Mr. LATONA. No.
Mr. EISENBERG. To employ that here, but your experiments produced a
maximum time of 24 hours.
Mr. LATONA. Bear that out; yes. Like I say, undoubtedly this print was
left on there--between the time that the print was left and the time
that it was powdered could not have been too long a time. Otherwise,
the print would not have developed with the clarity that it did.
Mr. EISENBERG. You identified that, I believe, as the right palmprint
of Lee Harvey Oswald?
Mr. LATONA. That is right.
Mr. EISENBERG. What portion of the right palm was that, Mr. Latona?
Mr. LATONA. It happens to be the center part of the palm close to the
wrist.
Mr. EISENBERG. Can you show how the palm must have lain on the 649, the
part of the 648 carton, to produce that print?
Mr. LATONA. It would have been placed on there in this fashion.
Mr. EISENBERG. Now, you are pointing so that your hand is parallel with
the long axis of the box, and at right angles to the short axis?
Mr. LATONA. Yes.
Mr. EISENBERG. And just the bottom of the palm rests on the box, isn't
that correct?
Mr. LATONA. That is right.
Mr. EISENBERG. Now, before going to this fingerprint or this palmprint
rather, Mr. Latona, we have palmprints, a palmprint here on this 649,
and a finger and a palm on 641, and those are the only identified
prints on these two objects.
Is it possible that Lee Harvey Oswald could have touched these two
cartons at other places without leaving identifiable prints?
Mr. LATONA. He could have.
Mr. EISENBERG. And how would that come about?
Mr. LATONA. Simply by the fact that he did not have any material on his
finger at the time he touched the box.
Mr. EISENBERG. So that you can touch a carton at one point and leave a
print, and at another point not, is that right?
Mr. LATONA. Very definitely, that is true.
Mr. EISENBERG. And when you say he doesn't have any material, how would
that come about? Will he have used his material up, or not produced
material with the particular finger?
Mr. LATONA. He could have used it up and failed to produce it fast
enough to have left anything at the time he touched that.
Mr. EISENBERG. Is it uncommon or common for you to find an object which
a person has touched more than once but only left one identifiable
print?
Mr. LATONA. It is very common.
Mr. EISENBERG. It is common?
Mr. LATONA. Especially in, for example, the reading of a letter, a long
letter where the person would run his finger and index finger down the
edges. You might find prints at the top and then you don't find any at
the bottom.
Mr. EISENBERG. Of course. I am not asking you to draw an inference
whether or not Oswald touched the box in more than one place, but I
just want to explore whether he could have touched the box in more than
one place----
Mr. LATONA. Yes; he could.
Mr. EISENBERG. And not left a second imprint?
Mr. LATONA. He very definitely could have and not left one.
Mr. DULLES. May I add for the record, Commission Exhibit 648 apparently
contained books of Scott Foresman and Co., from Scott, Foresman & Co.,
"Building for Today, Pioneering for Tomorrow."
Mr. EISENBERG. Mr. Latona, did you take a photograph of the lift, or
the print rather, which we see in 649?
Mr. LATONA. Yes.
Mr. EISENBERG. And this is an accurate photograph?
Mr. LATONA. It is, it is a true reproduction of the print which appears
on Commission Exhibit 649 and it is enlarged about a time and a half.
Mr. EISENBERG. Mr. Chairman, may I have this admitted as 650?
Mr. DULLES. It will be admitted.
(The photograph referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 650, for
identification and received in evidence.)
Mr. EISENBERG. Did you take a photograph of the known palmprint and
make a red circle around it, as you had in previous cases?
Mr. LATONA. Yes.
Mr. EISENBERG. To show what portion of the palm of Oswald that was?
Mr. LATONA. Showing a portion of the right palm.
Mr. EISENBERG. Mr. Chairman, may I have that admitted?
Mr. DULLES. It will be admitted as 651.
(The photograph referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 651, and
received in evidence.)
Mr. EISENBERG. By the way, Mr. Latona, on 649 there seems to be a
scotch tape or cellophane tape over the fingerprint, is that right?
Mr. LATONA. That is right.
Mr. EISENBERG. Now, apparently there was no attempt at a lift being
made here?
Mr. LATONA. No. This evidently was a print which was developed directly
on the paper itself. The employing of that adhesive material like
scotch tape was to protect the print itself.
Had they tried to lift that up I am afraid they would have spoiled that
because they would have lifted the fibers of the cardboard along with
it.
Mr. EISENBERG. Is that why, you think, they didn't lift it?
Mr. LATONA. Yes; very definitely.
Mr. EISENBERG. By the way, did the Dallas police take photographs of
the lift which we had earlier, the lift which was apparently taken from
Exhibit 139, or to put the question--actually I am not interested in
whether they took photographs of the lift; do you know whether they
took photographs of the print?
Mr. LATONA. I don't know.
Mr. EISENBERG. Is it normal to take a photograph of a print before it is
lifted?
Mr. LATONA. If it is fairly visible, yes.
Mr. EISENBERG. What is the purpose of the lift, as opposed to a
photograph reproducing the print?
Mr. LATONA. The purpose of the lift is simply to insure the probability
of getting a good record of the print, because a lot of times when you
photograph a print, you have to go through the process of having it
developed and then printed and at the same time by lifting it you may,
that would be an additional security that you are getting the best
results.
Then you take your choice as to which result turns out the best.
Mr. EISENBERG. So these are alternative routes?
Mr. LATONA. That is right.
Mr. EISENBERG. Lifting and photographing?
Mr. LATONA. That is right. Well, primarily our recommendation in the
FBI is simply every procedure to photograph and then lift. Then you
choose the one which you feel gives you the best results in your final
photograph.
Mr. EISENBERG. Returning to the palmprint on 649, taken from the carton
648, did you make up a chart showing some of the points----
Mr. LATONA. Yes.
Mr. EISENBERG. Which led you to your conclusion that that print was the
print of Lee Harvey Oswald?
Mr. LATONA. Yes, I did.
Mr. EISENBERG. And was that prepared by you or under your supervision?
Mr. LATONA. Prepared by me--under my supervision.
Mr. EISENBERG. May I have this chart admitted as 652?
Mr. DULLES. It will be admitted as Exhibit 652.
(The chart referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 652, for
identification and received in evidence.)
Mr. EISENBERG. Again, without going into detail, Mr. Latona, could
you show us some of the more salient points which led you to your
conclusion that the print on 649 was the palmprint of Lee Harvey Oswald?
Mr. LATONA. The easiest points visible here, right offhand, point
No. 11 which is a black line that goes upward and its relationship
to point No. 10. This is known as the short ending ridge as is seen
here. Its relation to point No. 8. Point No. 11 is a black line going
upward. Point No. 8 is a black line going downward and there are one,
two, three, ridges which are between the two. Over here in the latent
print you find No. 11 which is a black line going upward. It is a short
line to the other end of the point No. 10, and three ridges intervene
between that and point No. 8, which is going downward.
One ridge to the right and going in an upward direction is point No.
7--7, 8, 9, 10, 11.
Mr. DULLES. And you identified 11 points of similarity?
Mr. LATONA. That is right.
Mr. DULLES. Between the inked palmprint of Lee Harvey Oswald and this
palmprint taken from this cardboard carton?
Mr. LATONA. That is right.
Mr. DULLES. What is this white line that goes up through each?
Mr. LATONA. This is a crease in the center of the palm, a flexure
crease of that area.
Mr. DULLES. The palm did not touch the carton at that point?
Mr. LATONA. That is right.
Mr. DULLES. And those two creases are in approximately the same
location in the photograph and in the latent palmprint?
Mr. LATONA. Very definitely.
Mr. EISENBERG. Mr. Latona, I now hand you two further cartons, which
are labeled Box B and Box C, the B box being a 10 Rolling Reader, and
the C box being also a Scott, Foresman box with printing on the back,
"The Three Pre-primers," apparently the name of the book contained in
this box.
Mr. DULLES. Primers.
(Discussion off the record.)
Mr. EISENBERG. Mr. Latona, did you examine Box B, which I have handed
to you, to determine whether it had on it any identifiable latent
fingerprints?
Mr. LATONA. Yes, sir; I did.
Mr. EISENBERG. Mr. Chairman, I would like that box admitted as 653.
Mr. DULLES. It shall be admitted.
(Commission Exhibit No. 653 was marked and received in evidence.)
Mr. EISENBERG. How many identifiable prints did you find on this carton?
Mr. LATONA. There were seven fingerprints and two palmprints developed
on Commission Exhibit 653.
Mr. EISENBERG. That is, identifiable prints?
Mr. LATONA. Identifiable prints.
Mr. EISENBERG. Did you identify any of those prints as belonging to a
specific person?
Mr. LATONA. I did not.
Mr. EISENBERG. May I have 654 marked, Box C, Mr. Chairman? Did you also
examine Box C?
Mr. LATONA. Box C, yes, sir.
Mr. EISENBERG. May I have that admitted as 654?
Mr. DULLES. It shall be admitted as Commission Exhibit 654.
(Commission Exhibit No. 654 was marked and received in evidence.)
Mr. EISENBERG. Did you find any latent identifiable prints on 654?
Mr. LATONA. I found two fingerprints and one palmprint.
Mr. EISENBERG. Did you identify them as belonging to a specific
individual?
Mr. LATONA. I did not identify them.
Mr. EISENBERG. Now, did you attempt to identify them with Lee Harvey
Oswald's known prints?
Mr. LATONA. Yes; and they are not Lee Harvey Oswald's prints.
Mr. EISENBERG. When did you receive cartons 653 and 654?
Mr. LATONA. I received cartons 653 and 654 November 27.
Mr. EISENBERG. That is, with the earlier cartons, Boxes A and D, which
have received Commission exhibit numbers?
Mr. LATONA. Yes.
Mr. EISENBERG. Had they been processed? Could you tell whether they had
been processed for latent fingerprints?
Mr. LATONA. I couldn't tell whether they had been or not.
Mr. EISENBERG. You could not tell?
Mr. LATONA. Could not tell. They had the appearance of not having been
processed.
Mr. EISENBERG. How did you process them in your laboratory, Mr. Latona?
Mr. LATONA. Iodine fumes and chemicals.
Mr. EISENBERG. Did the prints react to the iodine fumes at all?
Mr. LATONA. No.
Mr. EISENBERG. Just to the chemicals?
Mr. LATONA. The silver nitrate prints which were developed.
Mr. DULLES. Do you mean that the prints were of such a caliber and
character that you couldn't make anything out of them, or that you
couldn't identify them with any known----
Mr. LATONA. They are not identical with those that they have been
compared with.
Mr. DULLES. But the prints themselves were perfectly good prints?
Mr. LATONA. Oh, yes; the prints are good but they are not Lee Harvey
Oswald's.
Mr. EISENBERG. At any subsequent time have you attempted to identify
any of these prints on the boxes as belonging to any person other than
Lee Harvey Oswald?
Mr. LATONA. Yes.
Mr. EISENBERG. And how did you proceed with this attempt?
Mr. LATONA. An effort was made to locate the fingerprints of all people
employed in that building in which these cartons were found, on the
basis of the names and birth dates which were furnished, and we located
the fingerprints of 16 of those people who work in that building.
Mr. EISENBERG. Yes?
Mr. LATONA. And the fingerprints of those 16 employees were compared
with all of the latent prints which were developed on these boxes. They
do not belong to any of those 16 people.
Mr. DULLES. May I ask for my information here, Mr. Eisenberg, were all
of these cartons, including the last two admitted in evidence, were
they found in the general area of the sixth floor of the building from
which it is believed the shot was fired?
Mr. EISENBERG. Yes; Mr. Chairman. I believe that the two boxes which
were just admitted into evidence as 653 and 654 were two of the three
boxes which were apparently used as a rest by the assassin. They were
apparently either the two bottom boxes, or there might have been an
arrangement such as that one was stacked on top of the other, and the
box earlier admitted into evidence was some evidence of that.
Mr. DULLES. And in any event, does our evidence indicate that these
boxes were moved from their normal position on the sixth floor to a new
position near the window?
Mr. EISENBERG. Again I believe it does indicate that at least the 10
Rolling Reader carton was moved. There was some other movement of boxes
that morning, and I think they are still in the process of tracing down
all of the movements.
Mr. DULLES. Thank you.
Mr. EISENBERG. I have a letter, Mr. Latona, from Mr. Hoover to Mr.
Rankin, the general counsel of our Commission, setting forth the names
of the employees of the TSBD whose prints were compared in this recent
attempt you mentioned. Would you recognize the names?
Mr. LATONA. Yes; I would because I believe that report is based on my
report.
Mr. EISENBERG. If I read the name could you verify whether these
individuals were the ones whose prints you checked out against the
latents?
Mr. LATONA. Yes.
Mr. EISENBERG. Haddon Spurgeon Aiken?
Mr. LATONA. Yes.
Mr. EISENBERG. Jack Charles Cason?
Mr. LATONA. Yes.
Mr. EISENBERG. Warren Cason?
Mr. LATONA. Yes.
Mr. EISENBERG. Jack Edwin Doughterty?
Mr. LATONA. Yes.
Mr. EISENBERG. Charles Douglas Givens?
Mr. LATONA. Yes.
Mr. EISENBERG. Mary Madeline Hollis?
Mr. LATONA. Yes.
Mr. EISENBERG. James Earl Jarman?
Mr. LATONA. Yes.
Mr. EISENBERG. Spaulden Earnest Jones?
Mr. LATONA. Yes.
Mr. EISENBERG. Herbert L. Junker?
Mr. LATONA. Yes.
Mr. EISENBERG. Billy Nolan Lovelady?
Mr. LATONA. Yes.
Mr. EISENBERG. Joe R. Molina?
Mr. LATONA. Yes.
Mr. EISENBERG. Edward Shields?
Mr. LATONA. Yes.
Mr. EISENBERG. Joyce Maurine Stansberg?
Mr. LATONA. Yes.
Mr. EISENBERG. Roy Sansom Truly?
Mr. LATONA. Yes.
Mr. EISENBERG. Lloyd R. Viles?
Mr. LATONA. Yes.
Mr. EISENBERG. Troy Eugene West?
Mr. LATONA. Correct.
Mr. EISENBERG. Now as I understand it, these employees were not
selected because any particular suspicion fell on them, but merely
because of all the employees, those were the ones whose cards you knew
you had in your files?
Mr. LATONA. That is right.