Mr. LIEBELER. It is similar?
Mr. PAINE. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. This blanket we have here is sewn around the edges with
brown thread, is it not?
Mr. PAINE. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. Around some of the edges at any rate?
Mr. PAINE. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. Do you recall seeing anything like that on the blanket
that was in the garage?
Mr. PAINE. No; I don't know, but I didn't look at it that closely.
Mr. LIEBELER. Now, a part of that exhibit is a piece of string. When
I unfolded the blanket, Commission Exhibit 140, a piece of string was
found to be present, and I would like to ask the reporter to mark it as
the next exhibit on this deposition.
(The string referred to was marked Michael Paine Exhibit No. 2 for
identification.)
Mr. LIEBELER. I ask you, Mr. Paine, whether that piece of string which
has been marked as Exhibit 2 on this deposition is similar to or
different from the string that was used to tie this package up when you
saw it in the garage, if you remember?
Mr. PAINE. I don't remember exactly. I think this is a very good
candidate again. I remember thinking it was wrapped in a twine, by
which I meant it was not wrapped in a cotton, tight wound expensive
cotton, string. I didn't think it was wrapped, didn't have in mind the
manila type or sisal type. This is the right strength. I can't actually
remember whether it was or not.
Mr. LIEBELER. It appears to be similar?
Mr. PAINE. That is about as good as could come to my memory.
Mr. LIEBELER. Was there just one string wrapped on the blanket?
Mr. PAINE. No; I think it was wrapped at both ends.
Mr. LIEBELER. With two strings?
Mr. PAINE. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. Well now this blanket has a pin in one end. I call your
attention to that, the blanket which is Commission Exhibit 140. Did you
notice that pin?
Mr. PAINE. No; I don't think so.
Mr. LIEBELER. Present in the blanket at the time it was in your garage?
Mr. PAINE. No; I don't think I do.
Mr. LIEBELER. I am going to lay the blanket out here on the conference
table, and I am going to produce Commission Exhibit 139 which is the
rifle that was found in the Texas School Book Depository Building on
November 22, 1963, and I will ask you if you can construct out of these
materials that we have here this rifle, and the blanket and the string
something that resembles or duplicates the package that you saw in your
garage?
Mr. PAINE. It seemed to me this end up here was not as bulky as the
whole----
Mr. REDLICH. By "this end" what do you mean?
Mr. PAINE. "A", I have drawn as "A", was not as bulky as if I had
wrapped it and pulled the blanket over.
Mr. LIEBELER. You are having difficulty in making it as small as when
you remember it in the garage?
Mr. PAINE. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. We want you just to continue to work with it and take
your time because we want you to be able to satisfy yourself to the
fullest extent possible, on this question, one way or the other.
Mr. PAINE. It is getting fairly close but I don't know what he did
with this end. This way of wrapping it seems to combine the functions.
I also had a notion that it was somehow folded over but it seems too
thick to do it that way.
Mr. LIEBELER. Now, you have wrapped the rifle in the blanket. I will
ask you if this appears to be, this wrapped package appears to be
similar to the one you saw in your garage?
Mr. PAINE. I should say this end was a little bit too big here and it
is not quite big enough here.
Mr. LIEBELER. When you say this end, you are referring to the end
marked "B" on the drawing, which in the package is the end, the butt
end of the rifle, isn't that right?
Mr. PAINE. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. You say that end is too thick.
Mr. PAINE. As I have it wrapped.
Mr. LIEBELER. Yes; and you say in the center of the package in which we
have the rifle wrapped you say that is not thick enough. But by thick
enough do you mean the width or the actual thickness of the package?
Mr. PAINE. I thought of the package pretty much as all of the same
thickness, calling the width from type--calling the rifle and the scope
of the rifle the width.
Mr. LIEBELER. The width?
Mr. PAINE. The width across the bolt, the direction of the bolt as the
thickness. So I thought of it as a more or less constant thickness of
the package and not quite so--I would have to wrap it in some manner to
move some of this bulk up into here, but I don't want to do it so much
that I can't grab that feel of pipe.
That feels, it is quite a lot like it and there could almost have been
two pipes there.
Mr. LIEBELER. When you say it is quite a lot like it you grasped the
"A" end of the rifle or the muzzle of the rifle, is that correct?
Mr. PAINE. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. Are we saying now that its thickness is not as you
remember the package in your garage or the same width?
Mr. PAINE. Well, most likely this end down here is perhaps, the butt
end of the rifle.
Mr. LIEBELER. The "B" end?
Mr. PAINE. As I have it wrapped is a little bit too full.