"Fortune's Fool" has a number of interesting suggestions that were new to me. The author states that by the time of his death Booth's leg was showing signs of gangrene. That infers that, without amputation of the limb, JWB would have died, probably within a matter of days. It's interesting that, in terms of mortality, the leg break may have been as effective as a gunshot to the head.

Is anyone aware if a researcher or historian has calculated how much the leg injury slowed down Booth? Is it likely that he would have made it to Mexico if he had not been so injured? Could he have settled there indefinitely? I believe that Juarez was in power then and that he had viewed Lincoln favorably--after all Lincoln had opposed the Mexican war.

In my book, The Assassinator, I had Booth's leg amputated before he stood trial for shooting the President because it showed the beginnings of gangrene. But I do not recall any single eyewitness who mentioned that it began to smell of the peculiar odor that marked the beginnings of gangrene before he was shot at Garrett's Farm. It is an interesting theory, though. After all, witnesses said that the leg was turned black by the time Booth reached Garrett's.

As for Mexico, It was in much turmoil in 1865. Neither Juarez not Maximilian really controlled the whole country. In many ways they did not even control the areas in which they supposedly ruled. Booth probably could have joined up with one of the many organized and disorganized groups of Civil War refugees from the North or South who ventured across the border to avoid the results of the war. Even after Queretaro and Maximilian's execution in 1867, Juarez only nominally controlled Mexico. One of his generals, Porfirio Diaz came the closest to controlling Mexico completely from 1876 to the Revolution of 1910. Even then, it was not unusual for American mercenaries to cross the border at the beck and call of mining interests, with or without the approval of local governing bodies. Many Arizona Rangers (they operated much like the more well-known Texas Rangers) did this in league with local power artists and the Rurales who policed local areas.

(06-01-2015 09:12 AM)Juan Marrero Wrote:  "Fortune's Fool" has a number of interesting suggestions that were new to me. The author states that by the time of his death Booth's leg was showing signs of gangrene. That infers that, without amputation of the limb, JWB would have died, probably within a matter of days. It's interesting that, in terms of mortality, the leg break may have been as effective as a gunshot to the head.

Dr. Alford did not state the wound was gangrenous, merely wrote that newspaper reporters filed this information after allegedly hearing it from Surgeon General Barnes. Alford's book is splendid, but I question virtually all of the newspaper reports back then. This is Dr. Barnes's official report to Secretary of War Stanton: "The left leg and foot were encased in an appliance of splints and bandages, upon the removal of which, a fracture of the fibula (small bone of leg) 3 inches above the ankle joint, accompanied by consider ecchymosis, was discovered." Compare this to a New York Times April 28, 1865 report: "The smaller bone of his left leg was badly fractured, one of the smaller arteries ruptured, and the leg badly swollen." The official report to Stanton was brief and with limited details. The reporters were filing details which may or may not have had elaboration to satisfy the reading public.

Could he have had gangrene? Yes, if the bone perforated the skin or he had an underlying infection rapidly advancing. On page 301 of Fortune's Fool there is mention of Mr. Booth feeling feverish, but the weather was also unseasonably warm that week.

Any broken ankle, haphazardly splinted and then bounced around on a wild horse ride would likely have a large amount of swelling and bruising--gravity does that if you don't elevate the limb with ice soon after the injury. There was undoubtedly massive bruising (more likely from small veins, as opposed to arteries) over the 12 days Booth was on the run, but by that time there would also have been some bruise healing, changing the color from light bluish-red to dark purple, green, yellow, and then brown. Different people are different, and the color changes can follow a different color pattern and require different time sequences. And it can mimic early infection and gangrene. Advanced gangrene ("wet" gangrene) which is draining usually smells like road kill, while "dry" gangrene is often black and appears almost mummified, and remember--by the time Booth's body got to the monitor, the officers were already wiring Stanton that "the body is changing rapidly" meaning the entire body, not just the leg.

[quote='Houmes' pid='48274' dateline='1433175375']
[quote='Juan Marrero' pid='48272' dateline='1433167943']
"Fortune's Fool" has a number of interesting suggestions that were new to me. The author states that by the time of his death Booth's leg was showing signs of gangrene.

I am corrected. I did not have the book in front of me when I typed the post. I should have written that the leg may have been showing signs of gangrene.

Reminds me of a story. A noted anthropology professor was sent to a distant jungle to study the people there in their natural state. He was so enthralled by the place that he sent back for his bride. Alas, it was not to be. It was reported to him that she had been consumed by an alligator. The professor then responded "with a smile, 'no, no, you mean a crocodile.'"

(06-01-2015 11:16 AM)Houmes Wrote:  

(06-01-2015 09:12 AM)Juan Marrero Wrote:  "Fortune's Fool" has a number of interesting suggestions that were new to me. The author states that by the time of his death Booth's leg was showing signs of gangrene. That infers that, without amputation of the limb, JWB would have died, probably within a matter of days. It's interesting that, in terms of mortality, the leg break may have been as effective as a gunshot to the head.

Dr. Alford did not state the wound was gangrenous, merely wrote that newspaper reporters filed this information after allegedly hearing it from Surgeon General Barnes. Alford's book is splendid, but I question virtually all of the newspaper reports back then. This is Dr. Barnes's official report to Secretary of War Stanton: "The left leg and foot were encased in an appliance of splints and bandages, upon the removal of which, a fracture of the fibula (small bone of leg) 3 inches above the ankle joint, accompanied by consider ecchymosis, was discovered." Compare this to a New York Times April 28, 1865 report: "The smaller bone of his left leg was badly fractured, one of the smaller arteries ruptured, and the leg badly swollen." The official report to Stanton was brief and with limited details. The reporters were filing details which may or may not have had elaboration to satisfy the reading public.

Could he have had gangrene? Yes, if the bone perforated the skin or he had an underlying infection rapidly advancing. On page 301 of Fortune's Fool there is mention of Mr. Booth feeling feverish, but the weather was also unseasonably warm that week.

Any broken ankle, haphazardly splinted and then bounced around on a wild horse ride would likely have a large amount of swelling and bruising--gravity does that if you don't elevate the limb with ice soon after the injury. There was undoubtedly massive bruising (more likely from small veins, as opposed to arteries) over the 12 days Booth was on the run, but by that time there would also have been some bruise healing, changing the color from light bluish-red to dark purple, green, yellow, and then brown. Different people are different, and the color changes can follow a different color pattern and require different time sequences. And it can mimic early infection and gangrene. Advanced gangrene ("wet" gangrene) which is draining usually smells like road kill, while "dry" gangrene is often black and appears almost mummified, and remember--by the time Booth's body got to the monitor, the officers were already wiring Stanton that "the body is changing rapidly" meaning the entire body, not just the leg.

Didn't Mortimer Ruggles also comment on the bad state of Booth's leg en route from the ferry to Garretts'?

(06-01-2015 01:31 PM)L Verge Wrote:  Didn't Mortimer Ruggles also comment on the bad state of Booth's leg en route from the ferry to Garretts'?

In his narrative it says, "From the examination I made of his broken leg, aided by some experience I had had with wounds, I feel confident that amputation would have been necessary to save his life, and perhaps that would not have prevented a speedy death."