Identification of Booth's body

[mikegriffith1]

In his excellent book John Wilkes Booth: Beyond the Grave, W. C. Jameson raises a possibility that had occurred to me but that I didn't consider seriously enough at the time: Jameson suggests that the body at the 1869 viewing was not the same body that was autopsied on the Montauk. He supports his suggestion with evidence that I was not aware of until I read his book. When I read Jameson's suggestion, I thought, "That would certainly explain a lot of things."

Jameson's suggestion would indeed explain a number of strange discrepancies, such as the damage near/on the right knee (no such damage was noted on the Montauk body), the different numbers of fillings, the differences in footwear, the severed head, and the hair that was far longer than Booth's hair.

Jameson discusses this idea in his chapter on the body (chapter 18). Jameson notes other items of evidence that should have been found on the body if it had been Booth. He points out certain inconsistencies that I had not detected and had not read in other books.

Jameson's chapter on the shooting at the Garrett farm (chapter 17) makes a credible case that Booth was not killed there.

Given the recent development that computer-assisted facial recognition analysis has found an extremely high probability that photos of Booth and St. Helen/George are of the same person, Jameson's chapters on the Garrett farm shooting and the body are all the more relevant.