Booth's Body

[J Hewitt]

  Booth-32.pdf (Size: 1.82 MB / Downloads: 31) The attached is a clipping from the DC Evening Star in 1903. The article is in reference to the age old story that Booth escaped and lived on as David E. George. Booth's disinterment and his identification by family members proved otherwise.

My only skepticism of the article is did they really pass the head around, hand to hand as it states? Kind of weird.

[Gene C]

Interesting. Just another reason to wash your hands frequently, just like mother told you.

And on the same page, two columns over to the left "A Study of Lincoln" a unique entertainment, by Benjamin Chapin

[LincolnMan]

The head being detached due, I suppose, that part of his neckbone was removed- a site of especial interest because the bullet entered there. The scene described is surreal- as the head of Booth is being passed around. That couldn't have been a pretty site.

[Cliff Roberts]

(03-20-2014 10:32 AM)J Hewitt Wrote:  The attached is a clipping from the DC Evening Star in 1903. The article is in reference to the age old story that Booth escaped and lived on as David E. George. Booth's disinterment and his identification by family members proved otherwise.

My only skepticism of the article is did they really pass the head around, hand to hand as it states? Kind of weird.

"Alas poor Yorick, I knew him ...." The scene is a graveyard, and the speaker is Hamlet, fondly reminiscing about a long deceased friend whose moldering skull he holds in his hands. Several published accounts mention the handling of Booth's detached head at Harvey & Marr in Washington, and there's no reason to doubt the truth of it - or be surprised by it. From Shakespeare's time through the mid-1900's, people weren't as squeamish about death or dead bodies as we are today, which probably accounts for the less than reverent way Booth's head was passed around. Booth's mother and sister were among family members who viewed the body in Baltimore, but whether Edwin Booth ever viewed the body or held the head of his brother is unknown. Had he done so, Edwin might have recalled with irony the many times he'd played the title role of Hamlet and held poor Yorick's skull in his hands. Incidentally, the human skull Edwin always used on stage had originally been bequeathed to his father Junius Brutus Booth by a criminal he'd met in jail. Edwin kept the skull until he died, and it is now on display at the Players in New York.

[L Verge]

Betty O. can correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the skull of Lewis Powell was originally taken by an undertaker (or friend of an undertaker) who collected such items. There is also reference to someone in history (and my old brain can't remember who) whose skull was part of the gains in a poker game?

[BettyO]

Quote:I believe the skull of Lewis Powell was originally taken by an undertaker (or friend of an undertaker) who collected such items. There is also reference to someone in history (and my old brain can't remember who) whose skull was part of the gains in a poker game?

Powell's skull was originally taken (as far as we can tell) by DC undertaker, Joseph Gawler. Just why we don't know. This was between the removal of Powell's remains from the arsenal (it is thought that the skull was taken at that time) and Powell's reburial in Graceland or later reburial in Holmead. Shortly thereafter (1880s-1890s) the skull turns up in Ford's Theatre along with Booth's spinal column/thorax. From there, later to the Smithsonian. The rest is history -

[Jim Garrett]

Joseph Gawler is featured in "The Lincoln Assassination: Where Are They Now". Gawler's is still in business although now owned by SCI, one of the largest chains of funeral industry services. Gawler's has handled many Presidents and dignitaries including General Dwight D. Eisenhower, President Kennedy and a host of others.

[Francis Farrell]

(03-25-2014 07:17 PM)Jim Garrett Wrote:  Joseph Gawler is featured in "The Lincoln Assassination: Where Are They Now". Gawler's is still in business although now owned by SCI, one of the largest chains of funeral industry services. Gawler's has handled many Presidents and dignitaries including General Dwight D. Eisenhower, President Kennedy and a host of others.

A point of reference, SCI is a national based corporation that buys out local funeral homes and sometimes keeps the former owners on staff to give the illusion of a "family owned business". The reality is many operations are centralized.

[Dr. Todd Descendant]

   

(03-24-2014 03:49 PM)L Verge Wrote:  Betty O. can correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the skull of Lewis Powell was originally taken by an undertaker (or friend of an undertaker) who collected such items. There is also reference to someone in history (and my old brain can't remember who) whose skull was part of the gains in a poker game?

It's been a while since I posted, but this news article from the Nebraska Advertiser dated April 14, 1899 may be of interest to L Verge and others here. The article mentions the body of Booth on the deck of the Montauk, Dr. Todd (my 2nd great-grandfather, Dr. George Brainard Todd), and Mary Surratt which is why I'm placing it in this thread of discussion. I'm incredibly grateful to Steven G. Miller for providing me the info. about this article. If you wish to read the entire page's text you can go to http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/2...d-1/seq-5/ . The article portion referenced here can be found in the 2nd column from the rt., below the house sketch.

I'm also rather confused why Dr. Todd's name isn't mentioned in the records I've found about the autopsy. Steve Miller also informed me of a most amazing article's text which I found online. It's an article about the Booth autopsy on the upper deck of the ironclad Montauk, It appeared in Wash. D.C.'s newspaper the Evening Star. in the July 07, 1865 issue. See attached pdf. The article is 4 columns in from the Rt. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/s...d-1/seq-2/

[L Verge]

Nice to have you back on board, and thanks for sharing these articles. It is strange that Dr. Todd is not mentioned more. If I am correct, he was the medical officer assigned to the Navy Yard and as such, it would seem that regulations (and courtesy) would have required him to be included in the autopsy.

Also interesting is the mention of the spectators on shore with powerful spy glasses - no mention of seeing Gardner and assistant taking photos. That would be something included in a report in my opinion.

[Dr. Todd Descendant]

(04-11-2014 12:04 PM)L Verge Wrote:  Nice to have you back on board, and thanks for sharing these articles. It is strange that Dr. Todd is not mentioned more. If I am correct, he was the medical officer assigned to the Navy Yard and as such, it would seem that regulations (and courtesy) would have required him to be included in the autopsy.

Also interesting is the mention of the spectators on shore with powerful spy glasses - no mention of seeing Gardner and assistant taking photos. That would be something included in a report in my opinion.

Dr. Todd was Passed Asst. Surgeon on the Montauk. I was tickled, to say the least, at mention of him having participated in the autopsy. Also, since Dr. Todd had just seen Booth in the theater just before he entered the President's Box, and considering Booth's notoriety as an actor - evidently to the level of our Robt. Downey, Jr. - wouldn't you think other bystanders on the deck of the Montauk would have mentioned that the body wasn't that of Booth? I can tell you from reading Dr. Todd's personal letters, etc. that he was a man of principle and think he would have been shouting it from the rooftops.

[RickBeaver]

I've always wondered why the pieces of vertebrae were removed and kept.

[Dr. Todd Descendant]

(04-11-2014 01:21 PM)RickBeaver Wrote:  I've always wondered why the pieces of vertebrae were removed and kept.

It's strange to me as well. I'd like to hear the WHY of it from someone who's knowledgeable about such things.

[Lincoln Wonk]

I like this photo of a supposed Booth body exposition from the Hagley Museum and Library collection: http://digital.hagley.org/cdm/ref/collec...ll8/id/180

[L Verge]

We have actually had visitors to Surratt House in years past who had seen this "display" in the carnivals when it made the circuit. One gentleman said he paid 50 cents to see it; another paid 25 cents.