Identification of Booth's body

[L Verge]

In an earlier reply, someone cited William Pegram’s 1913 article “An Historic Identification: John Wilkes Booth—What Became of Him?” and presented it as evidence that the body examined at the 1869 viewing was in fact Booth. But even a casual look at Pegram’s article reveals some serious problems with his claims, and in fact suggests that he fabricated his supposed identification or that the body he viewed was not Booth, or both.

For example, Pegram claimed that the body’s left foot was housed in a make-shift shoe that was made from the foot of the boot that Dr. Mudd cut from Booth’s leg (p. 328). Uh, no, Pegram could not have seen any such thing. The boot that Mudd cut and removed from Booth’s leg can be viewed at the Ford’s Theater National Historic Site. Here’s a picture of it: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2010630742/. Here’s a closeup: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/highsm.04758/. You will see that the foot of the boot is not missing.

Pegram said that both the left ankle and the left knee were disjointed (p. 328). Neither Dr. Mudd, Dr. Barnes, nor Dr. Woodward said anything about the left knee being disjointed, and it seems hard to believe that they all would have failed to notice a disjointed knee.

Pegram said that the body’s teeth were examined and that only one filling was found (p. 328). Well, that’s a big problem, because Booth had two fillings.

Finally, incredibly, Pegram claimed that the hair on the body’s head “had grown probably nearly a foot in length” (p. 328)! Sorry, but science tells us that that could not have been Booth’s body because hair does not grow after death. New cells must be created for hair to grow, but cell growth stops very quickly after death. There is no way on this planet that any corpse’s hair would have grown “nearly a foot” by that time, or by any time. I quote from a BBC article that debunks the old myth that fingernails and hair keep growing after you die:

In order for fingernails to grow, new cells need to be produced and this can’t happen without glucose. Fingernails grow by an average of 0.1 mm per day, a rate which slows as we age. A layer of tissue beneath the base of the nail called the germinal matrix is responsible for producing the vast majority of the cells which form the newest-growing part of the fingernail. The new cells push the older ones forwards, making the nail appear to lengthen from the tip. Death puts a stop to the supply of glucose, and therefore to fingernail growth.

A similar process occurs for hair. Each hair sits within a follicle that drives its growth. At the base of the follicle is the hair matrix, a group of cells that divide to produce the new cells that make hair strands longer. These cells divide very rapidly, but only when supplied with energy. This comes from the burning of glucose, which requires the presence of oxygen. Once the heart stops pumping oxygen round the body in the blood, the energy supply dries up, and so does the cell division that drives hair growth. (http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130526...fter-death)

In rare cases, depending on the nature of the death, hair and nails can grow a tiny, tiny, tiny bit, perhaps a fraction of an inch, but that’s it. In most cases, there is zero growth after death. Even an inch of post-mortem hair growth is impossible, much less 10-12 inches. Anyone can Google this subject and find hundreds of articles that explain the science behind this fact.

The Pegram article is a perfect example of how some defenders of the traditional story are prone to uncritically accept accounts that say what they want to hear. Steers cites Pegram as a witness. Did Steers ever read Pegram’s account? He dismisses the accounts of Basil Moxley, Joseph Ziegen, and William Kenzie, but he has no problem citing Pegram as a credible witness.

As usual, you have not offered your source for the statement that Booth had two fillings...

Moving right along, I believe I learned enough in biology and also from a family member who owned a funeral home that the hair and nails may not grow, but that the skin in which they "live" starts to recede (shrink, whatever) so that the hair and nails appear to be longer - again, not significantly, but it would appear as growth to the uneducated.

And finally, do you know anything in the world about the reputable authors/historians that you are "libeling" in your statements? Dr. Steers will be speaking on one of your favorite books, Dark Union, at the Surratt conference in April. Why don't you register for it? Ed will be participating in our Authors' Hour as well as speaking, so you will have plenty of time to argue with him. It will be a learning experience -- and we can invite our other learned guest speakers to join in. And, I am not being sarcastic here...

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Concerning my query about deliberately mis-identifying the body ....

Mike, you write :
"I do not get this argument at all. What "risk" was there? How were they at "risk" of "being caught" when they were being asked--or coerced--to ID the body as Booty by the likes of Holt and Baker, i.e., the Judge Advocate General of the United States and the head of the National Detective Police? "

What risk was there? Sorry, I thought that was obvious ... and I have raised it before but you've ignored it ...
That Booth (probably one of the most 'famous' men at that time) would turn up in Canada or out West or where-ever. He wasnt known as being a recluse.
I'd call that a huge risk.

AussieMick - I have made that same point numerous times in discussing the Booth escaped theory. JWB had too great an ego to go quietly into Henry David Thoreau mode for the rest of his life.

I have also used a quote from a former curator at Ford's Theatre, Frank Hebblethwaite, in regards to a "secret government cover-up:" Frank would remind folks (especially those who were not from the D.C. area) that "it's impossible to keep a secret in Washington for two minutes, let alone 150+ years!"