Breaking a leg

[wsanto]

(02-17-2013 06:31 PM)Rhatkinson Wrote:  ...Clearly, there were witnesses that believed Booth appeared to injure his leg at Ford's. Why those testimonies have been lost to history is a puzzle (perhaps it was during the initial excitement at Petersen House when Stanton realized he needed a transcriptionist to take down statements because Stanton's staff could not keep up with the volume of information flooding in.) Ask yourself "what else COULD Wood have based his strong opinion on except for a witness at Ford's?" No one else near Bryantown could possibly know that except for the few people that Booth and Herold had encountered, and they damn sure were not divulging such information to the government then.

I realize that this is complete speculation, but a possible source for the lost evidence of the break at Ford's could be an off the record statement by someone that witnessed Booth's interaction with Mudd.

Perhaps a maid or other servant at Mudd's overheard the conversation between Mudd and Booth and relayed this information to investigators. Perhaps this was lost to history if done off the record or not recorded to any extent.

This would assume that Mudd recognized Booth, Booth informed Mudd of the assassination while being treated by Mudd and came clean on breaking his leg at Ford's.

Mudd, of course, would also learn of the horse fall cover given to Lloyd and initially to him and repeat that to investigators in order to protect his own interests.