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

The Unsigned Russian-Language Note

Cadigan’s examination confirmed Marina Oswald’s testimony that the handwriting in Commission Exhibit No. 1, the unsigned note written almost entirely in Russian using the Cyrillic alphabet, was that of Lee Harvey Oswald. Because the note was in Russian, Cadigan employed not only Oswald’s English language handwriting standards but also letters written by Oswald in the Russian language to make the comparison.

The Homemade Wrapping Paper Bag

Examination of the homemade paper bag found on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository following the assassination was conducted using multiple methods because the heavy brown paper and glue-bearing brown paper tape contained no watermarks or distinctive characteristics. Cadigan compared the questioned paper and tape with known samples from the shipping department of the Texas School Book Depository obtained on November 22, 1963, examining them under natural and electric light, ultraviolet light, and microscopically; measuring their felting patterns, thickness to one one-thousandth of an inch, and fiber composition; and performing spectrographic analysis of metallic ions. The questioned and known items were identical in all measured properties (a 25-thousandths-of-an-inch width difference in the tape was not significant), while a paper sample obtained from the shipping room on December 1, 1963, was readily distinguishable. Tape examination revealed that all but two of the strip ends were irregularly torn, indicating a long strip had been drawn from a dispensing machine and torn by hand; small half-inch markings in a railroad-tie pattern down the center of the tape, made by a ridged wheel in a tape dispenser, matched the markings on tape from a dispenser located in the Texas School Book Depository shipping room. The number of lines per inch and line length on the bag tape was identical to that on the shipping room dispenser tape.

WOUND BALLISTICS EXPERIMENTS

In response to questions about whether the wounds to 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, the Commission requested a series of wound ballistics tests using Western Cartridge Co. bullets and fragments of the type recovered from the Governor’s stretcher and the Presidential limousine. To analyze the trajectory, velocity, and penetration power of the bullets after they struck and exited their initial victims, the tests were 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.

Purpose of the Tests

During the Commission’s inquiry, questions arose about 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. Further questions were posed on the bullet’s velocity and penetration power after exiting from the person initially struck, requiring trajectory analysis after impact. To address 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 simulating the events of the assassination.

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

This chapter describes the extensive wound ballistics tests conducted by the U.S. Army Chemical Research and Development Laboratories at Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland, on behalf of the Warren Commission. It details the qualifications of the testing scientists, the general conditions under which the tests were performed, and a series of experiments designed to simulate the wounds sustained by President Kennedy and Governor Connally during the assassination. The chapter covers tests on bullet penetration and stability, simulations of the neck, chest, wrist, and head wounds, and concludes with expert testimony on hairs and fibers found on key exhibits.

The Testers and Their Qualifications

At the request of the Commission, the Wound Ballistics Branch of the U.S. Army Chemical Research and Development Laboratories at Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland, conducted an extensive series of tests. The tests were performed by Dr. Alfred G. Olivier under the general supervision of Dr. Arthur J. Dziemian, with consultation from Dr. Frederick W. Light, Jr. Dr. Olivier received his doctorate in veterinary medicine from the University of Pennsylvania in 1953 and has been engaged in wound ballistics research at Edgewood Arsenal since 1957, currently serving as chief of the Wound Ballistics Branch. Dr. Dziemian, chief of the Biophysics Division, holds a Ph.D. from Princeton (1939) and has been engaged in wound ballistics work at Edgewood Arsenal since 1947, with prior research fellowships in physiology and anatomy. Dr. Light received both his M.D. (1930) and Ph.D. (1948) from Johns Hopkins, worked as a pathologist, and has been studying the pathology of wounding at Edgewood Arsenal since 1951. All three scientists testified before the Commission.