A John Wilkes Booth boot question

[LincolnMan]

I remember reading a couple of years ago (sorry don't remember where)- that Booth had a sheath of sorts in his boot. The thinking was that on assassination night he had the dagger in his boot. Anyone familiar with this?

[BettyO]

There was testimony at the trial that Herold carried a knife in his boot.

Never heard that JWB carried one in his boot or had a sheath in his boot. Lew Powell's knife had a sheath - and unless he wore the sheath in his boot or carried it in his pocket, we don't know - all that was said was that he "Drew his knife"....




Lew Powell's Knife in Sheath (Courtesy Huntington Library Collection)

[J. Beckert]

I brought this up recently, Bill and there was a lot of discussion on it in the thread discussing if Booth had stopped at the boardinghouse after Ford's. American Brutus states that Booth had the boots made in NYC and requested pockets be sewn in them. A thought was that it may be for his supposed quinine running operation. Jim Garrett, who works at Ford's, did some poking around and found that earlier examinations revealed no pockets in the boots. There was enough room, however, to stick a 2 pound revolver in there, but that's another story.

[Lincoln Wonk]

(05-23-2013 07:31 AM)LincolnMan Wrote:  I remember reading a couple of years ago (sorry don't remember where)- that Booth had a sheath of sorts in his boot. The thinking was that on assassination night he had the dagger in his boot. Anyone familiar with this?

I don't recall any story about Booth, but Betty's right on that Davy Herold had a large dagger tucked into his boot. It was so large it protruding five or six inches above the top of the boot and made him limp a little as he walked from Tatavull's to Willard's that afternoon. Tatavull's biz partner was taken aback when he watched Herold lift his pant leg to adjust his boat and he saw the dagger. He asked Herold about it, but Herold deflected it, saying he was going into the country that night. They even joked about not killing anyone with it.

[LincolnMan]

(05-23-2013 08:31 AM)J. Beckert Wrote:  I brought this up recently, Bill and there was a lot of discussion on it in the thread discussing if Booth had stopped at the boardinghouse after Ford's. American Brutus states that Booth had the boots made in NYC and requested pockets be sewn in them. A thought was that it may be for his supposed quinine running operation. Jim Garrett, who works at Ford's, did some poking around and found that earlier examinations revealed no pockets in the boots. There was enough room, however, to stick a 2 pound revolver in there, but that's another story.

Yes, that's the story- Booth requested that "pockets" be sewn into the boot(s). So we now know that there were no pockets in the boots. Booth then had the dagger in a sheath (I hope!) inside his trousers or hanging from a belt?

[BettyO]

Unless he had on a gun belt, which I doubt. Gents wore suspenders in those days - not belts....a common misconception -

[LincolnMan]

(05-23-2013 12:15 PM)BettyO Wrote:  Unless he had on a gun belt, which I doubt. Gents wore suspenders in those days - not belts....a common misconception -

Betty: I'm laughing because I'm a Union Soldier reenactor- and I know very well they didn't were belts. My how the minds goes! Which means that Booth had the dagger on his person where?

[BettyO]

Depending on how big the thing was....it could have been in his pocket perhaps? Those pockets in Powell's overcoat seemingly were deep - so he could have carried it there or more or less it's my believe that he DID have the darn knife stuck in his boot top - sheathed there perhaps....Powell had on high topped riding boots as well.

Same with JWB. Since he was NOT wearing an overcoat - it's my guess that he either had on A) a gun belt (not likely, though) or B) the knife was stuck in his high top boot....

Didn't know you were a reenactor, Bill! I was one myself once, (portrayed both a Confederate AND Union lady) and I'm very picky about Victorian "social/fashion" history! HA! Now you know.....

[Dave Taylor]

Booth had a gun belt. The Garretts mention seeing it when he went to bed the first night in their house. He hung the gun belt from the head of the bed.

[BettyO]

Fantastic, Dave!

You answered the question -- Thanks a bunch....!

[L Verge]

Got stuck in a meeting all day or I would have posted the same answer as Dave. Question is: Where and when did he get the gun belt and the revolvers that we previously had a go-round with? My money is still on them being waiting for him at Mudd's house.

[Rsmyth]

Interestingly the Garrett boys saw the gun belt hanging
with the field glasses in their room.

[LincolnMan]

(05-23-2013 01:31 PM)Dave Taylor Wrote:  Booth had a gun belt. The Garretts mention seeing it when he went to bed the first night in their house. He hung the gun belt from the head of the bed.

Dave- you're the man!

[Houmes]

(05-23-2013 08:24 AM)BettyO Wrote:  There was testimony at the trial that Herold carried a knife in his boot.

Never heard that JWB carried one in his boot or had a sheath in his boot. Lew Powell's knife had a sheath - and unless he wore the sheath in his boot or carried it in his pocket, we don't know - all that was said was that he "Drew his knife"....




Lew Powell's Knife in Sheath (Courtesy Huntington Library Collection)

I'm uncertain if any conclusions can be made from the sheath holding Lewis Powell's knife. I was at the Huntington Library in December and examined the knife for almost an hour. There is no provenance for the sheath other than that it came with the knife when the George Foster Robinson descendant donated it to the Huntington in 1961. The knife is still quite sharp, and the handguard is quite loose. The staff handed it to me in a ziplock plastic bag, which I thought was a novel approach to curatorial storage. I'd corresponded several times with different staff before I arrived at the library if I could examine it with a forensic light source to determine if there were any blood stains still present (the bone handle has a rough surface, easily hiding residue), but that brought a big--and consistent--refusal. So much for the advancement of history, let alone science.

[John Stanton]

Look back at the picture of Powell's knife, at post #2. That sheath was made to be worn on a belt. Very snug fit, so as not to fall out. That sheath was machine made. Maybe that was Powell's KNIFE, but not his sheath. I did my share of reenacting, with suspenders - that were not elastic, and a Uniform Belt (with a two-piece Virginia buckle,) - for a pistol, etc. I reenacted a Surgeon and as part of my portrayal, I always had a bevy of "captured" ladies. The surgeon always got to look after the ladies in all of John Wayne's movies. The surgeon I portrayed Dr. Settle, 7th VA Cav. carried a pistol -and went to jail for that. (Surgeons normally were non-combatents, and were treated kindly, not Dr. Settle (Lived in Paris, VA)