Heel Imprint in Stage Covering

[Dennis Urban]

Since I resurrected this subject eight days ago, it seems all available information has been cited and rehashed. Therefore, I will summarize the findings and let the thread become Symposium history.

No question that the only images taken inside Ford's after the assassination were those by the Brady Gallery. Unfortunately, none of the enlargements posted adequately depict the heel print and tear in the stage covering. So that issue will have to stand as is. Interestingly, I wonder of the two Ulke brothers, photographers who took the two images of the Lincoln death bed on the morning of April 15, still resided across the street at the Petersen House on May 16.

The issue the the tear (rent) in the baize stage covering is not in dispute. The May 16 trial transcript describes the tear as being "a foot long". The writer hedges his bet by writing it is not know if the tear was actually made by Booth. Seems to me that the theatre personnel would have promptly repaired such a tear. It is a rather large tear and one wonders why the Brady folks did not make an image of that exact spot. Another account cited is the NPS Handbook#3, revised 1969, which references the tear but not its size; nor does that account reference the heel print. The issue of the heel print being extant is apparently in dispute by both the images and the written word, that will have to be left to the readers to decide for themselves.

So much for circumstantial evidence. I choose to believe the tear, whatever its length, was made by Booth's spur and that the heel mark may have been more of a print than an actual indentation. I appreciate everyone's contributions and comments.