Mr. DAY. Stairway coming down from the third floor.
Mr. BELIN. I will hand you what has been marked "743" and ask you to
state if you know what this is.
Mr. DAY. 743 is a photograph of the stairway leading to the third floor
from the second floor of the southwest corner of the Texas School Book
Depository. Make a correction on that previous picture 742. I stated
that was taken from a position of the stairway leading to the third
floor. It should read taken from a position of the stairway leading to
the first floor.
Mr. BELIN. Is there any other evidence pertaining to fingerprints or
palmprints that you have not discussed?
Mr. DAY. I can't think of any at the present time. I believe that
pretty well covers my participation in this investigation.
Mr. BELIN. Is there any other evidence that you can think of pertaining
to the rifle that you have not discussed that you can think of at this
time?
Mr. DAY. Not that I can think of.
Mr. BELIN. Is there any other thing that you did pertaining to the
investigation of the assassination of the President that you can think
of at this time?
Mr. DAY. Under my direction they made paraffin casts of the hand of Lee
Harvey Oswald in Captain Fritz' office.
Mr. BELIN. This was done under your direction?
Mr. DAY. I directed them to make it, and also paraffin casts or just of
a piece of paraffin on the left side of the face to see if there were
any nitrates there.
Mr. BELIN. On the left side or right side of the face?
Mr. DAY. Right side.
Mr. BELIN. Do you know what the results of the paraffin tests were?
Mr. DAY. The test on the face was negative.
Mr. BELIN. Had you ever done a paraffin test on a face before?
Mr. DAY. No; actually--had it not been for the particular type of case
and this particular situation here--we would not have at this time. It
was just something that was done to actually keep from someone saying
later on, "Why didn't you do it?"
Actually, in my experience there, shooting a rifle with a telescopic
sight there would be no chance for nitrates to get way back or on the
side of the face from a rifle.
Mr. BELIN. Well, the chamber, the nature of the chamber of the rifle,
would that have anything to do with that?
Mr. DAY. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. In what way?
Mr. DAY. A rifle such as that one we are talking about here from the
sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository, in my opinion, would
not throw nitrates back to where a man's face was when he is looking
through a telescopic sight.
Mr. BELIN. Well, when you ran these tests you had understood that the
man, Oswald, had fired a pistol, too, hadn't he?
Mr. DAY. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Would you expect to have any positive tests from a pistol on
the cheek?
Mr. DAY. I would expect more with a revolver with an open cylinder than
I would from a rifle. Actually, for most practical purposes, I would
not be surprised if there would be no nitrates from a man firing a
rifle.
Mr. BELIN. What about on the hands?
Mr. DAY. Even on the hands. It is possible, but it is more likely with
a revolver where you have a revolving cylinder and an opening between
the cylinder and the actual barrel where the nitrates can come out.
Mr. McCLOY. That was the type of pistol that was used to kill Tippit,
wasn't it?
Mr. DAY. Yes, sir.
Mr. McCLOY. Did the paraffin show up nitrate?
Mr. DAY. Yes, sir; nitrates were present on the cast made of Oswald's
hands.
Mr. BELIN. Is there anything else, are there any other comments you
have with regard to the paraffin test, sir?
Mr. DAY. No, sir.
Mr. BELIN. You are showing me your report of paraffin findings. Is this
the same report that was sent into the FBI, if you know?
Mr. DAY. I think they were sent a report. This is the report submitted
by the laboratory at Dallas who first processed this paraffin. Later
on the FBI did come and want this paraffin, and it was turned over to
them, also the can from which this was made. I don't know what purpose
they wanted it for.
Mr. BELIN. I believe you mentioned that you took a measurement of the
area in which the long paper bag was found to show how big an area that
was with relation to the easternmost pair of windows on the east side
of the building, and the--on the south side of the building rather--and
on the southeast corner juncture of the south wall to the east wall.
Mr. DAY. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. All right. Handing you what has been marked as "Commission
Exhibit 734"--you are using another exhibit there----
Mr. DAY. It is the same, it would be the same. I just had my
measurements on there, was all.
Mr. BELIN. 729, is this the one that you have here?
Mr. DAY. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. All right.
How far would the distance be between the east wall and the east side
of that easternmost pipe?
Mr. DAY. Two feet, seven inches.
Mr. BELIN. Do you have what the measurements were between the south
wall and that box that you tore the piece off of to make the palmprint
takeoff?
Mr. DAY. Yes, sir; it would be 19-1/2 inches. Actually the box was
marked "18 inches." If you will note there are six boards. I thought
they were 3 inches wide. On doublechecking I found they were 3-1/4
inches wide which would make a 1-1/2 inch difference in six boards.
Mr. BELIN. And I believe you have already said that the bag was folded
over when it was found, is that correct?
Mr. DAY. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Now, on the picture, 734, this is the reconstruction of the
boxes in the window, is that correct?
Mr. DAY. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Does that represent, to the best of your recollection, the
way the boxes were at the time you first came upon the crime scene, if
you know?
Mr. DAY. It is an approximate location. I may be a little too far from
the west to what they actually were when we got there on November 22.
Mr. BELIN. Is there any other information you can think of, any facts
that you can think of, whether I have asked you or not, that you feel
are in any way relevant to the area of inquiry, the assassination of
the President, the murder of Officer Tippit, or anything else?
Mr. DAY. I can't think of anything right now.
Mr. BELIN. All right.
Now, I'm going to hand you what has been marked as "Commission Exhibit
744," and ask you to state if you know what this is.
Mr. DAY. 744 is a picture of Officer M. N. McDonald, and shows
the scratch on the side of his face made somewhere close to 2
p.m., November 22, 1963, by Detective J. M. Craft--correction, I
believe he is a patrolman, Patrolman J. M. Craft, who is assigned
to identification, to the identification bureau, and did the actual
snapping of the shutter.
Mr. BELIN. Was this picture taken under your supervision?
Mr. DAY. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. I am going to hand you what has been marked "Commission
Exhibit 745" and ask you to state if you know what this is.
Mr. DAY. 745 is a photograph of Don Ray Ables, Dallas Police Department
jail clerk, who was on duty, and placed in the showup November--I don't
know whether it was the 23d or 22d, one of those 2 days, along with Lee
Harvey Oswald at the Dallas Police Department showup room.
Mr. BELIN. Do you know about how tall Don Ray Ables is, if you know?
Mr. DAY. He is about 5'6", or 7", but I would have to get his accurate
measurements to get it. In other words, he is not a large man.
Mr. McCLOY. There were more than he in the showup with Oswald, which
Oswald was in, that is, he wasn't the only one in the showup besides
Oswald?
Mr. DAY. I don't think so, but I don't know, sir.
Mr. McCLOY. You weren't present at the showup?
Mr. DAY. No, sir.
Mr. BELIN. At this time we would offer and introduce into evidence
Exhibits 736 through 745.
Mr. McCLOY. They may be admitted.
(The items marked Commission Exhibits Nos. 736 through 745 for
identification were received in evidence.)
Mr. BELIN. Any other questions that you have, Mr. McCloy?
Mr. McCLOY. On the crime scene, that is, on the sixth floor, did you
notice any chicken bones or chicken remnants of a chicken sandwich or
lunch or the whereabouts, if you did see them?
Mr. DAY. Yes, sir; there was a sack of some chicken bones and a bottle
brought into the identification bureau. I think I still have that sack
and bottle down there. The chicken bones, I finally threw them away
that laid around there.
In my talking to the men who were working on that floor, November 25,
they stated, one of them stated, he had eaten lunch over there.
Mr. McCLOY. Someone other than Oswald?
Mr. DAY. Yes, sir; so I discarded it, or disconnected it with being
with Oswald. Incidentally, Oswald's fingerprints were not on the
bottle. I checked that.
Mr. McCLOY. They were not on the bottle?
Mr. DAY. No, sir.
Mr. McCLOY. Did you go on the fifth floor and make any investigation on
the fifth floor?
Mr. DAY. I was there but I didn't have any photographs taken or do much
investigating there.
My work was mostly confined to the sixth, second and the first floors.
Mr. McCLOY. I noticed that in the picture you took of the sixth floor
window, the picture that had the hulls on the floor, there seemed to be
a break in the floor between--against the wall where the wood did not
reach the brick of the wall. Was that hole, so far as you recall, all
the way through from the sixth floor to the fifth floor?
Mr. DAY. No, sir; I checked that. A hull could not go down through
there. You could see the bottom of it. There was no hull in there.
Mr. McCLOY. I'm not saying there was any hull in there. I was wondering
whether that aperture, whatever it was, not related to the hulls,
whether that went all the way through to the fifth floor.
Mr. DAY. No, sir; I don't think so. I think it was tight there and
nothing----
Mr. McCLOY. The colored man testified he could see air from the fifth
floor to the sixth floor.
Mr. DAY. I may be wrong, but I did make a search in that area for the
hulls and determined none could be in there. As far as from the bottom
looking up, I couldn't say.
Mr. McCLOY. I don't think I can think of anything else to ask you,
anything else I would like to ask you, Lieutenant Day.
Mr. BELIN. Lieutenant Day, we want to thank you for your splendid
cooperation here. We appreciate your coming up and staying over and
staying late tonight, and we know it has taken time on your part.
Mr. DAY. I hope I have helped you and not confused you.
Mr. McCLOY. You indicated one thing, Lieutenant, that you didn't have
quite the proper equipment here tonight to make the comparisons that
you might want to make.
Mr. DAY. Yes, sir.
Mr. McCLOY. Did I hear that you were going to stay over and go to the
FBI laboratory in the morning?
Mr. DAY. Well, they are trying to make reservations to leave tonight
if they can get them. I do not know whether they can. On that print
it would take me some work to do that before I could eliminate all
possibility of it not being his print. I feel it is his from what I
have seen of it, but before I can take the witness stand and say that
is his, I would want to do some more work on it. What it would take, I
don't know. I understand that it was identified. What process they used
I don't know.
Mr. McCLOY. By someone else, by some other agency?
Mr. DAY. Yes.
Mr. McCLOY. Can you restate again for the record what you can
positively identify in terms of fingerprints or palmprints and
Oswald's----
Mr. DAY. The palmprint on the box he apparently sat on I can definitely
say it is his without being in fear of any error. The other, I think it
is his, but I couldn't say definitely on a witness stand.
Mr. McCLOY. By the other, you mean the other palmprint?
Mr. DAY. The palmprint and that tracer print aside the trigger housing
or the magazine housing.
Mr. McCLOY. Thank you very much.
(Whereupon, at 9:15 p.m. the President's Commission recessed.)
_Thursday, April 23, 1964_
TESTIMONY OF LYNDAL L. SHANEYFELT, ROBERT INMAN BOUCK, ROBERT CARSWELL,
AND WINSTON G. LAWSON
The President's Commission met at 9:10 a.m. on April 23, 1964, at 200
Maryland Avenue NE., Washington, D.C.
Present were Chief Justice Earl Warren, Chairman; Senator John Sherman
Cooper, Representative Gerald R. Ford, John J. McCloy, and Allen W.
Dulles, members.
Also present were Melvin Aron Eisenberg, assistant counsel; Samuel A.
Stern, assistant counsel; Howard P. Willens, assistant counsel; Charles
Murray, observer; and Dean Robert G. Storey, special counsel to the
attorney general of Texas.