The CHAIRMAN. Before we get off that, may I ask you this, Commander: If
we had the pictures here and you could look them over again and restate
your opinion, would it cause you to change any of the testimony you
have given here?
Commander HUMES. To the best of my recollection, Mr. Chief Justice, it
would not.
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. McCloy.
Mr. McCLOY. May I ask this question?
The CHAIRMAN. Go right ahead.
Mr. McCLOY. Do you have any knowledge as to whether or not any
photographs were taken in Dallas?
Commander HUMES. I have none, sir, no knowledge.
Mr. McCLOY. No knowledge that any were taken?
Representative FORD. May I ask what size are the pictures to which you
refer?
Commander HUMES. We exposed both black and white and color negatives,
Congressman. They were exposed in the morgue during the examination.
They were not developed. The kodachrome negatives when developed would
be 405. They were in film carriers or cassettes, as were the black and
white. Of course they could be magnified.
Representative FORD. Have those been examined by personnel at Bethesda?
Commander HUMES. No, sir. We exposed these negatives; we turned them
over. Here I must ask the counsel again for advice--to the Secret
Service.
Mr. SPECTER. Yes; it was the Secret Service.
Commander HUMES. They were turned over to the Secret Service in their
cassettes unexposed, and I have not seen any of them since. This is the
photographs. The X-rays were developed in our X-ray department on the
spot that evening, because we had to see those right then as part of
our examination, but the photographs were made for the record and for
other purposes.
Representative FORD. But they had never been actually developed for
viewing.
Commander HUMES. I do not know, sir.
Mr. SPECTER. Doctor Humes, back to the angles for just a moment.
Commander HUMES. Yes, sir.
Mr. SPECTER. Hypothesize or assume, if you will, that other evidence
will show that the wound inflicted on Commission Exhibit 385 at point
C occurred while the President was riding in the rear seat of his
automobile approximately 100 feet from a point of origin in a six-floor
building nearby, and assume further that the wound inflicted in 388 at
point A occurred when the President was approximately 250 feet away
from the same point.
With those assumptions in mind, there would be somewhat different
angles of declination going from C to D on 385 and from A to B on 388.
Commander HUMES. I would expect there would.
Mr. SPECTER. You have already testified earlier today that you were
unable to pinpoint with precision angle A to B on 388 because of the
reconstruction of the scalp.
Now my question to you, in that elongated fashion, is from what you
know and what you have described, are the angles, as you have expressed
them to be in your opinion, consistent with a situation where the two
wounds were inflicted at the angles and at the distances just described
to you?
Commander HUMES. I believe they are consistent. I would state that the
path outlined on 388-A to B is to a certain extent conjectural for the
reasons given before.
Mr. SPECTER. Now, Doctor Humes, I hand you a group of documents which
have been marked as Commission Exhibit No. 397 and ask you if you can
identify what they are?
Commander HUMES. Yes, sir; these are various notes in long-hand, or
copies rather, of various notes in long-hand made by myself, in part,
during the performance of the examination of the late President, and in
part after the examination when I was preparing to have a typewritten
report made.
Mr. SPECTER. Are there also included there some notes that you made
while you talked to Doctor Perry on the telephone?
Commander HUMES. Yes, sir; there are.
Mr. SPECTER. Are there any notes which you made at any time which are
not included in this group of notes?
Commander HUMES. Yes, sir; there are.
Mr. SPECTER. And what do those consist of?
Commander HUMES. In privacy of my own home, early in the morning of
Sunday, November 24th, I made a draft of this report which I later
revised, and of which this represents the revision. That draft I
personally burned in the fireplace of my recreation room.
Mr. SPECTER. May the record show that the Exhibit No. 397 is the
identical document which has been previously identified as Commission
No. 371 for our internal purposes.
Is the first sheet then in that group the notes you made when you
talked to Doctor Perry?
Commander HUMES. That is correct, sir.
Mr. SPECTER. And do the next 15 sheets represent the rough draft which
was later copied into the autopsy report which has been heretofore
identified with an exhibit number?
Commander HUMES. That is correct, sir.
Mr. SPECTER. And what do the next two sheets represent?
Commander HUMES. The next two sheets are the notes actually made in the
room in which the examination was taking place. I notice now that the
handwriting in some instances is not my own, and it is either that of
Commander Boswell or Colonel Finck.
Mr. SPECTER. And was that writing made at the same time that the
autopsy report was undertaken; that is, did you review all of the
markings on those papers and note them to be present when you completed
the autopsy report?
Commander HUMES. Yes, sir. From the time of the completion of this
examination until the submission of the written report following its
preparation, all of the papers pertinent to this case were in my
personal custody.
Mr. SPECTER. Have you now described all of the documents which were
present in that 397, Exhibit No. 397?
Commander HUMES. Yes, sir; with the exception of the certification
to the fact that I, in fact, detailed them in my custody, and a
certification that I had destroyed certain preliminary draft notes.
Mr. SPECTER. And these represent all the notes except those you have
already described which you destroyed?
Commander HUMES. That is correct, sir.
Mr. SPECTER. Now, just one point on the notes themselves. Page 14 of
your rough draft, Doctor Humes, as to the point of origin, the notes
show that there was a revision between your first draft and your final
report.
Commander HUMES. Yes, sir.
Mr. SPECTER. Will you first of all read into the record the final
conclusion reflected in your final report.
Commander HUMES. I would rather read it from the final report. The
final report reads:
"The projectiles were fired from a point behind and somewhat above the
level of the deceased."
Mr. SPECTER. And what did the first draft of that sentence as shown on
page 14 of your rough draft state?
Commander HUMES. It stated as follows:
"The projectiles were fired from a point behind and somewhat above a
horizontal line to the vertical position of the body at the moment of
impact."
Mr. SPECTER. Now would you state the reason for making that
modification between draft and final report, please?
Commander HUMES. This examination, as I have indicated, was performed
by myself with my two associates. The notes which we have just admitted
as an exhibit are in my own hand and are my opinion, was my opinion at
that time, as to the best way to present the facts which we had gleaned
during this period.
Before submitting it to the typist, I went over this with great care
with my two associates. One or the other of them raised the point
that perhaps this sentence would state more than what was absolutely
fact based upon our observations, pointing out that we did not know
precisely at that time in what position the body of the President was
when the missiles struck, and that therefore we should be somewhat
less specific and somewhat more circumspect than the way we stated it.
When I considered this suggestion, I agreed that it would be better to
change it as noted, and accordingly, I did so.
Mr. SPECTER. Mr. Chief Justice, I move now for the admission into
evidence of Exhibit No. 397.
The CHAIRMAN. It may be admitted.
(The documents, previously marked Exhibit No. 397 for identification,
were received in evidence.)
Mr. McCLOY. May I ask one question about the notes? The notes that you
made contemporaneously with your examination, you said you put those
down and then you put some in later. How much later were the notes,
within the best of your recollection of the final notes made, not the
final report, but the final notes that you made in your own handwriting?
Commander HUMES. The examination was concluded approximately at 11
o'clock on the night of November 22. The final changes in the notes
prior to the typing of the report were made, and I will have to give
you the time because whatever time Mr. Oswald was shot, that is
about when I finished. I was working in an office, and someone had a
television on and came in and told me that Mr. Oswald had been shot,
and that was around noon on Sunday, November 24th.
Mr. SPECTER. Mr. Chief Justice, I have now marked another photograph
as the next exhibit number, Commission Exhibit 398. May I say to the
Commission that this is a photograph which, subject to later proof,
will show it to be taken immediately after the President was struck by
the first bullet.
The CHAIRMAN. It may be marked.
(The photograph was marked Commission Exhibit No. 398 for
identification.)
May I move for its admission into evidence at this time for this
purpose?
The CHAIRMAN. It may be admitted.
(The photograph, previously marked Commission Exhibit No. 398 for
identification, was received in evidence.)
Looking at Commission Exhibit 398, Doctor Humes, with that as a
background, have you had an opportunity to review the medical reports
on Governor Connally at Parkland Hospital in Commission Exhibit 392?
Commander HUMES. I have.
Mr. SPECTER. Have you noted the wounds which he sustained on his right
wrist, that is, Governor Connally's right wrist?
Commander HUMES. Yes, sir; I have noted the report of it in these
records.
Mr. SPECTER. What does the report show as to those wounds on the right
wrist?
Commander HUMES. The report shows a wound of entrance on the dorsal
aspect of the right wrist. Let's get the precise point here. The wound
of entry is described as on the dorsal aspect of the right wrist above
the junction of the distal fourth of the radius and the shaft. It was
approximately two centimeters in length and rather oblique, with the
loss of tissue, and some considerable contusions at the margins. There
was a wound of exit along the volar surface of the wrist about two
centimeters above the flexion crease of the wrist in the midline.
Mr. SPECTER. Doctor Humes, I show you a bullet which we have marked as
Commission Exhibit No. 399, and may I say now that, subject to later
proof, this is the missile which has been taken from the stretcher
which the evidence now indicates was the stretcher occupied by Governor
Connally.