The Spur Question

[RJNorton]

(01-28-2018 03:20 PM)JMadonna Wrote:  I don't see how a broken spur combined with a myth makes the Naval Academy's spur anything more than just a story. Following the trail of evidence, this spur has no beginning. Somebody probably broke it, tried to repair it to make it useful and failing that found some sucker and sold him a piece of junk and a story.

(02-10-2018 01:21 PM)L Verge Wrote:  Back to the spur: "When Booth fell to the stage, he apparently broke a spur's leather strap." cited in a post by Jim Garrett earlier.

I came across a web page that has a lot of discussion regarding the spur. I do not know how accurate (or apocryphal?) the page is.

https://archive.org/stream/assassinaxxx0...c_djvu.txt

"One of the spurs he was wearing caught in an American flag draped around the box causing Booth to fall on the left leg breaking the shinbone. The spur was torn off his riding boot and broke in two pieces. It was picked up by a Union soldier who was attending the play in Ford's Theatre that night. The soldier's name was Samuel B. Ream."

"The above mentioned spur was repaired by Uncle Sam Ream by welding, and was in his possession until 1927 when he died suddenly while attending a convention of the Grand Army of the Republic."

"Shortly after his death the spur came into the possession of Mr. D. L. Reem (spelling now changed from Ream to Reem), of 107 N. Market Street, Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, who on 6
May 1951 presented the spur to the U. S. Naval Academy Museum"