Those Booth Horses Again -

[L Verge]

That has been debated before, Gene, but E.D. Wray from the Surgeon General's office claimed to have picked up the hat that fell from Booth as he hit the stage. See my previous post on this.

As for my final communication with Mr. Madonna, I will just say I am allowed as much leeway as anyone else to express ideas and make suggestions. I prefaced my comment with the fact that I was throwing this off the top of my head -- just as quite a few of you do in grasping at straws to support what appear to be unsupportable sidebars. So far as I can tell, no one here has been able to adequately prove their theories. I have been kind enough not to suggest that they take up drinking.

And before you jump on that, please be aware that my average alcohol consumption for a YEAR is about six drinks, with several of those being wine. My father was an alcoholic. We don't need any more of that in my family.

Now, I apologize to Roger and other members of this forum for my behavior in this matter. I should not air dirty laundry in public, but I am tired of taking slaps from certain people, whom I evidently threaten or upset.

P.S. IMO, Peanuts would have been wearing a hat as Booth came out the door. Every gentleman from bonnet stage on in his Victorian life wore a hat. Peanuts was outdoors and exposed to the elements, which I believe were a little drizzly that night.

[BettyO]

Quote:Not that it matters, but do we know Booth was wearing his hat in the theater? During that time period, would a gentleman wear his hat indoors? Perhaps Booth left his hat with the horse? I was thinking of Dave Taylor's video, derringer in one hand and knife in the other. No hat.

It was considered proper for a gentleman to wear his hat in a public place; i.e. theatre lobby, restaurant lobby, hallway, etc. Of course, he would remove his hat in a theatre once being seated and always remove it in the presence of ladies....

[Jenny]

I was going to write a lengthy post on this but decided not to post it because no one is going to back down. Despite all of the personal experiences with sports injuries and horses (although Wild Bill has earned my respect big time for 30 years working with horses/mules) and "not probable but still not 100% impossible" speculations that cannot be proven 100% as fact, no one is still going to prove 100% either way unless you were Booth. Like someone (Wild Bill?) said earlier, it's a matter of "legend or speculation."

My biggest concern isn't how or when Booth broke his leg at this point though, but rather about how both sides treat the other - with the respect and dignity deserved or else like a teenager with a "I'm right so I'll be snide to those who disagree with me" attitude.

Apologies, Roger. You can delete this if needed. I've seen this in other debates on here before and it just gets tiring to me.