Various newspaper and magazine clippings of articles relating to JFK, Jim Garrison, individuals under investigation, Martin Luther King, and other topics that interested Garrison. Also, includes excerpts from books regarding the JFK assassination and some

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even been made public as to whether these trag. ments were part of the same bullet or from separate The bullet_was recovered in a remarkably ones. Such determination could have been made by unscathed condition, losing only about neutron activation analysis. Such tests. in which a 2.5 gm over its bone-shattering course specimen is irradiated in a nuclear reactor and the in- duced radioanalysis assaved, apparently mere done at Governor Connally. After passing from a point approxi- the Atomic Energy Commission in 1964. These studies mately 4.5 cm to the right of the spine's midline and are alluded to in a letter written by FBI Director j. Edgar some 6 cm below the lowest crease of the back of the Hoover on July 8, 1964. Whr were the findings de- President's neck, this bullet is said to have exited at the rived from this highly sensitive testing method not made midline of the throat, some 15 cm away. Upon exit, it public for more than nine vears? singed the leit edge of Kennedy's tie knot. Then, if the The angles of the back wounds in the two men also Warren Commission conclusion is to be believed, the deserve attention. On the basis of wound lines post- bullet made an acute right turn in midair to strike the far ulated by the 1968 review panel, 1 calculate that Ken- right side of Governor Connally's back near the axilla. It nedy was struck by a bullet travelling downward at an fractured the right fifth rib and exited just below the angle of 9.5 to 13.5 degrees relative to the horizontal right nipple. Next, it is said to have struck 5 cm above plane and right to left at an angle of 15.5 to 19.5 degrees the wrist joint and exited 2 cm from the wrist crease on relative to the sagittal plane. Witnesses before the War- the palm side, leaving behind a comminuted fracture of ren Commission estimated that the bullet that hit Con- the right radius. Finally, this single bullet is said to have nally was traveling at a downward angle of 25 degrees pierced Connally's leit thigh, and a small metal fragment and right to left at 20 degrees. On the basis of these (revealed by x-ray) lodged in the femur. calculations, i believe that shots striking the two men The single bullet said to have done all this, it must be were fired from different windows and that neithe origi- stressed, was recovered in a remarkably unscathed con- nated where the rifle was found. dition. It weighed approximately 159 gm. This means Tests of the rifle found in the Texas School Book De- that along its bone-breaking route, it had lost only pository have demonstrated that it could not be refired in about 2 to 2.5 gm, an unlikely condition after such a less than 2.3 seconds. Governor Connally was wounded course. X-rays of the chests of both men and of the right less than two seconds after President Kennedy was wrist and left thigh of Connally show metallic fragments, struck in the back This, undoubtedly is why the Warren indicating that the bullet or bullets lost mass over the Commission came up with the single-bullet theory. It course. Based on my extensive experience as a forensic was the only way to explain am av the rifle firing lag pathologist, I am certain that such a trail of fragments in My questioning by a commission stafi member was four locations in two different persons could not add up detailed and tenacious; in fact, the questions were much to the small amount of metal missing from the recovered more in the form of cross examination than simple bullet. elicitation of direct testimony. | have written Vice Pres- Furthermore, the upper 2 cm of the bullet (nose and ident Rockefeller that I shall be most interested to learn midportion), which was fully jacketed in copper, exhibit whether the transcript of depositions will reveal the same no gross, visible deformities, areas of mutilation, or loss manner of questioning of other persons called, particu- of substance. One small piece was removed from the larly those whose avocational research has led them to jacket for spectrographic analysis by the FBI, according concur with the Warren Report to a notation in the records. There is no other deformity Why are the transcripts not being made public? Why in the upper two-thirds of the bullet. A minimal flatten- was the original autopsy report revised? Why are known ing is evident in the lower third and perhaps there was data and materials not being utilized to solve the case? minimal outpouring of the inner lead core onto focal Why must the official explanation remain that a lone portions of the copper rim at the base. Could a bullet that assassin fired two er three shots and that a single bullet had caused as much damage as this one is reputed to traveled an impossible course and emerged virtually have done remained in this condition? 1 am certain it unscathed? Is a conspiracy being concealed? could not. it would have been more deformed and scarred and would have lost more substance. I am con- vinced of this particularly because one of the bones REFERENCES shattered was the distal end of the radius, a very dense 1. WICHT CH: Pathologist's vien oi IFK autopry: an unsolved case. bone, especially in a man the size of Governor Connally, Mod Med 40:28-32. 1972 2. WICHT CH. IFK assassination a prolonged and williful cover- up. Mori Med 42:401-400, 1974 who is 6' 4" tall. 3. WECHT SMITH RP The medical evidence in the assassination of in addition to this bullet, two copper fragments of President John F. Kennedy SC 3105-128. 1974 bullets were found in the front of the car. No report has 25 THE JOURNAL OF LEGAL MEDICINE JULY/AUGUST 1975