Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy

CHAPTER VIII

The eighth chapter’s presentation of the physical, ballistic, fingerprint, photographic, and documentary evidence that fixed Oswald at the scene of the assassination drew upon an extensive footnote apparatus in Appendix X, numbered A10-14 through A10-413. The firearms identification work, led by FBI Agent Robert A. Frazier with the assistance of Cortlandt Cunningham and Joseph D. Nicol, traced the 6.5-millimeter Mannlicher-Carcano rifle recovered from the Texas School Book Depository to the mail-order transaction Oswald had conducted through Klein’s Sporting Goods in Chicago; Frazier and his colleagues established that the cartridge cases found on the sixth floor and at the scene of the Tippit murder had been fired from that weapon (A10-14 to A10-50). The Commission’s analysis drew on the testimony of FBI ballistics specialists, including Ronald Simmons of the U.S. Army Infantry Weapons Evaluation Branch, on rifle capability and on standard references for the Mannlicher-Carcano and similar firearms (W. H. B. Smith, “Small Arms of the World”; “The Book of Rifles”; “Mannlicher Rifles and Pistols”) (A10-14 to A10-50).

The fingerprint and palmprint analysis, conducted by Sebastian F. Latona of the FBI Identification Division and by Arthur Mandella, identified Oswald’s right palmprint on the carton at the southeast corner of the sixth floor of the School Book Depository — the print found amid the sniper’s nest — and identified Oswald’s fingerprints on the rifle and on certain cartons in the building (A10-102 to A10-132). The handwriting analysis, conducted by FBI examiners Alwyn Cole and James C. Cadigan, matched Oswald’s handwriting on the mail-order coupon, the postal money order, and other documents to exemplars obtained from Marina Oswald and from school and Marine Corps records (A10-133 to A10-241). Cadigan’s earlier analysis of hair and fiber evidence, performed jointly with Paul Morgan Stombaugh, is documented at A10-242 to A10-254.

The medical and autopsy evidence, presented through the testimony of Dr. Alfred G. Olivier of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Dr. Arthur J. Dziemian, and Dr. Frederick W. Light, Jr., traced the bullet wounds sustained by President Kennedy and Governor Connally and established the trajectory and nature of the wounds (A10-255 to A10-341). The spectrographic analysis of trace metals on the hands of Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby, conducted by Stombaugh, is documented at A10-342 to A10-382. The photographic enhancement and comparison work, conducted by FBI photographer Lyndal L. Shaneyfelt, established the physical appearance of the assassin as seen in the backyard photographs of Oswald with the rifle, the Walkers’ porch photographs, and other exhibits (A10-383 to A10-413). Together, the A10-14 through A10-413 footnote citations constitute the technical evidentiary apparatus on which the chapter’s findings rest.

C

The C entries open with Dallas political figures: Mayor Hon. Earle Cabell and his wife (November 1963). Law enforcement: FBI fingerprint expert James C. Cadigan; Detective C.T. Walker. Witnesses and officials: Richard Dennis Call, Ted Callaway (saw Oswald flee the Tippit scene), Gloria Calverly. Parkland medical personnel: Drs. Charles Rufus Baxter, Charles James Carrio, William Kemp Clark, Don Teel Curtis, Robert N. McClelland, Malcolm O. Perry, and Paul C. Peters, who treated the President and Governor Connally. The Carro and Carlin families appear: John Carro, Bruce Ray Carlin, and Karen Bennett Carlin (key Ruby investigation figure). Carlos Bringuier (Cuban exile Oswald confronted in New Orleans) and Marion Carroll (Ruby witness). Governor John Bowden Connally Jr. and his wife (motorcade wounded). Chief Jesse E. Curry commanded Dallas PD. The CIA and Communist Party are referenced for Oswald’s ideological associations. President Anton Cermak (earlier assassination victim) is cited historically. Fidel Castro, Cuba, and the Fair Play for Cuba Committee recur for Oswald’s Cuba contacts. Historical parallels close the section: Presidents Grover Cleveland and James Buchanan, and Leon Czolgosz (McKinley’s assassin).

D

Opens with a cryptic “D” entry. The Dallas Police Department spans hundreds of pages. Named officers and witnesses: Sol Dann, James Darnell, Barbara Jeanette Davis and Virginia Davis (both saw the Tippit shooting); Lt. J.C. Day (early at Tippit scene); Sheriff J.E. “Bill” Decker (Dallas County deputies). Nelson Delgado: former Marine who served with Oswald at Santa Ana, California, and in the USSR. The de Mohrenschildt family — George S., wife Jeanne, daughter Alexandra — were Marina’s closest Dallas friends. Federal agencies: Defense, Justice, State, and Treasury. Farrell Dobbs appears for socialist literature Oswald distributed. William McEwan Duff (witness). The Duran family — Silvia Tirado de Duran and Horatio Duran — Cuban exiles whose testimony mattered in the Mexico City investigation. Dr. Arthur J. Dziemian (wound analysis) closes the section.