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Image of Dallas Police detectives carrying evidence out of the Book Depository
Image of Dallas Police detectives carrying evidence out of the Book Depository

Image of Dallas Police detectives carrying evidence out of the Book Depository

Object number1989.100.0023.0005
Date11/22/1963
ClassificationsPhotographs
Photographer William Allen
ObjectNegative (b&w)
Credit LineWilliam Allen, photographer, Dallas Times Herald Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumFilm
Dimensions15/16 x 1 7/16 in. (2.4 x 3.6 cm)
Collections
DescriptionOriginal 35mm black and white negative taken by Dallas Times Herald staff photographer William Allen. This image shows Dallas Police Detectives Leslie Montgomery and Marvin Johnson on the steps of the Texas School Book Depository with a long paper bag and Dr. Pepper bottle that were found on the building's sixth floor on November 22, 1963.
Curatorial Commentary

Found by investigators on the sixth floor of the Depository, this brown paper bag was a key piece of evidence in the Warren Commission investigation. Thirty-eight inches long, and bearing markings consistent with a rifle, the bag was -- according to the Warren Commission -- used by Lee Harvey Oswald to bring the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle into the building on November 22, 1963. 

For many researchers, questions remain about the paper bag. Two individuals who saw Oswald with a package that morning - Depository employee Buell Wesley Frazier and his sister, Linnie Randle - testified that the package they observed was between 24 and 27 inches in length, though the Carcano rifle, when disassembled, measures 34.8 inches. - Stephen Fagin, Curator