Drawing of Booth Body

[L Verge]

Nomann - it's a shame that you are not registered for the Surratt conference this weekend. Over 140 people will get an in-depth discussion from our forum member, John Elliott, who contributed the piece for the awesometalks site that you mentioned above. John has based his on-going research on one of the best primary sources a historian could ask for -- an eyewitness who was also the son of the photographer who was "supposed" to take a photo of the dead assassin.

For fifty years (compared to history's 150 years), I have prayed for the so-called death photo to be found stashed away in a box somewhere. Since it has yet to be produced, I think we have to consider that Lawrence Gardner (said eyewitness and son) may very well be correct in saying that no photo was taken of the dead assassin.

Personally, I place little faith in illustrations provided by newspapers, journals, etc. during this era. Artists were engaged to provide visuals, but it didn't mean that those visuals came from the artist being on site at the event or even drawing from a photo. The idea was to get the CONCEPT of what happened out to the public who would spend the dime to get the impression of news as it happened. I will admit, however, than some of these illustrations are fine pieces of work - accurate or not.