Yes the officer has something (like a broom handle?) that he is attempting to use to carry the bag without leaving fingerprints, but it looks to me as if his left hand is steadying the whole assembly...curiously, no one else's fingerprints were on the bag.
Here is a Warren commission photo of the bag:
Dangit. I can no longer upload photos to this forum. Well, until that is fixed, you'll have to go find the images by yourself.
http://jfkassassination.net/russ/wcexhibits.htm (Exhibit 142)
In an ideal world, I would insert a NARA photo from Mary Ferrell here:
https://www.maryferrell.org/wiki/index.p...t_Bag_Rods
As you can see from these photos, and from all the testimony about the handmade bag, the bag
h[B]ad a strip of tape (3" wide iirc) running the length of the bag.[/B] It is clearly visible in the Warren Commission and NARA photos. (The bag had been "treated" by the FBI so it no longer looks the same color as the original bag, but that's not the problem) In the WC and the NARA photos the tape is on the same side of the bag as the side that the closed end folds inward to when flat. (think of the bottom of a grocery bag)
In the DPD "evidence parade photo," however,
t[B]here ain't no tape. [/B] And, fortunately, you can see that the inward folding side is the one fortuitously facing the camera. So that bag in that photo is either a manufactured bag, or is simply a different bag than the one cited as an exhibit.
Also, I believe that the DPD "evidence parade photo" shows a bag longer than 38 inches, the measured length of the exhibit bag. Assuming the officer holding the bag is 6 feet tall the bag is approximately 4 feet in length. (The officer would have to be about 4'9" for the bag to be the correct length of 38".)
There are apparent differences in the bag as well. The exhibit bag has prominent folds about every 9.5" (1/4 of its length). The parade bag has folds too, but they do not appear to be evenly spaced.
Furthermore, the crumpling clearly visible at the "open end" (where Oswald would have gripped the barrel of the gun through the bag) on the parade bag, appears nowhere on the evidence bag.
"All that is necessary for tyranny to succeed is for good men to do nothing." (unknown)
James Tracy: "There is sometimes an undue amount of paranoia among some conspiracy researchers that can contribute to flawed observations and analysis."
Gary Cornwell (Dept. Chief Counsel HSCA): "A fact merely marks the point at which we have agreed to let investigation cease."
Alan Ford: "Just because you believe it, that doesn't make it so."
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