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+--- Thread: One more post, on one broken leg. (/thread-1145.html)
RE: One more post, on one broken leg. - Eva Elisabeth - 09-25-2013 07:51 AM
Thanks Anita for the tip and wsanto for the free link! Interesting book! I've always wanted to know what other productions Ford's had in the repertoire.
Yesterday (later) I also found another plan.
I never really could imagine the exact "arrangement" - the relative position to each other - of the "rooms" or compartments Booth had to pass at Ford's Theater, thus of the dress circle, the corridor and the State Box. I've always assumed the door through which JWB entered the State Box was directly opposite Lincoln's rocking chair (like door G in the following). Obviously it was not, as this sketch in Harper's weekly of April 29, 1865 shows:
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1865/April/abraham-lincoln-fords-theater.htm
Dave also has it on his boothiebarn in a great article that answered many questions I had:
http://boothiebarn.com/?s=rathbone&submit=Search
Thanks, Dave! Although Anita had already posted the link it didn't (still doesn't - for whatever reason) work on my device ("page not found"). But I came across Dave's article yesterday myself when I searched for a floor plan.
Still I have some questions, and Dave kindly allowed me to use and quote from his article here.
There are two photos of the door, but I'm not sure which of the four compartments of the door was the one with the spy hole? (Thus at what height was it?) One of the upper two, I assume!?
Dave also writes:"A picture the next day by Matthew Brady shows the same door, right behind the President, closed...looking closely at the photo, I notice that no hole is bored into it." If the hole was in the top compartment of the door and on the left side (right side viewed from the corridor) it would have been exactly hidden by the curtain, wouldn't it?
Dave furthermore writes: "Rathbone claims that the door to Box 8 was never closed during the performance. If this is the case, Booth may not have used the peephole to spy on the President through Box 7." I agree on the conclusion, but could JWB have known the door was not closed during a performance?
Dave, thanks also for bringing up this question: "As Booth was making his jump, could the grasp of Major Rathbone on his clothes have thrown the actor’s balance off and caused his clumsy landing? Further, if this is indeed when Booth broke his leg, effectively slowing down his escape, could it be Rathbone and not the flags, that deserve the credit?"
I've always had this question in mind too, but never dared to pose it because I know too little on the topic and since I've always just seen the flag mentioned I thought for some reason I don't know it might be a stupid idea.
Finally, Dave, I like the illustrative way you worded the following which I could well imagine, too: "Booth becomes a shadowy figure, standing motionless in the doorway to box 8 eyeing his prey. To me the latter image is in line with Booth’s brazen persona. He brought an unreliable single shot derringer to kill the President, assured that he would succeed. I have no problem picturing this arrogant Booth, lurking near an open door a few feet away from the President, coiled like a viper waiting to strike."
I thank for any comment on the questions above!
RE: One more post, on one broken leg. - Gene C - 09-25-2013 08:41 AM
Thanks for posting that. Some very interesting photo's and diagrams that I have never seen before.
RE: One more post, on one broken leg. - J. Beckert - 09-25-2013 08:44 AM
![[Image: LincolnDoor.jpg]](http://www.dahoovsplace.com/Travels/WashingtonDC/FordsTheatreLincolnMuseum/LincolnDoor.jpg)
This is the best full size photo of the door I could find, Eva. The hole is on the right side of the second panel down.
RE: One more post, on one broken leg. - Eva Elisabeth - 09-25-2013 09:31 AM
Thank you, Joe. This means Dave is right, it could just have been in the other door (F).
RE: One more post, on one broken leg. - Eva Elisabeth - 09-25-2013 11:37 AM
If Ford had let a hole being drilled to monitor the president, it would have made more sense had it been in door (G) since it through a hole in the closed door (F) it should have been almost impossible to see the president's seat. (And if the door was open one didn't need the hole.)
Although there are more important things in life, at present I can't get that hole out of my head. So, since there's nothing but a hole in my head, forgive me one last silly question:
Is it not possible that JWB (if it was him) had drilled the hole already before he learned the Grants wouldn't come?
[attachment=234]
RE: One more post, on one broken leg. - RJNorton - 09-25-2013 04:53 PM
(09-25-2013 11:37 AM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote: Is it not possible that JWB (if it was him) had drilled the hole already before he learned the Grants wouldn't come?
Eva, I think there is some guesswork involved in putting an exact time on all of Booth's movements on the 14th. All I can tell you is a summary of what I have read in various books. I think most (if not all) of them are in agreement that Booth found out about Grant first, then did the carpentry. On average, the books have Booth talking to Mathews about 4:30 to 5:00 P.M., and he sees the Grants' carriage go by. He then rides up real close and stares at Grant. Then he rides to the Willard Hotel, where the Grants were staying, and finds out they are departing Washington. Then, sometime later during the 5:00 P.M. hour or within 6:00 P.M. hour, he does his carpentry at Ford's. Certainly what you ask is possible, Eva, but the time frame I have read puts the carpentry after the discovery.
P.S. In her memoirs, Julia Grant wrote, "Afterwards, as General Grant and I rode to the depot, this same dark, pale man rode past us at a sweeping gallop on a dark horse - black, I think. He rode twenty yards ahead of us, wheeled and returned, and as he passed us both going and returning, he thrust his face quite near the General's and glared in a disagreeable manner.' Mrs. Ruckner said, 'General, everyone wants to see you.' Grant replied, 'Yes, but I do not care for such glances. They are not friendly.' "
(Julia Grant also maintained that the dark, pale man...assumed to be Booth...had stared at her when she had lunch at the Willard Hotel.)
RE: One more post, on one broken leg. - Jim Garrett - 09-26-2013 07:03 AM
(09-24-2013 05:37 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote: Does a floor plan exist of the floor with the state box? Or floor plans of the theater in general?The diagrams of the theater were made by John T. Ford as he sat in the Old Capitol prison. The diagram of the box usually seen was from a newspaper. While close, neither are exact. The layout of box 7 is at such an angle the view to the stage is somewhat compromised unless the patron is sitting up near the front of the box. Box 8 is a better box. In any event, the combined box, with the four occupants and three pieces of heavy furniture was very crowded. Whether there were a few mote square feet in the original box, we don't know. All I know, if you had claustrophobia, the Presidential box was no place to be.
RE: One more post, on one broken leg. - Eva Elisabeth - 09-26-2013 07:30 AM
Many thanks Roger!
Jim, I wonder how claustrophobic the rest of the audience felt, seeing the pictures it's hard to believe that the theater had seats for 2400 people (if this is true).