Broken Fibula - Again!

[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.