Leaked Early FBI Autopsy Report
The following clippings were obtained via newspapers.com. These accounts (from the same AP source) are basically the same, describing the "first" bullet as having not penetrated very deeply, possibly having "first glancing off some part of the presidential limousine" and recovered from Kennedy's stretcher at Parkland. The "second" bullet was reportedly recovered from the limousine.
In fact, I believe it was the first (fragmented) bullet that was recovered from the limousine and from Kennedy's back wound, and the second (intact AR-15) bullet that was recovered from the stretcher as the Tomlinson/Wright bullet (See my article "Multiple Stretcher Bullets").
These newspaper accounts differ somewhat from the JAMA reporting (at the bottom of this page). I believe that the JAMA version is closer to the truth, except that it reports a "bullet" recovered from the back wound, whereas X-ray technician Jerrol Custer reported to the ARRB that a "king-size fragment" had fallen out of the body. I believe this "king-size fragment" to be the middle section of the bullet whose nose and tail sections were recovered from the front of the limousine. The nose and tail sections of the bullet together did not equal the weight of even 1/2 of a Carcanno bullet, leaving the greater part of the bullet's mass to either be unaccounted for, or (as I believe) to be Custer's "king-size fragment."
I do remember having encountered some other (different version) newspaper clippings posted online saying (like the JAMA article) that the "bullet" from the back wound was recovered during the autopsy, and saying nothing about any of the "stretcher" bullets. My link for those articles no longer works, and I haven't yet found them on newspapers.com. If/when I locate those clippings, I will add them to this page. In the meantime, we have https://jfkfacts.org/dec-18-1963-the-times-and-posts-fatally-flawed-stories-on-jfks-autopsy-story/ which describes different December 18, 1963 accounts from The Washington Post and The New York Times, with the former apparently being more in line with the JAMA account, and the latter more in line with the AP account as given in the newspapers below. (Unfortunately, the image links don't work.) I can also point to the Weisberg archives at http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Meagher%20Sylvia%20Folders/Meagher%20Working%20Papers%20Reference%20Notes/Meagher%20Work%2035.pdf, which provide text descriptions of various news accounts, though not the clippings themselves.
These AP articles are based on a "leaked" FBI report on the autopsy. There is no information on who leaked the information, but J. Edgar Hoover ran a fairly tight ship, and was known to have personally leaked things to the press. Hoover might have been responsible for this leak, also.
Anyway, here are the articles, dated November 18, 1963, followed by the somewhat different (and later) JAMA account:
The following clippings were obtained via newspapers.com. These accounts (from the same AP source) are basically the same, describing the "first" bullet as having not penetrated very deeply, possibly having "first glancing off some part of the presidential limousine" and recovered from Kennedy's stretcher at Parkland. The "second" bullet was reportedly recovered from the limousine.
In fact, I believe it was the first (fragmented) bullet that was recovered from the limousine and from Kennedy's back wound, and the second (intact AR-15) bullet that was recovered from the stretcher as the Tomlinson/Wright bullet (See my article "Multiple Stretcher Bullets").
These newspaper accounts differ somewhat from the JAMA reporting (at the bottom of this page). I believe that the JAMA version is closer to the truth, except that it reports a "bullet" recovered from the back wound, whereas X-ray technician Jerrol Custer reported to the ARRB that a "king-size fragment" had fallen out of the body. I believe this "king-size fragment" to be the middle section of the bullet whose nose and tail sections were recovered from the front of the limousine. The nose and tail sections of the bullet together did not equal the weight of even 1/2 of a Carcanno bullet, leaving the greater part of the bullet's mass to either be unaccounted for, or (as I believe) to be Custer's "king-size fragment."
I do remember having encountered some other (different version) newspaper clippings posted online saying (like the JAMA article) that the "bullet" from the back wound was recovered during the autopsy, and saying nothing about any of the "stretcher" bullets. My link for those articles no longer works, and I haven't yet found them on newspapers.com. If/when I locate those clippings, I will add them to this page. In the meantime, we have https://jfkfacts.org/dec-18-1963-the-times-and-posts-fatally-flawed-stories-on-jfks-autopsy-story/ which describes different December 18, 1963 accounts from The Washington Post and The New York Times, with the former apparently being more in line with the JAMA account, and the latter more in line with the AP account as given in the newspapers below. (Unfortunately, the image links don't work.) I can also point to the Weisberg archives at http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Meagher%20Sylvia%20Folders/Meagher%20Working%20Papers%20Reference%20Notes/Meagher%20Work%2035.pdf, which provide text descriptions of various news accounts, though not the clippings themselves.
These AP articles are based on a "leaked" FBI report on the autopsy. There is no information on who leaked the information, but J. Edgar Hoover ran a fairly tight ship, and was known to have personally leaked things to the press. Hoover might have been responsible for this leak, also.
Anyway, here are the articles, dated November 18, 1963, followed by the somewhat different (and later) JAMA account:
Alamogordo Daily News, Alamogordo, NM, p. 01
Alamogordo Daily News, Alamogordo, NM, p. 08
Evening Herald, Rock Hill, SC, p. 01
Ironwood Daily Globe, Ironwood, MI, p. 01
Pottsville Republican, Pottsville, PA, p. 16
Rocky Mount Telegram, Rocky Mount, NC p01
Rocky Mount Telegram, Rocky Mount, NC, p. 02
The Vinita Daily Journal, Vinita, OK, p. 01
The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), January 4, 1964 differs from the above newspaper accounts in that it says the "bullet" was found "buried deep in the shoulder" and "was recovered during the autopsy."
All of the accounts (newspapers, above, JAMA below) describe the back wound as having been caused by a bullet that "glanced off" or "ricocheted off" some part of the limousine, to then create a shallow wound.
From https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/1161559