Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. KennedyUnited States. Warren Commission
History
Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy
United States. Warren Commission
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Assassination; Oswald, Lee Harvey
Frazier parked the car in the company parking lot about 2 blocks
north of the Depository Building. Oswald left the car first, picked
up the brown paper bag, and proceeded toward the building ahead of
Frazier. Frazier walked behind and as they crossed the railroad tracks
he watched the switching of the cars. Frazier recalled that one end
of the package was under Oswald’s armpit and the lower part was held
with his right hand so that it was carried straight and parallel
to his body. When Oswald entered the rear door of the Depository
Building, he was about 50 feet ahead of Frazier. It was the first time
that Oswald had not walked with Frazier from the parking lot to the
building entrance.[C4-158] When Frazier entered the building, he did
not see Oswald.[C4-159] One employee, Jack Dougherty, believed that he
saw Oswald coming to work, but he does not remember that Oswald had
anything in his hands as he entered the door.[C4-160] No other employee
has been found who saw Oswald enter that morning.[C4-161]
In deciding whether Oswald carried the assassination weapon in the
bag which Frazier and Mrs. Randle saw, the Commission has carefully
considered the testimony of these two witnesses with regard to the
length of the bag. Frazier and Mrs. Randle testified that the bag which
Oswald was carrying was approximately 27 or 28 inches long,[C4-162]
whereas the wooden stock of the rifle, which is its largest component,
measured 34.8 inches.[C4-163] The bag found on the sixth floor was 38
inches long.[C4-164] (See Commission Exhibit No. 1304, p. 132.) When
Frazier appeared before the Commission and was asked to demonstrate
how Oswald carried the package, he said, “Like I said, I remember
that I didn’t look at the package very much * * * but when I did
look at it he did have his hands on the package like that,”[C4-165]
and at this point Frazier placed the upper part of the package under
his armpit and attempted to cup his right hand beneath the bottom of
the bag. The disassembled rifle was too long to be carried in this
manner. Similarly, when the butt of the rifle was placed in Frazier’s
hand, it extended above his shoulder to ear level.[C4-166] Moreover,
in an interview on December 1, 1963, with agents of the FBI, Frazier
had marked the point on the back seat of his car which he believed
was where the bag reached when it was laid on the seat with one edge
against the door. The distance between the point on the seat and the
door was 27 inches.[C4-167]
Mrs. Randle said, when shown the paper bag, that the bag she saw Oswald
carrying “wasn’t that long, I mean it was folded down at the top as
I told you. It definitely wasn’t that long.”[C4-168] And she folded
the bag to a length of about 28½ inches. Frazier doubted whether the
bag that Oswald carried was as wide as the bag found on the sixth
floor,[C4-169] although Mrs. Randle testified that the width was
approximately the same.[C4-170]
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