Booth's comments on Spangler ?

[Dave Taylor]

I've never seen a period photo of the rear of Ford's Theatre and Baptist Alley - but engravings in both Harpers and Frank Leslie's show what appears to be an anvil or bollard in the back - both of which could be utilized to tie a horse; which makes me wonder therefore since two separate sketch artists for two separate papers drew these images if there wasn't something of the sort actually there!

Frank Leslie's

Harper's

I'd put some faith in the sketch from Frank Leslie's. It was done by Albert Berghaus, the same illustrator who spent time in and interviewed the tenants of the Petersen House in order to create a realistic sketch of the President's deathbed.

Berghaus also sketched Booth's stable in the alley: