Breaking a leg

[SpruceCreekHawk]

I am new to the forum and realize this thread has been silent for over a year but I wanted to put in my two cents on Booth's threshold for pain. In 1925, William May (son of Dr. John Frederick May) wrote about the operation on Booth's fibroid tumor, "I distinctly remember the operation he performed on John Wilkes Booth in fact I assisted him (although only a boy of fourteen years of age) by holding the basin to receive the blood from the wound. We did not have trained nurses in those days. The operation was a minor one and was done for the removal of a fibroid tumor on the back of his neck, it was done without any anesthetic of any kind. Booth at the time was playing with Charlotte Cushman in Romeo and Juliet and during the play she embraced him with so much ardor that she tore out the stitches and tore open the wound. It then healed by what we call second intention and left a wide large scar that looked like the scar made by a burn." It was noted in the Daily National Republican that Booth gave a fine performance following the operation which they (unlike the younger May) characterized as a "severe surgical operation." This does not solve the question about where Booth broke his leg but demonstrates he had a pretty high tolerance for pain in April 1863.