Impossible: The Case Against Lee Harvey Oswald (43 page)

How does it do that?

Because the story, if true, is
impossible
!

We can discover why this is so when we understand the FBI prefix designations given to evidence as it was logged. Remember those “Q” numbers? Well, you should realize that “Q” wasn’t the only FBI prefix, there was also a “C” prefix, which indicated that the item qualified as an evidentiary exhibit (the “Q” prefix indicated that this evidentiary item was first sent to the FBI lab, where it was given an FBI laboratory examination number).

So, we are going to be mapping “Q” numbers to “C” numbers, and ultimately those numbers to the most important “CE” (Commission Exhibit) numbers. That will help us track what went where and when, which is something we have to do to unravel this mess.

In general, whenever you find yourself lost in a maze, it is helpful to retrace your steps and work backwards so you can find your way out:

We are able to retrace the steps and unravel the thread thanks to page 71 of Commission Document 735, which contained a listing of the personal effects of Lee Harvey Oswald and his wife Marina, as well as articles of an “evidentiary hearing nature.”

This valuable document, a second Rosetta Stone in the Kennedy assassination, will allow us to ultimately create a table linking all of these “C,” “Q,” and “CE” designations.

Let us start by going from “C” to “Q”. The listing in CD 735 maps the “C” designation to the “Q” designation for C6 and C7 as follows (CD 735, p. 71):
51

So,
C6 = Q6
, and
C7 = Q7
. C38 was similarly mapped two pages later (CD 735, p. 73):
52

Likewise,
C38 = Q48
.

Now that the “C” and “Q” designations of the empty shells have been identified with each other, we need to identify the “C” and “Q” designations of these shells with the Warren Commission exhibit “CE” numbers.

When we examine key Warren Commission testimony, a third Rosetta Stone, we learn that
Q6 is identical to CE 543
(3 H 508):
53

Elsewhere we learn that
C7/Q7 is identical to CE 544
, as shown in CE 562 (3 H 425; 17 H 252):
54

And, finally,
Q48 is identical to CE 545
(3 H 505):
55

When we put this information together, we derive the following evidence index table which tells us, for example, that
CE 543
is also referred to in other (FBI) contexts by the designation
C6
as well as
Q6
:

Because we have this table, if I ask you the question “
CE
545
was given what ‘Q’ number by the FBI?” you will have no trouble in answering . . .
Q48
!

So, now that we understand which designations match up with which, let’s take another look at our model of the testimony given by Day on April 22, 1964, but this time with the “Q” numbers from the table above referenced to the “CE” numbers: