Identification of Booth's body

[Rob Wick]

Quote:The Garretts said he was wearing gray clothing.

Wrong. Richard Baynham Garrett delivered a speech in the 1880s and 1890s on Booth's stay at his father's house. In this speech, he said "Mr. Boyd turned to my younger brother and offered to trade his neat dark suit of citizens' clothing for his old Confederate suit. My brother thought at first that he was jesting but, when he pressed the matter, asked his object. Boyd then said, "I will tell you, I have changed my mind about going home. I am going to make my way to North Carolina and join Johnston's army. Now as I am still to be a soldier and your battles are over, I will need a uniform, while you will need a citizens' suit." (Betsy Fleet and Richard Baynham Garrett, "A Chapter of Unwritten History: Richard Baynham Garrett's Account of the Flight and Death of John Wilkes Booth", The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 71, No. 4 (Oct., 1963) pg. 393

Quote:A man who is running for his life and who knows federal troops are desperate to find him is not gonna spend two days on a pleasure trip casually relaxing and socializing. For that matter, such a man would not have gone to the Garretts' in the first place but would have continued toward safer territory as quickly as possible.

The only way the Garrett Farm Patrol knew that Booth was in the area was because William and Bettie Rollins confirmed that. Had they decided to lie, or not tell Conger et al about Willie Jett, they would have ridden past Richard Garrett's home, as they did on the way to find Jett.

Quote:No, you need to provide a scrap of scientific evidence that freckles can magically sprout on the corpse of a person who was not freckled in life. You need to explain how "Booth's" body could have aged so markedly, not to mention when it did this magic act, since no one who saw him through April 25 noticed that he looked markedly older than 26 or that he had freckles.

Actually, I really don't. What you don't seem to understand about historical revisionism is that it's not up to me to prove you wrong (although I can in several hundred ways), but rather it's up to you to prove yourself right, which so far you and Dr. Arnold have failed miserably in doing. You can see those of us who understand and follow the rules of real historians as court historians or blinded by our own prejudices, but that means little to me. Nothing I say or show you will change your mind. The official version has stood this long, and it will continue to do so.

Quote:And speaking of Conger and Jett, why did Jett insist on talking to Conger alone?

Well, given that I never met either man, you would have to ask Conger or Jett. My belief is that Jett assessed the situation and believed Conger to be the one in charge, but I'll be the first to admit that I can't prove that with documentation. I'd love to know why you believe he did, although I think I know what you'll say.

Best
Rob