Booth autopsy

[SSlater]

This post will not contribute much, but we should read what L. C. Baker had to say about the autopsy. "We proceeded to the Navy Yard, and at the dead hour of the night disembarked our prisoner, (Herold) put him in double irons, and confined him in the hold of the ship.... The body of Booth was placed on the deck, in charge of a marine guard. ... On the following morning a post-mortem examination was held, in order to the proper identification of the body. Dr. May, a physician of Washington, who had some two years before removed a tumor from Booth's neck.... The scar of this tumor was readily found by Dr. May, and his testimony, with that of six or seven others, (WHO WAS DAT?), ... placed the question of identity beyond all cavil. Afterward, Dr. Barnes ... cut the from Booth's neck a section of the spine through which the ball passed. ... This is the only mutilation of J. Wilkes Booth that ever occurred. On Thursday, the 27th, I was sent for by the Secretary of War, and wad directed to make a disposition of the body of Booth." This is from Chapter XXXVI of his "Hist. of the U.S. Secr. Serv" The Corpse- Identification.