The absence of copper precludes the possibility that the mark on the curbing section was made by an unmutilated military full metal-jacketed bullet such as the bullet from Governor Connally’s stretcher.
The damage to the curbing would have been much more extensive if a rifle bullet had struck the curbing without first having struck some other object. Therefore, this mark could not have been made by the first impact of a high velocity rifle bullet.
Mr. Redlich. Based on your examination of the mark on the curb, can you tell us whether the mark which we have been referring to is a nick on the curb, that is, has a piece of the curb been chipped away, or is it instead a simple marking of lead?
Mr. Shaneyfelt. Yes; it is not a chip. There is no indication of any of the curbing having been removed, but rather it is a deposit of lead on the surface of the curbing that has given the appearance of a mark.
It was also established from a microscopic study of the curbing that the lead object that struck the curbing that caused the mark, was moving in a general direction away from the Texas School Book Depository Building.
Mr. Redlich. In connection with this investigation into the microscopic characteristics of the mark, a photograph was prepared which is designated as Shaneyfelt Exhibit No. 35. Will you describe that photograph?
(The photograph referred to was marked Shaneyfelt Exhibit No. 35.)
Mr. Shaneyfelt. Yes; Shaneyfelt Exhibit No. 35 is a color photograph that I made of the mark on the curbing, which is Shaneyfelt Exhibit No. 34. This is magnified about five times, and shows only the marked area. There is a red area in the lower left corner marked A which designates the point of initial impact, and the lead deposit is then sprayed out in a fanlike direction from that arrow.
Mr. Redlich. Does point A in Shaneyfelt Exhibit No. 35 refer to or correspond to the portion of the marking which is visible in Shaneyfelt Exhibit No. 34?
Mr. Shaneyfelt. It refers to the lower right-hand portion of that mark on Shaneyfelt Exhibit No. 34. It is this area here, and this area here [indicating].