Broken Fibula - Again!

[LincolnMan]

And I bet she means it!

[L Verge]

Little ole me??? I'm so meek and mild!

Honestly, I used to be shy and retiring. I had a big awakening, however, many years ago when I did my practice teaching in grades 8, 10, and 11. All of a sudden, I realized that those kids could "kill" me if I didn't stand up for myself.

I then spent nearly a decade teaching 8th and 9th graders. Let's just say that I got the kids that others couldn't control. It was all a matter of making things interesting for them, while being fair with them. I know old teachers like Roger and Herb can relate.

[jonathan]

Amen, Laurie. The best teachers I ever had did exactly that. Not many could pull it off though. I was not, however, one of those students who was hard to control.

[HerbS]

As I always say,"You Have To Hook Them,Before You Pull Them".Set limits with logical consequenses and 3F's-Fair,Firm,and Friendly!In order to survive,you have to be a little bit crazier than the kids.Always keep the real crazy people right out in front of you.

[L Verge]

Well said, Herb -- and that applies to adults too.

[Dawn E Foster]

Just had a very nice lunch with Dr. Terry Alford, whose book, Fortune's Fool (a Booth biography), should go to publication in the spring next year. I asked his opinion on the broken leg, and he gave an answer very similar to Jonathan's and also said that he feels the horse story may be just another aspect of Dr. Mudd distorting history to save his own hide - which is certainly understandable considering what Mudd knew he was facing.

Terry teased me with some more things that his research has turned up. He is a very thorough researcher and well-respected in the field. I'm betting that Fortune's Fool is going to set the Booth field on its ear with some new information. I told him that I was giving him one more year to get that book finished and expected him to be a speaker at the Surratt conference in 2014 -- or I will slap him silly. I made the same threat to Sidney Blumenthal several months ago. His reply was that, if his book wasn't ready by 2014, he would slap himself silly!

I can't wait to read it!

[LincolnMan]

My hat is off for not only you guys but for teachers everywhere-most important job in the world.

[Thomas Thorne]

Other than JWB,is there a primary source who stated his opinion-before Booth's version was publicized -that Booth had broken his leg at Ford's? An observed limp could be produced by a back injury or as something as innocuous as a pebble in the boot or minor damage to the boot or leg temporary or otherwise caused by the leap from the box.

We also know that JWB vastly exaggerated the distance he traveled the night of the L.A. and falsely stated he had sustained a compound fracture of the tibia which would have meant the bone was sticking out of the leg. No one else noticed this.

How credible is JWB in describing the cause,nature and effects of his injuries?
Tom

[Laurie Verge]

I don't remember that Booth ever stated that he had a compound fracture of the tibia. In his diary, he wrote that he rode sixty miles that night (more like thirty, but he didn't have any way of knowing the distance - and I'm sure that it felt like sixty to him!) "with the bone of my leg tearing the flesh at every jump."

To me, this does not constitute a compound fracture. I think it means that the ragged edge of the break was poking into his skin. Having had a broken arm, I remember the worst pain being when they maneuvered the arm for x-rays. Before that, it was just a weird feeling of not having control of that arm.

There is also a reference some place about either Ruggles or Bainbridge seeing the condition of Booth's leg and describing it as much more serious than what we are assuming the injury to be.

I still agree with Jonathan that - exaggerations aside - Booth stuck pretty close to the truth of what happened, and he put everything in specific sequence in his writings. I think those like Joan Chaconas who believe that the break came at the theater and then was aggravated by a possible fall with the horse (or just from riding with the broken leg) may certainly be right.