Broken Fibula - Again!

[BettyO]

(08-11-2012 09:42 PM)L Verge Wrote:  Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe that Booth (or Herold) ever told anyone except Dr. Mudd that his horse had fallen on him. That's where the story originated and was evidently "proven" by Dr. Mudd's hired hand saying that he noticed a gash on the horse's foreleg when he was lathering it down. I could counter with a statement that the roads that Booth used that night were lined with branches, briars, etc. Roadsides in Southern Maryland were paved when I was a child, but there were no shoulders and lots of bushes and trees grew right up to the edge of the road. (In some places, they still do!) That gash on Booth's horse might have come from being slapped by the underbrush. And, isn't it convenient that Mudd is the one making the horse connection?

If I remember correctly, there was a light drizzle that night. Also, if the Huntt story is correct, Herold had been caught in a downpour in the late afternoon of April 13 en route back to D.C. It is quite possible that mud and mud puddles were still there on the night of the assassination.

Likewise, I can take you over the route today and point out Piscataway Creek that had to be crossed about three miles south of Surrattsville; an area that was used as an ice pond during the winters about a mile past that; and numerous marshy places between T.B. and Dr. Mudd's. Booth didn't have to fall to get covered in mud -- does anyone remember anyone reporting that his shoulders and back were covered in mud? They would have been if the horse went down.

Supposedly, Lew Powell's ol one-eyed Nag also fell with him, according to what he told Gillette and Powell was knocked out temporarily. These guys apparently had hired some clumsy horses! HA!

The fact of Powell's fall is also supported by a statement in The Evidence in which Colonel John A. Foster, in a statement given for evidence claimed that on the night of April 14, 1865, near Fort Bunker Hill, a horseman was heard galloping by, apparently jumping from the high ditch down onto the road below. Shortly thereafter, there was heard the sounds of a man moaning or groaning loudly as if in pain and distress. Several pickets at the Fort were going to check on the source of the sounds when they ceased and then therefore they decided to give up the quest. Following the groaning sounds, the horse was heard running off in another direction.

When found, Powell’s horse had a cut on its shoulder, its knees were muddy and it was somewhat lame, giving indications of having fallen. Powell was knocked unconscious and it’s apparent that he may have had or most probably did have a concussion. That he struck his head is indicated by the facial injuries which appear in his photographs taken after his capture. This could also account for his “hazy recollections” of what happened during the attack on Seward earlier that night as well. Powell was also described during his capture as being "muddy"....