PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION
ON THE ASSASSINATION OF
PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY
STATE OF TEXAS,
_County of Dallas, ss_:
Before me, Mary Rattan, a Notary Public in and for said County, State
of Texas, on this day personally appeared Lt. J. C. Day, Dallas Police
Department, who, after being by me duly sworn, on oath deposes and says:
The following affidavit is made to clear up confusion regarding the
three spent 6.5 hulls, commission numbers 543, 544, and 545, found
by the 6th floor window of the Texas School Book Depository on
November 22, 1963. The hulls were picked up by Detective R. M. Sims
and Lieutenant J. C. Day and placed in an envelope. Detective R. L.
Studebaker was also present. The envelope was marked and dated by Sims
and Day. Detective Sims took the hulls after they were checked for
fingerprints by Day. The third hull, commission number 545, was later
released directly to the FBI by the Dallas Police Department Homicide
Division. At 10:00 P.M. November 22, 1963, Detective C. N. Dhority
brought the three hulls in the marked envelope back to Lieutenant Day
in the Identification Bureau office to recheck for prints. Dhority
retained one hull, commission number 545 and left the other two,
commission numbers 543, 544 along with the envelope with me to be sent
to the FBI. Vince Drain, FBI agent, took custody at 11:45 A.M. the same
day. When I appeared before the commission April 22, 1964, I could not
find my name on one of the hulls, identified as commission number 543,
and thought this was the hull that had been retained by Dhority. On
June 8, 1964, the three hulls, commission numbers 543, 544, and 545,
were back in Dallas and were examined by Captain G. M. Doughty and
myself at the local FBI office. Close examination with a magnifying
glass under a good light disclosed that my name "Day" was on all three
hulls, at the small end. Also GD for Captain George Doughty was on two
of them. Commission numbers 543 and 544 were the first two sent to
Washington on November 22, 1963. They have Doughty's initials where he
marked the hulls as they were released to Vince Drain at 11:45 P.M. on
November 22, 1963 by Doughty and Day. The third hull, commission number
545, does not have Doughty's mark, but is plainly marked "Day". In
Washington, I had numbers 543 and 545 switched because I didn't find my
name on number 543. I can identify commission numbers 543, 544, and 545
from my name on them, as the three hulls found on the sixth floor of
the Texas School Book Depository on November 22, 1963. As to the time
I scratched my name on the hulls, I do not remember whether it was at
the window when picked up or at 10:00 P.M. November 22, 1963, when they
were returned to me by Dhority in the marked envelope. It had to be one
or the other, because this is the only time I had all three hulls in my
possession. Both Detective R. L. Studebaker and Detective R. M. Sims,
who were present at the window when the hulls were picked up, state I
marked them as they were found under the window.
Signed this 23d day of June 1964.
(S) J. C. Day,
J. C. DAY.