individuals. Thus, Stombaugh, who had made approximately 1,000 comparison examinations of Caucasian hairs and 500 comparison examinations of Negroid hairs, had never found a case in which he was unable to differentiate the hairs of two different Caucasian individuals, and had found only several cases in which he could not distinguish, with absolute certainty, between the hairs of two different Negroid individuals. 344
Fibers.--Like hairs, the various types of natural and artificial fibers can be distinguished from each other under the microscope. Like hairs too, individual fibers are not unique, but the expert usually can distinguish fibers from different fabrics. A major identifying characteristic of most fibers is color, and under the microscope many different shades of each color can be differentiated--for example, 50-100 shades of green or blue, and 25-30 shades of black. The microscopic appearance of three types of fibers---cotton, wool, and viscose-is illustrated in Commission Exhibit No. 665 (p. 589). Two of these, cotton and viscose, were the subject of testimony by Stombaugh. Cotton is a natural fiber. Under the microscope, it resembles a twisted soda straw, and the degree of twist is an additional identifying characteristic of cotton. Cotton may be mercerized or (more commonly) unmercerized. Viscose is an artificial fiber. A delustering agent is usually added to viscose to cut down its luster, and under the microscope this agent appears as millions of tiny spots on the outside of the fiber. The major identifying characteristics of viscose, apart from color, are diameter--hundreds of variations being possible -- and size and distribution of delustering agent, if any. 345
The blanket.--Stombaugh received the blanket, Commission Exhibit No. 140, in the FBI Laboratory at 7:30 a.m., on November 23, 1963.346 Examination showed that it was composed of brown and green fibers, of which approximately 1-2 percent were woolen, 20-35 percent
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This page reproduces COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 665: Diagrams of Textile Fibers showing cotton, wool, and viscose.
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were cotton, and the remainder were delustered viscose.347 The viscose fibers in the blanket were of 10-15 different diameters, and also varied slightly in shade and in the size and distribution of the delustering agent. (The apparent cause of those variations was that the viscose in the blanket consisted of scrap viscose.) 348 The cotton also varied in shade, about seven to eight different shades of green cotton being present, but was uniform in twist.349
When received by Stombaugh, the blanket was folded into approximately the shape of a narrow right triangle.350 A safety pin was inserted in one end of the blanket, and also at this end, loosely wrapped around the blanket, was a string.351 On the basis of creases in the blanket in this area it appeared that the string had been tied around the blanket rather tightly at one time while something was inside the blanket.352 Other creases and folds were also present, as illustrated in Commission Exhibit No. 663.353 Among these was a crease or hump approximately 10 inches long.354 This crease must have been caused by a hard protruding object approximately 10 inches long which had been tightly wrapped in the blanket, causing the yarn to stretch so that the hump was present even when the object had been extracted.355 The hump was approximately the same length and shape as the telescopic sight on the C2766 rifle, and its position with respect to the ends of the blanket was such (based on the manner in which the blanket was folded when Stombaugh received it) that had the rifle been in the blanket the telescopic sight could have made the hump.356
The string wrapped around the blanket was made of ordinary white cotton.357 It had been tied into a granny knot (a very common knot tied right over right, right over right) and the dangling ends had been further tied into a bow knot (the knot used on shoelaces).358
After receiving the blanket, Stombaugh scraped it to remove the foreign textile fibers and hairs that were present.359 He found numerous foreign textile fibers of various types and colors, and a number of limb, pubic, and head hairs, all of which had originated from persons of the Caucasian race, and had fallen out naturally, as was shown by the shape of their roots.360 Several of the limb and pubic hairs matched samples of Oswald's limb and pubic hairs obtained by the Dallas police in all observable characteristics, including certain relatively unusual characteristics.361 For example, in both Oswald's pubic hairs and some of the blanket pubic hairs, the color was a medium brown, which remained constant to the tip, where it changed to a very light brown and then became transparent, due to lack of color pigments; the diameters were identical, and rather narrow for pubic hairs; the hairs were very smooth, lacking the knobbiness characteristic of pubic hairs, and the upper two-thirds were extremely smooth for pubic hairs; the tips of the hairs were sharp, which is unusual for pubic hairs; the cuticle was very thin for pubic hairs; the scales displayed only a very small protrusion; the pigmentation was very fine, equally dispersed, and occasionally chained together, and displayed only very slight gapping; cortical fusi were for the most part absent; the medulla was either fairly continuous or completely absent; and the
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root area was rather clear of pigment, and contained only a fair amount of cortical fusi, which was unusual.362 Similarly, in both Oswald's limb hairs and some of the limb hairs from the blanket the co]or was light brown through its entire length; the diameter was very fine and did not noticeably fluctuate; the tips were very sharp, which is unusual; the scales were of medium size, with very slight protrusion; there was a very slight gapping of the pigmentation near the cuticle; there was an unusual amount of cortical fusi, equally distributed through the hair shaft; and the medulla was discontinuous, granular, very bulbous, and very uneven.363
Other limb, pubic, and head hairs on the blanket did not come from Oswald.364
The paper bag.--Stombaugh received the paper bag, Commission Exhibit No. 142, at 7:30 a.m. on November 23, 1963.365 No foreign material was found on the outside of the bag except traces of fingerprint powder and several white cotton fibers, which were of no significance, since white cotton is the most common textile, and at any rate the fibers may have come from Stombaugh's white cotton gloves.366 Inside the bag were a tiny wood fragment which was too minute for comparison purposes, and may have come from the woodpulp from which the paper was made; a particle of a waxy substance, like candle wax; and a single brown delustered viscose fiber and several light-green cotton fibers.367
The fibers found inside the bag were compared with brown viscose and green cotton fibers taken from the blanket.. The brown viscose fiber found in the bag matched some of the brown viscose fibers from the blanket in all observable characteristics, i.e., shade, diameter, and size and distribution of delustering agent. 368 The green cotton fibers found in the bag were, like those from the blanket, of varying shades, but of a uniform twist. Each green cotton fiber from the bag matched some of the green cotton fibers from the blanket. in all observable characteristics, i.e., shade and degree of twist. Like the blanket cotton fibers, the cotton fibers found in the bag were unmercerized. 369
The shirt.--Stombaugh received the shirt, Commission Exhibit No. 150, at 7:30 a.m. on November 23, 1963.370 Examination showed that it was composed of gray-black, dark blue, and orange-yellow cotton fibers.371 The orange-yellow and gray-black cotton fibers were of a uniform shade, and the dark-blue fibers were of three different shades.372 All the fibers were mercerized and of substantially uniform degree of twist.373
The C2766 rifle.-- The rifle, Commission Exhibit No. 139, was received in the FBI Laboratory on the morning of November 1963, and examined for foreign material at that time.374 Stombaugh noticed immediately that the rifle had been dusted for fingerprints, "and at the time I noted to myself that I doubted very much if there would be any fibers adhering to the outside of this gun--I possibly might. find some in a crevice some place--because when the latent fingerprint man dusted this gun, apparently in Dallas, they use a little brush to dust with they would have dusted any
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fibers off the gun at the same time ... "375 In fact, most of the fibers Stombaugh found were either adhering to greasy, oily deposits or were jammed down into crevices, and were so dirty, old, and fragmented that he could not even determine what type of fibers they were.376 However, Stombaugh found that a tiny tuft of fibers had caught on a jagged edge on the rifle's metal butt plate where it met the end of the wooden stock, and had adhered to this edge, so that when the rifle had been dusted for fingerprints the brush had folded the tuft into a crevice between the butt plate and the stock, where it remained.377 Stombaugh described these fibers as "fresh," 378 by which he meant that "they were clean, they had good color to them, there was no grease on them and they were not fragmented." 379 However, it was not possible to determine how long the fibers had been on the rifle, in the absence of information as to how frequently the rifle had been used.380 Examination showed that the tuft was composed of six or seven orange-yellow, gray-black, and dark-blue cotton fibers. These fibers were compared with fibers from the shirt, Commission Exhibit No. 150, which was also composed of orange- yellow, gray-black, and dark-blue cotton fibers. The orange-yellow and gray-black tuft fibers matched the comparable shirt fibers in all observable characteristics, i.e., shade and twist. The three dark-blue fibers matched two of the three shades of the dark-blue shirt fibers, and also matched the dark-blue shirt. fibers in degree of twist.381 Based on these facts, Stombaugh concluded that the tuft of fibers found on the rifle "could easily" have come from the shirt, and that "there is no doubt in my mind that these fibers could have come from this shirt. There is no way, however, to eliminate the possibility of the fibers having come from another identical shirt." 382
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PHOTOGRAPHS
Two photographs of Lee Harvey Oswald holding a rifle were found among Oswald's possessions in Mrs. Ruth Paine's garage at 2515 West Fifth Street, Irving, Tex.383 In one, Commission Exhibit No. 133-A, Oswald is holding the rifle generally in front of his body; in the other, Commission Exhibit. No. 133-B, he is holding the rifle to his right. Also found at Mrs. Paine's garage were a negative of 133-B and several photographs of the rear of General Walker's house.384 An Imperial reflex camera,385 which Marina Oswald testified she used to take 133-A and 133-B, was subsequently produced by Robert Oswald, Lee Harvey Oswald's brother.386 Testimony concerning the photographs, the negative, and the camera was given by Lyndal D. Shaneyfelt of the FBI.387 Shaneyfelt has been connected with photographic work since 1937. He has made 100-300 photographic examinations, and has testified frequently on the subject in court.388
Photographs 133-A and 133-B.--The background and lighting in 133-A and 133-B are virtually identical; the only apparent difference between the two photographs is the pose. However, in 188-A the rifle
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is held in a position showing many more of its characteristics than are shown in 133-B.389 In order to bring out the details in the rifle pictured in 133-A, Shaneyfelt rephotographed 133-A and prepared prints of varying densities from the new negative.390 He also took two new photographs of the C2766 rifle itself: one shows the rifle in approximately the same position as the rifle pictured in 133-A. The other shows a man holding the rifle simulating the pose in 133-A.391 Shaneyfelt compared the actual rifle, the photograph 133-A, his rephotographs of 133-A, and the two new photographs to determine whether the rifle pictured in 133-A was the C2766 rifle. He found it to be the same in all appearances, noted no differences, and found a notch in the stock of the C2766 which also appeared very faintly in 133-A. However, he did not find enough peculiarities to positively identify the rifle in 133-A as the C2766 rifle, as distinguished from other rifles of the same configuration.392
The rifle's position in 133-B is such that less of its characteristics were visible than in 183-A; essentially, 133-B show's only the bottom of the rifle. However, the characteristics of the rifle visible in 133-B are also similar to the observable characteristics of the C2766 rifle, except that while the C2766 rifle was equipped with a homemade leather sling when it was found after the assassination, the rifle in 133-B seems to be equipped with a homemade rope sling.393 The portion of the sling visible in 133-A is too small to establish whether it is rope or leather, but it has the appearance of rope, and its configuration is consistent with the rope sling pictured in 133-B.394
The negative.--Shaneyfelt's examination of the negative, Commission Exhibit No. 749, showed that the photograph, 133-B, had been printed directly or indirectly from the negative. lt was Shaneyfelt's opinion that 188-B had been directly from the negative, but he could not absolutely eliminate the possibility of an internegative, that is, the possibility that a print had been produced from the negative 749, a photograph had been taken of that print, and 133-B had been produced from the new negative, rather than from the original negative.395 "I think this is highly unlikely, because if this were the result of a copied negative, there would normally be evidence that I could detect, such as a loss of detail and imperfections that show up due to the added process." 396 In any event, any "intermediate" print would have been virtually indistinguishable from 133-B, so that Shaneyfelt's testimony conclusively established that either 133-B or a virtually indistinguishable print had been produced from the negative 749.
The camera.--The Imperial camera, Commission Exhibit No. 750, was a relatively inexpensive, fixed- focus, one-shutter-speed, box-type camera, made in the United States.397 Shaneyfelt compared this camera with the negative, Commission Exhibit No. 749, to determine whether this negative had been taken with the camera.398 To make this determination, Shaneyfelt compared the margins of the image on Commission Exhibit No. 749 with the margins of the image on a negative
Page 594
This page reproduces COMMISSION EXHIBIT NO. 751: Photograph of Oswald's Imperial Reflex camera, with the back removed to show the camera's film- plane aperture.
Page 595
he himself had taken with the camera. Microscopic examination shows that the margins of a negative's image, although apparently straight, are actually irregular. The irregularities usually do not show on a finished print, because they are blocked out to give the print a neat border.399 The cause of these irregularities can be best understood by examination of Commission Exhibit No. 751 (p. 594), a photograph of the Imperial camera with the back removed to show the camera's film-plane aperture. When the camera's shutter is opened, light exposes that portion of the film which is not blocked off by this aperture. The edges of the aperture, therefore, define the edges of the image which will appear on the developed negative. In effect, the edge of the image is a shadowgraph of the edge of the aperture. As Shaneyfelt testified:
... the basis of the examination was a close microscopic study of the negative made in the camera to study the shadowgraph that. is made of the edge of the aperture.
As the film is placed across the aperture of the camera, and the shutter is opened, light comes through and exposes the film only in the opening within the edges. Where the film is out over the edges of the aperture it is not exposed, and your result is an exposed negative with a- clear edge, and on the negative then, the edges of that exposure of the photograph, are actually shadow-graphs of the edges of the aperture.400
The basis of the identification is that the microscopic characteristics of every film-plane aperture, like those of a rifle barrel, are distinctive, for much the same reason; that is, when the camera is manufactured, certain handwork is done which differs microscopically from camera to camera, and further differences accrue as the camera is used. As Shaneyfelt testified:
Q. Mr. Shaneyfelt, what is the basis of your statement, the theoretical basis of your statement, that every camera with this type of back aperture arrangement is unique in the characteristics of the shadowgraph it makes on the negative?
Mr. SHANEYFELT. It is because of the minute variations that even two cameras from the same mold will have. Additional handwork on cameras, or filing the edges where a little bit of plastic or a little bit of metal stays on, make individual characteristics apart from those that would be general characteristics on all of them from the same mold.
In addition, as the film moves across the camera and it is used for a considerable length of time, dirt and debris tend to ac ulate a little--or if the aperture is painted, little lumps in the paint will make little bumps along that edge that would make that then individually different from every other camera.
Q. Is this similar then to toolmark identification?
Mr. SHANEYFELT. Very similar; yes.401
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Based on his examination of the shadowgraph on the negative, Commission Exhibit No. 749, Shaneyfelt determined that it had been taken with the Imperial camera.402
Three edges of the shadowgraph of the film-plane aperture were also visible on one of the photographs of General Walker's house, not having been blocked out in the making of the print. On the basis of these three margins, Shaneyfelt determined that this photograph had also been taken with Oswald's Imperial Reflex camera. Shaneyfelt could not determine whether 133-A had been photographed with the Imperial camera, because the negative of 133-A had not been found, and the print itself did not show a shadowgraph area.403
During his interrogations Oswald had been shown 133-A, and had claimed it was a. composite--that the face in the picture was his, but the body was not.404 Shaneyfelt examined 133-A and 133-B to. determine if they were composite pictures. He concluded that they were not:
... it is my opinion that they are not composites. Again with very, very minor reservation, because I cannot entirely eliminate an extremely expert composite. I have examined many composite photographs, and there is always an inconsistency, either in lighting of the portion that is added, or the configuration indicating a different lens used for the part that was added to the original photograph, things many times that you can't point to and say this is a. characteristic, or that is a characteristic, but they have definite variations that are not consistent throughout the picture.
I found no such characteristics in this picture.
In addition, with a composite it is always necessary to make a print that you then make a pasteup of. In this instance paste the face in, and rephotograph it, and then retouch out the area where the head was cut out, which would leave a characteristic that would be retouched out on the negative and then that would be printed.
Normally, this retouching can be seen under magnification in the resulting composite--points can be seen where the edge of the head had been added and it hadn't been entirely retouched out.
This can nearly always be detected under magnification. I found no such characteristics in these pictures.
Q. Did you use the technique of magnification in your analysis?
A. Yes.405
Furthermore, the negative, Commission Exhibit No. 749, showed absolutely no doctoring or composition.406 Since the negative was made in Oswald's Imperial camera, Commission Exhibit No. 750, a composite of 133-B could have been made only by putting two pictures together and rephotographing them in the Imperial camera--all without leaving a discernible trace. This, to Shaneyfelt, was "in the realm of the impossible":
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In addition, in this instance regarding 133-B which I have just stated, I have identified as being photographed or exposed in the camera which is Exhibit 750, for this to be a composite, they would have had to make a picture of the background with an individual standing there, and then subs ute the face, and retouch it and then possibly rephotograph it and retouch that negative, and make a print, and then photo graph it with this camera, which is Commission Exhibit 750, in order to have this negative which we have identified with the camera, and is Commission Exhibit 749.
This to me is beyond reasonable doubt, it just doesn't seem that it would be at all possible, in this particular photograph.407
Q. You have the negative of this? [Referring to Exhibit 133B.]
A. We have the negative of 133B.
Q. You have the negative of 133B. That negative in itself shows no doctoring or composition at all?
A. It shows absolutely no doctoring or composition.
Q. So that the only composition that could have been made would have been in this process which you have described of picture on picture and negative and then photographing?
A. And then finally rephotographing with this camera.
Q. Rephotographing with this camera, this very camera?
A. That is correct, and this then, to me, becomes in the realm of the impossible.408
Following the assassination, photographs similar to 133-A appeared in a number of newspapers and magazines.409 At least some of these photographs, as reproduced, differed both from 133-A and from each other in minor details.410 Shaneyfelt examined several of these reproductions and concluded that in each case the individual publisher had taken a reproduction of 133-A and retouched it in various ways, apparently for clarifying purposes, thus accounting for the differences between the reproductions and 133-A, and the differences between the reproductions themselves.411 Subsequently one of the publishers involved submitted the original photographs which it had retouched. Shaneyfelt's examination of this photograph confirmed his original conclusion.412 The remaining publishers either confirmed that they had retouched the photographs they had used, or failed to contradict Shaneyfelt's testimony after having been given an opportunity to do so.413
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Appendix 11: Reports Relating to the Interrogation of Lee Harvey Oswald at the Dallas Police Department
As discussed in chapters IV and V, Lee Harvey Oswald was interrogated for a total of approximately 12 hours between 2:30 p.m. on Friday, November 22, 1963, and 11:15 a.m. on Sunday, November 24, 1963. There were no stenographic or tape recordings of these interviews. Several of the investigators present at one or more of the interrogation sessions, prior to testifying before the Commission, had prepared memoranda setting forth their recollections of the questioning of Oswald and his responses. The following are the most important of these reports.
Pages 599 through 611 reproduce the report of Capt. J. W. Fritz, Dallas Police Department.
Pages 612 through 625 reproduce reports of Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Pages 626 through 632 reproduce reports of Inspector Thomas J. Kelley, U.S. Secret Service.
Pages 632 through 636 reproduce a report of U.S. Postal Inspector H. D. Holmes.
Appendix 12: Speculations and Rumors
Introduction
The Source of the Shots
The Assassin
Oswald's Movements between 12:33 and 1:15 P.M.
Murder of Tippit
Oswald After his Arrest
Oswald in the Soviet Union
Oswald's Trip to Mexico City
Oswald and U.S. Government Agencies
Conspiratorial Relationships
Other Rumors and Speculations
Myths have traditionally surrounded the dramatic assassinations of history. The rumors and theories about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln that are still being publicized were for the most part first bruited within months of his death. Wherever there is any element of mystery in such dramatic events misconceptions often result from sensational speculations.
Lacking the testimony of Lee Harvey Oswald, it has been necessary to reconstruct painstakingly all of the facts that led the Commission to the conclusion that Oswald assassinated President Kennedy, acting alone and without advice or assistance. The Commission has found no credible evidence that he was a member of a foreign or domestic conspiracy of any kind. Nor was there any evidence that he was involved with any criminal or underworld elements or that he had any association with his slayer, Jack Ruby, except as his victim. The evidence on these issues has been set forth in great detail in this report.
In addition the Commission has inquired into the various hypotheses, rumors, and speculations that have arisen from the tragic developments of November 22-24, 1963. It is recognized that the public judgment of these events has been influenced, at least to some extent, by these conjectures.
Many questions have been raised about the facts out of genuine puzzlement or because of misinformation which attended some of the early reporting of the fast-crowding events of these 3 days. Most of the speculation and attempted reconstruction of these events by the public centered on these basic questions: Was Lee Harvey Oswald really the assassin of the President; why did he do it; did he have any accomplices; and why did Ruby shoot Oswald? Many of the theories and hypotheses advanced have rested on premises which the Commission feels deserve critical examination.
Many people who witnessed the assassination and the killing of Oswald or were present in the area were a major source of diverse and often contradictory information. As is easily understood under such cir stances, all of the witnesses did not see and hear the same thing or interpret what they saw and heard the same way and many changed their stories as they repeated them. Moreover, they were interviewed at different times after the event by different people and often under cir stances which made accurate reporting extremely difficult.
Even the occupants of the cars in the Presidential motorcade were not entirely in agreement in their accounts because they, too, saw and heard what happened from different positions. Moreover, those closest to the assassination were subjected to a physical and emotional
Page 638
strain that tended to affect their recollections of what they thought they saw or heard. Consequently, the presentation of the news from Dallas included much misinformation. This, to some extent, was unavoidable, but the widespread and repe ive dissemination of every scrap of information about the President's assassination and its aftermath has helped to build up a large number of erroneous conclusions. The manner in which local authorities released information about. the investigation, sometimes before it could be verified in all detail, has further contributed to the fund of ill-founded theories. Typographical mistakes in the press and failure to transcribe sound accurately from tapes resulted in errors, some of which have remained uncorrected in print at the time of the publication of this report.
Much of the speculation that has persisted in one form or another since November 22-24 came from people who usually spoke in good faith. Some of the errors have resulted simply from a lack of complete knowledge at the time of the event. In this category are the statements attributed to doctors at Parkland Memorial Hospital who attended the dying President and described his wounds to the press afterward. It remained for the autopsy in Washington, completed early the next morning, to ascertain the full facts concerning the wounds. The correction of earlier assertions of fact on the basis of later and fuller analysis or investigation is a normal part of the process of ac ulation of evidence. But it is not often that the process is conducted in such an intense glare of worldwide publicity, and later corrections have difficulty overtaking the original sensational reports.
There is still another category of speculation and rumor that complicated and broadened the work of the Commission. Numerous people claimed to have seen Oswald or Ruby at various times and places in the United States or abroad. Others insisted that during the days following the assassination, they had detected significant actions on television that- were witnessed by no one else. Still others assumed from a widely published picture that Oswald was standing on the steps of the entrance to the Texas School Book Depository at the time the President was shot. Throughout the country people reported overheard remarks, conversations, threats, prophesies, and opinions that seemed to them to have a possible bearing on the assassination. More than a few informants initially told their speculations or professed firsthand information to newspaper and television reporters. Later, many of them changed or retracted their stories in telling them to official investigators.
The U.S. investigative agencies expended much valuable time and effort inquiring into these leads. Investigations of a vast number of rumors and speculations reached into almost every part of the United States and to most of the other continents of the world.
The Commission's work was also handicapped by those witnesses and other persons connected with the investigation who sold for publication evidence pertinent to the investigation. These persons sold pictures and do ents and even recollections, sometimes before the
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Commission had an opportunity to receive their evidence. Some of the evidence thus published was changed from its original form and gave misleading impressions to the public. The piecemeal release of this evidence, sometimes in distorted or exaggerated form, and often out of context, provided the basis for new speculations and rumors or served to reinforce already current ones. The practice was frequently harmful to the work of the Commission and a disservice to the public.
This appendix is intended to clarify the most widespread factual misunderstandings. False or inaccurate speculations concerning the assassination and related events are set forth below together with brief summary statements of what the Commission has found to be the true facts. The citation following each Commission finding is either to that portion of the report in which the subject is discussed more fully, to the evidence in the record supporting the finding, or to both. For complete answers to these speculations, the sources cited in the footnotes should be consulted. The speculations are considered under the following headings:
The source of the shots.
The iden y of the assassin.
Oswald's movements between 12:33 and 1:15 p.m. on November 22, 1963.
The murder of Patrolman Tippit.
Oswald after his arrest.
Oswald in the Soviet Union.
Oswald's trip to Mexico City.
Oswald and U.S. Government agencies.
Conspiratorial relationships.
Miscellaneous charges.
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THE SOURCE OF THE SHOTS
There have been speculations that some or all of the shots aimed at President Kennedy and Governor Connally came from the railroad overpass as the Presidential automobile approached it, or from somewhere other than the Texas School Book Depository Building. Related speculations maintain that the shots came from both the railroad overpass and the Texas School Book Depository Building. These are supported by a number of assertions that have been carefully examined by the Commission in the course of its investigation and rejected as being without foundation. They are set forth below, together with the results of the Commission's investigation.
Speculation.--The shots that killed the President came from the railroad overpass above the triple underpass.
Commission finding.--The shots that entered the neck and head of the President and wounded Governor Connally came from behind and above. There is no evidence that any shots were fired at the Presi-
Page 640
dent from anywhere other than the Texas School Book Depository Building.1
Speculation--The railroad overpass was left unguarded on November 22.
Commission finding.--On November 22 the railroad overpass was guarded by two Dallas policemen, Patrolmen J. W. Foster and J. C. White, who have testified that they permitted only railroad personnel on the overpass.2
Speculation.--There are witnesses who alleged that the shots came from the overpass.
Commission finding.-- The Commission does not have knowledge of any witnesses who saw shots fired from the overpass. Statements or depositions from the 2 policemen and 13 railroad employees who were on the overpass all affirm that no shots were fired from the overpass. Most of these witnesses who discussed the source of the shots stated that they came from the direction of Elm and Houston Streets. 3
Speculation.--A rifle cartridge was recovered on the overpass.
Commission finding.--No cartridge of any kind was found on the overpass nor has any witness come forward to claim having found one.4
Speculation.---A witness to the assassination said that she saw a man run behind the concrete wall of the overpass and disappear.
Commission finding.--Mrs. Jean L. Hill stated that after the firing stopped she saw a white man wearing a brown overcoat and a hat running west away from the Depository Building in the direction of the railroad tracks. There are no other witnesses who claim to have seen a man running toward the railroad tracks. Examination of all available films of the area following the shooting, reexamination of interviews with individuals in the vicinity of the shooting, and interviews with members of the Dallas Police Department and the Dallas County sheriff's office failed to corroborate Mrs. Hill's recollection or to reveal the iden y of the man described by Mrs. Hill. 5
Speculation.--Immediately after the shooting a motorcycle policeman was seen racing up the grassy embankment to the right of the shooting scene pursuing a couple seeking to flee from the overpass.
Commission finding.--There are no witnesses who have ever stated this and there is no evidence to support the claim. A motorcycle policeman, Clyde A. Haygood, dismounted in the street and ran up the incline. He stated that he saw no one running from the railroad yards adjacent to the overpass. Subsequently, at 12:37 p.m., Haygood reported that the shots had come from the Texas School Book Depository Building. 6
Speculation.---More than three shots, perhaps as many as five or six, were fired at the President and Governor Connally.
Commission finding.--The weight of the evidence indicates that three shots were fired, of which two struck President Kennedy. There is persuasive evidence from the experts that one of these two bullets also struck Governor Connally. Some witnesses claimed that they
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heard more than three shots but, as fully described in chapter III, the great majority heard only three shots. 7
Speculation.--At least four or five bullets have been found.
Commission finding.--After the assassination, metal remains of bullets were recovered. These included an almost whole bullet of 158.6 grains, fragments weighing 44.6 grains and 21.0 grains, and other fragments too small to be identified. These metal remains indicate that at least two shots were fired. The Commission believes that three shots were fired. 8
Speculation.--A bullet was found on the stretcher used for President Kennedy at Parkland Hospital.
Commission finding.--No bullet was found on the stretcher used by President Kennedy. An almost whole bullet was found when it rolled off the stretcher used by Governor Connally. 9
Speculation.--A bullet was found in the grass near the scene of the assassination shortly afterward by a deputy sheriff of Dallas County, E. R. Walthers.
Commission finding.--Walthers has denied that he found a bullet at any time or that he told anyone that he had found one. With another deputy sheriff he made a diligent search for such a bullet 2 or 3 days after the assassination. 10
Speculation.--The Presidential car stopped momentarily or almost came to a complete halt after the first shot. This is evidence that the driver had the impression that the first shot came from the front and therefore hesitated to drive closer to the overpass.
Commission finding.--The Presidential car did not stop or almost come to a complete halt after the firing of the first shot or any other shots. The driver, Special Agent William R. Greer, has testified that he accelerated the car after what was probably the second shot. Motion pictures of the scene show that the car slowed down momentarily after the shot that struck the President in the head and then speeded up rapidly. 11
Speculation.--The Presidential car had a small round bullet hole in the front windshield. This is evidence that a shot or shots were fired at the President from the front of the car.
Commission finding.--The windshield was not penetrated by any bullet. A small residue of lead was found on the inside surface of the windshield; on the outside of the windshield was a very small pattern of cracks immediately in front of the lead residue on the inside. The bullet from which this lead residue came was probably one of those that struck the President and therefore came from overhead and to the rear. Experts established that the abrasion in the windshield came from impact on the inside of the glass. 12
Speculation.--The throat wound sustained by the President was the result of a shot fired from the front according to doctors at Parkland Hospital.
Commission finding.--Doctors at Parkland Hospital originally believed that the throat wound could have been either an entry or exit wound, but they made no examination to determine entry and exit
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wounds. Subsequently, when the evidence of the autopsy became available, the doctors at Parkland agreed that it was an exit wound.13
Speculation.--It is inconceivable that the doctors at Parkland Hospital did not turn the President over on his face and notice the bullet hole in the back of his neck.
Commission finding.--Doctors at Parkland Hospital have testified that the President remained on his back while he was at Parkland Hospital for treatment and that they did not turn him over at any time; they were busy trying to save his life. Consequently, they were never aware of the hole in the back of his neck until they were notified of it later.14
Speculation.--The first shot struck the President in the throat as the car was proceeding along Houston Street toward the Texas School Book Depository. The car then made a left turn on to Elm Street and proceeded for some distance before additional shots were fired at the President.
Commission finding.--Before the autopsy findings made it clear that the shots were fired from the rear, there was speculation that the first shot may have been fired before the Presidential car turned on to Elm Street. As this report demonstrates, all of the shots that struck the President were fired from the rear and in a time period inconsistent with the theory that the first shot struck him while his car was coming down Houston Street. Motion pictures taken at the time show that the first shot struck the President after the car had turned onto Elm Street and was proceeding away from the Depository. 15
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THE ASSASSIN
Speculations tending to support the theory that Oswald could not have assassinated President Kennedy are based on a wide variety of assertions. Among these are statements that Oswald could not have been acquainted with the motorcade route before he came to work on November 22, that he may well have carried curtain rods rather than a rifle in a brown paper package he brought with him, that there may have been other people in the building who could have fired the rifle, that Oswald could not have fired the shots in the time available to him, that he was not a good enough marksman to have scored the hits with the rifle, that there were other people in the lunchroom of the Depository Building when he was confronted by Patrolman M. L. Baker, and that there are no eyewitnesses who could identify Oswald as having been in the window. Each of these speculations is dealt with below in the light of the testimony and evidence considered by the Commission.
Speculation.--Oswald could not have known the motorcade route before he arrived at work on November 22.
Commission finding.--The motorcade route was published in both Dallas papers on November 19 and was therefore available at least 72 hours before Oswald reported for work on November 22. 16
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Speculation.--The route as shown in the newspaper took the motorcade through the Triple Underpass via Main Street, a block away from the Depository. Therefore, Oswald could not have known that the motorcade would pass directly by the Texas School Book Depository Building.
Commission finding.--The motorcade route as published showed the motorcade turning right off Main Street onto Houston for one block and then left on Elm to the access road to the Stemmons Freeway. This route was clearly indicated in published descriptions and maps of the motorcade route. There was no mention of continuing on Main Street through the Triple Underpass.17
Speculation.--The motorcade route was changed on November 22 after the map had been printed. The motorcade was shifted from Main Street over to Elm Street to bring it by the Texas School Book Depository Building.
Commission finding.--The motorcade route was decided upon on November 18 and published in the Dallas newspapers on November 19. It was not changed in any way thereafter. The route called for the motorcade to turn off Main Street at Houston, go up to Elm, and then turn left on Elm Street. 18
Speculation.--The normal and logical route would have been straight down Main Street through the Triple Underpass to the Stemmons Freeway. It is possible to drive from Main onto the access road to the Stemmons Freeway from a point beyond the underpass.
Commission finding.--The normal, direct, and only permissible route to the Stemmons Freeway from Main Street is via Houston and Elm Streets. Any attempt to turn onto the access road to the Stemmons Freeway from Main Street beyond the Triple Underpass would have been extremely difficult because of a concrete strip dividing Elm and Main Streets. Such an attempt would have required making an S-turn beyond the strip at a very tight angle, thereby slowing the Presidential car almost to a stop.19
Speculation.--Oswald may well have carried curtain rods to work on November 22 in the brown paper package he was observed to bring into the building because he lived in a room where he needed them.
Commission finding.--According to Oswald's landlady at 1026 North Beckley Avenue, Mrs. A. C. Johnson, the room had venetian blinds, curtain rods, and curtains while Oswald was living there. The curtain rods in the Paine garage that belonged to Mrs. Paine were still there after Oswald went to work on November 22. Mrs. Paine and Marina Oswald testified that Oswald had not spoken to them about curtain rods. After the assassination the empty package was found near the window from which the shots were fired, but no curtain rods were found. 20
Speculation.--Oswald spent the morning of November 22 in the company of other workers in the building and remained with them until they went downstairs to watch the President go by, no later probably than 12:15.
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Commission finding.--Oswald did not spend the morning in the company of other workers in the building, and before the assassination he was last seen in the building on the sixth floor at about 11:55 a.m. by Charles Givens, another employee.21
Speculation.--It is probable that the chicken lunch, remains of which were found on the sixth floor, was eaten by an accomplice of Oswald who had hidden on the sixth floor overnight.
Commission finding.--The chicken lunch had been eaten shortly after noon on November 22 by Bonnie Ray Williams, an employee of the Texas School Book Depository, who after eating his lunch went to the fifth floor where he was when the shots were fired. Oswald did not eat the chicken lunch, nor did he drink from the soft drink bottle found near the chicken lunch.22
Speculation.--Laboratory tests showed remains of the chicken lunch found on the sixth floor were 2 days old.
Commission finding.--The chicken lunch remains had been left there shortly after noon on November 22 by Bonnie Ray Williams. 23
Speculation.--An amateur 8-millimeter photograph taken at 12:20 p.m., 10 minutes before the assassination of President Kennedy, showed two silhouettes at the sixth-floor window of the Depository.
Commission finding.-- A film taken by an amateur photographer, Robert J. E. Hughes, just before the assassination, shows a shadow in the southeast corner window of the sixth floor. This has been determined after examination by the FBI and the U.S. Navy Photographic Interpretation Center to be the shadow from the cartons near the window.24
Speculation.--A picture published widely in newspapers and magazines after the assassination showed Lee Harvey Oswald standing on the front steps of the Texas School Book Depository Building shortly before the President's motorcade passed by.
Commission finding.--The man on the front steps of the building, thought or alleged by some to be Lee Harvey Oswald, is actually Billy Lovelady, an employee of the Texas School Book Depository, who somewhat resembles Oswald. Lovelady has identified himself in the picture, and other employees of the Depository standing with him, as shown in the picture, have verified that he was the man in the picture and that Oswald was not there. 25
Speculation.--The post office box in Dallas to which Oswald had the rifle mailed was kept under both his name and that of A. Hidell.
Commission finding.--It is not known whether Oswald's application listed the name A. Hidell as one en led to receive mail at the box. In accordance with U.S. Post Office regulations, the portion of the application listing the names of persons other than the applicant en led to receive mail was discarded after the box was closed on May 14, 1963. During the summer of 1963, Oswald rented a post office box in New Orleans, listing the name "Hidell" in addition to his own name and that of his wife. Hidell was a favorite alias used by Oswald on a number of occasions. Diligent search has failed to re-
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veal any person in Dallas or New Orleans by that name. It was merely a creation for his own purposes.26
Speculation.--The President's car was going at a speed estimated at from 12 to 20 miles per hour, thus presenting a target comparable to the most difficult that a soldier would encounter under battlefield conditions.
Commission finding.--During the period between the time that the first and second shots struck the President, the Presidential car was traveling at an avenge speed of approximately 11.2 miles per hour. Expert witnesses testified that the target is regarded as a favorable one because the car was going away from the marksman in a straight line. 27
Speculation.--Oswald could not have fired three shots from the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle in 5.5 seconds.
Commission finding.--According to expert witnesses, exacting tests conducted for the Commission demonstrated that it was possible to fire three shots from the rifle within 5.5 seconds. It should be noted that the first loaded s was already in the chamber ready for firing; Oswald had only to pull the trigger to fire the first shot and to work the bolt twice in order to fire the second and third shots. They testified that if the second shot missed, Oswald had between 4.8 and 5.6 seconds to fire the three shots. If either the first or third shot missed, Oswald had in excess of 7 seconds to fire the three shots. 28
Speculation.--Oswald did not have the marksmanship ability demonstrated by the rifleman who fired the shots.
Commission finding.--Oswald qualified as a sharpshooter and a marksman with the M-1 rifle in the Marine Corps. Marina Oswald testified that in New Orleans her husband practiced operating the belt of the rifle. Moreover, experts stated that the scope was a substantial aid for rapid, accurate firing. The Commission concluded that Oswald had the capability with a rifle to commit assassination.29
Speculation.--The name of the rifle used in the assassination appeared on the rifle. Therefore, the searchers who found the rifle on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository should have been able to identify it correctly by name.
Commission finding.--An examination of the rifle does not reveal any manufacturer's name. An inscription on the rifle shows that it was made in Italy. The rifle was identified by Captain Fritz and Lieutenant Day, who were the first to actually handle it.30
Speculation.--The rifle found on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository was identified as a 7.65 Mauser by the man who found it, Deputy Constable Seymour Weitzman.
Commission finding.--Weitzman, the original source of the speculation that the rifle was a Mauser, and Deputy Sheriff Eugene Boone found the weapon. Weitzman did not handle the rifle and did not examine it at close range. He had little more than a glimpse of it and thought it was a Mauser, a German bolt-type rifle similar in appearance to the Mannlicher-Carcano. Police laboratory technicians
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subsequently arrived and correctly identified the weapon as a 6.5 Italian rifle.31
Speculation.--There is evidence that a second rifle was discovered on the roof of the Texas School Book Depository or on the overpass.
Commission finding--No second rifle was found in either of these places or in any other place. The shots that struck President Kennedy and Governor Connally came from the rifle found on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository. 32
Speculation.--It is possible that there was a second Mannlicher-Carcano rifle involved in the assassination. The Irving Sports Shop mounted a scope on a rifle 3 weeks before the assassination.
Commission finding.--Dial D. Ryder, an employee of the Irving Sports Shop, has stated that he found on his workbench on November 23 an undated work tag with the name "Oswald" on it, indicating that sometime during the first 2 weeks of November three holes had been bored in a rifle and a telescopic sight mounted on it and bore-sighted. However, Ryder and his employer, Charles W. Greener, had no recollection of Oswald, of his Mannlicher-Carcano rifle, of the transaction allegedly represented by the repair tag, or of any person for whom such a repair was supposedly made. The rifle found on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository had two holes in it bored for the installation of a scope prior to shipment to Oswald in March 1963. The Commission concluded that it is doubtful whether the tag produced by Ryder was authentic. All of the evidence developed proves that Oswald owned only the one rifle--the Mannlicher-Carcano--and that he did not bring it or a second rifle to the Irving Sports Shop.33
Speculation.--Ammunition for the rifle found on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository had not been manufactured since the end of World War II. The ammunition used by Oswald must, therefore, have been at least 90 years old, making it extremely unreliable.
Commission finding.--The ammunition used in the rifle was American ammunition recently made by the Western Cartridge Co., which manufactures such ammunition currently. In tests with the same kind of ammunition, experts fired Oswald's Mannlicher-Carcano rifle more than 100 times without any misfires.34
Speculation.--The assertion that Oswald's palmprint appeared on the rifle is false. The FBI told newsmen in an off-the-record briefing session that there was no palmprint on the rifle.
Commission finding.--The FBI confirmed that the palmprint lifted by the Dallas police from the rifle found on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository Building was Oswald's palmprint. The FBI informed the Commission that no FBI agent made statements of any type to the press concerning the existence or nonexistence of this print. 35
Speculation.--If Oswald had been gloveless, he would have left fingerprints on the rifle because he would not have had time to wipe the prints off the rifle after he had fired it.
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Commission finding.--An FBI fingerprint expert testified that the poor quality of the metal and wooden parts would cause them to absorb moisture from the skin, thereby making a clear print unlikely. There is no evidence that Oswald wore gloves or that he wiped prints off the rifle. Latent fingerprints were found on the rifle but they were too incomplete to be identified.36
Speculation.--Gordon Shanklin, the special agent in charge of the Dallas office of the FBI, stated that the paraffin test of Oswald's face and hands was positive and proved that he had fired a rifle.
Commission finding.--The paraffin tests were conducted by members of the Dallas Police Department and the technical examinations by members of the Dallas City-County Criminal Investigation Laboratory. The FBI has notified the Commission that neither Shanklin nor any other representative of the FBI ever made such a statement. The Commission has found no evidence that Special Agent Shanklin ever made this statement publicly. 37
Speculation.--Marina Oswald stated that she did not know that her husband owned a rifle nor did she know that he owned a pistol.
Commission finding.--There is no evidence that Marina Oswald ever told this to any authorities. On the afternoon of November 22, she told the police that her husband owned a rifle and that he kept it in the garage of the Paine house in Irving. Later, at Dallas police headquarters, she said that she could not identify as her husband's the rifle shown her by policemen. When Marina Oswald appeared before the Commission she was shown the Mannlicher-Carcano 6.5 rifle found on the sixth floor of the Depository and identified it as the "fateful rifle of Lee Oswald." 38
Speculation.--The picture of Oswald taken by his wife in March or April 1963 and showing him with a rifle and a pistol was "doctored" when it appeared in magazines and newspapers in February 1964. The rifle held by Oswald in these pictures is not the same rifle that was found on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository Building.
Commission finding.--Life magazine, Newsweek, and the New York Times notified the Commission that they had retouched this picture. In doing so, they inadvertently altered details of the configuration of the rifle. The original prints of this picture have been examined by the Commission and by photographic experts who have identified the rifle as a Mannlicher-Carcano 6.5, the same kind as the one found on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository. FBI experts testified that the picture was taken with Oswald's camera.39
Speculation.--The rifle picture of Oswald was a composite one with Oswald's face pasted on somebody else's body.
Commission finding.--Marina Oswald has testified that she took this picture with a camera owned by her husband and subsequently identified as Oswald's Imperial Reflex camera. She identified the man in the picture as her husband. Experts also state the picture was not a composite. 40
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Speculation.--After firing the shots, Oswald could not have disposed of the rifle and descended the stairs to the lunchroom in time to get a drink from a soft drink machine and be there when Patrolman Baker came in.
Commission finding.---A series of time tests made by investigators and by Roy S. Truly and Patrolman M. L. Baker at the request of the Commission, show that it was possible for Oswald to have placed the rifle behind a box and descended to the lunchroom on the second floor before Patrolman Baker and Truly got up there. Oswald did not have a soft drink bottle in his hand at the time he was confronted by Baker and he was not standing by the soft, drink machine. He was just entering the lunchroom; Baker caught a glimpse of him through the glass panel in the door leading to the lunchroom vestibule. 41
Speculation.--There were other people present in the lunchroom at the time that Baker and Truly saw Oswald there.
Commission finding.--Baker and Truly have both stated that there was no one in the lunchroom other than Oswald at the time that they entered. No other witness to this incident has been found. 42
Speculation.--Police were sealing off all exits from the building by the time Oswald got to the second floor.
Commission finding.--Police may have begun to take up positions at the exits to the building as early as 12:33, but it is unlikely that they had blocked them off completely until 12:37 p.m. at the earliest. Oswald was seen in an office, walking toward an exit leading to the front stairway, at about 12:33 p.m. Oswald probably had at least 7 minutes in which to get out of the building without being stopped. 43
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OSWALD'S MOVEMENTS BETWEEN 12:33 AND 1:15 P.M.
One of the major theses urged in support of the theory that Oswald did not murder Patrolman Tippit was that his known movements after he left the Texas School Book Depository would not have permitted him to have arrived at 10th Street and Patton Avenue in time to encounter Tippit by 1:16 p.m. Careful reenactments by investigative agencies and by members of the Commission staff of Oswald's movements from the time he left the Texas School Book Depository until he encountered Tippit verified that Oswald could reach his roominghouse at 1026 North Beckley Avenue at approximately 1 p.m. or earlier. The housekeeper at the roominghouse testified that Oswald spent only a few minutes at the house, leaving as hurriedly as he had arrived. During police interrogation after his arrest, Oswald admitted to riding both bus and taxi in returning to his roominghouse after the assassination of the President. From 1026 North Beckley Avenue, Oswald could easily have walked the nine tenths of a mile to 10th Street and Patton Avenue where he encountered Tippit.
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Speculation.--A detailed and remarkably clear description of Oswald was sent over the police radio in Dallas at 12:36 p.m., November 22, 1963.
Commission finding.--The radio logs of the Dallas Police Department and the Dallas County Sheriff's Office show that no description of a suspect in the assassination of the President was broadcast before 12 :45 p.m. on that day. No reference to Oswald by name was broadcast before he was arrested. The description of the suspect that was broadcast was similar to that of Oswald, but it lacked some important specific details such as color of hair and eyes. The information for the initial broadcasts most probably came from Howard Brennan, who saw Oswald in the window when he was firing the rifle. 44
Speculation.--Oswald did not have time for all of the movements imputed to him between his departure from the Texas School Book Depository and his encounter with Tippit.
Commission finding.--Time tests of all of Oswald's movements establish that these movements could have been accomplished in the time available to him. 45
Speculation.--Oswald was stopped by police as he left the building and was permitted to pass after he told them he worked in the building.
Commission finding.---The Commission has found no witness who saw Oswald leave the building. This speculation is probably a misinterpretation of the fact that he was stopped in the lunchroom by Patrolman Baker before he left the building and was allowed to proceed after Truly, the Depository superintendent, identified him as an employee there. Police did not seal off the building until at least several minutes after Oswald could have left. 46
Speculation.--The log of the cabdriver who took Oswald to North Beckley Avenue, William W. Whaley, shows that Oswald entered his cab at 12:30 p.m. Since this occurred at some distance from the point of the President's assassination, Oswald could not have shot the President.
Commission finding.--Whaley's log does show 12:30 p.m., but he has testified that he was not accurate in logging the time that passengers entered his cab, that he usually logged them at 15-minute intervals, and that it was undoubtedly some time later than 12:30 when Oswald entered his cab. Sometimes he did not make entries in his logbook until three or four trips later. The bus transfer in Oswald's possession was issued after 12:36 p.m. The Commission has determined that Oswald probably entered Whaley's cab at about 12:47 or 12:48 p.m.47
Speculation.--The distance from the Greyhound terminal in Dallas, where Oswald entered the cab, to North Beckley Avenue, where he probably left the cab, is something over 3 miles--normally a 10-minute cab drive. Given the traffic jam that existed at the time, it is doubtful that Whaley could have made the trip in less than 15 minutes. One estimate has placed the time at 24 minutes from the Greyhound terminal to Oswald's roominghouse.
Commission finding.--The distance from the Greyhound bus terminal at Jackson and Lamar Streets to the 500 block of North Beckley
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is 2.5 miles. Oswald actually got out in the 700 block of North Beck-ley. The distance was, therefore, less than 2.5 miles. Whaley has testified to the Commission that the trip took 6 minutes. Test runs made by members of the Commission staff under traffic conditions somewhat similar to those that existed on November 22, took approximately 5 minutes and 30 seconds. To walk from Beckley and Neely, which is the 700 block of Beckley, where Oswald probably left the cab, to 1026 North Beckley, took Commission staff members 5 minutes and 45 seconds.48
Speculation--Oswald was on his way to Jack Ruby's apartment when he was stopped by Patrolman Tippit.
Commission finding.--There is no evidence that Oswald and Ruby knew each other or had any relationship through a third party or parties. There is no evidence that Oswald knew where Ruby lived. Accordingly, there is neither evidence nor reason to believe that Oswald was on his way to Ruby's apartment when he was stopped by Tippit.49
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MURDER OF TIPPIT
Speculations on the murder of Tippit centered about assertions that he was elsewhere than he was supposed to be when he was shot, that he knew the man who shot him, and that the description of the murderer given by one of the eyewitnesses did not fit Oswald's description.
The Commission found that Tippit was unquestionably patrolling in an area to which he had been directed by police headquarters. There was no evidence to support the speculation that Tippit and Oswald knew each other or had ever seen each other before. The description of the murderer imputed to one of the witnesses was denied by her and had no support from any other eyewitness.
Speculation.--Tippit was driving alone in his police car even though standing orders for police in Dallas were that radio cars of the type Tippit was driving must have two policemen in them.
Commission finding.--Dallas police officials stated that department policy required about 80 percent of the patrolmen on the day shift, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., to work alone. Tippit was one of the patrolmen assigned to work alone that day.50
Speculation.---Tippit was violating an order he had received the day before not to leave the sector to which he had been assigned. This sector was supposed to be in downtown Dallas at the time he stopped Oswald.
Commission finding.--A review of Tippit's file in the Dallas Police Department and the department's radio log revealed that following the shooting of the President, Tippit was directed to move into and remain in the central Oak Cliff area available for any emergency.51
Speculation.--The police had been withdrawn from the area in which Tippit found Oswald.
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Commission finding.--Other police cars were operating in the Oak Cliff area at the same time as Tippit. They participated in the subsequent search for and apprehension of Tippit's slayer.52
Speculation.--Tippit violated a procedure governing radio cars when he failed to notify headquarters that he was stopping to question a suspect.
Commission finding.--The Dallas Police Department had no requirement or regulation for police officers to notify headquarters when stopping to question a suspect. Therefore, Tippit did not violate any police radio procedure in failing to notify the radio dispatcher that he was stopping Oswald.53
Speculation.--Tippit could not have recognized Oswald from the description sent out over the police radio.
Commission finding.--There is no certain way of knowing whether Tippit recognized Oswald from the description put out by the police radio. The Dallas Police Department radio log shows that the police radio dispatcher at 1:29 p.m. noted a similarity between the broadcast descriptions of the President's assassin and Tippit's slayer. It is conceivable, even probable, that Tippit stopped Oswald because of the description broadcast by the police radio.54
Speculation.--Tippit and his killer knew each other.
Commission finding.--Investigation has revealed no evidence that Oswald and Tippit were acquainted, had ever seen each other, or had any mutual acquaintances. Witnesses to the shooting observed no signs of recognition between the two men.55
Speculation.--Mrs. Helen Markham, a witness to the slaying of Tippit, put the time at just after 1:06 p.m. This would have made it impossible for Oswald to have committed the killing since he would not have had time to arrive at the shooting scene by that time.
Commission finding.--The shooting of Tippit has been established at approximately 1:15 or 1:16 p.m. on the basis of a call to police headquarters on Tippit's car radio by another witness to the assassination, Domingo Benavides. In her various statements and in her testimony, Mrs. Markham was uncertain and inconsistent in her recollection of the exact time of the slaying.56
Speculation.--Mrs. Helen Markham is the only witness to the killing of Tippit.
Commission finding.--Other witnesses to the killing of Tippit include Domingo Benavides, who used Tippit's car radio to notify the police dispatcher of the killing at 1:16 p.m., and William Scoggins, a cabdriver parked at the corner of 10th Street and Patton Avenue. Barbara Jeanette Davis and Virginia Davis saw a man with a pistol in his hand walk across their lawn immediately after they heard the sound of the shots that killed Tippit. The man emptied the s s from his pistol and turned the corner from 10th Street onto Patton Avenue. All of these witnesses, except Benavides, subsequently picked Oswald out of a lineup as the slayer. Benavides did not feel that he could make a positive identification and never attended a lineup for the purpose.57
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Speculation.--Mrs. Markham said that the man she saw shooting Tippit was about 30, short, with bushy hair, and wearing a white coat. Since Oswald does not fit this description he could not be the killer.
Commission finding.--In evaluating Helen Markham's testimony the Commission is aware of allegations that she described the killer of Patrolman Tippit as short, stocky, and with bushy hair, which would not be a correct description of Oswald. It has also been alleged that Mrs. Markham identified Oswald in the lineup because of his clothing rather than his appearance. When Oswald appeared in the lineup at which Mrs. Markham was present, he was not wearing the jacket which he wore at the time of the shooting, and Mrs. Markham has testified that her identification was based "mostly from his face." 58 Moreover, Mrs. Markham has denied that she ever described the man who killed Tippit as short, stocky, and with bushy hair. The Commission reviewed the transcript of a telephone conversation in which Mrs. Markham was alleged to have made such a description. In the transcription Mrs. Markham reaffirmed her positive identification of Oswald and denied having described the killer as short, stocky, and bushy haired.59
Speculation.--Another witness to the slaying of Patrolman Tippit, an unidentified woman, was interviewed by the FBI but was never called as a witness by the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy. This witness is alleged to have stated that she saw two men involved in the shooting and that they ran off in opposite directions afterward.
Commission finding.--The only woman among the witnesses to the slaying of Tippit known to the Commission is Helen Markham. The FBI never interviewed any other woman who claimed to have seen the shooting and never received any information concerning the existence of such a witness. Two women, Barbara Jeanette Davis and Virginia Davis is, saw the killer immediately after the shooting as he crossed the lawn at the corner of Patton Avenue and 10th Street, but they did not witness the shooting itself. They were both interviewed by the FBI and appeared before the Commission. The Commission has no evidence that there was any witness to the slaying other than those identified in chapter IV.60
Speculation.--No witness saw Oswald between the time he was supposed to have reloaded his gun near the scene of the slaying and his appearance at the shoestore on Jefferson Boulevard.
Commission finding.--Six witnesses identified Oswald as the man they saw in flight after the murder of Tippit. The killer was seen, gun in hand, by Ted Callaway and Sam Guinyard in the block of Patton Avenue between 10th Street and Jefferson Boulevard after the shooting of Tippit. They saw him run to Jefferson and turn right. On the evening of November 22, Callaway and Guinyard picked Oswald out of a police lineup as the man they saw with the gun. Two other men, Warren Reynolds and Pat Patterson, saw a man with a pistol in his hand running south on Patton Avenue. They followed him for a block on Jefferson Boulevard and then lost sight
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of him. Both men subsequently identified pictures of Oswald as the man they saw with the gun. Harold Russell also saw a man with a gun running south on Patton Avenue and later identified him from pictures as Oswald. Mrs. Mary Brock saw a man she later identified as Oswald walk at a fast pace into the parking lot behind the service station at the corner of Jefferson and Crawford, where Oswald's jacket was found shortly after.61
Speculation.--When Oswald left his roominghouse at about 1 p.m. on November 22 he had on a zipper-type tan plaid jacket.
Commission finding.--The jacket that Oswald was wearing at the time of the slaying of Tippit was a light-gray jacket. According to Marina Oswald, her husband owned only two jackets--one blue and the other light gray. The housekeeper at 1026 North Beckley Avenue, Mrs. Earlene Roberts, was not certain about the color of the jacket that Oswald was wearing when he left the house.62
Speculation.--Oswald wore an olive-brown plain jacket which is visible in all the pictures of him after his arrest.
Commission finding.--At the time of his arrest, Oswald was not wearing a jacket. The jacket that was subsequently recovered in a parking lot and identified as Oswald's was a light-gray one. There are no witnesses who have stated that Oswald was wearing an olive-brown jacket immediately before or after his arrest. The Commission has seen no pictures of Oswald taken subsequent to his arrest that show him in such a jacket. Pictures taken shortly after his arrest show him in the shirt that Mrs. Bledsoe described him as wearing when she saw him on the bus at approximately 1:40 p.m.63
Speculation.--Oswald's landlady, Mrs. A. C. Johnson, said that Oswald never had a gun in the room.
Commission finding.--In her testimony before the Commission, Mrs. Johnson said that he "never brought that rifle in my house.... He could have had this pistol, I don't know, because they found the scabbard." 64 As shown in chapter IV, Oswald kept his rifle in the Paine garage in Irving while he was living in Dallas during October and November. The pistol was small and easily concealed.65
Speculation.--There was absolutely no place to hide a gun in Oswald's room at 1026 North Beckley Avenue.
Commission finding.--In the search of Oswald's room after his apprehension police found a pistol holster. Oswald's landlady, Mrs. A. C. Johnson, stated that she had not seen the holster before. There is no reason to believe that Oswald could not have had both a pistol and the holster hidden in the room. Oswald's pistol was a small one with the barrel cut down to 2.25 inches. It could have been concealed in a pocket of his clothes.66
Speculation.--Oswald did not pick up the revolver from his room at 1 p.m.
Commission finding.--There is reason to believe that Oswald did pick up the revolver from his room, probably concealing it beneath his jacket. This likelihood is reinforced by the finding of the pistol holster in the room after the assassination, since this indicates that
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Oswald did not store the pistol at the home of Mrs. Paine where he spent the night before the assassination.67
Speculation--No one saw Oswald enter the Texas Theatre.
Commission finding.--A nearby shoe store manager, Johnny C. Brewer, and the theatre cashier, Julia Postal, saw Oswald enter the lobby of the theatre from where he went on into the theatre proper.68
Speculation.--Not a single one of the people in the Texas Theatre at the time of Oswald's arrest has come forward or been brought forward to give an eyewitness account of the arrest.
Commission finding.--Johnny C. Brewer, the shoe store manager, and two patrons of the theatre--John Gibson and George Jefferson Applin, Jr.--were present in the theatre and testified before the Commission on the cir stances of Oswald's arrest at the Texas Theatre. Only 6 or 7 people were seated on the main floor of the theatre.69
Speculation.--There is no independent witness aside from the police who testified that Oswald was carrying a gun when arrested by the police.
Commission finding.--Johnny Brewer testified before the Commission that he saw Oswald pull a gun and that he saw it taken away from him by a policeman.70
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OSWALD AFTER HIS ARREST
The Commission found that assertions that the Dallas police treated Oswald brutally and denied him his cons utional rights to legal counsel had no foundation in fact. Insinuations that Dallas police officials and District Attorney Henry M. Wade fabricated or altered evidence to establish the guilt of Oswald were baseless. It is true that police officials and the district attorney made errors in giving evidential information to the press, but these were dearly the result of misapprehensions or ignorance rather than intent, and at the worst represent bad judgment. At least one imputed fabrication of fact, further embellished by repe ion, never really occurred. Sinister connotations were evoked by the attribution to the district attorney of the statement that a taxicab driver named Darryl Click drove Oswald from downtown Dallas to the area of his roominghouse in Oak Cliff. It has been correctly ascertained that no such taxicab driver existed in Dallas. On the other hand, the district attorney, who was quoted in a newspaper transcript as making the statement, never made the statement nor did any one else. Audio tapes of the district attorney's press conference make clear that the person who transcribed the conference rendered a reference to the "Oak Cliff" area of Dallas as a person, "Darryl Click". This error in transcription is the sole source for the existence of a "Darryl Click" as a taxicab driver.
Speculation.--Oswald was the victim of police brutality.
Commission finding.--Oswald resisted arrest in the Texas Theatre and drew a gun. He received a slight cut over his right eye and a
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bruise under his left eye in the course of his struggles. During the time he was in police custody, he was neither ill-treated nor abused.71
Speculation.--Oswald was never formally charged with the assassination of the President; he was charged only with the shooting of Patrolman J. D. Tippit.
Commission finding.--Oswald was arraigned for the murder of President Kennedy before Justice of the Peace David Johnston on the fourth floor of the Police Department building at 1:35 a.m., November 23. Previously, he had been arraigned before Johnston for the murder of Tippit at 7:10 p. m., November 22.72
Speculation.--The police questioned Oswald extensively about the Tippit murder on the first day of his detention. They did not question him about the assassination of President Kennedy.
Commission finding.--Dallas police officials stated that they questioned Oswald repeatedly on November 22 about the assassination of President Kennedy and his relationship to it. At the first interrogation, Captain Fritz asked Oswald to account for himself at the time the President was shot. FBI agents who were present also stated that he was questioned about the assassination of the President.73
Speculation.--Oswald's attempts to get legal counsel were deliberately thwarted by the police and he was cut off from outside calls that would have permitted him to obtain a lawyer.
Commission finding.--On November 23, Oswald was visited by the president of the Dallas Bar Association, H. Louis Nichols, who offered him help in getting a lawyer; Oswald refused the offer. Oswald was told by the police that he could use the telephone when he wished, and he did make telephone calls. He attempted to call attorney John Abt in New York but was unsuccessful in reaching him. Mrs. Paine testified that at Oswald's request she tried without success to reach Abt. Oswald was also visited by his wife, mother, and brother, to any of whom he could have turned for help in getting counsel.74
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OSWALD IN THE SOVIET UNION
Oswald's residence in the Soviet Union for more than 2 1/2 years aroused speculation after his arrest that he was an agent of the Soviet Union or in some way affiliated with it. This speculation was supported by assertions that he had received exceptionally favored treatment from the Soviet Government in securing permission to enter and leave the country, especially the latter, because his Russian wife and child were permitted to leave with him. The careful analysis of these speculations in chapter VI of this report led to the Commission's conclusion that there is no credible evidence that Oswald was an agent of the Soviet Government and that he did not receive unusually favorable treatment in entering or leaving the Soviet Union or in returning to the United States.
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Speculation.--A young private in the Marine Corps in the 1950's could not study Marxism, learn Russian, and read Soviet newspapers without any adverse repercussions in his unit.
Commission finding.---Although Oswald's interest in the Soviet Union was well known, his interest in Marxism was apparently known to only a few of his fellow marines. While stationed in California he studied Russian. In February 1959, while still in the Marines, he took an official test on his proficiency in Russian and was rated "Poor." In California at about this time he probably read a Russian-language newspaper. The reactions of his fellow Marines who were aware of his interests in Marxism and the Soviet Union were apparently not antagonistic and did not deter him from pursuing these interests.75
Speculation.--Oswald learned Russian during his service in the Marines as part of his military training.
Commission finding.--Oswald never received any training from the Marine Corps in the Russian language. His studies of Russian were entirely on his own time and at his own initiative.76
Speculation.--Oswald could not have saved $1,600 from his Marine pay for his trip to Russia in 1959.
Commission finding.--In November 1959, Oswald told an American reporter in Moscow, Aline Mosby, that he had saved $1,500 (not $1,600) while in the Marines. It is entirely consistent with Oswald's known frugality that he could have saved the money from the $3,452.20 in pay he received while he was in the Marines. Moreover, despite his statement to Aline Mosby, he may not actually have saved $1,500, for it was possible for him to have made the trip to Russia in 1959 for considerably less than that amount.77
Speculation.--It is probable that Oswald had prior contacts with Soviet agents before he entered Russia in 1959 because his application for a visa was processed and approved immediately on receipt.
Commission finding.--There is no evidence that Oswald was in touch with Soviet agents before his visit to Russia. The time that it took for him to receive his visa in Helsinki for entrance to the Soviet Union was shorter than the average but not beyond the normal range for the granting of such visas. Had Oswald been recruited as a Russian agent while he was still in the Marines, it is most improbable that he would have been encouraged to defect. He would have been of greater value to Russian intelligence as a Marine radar operator than as a defector.78
Speculation.--Soviet su ion of Oswald is indicated by the fact that he was sent off to work in a radio plant in Minsk as an unskilled hand at the lowest rate of pay although he qualified as a trained radar and electronics technician.
Commission finding.--The Soviet Government probably was su ious of Oswald, as it would be of any American who appeared in Moscow and said he wanted to live in the Soviet Union. Under the cir stances it is to be expected that he would be placed in a position that would not involve national security. Moreover, Oswald had been a radar operator, not a technician, in the Marines. His total income in Russia was higher than normal because his pay was sup-
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plemented for about a year by payments from the Soviet "Red Cross," an official agency of the Soviet Government. Oswald believed that these payments really came from the MVD. It is a policy of the Soviet Government to subsidize defectors from Western nations who settle in the Soviet Union, in order that their standard of living may not be too much lower than their previous standard in their own country.79
Speculation.--Oswald was trained by the Russians in a special school for assassins at Minsk.
Commission finding.--Commission investigations revealed no evidence to support this claim or the existence of such a school in Minsk during the time Oswald was there. Oswald belonged to a hunting club near Minsk, but there is no evidence that this was other than an ordinary hunting club.80
Speculation.--Marina Oswald's father was an important part of the Soviet intelligence apparatus.
Commission finding.--Marina Oswald's father died while she was still an infant. This reference is presumably to her uncle, Ilya Prusakov, who was an executive in the lumber industry, which position carried with it the rank of lieutenant colonel or colonel in the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD). Since 1953 the MVD has not been concerned with internal security or other police functions.81
Speculation.--It was most exceptional that Oswald was able to bring his wife and child out of the Soviet Union with him.
Commission finding.--There is no reason to believe that the Oswalds received unusually favorable treatment in being permitted or assisted to leave the Soviet Union together. Other American citizens have brought their Russian wives out of the Soviet Union, both before and after Oswald.82
Speculation.--Oswald never would have been permitted to return to the United States if Soviet intelligence had not planned to use him in some way against the United States.
Commission finding.--There is no evidence that Oswald had any working relationship with the Soviet Government or Soviet intelligence. The Russians have permitted other American defectors to return to the United States.83
Speculation.--Since the exit visa for Marina Oswald was granted so promptly the Soviet authorities must have wanted Marina to accompany her husband.
Commission finding.--Marina Oswald's exit visa application was not acted upon with unusual rapidity. It took at least 5 1/2 months from the time the Oswalds applied until they were notified of permission in December 1961. There have been many instances where visas were granted more quickly to other Soviet wives of American citizens.84
Speculation.--Soviet authorities gave Oswald notice a month and a half in advance that they had granted him an exit visa, an unprecedented act for the Soviet Government.
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Commission finding.--The Oswalds were notified on December 25, 1961, that their requests for exit visas had been granted by Soviet authorities. Marina Oswald picked up her visa, valid until December 1, 1962, on January 11, 1962, 17 days after receiving notice that it was available. Oswald did not pick up his visa until May 22. The Soviets did not give the Oswalds any advance notice; the visas could have been picked up immediately had the Oswalds so desired. Because his exit visa had a 45-day expiration time after date of issuance, Lee Oswald delayed picking it up until he knew when he was leaving. He could not arrange a departure date until he received permission from the Department of State in May to return to the United States.85
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OSWALD'S TRIP TO MEXICO CITY
Oswald's trip to Mexico City in late September and early October 1963, less than 2 months before he assassinated President Kennedy, has provoked speculation that it was related in some way to a conspiracy to murder the President. Rumors include assertions that he made a clandestine flight from Mexico to Cuba and back and that he received a large sum of money--usually estimated at $5,000--which he brought back to Dallas with him. The Commission has no credible evidence that Oswald went to Mexico pursuant to a plan to assassinate President Kennedy, that he received any instructions related to such an action while there, or that he received large sums of money from any source in Mexico.
Speculation.--Oswald could not have received an American passport in June 1963 within 24 hours without special intervention on his behalf.
Commission finding.--Oswald's passport application was processed routinely by the Department of State. No person or agency intervened specially on his behalf to speed the issuance of the passport. The passports of 24 other persons, on the same list sent to Washington from New Orleans, were authorized at the same time. The Passport Office of the Department of State had no instructions to delay issuance of or to deny a passport to Oswald.86
Speculation.--The Walter-McCarran Act specifically requires anyone who has attempted to renounce his U.S. citizenship to file an affidavit stating why he should receive a U.S. passport. Therefore, Oswald should have been required to file such an affidavit before receiving his passport in June 1963.
Commission finding.--The Internal Security Act of 1950 (Walter-McCarran Act) contains no reference to an affidavit being required of a U.S. citizen who has attempted to expatriate himself.87
Speculation.--Oswald did not have money for his trip to Mexico in September 1963.
Commission finding.--An analysis of Oswald's finances by the Commission indicates that he had sufficient money to make the trip to and from Mexico City. There is no evidence that he received any
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assistance in financing his trip to Mexico. The total cost of his 7-day trip has been reliably estimated at less than $85. 88
Speculation.--Oswald was accompanied on his trip to Mexico City by a man and two women.
Commission finding.--Investigation has revealed that Oswald traveled alone on the bus. Fellow passengers on the bus between Houston and Mexico City have stated that he appeared to be traveling alone and that they had not previously known him.89
Speculation.--While in Mexico, Oswald made a clandestine flight to Havana and back.
Commission finding.--The Commission has found no evidence that Oswald made any flight to Cuba while he was in Mexico. He never received permission from the Cuban Government to enter Cuba nor from the Mexican Government to leave Mexico bound for Cuba. A confidential check of the Cuban airline in Mexico City indicates that Oswald never appeared at its office there.90
Speculation.--Oswald came back from Mexico City with $5,000.
Commission finding.--No evidence has ever been supplied or obtained to support this allegation. Oswald's actions in Mexico City and after his return to Dallas lend no support to this speculation.91
Speculation.--On November 27, 1963, in a speech at the University of Havana, Fidel Castro, under the influence of liquor, said "The first time that Oswald was in Cuba ..." Castro therefore had knowledge that Oswald had made surrep ious visits to Cuba.
Commission finding.--Castro's speeches are monitored directly by the U.S. Information Agency as he delivers them. A tape of this speech reveals that it did not contain the alleged slip of the tongue. Castro did refer to Oswald's visit to the "Cuban Embassy" in Mexico which he immediately corrected to "Cuban consulate." The Commission has found no evidence that Oswald had made surrep ious visits to Cuba.92
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OSWALD AND U.S. GOVERNMENT AGENCIES
Rumors and speculations that Oswald was in some way associated with or used by agencies of the U.S. Government grew out of his Russian period and his investigation by the FBI after his return to the United States. Insinuations were made that Oswald had been a CIA agent or had some relationship with the CIA and that this explained the supposed ease with which he received passports and visas. Speculation that he had some working relationship with the FBI was based on an entry in Oswald's notebook giving the name and telephone number of an agent from the FBI office in Dallas. The Directors of the CIA and the FBI have testified before the Commission that Oswald was never in the employ of their agencies in any capacity. The Commission has concluded on the basis of its own investigations of the files of Federal agencies that Oswald was not and had never been an agent of any agency of the U.S. Government (aside
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from his service in the Marines) and was not and had never been used by any U.S. Government agency for any purpose. The FBI was interested in him as a former defector and it maintained a file on him.
Speculation.--Oswald was an informant of either the FBI or the CIA. He was recruited by an agency of the U.S. Government and sent to Russia in 1959.
Commission finding.--Mrs. Marguerite Oswald frequently expressed the opinion that her son was such an agent, but she stated before the Commission that "I cannot prove Lee is an agent." 93 The Directors of the CIA and of the FBI testified before the Commission that Oswald was never employed by either agency or used by either agency in any capacity. Investigation by the Commission has revealed no evidence that Oswald was ever employed by either the FBI or CIA in any capacity.94
Speculation.--Oswald told Pauline Bates, a public stenographer in Fort Worth, Tex., in June 1962, that he had become a "secret agent" of the U.S. Government and that he was soon going back to Russia "for Washington."
Commission finding.--Miss Bates denied a newspaper story reporting that Oswald had told her that he was working for the U.S. Department of State. She stated that she had assumed incorrectly that he was working with the Department of State when he told her that the State Department had told him in 1959 that he would be on his own while in the Soviet Union.95
Speculation.--The FBI tried to recruit Oswald. An FBI agent's name, telephone number, and automobile license number were found among Oswald's papers.
Commission finding.--FBI officials have testified that they had never tried to recruit Oswald to act on behalf of the FBI in any capacity. The Commission's investigation corroborates this testimony. An FBI agent, James P. Hosty, Jr., had given his name and telephone number to Mrs. Ruth Paine so that she could call and give him Oswald's address in Dallas when she learned it. Mrs. Paine and Marina Oswald have stated that Mrs. Paine gave Oswald a slip of paper with the agent's name and telephone number on it. Marina Oswald had taken down the license number of Hosty's car on one of his visits and given it to her husband.96
Speculation.--Dallas police must have known where Oswald was living in the city because Mrs. Paine had given the address of Oswald's room on North Beckley Avenue to the FBI some time before the assassination.
Commission finding.--Mrs. Paine had never given the address of Oswald's roominghouse to the FBI, nor had she known the address prior to the assassination. Therefore, the Dallas police could not have learned the address from the FBI which did not know the address before the assassination. The Dallas Police did not know that Oswald was in the city before the assassination.97
Speculation.--It has been FBI policy for 20 years to inform employers of Communists or suspected Communists employed by them.
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It is a mystery, therefore, how Oswald retained his job at the Texas School Book Depository.
Commission finding.--The FBI advised the Commission that it has never been its policy to inform employers that they have Communists or suspected Communists working for them and that the FBI does not disseminate internal security information to anyone outside the executive branch of the U.S. Government. FBI agents had no contacts with Texas School Book Depository officials until after the assassination.98
Speculation.--Municipal and Federal police had observed Oswald closely for some time but had not regarded him as a potential killer.
Commission finding.--The Dallas police had not been aware of Oswald's presence in the city before the assassination. The FBI knew the Oswald was in Dallas from an interview with Mrs. Paine, but no FBI agents had interviewed him there before the assassination. The FBI had not regarded him as a potential killer.99
Speculation.--The FBI probably knew that Oswald had the rifle before the President's murder because it was most unlikely that it could have traced the ownership of the rifle within 1 day if it had not already had information on the rifle.
Commission finding.--The FBI successfully traced the purchase of the rifle by Oswald within 24 hours of the assassination. It had no previous information about the rifle.100
Speculation.--The FBI interviewed Oswald 10 days before the assassination.
Commission finding.--The last FBI interview with Oswald, before the assassination, took place in New Orleans in August 1963, when he asked to see an FBI agent after his arrest by police for disturbing the peace, the outcome of his distribution of Fair Play for Cuba handbills. Neither Special Agent Hosty nor any other FBI agent saw or talked with Oswald between his return to Dallas, on October 3, and November 22. Hosty did interview Mrs. Paine at her home about Oswald on November 1 and 5, 1963. He also saw Marina Oswald briefly on November 1 at Mrs. Paine's house, but he did not interview her.101.
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CONSPIRATORIAL RELATIONSHIPS
Rumors concerning accomplices and plots linked Oswald and Ruby with each other, or with others, including Patrolman J. D. Tippit, Gen. Edwin A. Walker, and Bernard Weissman of the nonexistent American Fact-finding Committee, in a conspiratorial relationship. The Commission made intensive inquiry into the backgrounds and relationships of Oswald and Ruby to determine whether they knew each other or were involved in a plot of any kind with each other or others. It was unable to find any credible evidence to support the rumors linking Oswald and Ruby directly or through others. The Commission concluded that they were not involved in a conspiratorial relationship with each other or with any third parties.
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Speculation.---Lee Harvey Oswald, Jack Ruby, and Patrolman J. D. Tippit lived within a few blocks of each other.
Commission finding.--Oswald's room was 1.3 miles from Ruby's apartment and Tippit lived 7 miles away from Ruby. Tippit's residence was about 7 miles from Oswald's room.102
Speculation.--Since Oswald did not have the money to repay the $435.61 he had received from the Department of State to cover part of the expenses of his return from Russia, he must have received help from some other source. Ruby lent Oswald money to pay back the loan and lent him small amounts of money thereafter.
Commission finding.--The Commission has no credible evidence that Oswald received any money from Ruby or anyone else to repay his State Department loan, nor that he received small amounts of money from Ruby at any time. An exhaustive analysis of Oswald's income and expenditures, made for the Commission by an Internal Revenue Service expert, reveals that Oswald had sufficient funds to make the State Department repayments from his earnings.103
Speculation.--Just before Oswald was shot by Ruby, he looked directly at Ruby in apparent recognition of him.
Commission finding.--The Commission has been unable to establish as a fact any kind of relationship between Ruby and Oswald other than that Oswald was Ruby's victim. The Commission has examined television tapes and motion picture films of the shooting and has been unable to discern any facial expression that could be interpreted to signify recognition of Ruby or anyone else in the basement of the building.104
Speculation.--The Dallas police suspected Oswald and Ruby of being involved in an attack on General Walker and planned to arrest the two when the FBI intervened, at the request of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, and asked the police not to do so for reasons of state.
Commission finding.--This allegation appeared in the November 29, 1963, issue (actually printed on November 25 or 26) of a German weekly newspaper, Deutsche National Zeiting und Soldaten Zeitung, published in Munich. The allegation later appeared in the National Enquirer of May 17, 1964. The Commission has been reliably informed that the statement was fabricated by an editor of the newspaper. No evidence in support of this statement has ever been advanced or uncovered. In their investigation of the attack on General Walker, the Dallas police uncovered no suspects and planned no arrests. The FBI had no knowledge that Oswald was responsible for the attack until Marina Oswald revealed the information on December 3, 1963.105
Speculation.--Ruby and Oswald were seen together at the Carousel Club.
Commission finding.--All assertions that Oswald was seen in the company of Ruby or of anyone else at the Carousel Club have been investigated. None of them merits any credence.106
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Speculation.--Oswald and General Walker were probably acquainted with each other since Oswald's notebook contained Walker's name and telephone number.
Commission finding.--Although Oswald's notebook contained Walker's name and telephone number there was no evidence that the two knew each other. It is probable that this information was inserted at the time that Oswald was planning his attack on Walker. General Walker stated that he did not know of Oswald before the assassination.107
Speculation.--Patrolman J. D. Tippit, Bernard Weissman, and Jack Ruby met by prearrangement on November 14, 1963, at the Carousel Club.
Commission finding.--Investigation has revealed no evidence to support this assertion. Nor is there credible evidence that any of the three men knew each other.108
Speculation.--Ruby's sister, Mrs. Eva Grant, said that Ruby and Tippit were "like two brothers."
Commission finding.--Mrs. Grant has denied ever making this statement or any statement like it, saying it was untrue and without foundation. Ruby was acquainted with another Dallas policeman named Tippit, but this was O. M. Tippit of the special services bureau of the department, not the Tippit who was killed.109
Speculation.--Jack Ruby was one of the most notorious of Dallas gangsters.
Commission finding.--There is no credible evidence that Jack Ruby was active in the criminal underworld. Investigation disclosed no one in either Chicago or Dallas who had any knowledge that Ruby was associated with organized criminal activity.110
Speculation.--The shooting in Dallas on January 23, 1964, of Warren A. Reynolds, who witnessed the flight of Patrolman Tippit's slayer on November 22 and followed him for a short distance, may have been connected in some way with the assassination of President Kennedy and the slaying of Patrolman Tippit. A man arrested for the attempt on Reynolds, Darrell Wayne Garner, was released as a result, in part, of testimony by Betty (Nancy Jane Mooney) MacDonald, who had allegedly worked at one time as a stripper at Jack Ruby's Carousel Club.
Commission finding.--This rumor, originally publicized by a newspaper columnist on February 23, 1964, was apparently based on the alleged connection between Betty MacDonald and the Carousel Club. Investigation revealed no evidence that she had ever worked at the Carousel Club. Employees of the club had no recollection that she bad ever worked there. Betty MacDonald was arrested and charged with disturbing the peace on February 13, 1964. After being placed in a cell at the Dallas city jail, she hanged herself. The Commission has found no evidence that the shooting of Warren Reynolds was in any way related to the assassination of President Kennedy or the murder of Patrolman Tippit.111
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OTHER RUMORS AND SPECULATIONS
Many rumors and speculations difficult to place in the categories treated above also required consideration or investigation by the Commission. In some way or other, much of this miscellany was related to theories of conspiracy involving Oswald. The rest pertained to peripheral aspects that were of sufficient import to merit attention. The Commission's findings are set forth below.
Speculation.--Oswald was responsible in some way for the death of Marine Pvt. Martin D. Schrand.
Commission finding.--This rumor was mentioned by at least one of Oswald's fellow Marines. Private Schrand was fatally wounded by a discharge from a riot-type shotgun while he was on guard duty on January 5, 1958, near the carrier pier, U.S. Naval Air Station, Cubi Point, Republic of the Philippines. The official Marine investigation in 1958 found that Schrand's death was the result of an accidental discharge of his gun and that no other person or persons were involved in the incident. The rumor that Oswald was involved in Schrand's death in some way may have had its origin in two cir stances: (1) Oswald was stationed at Cubi Point at the time of Schrand's death; (2) on October 27, 1957, while stationed in Japan, Oswald accidentally shot himself in the left elbow with a .22 derringer that he owned. the Commission has found no evidence that Oswald had any connection with the fatal shooting of Private Schrand.112
Speculation.--The Texas School Book Depository is owned and operated by the city of Dallas, and Oswald was therefore a municipal employee. Accordingly, he could have secured his job. at the Depository only if someone in an official capacity vouched for him.
Commission finding.--The Texas School Book Depository is a private corporation unconnected with the city of Dallas. Oswald therefore was not a municipal employee. He obtained his position at the Depository with the assistance of Mrs. Ruth Paine, who learned of a possible opening from a neighbor and arranged an interview for him with Superintendent Roy S. Truly at the Depository.113
Speculation.--Prior to the assassination Dallas police searched other buildings in the area of the Texas School Book Depository but not the School Book Depository itself.
Commission finding--The Dallas police and the Secret Service both notified the Commission that, other than the Trade Mart, they had searched no buildings along the route of the President's motorcade or elsewhere in Dallas in connection with the President's visit. It was not Secret Service practice to search buildings along the routes of motorcades.114
Speculation.--Sheriff E. J. Decker of Dallas County came on the police radio at 12:25 p.m. with orders to calm trouble at the Texas School Book Depository.
Commission finding.--The final edition of the Dallas Times-Herald of November 22 (p. 1, col. 1) reported that "Sheriff Decker came on the air at 12:25 p.m." and stated: "'I don't know what's happened. Take
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every available man from the jail and the office and go to the railroad yards off Elm near the triple underpass?" The article in the Times-Herald did not mention the time that the President was shot. The radio log of the Dallas County Sheriff's Office shows that Sheriff Decker came on the air at 40 seconds after 12:30 p.m. and stated: "Stand by me. All units and officers vicinity of station report to the railroad track area, just north of Elm- -Report to the railroad track area, just north of Elm." The radio log does not show any messages by Sheriff Decker between 12:20 p.m. and 40 seconds after 12:30 p.m.115
Speculation.--Police precautions in Dallas on November 22 included surveillance of many people, among them some who did no more than speak in favor of school integration.
Commission finding.--The Dallas Police Department notified the Commission that on November 22 it had no one under surveillance as a precaution in connection with President Kennedy's visit except at the Trade Mart. The Commission received no evidence that the Dallas police had under surveillance people who spoke in favor of school integration.116
Speculation.--Oswald was seen at shooting ranges in the Dallas area practicing firing with a rifle.
Commission finding.--Marina Oswald stated that on one occasion in March or April 1963, her husband told her that he was going to practice firing with the rifle. Witnesses have testified that they saw Oswald at shooting ranges in the Dallas area during October and November 1963. Investigation has failed to confirm that the man seen by these witnesses was Oswald.117
Speculation.--Oswald could drive a car and was seen in cars at various places.
Commission finding.--Oswald did not have a driver's license. Marina Oswald and Ruth Paine have testified that he could not drive a car, and there is no confirmed evidence to establish his presence at any location as the driver of a car. Mrs. Paine did give Oswald some driving lessons and he did drive short distances on these occasions.118
Speculation.--Oswald received money by Western Union telegraph from time to time for several months before the assassination of President Kennedy.
Commission finding.--An employee in the Western Union main office in Dallas, C. A. Hamblen, made statements that he remembered seeing Oswald there on some occasions collecting money that had been telegraphed to him. In his testimony before the Commission, Hamblen was unable to state whether or not the person he had seen was Lee Harvey Oswald. Western Union officials searched their records in Dallas and other cities for the period from June through November 1963 but found no money orders payable to Lee Oswald or to any of his known aliases. A Western Union official concluded that the allegation was "a figment of Mr. Hamblen's imagination." 119 The Commission has found no evidence to contradict this conclusion.120
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Speculation.--On his way back from Mexico City in October 1963, Oswald stopped in Alice, Tex., to apply for a job at the local radio station.
Commission finding.--This rumor apparently originated with the manager of radio station KOPY, Alice, who stated that Oswald visited his office on the afternoon of October 4 for about 25 minutes. According to the manager, Oswald was driving a battered 1953 model car and had his wife and a small child in the car with him. Oswald traveled from Mexico City to Dallas by bus, arriving in Dallas on the afternoon of October 3. The bus did not pass through Alice. On October 4, Oswald applied for two jobs in Dallas and then spent the afternoon and night with his wife and child at the Paine residence in Irving. Investigation has revealed that Oswald did not own a car and there is no convincing evidence that he could drive a car. Accordingly, Oswald could not have been in Alice on October 4. There is no evidence that he stopped in Alice to look for a job on any occasion.121
Speculation.--Oswald or accomplices had made arrangements for his getaway by airplane from an airfield in the Dallas area.
Commission finding.--Investigation of such claims revealed that they had not the slightest substance. The Commission found no evidence that Oswald had any prearranged plan for escape after the assassination.122
Speculation.--One hundred and fifty dollars was found in the dresser of Oswald's room at 1026 North Beckley Avenue after the assassination.
Commission finding.--No money was found in Oswald's room after the assassination. Oswald left $170 in the room occupied by his wife at the Paine residence in Irving. At the time of his arrest Oswald had $13.87 on his person.123
Speculation.-- After Oswald's arrest, the police found in his room seven metal file boxes filled with the names of Castro sympathizers.
Commission finding.--The Dallas police inventories of Oswald's property taken from his room at 1026 North Beckley Avenue do not include any file boxes. A number of small file boxes listed in the inventory as having been taken from the Paine residence in Irving contained letters, pictures, books and literature, most of which belonged to Ruth Paine, not to Oswald. No lists of names of Castro sympathizers were found among these effects.124
Speculation.--Oswald's letters vary so greatly in quality (spelling, grammar, sentence structure) that he must have had help in preparing the better constructed letters or someone else wrote them for him.
Commission finding.--There is no evidence that anyone in the United States helped Oswald with his better written letters or that anyone else wrote his letters for him. His wife stated that he would write many drafts of his more important letters. His mother indicated that he would work hard over the drafts of some of his letters. It is clear that he did take greater pains with some of his letters than with others and that the contrasts in quality were accordingly substantial.
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It is also clear that even his better written letters contained some distinctive elements of spelling, grammar, and punctuation that were common to his poorer efforts. Oswald wrote in his diary that he received help from his Intourist Guide, Rima Shirokova, in the preparation of his letter of October 16, 1959, to the Supreme Soviet.125
Speculation.--A Negro janitor who was a witness to the shooting and was supposed to be able to identify Oswald as the killer was held in protective custody by the Dallas police until he could appear before the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy.
Commission finding.--Investigation revealed that this story had no foundation in fact. No such witness was kept in protective custody by the Dallas police for appearance before the Commission. The story had its origin in a newspaper account based on hearsay.126
Speculation.--The Secret Service incarcerated Marina Oswald immediately after the assassination.
Commission finding.--Marina Oswald was given protection by the Secret Service for a period of time after the assassination. She had freedom to communicate with others at anytime she desired, to go where she pleased, or to terminate the protection at any time.127
Speculation.--Mrs. Marguerite Oswald was shown a photograph of Jack Ruby by an FBI agent the night before Ruby killed her son.
Commission finding.--On the night of November 23, 1963, Special Agent Bardwell D. Odum of the FBI showed Mrs. Marguerite Oswald a picture of a man to determine whether the man was known to her. Mrs. Oswald stated subsequently that the picture was of Jack Ruby. The Commission has examined a copy of the photograph and determined that it was not a picture of Jack Ruby.128
Speculation.--The son of the only witness to the Tippit slaying was arrested after talking to some private investigators and soon plunged to his death from an unbarred jail window.
Commission finding.--According to Mrs. Helen Markham, one of the witnesses to the Tippit slaying, Mrs. Marguerite Oswald and two men who claimed to be reporters from Philadelphia sought to interview her on June 27, 1964. Mrs. Markham did not wish to be interviewed and put them off. Afterward, Mrs. Markham's son, William Edward Markham, talked with Mrs. Oswald and the men about the Oswald matter and the shooting of Patrolman Tippit. William Edward Markham had been in Norfolk, Va., at the time of the assassination and had not returned to Dallas until May 7, 1964. He had no personal knowledge of the shooting of Patrolman Tippit. On June 30, 1964, another of Mrs. Markham's sons, James Alfred Markham, was arrested at Mrs. Markham's apartment by Dallas Police on a charge of burglary. While trying to escape, he fell from the bathroom of the apartment to a concrete driveway about 20 feet below. He was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital, treated for injuries, and after 6˝ hours was taken to jail. As of July 31, 1964, he was in Dallas County Jail awaiting trial. There was also a warrant outstanding against him for parole violation's. 129
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Speculation.--The headquarters detachment of the U.S. Army, under orders from [Secretary of Defense Robert S.] McNamara's office, began to rehearse for the funeral more than a week before the assassination.
Commission finding.--This assertion is based on an interview with U.S. Army Capt. Richard C. Cloy that appeared in the Jackson, Miss., Clarion-Ledger of February 21, 1964. The newspaper quotes Captain Cloy, who was a member of the Army unit charged with conducting funeral ceremonials in honor of deceased Chiefs of State, as having said that, "we were in a state of readiness and had just finished a funeral rehearsal because there was grave concern for President Hoover's health. But we never expected that our practice was preparing us for President Kennedy." 130
Speculation.---The ship in which Oswald went to Europe in 1959 stopped in Havana on the way.
Commission finding.--Oswald boarded the SS Marion Lykes in New Orleans and it sailed on September 20, 1959. It docked in Le Havre France, on October 8 with only one previous stop--at another French port, La Pallice.131
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