Part 61

Mr. COLE. Yes, sir; the signatures and endorsements of the checks in Exhibit 776 show some variation with respect to the care and formation of letters. There are a few endorsements in that group which show a greatly exaggerated freedom or a carelessness in execution. These signatures appear on, especially on, check numbers 2408 and 2506 of this exhibit, and they compare quite favorably in detail with the signature shown by the photograph, Commission Exhibit 815.

Now with regard to the writing of the name "A. J. Hideel" we observed in the combination of letters "Hi" that that letter is joined by means of a projection of a crossbar into the letter "i"; that in the letter "e," which is separated from the preceding "d," there is a very high placement of the loop, that is, instead of beginning at the writing line, the loop of the letter begins about halfway up on the staff, and this is a form that is very familiar in the standard writing, particularly in the handprinted forms. For example, on chart C, item 3, the final "e" in the word "discharge" shows a similar effect. Also on chart C, item 6, the second line, in the name "Mercedes" we have got two "e's" that show a similar effect.

The final "l" shows this perceptible increase of pressure on the downstroke, and a very abrupt terminal stroke also, which had been previously mentioned as being a characteristic of chart B, item 6, in the word "enroll."

Now with regard to the handprinting as shown by Commission photograph Exhibit 814, and considering particularly the name "Oswald," we have a detailed agreement in every feature of letter forms there, and I will direct attention especially to the use of the lowercase "l" and "d" as associated with the capital or uppercase forms of the other four letters of the name, and I will also mention the method of forming the "d," considering first one of the standards where it can be seen more clearly. On chart C, item 6, the first line, final "d" of "Oswald" shows first a fairly long downstroke, then a stroke rising from the end of that downstroke moving upwards and to the left to form the body of the letter, and this method of formation is also used in the "d" of "Oswald" as shown by the photograph Exhibit 814.

On the next line below there is faintly visible the name "Orleans" and I will direct attention to the base of the "l," which shows a rather deep compound curve. That is, here again, instead of having a simple horizontal line to represent the base of that printed letter, there is a fairly deep curve which is found in the standard writing in several places, one example being chart C, item 4.

This word also illustrates the tendency to mix lowercase forms with capitals in the case of the use of the lowercase "e" in "Orleans," and that, of course, is repeated many places in the standard writing, a good place being chart C, item 6, the word "Mercedes." These are the reasons for my belief that the author of the standard writing is the author of the handwriting on----

Mr. EISENBERG. 813?

Mr. COLE. 813.

Mr. EISENBERG. Now, the handwriting and handprinting on 813 is all extremely dim. Do you have any explanation for that?

Mr. COLE. There is evidence that this document has been treated with chemicals, probably for the purpose of developing for fingerprints. Such chemicals are ordinarily included in solvents which dissolve ink, and some bleach out ink. I think that is the reason for the poor legibility of this ink writing. At one time, I think, it probably had a pretty good legibility.

Mr. EISENBERG. Was this the condition of the item when you examined it?

Mr. COLE. Yes; it was.

Mr. EISENBERG. Now, you stated that the apparent rubber-stamp printing could have been produced by the Warrior rubber kit, 115. First let me ask you, is this actually rubber-stamp printing?

Mr. COLE. Yes; I believe it is.

Mr. EISENBERG. That is, the printing on the vaccination certificate. When you say it could have been produced by the print in Exhibit 115, could you elaborate as to your findings on that point?

Mr. COLE. Yes; in considering that question, I made an impression from the stamp, from the type setup in a stamp which is a part of this kit at the present time. Now the typing as set up reads "L. H. Oswald, 4907 Magazine St., New Orleans, La.," and, of course, that text repeats some of the letters, a good many of the letters, which are in the rubber-stamp impression "Doctor A. J. Hideel, P.O. Box 30016, New Orleans, La.," and I made a careful comparison of these letters as taken from the stamped impression with what is shown on 813, and I found that they agree perfectly as to measurements of the type faces, and they agree as to the design of letters. Therefore, I would say that the rubber-stamp type faces from this particular kit could have been used to produce that rubber-stamp impression on 813.

Mr. EISENBERG. Could you produce the two cards which you used to record the impression of the 115 rubber-stamp kit?

Mr. COLE. Yes, sir; the second card is an impression from the date stamp which is a part of this kit, and that too agrees along the same lines with respect to measurements of the letters and the designs of the letters.

Mr. EISENBERG. Mr. Chairman, may these two cards be admitted as Commission Exhibit 816?

Mr. McCLOY. They may be admitted.

(The cards referred to were marked as Commission Exhibit No. 816 and received in evidence.)

Mr. EISENBERG. Are there microscopic characteristics on rubber-stamp printing sufficient to make positive identifications?

Mr. COLE. I don't regard any to be present in this particular stamp. But while the type faces could not be regarded as perfect, I don't know of any way to determine whether the imperfections belong only to this kit or whether they would be true of all Warrior rubber-stamp kits.

Mr. EISENBERG. Did you notice any imperfections?

Mr. COLE. Well, I did not actually catalog any imperfections, but in looking at the type I had the general impression that it is not a perfect impression, certainly not as perfect as you would get from metal type in a regular printing operation.

Mr. EISENBERG. Now, you stamped an impression other than the one contained on the card 813. Could you explain the reasons for that?

Mr. COLE. I stamped the material which was already set up in type. Since it repeated a good deal of the material, enough for examination, I did not want on my own volition to tear down the stamps that were in this in order to set up other type.

Mr. EISENBERG. Did you examine the stamp impression appearing on the right-hand side of the interior of the Document 813?

Mr. COLE. I did.

Mr. EISENBERG. Did you come to any conclusion as to that stamp?

Mr. COLE. Yes; this stamp includes wording which reads in reverse, and there is a double stamping of the wording, and the text is "BRUSH IN CAN" the three words, "BRUSH IN CAN." The word "BRUSH" extends in approximately a semicircle across the upper part of the stamp and the words "IN CAN" in a semicircle across the lower part.

Mr. EISENBERG. Can you think of any explanation of why those words should appear?

Mr. COLE. Yes; a possible explanation is that the object used to make the stamped impression was the top of some container of a solvent or cleaning fluid with raised lettering, and that the top of this can was pressed against a stamped pad, and then pressed against this document.

Mr. EISENBERG. What would the object be?

Mr. COLE. Well, I think it is very common to see rubber-stamped impressions on documents of this particular character. They are so commonplace, I think that it is probably a habit or custom among most people not to read them. They may be regarded as giving a document an official appearance. That may be the purpose of getting some sort of stamp onto the document.

Mr. EISENBERG. Why do the letters appear in reverse, Mr. Cole?

Mr. COLE. Well, they would naturally appear in reverse. If they read correctly in raised letters as the top of some container, if it was intended that they be read correctly there, then they would naturally be in reverse from the stamped impression. Of course, you will observe that in this Warrior stamping kit the material set up in the rubber stamp there is in reverse, which produces correct reading and writing from an impression. There is one more feature of this particular stamp I think ought to be mentioned.

Mr. EISENBERG. Yes, please.

Mr. COLE. There is toward the center of that stamp a rectangle of a deposit of ink in a certain pattern, sort of a spotty mottled pattern of ink, and this corresponds to the pattern of the blank parts of the date stamp.

Mr. EISENBERG. Which date stamp is that?

Mr. COLE. The Warrior stamping kit includes a dating stamp, and on the adjustable bands are certain blank areas. Now, the pattern on those blank areas is similar to the pattern which we have in this rectangle of the stamp just discussed.

Mr. McCLOY. May I ask, this Post Office Box 30016, is that----

Mr. EISENBERG. Yes; that corresponds----

Mr. McCLOY. Does it correspond to the one he used in New Orleans?

Mr. EISENBERG. I am about to introduce an exhibit which shows Post Office Box 30061, that is, the last two figures reversed, and I imagine his spelling accounts for that.

Mr. Cole, I now show you an item consisting of a part of an application for Post Office Box 30061 in New Orleans, dated June 11, 1963, with a postmark, signed "L. H. Oswald," and in the part of the box captioned "Names of persons entitled to receive mail through box" and so forth, the words are written "A. J. Hidell, Marina Oswald," and I ask you whether you have examined that item?

Mr. COLE. I have.

Mr. EISENBERG. May I have this item admitted, Mr. Chairman, as 817?

Mr. McCLOY. Let it be admitted.

(The item referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 817, and received in evidence.)

Mr. EISENBERG. Did you compare this with the standards to determine who wrote the writing on that exhibit, or more accurately, whether the printing and writing was produced by the same person who produced the printing and writing on the standards?

Mr. COLE. I did.

Mr. EISENBERG. What was your conclusion?

Mr. COLE. It is my conclusion that the author of the standard writing is the author of the writing on Commission Exhibit 817.

Mr. EISENBERG. Did you take a photograph of Commission 817?

Mr. COLE. I did.

Mr. EISENBERG. This was taken by you or under your supervision?

Mr. COLE. Yes, sir.

Mr. EISENBERG. And it is a true and accurate reproduction of 817?

Mr. COLE. It is.

Mr. EISENBERG. This is an 8 by 10 photograph. Mr. Chairman, may this be admitted as 818?

Mr. McCLOY. It may be admitted.

(Commission Exhibit No. 818 was marked and received in evidence.)

Mr. EISENBERG. By reference to this photograph and by reference to your charts of standards, Mr. Cole, can you explain to us how you came to this conclusion?

Mr. COLE. Yes, sir; with respect to the handprinting of the name "A. J. Hidell," I direct attention to the formation of the letter "d" in the same manner as that previously described in the standard writing, chart C, item 6, first line--a close correspondence as to the construction, writing movement, in forming those letters.

The letter "e" compares favorably not only as to form but the circumstance that here again the lowercase letter is mixed in with capital letters. Of course, that applies to the three letters "ide" associated with the other capital letter of that name, and that is a habit shown in many places in the standard writing.

The "L's" have the compound curve across the base, which has previously been observed in the standard writing.

In the name "Marina," the form of the capital letter "M" compares closely with the capital letter "M" shown on chart C, item 6, second line, the name "Mercedes."

That same name shows the form of letter "A" with the retraced stroke on the left side which exists in many places in the standard writing.

The name "Oswald" again shows this mixture of uppercase and lowercase letters, namely the circumstance that the "l" and "d" are lower-case forms, whereas the previous, the other four letters are upper case.

The signature "L. H. Oswald," agrees with other signatures that I have examined, some of which are shown on the charts, chart A, item 15, chart B, item 15, and chart C, item 6, next to the last line, a close correspondence in all details, except that there is some confusion or overriding in the second letter of the last name in the area of the "s," which may be only an accidental imperfection in that particular area. Otherwise, there is a fairly clear showing of all the letters, and they agree with the standards.

Mr. EISENBERG. Does that "s" that you refer to appear to be two "s's," one printed and one written?

Mr. COLE. Yes; it could be that. They are somewhat intertwined there, and we have got this name just following an instance of making handprinting, so that could be an explanation of it.

Mr. EISENBERG. Next, I show you a photograph of a card reading "Fair Play for Cuba Committee. New Orleans Chapter, L. H. Oswald," signature, "L. H. Oswald," dated June 15, 1963, signed "Chapter President--A. J. Hidell," and I ask you whether you have examined that photograph?

Mr. COLE. I have.

Mr. EISENBERG. May this be admitted as 819, Mr. Chairman?

Mr. McCLOY. It may be admitted.

(Commission Exhibit No. 819 was marked and received in evidence.)

Mr. EISENBERG. For the record, this is a photograph of a card that was found in Oswald's wallet at the time of his apprehension.

I now show you a card, a paper card, which appears to be the same as Exhibit 819, except that there is no visible marking where the words "Chapter"--where the signature "Chapter President--A. J. Hidell" is written on Exhibit 819, and the card is seriously discolored with a dark brown discoloration, and I ask you whether you have examined this card I now hand you?

Mr. COLE. I have.

Mr. EISENBERG. May I have that admitted as 820, Mr. Chairman?

Mr. McCLOY. It may be admitted.

(Commission Exhibit No. 820 was marked and received in evidence.)

Mr. EISENBERG. In your opinion, is 819 a photograph of the card, 820?

Mr. COLE. Yes; it is.

Mr. EISENBERG. Can you account in any way for the discoloration of the card 820?

Mr. COLE. The discoloration is characteristic of that which has previously been observed as resulting from treating a document with a solution of silver nitrate. Such treatment is sometimes done in the hope of developing latent fingerprints, and this treatment could be, and probably is, the explanation for the elimination of a line of writing on the line for signature above the title "Chapter President."

Mr. EISENBERG. Were you able to make out whether any writing had appeared in the space which is now blank on Exhibit 820, making provision for the----

Mr. COLE. Yes; it is----

Mr. EISENBERG. Excuse me, making provision for the chapter president's signature?

Mr. COLE. Yes; there is barely enough showing to indicate that there was a line of writing there at one time.

Mr. EISENBERG. Could you tell whether it was the same as the signature "A. J. Hidell"?

Mr. COLE. It conforms generally to the signature "A. J. Hidell," that is, the form shown by the photograph, Exhibit 819.

Mr. EISENBERG. Have you taken a photograph of 819?

Mr. COLE. Yes, sir; I am sorry, sir; I do not have that photograph with me.

Mr. EISENBERG. All right.

Do you want to take a look at this, Mr. McCloy?

Did you compare the signatures "Lee Oswald" and "A. J. Hidell" on 819 to determine whether they had been written by the author of the standards?

Mr. COLE. Yes, sir; may I look at that photograph? Yes, sir; I did.

Mr. EISENBERG. What was your conclusion as to the signature of Lee H. Oswald?

Mr. COLE. It is my opinion that the author of the standard writing is the author of the signature "Lee H. Oswald" on Exhibit 819.

Mr. EISENBERG. What was your conclusion as to the signature "A. J. Hidell"?

Mr. COLE. I find no basis in the standard writing for identification of the author of such standard writing as the author of the name "A. J. Hidell" as shown by 819.

Mr. EISENBERG. Do you think that the author of the standard writing might have produced that signature in a disguised hand?

Mr. COLE. I think that is highly improbable, because this does not appear to be a disguised hand. It looks like a fairly natural handwriting.

Mr. EISENBERG. And that is based upon the items which you enumerated earlier which indicated the presence of a natural handwriting, such as speed and so forth?

Mr. COLE. Yes.

Mr. EISENBERG. Do you think that, apart from the naturalness of the writing, the signature "A. J. Hidell" was within Oswald's abilities as a penman?

Mr. COLE. It appears to be somewhat beyond his ability. I would say taking into account his general level of writing skill as shown by the standards, I would say this represents a somewhat higher writing skill.

Mr. EISENBERG. Off the record.

(Discussion off the record.)

Mr. EISENBERG. On the record.

Mr. COLE. I now hand you a yellow sheet of paper, which has already been introduced into evidence as Commission Exhibit No. 110, and for the record I will state that this consists of an interlinear translation from Russian into English. The Russian script on this document has been identified as being that of George Bouhe an acquaintance of the Oswald's, and the English script as being that of Marina Oswald. Marina herself identified this as her handwriting, and she stated that Bouhe was teaching her English by writing out the Russian and having her translate into English. As far as I know this is the only standard we have of Marina's handwriting in the Latin alphabet. Mr. Cole. I ask you whether you have examined Commission Exhibit 110?

Mr. COLE. I have.

Mr. EISENBERG. Have you attempted to compare the signature "A. J. Hidell" on Commission Exhibit 819 with the Latin or English printing, or writing rather, in Exhibit 110, to determine whether they were both written by the same person?

Mr. COLE. I have.

Mr. EISENBERG. And what is your conclusion?

Mr. COLE. My conclusion is that the author of the writing in the Latin alphabet on Exhibit 110 is a possible author of the name "A. J. Hidell" on 819, but I do not offer that as a definite conclusion. I say "possible author" because I observed a similarity in the particular parts where close comparison is possible, namely, with respect to the lowercase letter "d," of which one example is found in the word "day" on the left side of the lower one-third of Exhibit 110. The similarity consists in the degree of roundness of the body of the letter, and the fairly short and thin loop or the upper extension of the letter "d," plus a similarity with respect to the terminal stroke of that letter, the circumstance that it is not joined continuously with the letter following.

Another similarity is observed in the double "l's" of the word "especially," which is on the last line at the right side of 110, and here we have a similarity with respect to the proportion of the height of those letters relative to other small letters.

There is no opportunity for making a more extensive comparison between the name "A. J. Hidell" on 819 with this standard writing. And on that basis I would say only that the author of the standard could be regarded as a possible author of the questioned signature.

Mr. EISENBERG. Mr. Cole, would the production of Cyrillic writing, that is writing in the Russian language, be useful to you in evaluating the signature on 819?

Mr. COLE. I believe not.

Mr. EISENBERG. Can you explain that?

Mr. COLE. Well, ordinarily a person who--I might say this, that the construction in writing one alphabet and the other would be completely different--that one would develop habits along different lines. It could not be expected that there would be a close translation of habits from one alphabet into another.

Mr. EISENBERG. Is enough writing present in 819 so that you believe you could make a definite identification if you had a sufficient standard on which to base your comparison?

Mr. COLE. Yes; I think so.

Mr. EISENBERG. If we obtained a greater standard, that is, a more voluminous standard, of the handwriting of Marina Oswald or other persons, would you undertake to make the examination and to submit your result, either in the form of testimony or by written communication to us, Mr. Cole?

Mr. COLE. Yes; I would be quite willing to.

Mr. EISENBERG. Mr. Chairman, may we state on the record that the Commission is requesting Mr. Cole to do this, if we can obtain a better standard, and that we will attempt to obtain such a standard?

Mr. McCLOY. Very well.

Mr. EISENBERG. Mr. Cole, referring to 110 again for a moment, can you characterize the degree of skill with which the writing is produced, that is the English or Latin alphabet present on 110?

Mr. COLE. I would say it is an average degree of skill, fairly good based upon the perfection of letter forms, regularity of proportions, speed of writing--I would say fairly good.

Mr. EISENBERG. Would it require much practice in the use of the Latin alphabet to attain the degree of skill evidenced in 110?

Mr. COLE. Well, it would certainly take some practice. It is not the writing of a novice in forming these particular letters.

Mr. EISENBERG. Can you expand a little on what you mean by "some practice"? A week's practice, or a month's practice, or a year's practice?

Mr. COLE. Of course, this depends on how intensive the practice is, but I would certainly say more than a week's practice.

Mr. McCLOY. Mr. Cole, have you examined the Russian script, have you attempted to make anything out of such Russian script as we have of Marina Oswald, have you seen standard forms?

Mr. COLE. No, sir; I have not.

Mr. McCLOY. Might it not be helpful to look at some of that to see whether there is anything you can make out of that that would help you in the----

Mr. COLE. I am inclined to doubt it, but I would be quite willing to take a look at it.

Mr. McCLOY. I can understand your reasons for doubting it but there may be something that we have here--we have here, have we not?

Mr. EISENBERG. Yes, we do.

Mr. McCLOY. A very substantial number, quantities of Marina's writing in Russian, and it may be that there is something you can glean from that if you would look at it perhaps before you go.

Mr. EISENBERG. I will make arrangements for Mr. Cole to see that writing, Mr. Chairman.

Any further question on this Fair Play for Cuba Committee card?

Mr. McCLOY. No, I don't think so.

Mr. EISENBERG. Finally then, Mr. Cole, I show you an item consisting of a letter on a yellow piece of stationery, apparently torn from a legal-size pad, addressed to Leslie Welding Co. from "Lee H. Oswald"--signed "Lee H. Oswald"--and with an address handprinted, and reading "Dear Sir, this is to explain that I have moved permanently to Dallas, Texas, where I have found other employment," and so forth, and I ask you whether you have examined that item?

Mr. COLE. I have.

Mr. EISENBERG. May that be admitted as 826, Mr. Chairman?

Mr. McCLOY. It may be admitted.

(The item referred to was marked 826, and received into evidence.)

Mr. EISENBERG. Did you attempt to compare this item with the standards to determine whether it had been produced by the author of the standards?

Mr. COLE. I did.

Mr. EISENBERG. What was your conclusion?

Mr. COLE. It is my conclusion that the author of the standard writing is the author of the writing shown by Exhibit 826.

Mr. EISENBERG. Can you briefly give us some of the reasons for that conclusion?

Mr. COLE. Yes; there is an agreement in a great many details between this letter, 826, some of which I think are more significant than others.