HSCA Volume 7 Introduction -
[Cached Version]
Published on: 9/20/2004
Last Visited: 9/9/2005
William Allen Harper, a student at Texas Christian University, was taking photographs of the Dealey Plaza area. (14) when he discovered a piece of bone near the scene of the assassination.Harper informed the FBI that he took the bone to his uncle, Dr. Jack C. Harper, and that they both then went to Dr. A.B. Cairns, chief of pathology at Methodist Hospital, Dallas Tex. (15) Dr. Cairns believed the bone to be a piece of human skull. (16) William Harper said he then gave the specimen to Special Agent Anderson of the FBI on November 25.(17)
Adm. George G. Burkley, the physician to the President, noted in an unaddressed memorandum on Nov. 27, 1963, that at 5:15 p.m. that day he received a small Neiman-Marcus box about 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches containing material which "had been discussed previously" with the FBI.(18) Dr. Burkley also wrote that this material would be deposited with the commanding officer of the Bethesda Naval Hospital for retention with other materials of a similar nature. (19)
The evidence indicates that the Neiman-Marcus box contained the bone fragment William Harper discovered.First, the dimensions of the box and the Harper bone fragment (2 1/4 by 2 1/2 inches) correspond.Second, the dates when William Harper gave the bone fragment to authorities and when Admiral Burkley referred to the Neiman Marcus box in his memorandum are just 2 days apart.
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Third, William Harper gave the fragment to an FBI agent, and Admiral Burkley said the contact for receiving the box was the FBI. (20) Fourth, Admiral Burkley referred to the contents of the box as a specimen.(21) Consequently, it is logical that the Neiman-Marcus box contained the Harper bone fragment.