MikhailT/lj-speech huggingface dataset:
The science of paper analysis enabled him to distinguish between different rolls of paper even though they were produced by the same manufacturer.
Since the Depository normally used approximately one roll of paper every 3 working days,
it was not surprising that the replica sack made on December 1, 1963,
had different characteristics from both the actual bag and the sample taken on November 22.
On the other hand, since two rolls could be made from the same batch of paper,
one cannot estimate when, prior to November 22, Oswald made the paper bag.
However, the complete identity of characteristics between the paper and tape in the bag found on the sixth floor
and the paper and tape found in the shipping room of the Depository on November 22
enabled the Commission to conclude that the bag was made from these materials.
The Depository shipping department was on the first floor to which Oswald had access in the normal performance of his duties filling orders.
Fibers in paper bag matched fibers in blanket
When Paul M. Stombaugh of the FBI Laboratory examined the paper bag,
he found, on the inside, a single brown delustered viscose fiber and several light green cotton fibers.
The blanket in which the rifle was stored was composed of brown and green cotton, viscose and woolen fibers.
The single brown viscose fiber found in the bag matched some of the brown viscose fibers from the blanket in all observable characteristics.
The green cotton fibers found in the paper bag matched some of the green cotton fibers in the blanket
quote, in all observable microscopic characteristics, end quote.
Despite these matches, however, Stombaugh was unable to render on opinion that the fibers which he found in the bag had probably come from the blanket,
because other types of fibers present in the blanket were not found in the bag.
He concluded, quote,
All I would say here is that it is possible that these fibers could have come from this blanket.
because this blanket is composed of brown and green woolen fibers, brown and green delustered viscose fibers, and brown and green cotton fibers.
We found no brown cotton fibers, no green viscose fibers, and no woolen fibers.
So if I found all of these then I would have been able to say these fibers probably had come from this blanket. But since I found so few,
then I would say the possibility exists, these fibers could have come from this blanket, end quote.
Stombaugh confirmed that the rifle could have picked up fibers from the blanket and transferred them to the paper bag.
In light of the other evidence linking Lee Harvey Oswald, the blanket, and the rifle to the paper bag found on the sixth floor,
the Commission considered Stombaugh's testimony of probative value in deciding whether Oswald carried the rifle into the building in the paper bag.
The preponderance of the evidence supports the conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald (1)
told the curtain rod story to Frazier to explain both the return to Irving on a Thursday
and the obvious bulk of the package which he intended to bring to work the next day;
(2) took paper and tape from the wrapping bench of the Depository and fashioned a bag large enough to carry the disassembled rifle;
(3) removed the rifle from the blanket in the Paines' garage on Thursday evening;
(4) carried the rifle into the Depository Building, concealed in the bag;
The Warren Commission Report. By The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy. Chapter 4. The Assassin: Part 3.
Oswald at Window
Lee Harvey Oswald was hired on October 15, 1963, by the Texas School Book Depository as an "order filler."
He worked principally on the first and sixth floors of the building, gathering books listed on orders and delivering them to the shipping room on the first floor.
He had ready access to the sixth floor, from the southeast corner window of which the shots were fired.
The Commission evaluated the physical evidence found near the window after the assassination and the testimony of eyewitnesses
in deciding whether Lee Harvey Oswald was present at this window at the time of the assassination.
Palmprints and Fingerprints on Cartons and Paper Bag
Below the southeast corner window on the sixth floor was a large carton of books
measuring approximately 18 by 12 by 14 inches which had been moved from a stack along the south wall.
Atop this carton was a small carton marked "Rolling Readers," measuring approximately 13 by 9 by 8 inches.
In front of this small carton and resting partially on the windowsill was another small "Rolling Readers" carton.
These two small cartons had been moved from a stack about three aisles away.
The boxes in the window appeared to have been arranged as a convenient gun rest.
Behind these boxes was another carton placed on the floor on which a man sitting
could look southwesterly down Elm Street over the top of the "Rolling Readers" cartons.
Next to these cartons was the handmade paper bag, previously discussed,
on which appeared the print of the left index finger and right palm of Lee Harvey Oswald.
The cartons were forwarded to the FBI in Washington.
Sebastian F. Latona, supervisor of the Latent Fingerprint Section,
testified that 20 identifiable fingerprints and 8 palmprints were developed on these cartons.
The carton on the windowsill and the large carton below the window contained no prints which could be identified as being those of Lee Harvey Oswald.
The other "Rolling Readers" carton, however, contained a palmprint and a fingerprint which were identified by Latona
as being the left palmprint and right index fingerprint of Lee Harvey Oswald.
The Commission has considered the possibility that the cartons might have been moved in connection with the work that was being performed on the sixth floor on November 22.
Depository employees were laying a new floor at the west end and transferring books from the west to the east end of the building.
The "Rolling Readers" cartons, however, had not been moved by the floor layers and had apparently been taken to the window from their regular position for some particular purpose.
The "Rolling Readers" boxes contained, instead of books, light blocks used as reading aids.
They could be easily adjusted and were still solid enough to serve as a gun rest.
The box on the floor, behind the three near the window,
had been one of these moved by the floor layers from the west wall to near the east side of the building in preparation for the laying of the floor.
During the afternoon of November 22,
Lieutenant Day of the Dallas police dusted this carton with powder and developed a palmprint on the top edge of the carton on the side nearest the window.
The position of this palmprint on the carton was parallel with the long axis of the box, and at right angles with the short axis;
the bottom of the palm rested on the box.
Someone sitting on the box facing the window would have his palm in this position if he placed his hand alongside his right hip.
This print which had been cut out of the box was also forwarded to the FBI and Latona identified it as Oswald's right palmprint.
In Latona's opinion, quote,
not too long, end quote, a time had elapsed between the time that the print was placed on the carton and the time that it had been developed by the Dallas police.
Although Bureau experiments had shown that 24 hours was a likely maximum time, Latona stated
that he could only testify with certainty that the print was less than 3 days old.
The print, therefore, could have been placed on the carton at any time within this period.
The freshness of this print could be estimated only because the Dallas police developed it through the use of powder.
Since cartons absorb perspiration, powder can successfully develop a print on such material only within a limited time.
When the FBI in Washington received the cartons, the remaining prints, including Oswald's on the Rolling Readers carton,
were developed by chemical processes.
The freshness of prints developed in this manner cannot be estimated,
so no conclusions can be drawn as to whether these remaining prints preceded or followed the print developed in Dallas by powder.
Most of the prints were found to have been placed on the cartons by an FBI clerk
and a Dallas police officer after the cartons had been processed with powder by the Dallas Police.
In his independent investigation, Arthur Mandella of the New York City Police Department
reached the same conclusion as Latona that the prints found on the cartons were those of Lee Harvey Oswald.
In addition, Mandella was of the opinion that the print taken from the carton on the floor
was probably made within a day or a day and a half of the examination on November 22.
Another expert with the FBI, Ronald G. Wittmus, conducted a separate examination and also agreed with Latona that the prints were Oswald's.
In evaluating the significance of these fingerprint and palmprint identifications,
the Commission considered the possibility that Oswald handled these cartons as part of his normal duties.
Since other identifiable prints were developed on the cartons, the Commission requested that they be compared with the prints of the 12 warehouse employees
who, like Oswald, might have handled the cartons. They were also compared with the prints of those law enforcement officials who might have handled the cartons.
The results of this investigation are fully discussed in chapter 6, page 249.
Although a person could handle a carton and not leave identifiable prints,
none of these employees except Oswald left identifiable prints on the cartons.
This finding, in addition to the freshness of one of the prints and the presence of Oswald's prints on two of the four cartons and the paper bag
led the Commission to attach some probative value to the fingerprint and palmprint identifications in reaching the conclusion
that Oswald was at the window from which the shots were fired, although the prints do not establish the exact time he was there.
Oswald's Presence on Sixth Floor Approximately 35 Minutes Before the Assassination
Additional testimony linking Oswald with the point from which the shots were fired
was provided by the testimony of Charles Givens, who was the last known employee to see Oswald inside the building prior to the assassination.
During the morning of November 22, Givens was working with the floor-laying crew in the southwest section of the sixth floor.
At about 11:45 a.m. the floor-laying crew used both elevators to come down from the sixth floor.
The employees raced the elevators to the first floor. Givens saw Oswald standing at the gate on the fifth floor as the elevator went by.
Givens testified that after reaching the first floor, quote,
I discovered I left my cigarettes in my jacket pocket upstairs, and I took the elevator back upstairs to get my jacket with my cigarettes in it, end quote.
He saw Oswald, a clipboard in hand, walking from the southeast corner of the sixth floor toward the elevator.
Givens said to Oswald, quote, Boy are you going downstairs? It's near lunch time, end quote.
Oswald said, quote, No, sir. When you get downstairs, close the gate to the elevator, end quote.
Oswald was referring to the west elevator which operates by pushbutton and only with the gate closed. Givens said, "Okay,"
and rode down in the east elevator.
When he reached the first floor, the west elevator -- the one with the gate was not there.
Givens thought this was about 11:55 a.m.
None of the Depository employees is known to have seen Oswald again until after the shooting.
The significance of Givens' observation that Oswald was carrying his clipboard
became apparent on December 2, 1963, when an employee, Frankie Kaiser,
found a clipboard hidden by book cartons in the northwest corner of the sixth floor at the west wall a few feet from where the rifle had been found.
This clipboard had been made by Kaiser and had his name on it.
Kaiser identified it as the clipboard which Oswald had appropriated from him when Oswald came to work at the Depository.
Three invoices on this clipboard, each dated November 22, were for Scott-Foresman books, located on the first and sixth floors.
Oswald had not filled any of the three orders.
Eyewitness Identification of Assassin
Howard L. Brennan was an eyewitness to the shooting. As indicated previously the Commission considered his testimony as probative
in reaching the conclusion that the shots came from the sixth floor, southeast corner window of the Depository Building.
Brennan also testified that Lee Harvey Oswald,
whom he viewed in a police lineup on the night of the assassination, was the man he saw fire the shots from the sixth-floor window of the Depository Building.
When the shots were fired, Brennan was in an excellent position to observe anyone in the window. He was sitting on a concrete wall
on the southwest corner of Elm and Houston Streets, looking north at the Depository Building which was directly in front of him.
The window was approximately 120 feet away.
In the 6 to 8 minute period before the motorcade arrived, Brennan saw a man leave and return to the window, quote, a couple of times, end quote,
After hearing the first shot, which he thought was a motorcycle backfire, Brennan glanced up at the window. He testified that, quote,
this man I saw previously was aiming for his last shot. As it appeared to me he was standing up and resting against the left window sill, end quote.
Brennan saw the man fire the last shot and disappear from the window.
Within minutes of the assassination, Brennan described the man to the police.
This description most probably led to the radio alert sent to police cars at approximately 12:45 p.m., which described the suspect as white,
slender, weighing about one sixty-five pounds, about 5 foot 10 inches tall, and in his early thirties.
In his sworn statement to the police later that day,
Brennan described the man in similar terms, except that he gave the weight as between 165 and 175 pounds and the height was omitted.
In his testimony before the Commission, Brennan described the person he saw as, quote,
man in his early thirties, fair complexion, slender, but neat, neat slender, possible 5 foot 10
one-sixty to one-seventy pounds.
Oswald was 5 foot 9 inches, slender and 24 years old.
When arrested, he gave his weight as 140 pounds. On other occasions he gave weights of both 140 and 150 pounds.
The New Orleans police records of his arrest in August of 1963 show a weight of 136 pounds.
The autopsy report indicated an estimated weight of 150 pounds.
Brennan's description should also be compared with the eyewitness description broadcast over the Dallas police radio at 1:22 p.m.
of the man who shot Patrolman J. D. Tippit.
The suspect was described as, quote, a white male about 30, 5 foot 8, black hair, slender, end quote.
At 1:29 p.m. the police radio reported
that the description of the suspect in the Tippit shooting was similar to the description which had been given by Brennan in connection with the assassination.
Approximately 7 or 8 minutes later
the police radio reported that, quote, an eyeball witness, end quote, described the suspect in the Tippit shooting as, quote, a white male,
27, 5 foot 11, 165 pounds, black wavy hair, end quote,
As will be discussed fully below, the Commission has concluded that this suspect was Lee Harvey Oswald.
Although Brennan testified that the man in the window was standing when he fired the shots, most probably he was either sitting or kneeling.
The half-open window, the arrangement of the boxes, and the angle of the shots virtually preclude a standing position.
It is understandable, however, for Brennan to have believed that the man with the rifle was standing. A photograph of the building taken seconds after the assassination
shows three employees looking out of the fifth-floor window directly below the window from which the shots were fired.
Brennan testified that they were standing, which is their apparent position in the photograph.
But the testimony of these employees, together with photographs subsequently taken of them at the scene of the assassination,
establishes that they were either squatting or kneeling.
Since the window ledges in the Depository Building are lower than in most buildings,
a person squatting or kneeling exposes more of his body than would normally be the case.
From the street, this creates the impression that the person is standing.
Brennan could have seen enough of the body of a kneeling or squatting person to estimate his height.
Shortly after the assassination Brennan noticed
two of these employees leaving the building and immediately identified them as having been in the fifth-floor windows.
When the three employees appeared before the Commission, Brennan identified the two whom he saw leave the building.
The two men, Harold Norman and James Jarman, Jr., each confirmed that when they came out of the building,
they saw and heard Brennan describing what he had seen.
Jarman heard Brennan, quote, talking to this officer about that he had heard these shots and he had seen the barrel of the gun sticking out the window,
and he said that the shots came from inside the building, end quote.
During the evening of November 22, Brennan identified Oswald as the person in the lineup who bore the closest resemblance to the man in the window
but he said he was unable to make a positive identification.
Prior to the lineup,
Brennan had seen Oswald's picture on television, and he told the Commission that whether this affected his identification, quote, is something I do not know.
In an interview with FBI agents on December 17, 1963,
Brennan stated that he was sure that the person firing the rifle was Oswald.
In another interview with FBI agents on January 7, 1964,
Brennan appeared to revert to his earlier inability to make a positive identification,
but, in his testimony before the Commission, Brennan stated that his remarks of January 7 were intended by him merely as an accurate report
of what he said on November 22.
Brennan told the Commission that he could have made a positive identification in the lineup on November 22
but did not do so because he felt that the assassination was, quote, a Communist activity,
and I felt like there hadn't been more than one eyewitness, and if it got to be a known fact that I was an eyewitness, my family or I, either one, might not be safe.
When specifically asked before the Commission
whether or not he could positively identify the man he saw in the sixth-floor window as the same man he saw in the police station,
Brennan stated, quote, I could at that time -- I could, with all sincerity, identify him as being the same man, end quote.
Although the record indicates that Brennan was an accurate observer, he declined to make a positive identification of Oswald when he first saw him in the police lineup.
The Commission, therefore, does not base its conclusion concerning the identity of the assassin
on Brennan's subsequent certain identification of Lee Harvey Oswald as the man he saw fire the rifle.
Immediately after the assassination, however,
Brennan described to the police the man he saw in the window and then identified Oswald as the person who most nearly resembled the man he saw.
The Commission is satisfied that, at the least,
Brennan saw a man in the window who closely resembled Lee Harvey Oswald, and that Brennan believes the man he saw was in fact
Lee Harvey Oswald.
Two other witnesses were able to offer partial descriptions of a man they saw in the southeast corner window
of the sixth floor approximately 1 minute before the assassination, although neither witness saw the shots being fired.
Ronald Fischer and Robert Edwards were standing on the curb at the southwest corner of Elm and Houston Streets,
the same corner where Brennan was sitting on a concrete wall.
Fischer testified that about 10 or 15 seconds before the motorcade turned onto Houston Street from Main Street,
Edwards said, quote, Look at that guy there in that window, end quote,
Fischer looked up and watched the man in the window for 10 or 15 seconds and then started watching the motorcade, which came into view on Houston Street.
He said that the man held his attention until the motorcade came because the man, quote,
appeared uncomfortable for one, and secondly, he wasn't watching. he didn't look like he was watching for the parade.
He looked like he was looking down toward the Trinity River and the Triple Underpass down at the end -- toward the end of Elm Street. And
all the time I watched him, he never moved his head, he never -- he never moved anything. Just was there transfixed.
Fischer placed the man in the easternmost window on the south side of the Depository Building on either the fifth or the sixth floor.
He said that he could see the man from the middle of his chest to the top of his head, and that as he was facing the window the man was in the lower right-hand portion of the window
and, quote, seemed to be sitting a little forward, end quote,
The man was dressed in a light-colored, open-neck shirt which could have been either a sports shirt or a T-shirt,
and he had brown hair, a slender face and neck with light complexion, and looked to be 22 or 24 years old.
The person in the window was a white man and, quote, looked to me like he was looking straight at the Triple Underpass, end quote, down Elm Street.
Boxes and cases were stacked behind him.
Approximately 1 week after the assassination, according to Fisher, policemen showed him a picture of Oswald.
In his testimony he said, quote, I told them that that could have been the man.
That that could have been the man that I saw in the window in the School Book Depository Building, but that I was not sure, end quote.
Fischer described the man's hair as some shade of brown, quote, it wasn't dark, and it wasn't light, end quote.
On November 22, Fischer had apparently described the man as, quote, light-headed, end quote.
Fischer explained that he did not mean by the earlier statement that the man was blond, but rather that his hair was not black.
Robert Edwards said that, while looking at the south side of the Depository Building shortly before the motorcade,
he saw nothing of importance, quote, except maybe one individual who was up there in the corner room of the sixth floor which was crowded in among boxes, end quote.
He said that this was a white man about average in size, quote, possibly thin, end quote, and that he thought the man had light-brown hair.
Fischer and Edwards did not see the man clearly enough or long enough to identify him.
Their testimony is of probative value, however, because their limited description is consistent with that of the man who has been found by the Commission,
based on other evidence, to have fired the shots from the window.
Another person who saw the assassin as the shots were fired was Amos L. Euins, age 15,
who was one of the first witnesses to alert the police to the Depository as the source of the shots, as has been discussed in chapter 3.
Euins, who was on the southwest corner of Elm and Houston Streets testified that he could not describe the man he saw in the window.
According to Euins, however, as the man lowered his head in order to aim the rifle down Elm Street, he appeared to have a white bald spot, on his head.
Shortly after the assassination, Euins signed an affidavit describing the man as "white,"
but a radio reporter testified that Euins described the man to him as, quote, colored, end quote.
In his Commission testimony
Euins stated that he could not ascertain the man's race and that the statement in the affidavit was intended to refer only to the white spot on the man's head
and not to his race.
A Secret Service agent who spoke to Euins approximately 20 to 30 minutes after the assassination
confirmed that Euins could neither describe the man in the window nor indicate his race.
Accordingly, Euins' testimony is considered probative as to the source of the shots but is inconclusive as to the identity of the man in the window.
In evaluating the evidence that Oswald was at the southeast corner window of the sixth floor at the time of the shooting,
the Commission has considered the allegation that Oswald was photographed standing in front of the building when the shots were fired.
The picture which gave rise to these allegations was taken by Associated Press Photographer James W. Altgens,