Part 40

Mr. DAY. No, sir.

Mr. BELIN. Do you have any estimate as to how wide or what the width was of that particular area in which the rifle was placed? In other words, the area between the boxes, how much space was there?

Mr. DAY. It was just wide enough to accommodate that rifle and hold it in an upright position.

Mr. BELIN. Was the location at which you found the rifle completely surrounded by boxes or was it kind of like two parallel rows of boxes without boxes at either end of it?

Mr. DAY. There was three or four rows of boxes there.

Mr. BELIN. What I mean is this: If you can visualize a narrow squared "O," was it more like a narrow squared "O" so far as the boxes were concerned, with sort of an island of space in the center or was it more like just two basic rows of boxes with nothing at either end?

Mr. DAY. I don't quite follow you there.

Mr. BELIN. I will restate the question this way.

Mr. DAY. There were four parallel lines of boxes. The second line from the north side was not completely filled. In other words, there was vacant places in this particular line.

Mr. BELIN. I am going to hand you what has been marked Commission Exhibit 139 and ask you to state if you know what this is.

Mr. DAY. This is the rifle found on the sixth floor of the Texas Book Store at 411 Elm Street, November 23, 1963.

Mr. BELIN. What date?

Mr. DAY. November 22, 1963.

Mr. BELIN. Does it have any identification mark of yours on it?

Mr. DAY. It has my name "J. C. Day" scratched on the stock.

Mr. BELIN. And on the stock you are pointing to your name which is scratched as you would hold the rifle and rest it on the stock, approximately an inch or so from the bottom of the stock on the sling side of the stock, is that correct?

Mr. DAY. Yes, sir.

Mr. BELIN. Do you have any recollection as to what the serial number was of that?

Mr. DAY. Yes, sir; I recorded it at the time, C-2566.

Mr. BELIN. Before you say that----

Mr. DAY. C-2766, excuse me.

Mr. BELIN. Do you have any record of that with you or not?

Mr. DAY. Yes, sir; this is the record I made of the gun when I took it back to the office. Now, the gun did not leave my possession.

Mr. BELIN. From the time it was found at the School Book Depository Building?

Mr. DAY. Yes, sir; I took the gun myself and retained possession, took it to the office where I dictated----

Mr. BELIN. Could you just read into the record what you dictated.

Mr. DAY. To my secretary. She wrote on the typewriter: "4 x 18, coated, Ordinance Optics, Inc., Hollywood, California, 010 Japan. OSC inside a clover-leaf design."

Mr. BELIN. What did that have reference to?

Mr. DAY. That was stamped on the scopic sight on top of the gun. On the gun itself, "6.5 caliber C-2766, 1940 made in Italy." That was what was on the gun.

I dictated certain other stuff, other information, for her to type for me.

Mr. BELIN. Well, you might just as well dictate the rest there.

Mr. DAY. "When bolt opened one live round was in the barrel. No prints are on the live round. Captain Fritz and Lieutenant Day opened the barrel. Captain Fritz has the live round. Three spent hulls were found under the window. They were picked up by Detective Sims and witnessed by Lieutenant Day and Studebaker. The clip is stamped 'SMI, 9 x 2.'"

Mr. BELIN. Could you tell us what other processing you did with this particular rifle?

Mr. DAY. Beg pardon?

Mr. BELIN. What other processing did you do with this particular rifle?

Mr. DAY. I took it to the office and tried to bring out the two prints I had seen on the side of the gun at the bookstore. They still were rather unclear. Due to the roughness of the metal, I photographed them rather than try to lift them.

I could also see a trace of a print on the side of the barrel that extended under the woodstock. I started to take the woodstock off and noted traces of a palmprint near the firing end of the barrel about 3 inches under the woodstock when I took the woodstock loose.

Mr. BELIN. You mean 3 inches from the small end of the woodstock?

Mr. DAY. Right--yes, sir.

Mr. McCLOY. From the firing end of the barrel, you mean the muzzle?

Mr. DAY. The muzzle; yes, sir.

Mr. BELIN. Let me clarify the record. By that you mean you found it on the metal or you mean you found it on the wood?

Mr. DAY. On the metal, after removing the wood.

Mr. BELIN. The wood. You removed the wood, and then underneath the wood is where you found the print?

Mr. DAY. On the bottom side of the barrel which was covered by the wood, I found traces of a palmprint. I dusted these and tried lifting them, the prints, with scotch tape in the usual manner. A faint palmprint came off.

I could still see traces of the print under the barrel and was going to try to use photography to bring off or bring out a better print. About this time I received instructions from the chief's office to go no further with the processing, it was to be released to the FBI for them to complete. I did not process the underside of the barrel under the scopic sight, did not get to this area of the gun.

Mr. BELIN. Do you know what Commission Exhibit No. 637 is?

Mr. DAY. This is the trace of palmprint I lifted off of the barrel of the gun after I had removed the wood.

Mr. BELIN. Does it have your name on it or your handwriting?

Mr. DAY. It has the name "J. C. Day," and also "11/22/63" written on it in my writing off the underside gun barrel near the end of foregrip, C-2766.

Mr. BELIN. When you lift a print is it then harder to make a photograph of that print after it is lifted or doesn't it make any difference?

Mr. DAY. It depends. If it is a fresh print, and by fresh I mean hadn't been there very long and dried, practically all the print will come off and there will be nothing left. If it is an old print, that is pretty well dried, many times you can still see it after the lift. In this case I could still see traces of print on that barrel.

Mr. BELIN. Did you do anything with the other prints or partial prints that you said you thought you saw?

Mr. DAY. I photographed them only. I did not try to lift them.

Mr. BELIN. Do you have those photographs, sir? I will mark the two photographs which you have just produced Commission Exhibits 720 and 721. I will ask you to state what these are.

Mr. DAY. These are prints or pictures, I should say, of the latent--of the traces of prints on the side of the magazine housing of the gun No. C-2766.

Mr. BELIN. Were those prints in such condition as to be identifiable, if you know?

Mr. DAY. No, sir; I could not make positive identification of these prints.

Mr. BELIN. Did you have enough opportunity to work and get these pictures or not?

Mr. DAY. I worked with them, yes. I could not exclude all possibility as to identification. I thought I knew which they were, but I could not positively identify them.

Mr. BELIN. What was your opinion so far as it went as to whose they were?

Mr. DAY. They appeared to be the right middle and right ring finger of Harvey Lee Oswald, Lee Harvey Oswald.

Mr. BELIN. At the time you had this did you have any comparison fingerprints to make with the actual prints of Lee Harvey Oswald?

Mr. DAY. Yes, sir; we had sets in Captain Fritz' office. Oswald was in his custody, we had made palmprints and fingerprints of him.

Mr. BELIN. Is there any other processing that you did with the rifle?

Mr. DAY. No, sir.

Mr. BELIN. At what time, if you know, did you release the rifle to the FBI?

Mr. DAY. 11:45 p.m. the rifle was released or picked up by them and taken from the office.

Mr. BELIN. Was that on November 22?

Mr. DAY. November 22, 1963.

Mr. BELIN. At what time did these same photographs which are the same as Commission Exhibit 720 and 721 of this print----

Mr. DAY. About 8 o'clock, somewhere around 8 o'clock, in that neighborhood.

Mr. BELIN. Of what date?

Mr. DAY. November 22, 1963.

Mr. BELIN. What about the lift which has previously been marked as Commission Exhibit 637?

Mr. DAY. About what?

Mr. BELIN. When did you turn that over to the FBI?

Mr. DAY. I released that to them on November 26, 1963. I did not release this----

Mr. BELIN. You are referring now----

Mr. DAY. On November 22.

Mr. BELIN. You are referring to Commission Exhibit 637?

Mr. DAY. Yes.

Mr. BELIN. Is there any particular reason why this was not released on the 22d?

Mr. DAY. The gun was being sent in to them for process of prints. Actually I thought the print on the gun was their best bet, still remained on there, and, too, there was another print, I thought possibly under the wood part up near the trigger housing.

Mr. BELIN. You mean the remaining traces of the powder you had when you got the lift, Exhibit 637, is that what you mean by the lift of the remaining print on the gun?

Mr. DAY. Yes, sir. Actually it was dried ridges on there. There were traces of ridges still on the gun barrel.

Mr. BELIN. Can you tell the circumstances under which you sent Exhibit 637 to the FBI?

Mr. DAY. We released certain evidence to the FBI, including the gun, on November 22. It was returned to us on November 24. Then on November 26 we received instructions to send back to the FBI everything that we had.

Mr. BELIN. Did you do that?

Mr. DAY. Yes, sir; and at that time I sent the lift marked----

Mr. BELIN. 637.

Mr. DAY. Yes. The gun was sent back again, and all of the other evidence that I had, including cartons from Texas Bookstore, and various other items, a rather lengthy list.

Mr. BELIN. Had the FBI in the interim returned the gun to you then after you sent it to them on November 22?

Mr. DAY. Yes, sir.

Mr. BELIN. When the rifle was photographed, as I understand it, you were the one who lifted it out of there, is that correct?

Mr. DAY. Yes, sir.

Mr. BELIN. Was it wedged in very tight or could you readily lift it up without moving any boxes?

Mr. DAY. It came out without moving any boxes. It wasn't wedged in.

Mr. McCLOY. Am I to understand your testimony, Lieutenant, about the fingerprints to be you said you were positive--you couldn't make a positive identification, but it was your opinion that these were the fingerprints of Lee Oswald?

Mr. DAY. Well, actually in fingerprinting it either is or is not the man. So I wouldn't say those were his prints. They appeared similar to these two, certainly bore further investigation to see if I could bring them out better. But from what I had I could not make a positive identification as being his prints.

Mr. McCLOY. How about the palmprint?

Mr. DAY. The palmprint again that I lifted appeared to be his right palm, but I didn't get to work enough on that to fully satisfy myself it was his palm. With a little more work I would have come up with the identification there.

Mr. BELIN. Lieutenant Day, what is the fact as to whether or not palmprints are a sound means of identification of an individual?

Mr. DAY. You have the same characteristics of the palms that you do the fingers, also on the soles of feet. They are just as good for identification purposes.

Mr. BELIN. Is there anything else you did in connection with the rifle, the cartridges, the live cartridge, or the taking of prints from any of these metallic objects that you haven't talked about yet?

Mr. DAY. No, sir; I believe that is the extent of the prints on any of those articles.

Mr. BELIN. Did you make a positive identification of any palmprint or fingerprint?

Mr. DAY. Not off the rifle or slug at that time.

Mr, BELIN. At any other time did you off the rifle or the slugs?

Mr. DAY. After I have been looking at that thing again here today, that is his right palm. But at that time I had not no----

Mr. BELIN. When you are saying you looked at that thing today, to what are you referring?

Mr. DAY. Your No. 637 is the right palm of Oswald.

Mr. BELIN. Handing you what has been marked "Exhibit 629" I ask you to state if you know what this is.

Mr. DAY. That is the right palm of Lee Harvey Oswald.

Mr. BELIN. Do you know where this print was taken?

Mr. DAY. Yes, sir; it was taken by Detective J. B. Hicks in Captain Fritz' office on November 22, 1963.

Mr. BELIN. Did you take more than one right palmprint on that day, if you know?

Mr. DAY. Yes, sir; we took two, actually we took three. Two of them were taken in Captain Fritz' office, and one set which I witnessed taking myself in the identification bureau.

Mr. BELIN. Any particular reason why you took more than one?

Mr. DAY. In most cases, when making comparisons, we will take at least two to insure we have a good clear print of the entire palm.

Mr. BELIN. Now, based----

Mr. DAY. One might be smeared where the other would not.

Mr. BELIN. Based on your experience, I will ask you now for a definitive statement as to whether or not you can positively identify the print shown on Commission Exhibit 637 as being from the right palm of Lee Harvey Oswald as shown on Commission Exhibit 629?

Mr. DAY. Maybe I shouldn't absolutely make a positive statement without further checking that. I think it is his, but I would have to sit down and take two glasses to make an additional comparison before I would say absolutely, excluding all possibility, it is. I think it is, but I would have to do some more work on that.

Mr. BELIN. Could you do that here in Washington before you go back, sir, or would this necessitate going back to Dallas?

Mr. DAY. If I had the proper equipment I think I could do it here. I don't have very good equipment for making comparisons here. I need two fingerprint glasses.

It was my understanding the prints had been identified by the FBI. I don't have official word on it.

Mr. BELIN. Is there any other thing that you did with regard to the rifle that you haven't discussed this far that you can remember right now?

Mr. DAY. No, sir; I released it to the FBI then, and they took possession of it.

Mr. BELIN. Did you ever hear this rifle referred to as a 7.65 Mauser or as any type of a Mauser?

Mr. DAY. Yes, sir; it wasn't referred to as that. Some of the newsmen, when I first carried the rifle out, asked me if it was a .30-06, and at another time they asked me if it was a Mauser. I did not give them an answer.

Mr. BELIN. Were there newsmen on the sixth floor at the time the rifle was found, if you know?

Mr. DAY. I think there was.

Mr. BELIN. Did you ever describe the rifle as anything but a 6.5-caliber with regard to the rifle itself?

Mr. DAY. I didn't describe the rifle to anyone other than police officers.

Mr. BELIN. Is the description that you used with the police officers the same that you dictated here into the record from your notes?

Mr. DAY. Yes, sir.

Mr. BELIN. Anything else with regard to the rifle?

Mr. DAY. I can't think of anything else that I did with it at the time.

I don't know whether you are interested in this or not, but about, it must have been about 8:30 I was processing the gun on the fourth floor----

Mr. BELIN. Of the police department there?

Mr. DAY. Of the police department where my office is. The identification bureau. And Captain Fritz came up and said he had Mrs. Oswald in his office on the third floor, but the place was so jammed with news cameramen and newsmen he did not want to bring her out into it.

Mr. BELIN. Was this the wife or the mother of Lee Harvey Oswald?

Mr. DAY. That was Marina, Oswald's wife. She had her baby with her, or babies, and there was an interpreter down there. He wanted her to look at the gun to see if she could identify it, didn't want to bring her in through the crowd, and wanted to know if we could carry it down. He said, "There is an awful mob down there."

I explained to him that I was still working with the prints, but I thought I could carry it down without disturbing the prints, which I did.

We waded through the mob with me holding the gun up high. No one touched it. Several of the newsmen asked me various questions about what the gun was at that time. I did not give them an answer.

When I went back to the office after Marina Oswald viewed the gun, they still were hounding me for it. I told them to check with the chief's office, he would have to give them the information, and as soon as I got back to my office I gave a complete description, and so forth, to Captain King on the gun.

Mr. BELIN. Were you there when Marina Oswald was asked whether or not she could identify it?

Mr. DAY. Yes, sir. But I didn't understand what she said. I was standing across the room from her where I couldn't understand. The interpreter said something to her and said something to Captain Fritz. I didn't catch what was said. I mentioned that because there was some talk about a Mauser and .30-06 at the time and various other things, that is the reason I mentioned it.

Mr. BELIN. You just refused to answer all questions on that, is that correct?

Mr. DAY. Yes, sir. It wasn't my place to give them that information. I didn't know whether they wanted it out yet or not.

Mr. McCLOY. There was never any doubt in your mind what the rifle was from the minute you saw it?

Mr. DAY. No, sir; It was stamped right on there, 6.5, and when en route to the office with Mr. Odum, the FBI agent who drove me in, he radioed it in, he radioed in what it was to the FBI over the air.

Mr. BELIN. What else did you do, or what was the next thing you did after you completed photographing and inspecting the rifle on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository Building for whatever prints you could find, what did you do next?

Mr. DAY. I took the gun at the time to the office and locked it up in a box in my office at Captain Fritz' direction.

Mr. BELIN. Then what did you do?

Mr. DAY. I went back to the School Book Depository and stayed there. It was around three that I got back, and I was in that building until about 6, directing the other officers as to what we needed in the way of photographs and some drawing, and so forth.

Mr. BELIN. What did you do when you got back, what photographs did you take?

Mr. DAY. We went, made the outside photographs of the street, we made more photographs inside, and did further checking for prints by using dust on the boxes around the window.

Mr. BELIN. I hand you what has been marked as "Commission Exhibit 722" and ask you to state if you know what this is.

Mr. DAY. Yes, sir. This is a view of Houston Street looking south from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository Building.

Mr. BELIN. Do you know when that was taken?

Mr. DAY. About 3 or 3:15, somewhere along there, on November 22, 1963.

Mr. McCLOY. You say from the sixth floor; was it from the farthest east window?

Mr. DAY. The south window on the east end of the building.

Mr. BELIN. You don't mean that. State that again. What side of the building was the window on?

Mr. DAY. It was on the south side of the building, the easternmost window.

Mr. BELIN. At the time you took Exhibit 722 had any boxes been moved at all?

Mr. DAY. Yes, sir.

Mr. BELIN. Here is Exhibit 724, and I will ask you to state if you know what that is.

Mr. DAY. This is a view from the same window looking southwest down Elm Street. Actually this is the direction the shots were fired. When this picture was made----

Mr. BELIN. When you say this picture you are referring to--I think I have skipped a number here.

Mr. McCLOY. This is 722.

Mr. BELIN. All right. When 722 was made, you----

Mr. DAY. I did not know the direction the shots had been fired.

Mr. BELIN. All right. I'm going to hand you what I have already marked as 724. What about that one?

Mr. DAY. This was made, 724 was made, some 15 to 20 minutes after 722 when I received information that the shooting actually occurred on Elm rather than Houston Street. The boxes had been moved at that time.

Mr. BELIN. In 724 there are boxes in the window. Were those boxes in the window the way you saw them, or had they been replaced in the window to reconstruct it?

Mr. DAY. They had simply been moved in the processing for prints. They weren't put back in any particular order.

Mr. BELIN. So 724 does not represent, so far as the boxes are concerned, the crime scene when you first came to the sixth floor; is that correct?

Mr. DAY. That is correct.

Mr. BELIN. Let me ask you this: Had all of the boxes of the stack in 724 been replaced there or had any of the boxes been in a position they were at the time you first arrived at the building, if you know?

Mr. DAY. No, sir; they had not been placed in the proper position or approximate position at the time we arrived.

Mr. BELIN. Now, I am going to hand you what I will mark as "723" and ask you to state if you know what this is.

Mr. DAY. 726----

Mr. BELIN. No; 723.

Mr. DAY. 723 is the southeast corner of the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository Building.

Mr. BELIN. Who took that picture, if you know?

Mr. DAY. Detective Studebaker.

Mr. BELIN. Was it taken under your direction and supervision, Mr. Day?

Mr. DAY. Yes, sir; I was present. The two metal boxes you will note to the left, are our fingerprint equipment that inadvertently got into the picture with a wide-angle lens camera.

Mr. BELIN. When you say to the left----

Mr. DAY. To the right.

Mr. BELIN. You mean as you face the picture to the right.

Mr. DAY. Yes.

Mr. BELIN. Do you want to circle on Exhibit 723 your fingerprint equipment?

Mr. DAY. Yes.

Mr. BELIN. Now, I will ask you to state if you know if this picture was taken before any of the boxes shown on 723 were moved.

Mr. DAY. To the best of my knowledge they had not been moved.

Mr. BELIN. And straight ahead the camera is pointed toward it?

Mr. DAY. To the south.

Mr. BELIN. At which window?

Mr. DAY. Toward the window where the hulls were found.

Mr. BELIN. I'm going to hand you what has been marked as "725," and ask you to state if you know what this is.

Mr. DAY. That is a view of the same window as 723 except it shows the full length of the aisle.

Mr. BELIN. Was 725 taken before the boxes were moved, if you know?

Mr. DAY. I beg your pardon?

Mr. BELIN. Was Commission Exhibit 725 taken before any boxes were moved, if you know?

Mr. DAY. To the best of my knowledge, nothing had been moved.

Mr. BELIN. I'm going to hand you what has been marked as 726 and ask you to state if you know what this is.

Mr. DAY. This is the next aisle over, or the next aisle west of the aisle shown in 723. Actually, this was taken on November 25. Some movement had been made of the boxes as shown in 723.

Mr. BELIN. All right. So you now are saying Commission Exhibit 726 was taken on November 25----

Mr. DAY. Yes, sir.

Mr. BELIN. And there had been some movement of the boxes?

Mr. DAY. Yes, sir.

Mr. BELIN. Generally did it depict the area as you saw it on November 22?

Mr. DAY. Yes, sir.

Mr. BELIN. I am handing you Commission Exhibit 727 and ask you to state if you know what that is.

Mr. DAY. 727 is the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository, taken looking east along the inside of the south wall.

Mr. BELIN. When was that taken?

Mr. DAY. November 25, 1963.

Mr. BELIN. Just by general means of identification, perhaps it might help to see when some pictures were taken and some pictures were not taken. I think you can see on Exhibit 727 that the shadows show that the sun would not as yet have reached a due south position. Is that correct?

Mr. DAY. That is correct. It was taken in the morning. This is the morning shadow.

Mr. BELIN. Handing you what has been marked 728, would you state if you know what this is?

Mr. DAY. This is the third aisle from the east side of the building, sixth floor, Texas School Book Depository.

Mr. BELIN. Was that taken on November 22 or November 25?

Mr. DAY. It was taken on November 22, 1963.

Mr. BELIN. Again you can note the shadows at this time, and it would appear as a southwesterly sun.

Mr. DAY. Yes, sir.

Mr. BELIN. I notice a pop bottle there. Do you know whether or not that pop bottle was there at the time you got to the scene?

Mr. DAY. It was, sir.