Mr. Eisenberg.

can form an opinion, that the fibers from the bag, fibers in the bag, ultimately came from the blanket?

Mr. Stombaugh.

When you get into mathematical probabilities, it is something I stay away from, since in general there are too many unknown factors. All I would say here is that it is possible that these fibers could have come. from this blanket, because this blanket is composed of brown and green woolen fibers, brown and green delustered viscose fibers, and brown and green cotton fibers.
Now these 3 different types of fibers have 6 different general colors, and if we would multiply that, say by a minimum of 5 different shades of each so you would have 30 different shades you are looking for, and 3 different types of fibers. Here we have only found 1 brown viscose fiber, and 2 or 3 light green cotton fibers. We found no brown cotton fibers, no green viscose fibers, and no woolen fibers.
So if I had found all of these then I would have been able to say these fibers probably had come from this blanket. But since I found so few, then I would say the possibility exists, these fibers could have come from this blanket.

Mr. Eisenberg.

Now, let me ask you a hypothetical question, Mr. Stombaugh. First, I hand you Commission Exhibit 139, which consists of a rifle found on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository Building, and I ask you, if the rifle had lain in the blanket, which is 140, and were then put inside the bag, 142, could it have picked up fibers from the blanket and transferred them to the bag?

Mr. Stombaugh.

Yes.

Mr. Eisenberg.

Are there any further questions as to the blanket?

Mr. Dulles.

Do you have any, Mr. Murray?

Mr. Murray.

I have none, Mr. Dulles.

Mr. Eisenberg.

Do you recognize Exhibit 139? Are you familiar with that?

Mr. Stombaugh.

Yes; I am.

Mr. Eisenberg.

Did you examine that in the laboratory?

Mr. Stombaugh.

Yes; I did.

Mr. Eisenberg.

Do you know when you made that examination?

Mr. Stombaugh.

On the morning of November 23, 1963.

Mr. Eisenberg.

Is your mark on it?

Mr. Stombaugh.

Yes, sir; here is my mark.

Mr. Eisenberg.

Which consists of your initials?

Mr. Stombaugh.

My initials, and the date 11-23-63. Do you mind if I check to see if this is unloaded?

Mr. Eisenberg.

Did you examine the rifle to determine whether it contained on its surface or crevices any hair or other debris?

Mr. Stombaugh.

Yes; I did.

Mr. Eisenberg.

Can you tell us how you made that examination?

Mr. Stombaugh.

Yes, sir. The gun was to be treated for latent fingerprints also, so I wore a pair of white cotton gloves to protect any latents that might be present on the gun. I placed the gun under a low-powered microscope and examined the gun from the end of the barrel to the end of the stock, removing what fibers I could find from crevices adhering to the gun.
I noticed immediately upon receiving the gun that this gun had been dusted for latent fingerprints prior to my receiving it. Latent fingerprint powder was all over the gun; it was pretty well dusted off, and at the time I noted to myself that I doubted very much if there would be any fibers adhering to the outside of this gun--I possibly might find some in a crevice some place--because when the latent fingerprint man dusted this gun, apparently in Dallas, they use a little brush to dust with they would have dusted any fibers off the gun at the same time; so this I noted before I ever started to really examine the gun.

Mr. Eisenberg.

Were you. unhappy at all about that?

Mr. Stombaugh.

I was; however, it is not uncommon for fingerprint processing to be given priority consideration. They wanted to know whether or not the gun contained any fibers to show that it had been stored in this blanket, and with all the obstructions and the crevices on the metal parts of this gun, ordinarily a fiber would adhere pretty well, unless you take a brush and brush it off, and then you brush it on the floor and it is lost.

Mr. Eisenberg.

Who was "they," you said "they" wanted to know?