Booth's Day on April 14

[John Fazio]

(01-03-2017 10:13 PM)SSlater Wrote:  I'm not up-to-date on this topic, but I do have a question. Didn't I read that Booth had a pocket full of wood chips, when he died?
My unfounded guess would say that he "saved the chip" from the peep-hole that he drilled in the door. He didn't want "chips" all over the floor that would draw attention to the peep hole.
Does anyone have another source for the "wood chips'?

John:

Judge Olin examined the box and, in the trial of the conspirators, said that he found no chips or shavings on the floor where the hole had been drilled. In the trial of John Surratt, however, he said he did find chips. He did not satisfactorily resolve his inconsistency. More than one witness testified at the first trial that the hole appeared to be freshly cut, with fresh knife markings. As for the chips found in Booth,s pocket, they were said to have been wrapped in a handkerchief and that they were in fact shavings from the bored and knife-reamed hole. So said Kauffman.

John