One more post, on one broken leg.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Does anyone know - did Burroughs make any statement on from which side Booth mounted the horse?

[BettyO]

Does anyone know - did Burroughs make any statement on from which side Booth mounted the horse?

All horses are trained to be mounted from the left (or near) side. Some will tolerate being mounted from the right - but it's usually a rarity and the horse will usually spook if mounted from the right. Besides, it's extremely awkward. I would assume that JWB mounted from the standard left side, putting his left foot in the stirrup to mount -

[Eva Elisabeth]

Yes, Betty, that's why I thought if he did (because of his leg), Burroughs could have mentioned it.

[L Verge]

Was it John Stewart who reported that Booth got his leg in the stirrup and his horse began to shy away?

[J. Beckert]

Scroll down to about the fourth paragraph.

http://thisweekinthecivilwar.com/?p=450/

[L Verge]

I guess that I must have read it in American Brutus or heard Mike say it on one of the Booth tours. Interesting in this article that the author flat out states that Kauffman's theory on the horse fall is absolutely true.

[wsanto]

Scroll down to about the fourth paragraph.

http://thisweekinthecivilwar.com/?p=450/

I'm sorry, I respect Michael Kauffman and his book "American Brutus", but that excerpt from his book includes a lot of fictional embellishments that were added to create a particular narrative to support his hypothesis. Certain elements are true but interwoven in the drama are elements the reader (including the author of the article) might accept as facts but are simply the creation of his own imagination as to what happened. Much like Booth's diary account; it's mostly true but deceptively embellished.

I believe Mr. Kauffman's first mistake is that he equates a broken fibula with a "broken leg" with a crippling injury. A broken fibula is a broken leg bone but in many cases it is not a crippling injury.

[J. Beckert]

I agree Bill, but I still can't discount the horse fall. I'm wondering what the first 30 seconds of pain would feel like with a break like Booth's. Just a burning sensation and a feeling that something was wrong? If that's the case, the huge adrenaline rush was enough to get him in the saddle before the pain and swelling set in?

[Eva Elisabeth]

Since I brought up the stirrup question:
I think, if Booth had mounted from the right side, for me it would have been almost a proof for a broken leg, but not v.v. (Mounting from the left for me still wouldn't prove it.)

Joe, I can tell you my experiences. First I didn't want to post this, could sound braggy, and that is absolutely not my intention.

I second to 100% adrenaline does a lot. When I was younger, I danced a lot on stage (ballett), and it happens quite often that you have blisters or even bleeding toes that really cause pain under normal conditions, but on stage you feel nothing of that anymore. Or you dance with other injuries because it's your job and you are also somewhat addicted to it, especially to that adrenaline rush. I've never taken any drugs (don't even drink alcohol), but I assume this is something similar. Once I broke my heel during a performance after landing a jump badly, it DID ache, but I could finish and stand it - until I was at home. Then, when resting, pain increased terribly, and suddenly I wasn't anymore able to go even two steps.
You can ask any dancer, especially the female ones. It also happens they break a rib if the partner grabs them too tight when lifting, and they go on performing. Once you are in full flow and hear the music, it's like flipping the switch. (Not always, but in the very most cases.)

From these experiences I could well imagine Booth was indeed well able to ignore a broken leg for a certain time.

And - an adrenaline peak doesn't - can't - last endlessly, that would cause death sooner or later. Anyway, these "functions" of adrenaline (to suppress pain, to rise the blood pressure, to increase respiration,...), as you may know, are a relict of the Stone Age (as our entire body is still adapted to those former environmental conditions) to deal with "fight-or-flight" situations. Evolution takes time. When the mammoth or the sabertooth injured Fred Flintstone and was still after him, it was important Fred was able to run and flee to a safe place before he could take time to suffer and care.

We've just mentioned adrenaline, but endorphins have a similar share in this system, too.

On the whole, to me, this chain of events and developments - JWB broke his leg on stage, invented the horse fall to let his performance appear a perfect one, and, due to increasing despair and depressing circumstances, confessed the truth in his diary - makes sense.

[L Verge]

I swore I was tying a knot on my end of this thread, but I have to chime in once again. On his excellent BoothieBarn blog, Dave Taylor recently posted a letter that actor Harry Hawk wrote to his parents describing what happened that night. One sentence caught my eye because I never remember seeing it before:

"...when I heard the shot fired. I turned, looked up at the President’s box, heard the man exclaim, 'Sic semper tyrannis,' saw him jump from the box, seize the flag on the staff and drop to the stage..."

I never remember reading the phrase "...seize the flag on the staff..." I posted a question about this on Dave's site, but so far, no one has responded. To me, this throws a new wrinkle in the game -- one more element between going over the railing and landing on the stage. Enough to throw him off balance and snap that small bone?

I certainly don't want to keep haranguing over this broken leg deal, but I just wondered if anyone else had ever read this flag staff comment - before Dave posted it. I can't remember if it is in Tim Good's book or not.

[RJNorton]

I can't remember if it is in Tim Good's book or not.

Laurie, I do not see this particular statement by Hawk in Tim Good's book, but it was printed in the April 26, 1865, New York Times. It is online here.

[LincolnMan]

Was there a flag on a staff?

[Anita]

Booth had a knife in one hand so I would think the other hand had to be on the rail of the box to allow him to volt over.

I found three accounts given by Hawk's in Good's book. None mention Booth grabbed the flag.

1. April 14 Hawk's was interviewed by Stanton and says "I was on the stage at the time of the firing and heard the report of the pistol. My back was towards the President's box at the time. I heard something tear and somebody fell and as I looked towards him and as he came in the direction in which I was standing..."

2. April 16 letter to his parents Harry Hawk
Location: Stage
April 16th 1865

This is my first opportunity I have had to write to you since the assassination of our dear president on Friday night, as I have been in custody ever since. I was one of the principal (main) witnesses of the sad affair, having been on the stage at the time of the fatal shot. I was playing Asa Trenchard in “The American Cousin.” The old lady of the theater Mrs. Muzzey had just gone off the stage, and I was answering her exit speech, when I heard the shot fired. I turned, looked up at the president’s box, heard the man exclaim “Sic simper Tyrannis,” saw him jump from the staff and drop to the stage. ..."

3. 1894 Cincinati Commercial Gazette "I saw a man with a long dagger in front of the President's box. He jumped to the stage but before he jumped he shouted: 'sic semper tyrannis' although I did not understand the words at the time. The spur on his boot caught in the drapery of the box, and he fell to the stage.

[JMadonna]

If he ...seized the flag on the staff... then it was a conscious act to lessen the impact of his drop to the stage. That makes sense. Anyone know how thick that staff was?

As I recall from Good's book people described the flag coming down. Nobody mentioned anything about the drapery. Consequently, I don't see how anyone could describe his spur hitting the drapery. Booth's body would have blocked it from sight and his drop would have been too fast for the naked eye to see.

Unless someone has evidence of the drapery having spur holes in it, I'd say it never happened.

[J. Beckert]

I don't think there was a staff. James Ferguson's account states the flag was stretched out below the others and he described it as a State flag.