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

Location of the Bag

A handmade paper bag was discovered in the southeast corner of the sixth floor beside the window from which shots were fired. The bag was constructed from wrapping paper and tape, was not a commercially available type, and was sized to contain the disassembled Mannlicher-Carcano rifle (serial No. C2766), which was also recovered from the sixth floor. Three cartons had been positioned at the window apparently to serve as a gun rest, with a fourth carton placed behind them. A person seated on the rear carton could assemble the rifle while being shielded from view by the stacked cartons. Lieutenant J. C. Day of the Dallas Police inscribed a note on the bag indicating it was found next to the window from which the gun was fired.

Oswald’s Prints on the Bag

Using silver nitrate processing, the FBI Laboratory developed a latent right palmprint and left index fingerprint on the paper bag. Sebastian F. Latona, supervisor of the FBI’s Latent Fingerprint Section, identified both prints as belonging to Lee Harvey Oswald. Ronald G. Wittmus of the FBI and Arthur Mandella of the New York City Police Department independently confirmed the identification. No other identifiable prints were recovered from the bag. The palmprint appeared on the closed end of the bag and was consistent with Oswald having handled a heavy or bulky object—consistent with the manner in which he carried the long package from Frazier’s car.

Bag Materials Match Depository Supplies

On the day of the assassination, Dallas police collected samples of wrapping paper and tape from the Depository shipping room and forwarded them to the FBI Laboratory. Questioned-documents expert James C. Cadigan compared the samples with the paper and tape from the bag itself and found them identical in all observable characteristics, including thickness, color, width, knurled markings, texture, felting pattern, and fiber composition. A replica bag made on December 1, 1963, from shipping room materials exhibited different characteristics, reflecting the Depository’s routine consumption of approximately one roll every three working days. The complete identity of materials enabled the Commission to conclude the bag was fabricated from Depository supplies—materials accessible to Oswald on the first floor in the course of his duties.