Perhaps I can summarise the various points we may have lost from the past few days postings. My memory is not great so forgive me and please add where appropriate.
I asked if there was any evidence that the "open end" of the bag was ever sealed.
Richard Smith suggested that a fold over without fixed sealing might suffice.
Jack Nessan suggested that the sack was actually 42” in length and could have contained an assembled rifle.
JohnM suggested that the end could have been cut with scissors and therefore could have contained either a disassembled or an intact rifle.
Gary Craig provided an FBI (?) document that summarised a re-enactment with LMR that stated Oswald held the package like a baseballer would pick up and carry a bat at one end.
Ross Lidell provided a TV recreation by Dan Rather suggesting a possible solution to the Frazier observation of about 2 foot package.
During the discussion I claimed that LMR and BWF would have known Oswald was the suspect when she visited the Paine's to inform the cops of his "suspicious" package.
Based on LHO's rifle was found on the 6th floor and how did it get there.
The WC did not appear to decide who was right and who was wrong. They simply took the statements, investigated it, asked some questions and moved on. In the case of BWF, the WC attempted to make his memory of the bag work for the disassembled rifle and it does not. The only description of LHO carrying the rifle that works is LMR's WC statement tying the right hand "palm" print to her description of how he carried it and the sack nearly touching the ground. Estimating distances and lengths is not an exact science.
A 38" bag would require a disassembled carcano but if the bag is longer as stated by Weisberg then the rifle can be fully assembled and carried by the barrel or forearm stock and held under the sights. The top does not have to be secured and the bottom left open.
Harold Weisberg ------ Coverup.
"Two of those photos, CE1304 and CE142, show the bag lying alongside a tape measure and ruler. The very top of the bag in 1304 is folded down, making a length of 38 inches, which the Report mentions immediately after noting the 34.8 inch length of the disassembled Mannlicher Carcano (R133). Actually, CE142 is more accurate. It shows the bag was really 42 inches long and 9 inches wide. CE1304 was not photographed head-on, but from a slight angle that makes the bag measure only 71/2 inches wide—the difference is only perspective. "
