Did Booth's leg develop gangrene?

[Houmes]

(06-01-2015 10:12 AM)Juan Marrero Wrote:  "Fortune's Fool" has a number of interesting suggestions that were new to me. The author states that by the time of his death Booth's leg was showing signs of gangrene. That infers that, without amputation of the limb, JWB would have died, probably within a matter of days. It's interesting that, in terms of mortality, the leg break may have been as effective as a gunshot to the head.

Dr. Alford did not state the wound was gangrenous, merely wrote that newspaper reporters filed this information after allegedly hearing it from Surgeon General Barnes. Alford's book is splendid, but I question virtually all of the newspaper reports back then. This is Dr. Barnes's official report to Secretary of War Stanton: "The left leg and foot were encased in an appliance of splints and bandages, upon the removal of which, a fracture of the fibula (small bone of leg) 3 inches above the ankle joint, accompanied by consider ecchymosis, was discovered." Compare this to a New York Times April 28, 1865 report: "The smaller bone of his left leg was badly fractured, one of the smaller arteries ruptured, and the leg badly swollen." The official report to Stanton was brief and with limited details. The reporters were filing details which may or may not have had elaboration to satisfy the reading public.

Could he have had gangrene? Yes, if the bone perforated the skin or he had an underlying infection rapidly advancing. On page 301 of Fortune's Fool there is mention of Mr. Booth feeling feverish, but the weather was also unseasonably warm that week.

Any broken ankle, haphazardly splinted and then bounced around on a wild horse ride would likely have a large amount of swelling and bruising--gravity does that if you don't elevate the limb with ice soon after the injury. There was undoubtedly massive bruising (more likely from small veins, as opposed to arteries) over the 12 days Booth was on the run, but by that time there would also have been some bruise healing, changing the color from light bluish-red to dark purple, green, yellow, and then brown. Different people are different, and the color changes can follow a different color pattern and require different time sequences. And it can mimic early infection and gangrene. Advanced gangrene ("wet" gangrene) which is draining usually smells like road kill, while "dry" gangrene is often black and appears almost mummified, and remember--by the time Booth's body got to the monitor, the officers were already wiring Stanton that "the body is changing rapidly" meaning the entire body, not just the leg.