Mr. Stombaugh.

Well, this is our Dallas office. They sent the gun in wanting to know this fact.

Mr. Eisenberg.

Proceed.

Mr. Dulles.

It was dusted by the Dallas police, was it, first?

Mr. Stombaugh.

I don't know who dusted it.

Mr. Eisenberg.

For the record, I believe that will be shown later that it was dusted by Dallas police.
As far as you know, did it come into your office, into your laboratory before it went to the identification division, latent fingerprint section?

Mr. Stombaugh.

Yes; I received this gun from Special Agent Vincent Drain of the Dallas FBI office. It was crated very well. I opened the crate myself and put my initials on the gun and at that time I noted it had been dusted for latent prints.
So I proceeded to pick off what fibers were left from the small crevices and small grease deposits which were left on the gun.
At this point of the butt plate, the end of the stock----

Mr. Eisenberg.

Let's get that a little more specific if we can. Can you point to that again?

Mr. Stombaugh.

In this area, the butt plate of the stock, this is a metal butt plate, you can see the jagged edge on it.

Mr. Eisenberg.

That is on the left side of the butt plate?

Mr. Stombaugh.

It is on the left side; yes.

Mr. Eisenberg.

In approximately in the middle there is a jagged edge, jagged inside edge, where the butt plate comes into contact with the wood, is that what you are referring to?

Mr. Stombaugh.

Yes; there is a jagged edge there. This area right here, according to my notes.

Mr. Eisenberg.

Yes.

Mr. Stombaugh.

I found a tiny tuft of fibers which had caught on that jagged edge, and then when the individual who dusted this dusted them, he Just folded them down very neatly into the little crevice there, and they stayed. These I removed and put on a glass microscope slide, and marked this particular slide "No. 2," because this little group of fibers--little tuft of fibers, appeared to be fresh.
The fibers on the rest of the gun were either adhering to a greasy, oily deposit or jammed into a crevice and were very dirty and apparently very old.
You can look at a fiber and tell whether it has been beaten around or exposed much. These appeared to be fairly fresh.

Mr. Eisenberg.

"These" being the ones that you found in the butt plate crevice?

Mr. Stombaugh.

Yes; adhering to this small jagged edge.

Mr. Eisenberg.

Before we get to those, were there any other fibers of value on the rest of the Exhibit 139?

Mr. Stombaugh.

No; the other fibers I cleaned up, removed the grease and examined them but they were of no value. They were pretty well fragmented.

Mr. Eisenberg.

You could not make a determination as to their nature?

Mr. Stombaugh.

I could tell what type they were.

Mr. Eisenberg.

Meaning textile type?

Mr. Stombaugh.

Yes; such as wool, cotton, what-have-you, but the grease and the dirt had changed the colors which ruined the characteristics for comparison purposes.

Mr. Eisenberg.

Could you tell whether they were old or new?

Mr. Stombaugh.

They all appeared old.

Mr. Eisenberg.

What about----

Mr. Dulles.

What do you mean by old, 2 or 3 months old, 2 or 3 weeks old?

Mr. Stombaugh.

Well, a length of time, I would say that in excess of a month or 2 months.

Mr. Dulles.

In that area?

Mr. Stombaugh.

In that area or longer. They weren't recently put in there. Let's say that.

Mr. Eisenberg.

What about the grease, did you attempt to examine the grease?