Experimental duplication of the important physical evidence of the lapel bulge of the jacket worn by Governor Connally when bullet 399 went through him.
By duplicating the wound to the neck of President Kennedy, which caused bullet 399 to turn sideways, and having it then hit a Connally-type rib cage with shirt and jacket, we reproduced the right-sided bulge of the jacket worn by Connally, with lapel eversion, which is so significant in frame 224. The extensive damage to his shirtfront was from the hail of rib fragments and soft tissue, exactly as described with his own shirt. Our tumbling bullet then went on to fracture a radius and be recovered intact except that it was somewhat flattened and bent and had lead extruded from the rear, as did bullet 399. Fragments of this lead were scraped off on the ragged bone-ends of some of our fractured radiuses, just as with Governor Connally's radius. It is believed that this duplication of the jacket and lapel bulge of Governor Connally, which occurred dependably, when we reproduced the circumstances at Dallas, confirmed this very important detail in this technical demonstration of the findings in the shooting of President Kennedy and Governor Connally. The bulge and the lapel eversion of the jacket worn by Governor Connally, starting in Zapruder frame 224, does indeed establish, beyond any shadow of a doubt, the exact moment when bullet 399 went through him. The right arms of both men were seen to react simultaneously, immediately thereafter. It also permits us to establish that there was plenty of time (three and one-half seconds) between the first two shots (frames 160 to 224) and even more time (five seconds) between the last two shots (frames 224 to 313), for Oswald to reload, reacquire his target (the head of President Kennedy) plus two full seconds to lock onto it. If the bullet does not traverse the neck of President Kennedy, it does not cause Governor Connally's jacket and lapel to bulge. The lapel bulge is a very important bit of actual physical evidence in establishing the fact that one bullet hit both men and that Oswald had plenty of time to hit the President, first in the neck and then in the head. These experiments confirm the mechanism of the lapel bulge and the behavior of the bullet.
Lattimer
J K
JK
College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, New York.
Laidlaw
A
A
Heneghan
P
P
Haubner
E J
EJ
D005197:Famous Persons; D005554:Forensic Medicine; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006708:Homicide / Q000266:history; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D014481:United States; D014948:Wounds, Gunshot / Q000266:history*