Identification of Booth's body

[L Verge]

Christine - Thank you so much for this medical summary. Warren had mentioned the Tardieu spots, which I had first termed as livor mortis. Our correspondent wrote them off as silly, of course. Upon death, Booth was wrapped in a blanket and placed face down in the rickety old wagon to make the trip to the ship. Lord knows how the body was treated while on the John S. Ide.

Your question about the syphilis possibility is another good one, and I should have remembered it because over a decade ago, the Surratt Courier carried an article by a doctor from Annapolis that theorized that Booth may have been a victim of that social disease and that it may have advanced to his brain, causing his irrational behavior in 1864-65. That article caused quite a stir.

Sepsis is another possibility because we know that Booth had previously been very ill with erisyphilis in an arm and recuperated at Asia's home in Philadelphia in the late summer of 1864. (Read Asia's memoir edited by Terry Alford.) -- Note the spelling of that disease...

Petechiae is another interesting idea that might apply to the fact that Booth did die from paralysis of the lungs due to his wound. In the autopsy report, one of the doctors makes a point of stating that his death was long and excruciating (words to that effect) as if they were assuring Stanton and the world that Booth surely suffered for his crime.

Now, I am going to throw another piece of kindling on the fire. In looking for the mention of erisyphilis in Asia's memoir, I ran across a very interesting point that raises another point: While Wilkes was with his sister, he was also suffering from a carbuncle on his neck. Asia's family doctor sent a Quaker physician to lance it, and while they were setting out the instruments, a lampshade was removed and the gas line to the lamp got too close to the flame and started a fire. Booth instinctively extinguished the fire with his hands and suffered painful burns. (pgs. 84-85)

Asia recalls noticing how rough and hard Booth's hands were, and he explained that he had been doing a lot of "nights of rowing" and also stated that he had been wearing double layers of clothing. Makes me wonder if the rowing refers to multiple trips across the Potomac for meetings in Richmond?

The issue of the carbuncle also makes me wonder. Dr. May removed a carbuncle in April of 1863 in Washington City, and then a Philadelphia doctor removes one in 1864. In the exact same spot? How many carbuncles did Booth have in his life -- thus, how many scars??

Joe Beckert and Rick Smith will appreciate another reference on these same memoir pages: Asia describes the boots that her brother wore at that time as "reaching to his thighs" with "pistol-holders in them." Wonder if he was wearing those boots at Ford's and if that's where the later pistols came from. Can we scratch the imaginary saddlebags?

And while I'm blathering away, I decided to double-check how many scars from knives that Booth had since the mummy theory involved identification via a scar to the eyebrow as well as the deformed thumb joint (which was really a problem his father had). American Brutus lists two such scars -- one near his armpit where he had fallen on his own dagger during a stage fight and one on his cheek delivered by an irate love interest, actress Henrietta Irving. Kauffman also cites a sword scar across Booth's eyelid from another stage fight. That injury almost cost Booth his sight. Is that the eyebrow scar that the mummy folks refer to?

OK, I'm worn out. Someone else's turn to carry on good history.