* * * I didn’t pay too much attention the way he was walking because I was walking along there looking at the railroad cars and watching the men on the diesel switch them cars and I didn’t pay too much attention on how he carried the package at all.[C4-173]
Frazier could easily have been mistaken when he stated that Oswald held the bottom of the bag cupped in his hand with the upper end tucked into his armpit.
Location of Bag
A handmade bag of wrapping paper and tape[C4-174] was found in the southeast corner of the sixth floor alongside the window from which the shots were fired.[C4-175] (See Commission Exhibit No. 2707, [p. 142].) It was not a standard type bag which could be obtained in a store and it was presumably made for a particular purpose. It was the appropriate size to contain, in disassembled form, Oswald’s Mannlicher-Carcano rifle, serial No. C2766, which was also found on the sixth floor.[C4-176] Three cartons had been placed at the window apparently to act as a gun rest and a fourth carton was placed behind those at the window.[C4-177] (See Commission Exhibit No. 1301, [p. 138].) A person seated on the fourth carton could assemble the rifle without being seen from the rest of the sixth floor because the cartons stacked around the southeast corner would shield him.[C4-178] (See Commission Exhibit No. 723, [p. 80].) The presence of the bag in this corner is cogent evidence that it was used as the container for the rifle. At the time the bag was found, Lieutenant Day of the Dallas police wrote on it, “Found next to the sixth floor window gun fired from. May have been used to carry gun. Lt. J. C. Day.”[C4-179]
Scientific Evidence Linking Rifle and Oswald to Paper Bag
Oswald’s fingerprint and palmprint found on bag.—Using a standard chemical method involving silver nitrates[C4-180] the FBI Laboratory developed a latent palmprint and latent fingerprint on the bag. (See app. X, [p. 565].) Sebastian F. Latona, supervisor of the FBI’s Latent Fingerprint Section, identified these prints as the left index fingerprint and right palmprint of Lee Harvey Oswald.[C4-181] The portion of the palm which was identified was the heel of the right palm, i.e., the area near the wrist, on the little finger side.[C4-182] These prints were examined independently by Ronald G. Wittmus of the FBI,[C4-183] and by Arthur Mandella, a fingerprint expert with the New York City Police Department.[C4-184] Both concluded that the prints were the right palm and left index finger of Lee Oswald. No other identifiable prints were found on the bag.[C4-185]
Oswald’s palmprint on the bottom of the paper bag indicated, of course, that he had handled the bag. Furthermore, it was consistent with the bag having contained a heavy or bulky object when he handled it since a light object is usually held by the fingers.[C4-186] The palmprint was found on the closed end of the bag. It was from Oswald’s right hand, in which he carried the long package as he walked from Frazier’s car to the building.[C4-187]
Materials used to make bag.—On the day of the assassination, the Dallas police obtained a sample of wrapping paper and tape from the shipping room of the Depository and forwarded it to the FBI Laboratory in Washington.[C4-188] James C. Cadigan, a questioned-documents expert with the Bureau, compared the samples with the paper and tape in the actual bag. He testified, “In all of the observations and physical tests that I made I found * * * the bag * * * and the paper sample * * * were the same.”[C4-189]
Among other tests, the paper and tape were submitted to fiber analysis and spectrographic examination.[C4-190] In addition the tape was compared to determine whether the sample tape and the tape on the bag had been taken from the tape dispensing machine at the Depository. When asked to explain the similarity of characteristics, Cadigan stated:[C4-191]
Well, briefly, it would be the thickness of both the paper and the tape, the color under various lighting conditions of both the paper and the tape, the width of the tape, the knurled markings on the surface of the fiber, the texture of the fiber, the felting pattern * * *
* * * * *
I found that the paper sack found on the sixth floor * * * and the sample * * * had the same observable characteristics both under the microscope and all the visual tests that I could conduct.
* * * * *
The papers I also found were similar in fiber composition, therefore, in addition to the visual characteristics, microscopic and UV [ultra violet] characteristics.