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Image of Lt. J. C. "Carl" Day holding rifle outside the Book Depository
Image of Lt. J. C. "Carl" Day holding rifle outside the Book Depository

Image of Lt. J. C. "Carl" Day holding rifle outside the Book Depository

Object number2002.004.0016
Date11/22/1963
ClassificationsPhotographs
Photographer Jay Skaggs
ObjectSlide
Credit LineJay Skaggs Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumFilm
Dimensions2 x 2 in. (5.1 x 5.1 cm)
Description35mm Kodachrome II color slide, #19 of 20 images, taken by Jay Skaggs from the sidewalk at the northwest corner of Elm and Houston Streets looking west. This image shows Lt. J.C. "Carl" Day holding the rifle found on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository. Also present are WBAP-TV photographer Dan Owen, FBI special agent C. Ray Hall, and Deputy Sheriff Al Maddox to the right of Day.
Curatorial Commentary
While taking this picture, Jay Skaggs asked Lt. Day, "Is that the gun?"  According to Skaggs, Day nodded.  For nearly forty years, with his original slides stored in a shoebox at his home, Skaggs was unaware that he had captured the only known color photograph of the alleged murder weapon being removed from the Texas School Book Depository.  Professional photographers at the scene used black and white film. - Stephen Fagin, Curator

Jay Skaggs was the only known photographer to capture a picture of the rifle at the scene with color film.  Newspaper and television photographers rarely used color in those days, and with the exception of one motorcade photograph, all color images taken over the assassination weekend were made by amateurs. 

The rifle, at first misidentified as a Mauser, was soon found to be a Mannlicher-Carcano, a basic Italian weapon manufactured in 1940 and considered war surplus.  FBI agents traced the rifle to Lee Harvey Oswald the next morning by examining the microfilm records of Klein's Sporting Goods, a Chicago mail order firm specializing in guns.  The rifle, ordered under the name Alex Hidell (a fictitious name favored by Oswald), had been shipped to Oswald's Dallas post office box eight months earlier. - Gary Mack, Curator