A Wonderful Find ...

[J. Beckert]

(03-27-2014 08:52 AM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  Is this a wrong impression of JWB? What advantage did he from his point of view have from being shot or arrested, tried, and hanged rather than "directing" his end himself?

I think you're right, Eva, and what I've always looked at in this situation were Booth's own words and actions. He adamantly refused to give up. Prepare a stretcher boys, there's going to be another stain on the old Banner. He told several people, starting with Thomas Jones I believe, that he'd never be taken alive and he told Jett he'd kill himself. He was well aware of what awaited him if he were captured and returned to the North. One of the men who was part of the detail that crossed the Rappahannock river with Booth, Mortimer Ruggles, later stated that he knew the barn well and Corbett, from the spot he stated he was standing, could not have seen Booth, much less have shot him.

The photo of Rick's son shows how, with the gun angled slightly upward, the path of the bullet traveled exactly as reported by Dr. Woodward. The gun would have to be held that way to produce the track it made. With Corbett on the same level as Booth, the story has to be tweaked to make it work, which makes the "Booth stumbled" take on it necessary, but that's just conjecture that makes it convenient (and necessary) to believe Corbett's tale.