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

Objects in the Texas School Book Depository Building

A number of objects recovered from the Texas School Book Depository Building were processed for latent prints by the FBI, sometimes after Dallas police processing; these included the homemade wrapping paper bag found near the southeast corner window, the C2766 rifle, three small cartons stacked near that window (marked Box A, Box B, and Box C), a fourth carton on the floor nearby (Box D), three 6.5-millimeter cartridge cases found near the window, and the cartridge found in the rifle. On the paper bag, the FBI developed a palmprint and a fingerprint using silver nitrate, and both were matched to the right palm and left index finger of Lee Harvey Oswald. The C2766 rifle’s wood and metal proved too absorbent to record good prints, and the faint ridge formations the Dallas police developed on the metal magazine housing were insufficient for identification, but a latent palmprint lifted from the underside of the barrel was identified as the right palm of Lee Harvey Oswald.

KAPITEL II. With the assistance of Agent in Charge Sorrels of the

Chapter II, produced with the assistance of Agent in Charge Sorrels of the FBI, presents physical and documentary evidence analyzed in connection with the assassination investigation. The chapter opens with fingerprint analysis of the shipping cartons containing the C2766 rifle and the cartridge cases, finding that Lee Harvey Oswald’s prints appeared on Boxes A and D while other prints belonged to Dallas police officer R. L. Studebaker and FBI clerk Forest L. Lucy. The chapter then turns to questioned document examination, presenting testimony from Alwyn Cole and James C. Cadigan, who applied principles of handwriting identification to numerous items associated with Oswald and the alias “A. Hidell,” including mail orders for the rifle and revolver, post office box applications, and spurious identification documents found in Oswald’s possession.

Fingerprints on Shipping Cartons

Fingerprints on Shipping Cartons The FBI used the silver nitrate method to develop latent prints on the cartons containing the rifle. Box A yielded nine identifiable latent fingerprints and four palmprints, including Oswald’s right index fingerprint and left palmprint; the remaining prints belonged to Studebaker and Lucy. Box B produced seven fingerprints and two palmprints, again largely from Studebaker and Lucy with one unidentified palmprint. Box C yielded two fingerprints and one palmprint from the same individuals. On Box D, the FBI developed two of Lucy’s fingerprints, and the Dallas police developed by powder a palmprint identified as Oswald’s right palmprint. Latona estimated the maximum age of that palmprint at three days and Mandella at a day and a half, because perspiration is absorbed into cardboard and can typically be powdered for no more than 24 hours after placement.

Fingerprints on Cartridge Cases and Rifle Cartridge

Fingerprints on Cartridge Cases and Rifle Cartridge No fingerprints were developed on the cartridge found inside the rifle or on the three expended cartridge cases.

Questioned Document Experts

Questioned Document Experts Two experts, Alwyn Cole and James C. Cadigan, testified regarding questioned documents. Cole apprenticed as a questioned document examiner from 1929 to 1935 and has served as examiner for the U.S. Treasury Department since then. Cadigan has been a questioned document examiner with the FBI for 23½ years following specialized training. Both have testified frequently in federal and state courts. Their conclusions were identical except as noted. They jointly examined the rifle mail order to Klein’s Sporting Goods, the accompanying money order and envelope, the revolver mail order to Seaport Traders, post office box applications and change-of-address orders, the spurious Selective Service notice, Marine Corps certificate, and smallpox vaccination certificate in the name “Alek James Hidell,” and the Fair Play for Cuba Committee card. Cadigan additionally examined Commission Exhibit No. 1, the Russian-language note Marina testified Oswald had left before the Walker attempt, and the homemade paper bag found on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository.

General Principles of Handwriting Identification

General Principles of Handwriting Identification Questioned document examination rests on the principle that every person’s handwriting is distinctive because mental and physical writing equipment differs between individuals, so each person develops unique writing habits. According to Cole, handwriting identification is confirmed by long observation of specimens and by formal responsibility for decisions subsequently tested against field-investigated results. Hand printing is subject to the same principles. Not every letter serves as a basis for identification, since most writing begins from standard copybook forms and is distinctive only insofar as it departs from them; variations within a single document are also normal. An identification requires a sufficient number of corresponding distinctive characteristics and a general absence of distinctive differences. Imitation by a forger is very remote, because the forger typically draws rather than writes, producing defects such as tremor, waver, patching, retouching, noncontinuous lines, and pen lifts in awkward places. To make an identification, the examiner first studies the questioned writing independently, then studies the known standards, and finally conducts a detailed comparison considering letter forms, proportion, pen pressure, and letter connections. The standards used by Cole and Cadigan included a wide variety of documents known to be in Oswald’s handwriting, such as payroll endorsements, employment and passport applications, ACLU membership and library card applications, and letters to government agencies.