Identification of Booth's body

[L Verge]

"...then why does not the fact that Dr. Mudd always solemnly swore that he did not recognize Booth when Booth stayed at his house with a broken ankle settle the matter?"

Mr. Griffith - You are obviously not aware of the copy of Jones's book that once belonged to Samuel Cox, Jr. In the post-war years, after Dr. Mudd had been "rehabilitated" at Ft. Jefferson, he ran for public office in Maryland against Cox, Jr. In campaigning, they sometimes rode from one place to another together. It was during this time that Cox recorded snippets of their conversation and later wrote memories in the margins of the Jones book. The most telling of these is a comment that Mudd confessed to Cox that he knew who Booth was while the assassin was at his house. This corroborates the story Mudd told on board the ship that carried him and the others to Florida.

While I still like Roscoe's book, its research is certainly outdated. Setting that aside, however, if I had been summoned out of the clear blue sky to hustle down to the Navy Yard and identify the corpse of a man that I had not seen for two years and whom I did not know all that well anyhow, I would be hesitant and sputtering also as I wrote out a sort of affidavit confirming my opinion that the body was that of Booth - a statement that would be a crucial point in future history - and I am writing it out in front of one of the most powerful men in government at that time.

Also, don't try to insert a "sane" civil jury into this matter. You are dealing with the complex workings of military justice and at a time when the unthinkable had just occurred and speed and vengeance was necessary in the minds of the majority of those in control and of the majority of at least the Northern populace. Like many other well-read folks, I doubt seriously that a civil court could have been convened or could have acted strictly in accordance with procedure under these circumstances. A civil court certainly failed twice in 1867 with John Surratt. While the prosecution was not at its best in the 1867 trial, those pesky Southern sympathizers on the jury were still licking their wounds and not sacrificing another nice, young, Southern, white man.

You can also strike your next-to-the-last paragraph because it proves nothing except that you are stretching and speculating to try and save your "sputtering" theories.

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Mr. Griffith - Last night, I posted the link for the 192 pages of the FBI's report on their findings regarding the Booth "diary." Based on what you just claimed above, you have obviously not read the precise summation of their findings near the end. It just does not mesh with your version. You might also want to read the posting about the dental forensics that AussieMick posted.

As for the identification in that last forensic report, I have seen Hyson cited several times, but I don't recall that Mike Kauffman's name was in the citations also. It makes sense since Mike and John C. Brennan were very close and shared much research. Brennan was the one that I knew was working on finding Dr, Merrill - didn't know that an address was given, so this sends us to an 1864 or 65 city directory for D.C. Knowing Brennan and Mike, they already confirmed Merrill at that address, however.

Now, my kingdom for a copy of that Hyson/Kauffman article...