Warren Commission (05 of 26): Hearings Vol. V (of 15)United States. Warren Commission
History
Warren Commission (05 of 26): Hearings Vol. V (of 15)
United States. Warren Commission
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Assassination; Oswald, Lee Harvey
Mr. FRAZIER. Yes, sir. I had a spectrographer run an analysis of a
portion of the hole which accounts for its being slightly enlarged at
the present time. He took a sample of cloth and made an analysis of it.
I don't know actually whether I am expected to give the results of his
analysis or not.
Mr. SPECTER. Yes; would you please, or let me ask you first of all,
were those tests run by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the
regular course of its testing procedures?
Mr. FRAZIER. Yes, sir; they were.
Mr. SPECTER. And have those results been made available to you through
the regular recordkeeping procedures of the FBI?
Mr. FRAZIER. Yes, sir.
Mr. SPECTER. Would you then please tell us what those tests disclose?
Mr. FRAZIER. Traces of copper were found around the margins of the hole
in the back of the coat, and as a control, a very small section under
the collar was taken, and no copper being found there, it was concluded
that the copper was foreign to the coat itself.
Mr. SPECTER. Have you now described all of the characteristics of
that hole, which you consider to be important for the Commission's
consideration?
Mr. FRAZIER. Yes, sir.
Mr. SPECTER. Assuming that those clothes, that jacket, specifically,
at this juncture, was worn by President Kennedy, and was in the same
condition when that hole was made as it is now, and at the time when
you made your examination, do you have a professional opinion as to
what caused that hole in the back of the jacket?
Mr. FRAZIER. Yes, sir; I would say that it was an entrance hole for a
bullet.
Mr. SPECTER. And what is the reason for that conclusion, please?
Mr. FRAZIER. It has all the physical appearance characteristics which
are considered when examining holes, such as its shape, its size, and
in particular the fact that the fibers around the margins of the hole
were all pushed inward where the cloth was torn by the object which
passed through, and the fibers were unraveled as they were pushed
inward, which is characteristic of a entrance-type bullet hole.
Mr. SPECTER. Is the presence of the metallic substance relevant in your
conclusion that it was a bullet hole?
Mr. FRAZIER. Not necessarily. It is a factor which corroborates that
opinion but even without it, it would still have been my opinion that
it was a bullet entrance hole.
Mr. SPECTER. Can you tell the size of the bullet from the hole in the
jacket?
Mr. FRAZIER. The hole in the jacket is approximately a quarter of an
inch in diameter.
Mr. SPECTER. Would that hole be consistent with a hole which would be
caused by a 6.5 millimeter bullet?
Mr. FRAZIER. Yes, sir; the actual bullet which makes a hole cannot be
determined because the cloth in one instance may stretch more than
it does in another instance causing either a larger or smaller hole
even for the same caliber, but it is consistent for a bullet of 6.5
millimeters in diameter to make a hole of approximately this size.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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