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
The examination and testimony of the experts enabled the Commission to
conclude that five shots may have been fired, even though only four
bullets were recovered. Three of the bullets recovered from Tippit’s
body were manufactured by Winchester-Western, and the fourth bullet
by Remington-Peters, but only two of the four discarded cartridge
cases found on the lawn at 10th Street and Patton Avenue were of
Winchester-Western manufacture.[C4-581] Therefore, one cartridge
case of this type was not recovered. And though only one bullet of
Remington-Peters manufacture was recovered, two empty cartridge
cases of that make were retrieved. Therefore, either one bullet of
Remington-Peters manufacture is missing or one used Remington-Peters
cartridge case, which may have been in the revolver before the
shooting, was discarded along with the others as Oswald left the scene.
If a bullet is missing, five were fired. This corresponds with the
observation and memory of Ted Callaway,[C4-582] and possibly Warren
Reynolds, but not with the other eyewitnesses who claim to have heard
from two to four shots.
Ownership of Revolver
By checking certain importers and dealers after the assassination
of President Kennedy and slaying of Officer Tippit, agents of the
FBI determined that George Rose & Co. of Los Angeles was a major
distributor of this type of revolver.[C4-583] Records of Seaport
Traders, Inc., a mail-order division of George Rose & Co., disclosed
that on January 3, 1963, the company received from Empire Wholesale
Sporting Goods, Ltd., Montreal, a shipment of 99 guns in one case.
Among these guns was a .38 Special caliber Smith & Wesson revolver,
serial No. V510210, the only revolver made by Smith & Wesson with
this serial number.[C4-584] When first manufactured, it had a 5-inch
barrel. George Rose & Co. had the barrel shortened by a gunsmith to 2¼
inches.[C4-585]
[Illustration: REVOLVER PURCHASE AND SHIPPING DOCUMENTS
COMMISSION EXHIBIT NO. 790
MICHAELIS EXHIBIT NO. 2
MICHAELIS EXHIBIT NO. 4
MICHAELIS EXHIBIT NO. 5]
Sometime after January 27, 1963, Seaport Traders, Inc., received
through the mail a mail-order coupon for one “.38 St. W. 2” Bbl.,” cost
$29.95. Ten dollars in cash was enclosed. The order was signed in ink
by “A. J. Hidell, aged 28.”[C4-586] (See Commission Exhibit No. 790,
p. 173.) The date of the order was January 27 (no year shown), and the
return address was Post Office Box 2915, Dallas, Tex. Also on the order
form was an order, written in ink, for one box of ammunition and one
holster, but a line was drawn through these items. The mail-order form
had a line for the name of a witness to attest that the person ordering
the gun was a U.S. citizen and had not been convicted of a felony. The
name written in this space was D. F. Drittal.[C4-587]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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