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

Cartons Arranged as Gun Rest

Beneath the southeast corner window stood a large carton of books measuring approximately 18 by 12 by 14 inches, relocated from a south wall stack. Atop it rested a small “Rolling Readers” carton measuring approximately 13 by 9 by 8 inches, and in front of that on the windowsill sat another small “Rolling Readers” carton. These two smaller cartons had been moved from a stack about three aisles away. The three cartons together formed an improvised gun rest, while a fourth carton placed on the floor behind them allowed a seated person to look southwesterly down Elm Street over the top of the “Rolling Readers” cartons. The handmade paper bag bearing Oswald’s palmprint and fingerprint lay next to these cartons.

Oswald’s Fingerprints on Cartons

The FBI developed twenty identifiable fingerprints and eight palmprints on the cartons forwarded from the sixth floor. Neither the carton on the windowsill nor the large carton beneath the window bore prints attributable to Oswald. However, the other “Rolling Readers” carton contained a left palmprint and right index fingerprint identified by Latona as Oswald’s. A palmprint developed by Dallas Police with powder on the top edge of the floor carton—parallel to the long axis—was identified as Oswald’s right palmprint. Latona testified the print was less than three days old, and Mandella estimated it was placed within a day or a day and a half of November 22. Wittmus and Mandella independently confirmed the prints as Oswald’s. The Commission concluded that the cartons had not been disturbed by floor-laying operations and had been deliberately arranged at the window for a particular purpose.