Those Booth Horses Again -

[wsanto]

"In jumping broke my leg. I passed all his pickets, rode sixty miles that night with the bone of my leg tearing the flesh at every jump."

Please note that in that one sentence alone there are at least 2 'embellishments'. The number of miles he rode and the tearing of the flesh at every jump.

Maybe it's the mathematician in me but if a statement can be proven to be 2/3 false how can normally reasonable people still believe the other 1/3 must therefore be true? Especially when you have to invent stories like the magical saddlebags to persuade others.

Jerry,

You may want to recalculate. Nothing in the statement is a direct lie or fabrication. It is embellished and the milage is incorrect (probably felt like 60 miles) and I am sure that after the first half hour of working the stirrups with his broken fibula he did feel a certain degree of pain so this may not even been exaggerated.

I think you are taking the statement too literally and not finding the truth that is at its core.