Part 14

Mr. STOMBAUGH. Yes, sir; I did. I tried to match these fibers with the fibers in the blanket, and found that they had not originated from the blanket, because the cotton fibers were of entirely different colors. So I happened to think of the shirt and I made a known sample of the shirt fibers.

Mr. EISENBERG. What does that mean?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. I removed fibers from the shirt to determine the composition of it and also the colors. I found that the shirt was composed of dark-blue, grayish-black, and orangish-yellow cotton fibers, and that these were the same shades of fibers I had found on the butt plate of the gun.

Mr. DULLES. Did you find all three shades?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. All three shades; yes, sir.

Mr. EISENBERG. All three shades were found on the fragments that were found in the butt of the gun?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. Yes.

Mr. EISENBERG. Have you made photographs showing these, color photographs showing these?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. Yes, sir. Color photographs are very difficult to make microscopically because the color isn't always identical to what you see in the microscope. So these colors are slightly off.

Mr. EISENBERG. You have shown a chart captioned "Microphotograph Showing Match Between Orange-Yellow Cotton Fibers From Butt Plate of Assassination Rifle and Orange-Yellow Cotton Fibers From Oswald's Shirt." Did you take this photograph?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. No; it was taken under my supervision.

Mr. EISENBERG. It was taken under your supervision.

Mr. Chairman, may I submit this as 674.

Mr. DULLES. It will be admitted, 674.

(The item referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 674, and was received in evidence.)

Mr. EISENBERG. What is the magnification?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. I believe this was 400 also. I am not certain of this, because the shot itself has also been enlarged.

Mr. EISENBERG. Now you were discussing the reproduction of the color in the photomicrograph?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. Yes, sir. These are the orangish-yellow fibers. The color is not exactly the same as what one would see under the microscope.

However, you can see that the fibers on both sides, namely, the fiber from the rifle here, and this----

Mr. DULLES. On the right-hand side----

Mr. STOMBAUGH. On the right-hand side.

Mr. DULLES. Of Exhibit 674?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. And the fibers from the shirt, which are on the left-hand side of Exhibit 674, do match. The colors are the same and also, we find the same twist in the fiber.

Mr. EISENBERG. Now, was the orange-yellow cotton fiber--were the orange-yellow cotton fibers in the shirt of a uniform shade?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. Yes; they were all of a uniform shade. It was what we would call a uniform dye job.

Mr. EISENBERG. What about the twist?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. The twist was about normal. These, you can see here.

Mr. EISENBERG. You are pointing to the right-hand side and left-hand side of 674?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. You can see the twist to these fibers.

Mr. EISENBERG. Did they have a uniform twist?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. Uniform.

Mr. EISENBERG. So that the match was identical as to twist and shade, and the fibers in the shirt were uniform in themselves as to these two characteristics, is that correct?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. Yes; that is correct.

Mr. EISENBERG. Did you take a photograph of the gray-black cotton fibers?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. These are the gray-black cotton fibers and the color didn't come out well on these in this instance because of time and color process limitations.

Mr. EISENBERG. Just a second. You have a chart here--a photomicrograph--captioned "Microphotograph Showing Match Between Gray-Black Cotton Fibers From Butt Plate of Assassination Rifle, etc. and Gray-Black Cotton Fibers From Oswald's Shirt."

Did you take these photographs or were they taken under your supervision?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. Under my supervision.

Mr. EISENBERG. May I have this admitted as 675?

Mr. DULLES. 675, it will be admitted.

(The item referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 675, and received in evidence.)

Mr. STOMBAUGH. The same would apply to Exhibit 675 as to 674, with the exception of the color. The color on these is much darker and we tried up to last night to duplicate the exact color and this is the best I could come up with under the time and color process limitations. It took us about 4 hours to make a photograph such as this.

Mr. EISENBERG. There is an apparent match of colors in the photograph----

Mr. STOMBAUGH. But there is one----

Mr. EISENBERG. I say, there is an apparent match in photographs, in color, or is that just my eyes deceiving me?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. This one appears to be slightly lighter than this shade.

Mr. EISENBERG. I see.

Mr. STOMBAUGH. But actually they are both a gray black, almost black in color.

Mr. EISENBERG. But under the microscope they were identical, and a different shade than what we see in Exhibit 675?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. That is correct.

Mr. EISENBERG. In all these cases did you make your determination of color and match under the microscope, or by use of the photographs?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. Under the microscope.

Mr. EISENBERG. And these are illustrative and prepared for the Commission's use?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. Yes, sir.

Mr. EISENBERG. Now, you have a chart of photomicrograph captioned "Match Between Dark Blue Cotton Fibers From Butt Plate of Assassination Rifle, etc." Did you prepare these photographs or were they prepared under your supervision?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. Under my supervision.

Mr. EISENBERG. May I have these received as Exhibit 676?

Mr. DULLES. 676.

(The item referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 676, and was received in evidence.)

Mr. EISENBERG. What is the magnification of 675 and 676, by the way?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. All of these were made at approximately 400 diameters.

Mr. EISENBERG. Did you find a color match here?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. Yes; the color match of the dark blue cotton fibers shows rather well in this photograph, Exhibit 676.

Mr. EISENBERG. Now there is also a violet-colored fiber running through the right-hand side of 676.

Mr. STOMBAUGH. Yes, sir; I asked the photographer about this when he developed this and I said, "Why did we get this, this is not in the slide at all," and he said that is one of the orange fibers. They use different techniques in bringing out the blue and the yellow-orange in a photomicrograph.

Mr. DULLES. The shades are the fiber of the blanket?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. No; this shade in the photograph is different from what that fiber actually is. It is in the development process. I am not too familiar with color photography. There is an art to it. However, I do know that there are times and technical limitations on the accuracy of color reproductions.

Mr. EISENBERG. Mr. Stombaugh, were the shades in--were the shades of the dark blue cotton fibers uniform throughout the shirt which is pictured in Commission Exhibit 673?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. No sir; the dark blue fibers had some lighter shades and some slightly darker shades.

Mr. EISENBERG. About how many different shades?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. There were only about three in this.

Mr. EISENBERG. Do you recall how many dark blue fibers you got from the butt plate?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. I believe a total of six or seven fibers from the butt plate and three of them are blue fibers and all matched.

Mr. EISENBERG. Do you recall whether they were one or more shades?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. Two shades.

Mr. EISENBERG. So that two of the fibers were two different shades of blue?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. Yes.

Mr. EISENBERG. And they matched two different shades of blue in the shirt out of a total of three different shades of blue?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. That is correct.

Mr. EISENBERG. And you testified before there were about 50 to 100 ranges of shade of green cotton. What about the ranges in shades of blue cotton?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. The same would apply to blue cotton.

Mr. EISENBERG. And the ranges in shades of orange yellow cotton?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. The orange-yellow cotton I have here----

Mr. EISENBERG. 674.

Mr. STOMBAUGH. This is a shade of a yellow cotton fiber, it appears orange yellow under a microscope. Sometimes you get greenish yellow. These will vary, the orange-yellow shade itself might be only two variations in orange yellow, but in a greenish yellow it might be 50 to 100.

Mr. EISENBERG. There was a gray-black cotton fiber in the shirt. Were they uniform between themselves as to color?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. Yes; these were uniform.

Mr. EISENBERG. How many shades of gray, in the gray-black area, can you distinguish?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. The gray-black in itself would be similar to the orange-yellow and would be possibly two or three.

Mr. EISENBERG. And in the black taken as a broader----

Mr. STOMBAUGH. Black taken in itself would go from, all the way from, very grayish-light gray all the way down to dense black.

Mr. EISENBERG. How many different shades can you distinguish?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. Black is different. There are only about 25 or 30 shades, I would say, in black.

Mr. EISENBERG. So you identified the fibers you found on the butt plate as matching the fibers you found in the shirt, not only as to color but as to shades within those colors, out of a range going from 25 in the gray-black or black area to 50 to 100 in the yellow and blue areas?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. That is correct.

Mr. EISENBERG. And degrees of twist were all the same?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. They were the same.

Mr. EISENBERG. Any other characteristics?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. Just type of fibers, they were all cotton fibers.

Mr. EISENBERG. On the basis of these examinations, did you draw a conclusion as to the probability of the cotton fibers found in the butt plate having come from the shirt pictured in Exhibit 673?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. Yes, sir; it was my opinion that these fibers could easily have come from the shirt.

Mr. EISENBERG. Could you go into that in a little more detail, Mr. Stombaugh?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. Yes. Mainly because the fibers or the shirt is composed of point one, cotton, and point two, three basic colors. I found all three colors together on the gun.

Now if the shirt had been composed of 10 or 15 different colors and types of fibers and I only had found 3 of them, then I would feel that I had not found enough, but I found fibers on the gun which I could match with the fibers composing this shirt, so I feel the fibers could easily have come from the shirt.

Mr. EISENBERG. Mr. Stombaugh, I asked you a hypothetical question before concerning whether the rifle could have been a mechanism for transferring fibers from the blanket into the paper bag, and as I recall you said it could have.

Now, is it inconsistent with that answer that no fibers were found on the gun which matched the fibers in the blanket?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. No; because the gun was dusted for fingerprints and any fibers that were loosely adhering to it could have been dusted off.

The only reason, I feel, that these fibers remained on the butt plate is because they were pulled from the fabric by the jagged edge and adhered to the gun and then the fingerprint examiner with his brush, I feel, when brushing and dusting this butt plate, stroked them down into that crevice where they couldn't be knocked off.

In time these fibers would have undoubtedly become dislodged and fallen off the gun.

Mr. EISENBERG. Mr. Stombaugh, is there anything you would like to add to your testimony?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. No, sir; I can think of nothing else.

Mr. DULLES. And you found no other pieces of fabric or other foreign material on the gun?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. Nothing that I could associate with either the blanket or the shirt. I found----

Mr. DULLES. Or the paper bag?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. Or the paper bag; no, sir.

Mr. EISENBERG. Just one further question. You said something like, "It was possible the fibers could have come from the shirt." Could you estimate the degree of probability that the fibers came from the shirt, the fibers in the butt plate?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. Well, this is difficult because we don't know how many different shirts were made out of this same type of fabric, or for that matter how many identical shirts are in existence.

Mr. EISENBERG. Mr. Stombaugh, I gather that, and correct me if I am wrong, that in your area as opposed to the fingerprint area, you prefer to present the facts rather than draw conclusions as to probabilities, is that correct?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. That is correct. I have been asked this question many times. There are some experts who will say well, the chances are 1 in 1,000, this, that, and the other, and everyone who had said that and been brought to our attention we have been able to prove them wrong, insofar as application to our fiber problems is concerned.

Mr. EISENBERG. You mean prove them wrong in terms of their mathematics?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. There is just no way at this time to be able to positively state that a particular small group of fibers came from a particular source, because there just aren't enough microscopic characteristics present in these fibers.

We cannot say, "Yes, these fibers came from this shirt to the exclusion of all other shirts."

Mr. EISENBERG. We appreciate your conservatism, but the Commission, of course, has to make an estimate, and what I am trying to find out is whether your conservatism, whether your conclusions, reflect the inability to draw mathematical determinations or conclusions, or reflect your own doubts?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. No.

Mr. EISENBERG. Can you tell us which that is?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. There is no doubt in my mind that these fibers could have come from this shirt. There is no way, however, to eliminate the possibility of the fibers having come from another identical shirt.

Mr. EISENBERG. Now, in your mind what do you feel about the origin of the fibers you found in the bag?

Mr. STOMBAUGH. I didn't find enough fibers in the bag to form an opinion on those.

Now if I would have found, say 15 or 20 fibers and all 15 or 20 matched the fibers from the blanket, then I could say, "Yes, I feel that these very easily could have come from the blanket." But I didn't. I only found two of the many types.

Mr. EISENBERG. Okay. I have no further questions.

Mr. DULLES. Do you have any further questions?

Mr. MURRAY. No; I have no further questions.

Mr. DULLES. I have no further questions.

Thank you, Mr. Stombaugh, we appreciate your coming.

TESTIMONY OF JAMES C. CADIGAN

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.

Mr. EISENBERG. Then----

Mr. DULLES. Natural light?

Mr. CADIGAN. Yes; natural light.

Mr. DULLES. As distinct from electric light?

Mr. CADIGAN. Both. In the room I am in you can go over to the window for natural light and use ceiling light for artificial light which has a little different property than the outside light.

Mr. DULLES. Yes.

Mr. CADIGAN. I looked at the papers under various lighting conditions----

Mr. EISENBERG. Excuse me a minute, Mr. Cadigan, by "transmitted light" you mean the light transmitted when you hold the object between the light source and your own eyes?

Mr. CADIGAN. Yes; then I put it under the microscope, and again looked at it from the standpoint of the surface, paper structure, the color, any imperfections. I further noted that on both of the tapes----

Mr. EISENBERG. 142 is the paper bag.

Mr. CADIGAN. On 142 and on the tape on 677 there were a series of marks right down about the center of the tape.

Mr. EISENBERG. Can you see those visually with the unaided eye, or only under a microscope?

Mr. CADIGAN. I can see them visually. The microscope makes it look clearer.

Mr. DULLES. What are you pointing to now?

Mr. EISENBERG. This line here.

Mr. DULLES. Where is this?

Mr. CADIGAN. These are a series of lines running right here about a half-inch high, they are very closely spaced.

Mr. DULLES. Oh, yes; these are perpendicular lines.

Mr. CADIGAN. Yes, sir.

Mr. DULLES. Would you like to see these, Mr. Murray?

Mr. MURRAY. Yes; thank you.

Mr. DULLES. They are quite clear, about a tenth of an inch apart or less than that.

Mr. CADIGAN. Well, actually they are 24-1/2 spaces per inch, which would be about 25 lines per inch.

Mr. MURRAY. Pockmarks?

Mr. CADIGAN. A series of little short marks right close together.

Mr. MURRAY. Oh, yes.

Mr. DULLES. And they run along about how far on this particular exhibit?

Mr. CADIGAN. They run the whole length of the tape.

Mr. MURRAY. A comb design.

Mr. EISENBERG. Comb in the sense that it is a series of----

Mr. MURRAY. Comb or rake.

Mr. EISENBERG. Could you circle that on 677, and mark the portion "A"? Can you still make out the lines on Exhibit 640?

Mr. CADIGAN. Oh, yes.

Mr. EISENBERG. Could you circle a portion of the lines on 640 and mark it--I am sorry, that is 142.

Mr. CADIGAN. I have marked it.

Mr. EISENBERG. Mr. Dulles, would you care to look at it?

Mr. DULLES. And--oh, yes--and they go over a good deal further than your circle?

Mr. CADIGAN. Yes, sir.

Mr. DULLES. They run right across.

Mr. CADIGAN. I might explain that these are made by a wheel in the paper-tape dispenser. [Referring to an object in the room.] It is not quite this size, but it is similar to this and it has horizontal markings running all around the wheel.

As you pull the operating handle that pulls the paper tape from the roll through the machine and over the wetting brush, the wheel, in the process leaves these markings on the tape.

Mr. EISENBERG. Excuse me, Mr. Cadigan, would this be in the type of tape dispenser which is operated not merely by a handle--by a handpull--to the tape from the dispenser, but is operated--that is operated by a lever?

Mr. CADIGAN. Yes; a lever, a handle.

Mr. EISENBERG. And a given quantity of tape is dispensed, which you can cut off or not as you choose--if you want to, you can pull some more tape and cut it off, is that correct?

Mr. CADIGAN. That is correct.

Mr. EISENBERG. And this wheel, as I understand it, when you pull the lever this wheel forces the paper out?

Mr. CADIGAN. It turns, and it is really pulling the paper from the roll and pushing it out from the slot.

Mr. EISENBERG. That has a slight knurl which grasps the paper?

Mr. CADIGAN. It has a slight ridge all around it which is the cause of these marks on the paper tape.

Mr. EISENBERG. Okay.

Mr. DULLES. Is that a defect in the mark or a peculiar----

Mr. CADIGAN. Oh, no; it is designed that way. Those little, you might say, in effect, teeth, go into the paper and pull it through smoothly.

Mr. EISENBERG. If I went into Woolworths and bought a roll of gummed tape, would it have those marks on it?

Mr. CADIGAN. No.

Mr. EISENBERG. Because it only gets the marks when you put it in the dispensing machine that you have in commercial establishments?

Mr. CADIGAN. That is correct.

Mr. EISENBERG. Would it be common to have this type of dispensing machine in a home, by the way?

Mr. CADIGAN. I doubt very much that you would find it in a home.

Mr. EISENBERG. Now, within a commercial establishment, are there more than one type of dispensing machines?

Mr. CADIGAN. Oh, yes.

Mr. EISENBERG. Are there types that won't produce these lines at all?

Mr. CADIGAN. Yes. I might point out, too, that the number of lines per inch will vary depending on the diameter of that wheel. In this particular instance I found that there were 24-1/2 spaces, which would be 25 lines per inch, on both.

Mr. EISENBERG. I believe that is 142, the bag you are handling, and 677, the sample?

Mr. CADIGAN. Yes; the markings on the manila tape in both 142 and 677 were the same. Now, at that time I also had----

Mr. DULLES. Could we get just before you continue there, would you identify what 142 is and 677 is?