Identification of Booth's body

[RJNorton]

Thanks to Steve who found another applicable newspaper article. He writes, "I tracked down a copy of the contemporary newspaper article mentioned in the forum thread which said there was a photograph taken of Booth's autopsy. I've attached a copy below for you to post to the forum. The article actually comes from page 2 of the April 28, 1865 Washington Evening Star instead of the New York Tribune. The article is mostly about Booth's capture and death but only mentions the body on the ship briefly at the end of the article. The source(s) used by the reporter were probably soldiers or War Department employees who had a good knowledge of the investigation but weren't on the ship and didn't know what happened during the examination of the body. The article doesn't describe the examination of the body at all. Just what happened before and that the body was wrapped in a blanket afterwards. The source(s) likely assumed photographs had been taken because they knew the Gardners had been taken onboard to photograph the body (as had been planned) but weren't aware that once they were onboard a decision was made not to photograph the body due to its condition.