** NEW DISCOVERY REGARDING BOOTH AUTOPSY PHOTO

[John E.]

(05-30-2013 05:33 PM)L Verge Wrote:  I can name some outstanding scholars in this field who have tried for 150 years to find evidence that the photo existed - to no avail. If they had found anything to fully corroborate it, don't you think they would have shouted from the roof tops? I can think of at least ten such scholars immediately.

Frankly, I think John has done a masterful job of finding evidence that the photo does not/did not exist, and the evidence is from an eyewitness who had the opportunity to take everything in that day -- not just twenty seconds to figure out why that weird man was hopping across the stage at an inopportune time.

He approached his subject exactly like a trained historian (and John isn't one, to my knowledge) should have. Now the challenge is for someone out there to prove him wrong... Good luck looking for the next 150 years!

Thank you very much Laurie. You words are sincerely appreciated. This is a case where this was the last piece of evidence for me, not the first. All I was missing was a "Smoking Gun" type of find to support my opinion.

The other statement I'm ready to make is that Timothy O'Sullivan was neither at the Navy Yard or the Arsenal Penitentiary to help Alexander Gardner capture the executions. The idea that he was ever at either place is based on research that was never properly sourced or sited.

This too will be included in our next supplement.

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(05-30-2013 05:35 PM)Dave Taylor Wrote:  John, my only basis for originally tipping the scale in favor of the photograph, was the newspaper engravings and my own arbitrary knowledge of The story regarding the one sole print. It was never anything I looked into and, like so many of us do on so many things, I accepted what I was told from others.

I am so looking forward to your supplement, and I'm sure it will alleviate any lingering questions I have. Your research is top notch, John. Keep it up.

Hey Dave, I appreciate your comments and value your opinion. I'm secretly hoping you prove me wrong and come up with the photo. Who wouldn't want to see it?

Right now, Charles Jendresen is bumming over the new find. Jeff Elliott done ticked him off with this one. He's pretty motivated to prove me and Barry wrong. As you know, his film 'Killing Lincoln' dedicated an entire scene to how Booth's autopsy was photographed on board the Montauk by Gardner and his partner Timothy O'Sullivan.

Barry and I made the same mistake and trusted Mark Katz's research. Our second supplement repeats the same old error that others have made. In other words, if you believed the photo existed, you are in good company.