Accomplices at the Scene of the Assassination
The Commission investigated whether Oswald needed help arranging cartons at the sixth-floor window where he fired the shots. Most cartons in the area were already stacked by floor-laying crews to clear space for new flooring, with no organized arrangement. The four boxes at the shooting position (two 55-pound cartons, two 8-pound “Rolling Readers” block aids) could have been positioned by one person quickly: the 55-pound cartons had already been moved by the floor crew, and the lighter Rolling Readers were only moved 40 feet from their original positions. There is no evidence Oswald received assistance setting up the shooting position at the scene.
CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VI examines the possibility of accomplices in the assassination of President Kennedy. The Commission analyzes fingerprints on sixth-floor cartons, the presence of Depository employees and outside witnesses near the sixth floor, the testimony of Arnold Rowland and Roger Craig regarding a possible second person at the window, the Commission’s investigation of all building employees, Oswald’s escape route, and his background including his 1959–1962 residence in the Soviet Union. Finding no credible evidence of accomplices either at the scene or in Oswald’s flight, the Commission concludes that Oswald acted alone and turns to a detailed examination of his life for traces of conspiracy.
Sixth Floor Carton Fingerprint Analysis
The Commission evaluated fingerprints on the four cartons found in and near the sixth-floor window. Three of Oswald’s prints were developed on two cartons, and 25 additional identifiable prints were found, along with others too fragmentary to identify. The Commission determined that warehouse employees who customarily handled the cartons left no identifiable prints. All but one of the 25 identifiable prints belonged to an FBI employee and a Dallas Police Department member who handled the cartons during the investigation, with one palmprint remaining unidentified. The presence of unidentified prints was deemed unremarkable given that the cartons contained commercial products handled by many people in manufacturing, warehousing, and shipping. The Commission also noted that the FBI does not maintain a palmprint classification system and relied on the opinion of fingerprint supervisor Sebastian F. Latona that people could handle cartons without leaving developable prints. The Commission concluded the foreign fingerprints provide no indication of an accomplice at the window.
Sixth Floor Employee Pre-Assassination Accounts
Two Depository employees were briefly present on the sixth floor between 11:45 a.m. and the assassination. Charles Givens, a floor-laying crew member, returned to the sixth floor to retrieve his jacket and cigarettes, saw Oswald walking away from the southeast corner, observed no one else, and left via elevator at approximately 11:55 a.m. Bonnie Ray Williams returned at about noon to eat lunch and watch the motorcade, positioned 20–30 feet from the southeast corner window near the third or fourth set of windows from the east wall. He remained for 5 to 12 minutes eating chicken and drinking soda, saw no one on the sixth floor (though stacks of books blocked his view of the east side), and left by elevator to the fifth floor, where he watched the motorcade with Harold Norman and James Jarman, Jr. Williams left chicken bones and a soda bottle near his eating spot.
Witness Accounts of Sixth Floor Window Occupants
Several witnesses outside the building claimed to have seen a person in the southeast corner sixth-floor window. Howard L. Brennan made a positive identification of Oswald, while other witnesses offered varying descriptions. Although the witnesses differed in their ability to describe the person, none testified to seeing more than one person in the window.
Arnold Rowland’s Sixth Floor Testimony
Arnold Rowland, an 18-year-old witness standing on the east side of Houston Street with his wife, testified in detail about seeing a man holding a rifle standing back from the southwest corner sixth-floor window. He described the man as slender, light-complexioned, with dark hair. Rowland initially believed the man was likely Secret Service. In his post-assassination affidavit, Rowland reported seeing this man but could not identify him. When testifying before the Commission on March 10, 1964, Rowland claimed for the first time to have also seen an elderly Negro man in the southeast corner window, describing him as very thin, 50 to 60 years old, 5’8“ to 5’10“, with fairly dark complexion and balding. Rowland said the man remained until 5 to 6 minutes before the motorcade. He claimed to have told FBI agents about the man on the weekend after the assassination, but no such statement appears in FBI reports. Mrs. Rowland testified that her husband never told her about the second man, that she did not hear him mention it during the FBI interview (though she acknowledged not hearing everything), and that she herself saw no one in the sixth-floor windows. She also stated her husband is “prone to exaggerate.” An FBI investigation found that Rowland made numerous false statements about verifiable matters including school subjects, grades, high school graduation, and college admission. The Commission rejected Rowland’s testimony about the elderly Negro man due to his delayed reporting, lack of corroboration, and credibility issues.
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