Mr. DULLES. Would you mind standing and raising your right hand?
Do you swear the testimony you give before the Commission is the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Mr. CADIGAN. Yes, sir.
Mr. DULLES. Thank you.
Mr. EISENBERG. Mr. Cadigan, can you state your full name and position?
Mr. CADIGAN. James C. Cadigan, special agent of the FBI, assigned as an
examiner of questioned documents in the laboratory here in Washington.
Mr. EISENBERG. What is your education, Mr. Cadigan?
Mr. CADIGAN. I have a Master of Science degree from Boston College in
Newton, Mass. Upon being appointed in the FBI, I was given on-the-job
training, which consisted of working with various examiners, conducting
experiments, reading books, attending lectures, and so forth.
Mr. EISENBERG. Mr. Cadigan, how long have you been in the questioned
document field?
Mr. CADIGAN. Twenty-three and a half years.
Mr. EISENBERG. And during that time have you examined papers to
determine their possible origin?
Mr. CADIGAN. Yes.
Mr. EISENBERG. Can you estimate the number of such examinations you
have conducted?
Mr. CADIGAN. No; not with any degree of accuracy, except many, many
specimens, many, many comparisons.
Mr. EISENBERG. Have you testified on that subject in court?
Mr. CADIGAN. Yes, sir.
Mr. EISENBERG. Many times?
Mr. CADIGAN. I won't say many, no; because most of the testimony I have
given in court relates to other phases of the work. Strictly on paper,
I would say not more than two or three times.
Mr. EISENBERG. But you have made more than two or three examinations of
paper?
Mr. CADIGAN. Oh, yes; far more.
Mr. DULLES. Running into the hundreds and thousands?
Mr. CADIGAN. Yes, sir.
Mr. EISENBERG. Mr. Chairman, may I have this witness admitted as an
expert witness?
Mr. DULLES. He shall be admitted as an expert on this subject.
Mr. EISENBERG. Mr. Cadigan, I hand you an object made of paper,
Commission Exhibit 142, also known as Commission Exhibit 626, and ask
you if you are familiar with this object?
Mr. CADIGAN. Yes; I am.
Mr. EISENBERG. And did you examine this object, this paper bag, to
determine its origin, possible origin?
Mr. CADIGAN. Yes.
Mr. EISENBERG. Can you tell us how you conducted that examination?
Mr. CADIGAN. Yes.
I first saw this paper bag on November 23, 1963, in the FBI laboratory,
along with the sample of paper and tape from the Texas School Book
Depository obtained November 22, 1963, which is FBI Exhibit D-1.
Mr. EISENBERG. Is that the sample that you are referring to, that you
are holding in your hand?
Mr. CADIGAN. Yes.
Mr. EISENBERG. And that is marked, as you said, "Paper sample from
first floor Texas School Book Depository" and has certain other
markings including the words "shipping department"?
Mr. CADIGAN. Yes.
Mr. EISENBERG. May I have this admitted, Mr. Chairman?
Mr. DULLES. That may be admitted.
Mr. EISENBERG. That will be No. 677.
Mr. DULLES. 677 may be admitted.
(Commission Exhibit No. 677 was marked, and received in evidence.)
Mr. EISENBERG. Did you find out from precisely what portion of the
Texas School Book Depository Building this was obtained, Mr. Cadigan?
Mr. CADIGAN. Yes; this comes from the first floor, main floor of the
Texas School Book Depository, referred to as the shipping room, the
whole floor.
Mr. EISENBERG. Now, did you--who supplied you with this sample, this
Exhibit 677?
Mr. CADIGAN. This exhibit was brought to the laboratory by Special
Agent Drain of our Dallas office, who brought all of this evidence in
for examination.
Mr. EISENBERG. Did you attempt to determine whether Exhibit 142 had the
same origin as the paper in Exhibit 677, or might have had the same
origin?
Mr. CADIGAN. Yes; I examined the two papers--do you wish me to state my
opinion?
Mr. EISENBERG. Yes; please.
Mr. CADIGAN. Well, initially, I was requested to compare the two papers
to see if they could have originated from the same source. I first
measured the paper and the tape samples. Then I looked at them visually
by natural light, then incident light and transmitted light.
Mr. EISENBERG. What do you mean by transmitted light?
Mr. CADIGAN. Well, light coming right on through the paper.