Drawing of Booth Body

[John E.]

(03-11-2014 12:25 PM)nomann Wrote:  May 13, 1865 harper's Weekley picture of autopsy of Booth's Body at
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundati...-death.htm

http://rogerjnorton.com/Lincoln83.html

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/do...38/?no-ist
https://awesometalks.wordpress.com/categ...psy-photo/
Note -if the man at right is Alexander gardner-who could have taken the missing photograph? Was it Sullivan?

A Frank Leslie version appears on page 182 of Kunhardt's "Twenty Days"

Hi Nomann,

The autopsy engraving you referenced in Twenty Days was never printed in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper as far as I know. Anthony Pitch said it came from Leslie's in his book, "They Have Killed Papa Dead" but I've never been able to track it down. It has appeared in at least two other books besides Twenty Days.

Alexander Gardner never took a photograph of John Wilkes Booth and the mystery of the supposed photograph was put to rest by his son Lawrence in 1891. Lawrence worked as an assistant with his father and was present on the day of Booth's examination aboard the Montauk. Lawrence Gardner could not have been more clear when he stated, "Did we take a picture? No.". These weren't offhand remarks or an inference captured by a reporter. This was a first-person, direct quote from Gardner and was followed by a logical explanation.

Alexander Gardner was tasked to take a photo of Booth's body but Maj. Thomas Eckert rescinded the order when it was evident Booth's day-old, "rapidly changing" corpse bore little resemblance to the handsome actor. Booth had shaved off his signature mustache and a 10 day growth of beard covered his face. Additionally, Booth's face had become freckled and discolored due to livor mortis.

On another note, photographer Timothy O'Sullivan's name has been linked to Alexander Gardner (erroneously) as assisting him with the conspirators' Mug Shot photo sessions as well as the execution photos.

There is no proof or eyewitness accounts mentioning O'Sullivan being present during any of those sessions and was a falsehood started by author and Lincoln aficionado Osborn Oldroyd. Oldroyd was no stranger to making things up to match his research. -- See Inside The Walls Vol. 1 (Who Gave The Signal ?)

Nearly a hundred years later, Mark Katz, in his book Witness to an Era, repeated Oldroyd's claims and went a step further by embellishing events even more - placing O'Sullivan at Gardner's side on July 7, 1865.

Any efforts to discredit Lawrence Gardner as a credible and/or reliable source will be futile. I'm sure folks will try, because Gardner's statement doesn't fit with their long-held beliefs of how events played out on April 27, 1865.

Until someone finds concrete evidence to refute Lawrence Gardner or produces the photograph itself, its safe to say the photo was never taken.