Booth's Horse Fell....

[John Fazio]

Betty and Roger:

Interesting, but pretty thin, wouldn't you agree? The fall, if such there was, may have merely aggravated an existing fracture, the one that occurred when he made his awkward fall to the stage. I believe that it is just as likely that there was no fall and that he used the story as a cover for his fractured fibula, instructing Herold to do the same, inasmuch as he realized that the two of them would be needing the help of a lot of people to help with their escape and it just wouldn't do to tell them he had broken his leg when he landed awkwardly on the stage at Ford's after he had assassinated the President of the United States. The subject is covered in detail in Chapter 22 of Decapitating. The evidence that the fracture occurred from the fall to the stage is very strong and is supported by the great majority of assassination historians, Kauffman and Good excepted.

John